    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1997, Book II)]
    [December 5, 1997]
    [Pages 1719-1722]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks Announcing Appointments to the National Bipartisan Commission on
    the Future of Medicare and an Exchange With Reporters
    December 5, 1997

        The President. Today I want to discuss our continued economic
    progress and important steps we must take to continue it. For the last 5
    years we have pursued a comprehensive economic strategy to spur growth,
    to increase income, to create jobs and keep the American dream alive and
    well in a new century. Today we see the latest evidence that our economy

    [[Page 1720]]

    is growing steady and strong, that the American dream is, in fact, alive
    and well.
        Last month the economy created 400,000 new jobs. Unemployment is now
    4.6 percent, the lowest in a quarter century. There were more new
    manufacturing jobs in the past year than in any year in three decades.
    Inflation remains low and appears to be poised to continue at its low
    rate. And after lagging for years, wages finally are rising again. Our
    economy is the strongest in a generation.
        This continuing prosperity is due to the ingenuity and the
    enterprise and the hard work of the American people who are creating the
    economy of the future. It is also the result of our economic strategy of
    cutting the deficit, investing in education and our future, and
    expanding our exports through trade agreements. This year's balanced
    budget law both honors our values and continues that progress. It
    extends opportunity to our children with the most significant new
    investment in health care in a generation and in education in a
    generation. It offers tax cuts for college and provides for health
    insurance for up to 5 million children. It honors our duty to our
    parents by extending the lifetime of the Medicare Trust Fund until 2010.
        Now we have more to do to strengthen Medicare while preserving its
    commitment to older Americans. Medicare is at the core of our historic
    social compact, our recognition of the duty we owe to one another. It
    has been one of the great achievements of this century, and now we have
    an obligation to strengthen it for the next century, to ensure that it
    is as strong for our children as it has been for our parents, and to
    ensure that the baby boomers have access to quality affordable health
    care when we retire.
        The Medicare reforms I signed into law this year were the product of
    strong cooperation among Democrats and Republicans, the President and
    the Congress. The balanced budget law establishes also a commission to
    continue this bipartisan progress and draft comprehensive reform.
        Today I am pleased to announce my appointees to the commission. They
    include Stuart Altman, a highly respected health care expert who has
    worked for Presidents of both parties; Dr. Laura Tyson, who served our
    Nation well as Chair of the National Economic Council and Chair of the
    Council of Economic Advisers in our administration; Bruce Vladeck, who
    directed the Medicare program for 4 years as Administrator of the Health
    Care Financing Agency; and Anthony Watson, the CEO of a major
    progressive managed care plan in New York that has pioneered support for
    fair treatment of patients while providing quality care.
        These are distinguished, respected, highly skilled experts. They
    understand health care and share our unshakable commitment to the values
    represented by Medicare. I expect them to work as strong partners with
    the other commissioners, and I look forward to their proposals to keep
    Medicare at the core of the American dream in the new century.
        Thank you.
        Q. Will you recess-appoint Bill Lann Lee next week?
        Q. [Inaudible ]--economy is so great----
        The President. One at a time.

    Economy and Tax Reform Proposals

        Q. Are you really thinking of a tax cut?
        The President. No, I don't believe that's a fair interpretation of
    what I said yesterday in my comments. What I said was--I was asked about
    proposals for tax reform, and what I said was that I thought any tax
    reform that was adopted had to be fair, good for the economy, not burden
    the deficit, and make the system simpler. That was the context in which
    that discussion occurred.
        Then there was a separate discussion about the discussion that is
    going around town here about what ought to be done with the surplus.
    Some people say we should have a tax cut with the surplus; some people
    say we should spend more money with the surplus; some people say we
    should apply it to the debt. What I tried to point out yesterday is
    there is not a surplus. The people who say there is a surplus are
    talking about the difference in the projected line of deficit to 2002
    when we adopted the balanced budget law and I signed it, and the
    projected line now.
        Now, no doubt this news today is good news. It augers for stronger
    growth in this quarter, and it may well mean that we will have a better
    prediction in terms of the size of the deficit and eliminating it
    altogether now than we did at the time the balanced budget law was
    passed, at the time of the midsession review last August. The only point
    I tried to make is all those are still estimates. And it's good to have
    a good estimate, but we don't want to spend money we don't yet have.

    [[Page 1721]]

        The thing that has driven this economic recovery is getting interest
    rates down, getting investment up, creating a framework in which the
    American economy could grow, and bringing down the deficit from $300
    billion a year to $23 billion a year is a big part of that. So before we
    make any unduly rash decisions about the future, let's make sure that
    we're taking care of the economy because that's--the best thing you can
    do for Americans' incomes is to give them a strong economy.

    Assistant Attorney General Nominee

        Q. Will you recess-appoint Bill Lann Lee next week?
        Q. Are you looking at a flat tax, Mr. President?
        Q. Mr. President, are you concerned----
        The President. I can't hear all of you.
        Q. Will you recess-appoint Bill Lann Lee next week?
        Q. Mr. President, are you concerned that the Southeast Asia
    financial crisis will affect the U.S. economy?
        The President. I'll answer this, but let me answer this one first.
    What I would like to say today, and all I am going to say today, is Bill
    Lann Lee's personal story, his work experience, his integrity, and his
    fitness for this job are absolutely beyond question. He should not be
    denied the job because he disagrees with the Republicans in the Senate
    on whether affirmative action is or is not good policy. The only thing
    he's required to do is to enforce the law as the Supreme Court hands it
    down or as the Congress passes it, and to recuse in the case of any kind
    of personal conflict, which he said he would do in the case of the
    California law, which is now moot.
        So I believe--I will say again--he is entitled to a vote. The
    Senators ought to vote on him. No one has put forward a credible reason
    for why this man should not be appointed. Surely the fact that he agrees
    with the President who wishes to appoint him on the question of what
    kind of affirmative action programs we should or shouldn't have, surely
    that should not disqualify him for this position. That is the point I
    have made. I still think that he ought to be able to serve.
        Yes, now go ahead.

