[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1993, Book I)]
[March 13, 1993]
[Pages 287-290]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



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Interview With the Southern Florida Media
March 13, 1993

    The President. Good morning. Last August, Hurricane Andrew 
devastated south Florida. Essential services were wiped out, and 
although 6 months later basic services have been restored, the progress 
toward redevelopment has been minimal.
    Two weeks ago I asked Secretary Cisneros to go to south Florida and 
assess the situation, to try to evaluate what was holding up Federal 
efforts, and report back to me. As a result of the initial work done by 
the Secretary, I have released a seven-point plan to ensure that the 
remainder of the Federal funds dedicated to hurricane relief can be used 
for long-term building efforts now needed for south Florida. That seven-
point plan includes the following:
    First, the Federal Emergency Management Agency will stay on the job 
in south Florida for as long as it takes to help the residents of south 
Dade. They will expedite removal of debris that litters the streets, 
keep the trailers in place as long as people need housing, and continue 
to promptly reimburse owners and assist renters.
    Second, the physical and mental health of south Dade residents is 
critically important. The people of this community need help to cope 
with the problems that have loomed large in the last 6 months and that 
still lie ahead. Therefore, the Department of Health and Human Services 
will accelerate its efforts to inoculate residents against disease and, 
additionally, will fund crisis and counseling centers for the many 
children and adults now experiencing severe emotional problems as a 
result of the traumatic experiences they have undergone.
    Third, housing continues to be the single largest need in south 
Dade. Thousands are homeless. Many more are living in tents, trailers, 
with friends and relatives, and other temporary quarters. As you know, 
they are under particular distress today because of the storm that is 
sweeping up our coast. The Department of Housing and Urban Development 
will put $100 million in reprogrammed funds in the most flexible 
programs available, such as home and community development block grants, 
to rebuild housing in south Dade. Additionally, HUD will open an office 
in south Dade with community development, public housing, and fair 
housing capabilities to ease the rebuilding efforts.
    Fourth, I have requested the Department of Defense to release the 
$76 million Congress appropriated to help facilitate the rebuilding of 
those facilities at Homestead Air Force Base that are critical to the 
future use of the base, to explore the possibility of joint military and 
civilian uses of the base, and to make sure we do everything we can in 
the transition period to serve the people who are in south Dade County.
    Fifth, agriculture is a vital economic resource in south Florida. 
The Department of Agriculture will transfer several hundred million 
dollars to programs to assist with emergency conservation, debris 
removal on farmlands, and housing for migrant farm workers.
    Sixth, recognizing the need to provide assistance to property owners 
who must comply with the Government's rebuilding requirements in flooded 
areas, we have made this one of our highest priorities, and we are 
looking for ways to address this issue.
    And finally, in order to effectively coordinate our efforts, I 
believe we need local leadership and the Secretary does, too. As a 
result, Secretary Cisneros and I have asked Otis Pitts, Jr., a highly 
respected nonprofit developer of affordable housing in the Miami area to 
coordinate our efforts in south Dade. I met Otis last year on one of my 
many trips to the Miami area. I was very impressed with what he had 
done.
    I think I want to emphasize to all of you that these actions, in my 
view, only constitute the beginning of our long-term commitment to south 
Florida. Through the leadership of Secretary Cisneros and Mr. Pitts and 
the coordinated efforts of the community, I believe we can find the 
resources, develop the solutions, and maintain the spirits and the 
commitment necessary to ensure the economic, political, social, and 
physical vitality of south Dade County.
    I'd like now to ask the Secretary to make a few remarks and then to 
introduce Mr. Pitts for whatever he would like to say.

[At this point, Secretary Cisneros and Mr. Pitts made brief statements.]

    The President. Let me just make one more

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remark, and then we'll be available for questions. I also want to 
acknowledge the work of Jeff Watson, a valued member of the White House 
staff, who is a native of Florida and who has worked very, very hard on 
this with Secretary Cisneros and me. And again, I want to thank Otis for 
being willing to take on this task. We plan this to be a very long-term 
and intense effort, and I'm looking forward to producing some results.

