[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1996, Book II)]
[August 1, 1996]
[Pages 1239-1241]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



[[Page 1239]]


Remarks on the Economy and an Exchange With Reporters
August 1, 1996

    The President. Good morning. A strong and growing economy is the 
best way to offer opportunity to every American who is willing to work 
for it. Today we received fresh news that our economy grew at a strong 
4.2 percent rate in the last quarter. This robust growth, 4.2 percent, 
is touching the lives of all our people with 10 million new jobs, low 
unemployment, and inflation in check. This is good news for America and 
more evidence that our economy continues to surge ahead and that our 
economic strategy is working.
    Four years ago today, the economy was drifting, unemployment was 
nearly 8 percent, job growth was weak, the deficit was at an all-time 
high, great American industries were falling behind. For the last 3 
years, we have had in place a comprehensive plan to put our economic 
house in order and to create opportunity for the American people. My 
economic team, which has joined me here today, has worked day and night 
to put this strategy in place over stiff partisan opposition who said 
our plan wouldn't work and would actually make things worse. But today's 
good news shows that the plan we put in place is the right plan to move 
us forward into the 21st century.
    This strong growth is reflected in other ways as well. American 
industry is on the rebound. We have 900,000 new construction jobs; once 
again we lead the world in autos and semiconductors; 4.4 million people 
have become new homeowners; and 10 million Americans have refinanced 
their existing home loans to get lower mortgage rates. We now have a 
record number of women-owned businesses; exports are at an all-time 
high.
    We learned this week that consumer confidence is at its highest 
level in 6 years, and real wages, which had fallen for a decade, are on 
the rise again. The deficit has been cut by more than half so that it is 
now the smallest since 1981. This plan has been based on investing in 
our people, developing new technologies, selling our products overseas, 
and getting the deficit down to get interest rates down--growth without 
inflation. Without fiscal responsibility, this dramatic move forward 
could not have been achieved--strong growth, low inflation, new jobs, 
higher wages, the strongest American economy in a generation.
    But even as we celebrate this good economic news, we must remember 
that there is more to do to make sure all Americans can benefit from 
this growing economy. Yesterday we took a step forward by giving the 
American people a welfare reform bill. Though not perfect, it offers the 
best chance we've had to move people from dependence to independence, 
from welfare to work, giving them a real opportunity to succeed at home 
and at work.
    I'm pleased that Congress has made progress toward the passage of 
other critical measures which also will give our people the capacity to 
make the most of the growing economy. An increase in the minimum wage 
will honor work and family. The small-business provisions in that bill 
will help small businesses, the engine of economic job growth, to invest 
more in their businesses and will help small-business owners and their 
employees to take out and maintain retirement plans over their careers.
    The Kassebaum-Kennedy bill will give millions of Americans access to 
health care. I must say in passing, I was disappointed that the mental 
health provision was taken out, and I certainly hope we can get it as 
soon as possible in the future. It should remain a high priority.
    These two bills, when they pass, will also make a real difference to 
millions and millions of Americans. And I call upon Congress to finish 
the work on both these bills before leaving for the August recess.
    Again, let me say that this economic news shows that our strategy is 
working, the economy is growing, our Nation is moving in the right 
direction. This is not the time to make dramatic changes that reverse 
our discipline on the deficit. It is the time to bear down and improve 
upon the strategy we have been following for 3\1/2\ years that has 
reversed the previous course and brought us such good results. We cannot 
turn our backs on that progress. The American people do not want to go 
back to where we were 4 years ago. This plan is working, and we have to 
press forward.

[[Page 1240]]

Taxes

    Q. Mr. President, if the Republicans come forward with an across-
the-board tax cut, what do you think that would do in the light of the 
economic statistics today?
    The President. Well, if it calls for a big increase in the deficit, 
I think it would have a very adverse impact on the economy. And I think 
the--I would be surprised if the private sector didn't have a very 
adverse reaction to it. We know that historically you may get a little 
bump from a tax cut in the short run that increases the deficit, but if 
it's a huge structural problem, in the long run the price is enormous.
    Look what happened in the last 12 years. We had a couple of good 
years because the economy was in a deep recession. When it came out of 
the recession, which would have happened anyway, the huge tax cuts 
pumped more money into the economy in the short run, but we wound up 
quadrupling the debt in 12 years. The crushing burden of the debt kept 
interest rates high, weakened our economy, weakened our position in the 
global economy, and had us in a virtual straitjacket when I took office. 
I think it would be a mistake to go back to that strategy.
    No one I know of who has participated in real, stable, sustained 
long-term growth, not only in the United States but elsewhere, believes 
this is a very good way to proceed. And I think it would be a mistake.
    Yes, Bill [Bill Plante, CBS News]?

