    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1993, Book I)]
    [April 7, 1993]
    [Pages 412-416]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks on Signing Enabling Legislation for the National Commission to
    Ensure a Strong Competitive Airline Industry and an Exchange With
    Reporters
    April 7, 1993

        The President. Good morning, everybody. As you know, the bill I have
    just signed is the aviation commission legislation. It enables us to
    start planning the revitalization of one of our country's most important
    industries, one of our most important exporters, one of our most
    important employers: the aircraft manufacturers and carriers that have
    been the pride of the United States and the world's leaders since the
    beginning of aviation.
        But we're also here because our National Government has failed to
    create the economic climate necessary for this leading edge industry to
    thrive at home and in an increasingly competitive global economy. The
    condition of the domestic aviation industry has been spiraling

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    downward for some time. Unemployment in the industry has reached record
    levels over the past few years. Recent layoffs have been severe. New
    orders for aircraft have shrunk, along with the demand for airline
    service, leading to unemployment in the aircraft manufacturing industry
    as well.
        When I visited with managers and employees at the Boeing Corporation
    in Everett, Washington, they described for me in very personal terms the
    devastating impact of these developments in their lives and the lives of
    their coworkers. The legislation I sign today, providing for the
    creation of a National Commission to Ensure a Strong Competitive Airline
    Industry, commits us, on behalf of the industry and the workers whose
    livelihoods depend on its health, to search for real answers.
        Some of the answers may lie in a more aggressive trade policy.
    Others may come from keeping the global marketplace freer from unfair
    competition. More may stem from the supporting role of aviation in
    preserving our national security. In any case, I want to commend the
    strong bipartisan effort that was shown in passing this legislation on
    such a fast track. This bill creates the Commission that will enable me
    and the House and the Senate leadership to appoint a knowledgeable and
    diverse group of people to review these complex issues and make
    recommendations back to the President and the Congress within 90 days of
    the appointment of the Commission. This is a fast-track operation.
        I've been working closely with both parties in the House and the
    Senate, and I anticipate that the Commission will be appointed very soon
    after Congress returns from its recess. As I think all of you know, the
    minority leader, Bob Michel, is in Russia now on a mission. He has two
    voting and two ex officio members who he must appoint. We are, for our
    part, ready to go here in the White House, and I think the Commission
    will be appointed very soon.
        I also want to make it clear that I will detail whatever staff is
    necessary from the National Economic Council, from the Council of
    Economic Advisers, from Commerce, from the Trade Representative's
    Office, wherever we need it.
        The problems facing this industry are quite complex, and it's
    important that we build a consensus as quickly as possible. I assure you
    that when that is done, I will move rapidly with Congress to take
    whatever action is appropriate based on the recommendations of the
    Commission.
        But ultimately, no industry in our country flourishes in isolation.
    The health of each sector depends at least in some measure on the
    overall health of the American economy. And no one can look at this
    economy and say that we are satisfied with things just the way they are.
    We are in the midst of the weakest recovery since World War II. The
    March unemployment report failed to show any improvement in the labor
    market. Unemployment is stuck at 7 percent of the labor force. While the
    economy supposedly has been in recovery for a year now, manufacturing
    employment has continued to decline. This recovery is like a fire
    starving for oxygen. Jobs, and the incomes, profits, and consumer
    spending jobs produce, are the oxygen this recovery needs.
        Investment and deficit reduction are long-term ingredients for
    making the recovery durable, and we've gone a long way toward doing that
    over the long run. Our economic plan addresses these objectives and
    addresses them very well. Long-term help is on the way. The Congress has
    agreed to provide the broad outlines of our budget package, paving the
    way for real deficit reduction and a high-investment, high-productivity,
    high-wage economy. The plan also increases investment by the Federal
    Government in our physical infrastructure and the human capital of our
    citizens. This shift in the spending priorities of the Government will
    help make us competitive again in the global economy.
        While the budget plan will provide long-term benefits for the
    economy, the jobs plan now is needed to ensure a sustained recovery. As
    it is written, the job stimulus package will provide about 500,000 full-
    time jobs this year and next year: real jobs, repairing and rebuilding
    highways and bridges, creating new mass transit and clean water
    projects, rebuilding our communities. Passage of the bill will mean
    youths in our cities and rural communities can make their passage from
    idleness to a meaningful work experience, boosting their incomes and
    educational achievements, learning as they earn. The jobs plan is
    carefully targeted and will be followed by real and enforceable budget
    cuts, now more than 200 specific budget cuts contained in the investment
    and deficit reduction package Congress has approved.
        In my view, the message of the last election