Homestead Air Force Base

    Q. Mr. President, on behalf of the people of south Florida, we all 
thank you for your efforts on the economic and emotional side. But there 
is also the perception of threat. We are going to be living with the 
closing of Homestead Air Force Base, closer to a Cuban military air 
force base than to an American Air Force base. And several years ago, a 
Cuban general said that the Cuban Government had a plan in case of a 
crisis, of attacking Turkey Point nuclear plant. Can you tell us if the 
Federal Government can tell the people of south Florida, yes, you are 
safe, yes, we're going to take care of you, that perception of threat?
    The President. Yes, I can say that categorically. The Pentagon has 
considered very carefully what the possible threats to this country's 
security are and before making any of those recommendations. But let me 
also say one of the things that I have advocated very strongly--and just 
in the last couple of days I've talked to Senator Graham and Governor 
Chiles about this--is releasing the money that was approved last year by 
the Congress to rebuild Homestead for purposes that will permit us 
always to have access to joint use of that air base if we need it.
    And let me just mention that Secretary Aspin and I had another long 
conversation yesterday morning about this. We want to rebuild the 
airstrip and make sure that it is adequate to take any kind of planes. 
We need to rebuild the control tower. We want the facility, during the 
transition period, at a minimum to be available for use for the 
Reserves, for the Guard, for the DEA, for any Coast Guard operations, 
all of the things that might make possible long-term dual use planning 
and would also make the base a valuable facility in the event that the 
community decided that they wanted to have it for some potential 
commercial use, or in the event that we can use it for both commercial 
and Government uses. So in any case, we're going to rebuild the capacity 
of the air base to actually engage in operations, which I think is 
terribly important.

Federal Rebuilding Effort

    Q. Mr. President, why do you think that the progress in the 
rebuilding effort has been so unsatisfactory so far? Do you think the 
Bush administration botched the job?
    The President. I don't want to get into that. I don't know. All I 
know is that not long after I took office, the people I know in south 
Dade County reminded me of what I had seen there and talked to me about 
how important it was to get things moving. And I asked Secretary 
Cisneros to go down there and conduct a firsthand assessment of the 
operation. He said we needed someone on the ground who knew the 
community and could get things done, and that there were lots of things 
we could do to push the money through the pipeline that had already been 
approved that hadn't been done. And he came up with this plan, working 
with Jeff Watson, and Otis Pitts agreed to help us. So I don't want to 
go into what happened before, I just want to try to get things done now.

Homestead Air Force Base

    Q. Mr. President, after you toured south Dade on September 3d, you 
said at a news conference, ``It is my belief that there is a mission for 
Homestead. It is still the closest major airstrip to Cuba, and it still 
has the potential to play a major role in our effort to reduce drug 
trafficking.'' Now, do you think that your statement today and your 
seven-point plan is, in a sense, a fulfillment of what you had said 
September 3d, or do you think that in fact you would be willing to 
listen to Dante Fascell or people from south Florida who are going to 
try to tell you that Homestead should remain a functioning Air Force 
base?
    The President. Well, let me tell you the decision I had to make on 
that. The series of base closings that were announced yesterday are the 
third of four series of base closings that will be announced. All the 
services did what they were required to do under the law. They assessed 
what they needed and what the infrastructure of the country was and what 
they thought ought to do done.
    The Secretary of Defense then forwarded the list, after having tried 
to evaluate the aggregate

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economic impact of the past three base closings, and something only the 
Secretary can do, which is to evaluate the cumulative impact of the 
recommendations of the Air Force, the Army, and the Navy, since they 
didn't review each other's recommendations before they were made.
    I did not believe that I should interfere in that process. I think 
that I am open to any arguments anybody wants to make, and I think the 
base commission will be, too. Keep in mind, this is the biggest round of 
base closings we've ever announced. The base closing commission did make 
adjustments, modest adjustments in previous recommendations coming out 
of the Pentagon, and they may well make some this time.
    But the conclusion that I reached is that at this point, I should 
let the services make their recommendation, the Secretary do his 
economic evaluation, then let the recommendations go to the commission 
and try to get all these arguments out in the public. But in any case, 
if we can get the money released and we can rebuild the airstrip itself 
and the control tower and some of the facilities, then we will be able 
to meet at least the security needs of the area and also develop what 
could be an immensely valuable long-term economic resource to the people 
of south Dade County, something that has the potential, I think, of 
being a far bigger economic impact even than the base was.
    Q. Mr. President, in south Florida there is a feeling among some 
people, a sense of betrayal. They thought they had tantamount to a 
promise that you would restore Homestead Air Force Base in some form or 
fashion. Long-range, what specifically will you do to blunt the economic 
impact? Because what you're saying sounds like it will help a little 
bit, but it won't replace----
    The President. I disagree with that. First of all, I also made it 
clear to the people of south Florida that we had a base closing 
commission process and a United States Congress that had roles in this, 
and there is no prospect whatever that the Congress would have 
appropriated any money to fully rebuild that base with it on the base 
closing list until the commission ruled on it, one way or the other. I 
mean, that is just not an option. There wasn't a 10 percent, a 5 percent 
chance that that would be done, with the Air Force saying we don't need 
the base and it being submitted under law to the base closing 
commission.
    I would remind you that the Congress appropriated $76 million to 
rebuild, to do rebuilding work at the base that the previous 
administration did not release. I support releasing the money. I'm going 
to aggressively work to rebuild the airstrips and to rebuild the control 
tower and to use the rest of that money to maximize the potential of 
both military and civilian uses of that airstrip. And I would say again 
to you, it is an enormous potential resource to south Dade County. If we 
handle this right, we can generate more jobs out of that facility over a 
period of a few years even than were presented by the Air Force.
    Q. Mr. President, the joint use proposal you've talked about a 
number of times--not just Homestead, other bases you've mentioned--do 
you have something in the back of your mind, specifically, that you'd 
like to see there--you're talking about either a mega-airport, an 
industrial development zone, or something like that, or are you just 
waiting to hear ideas from the private sector of what could be done 
there? Do you have some----
    The President. In the case of south Dade County, as you know, there 
have been people for years who thought that you could have a mega-port 
there, a big commercial airport, perhaps even a newer and bigger airport 
for passenger traffic, too. And what I think we need to do is to rebuild 
the infrastructure; that's what I'm saying. Try to maintain some basic 
functions there, the Guard function, the Reserve function, the DEA 
function. I hope I can get an approval to go along with that, and then 
see what happens as we explore possibilities with the people who live in 
south Dade County.
    The only thing I want to point out to you is that it is an immensely 
valuable resource, and that one of the areas of our economy that 
everyone projects to grow in the next 10 years is the area of commercial 
aviation, not just passengers but also freight, mail, and other things. 
So I think that one of the things we know for sure is, if we don't 
rebuild the strip and we don't rebuild the control tower, nothing good 
can occur. We know that for sure.
    We know, too, in my judgment that the Federal Government has an 
obligation to do that. Let me just give you--if you go back--even if 
let's say the whole thing were going to be shut down in 3 years under 
the base closing. No dual use, no nothing. Every other place in the 
country with a base that's about to be shut

