[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1995, Book I)]
[February 21, 1995]
[Pages 239-241]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks Announcing the Appointment of Laura D'Andrea Tyson as
National Economic Adviser and an Exchange With Reporters
February 21, 1995

    The President. Good afternoon. I am pleased to announce today my 
decision to appoint Dr. Laura Tyson, the Chair of the Council of 
Economic Advisers, to be the new Special Assistant to the President for 
Economic Policy and the chair of the National Economic Council.
    When I became President I believed that to have a sound economic 
policy, our economic policymakers had to work together as a solid and 
carefully coordinated team. To that end, I established the National 
Economic Council to play a coordinating role in economic policymaking, 
similar to the role the National Security Council has played in defense 
and foreign policy for 47 years. I believe that was clearly the right 
decision. It added discipline, direction, and strength, as well as sweep 
to the administration's economic policymaking.
    For 2 years, under the leadership of Robert Rubin, now the Secretary 
of the Treasury, we did work together as a team. We had talent. We had 
discipline. We had common vision, and we have produced results. We had 
an economic strategy that focused on the expansion of trade, technology, 
and educational opportunities and the reduction in the Government 
deficit and the size and sweep of adverse governmental policies. We had 
$600 billion plus in deficit reduction to which we have proposed another 
over $80 billion in deficit reduction. We've done more to open the 
world's markets to our products and services than any administration in 
a generation. We have reduced taxes on 15 million American working 
families and made tax cuts available to 9 out of 10 small businesses 
that invest more in their business. The economy in the last 2 years has 
created about 6 million new jobs, with the lowest combination of 
inflation and unemployment in 25 years.
    Reversing the economic policies of the previous 12 years did not 
come easily. It required tough choices. Many of them were unpopular in 
the short run, but the results have clearly been felt. We were able to 
make those choices and follow through on them in the face of relentless 
predictions that they would produce recessions and produce disasters, 
because of the hard work of the outstanding members of our economic 
team.
    One of the most important members of that team was Laura Tyson. She 
came to our administration from the University of California where she's 
a professor of economics and business administration. I found when I met 
her in the Presidential campaign that she had an exceptionally analytic 
mind and an understanding of the underlying global economic and 
political realities affecting our ability to compete and our economic 
future. She has been a very credible voice for us on the economy, and I 
have appreciated

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especially her unfailingly frank, direct, and principled advice. She has 
been a consensus builder and an honest broker without in any way 
compromising her own views in the inner councils and when we discussed 
economic policy.
    We'll miss her at the Council of Economic Advisers, and I will 
appoint a new Chair in the near future. But I am confident she will be a 
worthy successor to Bob Rubin at the National Economic Council. I'm glad 
she's taking on this new job. I think it will help us to keep taking on 
the job of keeping the American dream alive.
    I also want to say again how important this is. I think when the 
history of this administration is written, one of the most significant 
organizational changes we will have made, and one that I predict all 
future administrations will follow, is the creation of a National 
Economic Council and the development of a coordinated, disciplined 
national economic policy for global economy.
    I'd like to now introduce Dr. Tyson and let her make a few remarks. 
Thank you for doing this. Congratulations; no condolences. It's going to 
be a good change.
    Thank you.

[At this point, Dr. Tyson thanked the President and made brief remarks.]

Contract With America

    Q. Mr. President, tomorrow's day 50 of the Republican Contract With 
America. Do you find yourself in the position now, as you criticized the 
Republicans the first 2 years of simply saying no to many of your 
initiatives, that you are saying no, consistently threatening vetoes to 
many of the Republican initiatives? Is there a way around this so that 
there can be some bipartisanship in the next 2 years?
    The President. There can be a lot of bipartisanship. First of all, I 
have not said consistently no. I strongly supported applying to Congress 
the laws that apply to the private sector. I have supported limiting the 
ability of Congress to impose unfunded mandates on State and local 
government. I support the line-item veto. I support significant reform 
in the Federal regulatory process.
    But where I do not agree with the extreme elements of the contract--
and I might add, where also a number of Republican Senators do not agree 
with it and where, apparently, some Republican House Members no longer 
agree with it--Star Wars, eroding the 100,000 police commitment, cutting 
Medicare to pay for tax cuts. On those things, I think I'm obligated to 
say where I don't agree. And that's what I'm doing. I'm trying to be as 
clear as I can be, hoping we can work together, hoping we can get 
legislation out of this.
    I have not done what was done frequently in the previous 2 years, 
which is to say, ``We're walking away from this no matter what it is, 
even if we have to change our position on it,'' which is what they did 
on the crime bill.
    So I'm looking forward to this. We're still going to make some good 
things happen, and we can still do it. But I owe it to the American 
people to protect them. They did not, in my judgment, ratify every 
extreme element of the contract as defined in every piece of legislation 
there. I am not trying to thwart them; I am trying to give them an 
opportunity to know exactly where I stand and to work with them.
    This is Dr. Tyson's day, and I want to let her answer questions.
    Thank you.

Mexican Loan Agreement

    Q. To both of you, sir, Mexican markets took quite a tumble today on 
the news of the agreement reached here, which I think was probably 
considered surprising in some quarters. I wonder if both you and Dr. 
Tyson could comment on why you think that is and any worries you may 
have that the cure here may turn out to be worse than the disease.
    Dr. Tyson. Well, I don't want to comment on specifics of the 
agreement, simply because there was a comment made by Secretary Rubin at 
luncheon because, frankly, I just got off an airplane and haven't been 
fully briefed on the agreement. What I will say is that we believe that 
the path that we've gone down is the correct path, and that we've worked 
hard to reach an agreement which we believe to be a sensible agreement 
which will do the trick.
    Q. Mr. President?
    The President. I don't know; I don't have an opinion. I think it may 
have something to do with the other decisionmakers than the United 
States and Mexico. We'll just have to see, but I would not overreact to 
it. We have done the right thing. Mexico is taking some very courageous 
steps, difficult steps for them. They have followed the proper economic 
path in general,

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and the United States has great interest there. There are many jobs tied 
up in it, our whole strategy of promoting democracy and free markets 
throughout Latin America. I think we did the right thing, and I believe 
it very strongly, and I think that time will bear us out. And if it 
doesn't, then we have very good collateral on this deal, so we have done 
the right thing by the American taxpayers and the American people as 
well.
    Thank you.

Note: The President spoke at 4:39 p.m. in the Briefing Room at the White 
House.