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    was to break the gridlock and grow the economy, because Americans are
    tired of a system that doesn't work and a recovery that doesn't produce
    new jobs. We know what works. We'll only be able to reduce the deficit
    and increase investment in the long term if we guarantee the strength of
    the recovery by building jobs in the short run. Passing the jobs plan
    following the adoption of deficit reduction and increased investment by
    Congress is the best way to accomplish those objectives. This will
    strengthen not only the aviation industry but every industry at a time
    when workers, firms, and average citizens are looking to us here in
    Washington for leadership.
        I want to commend Secretary Pena, the House and Senate leadership,
    and all the others who have supported this legislation. I look forward
    to announcing the Commission membership. I also hope very much that we
    can break this deadlock and create some jobs for this economy beginning
    immediately.

    Stimulus Package

        Q. Mr. President, the Republicans have legitimate concerns about
    your stimulus package, and what would they be?
        The President. Well, the only legitimate concerns I cited were the
    ones that were cited by the Democrats, too. What they did, and you can
    see this in the amendment that the House decided not to adopt and the
    amendment Mr. Brown offered in the Senate, was to take hypotheticals
    from what could be funded through the community development block grant
    program and in the Economic Development Administration, and come up in a
    multi-billion dollar jobs package with a couple of hundred million
    dollars of things that they thought were wrong. I had assured them that
    I would take executive steps to stop that. That is not what is going on
    here. The kinds of cuts the Republican Senators are talking about are
    cuts designed to keep people out of the work force. And so that was a
    tempest in a teapot. That's the only point I was making.
        And I will say again, a lot of the things that were cited amaze me.
    It was the Republicans and the Democrats at the State and local level
    all these years who came out for greater flexibility for the States and
    the localities. Now the Republican Senators are saying they don't trust
    Republican Governors to spend the money in a way that will create jobs
    in their own States. I find that an amazing argument and a 20-year
    departure from their stated position.

    Economic Initiatives

        Q. Mr. President, you just named an airline commission. You've asked
    for a timber report. You've got the health care commission. You've got
    the budget coming out tomorrow. Have you too much on your plate? Some
    critics are saying that you're spreading yourself too thin and missing
    what happened to Jimmy Carter.
        The President. Well, if you look at what we're doing, though, it all
    relates to the economy. It all comes back to the economy. The health
    care issue is an issue of personal security to Americans and American
    families who've been badly battered by the economic developments of the
    last decade or more. But it also is critical to the long-term deficit
    reduction, to balancing the Federal budget, and to strengthening the
    health of the American economy. The timber issue is not just an
    environmental issue; it's an economic issue. We have to resolve the
    deadlock out there so people can get on with their lives. Every other
    issue you've mentioned is an economic issue.
        We may not get 100 percent of everything we're trying to do in every
    area. But I do think the American people will see that the focus of all
    of this is to guarantee a healthy economy and a growing jobs market to
    try to turn this around. There are many things which need attention in
    the economic area, I think we have to be active in all of them. I don't
    want to spread myself personally too thin, but we have, after all, a
    large number of people working in this Government and a lot of work to
    do. And I think I have to keep pushing on the economic front.

    Potential Supreme Court Nominee

        Q. [Inaudible]--Cuomo decided not--no to being a justice?
        The President. Excuse me?
        Q. Has Governor Cuomo decided not to be a Supreme Court Justice?
        Q. And are you disappointed about it?
        The President. Well, you know, I think he's terrific. I think you
    need to talk to him for anything on that.
        Q. Did he pull out?
        The President. I'm not going to discuss the appointments until I
    make them. Justice White was kind enough to give me a considerable

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    amount of time. And given the economic issues before the Congress and
    the summit I had with President Yeltsin, I appreciated that because I
    couldn't devote immediate time to it. But I don't think I should comment
    on any individuals. You know about my regard for Governor Cuomo. He
    would have to say anything that would be said on this.
        Q. But you want someone like Governor Cuomo, now that he has
    withdrawn.
        The President. I didn't say he had. You'll have to ask him about
    that.

