    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1998, Book I)]
    [February 3, 1998]
    [Pages 155-157]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    [[Page 155]]

    Remarks at Los Alamos National Laboratory in Los Alamos, New Mexico
    February 3, 1998

        Thank you so much for that warm welcome. Thank you, Secretary
    Pena, for being a truly outstanding Energy
    Secretary. Thank you, Senator Bingaman, for
    your long friendship and your leadership. Thank you, Congressman
    Redmond. I really admire a guy who had enough
    guts to tell that joke. I wouldn't do it. [Laughter] But you know, the
    nice thing about that story is everybody knows that 13 doesn't last
    forever. [Laughter] Unfortunately, 18 comes, and they're gone, and you
    wish even they were 13 again, you would take.
        Thank you, Dr. Browne, for a wonderful,
    but too brief, review of the operations here at Los Alamos. And we're
    delighted to be joined today by the Directors of the Sandia and Lawrence
    Livermore Labs, Dr. Paul Robinson and Dr.
    Bruce Tarter. I thank Attorney General
    Udall for being here, the chair of the Corporation
    Commissioners, Jerome Block, Commissioner
    Serna, the tribal leaders, and others who have
    joined us. Thank you all.
        I am delighted to be back in New Mexico. We landed Air Force One
    this morning, and then I got on my helicopter to fly up here, and I told
    them to fly low so I could see it all. And it was a wonderful,
    exhilarating experience, as it always is when I come here.
        I want you to know that among other things in our budget, there is
    an item of particular importance, I know, to Senator Bingaman, and I am
    sure is supported by all members of the New Mexico congressional
    delegation. Congressman Redmond and I talked
    about it a little today, but Jeff Bingaman
    told me a good while ago, in no uncertain terms, that we had to move
    forward to protect the magnificent Valle Grande, 100,000 unspoiled acres
    near the Santa Fe forest. And in my budget, there is $40 million to
    support this project to secure this land.
        There is also other money to preserve national monuments, national
    parks, and other invaluable cultural resources. This is a very unique
    and wonderful place. I know all of you understand that. And we want to
    be good partners in preserving the heritage that all of you cherish and
    are fortunate enough to live with. So when all the children here in this
    audience have their own grandchildren, it will all still be there for
    them.
        Los Alamos in so many ways is the place that forever changed the
    20th century. I came here to talk about what we must do to start a chain
    reaction of opportunity for all our people in the 21st century. This
    week we took the most important step toward meeting that challenge when
    I submitted to Congress the first balanced budget since 1969. Think of
    how long it has been: You heard the Beatles, ``Hey Jude''; 1969 was also
    the year that Neil Armstrong first stepped on the Moon. Now the balanced
    budget of 1999 will pave the way for America's next great leap forward
    over the next 30 years.
        It will help keep interest rates down. It will free up capital to
    spur private investment in new business, in new homes, in new education,
    in research and development. And because we are doing this the right
    way, there will be funds necessary to make the public investments we
    need to make our Nation stronger. In this budget we demonstrate that we
    can balance the budget and still save Social Security for the 21st
    century by saving the projected budget surplus from either tax cuts or
    new spending, both of which would be more popular in the short run. But
    we shouldn't spend that surplus until we know for sure we have secured
    Social Security for the 21st century, so that the baby boomers don't
    bankrupt their children when they retire. It is a moral obligation that
    should override any short-term consideration that any of us have, and I
    hope all of you will support that.
        We can balance the budget and still continue to invest in education.
    We can hire 100,000 teachers for our elementary schools to lower class
    size to 18 in the first through third grades, and help to repair or
    build 5,000 new schools. We can open the doors of college literally to
    every American with the laws that are on the books now by continuing to
    fund them through the next 5 years. We can allow hundreds of thousands
    of middle-aged Americans who've lost their jobs and their health
    insurance to buy into the Medicare program without burdening the Trust
    Fund. We can extend child care to a million more children. And most
    important for you, I think, we can still continue to substantially

