[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1993, Book I)]
[July 22, 1993]
[Pages 1156-1157]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



[[Page 1156]]


Remarks at a Communications Technology Demonstration
July 22, 1993

    Thank you very much. Distinguished Members of Congress, FCC 
Commissioners, Mrs. Graham, distinguished members of the high-tech 
community and communications industry who are here today, I thank all of 
you for coming, and I appreciate your sitting through my education here. 
I hope it isn't too warm. We've gotten a little bit of break in the 
weather. I got to send the Vice President that message over there, and 
it's nice to know he'll be able to stop the rains in the Midwest within 
a few moments, remote control. [Laughter]
    Just beginning by building on what the Vice President said, it is 
perfectly clear that in our Nation we need an economic strategy that 
deals with a lot of our larger structural issues, particularly the 
deficit, but also recognizes that creating jobs today in a global 
economy requires us to make the most of the assets we have and to find a 
way once again to make sure that technology continues to be a net 
generator, not a net reducer, of jobs. We are here today to celebrate 
one of those opportunities. In recent years, we haven't done enough to 
control our larger economic issues, nor have we done enough to seize 
these particular opportunities. We want to reverse both these trends and 
ignite growth.
    The economic plan that I have presented to the Congress, as all of 
you know, offers $500 billion worth of deficit reduction divided equally 
between spending cuts and revenue increases, with most of the revenue 
increases coming from people with incomes well above $200,000 and the 
spending cuts coming across the board in virtually every area of our 
national life.
    The Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Alan Greenspan, in testimony to 
the House Banking Committee on Tuesday said that the reason long-term 
interest rates were at a 20-year low is because, and I quote, ``of the 
expectations of a significant, credible decline in the budget deficit.'' 
And he pointed out that if we did not act now and significantly, those 
good trends and long-term interest rates being down--which are leading 
millions of Americans to refinance their homes, I would imagine 
including some people here in this audience today, refinance business 
loans, and otherwise move in ways that are advantageous to themselves 
and the economy--that if we did not do that, we would be in trouble. He 
further pointed out that if we resolved the budget issue and dealt with 
our health care cost problems, the United States economy could, quote, 
``emerge healthier and more vibrant than in decades.'' That is what 
we're talking about, the future of this country. And I think that is 
what we must focus on.
    Part of this economic plan is the ``Emerging Telecommunications 
Technology Act'' introduced by Senators Hollings, Inouye, Stevens of 
Alaska, Congressman Dingell of Michigan, Congressman Markey of 
Massachusetts, who is here with us. It's been called the information 
equivalent of the Alaskan oil strike or the California gold rush. It 
offers great opportunities for people to create new jobs, start new 
businesses, invest in people. And it will reduce the deficit, according 
to Congressional Budget Office estimates, by something over $7 billion. 
It's a great deal for all of us.
    In this plan we allow for 200 megahertz of the electromagnetic 
spectrum now used by Federal Agencies to be licensed to the private 
sector by the Federal Com- munications Commission. For the few 
nonphysicists in the audience, the spectrum is the airwaves that 
transmit communication signals. The additional 200 megahertz of the 
spectrum would be capable of adding the equivalent of 33 television 
channels in every market in the United States. A decade ago, as the Vice 
President said, the U.S. cellular telephone industry was launched on 
only 50 megahertz of the spectrum. At that time, experts said the 
industry would have slightly less than a million subscribers by the year 
2002. Well, those initial licenses leveraged $11 billion in private 
investment that grew into more than 11 million subscribers, $3 billion 
in exports, and 100,000 jobs in 1992. When the FCC reallocates the 
spectrum for personal communication services alone, it is estimated that 
another 300,000 jobs could be added to the American economy in the next 
10 to 15 years. And that doesn't take into account what will be done 
with the remainder of this 200 megahertz allocation.
    This plan creates the infrastructure to develop the most advanced 
commercial wireless communication networks the world has ever known.

[[Page 1157]]

It will allow an industry to grow by tens of billions of dollars by the 
end of the decade, producing hundreds of thousands of new high-skill, 
high-wage jobs. It will close our Federal budget deficit, or certainly 
help to, while correcting America's investment deficit at the same time, 
a win-win scenario for our taxpayers, our workers, our Government, and 
our entrepreneurs, an investment of historic proportions.
    We have entered a new era of human communications where wireless 
technologies become information skyways, a new avenue to send ideas and 
masses of information to remote locations in ways most of us would never 
have imagined, and as we've just seen in all these demonstrations, also 
provides new ways to improve people's lives in very practical ways, and 
perhaps to save lives in remote areas or emergency circumstances where 
once that was simply impossible. Wireless hand-held computers and phones 
will deliver the world to our fingertips, wherever we may be, with speed 
and flexibility.
    Only last week the FCC reallocated emerging technology spectrum for 
the kinds of services and benefits we've seen here today. When a natural 
disaster hits, this technology can come to the rescue. When an emergency 
medical vehicle has a patient and the only hospital is a long way away, 
it can mean the difference between life and death, as we've seen this 
morning. In schools where wires may be too costly to run, this 
technology can link students with other students, with libraries in 
other schools. In manufacturing, this technology can give our companies 
the extra speed and production that today may make all the difference 
between staying ahead of the competition and going under.
    When the race toward innovation knows no boundaries, this economic 
plan can keep America ahead of our competitors with information highways 
and skyways second to none and the best educated, best trained, and best 
equipped work force in the world. That's what this economic growth 
strategy is all about: historic change, more growth, more free 
enterprise, more innovation to put the American people to work and give 
them the future they deserve.
    Thank you very much.

Note: The President spoke at 11:13 a.m. on the South Lawn at the White 
House. In his remarks, he referred to Katharine Graham, chairman of the 
board, Washington Post Co.