    Stimulus Package

        Q. Mr. President, during your administration the American people
    seem to be really engaged. There were telephone calls flooding
    Washington on various issues, yet they seem to be largely silent on the
    deadlock over the jobs program. To what do you attribute the gridlock in
    that case?
        The President. Well, I think first of all, I don't think they've
    tuned out but, to go back to Andrea's [Andrea Mitchell, NBC News]
    question, there's a lot going on here. And I think that one of the
    things that I hope will happen during the break here is that we can
    somehow bring all these disparate activities back into sharp focus. I
    also, to be fair, have not been out in the country much in the last few
    weeks discussing this. I've been here working at the job. And one of the
    toughest decisions, when you talk about spreading myself too thin, one
    of the toughest decisions I have to make every week is to balance
    between staying here and meeting with the Congress and doing the job
    that I have to do here, and going out into the country and continuing to
    engage the people.
        I think they know that the broad outlines of the economic program
    have passed, and I think there was an enormous amount of support for
    that. I think a lot of people thought that the whole thing passed when
    the economic program passed, and I have to just try to bring this jobs
    program into sharp focus and explain to everybody why I think we need to
    create some jobs now and bring the unemployment rate down now.
        And as I have pointed out again and again, this is not a uniquely
    American problem. Every major economic power is facing this. The
    Japanese are about to adopt a much bigger stimulus package than we have
    to drive their unemployment rate down and generate domestic economic
    development. And I think we ought to do the same thing. It is going to
    be critical, in my view, to try and keep faith with the American people,
    especially during the upcoming summer.
        Q. How much are you willing to cut on the stimulus?
        The President. All I can tell you is I'm going to try to get action
    here. I think it is a shame to rob anybody of the right to have a job.
    And a lot of the objections which have been raised, I think, are
    somewhat spurious. I mean, the attack on building swimming pools, let's
    just take that one, for example. You know, if you put people to work in
    a city or a suburb or a small town building a city park which gives
    people, kids a chance to have recreational opportunities in the
    summertime, and you create jobs doing it, is that a waste of money? I
    don't really think it is. I mean, the Senate's got a swimming pool,
    doesn't it? [Laughter] Doesn't it? And, it was built with taxpayers'
    money, and somebody worked; somebody had a job building it. And so, you
    know----
        Q. How much are you going to cut?
        The President. No more than I have to, to get the thing passed. I
    just--I want some action. I want those kids in this country to have jobs
    this summer. I want them to have the first summer jobs program that
    includes a strong educational component. I want these places where they
    have not seen any jobs in years to have a chance to have them. And I'm
    going to create as many as I can, but I want to get some action. I want
    to do something, and I'll do the very best I can.
        Q. Are you going to go to the country?
        The President. Excuse me?
        Q. Are you going to the country during the recession on this issue?
        The President. I haven't made a decision what to do yet, about how
    to do it. I'm going to reassess all that today. As you pointed out, I've
    been dealing with a lot of different issues, and this morning I've got
    to try to put it into focus. Again, let me say, I think some of this is
    politics. It's, you know, just pure gridlock politics. Some of it is the
    continuing debate over what is the best economic policy. But in terms of
    the minor objections that have been raised to things in this bill, those
    can be taken care of rather easily.
        The real thing we've got to decide is whether the United States
    Government has a responsibility to try to help start the jobs machine
    again,

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    and I believe we do. There is obviously a difference in the United
    States and every other wealthy country in the world between what looks
    like an economic recovery and creating jobs. That is the big idea we've
    got to come to grips with. It goes way beyond sort of traditional
    politics. There is a difference now. This is a problem that all these
    countries are having. I do not want to see the United States go the way
    of the European countries that are now living with 10 percent
    unemployment. And by the way, we can't afford to do it, because we don't
    provide health care. We don't provide the supports they do. It's tougher
    for people in this country when they're unemployed than it is in Europe
    or Japan. So we don't provide that kind of support services. And the
    Japanese unemployment rate, I might say, is still about half what ours
    is, actually slightly less than half.
        We have got to do something to create the jobs. And I'm just going
    to do the very best job I can. And in terms of how to spend my time and
    how to do it, I'm going to have to assess that over the next couple of
    days.
        Thank you.
        Q. Speaking of cuts, what kind of razor are you using?
        The President. I got this playing with my daughter, I'm ashamed to
    say, rolling around acting like a child again. I reaffirm that I'm not a
    kid anymore.
        Thank you.

    Note: The President spoke at 10:40 a.m. in the Oval Office at the White
    House. H.R. 904, approved April 7, was assigned Public Law No. 103-13. A
    tape was not available for verification of the content of these remarks.