[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.