[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1993, Book I)]
[June 10, 1993]
[Pages 833-834]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks on Signing the National Cooperative Production Amendments of 
1993
June 10, 1993

    I want to thank Senator Leahy, Senator Biden, Congressman Brooks, 
and Congressman Fish for being here today and for their leadership in 
helping to enact into law the bill I am about to sign. I want to thank 
the Attorney General for her presence here and for the work that the 
Justice Department did on this bill, H.R. 1313, called the National 
Cooperative Production Amendments of 1993.
    This bill was the embodiment of the concept that the Vice President, 
who has just come in--come on up. Good to see you. He's magical.

[[Page 834]]

I uttered his name, and he appeared. [Laughter] This bill is the 
embodiment of the concept that the Vice President and I strongly 
espoused during our campaign last year. It will allow American 
companies, large and small, to pool their resources to compete and win 
in the international marketplace.
    Our Nation leads the world in basic research. We also have to be 
second to none in moving new technologies from the laboratory to the 
marketplace. We have to unleash the creativeness and the inventive 
prowess of both corporate giants and start-up enterprises in order to 
spur economic growth and new jobs.
    The cooperative arrangements envisioned by this legislation will 
become increasingly necessary as the costs and skills required to 
develop and manufacture new products exceed the resources of any single 
company. These alliances will also help our businesses reduce the time 
required to bring new products to market, which frequently determines 
who wins and who loses in today's competitive marketplace. Successful 
companies, in turn, will create high-wage, high-skill jobs that will 
help to revitalize our economy.
    By clarifying and eliminating misapprehensions about antitrust risk, 
this legislation will allow joint ventures that can increase efficiency, 
facilitate entry into markets, and create new productive capacity that 
otherwise would simply not be achieved.
    I'm confident this legislation will benefit both the consumers and 
the workers in the United States by strengthening our industrial base 
while maintaining a sound antitrust oversight to prevent improper 
collusion. Now is the time to strip away outdated impediments to 
economic growth and to our potential and to begin real movement in this 
last decade of the 20th century.
    I'm pleased that the committee report stresses that this legislation 
is consistent with our international obligations. Our administration 
will implement this legislation in a way that honors the commitments as 
set forth in our treaties of friendship, commerce, and navigation, 
bilateral investment treaties, and free trade agreements, and various 
organizations for economic cooperation and development.
    Again, I want to commend Chairman Brooks, Senator Leahy, Senator 
Biden, Congressman Fish, and all the other Members of the Congress who 
worked so hard to make this bill a reality and the leadership of both 
the House and the Senate. This is an example of how you can have a real 
bipartisan coalition to make America work again, to help our business 
and our working people to move forward in the global economy. And I am 
very excited about it.
    And I know that the Vice President joins me in thanking the 
congressional sponsors for their strong leadership. And I want to thank 
all the people here around me who helped to make the bill a reality, 
members of the congressional staffs and of the high-tech community.

Note: The President spoke at 5:15 p.m. in the Oval Office at the White 
House. H.R. 1313, approved June 10, was assigned Public Law No. 103-42. 
A tape was not available for verification of the content of these 
remarks.