[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1994, Book I)]
[April 26, 1994]
[Page 780]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks on the South African Elections and an Exchange With Reporters
April 26, 1994

    The President. This delegation from the House and Senate is here to 
report on the trip that they took to South Africa a couple of weeks ago. 
And I'd like to just begin by offering the congratulations of the United 
States to the people of South Africa for beginning the election process 
today.
    I'm sure many of you have already seen some of the pictures that are 
coming in. They're very, very moving. There was one older lady who had 
to wait for a few hours. And she said that she'd been waiting all of her 
life, that a couple hours more was no problem for her.
    I think it is a--especially in light of the extra round of violence 
that the people have endured in the last few days, that the renewed 
determination of the people there to claim their democracy and to have 
this multiracial election is really a wonderful thing. The United States 
is committed to this process and its success. And we'll be there as your 
partner when the elections are over.

Bosnia

    Q. Mr. President, are you confident the Serbs will meet the deadline 
this evening?
    The President. Well, we expect them to. And of course, we're 
following it very closely today.
    Q. Are you confident you've worked out the problems with the United 
Nations in case they do not?
    The President. I believe that we have. We worked hard on it last 
weekend. And as I told you, I believe that we have.

Welfare Reform

    Q. Mr. President, are you going to have to scale back your welfare 
plan because you've decided against any taxes to pay for it?
    The President. Well, in the beginning we knew that, based on the CBO 
budgeting rules, we wouldn't have--we couldn't raise enough money anyway 
to guarantee a job, publicly funded job, for every person on public 
assistance that might not have a job within the 2-year time period. So 
we'll have to phase that portion of it in. But it'll still be quite an 
extensive program.

Note: The President spoke at 3:50 p.m. in the Cabinet Room at the White 
House, prior to a meeting with congressional leaders. A tape was not 
available for verification of the content of these remarks.