[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1994, Book II)]
[November 2, 1994]
[Pages 1960-1962]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Interview With Van Harden, Bonnie Lucas, and Bob Quinn of
WHO Radio, Des Moines, Iowa
November 2, 1994

1993 Midwest Flood

    Mr. Harden.  Well, we're very fortunate to have a very special guest 
on the phone with us here today, here on ``Van and Bonnie in the 
Morning,'' President Bill Clinton. Mr. President, welcome to WHO Radio.
    The President. Thanks, it's nice to be back with you. I was there 
once before, remember?
    Mr. Harden.  Yes, I was just going to say, the last time we talked 
we--well, you were here filling up sand bags, helping us with water 
jugs, and all that.
    The President. Yes, we had a lot of water the last time I was there. 
I'll never forget that.
    Mr. Harden. Times are a lot better now, we're happy to report. And 
we want to thank you, too, for especially the moral support you lended 
us during that time because, as you found out, it was not very good back 
then.
    The President. It was difficult but, you know, I was honored to be 
able to do it, and I'm proud of the response that we had from the 
Federal Emergency Management Agency and Secretary Espy and all the 
others. We worked very hard with the people of Iowa on that flood, and I 
was honored to do it.
    Mr. Harden. Well, you got a chance to see from the airplane a lot of 
the agricultural--our crops and things that were going on. And we

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have Bob Quinn, our farm director, here that would like to ask you a few 
questions in that regard.
    The President. Hello, Bob.

Ethanol

    Mr. Quinn. Mr. President, when we talked in April of '93, the first 
time we met in New York City, we talked about your support of ethanol 
and the clean air bill. Well, the clean air bill, as you well know, has 
kind of stalled out; it's blocked in court. What's your stance on 
ethanol? Still supporting ethanol?
    The President. I'm still strongly for it. As you know, we stayed 
with our commitment, and we went forward with the ethanol policy, which 
was strongly supported by the farmers in the Middle West. And we've been 
sued in court; I think we'll win that lawsuit. I think that it is within 
the policy discretion of our Government to support ethanol. I think it's 
good for agriculture, good for the environment, and I still have the 
same position.

Farm Bill

    Mr. Quinn. You know, we're talking about the farm bill right now, 
and we've heard some talk over the weekend from the Republican side that 
there may be some cutting of farm programs. Now, in your farm bill plan, 
do you hope to reduce spending or cut farm programs at all?
    The President. Well, I think we need to make a distinction between 
what the two alternatives are here, because they are dramatic.
    We've already figured into the budget and all the farm groups have 
supported the fact that the subsidy programs themselves will be somewhat 
less costly in the years ahead because of the trade agreements and 
especially the GATT agreement. But the reason for that is that we've got 
agreement from our competitors, especially in Europe, to cut their 
subsidies. And our products are so much more competitive, we're going to 
sell more on the markets around the world, and that's going to increase 
farm income. That's a good thing and, I think everyone would admit, an 
appropriate thing to do.
    What they're talking about is something very different from that. 
They have made all these promises. They've promised to cut taxes--mostly 
for the rich, but they just want to throw tax cuts around; they've 
promised to spend more on defense and on Star Wars; and they promised to 
balance the budget in 5 years.
    Now, the House Budget Committee did an analysis and basically says 
if they do that, they'll just have to cut everything across the board: 
$2,000 a Social Security recipient a year, cut Medicare, cut farm 
programs, cut veterans programs. If they back out of cutting Social 
Security, then they have to cut everything else 30 percent across the 
board. If they back out of that, we're right back into the trickle-down 
economics of the eighties, where we explode the deficit and put the 
economy in the ditch. So, they're in a pickle. They've made a bunch of 
promises that the only way they can keep their promises is to devastate 
the farm programs.
    We've got a chance to be very creative and flexible in the '95 farm 
bill and do some things that help farmers without being imprudent with 
our tax dollars. You know, we can't do what they want; we cannot. And 
that's why I'm telling all the people in the farm belt, you know, you 
just don't need to send people to Congress that are addicted to this 
rather way-out contract notion that you can promise people the Moon and 
there are no consequences to it. It's not the way to run a country. We 
need to run our country with discipline and look towards the future.

Talk Radio

    Mr. Harden. Mr. President, the last time you were here, you 
graciously did a talk show for us on WHO. We were mostly talking about 
the flood. But when you were done, I said, ``Well, you do a pretty good 
talk show,'' and you said, well, you might like to host a show like that 
someday. And I just was curious as to when you think you might be 
available?
    The President. Well, I hope it won't be quite--[laughter]--let me 
say this, I hope it'll be longer before I'm available than some talk 
show hosts hope it will be. [Laughter] But I'd like to do it because I 
think that radio is in some ways more intimate than television even. And 
I think that talk shows can be very, very helpful in furthering the 
national dialog. But I think that it's important that they really be 
conversations and not screaming matches and not just a form of attack 
journalism. Because when you do that, nobody learns anything, and people 
are liable to have their heads full of facts that aren't accurate. So, I 
think it's like any other weapon: The more powerful it is, the

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more potential you have for good, the more potential you have for harm.

White House Communications

    Ms. Lucas. We want to know, Mr. President, do you really have a red 
telephone in your office? And if so, who calls you on it?
    The President. [Laughter] No, it's not red, but I do have two sets 
of phones. I have my normal set of phones, and then I have a set of 
phones that have absolutely secure lines that are not subject to anybody 
tapping or intervening on. And I use it on occasions for secure 
conversations, normally with foreign leaders who have something very 
sensitive they want to discuss with me and they're worried that they 
don't want anybody in their country or our country to know about it. 
It's not red, but it is secure.
    Mr. Harden. Mr. President, thank you so much for taking the time 
with us, and we'll see you tomorrow here in Iowa.
    The President. Can't wait.
    Mr. Harden. Okay.
    The President. Thanks.

Note: The interview was recorded at 6:05 p.m. on November 2 for 
broadcast at 8 a.m. on November 3. The President spoke by telephone from 
the Rhode Island Convention Center in Providence, RI.