    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1993, Book I)]
    [March 4, 1993]
    [Pages 237-238]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks on Signing the Emergency Unemployment Compensation Amendments of
    1993 and an Exchange With Reporters
    March 4, 1993

        The President. I want to, first of all, acknowledge the presence
    here of Senators Mitchell, Moynihan, Riegle, Sarbanes, Sasser, Hatfield,
    and Durenberger; the Speaker and Congressman Matsui and Congressman
    Fish. I would also like to acknowledge the Labor Secretary and two of
    his employees whom I will recognize formally in just a moment.
        Today I am signing important legislation to extend unemployment
    benefits long term. I want to thank the Congress for passing this bill,
    which is the first provision in the economic package I recommended to
    them in my joint address.
        The bill reforms existing law. It symbolizes the success of a new
    management style we are bringing to the Government. And it reminds us of
    how critical it is to adopt the rest of our economic plan, to increase
    investment, reduce the deficit, create private-sector jobs, and increase
    the incomes of working Americans.
        We have extended unemployment benefits. Now it's time to extend
    jobs. It's been less than a month since I asked the Secretary of Labor
    to prepare the emergency legislation. I want to commend the leadership
    of the Congress, of those who are here and those who are not, who made
    rapid action possible. Thanks to them, the benefits of millions of
    Americans will proceed without interruption. More important, this
    legislation takes an existing pilot program and applies it nationally in
    ways that I am convinced will help tens of thousands of workers
    immediately. This reform was brought to the attention of Secretary Reich
    by line workers at the Department of Labor, and it reflects the kind of
    innovation and imagination we must bring to the entire Federal
    Government. It is at the core of the national performance review
    initiative that the Vice President and I announced yesterday.
        The Department of Labor funds a demonstration project in New Jersey
    that matches up workers who are permanently displaced with training and
    reemployment services. They use existing data to provide services to
    people in need. Once they're identified, the workers receive the kind of
    counseling, training, and retraining that gets them back to work faster
    and often at higher wages than would have otherwise been the case.
        Secretary of Labor Reich held a town meeting in his Department of
    Labor to break down the walls that too often have existed between senior
    management and Federal employees. Because

    [[Page 238]]

    two dedicated public employees brought this successful innovation to his
    attention, today it is becoming the law of the land everywhere, thanks
    to the Congress. It's a great example of what we can and must do
    throughout the Government.
        And the people who made it happen have joined us here for this
    important moment. With this bill becoming law, 1\1/2\ million unemployed
    Americans who need help making the rent and buying groceries and paying
    for school clothes will receive it. I hope they will also recognize the
    efforts of the two gentlemen to my left with the Secretary of Labor,
    Steve Wandner and Steve Marler, the Labor Department employees who
    brought the profiling reform to the Secretary's attention. Thank you
    very much.
        Some of the indicators are that we are coming out of a long and deep
    recession. But, as all of you know, this has been a slow, anemic
    recovery when it comes to job growth especially. It is time now to get
    on to the important work of stimulating our economy and putting the
    American people back to work, to creating the conditions that will allow
    the private sector to create jobs, and to create jobs at good wages. I
    hope that this is a good first step.
        There are those who say we don't need to do anything else to our
    economy, but I would remind you all that we are 3 million jobs behind
    where we would be at this point in an ordinary American recovery. Claims
    for unemployment benefits are up again this week, and there are still
    deep structural changes going on in this economy as well as a recession
    in Europe and a very difficult economic problem in Japan, all of these
    things affecting our future prospects. I think we can grow our economy,
    and we can create jobs. But we have to be committed, as I said, to a
    long-term program to create jobs and raise incomes. That is what our
    economic plan seeks to do.
        As I said, we're now extending unemployment benefits, and that's a
    good thing to do. We are recognizing the fact that more and more
    Americans who lose their jobs now don't expect to go back to those old
    jobs. There's been a stunning increase in the number of people who say
    when they lose their jobs today, I don't expect to get this job back.
    And the reform brought to our attention by these two fine gentlemen will
    help us to help those people. But in the end, what we have to do is to
    extend jobs and not unemployment. That is our next great test, and I
    think we're off to a good beginning today.

    [At this point, the President signed the bill.]

    Bosnia

        Q. Mr. President, do you have any response to Mr. Karadzic, who had
    an implied threat of violence against the United States because of its
    policy of airdrops?
        The President. Well, if that's what he meant to do, he made a
    terrible mistake, and it was something that I viewed with grave concern
    and real disapproval.

    World Trade Center Bombing

        Q. Do you think that the incident in New York and the arrest today
    should make Americans afraid about foreign policy decisions that might
    affect us domestically through terrorism?
        The President. No, I don't think the American people can afford to
    be afraid. I think we all have to be concerned about any risks to our
    people's safety. But I would say again what I said to you earlier: My
    feeling now is one of real gratitude to the law enforcement officials at
    every level who worked together and moved quickly to try to resolve this
    matter and who did make an arrest.
        I think we should wait until the formal statement is issued, until
    we know more facts before we can draw any conclusions about anything
    other than the fact that an arrest was undertaken. When I know more
    facts I'll be glad to answer more questions and say more. But I think
    that today we ought to be very impressed that the law enforcement
    authorities in this country moved so quickly to make an arrest. And I'm
    grateful to them.
        Q. Why would it be a grave mistake for him to make implications?
        Q. Based on what you know, sir, do you think they'll be able to
    crack the bombing case?

    Deficit Reduction

        Q. What does this say about your commitment to cutting the deficit?
        The President. It says I've done more about it than anybody in
    recent history. And I intend to keep on.
        Thank you.

    Note: The President spoke at 4:33 p.m. in the Roosevelt Room at the
    White House. H.R. 920, approved March 4, was assigned Public Law No.
    103-6.