    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1997, Book II)]
    [August 4, 1997]
    [Pages 1041-1042]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    [[Page 1041]]

    Remarks Prior to a Meeting With Business Leaders and an Exchange With
    Reporters
    August 4, 1997

    Helen Thomas' Birthday

        The President. Before we start, I think it's only fair to note that
    we are observing another anniversary of Helen's [Helen Thomas, United
    Press International] 50th birthday. [Laughter] We wanted to give you a
    birthday cake with a telltale number of----

    [At this point, participants sang ``Happy Birthday.'']

        Ms. Thomas. Now may I have a press conference? [Laughter]
        The President. I'm going to make a statement, and you get the
    questions. [Laughter]
        Ms. Thomas. Thank you.
        The President. Take it to the press room and cut it up. [Laughter]
        Ms. Thomas. Thank you. This is painful. [Laughter]
        The President. You don't make it look that way. It's painful for me,
    too. [Laughter]

    Action on Climate Change

        I'm glad to be joined today by the CEO's of 10 Fortune 500 companies
    who have come here to meet with me on climate change. These companies
    represent electric utilities, the oil and gas industry, finance, high
    technology, and heavy industry. They are all intimately interested in
    this issue and will be affected by whatever happens on it in our country
    and throughout the world. We want a responsible approach to climate
    change. We believe that the science makes it clear that the climate is
    changing. I want to proceed based on some fairly straightforward and
    simple principles.
        First of all, as we get ready for the Kyoto conference, I believe
    there should be realistic but binding limits to emissions of greenhouse
    gases. I believe that we have to do it in a way that keeps our economy
    growing. And I believe that we ought to embrace flexible, market-based
    policies. I believe we should reemphasize and reenergize our efforts in
    research and development to find as many technological solutions to this
    as possible and to keep our Nation in the forefront of what is now a
    $400 billion market for environmental technologies. And finally, I
    believe the agreement has to be a global one. I think all nations,
    developed and developing, should be a part of this. So this is part of
    an ongoing process that I and our administration have undertaken to try
    to make sure we're working together with all the people who would be
    affected by this issue and try to reach, hopefully, a common position.
        We're going to have a good meeting today, and I'm looking forward to
    it. And again, I want to thank all the executives for coming here and
    giving vent to their views.
        Q. What do you think of the opposition, who says there is no such
    thing as global warming and that they don't agree with the scientists--
    some of the scientists?
        The President. Well, I think that the real question is--I don't
    think that very many people disagree with the fact that there is climate
    change now. I think there's some disagreement about what the impact of
    it is and what the appropriate response is. There's still some debate
    there. But I think the scientific evidence for the fact of climate
    change is pretty compelling. We had that panel of scientists, including
    the Nobel Prize winners, here the other day, and I received a letter
    from--I don't know, over 2,500 of them--from scientists about it.
        So I think that there's pretty clear evidence that the climate is
    changing and could be changing substantially. There is still some
    difference about what the consequences of that will be and what we ought
    to do about it. But I think if we follow these principles, we'll be
    staking out a responsible position, which will permit us to continue to
    grow economically and do our part in the world. After all, we have only
    4 percent of the world's population, but we account for 20 percent of
    the greenhouse gas emissions, which you would expect since we have
    slightly over 20 percent of the world's output.

    Budget Agreement

        Q. Mr. President, how seriously are you considering using a line
    item veto to kill some provisions of the budget you'll sign into law
    tomorrow?

    [[Page 1042]]

        The President. Well, I asked Mr. Bowles to--once we got a budget
    agreement and it passed--to institute an intensive process to review
    both the spending and the tax bills to see if there were any items that
    would be appropriate for the line item veto. And I have not yet received
    the results of that review.
        I support the line item veto; I did all along. And I think if we
    have it, it ought to be used--I believe that it ought to be used
    somewhat sparingly. And my experience as Governor was that once I used
    it a few times, I didn't have to--I didn't need to use it very much
    anymore. And that's what I would hope would happen.
        We'll just see--you probably know more about the likely targets for
    it than I do at this point. I was interested in the big-picture items in
    the budget. We got virtually 100 percent of what I sought, and I'm
    elated with the budget. I think it's good for America. I think it will
    keep the economy growing, and I think it's a responsible thing to do. So
    whatever I do on that shouldn't be in any way detracting from the
    terrific job that the Congress did on it.

    United Parcel Service Strike

        Q. Mr. President, one question on UPS. The standards for
    Presidential intervention are relatively high. Are you considering doing
    anything else to intervene to bring an end to the strike?
        The President. On UPS?
        Q. Yes, UPS.
        The President. Well, first we urged the Federal mediator, and we got
    that. And we got--obviously, it didn't work. I still think the parties
    ought to go back to the table. UPS is a very important company to our
    country, and there are a lot of employees there and I hope they go back
    to the table. But at this time, I don't think any further action by me
    is appropriate.

    Note: The President spoke at 10:25 a.m. in the Cabinet Room at the White
    House. A tape was not available for verification of the content of these
    remarks.