    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1993, Book I)]
    [May 24, 1993]
    [Pages 725-726]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks to the National Commission to Ensure a Strong Competitive
    Airline Industry
    May 24, 1993

        Thank you very much. First of all, I want to just thank all of you
    for your willingness to serve. I think I should say, because of the
    coverage that this initial meeting is getting, that the American people
    should know that this is not an ordinary commission; there's only a 90-
    day time window. It will require an enormous sacrifice of your personal
    time and effort to do all the massive work that needs to be done, and I
    very much appreciate your willingness to do it.
        I'd also like to say a special word of appreciation to the Congress
    because of the bipartisan nature of the support that this Commission
    had. We all made efforts to appoint people without regard to party and
    instead based upon their knowledge of this issue and their commitment to
    doing something about it. And I think there is a real consensus in
    America that the people who make airplanes and equipment and the people
    who run our airlines are critical to our economic future. It's a big
    part of our trade surplus. There are millions of people whose jobs
    depend upon it.
        In his most recent book, ``Head to Head,'' the economist Lester
    Thurow argues that there are seven major areas of technology which will
    produce the lion's share of the high-wage, high-growth jobs of the 21st
    century, at least as far as we can see into that century, that aerospace
    is one of those areas, and that a nation with a stake in any of these
    technologies gives it up only at its peril.
        We have enjoyed an enormously positive position in aerospace for a
    long time now. But if you look at our airlines, the airlines alone have
    lost as much money in the last 4 years as they made in the previous 60.
    We have got to take a look at what that means for us. If you look at the
    fabulous manufacturers and suppliers that we built up, there's no
    question that the partnership that those manufacturers were able to
    develop, not simply with the private airline companies but also with the
    Defense Department, made the economics of what they were doing work. As
    we build down our defense budget

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    at the end of the cold war, that imposes major new challenges for the
    airline manufacturers and for the major component parts suppliers and
    producers.
        So these are difficult issues. There are also serious questions
    about international competition. What kind of competition do we face,
    and how can we face it in a way that is fair to the American workers and
    all the American people whose livelihoods depend on this?
        The point I want to make to you is I think that this is one of the
    major issues involved in shaping our competitive position in the world.
    Governor Baliles and I were discussing this whole issue 10 days ago. He
    noted and I will repeat how remarkable it is that almost every major
    economic issue we face today ultimately comes down to whether we can
    compete and win in a global economy. And if so, what do we have to do to
    enable our people to do that, and what kind of partnerships do we need
    in the public and private sector?
        This is an area, I'll say again, where I think we have a major
    potential for bipartisan agreement to move forward, to protect and
    promote an enormously significant sector of our economy. I'm very
    optimistic about what we can do over the long run. A lot of you around
    this table know more personally than do I what great difficulties we
    have faced in the last few years and understand there are still some
    tough challenges ahead. But I feel strongly about this. I think we can
    do it. I think we have to do it.
        If you look at the whole range of challenges facing the United
    States, the things that I've tried to come to grips with in the last 4
    months--trying to get the deficit under control, trying to develop a
    technology policy, trying to develop a more aggressive way of helping
    people adjust from the defense to a domestic economy and all the
    cutbacks that that involves--a lot of that work will be substantially
    undermined unless we have a vibrant aerospace sector in our economy. It
    is critical to building a high-wage future for America not just in the
    States that are obviously affected, like Washington State--and we have
    some Members of Congress from Washington on this Committee--but
    throughout the United States. There's not a State, not a community in
    this country that won't be better off if we have a strong and vibrant
    aerospace economy.
        Now, having said that, I want to introduce formally, for whatever
    remarks he might wish to make, Governor Baliles. I asked him to chair
    this Commission for a number of reasons. I've known him for many years;
    we were colleagues in the Governors' conference together. In my former
    life, I had the privilege to serve with about 150 Governors in the
    seventies, the eighties, and the nineties. If you forced me to make a
    list of the 10 best I served with, Jerry Baliles would certainly be on
    the list. He's one of the most intelligent public servants I've ever
    known. He also has the kind of mind that I think we need to bring to
    this task. He sorts out the wheat from the chaff pretty quickly, gets to
    the bottom line, and synthesizes issues remarkably well. I think you
    will enjoy working with him. I think you will be glad you had the
    opportunity to do it. And I believe, in no small measure because of the
    leadership he will bring to your work, there's a real chance that we'll
    all be very proud of the results that come out.
        Thank you very much.

    Note: The President spoke at 10:20 a.m. in the Indian Treaty Room at the
    Old Executive Office Building. In his remarks, he referred to Gerald L.
    Baliles, Chair of the Commission and former Governor of Virginia.