    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1993, Book I)]
    [June 24, 1993]
    [Pages 926-928]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks to the National Association of Police Organizations and an
    Exchange With Reporters
    June 24, 1993

        The President. First, let me welcome you here. And this is our
    replay from the time we got weathered out in March. And I'm glad you
    could all come back. I want to thank you for the work you do and for the
    support that you gave to me last year when I was attempting to become
    President and for the support you have given so many of our initiatives
    in the last 5 months.
        I have been busily at work for the last several days working with
    the United States Senate in our attempt to pass our economic plan, which
    will reduce the national deficit by $500 billion and provide some
    significant incentives to turn this economy around, including keeping
    interest rates down, which is critical to our future. We've had a
    dramatic increase in the number of ordinary Americans, I imagine
    including some people in this room, who have, for example, refinanced
    their homes in the last 5 or 6 months, because we've got interest rates
    at a 20-year low, 130,000 new construction jobs in the economy, 755,000
    jobs overall. It is critical that we pass this. And that's what we're
    primarily involved in today, as I'm sure you understand.
        I also asked the Congress to adopt a modified bill for making a down
    payment on our investment package, which they did, which included, as
    I'm sure you know, some $200 million for communities to hire police
    officers. That is a down payment on the campaign commitment I made to
    empower our communities to hire another 100,000 police officers over the
    next 4 years, to go to more community policing, to provide for safer
    streets, and to support you in the work you're doing.
        I also want to tell you that the Attorney General and I have been
    working hard for the last several weeks with interested Members of
    Congress to bring up a crime bill this year. Sadly, it did not pass last
    year, for all kinds of reasons. That crime bill is still to be finally
    defined, but I can assure you it will include the Brady bill; it will
    include a provision for boot camps as alternative punishment for first-
    time nonviolent offenders; it will include a continuing effort to hire
    more police officers on our streets and to expand community policing. I
    welcome the ideas, the expertise, and the advice of all of you in
    putting this bill together and in push-

    [[Page 927]]

    ing it through the Congress. It will be a high priority for the
    administration, and I expect it to begin soon.
        We can't really revive the whole fabric of our economy until we put
    the society back together in the places where it's broken. One of the
    things that we're attempting to do in this economic bill is to finally
    test the proposition of whether the private sector can revitalize the
    most distressed areas of our big cities or our small towns and rural
    areas with an empowerment zone concept that would offer real big
    incentives for people to go into a lot of the meanest streets in this
    country and invest their money to put people to work, to start
    businesses, to try to make those places come alive again in positive
    ways.
        We also, as all of you know, are committed to doing the things that
    we've been talking about. I think it's worth just closing with the
    thought that there are a lot of people in this country who are genuinely
    insecure today. That shooting at the swimming pool here in Washington,
    DC, that I'm sure all of you read about, is a horrible example of the
    kind of mindless behavior that is ripping at the fabric of society. And
    now I think of how many children are afraid to go back to the pool, a
    place where wholesome recreation will occur, a place where kids can stay
    out of trouble and in water in the summertime; how many of their parents
    might be afraid for them to go back.
        That is the sort of thing that I hope we can keep in the minds of
    our policymakers as we deal with the crime bill and deal with these
    other issues. And I assure you that I welcome your input into all of
    them.
        I think I'd like to close just by saying a special word of
    appreciation to the Justice Department and the FBI, to the United States
    Attorney, and to the New York City Police Department for the work that
    they have done in making the arrests that broke up a terrorist gang in
    New York. It was a very impressive piece of work and a real tribute to
    the local folks and to the cooperation that the Federal Government and
    the local people had. And I thank them for that, and thank you.
        Now, the Attorney General and I are here. We're going to answer your
    questions. But first we're going to answer a few from the press.

    Terrorism

        Q. Mr. President, can I follow up----
        Q. To follow up on that, do you support a Federal law for the death
    penalty for terrorists? And can you tell us how and exactly when you
    found out about this plot?
        The President. First of all, I support the crime bill. I supported
    the crime bill last year which expanded the death penalty in many
    different areas. And as you know, I have a longstanding support for
    capital punishment.
        But let me answer the specific thing. I was briefed about this
    operation at about the time it was occurring, a little before. I knew
    that they had been working on it. But all the credit for this goes to
    the FBI and the local people. They did the work. They've been working on
    this for some weeks now, and I don't think I should say more about it.
    The Justice Department will have more to say at an appropriate time.
        Q. Can you say whether you believe that everyone has been arrested
    who was involved in this? And have you had any communication, do you
    plan to have any communication with President Mubarak or any of the
    other possible victims?
        The President. I have not yet had any communications with any of the
    people that were on the list. I think any questions about the nature of
    the conspiracy and the group should be answered by the law enforcement
    officials, not by me.

    Economic Program

        Q. Mr. President, do you have the votes yet in the Senate for your
    budget to pass at this time, now?
        The President. I certainly hope so.
        Q. Well, I ask the question because your spokesman said earlier that
    you didn't have them but that you expected to by the end of the day. Do
    you have them now?
        The President. Who did? Who said that earlier?
        Q. Dee Dee said that--that you didn't have them this morning, but
    you expected to have them by the end of the day. Do you have them now?
        The President. Senator Mitchell is my ultimate authority on that.
    We're working our way through these amendments now, and we just had, as
    I understand it, Senators Harkin, Metzenbaum, and Wellstone just
    announced their support for the package, pursuant to an agreement to
    reduce the size of the Medicaid

    [[Page 928]]

    cuts. There are still about $10 billion Medicaid cuts over and above
    what the House put in, which was about $50 billion.
        So that will help, and that puts us three votes closer. And I just
    don't--I can't say for sure. We're going to have a whole series of
    amendments which go through today. And then at the end of the day we may
    find ourselves in a position where some Members want some things which
    can only come out of the conference, and they may have to just decide
    whether to let the bill go to conference or not. The House Members had
    to make the same sort of decision. But I'm hopeful. That's all I can
    tell you. I'm hopeful. We're working hard, and I'm hopeful.
        Q. Does that bring it under $500 billion, sir?
        The President. No. Not to my knowledge. The last time I saw it, it
    didn't, Andrea [Andrea Mitchell, NBC News]. Now, I haven't seen the
    exact details of the last--the last time I heard about it, about an hour
    and a half ago, it did not.
        Q. What kind of momentum do you want from this vote, and do you see
    this as a real turning point for your Presidency?
        The President. There have been a lot of those lately. [Laughter] The
    vote in the House was, and this will be. We have to go on to conference.
    If it passes today, this will be a very loud statement. It will say that
    both Houses of the Congress are committed to the largest deficit
    reduction program in history, to putting the taxes and the spending cuts
    in a trust fund, to spending cuts equal to and now greater than the tax
    increases, and to an extremely progressive program where those who can,
    best able to pay, are asked to pay. The Senate Finance Committee bill,
    according to the Congressional Budget Office, distributes 78 percent of
    the burden to people with incomes above $200,000 whose taxes were
    lowered in the 1980's while their incomes went up.
        So I think that this is a very, you know, it's a very important
    vote, and I hope we can prevail. But I never count my chickens before
    they're hatched.
        Thank you.
        Q. Are you counting any Republicans? Any Republicans, Hatfield or
    Jeffords?
        The President. I've asked; that's all I know.
        Q. Did you ask in phone calls?
        Q. Mr. President, is the final arrangement on gays in the military
    going to require them to stay in the closet, sir?
        The President. 'Bye, everybody; no more questions. I have to answer
    their questions.
        Thank you.

    Note: The President spoke at 1:43 p.m. in the Indian Treaty Room of the
    Old Executive Office Building.