    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1993, Book I)]
    [June 17, 1993]
    [Page 866]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    [[Page 866]]

    Remarks to Representatives From the Central Arkansas Radiation Therapy
    Institute and an Exchange With Reporters
    June 17, 1993

        The President. Hi, kids. Please sit down. I want to welcome you all
    to the Rose Garden and the White House and thank you for coming. Let me
    say a special word of thanks to Congressman Thornton for being here with
    his constituents. Senator Bradford, it's good to see you.
        Ladies and gentlemen, it seems like just a couple of days ago when
    Hillary and I were sitting at Trio's Restaurant in Little Rock, talking
    with Robin Armstrong about how exciting it would be to have the CARTI
    kids come to the White House. Well, I think maybe they thought we were
    kidding, but here we all are.
        CARTI is the Central Arkansas Radiation Therapy Institute. It's a
    not-for-profit, freestanding radiation therapy center which in my home
    State is synonymous with treatment of people with cancer. In its 17
    years of service, more than 33,000 people have received treatment there.
    Today I wanted to especially highlight these young people who are
    standing behind me. All of them have been fighting difficult battles
    with great courage and good humor.
        I'm proud that my wife and I have long been supporters of CARTI, and
    our administration was when I was a Governor. In 1977, I addressed the
    CARTI auxiliary for the first time. And in 1979, in my first term as
    Governor, our State for the first time supported with State funds
    radiation therapy, something we continued to do throughout the course of
    my term as Governor. In 1991, Hillary and I hosted a Celebration of Life
    picnic at the Arkansas Governor's mansion for more than 1,000 cancer
    survivors and their families. I'm also proud to say that my mother has
    received treatment at CARTI and, based on the results, I'd say it's been
    very good treatment indeed, and I'm very grateful to them.
        I'd like now to ask Robin Armstrong to come up here, she's the
    director of volunteers at CARTI, to introduce you to her kids.

    [At this point, Ms. Armstrong introduced the children, who presented the
    President with several gifts.]

    Campaign Finance Reform

        Q. Mr. President, is the Senate version of campaign finance reform
    tough enough?
        The President. Well, I haven't had a chance to review it entirely,
    but I think it is a great advance, and I'm elated that the bill is going
    on to the House. It reduces the influence of special interests; it
    lowers the costs of campaigns; it at least provides for some public
    funding to open the airwaves if one side in an election violates the
    campaign spending limits.
        So I think there's some good things about it. And I'm hopeful that
    the House will take favorable action, and then we can come back with one
    common bill that will pass both Houses. Yesterday was a great day for
    the American people in the Congress, and I was encouraged by that.

    Space Station

        Q. Mr. President, on the space station, sir, if it came to it, would
    you be prepared to fight for it and even seek cuts in some of your
    investment programs to save it?
        The President. Well, I have a budget program that includes the space
    station. We've already cut $4 billion out of it, and I intend to support
    it. I think it's a very important part of our overall science and
    technology mission. And if my budget passes, the other investments will
    be there, too. And if they'll pass all the budget cuts that I've put out
    there, I think we'll be all right. After all, we've presented 100 budget
    cuts of more than $100 billion. That's a pretty good clip.

    Campaign Finance Reform

        Q. The House Speaker is already speaking against your PAC provision
    in campaign finance. How strong will you fight for that?
        The President. I'm going to fight for it hard; I believe in it.

    Note: The President spoke at 4:05 p.m. in the Rose Garden at the White
    House. In his remarks, he referred to Arkansas State senator Jay
    Bradford. The exchange portion of this item could not be verified
    because the tape was incomplete.