[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1994, Book II)]
[December 1, 1994]
[Pages 2136-2137]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks on Senate Action on the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
December 1, 1994

    The President. Thank you very much. Let me begin by expressing my 
thanks to all those who are here and to some who are not, beginning with 
Senator Mitchell and Senator Dole. I thank them for their strong 
leadership in the remarkable vote in the Senate tonight. I also want to 
thank Senator Packwood, who is here, and Senator Moynihan, who is not, 
for their fine work. I thank Speaker Foley and Congressman Gibbons, 
Congressman Matsui. I'd also like to say a special word of thanks to 
Leader Michel and to Congressman Gingrich, who worked so hard on this. I 
thank Ambassador Kantor and Secretary Bentsen and Mr. Panetta, Mr. 
Rubin,

[[Page 2137]]

and all of the others in the administration who worked so terribly hard 
to see this victory for America tonight, a bipartisan victory that 
really, really gives our country the boost we need to keep moving 
forward toward the 21st century to create more high-wage jobs for the 
American people.
    Many things have been said about the GATT in the last few days, and 
some of them not altogether favorable in some quarters. [Laughter] But I 
was especially struck by what Senator Barbara Mikulski said during this 
debate. She said, and I quote, ``I'm associated with the protectionist 
wing of the Democratic Party, but I'm going to go for GATT because I'm 
absolutely convinced that the old ways are not working, that the world 
is changing, that a new economy is about to be born.''
    She is absolutely right, and the American people know it. According 
to a new survey, for the first time ever, a majority of our fellow 
countrymen and women see trade as an opportunity, not a threat. For 
middle class Americans who work hard and play by the rules, more trade 
and fair trade means more and better high-wage jobs for themselves and 
for their children. It will help us to build good lives and to restore 
not only jobs but rising wages in America.
    Just like the historic vote on NAFTA a year ago, this vote for GATT 
shows once again that our country is moving in the right direction, 
reaching out to the rest of the world, and looking at the best interest 
of our own people. We're also going to be doing that again next week at 
the Summit of the Americas, pushing for open markets here and around the 
world but especially in our hemisphere.
    Let me close by saying that this vote was really a vote about the 
two greatest challenges we face, our role in the world and what we're 
doing for our own people. We said loud and clear that America will 
continue to lead the world to a more prosperous and secure place after 
the cold war. We also said loud and clear we're going to do what it 
takes to get our incomes growing and our jobs going in the right 
direction.
    I urge everyone here to continue to work to keep our country 
optimistic and hopeful and outward-looking, brave as we march into the 
future. Let's make the GATT vote the first vote of a new era of 
cooperation. America's best days are still ahead of us.
    I'd like now to ask Senator Mitchell to come up and make some 
remarks and thank him again and Senator Dole for their great cooperation 
and the stunning parity and depth of support among both Republicans and 
Democrats in the Senate tonight.

[At this point, Senator George Mitchell made brief remarks.]

    The President. Before I introduce Senator Dole, I want to make two 
other brief acknowledgements. First of all, I apologize for my failure 
to introduce Congressman David Dreier, who did so much on the Republican 
side to help us pass this. Thank you very much. He and Congressman Kolbe 
were pivotal to our success in NAFTA last year, and I thank him for his 
leadership on GATT.
    The second thing I'd like to do is to say how much I think we all 
should express our appreciation to the teams who started work on GATT 
under Presidents Reagan and Bush, and I would like to thank them for 
their support of this agreement, as well as President Carter and 
President Ford, who was making phone calls right up until the vote 
today; I thank him especially for his efforts.
    And now I'd like to ask Senator Dole to come up here and explain to 
us how it really was democracy in action and everybody's free will that 
produced exactly 76 percent of the votes from both parties for this. 
[Laughter]

[At this point, Senator Bob Dole made brief remarks.]

    The President. That's great. Thank you. Thank you.
    I'd like to give the last word to Speaker Foley. Certainly, his last 
vote as the Speaker was one of the most momentous of his illustrious 
career. We are very grateful for his leadership on so many things, but 
especially for his leadership on GATT.

Note: The President spoke at 7:54 p.m. at the South Portico at the White 
House.