White House Travel Office

    Q. Mr. President, will you call on the Senate to resurrect the bill 
to pay the legal expenses of the people who were fired from the Travel 
Office? Democrats seem to have blocked it. And will you call on them to 
pass it? And will you sign it if it gets here?
    The President. Well I told you before, there are a lot of people who 
were never even charged with anything, much less offering to plead 
guilty to anything, who have been dragooned and pulled up and had 
thousands and tens of thousands of dollars of legal expenses, who were 
completely innocent but have been subject to abject harassment. And I 
said before when you asked me that question, are we going to pay their 
legal expenses, too? Are we going to pay the legal expenses of every 
person in America who is ever acquitted of an offense?
    So, no, I'm not going to call upon them to bring it up again. If 
they send it to my desk, it depends--whether I sign it or not depends 
upon whose legal expenses are included and whether it's a fair and 
balanced bill.
    Q. Sir, does that mean you're going back on your promise? Your White 
House said earlier, in fact this morning, Mr. Toiv said that if it came 
here, you would sign it.
    The President. Well, he didn't talk to me before he said that.
    Q. So you wouldn't sign it?
    The President. I didn't say that. I said, I don't know what's going 
to be in it. But I don't believe that we should give special preference 
to one group of people over others. Do you? Do you?
    Q. You said you would do this earlier, sir.
    The President. Do you think we should--do you think that Congress 
should pay for the legal expenses for all these middle class people that 
they harassed and brought up there and cost them tens of thousands of 
dollars in legal expenses when they never even accused them of doing 
anything and they certainly never offered to plead guilty to anything? 
Do you believe that?
    Q. I just wanted to know if you were going to keep your word, sir.
    The President. I didn't--I never gave my word on that. You go back 
and see what I said when I was asked that question. I asked, are they 
going to pay the expenses of anybody else? That's what I said. Don't 
talk to me--go back and see what I said. What did I say? What word did I 
give, sir?
    Q. Your spokesman, sir, was asked----
    The President. Well, my spokesman--they do a very good job, but I 
have made clear to Mr. McCurry what my position is on this. And if an 
error was made by my spokesman, I'm sorry. But I have not broken my word 
to anybody. I have been asked about this one time, and I asked whether 
we were going to provide for other people's legal expenses who were 
never accused of anything and who did not offer to plead guilty to 
anything. And I have heard nothing about that. So the answer to your 
question is, I do not know what I will do if such a bill comes to my 
desk, but I have no intention of asking Congress to interrupt its work 
on Kennedy-Kassebaum, on the minimum wage, on

[[Page 1241]]

antiterrorism, to get involved in this. No, I do not.

Terrorism

    Q. Mr. President, on the subject of terrorism, some critics are 
saying that the measures that you're working on now with lawmakers 
really aren't going to make that much of a difference. And I know 
Republicans have been critical of the administration for not spending 
all the funds that it had earmarked for terrorism.
    The President. Well, all I can tell you is, what we're doing here is 
what our law enforcement agencies have asked us to do. And I would 
remind you that our law enforcement agencies succeeded in cracking the 
World Trade Center case, that there is a trial going on in the Oklahoma 
City case, that they thwarted what was apparently and allegedly a big 
operation in Arizona recently. And we know they have prevented other 
incidents from occurring. So all I'm trying to do is to work with the 
law enforcement agencies of our country and the people that we have 
brought together to work on this antiterrorism initiative. And we 
followed their recommendations, and we're doing our best to get the job 
done.

White House Employee Drug Policy

    Q. Mr. President, would you discuss the rationale for allowing 
individuals with a background of more than casual drug use to serve on 
the White House staff? Doesn't that send a poor signal to parents and 
children who want to avoid drugs, and one argument for it is that it 
will return to haunt you later in life?
    The President. Well, if that were the whole story it might be. That 
is not the whole story. Compare the difference in the White House drug 
policy and the Congress drug policy. We are the branch of Government, 
the White House, that has a zero-tolerance policy. A complete--everybody 
was tested. Then people are subject--everybody who works here is subject 
to random testing. And people that have any kind of recent drug problem 
who were hired because they were felt to be drug-free at the time are 
subject to regular drug testing.
    So the truth is we know that the people here, insofar as we can 
possibly determine it, are drug-free and that we have had a zero-
tolerance policy. And I think the question is if people have put their 
lives in order and are prepared to be tested and are prepared to be held 
accountable and are judged as best as possible not to present a threat 
in any way, shape, or form and are doing a good job and are clearly 
drug-free, should they be denied the right to work because of some 
problem they have in their past?
    Now, at the time these decisions were made in '93, the people who 
made them concluded no, as long as we had a system for regular testing. 
And I find it interesting that we get criticism from the Congress, from 
people who can't make that same assertion about their own staffs because 
they don't have anything like the testing program we do to hold people 
accountable.
    So we have done our best to tell you what I think you want to know, 
which is, do we have a strict zero-tolerance policy here, and do we have 
a means for knowing whether we're right or not?
    Thank you.

Note: The President spoke at 10:02 a.m. in the Rose Garden at the White 
House.