    Asian Economies

        Q. Mr. President, are you concerned that the Southeast Asia
    financial blowout, which seems to be ongoing still, is going to eat into
    these economic growth figures that you revealed today?
        The President. Well, first of all, I think we all have to
    acknowledge that our economies are interrelated. About a third of our
    growth over the last 5 years has been due to our ability to sell more
    American products around the world--about a third. And anything which
    undermines our ability to continue to sell more American products around
    the world, any action taken abroad or at home, is not good for our
    future growth prospects.
        Now, that's one of the reasons that I have moved so aggressively to
    work with our allies in Asia and in Europe and with the International
    Monetary Fund and the World Bank to try to stabilize the situation.
        On the other hand, let me remind you that there is enormous
    productive power in these Asian economies. They have some financial
    difficulties now, which have to be addressed in a disciplined way. If
    you see the rapid recovery that Mexico had within the space of 2 years,
    you see that these strong Asian economies can do exactly the same thing
    in perhaps less time if they face their challenges directly. So I think
    that the appropriate response is to do what was done in Indonesia, to do
    what was done in South Korea.
        The Japanese statements of the last few days are heartening about
    what they intend to do with their own financial institutions and
    protecting the depositors. All this is basically good news. So they've
    hit a rough patch in their financial institutions and markets, but
    underlying productivity and potential in Asia is enormous. Yes, I'm
    concerned about its impact on Americans, and that's one of the reasons
    I've been so actively involved in trying to deal with it, but I don't
    think we should become pessimistic. I think we should just be determined
    to work through these things as quickly as possible.
        Q. Mr. President----
        Q. Mr. President----
        The President. One at a time, one at a time. Go ahead.

    [[Page 1722]]

    Arlington Interment of Ambassador M. Larry Lawrence

        Q. Mr. President, should Larry Lawrence have been buried in
    Arlington National Cemetery?
        The President. Well, that depends on what the facts are. The
    questions which have been raised are serious, and I have asked the State
    Department to conduct an inquiry to find out whether, in fact, the basis
    of his eligibility is true or not. That's a fact question. And let's
    wait until we see what the facts are, and then we can all draw our
    conclusions from that. But the questions themselves are serious.
        I think the other question you might ask is, were the people
    involved in the decision in any way at fault? I don't think they were.
    They acted on the facts as they knew them. The original inquiry into the
    background check was done--for the Ambassador--was done by the State
    Department. I've asked them, therefore, to follow up, try to find out
    the facts. When we get the facts, then I think we can make our judgments
    on it.

    Haiti

        Q. Have you made an indefinite commitment to keep American troops in
    Haiti?
        The President. Have I made an indefinite commitment? No. But I have
    made a definite commitment to continue to be involved there in ways that
    I think are appropriate. Keep in mind, we have a very modest troop
    presence there now, and we are participating as a minority partner, if
    you will, in the civilian police. With the withdrawal of the United
    Nations forces, the primary work of maintaining security has shifted to
    the international police force working with the Haitian police. Our
    military presence there--it largely involves a lot of public works. We
    are doing some public works projects there which we've been asked to
    continue and to finish, try to accelerate. And of course, I think it
    does contribute to the stability of the area. But our presence there
    cannot be indefinite, and it will not be indefinite. But I think that we
    should have these withdrawals in a staged fashion, and we should know
    what the next stage is before we take any precipitous action. The
    American people should know it's not a military operation.
        Go ahead.

    Situation in Iraq

        Q. Mr. President, Saddam Hussein seems not to be satisfied with the
    way--this arrangement of the U.N. Security Council. What do you feel and
    what do you think can be done about it?
        The President. Well, I certainly think he's exposed his motives and
    his real concerns to the entire world today. You know, it wasn't very
    long ago--how many days ago was it that he had this symbolic funeral for
    children, blaming the world community in general and the United States
    in particular for the death of Iraqi children. Let me remind you, when
    we got the United Nations resolution passed, we and the others who
    supported it--986--to allow him to sell oil to get food and medicine for
    his people, even while he was continuing to resist getting rid of his
    entire chemical and biological weapons arsenal, he delayed the full
    implementation of that for a year and a half. He is in no position to
    point the finger at anyone else in the world for the suffering of his
    own people. And once again today he has proved that he is responsible
    for the suffering of his own people.
        The rest of us are more than happy to let him sell oil in amounts
    necessary to generate the cash to alleviate the human suffering of the
    people of Iraq. That's what 986 was all about. This is not about 986.
    This is about some other way that he can manipulate the feelings of
    people beyond the borders of Iraq, even if he has to let innocent
    children die to do it, so he can continue to pursue a weapons of mass
    destruction program. And it's wrong, and the world community should not
    let him get away with it.
        Thank you.

    Note: The President spoke at 2:25 p.m. on the South Lawn at the White
    House. In his remarks, he referred to President Saddam Hussein of Iraq.