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down has a resource right now that could be turned over to the local 
community that's worth a lot of money.
    The Homestead base is not worth what it ought to be until it's 
rebuilt. So what I want to do is to focus on rebuilding it so that it is 
a valuable asset--the airstrip and the control tower, at least, and 
maybe some other facilities there--and then see what we can do, see what 
we can do in terms of joint use, and see what the community wants to do 
in terms of potential uses. I do have some specific ideas, but I think, 
frankly, that the people down there will have better ideas than I do.

Haiti

    Q. I have two foreign questions. Yesterday in Haiti, the military 
arrested a man who was granted asylum by the United States and was at 
the airport with U.S. officials. What are you going to do about that? 
And second, Mr. Aristide, who was going to meet you next week, is urging 
you to set a date for his return. Is that feasible?
    The President. First of all, I'm very upset about what happened to 
Haiti. The man was returned by error, frankly. He should be given status 
in this country. And this is a very serious thing. We are actually 
meeting on it today to see what our options are.
    Q. Would that----
    The President. But we believe that, strongly that the Haitian 
Government should release him so that he can be brought back here, and 
we believe it very strongly, and we are discussing it today.
    As to your second question, I think that I should leave my 
conversations with President Aristide until we have them. But I am 
committed to the restoration of democracy in Haiti. It is the only thing 
that will fully resolve the economic problems and the enormous social 
dislocation and the enormous numbers of people who are willing to risk 
their lives to leave the island, hundreds of whom have lost their lives 
trying to leave the island, and I think you will see this administration 
taking a more active role.
    I have tried to exercise some restraint in my remarks, because I 
believe it's important that what we do, we do with the Organization of 
the American States and with the United Nations and in tandem with the 
Caputo mission to Haiti. I don't think it should look as if the United 
States is alone dictating policy there. But the people who have power 
now cannot hold it inevitably. They've got to recognize that the people 
of Haiti voted in overwhelming numbers for a democratic government, and 
they're entitled to it. They are entitled, those people, to human rights 
protections just like everybody else. They're entitled not to be subject 
to violence and abuse of their own rights and existence, and I think we 
can work out such an arrangement, and I think we can work it out in the 
not-too-distant future.
    All I can tell you is, I've spent a lot of time on Haiti, I'm 
working hard on it. And the United States will become increasingly 
insistent that democracy be restored.

Cuba

    Q. Some in Congress, including Congressman Torricelli, are asking 
for the U.S. to spearhead the internationalization of the U.S. embargo 
against Cuba, specifically going to the United Nations and the Security 
Council. What is your position?
    The President. Well, first I'd like to talk to Congressman 
Torricelli about it. I'm not sure the Security Council is open to that, 
but I'll be glad to talk to--he may know more about it than I do, and 
I'll be glad to talk to him about it. But as you know, I supported the 
Cuban Democracy Act when he conceived it and pushed it, and I supported 
it all during last year. I was pleased when it was signed, and the 
United States intends to honor it. But just last week, one member of the 
Security Council strongly disagreed with our policy there, and so I 
think it's highly questionable that we could get the Security Council to 
go along.

Note: The President spoke at 11 a.m. via satellite from the Roosevelt 
Room at the White House. In his remarks, he referred to Jeffrey Watson, 
Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy Director of 
Intergovernmental Affairs, and Dante Caputo, U.N./OAS Special Envoy to 
Haiti.