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    increase our commitment to scientific research and technological
    development, which are key to our success in the new global economy of
    the information age.
        Many of you know this, but the entire store of human knowledge is
    now doubling every 5 years. Breakthroughs which now seem normal, just a
    couple of years ago seemed impossible. In the 1980's, scientists
    identified the gene for cystic fibrosis after 9 years of effort. Last
    year scientists located the gene that causes Parkinson's disease after 9
    days of effort. Within a decade, gene chips will offer a roadmap for
    prevention of illness throughout a lifetime. And we'll discover cures
    for many of our most deadly diseases, from diabetes to Alzheimer's to
    AIDS.
        I have worked to increase our investments in research and
    development for the last 5 years, even as we have reduced the deficit by
    over 90 percent. And the new balanced budget contains the largest
    investment in science and technology in history. It includes a $31
    billion 21st century research fund to significantly increase funding for
    the Department of Energy, the National Institute of Health, the National
    Science Foundation, and the National Cancer Institute.
        It funds critically important initiatives in areas ranging from
    astrophysics to agricultural technology. Now, just a few minutes ago, I
    toured the labs here to see some of that 21st century technology our
    balanced budget will help to develop further. The supercomputers here,
    along with those at Lawrence Livermore and Sandia Laboratories, are
    already the fastest in the world. They're already being used to do
    everything from predicting the consequences of global warming to
    designing more fuel efficient engines to discovering life-saving drugs
    to cracking down on Medicare fraud.
        Let me just say, parenthetically, it is terribly important that this
    environmental mission continue, because I have a big job to do as
    President to convince all of you, and people like you all across
    America, that there really is a scientific consensus that if we don't do
    something to slow the rate of greenhouse gas emissions and in fact turn
    it around and reduce it in America and throughout the developed world
    and eventually throughout the developing world as well, we will disrupt
    our climate in ways that are potentially disastrous for people all
    around the world sometime in the next century.
        And just as I saw you all clapping, because a lot of you--
    particularly those of you who are my age or a little younger, those of
    us who are baby boomers, we know it would be terribly wrong for us
    either to bankrupt the Social Security system or bankrupt our kids
    making them pay for us. We know that would be wrong. Believe me, it is
    just as wrong, and potentially even more devastating, for us not to deal
    now in a responsible, disciplined way with the problem of global climate
    change, even though our grandchildren, perhaps even our great-
    grandchildren, would be the ones to bear the greatest consequences.
        We know now things that we couldn't have ever known before because
    of what science is teaching us, and it enables us to take small steps
    now to avoid having to take huge and more burdensome steps later to do
    what is clearly right. So I think that it is almost impossible to
    exaggerate the responsibility and the opportunity these labs have to
    build a consensus necessary in our country to do what has to be done to
    both continue to grow our economy at a brisk rate but to do it in a
    different way so that we reduce greenhouse gas emissions. And I thank
    you for your work on that.
        Now, that to me is just the beginning. Today I also want to announce
    to you that that balanced budget includes over $500 million--$517
    million, to be exact--to help the Department of Energy develop the next
    generation of supercomputer technology. Just recently, we signed
    contracts with four leading United States companies to help to build
    supercomputers that will be 1,000 times faster than the fastest computer
    that existed when I took office. By 2001, they'll be able to perform
    more calculations in a second than a human being with a hand-held
    calculator could perform in 30 million years.
        Now, even a person as technologically challenged as me can
    understand that is a big deal. [Laughter] It is a good investment. It is
    an investment we must secure. Of all the remarkable things these
    supercomputers will be able to accomplish, none will be more important
    than helping to make sure the world is safe from the threat of nuclear
    weapons.
        For more than 50 years, since we first split the atom and unleashed
    its awesome force, the nuclear threat has hovered over our heads.
    Throughout the cold war and the arms race, it has been an ever present
    threat to our people and the people of the world. For 5 years I

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    have worked to reduce that threat. Today, there is not a single Russian
    missile pointed at America's children. But we have to do more. Last fall
    I sent the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty to the Senate for its
    advice and consent. In my State of the Union Address last week, I asked
    the Senate to approve that treaty this year. By banning all nuclear
    tests for all time, we open a new era of security for America.
        At the same time, our national security requires that we maintain a
    nuclear arsenal strong enough to deter any adversary and safe enough to
    retain the confidence of our military leaders, our political leaders,
    and the American people.
        Five years ago I directed the development of the stockpile
    stewardship program to maintain our nuclear arsenal through science. The
    program is an essential safeguard to accompany the Comprehensive Test
    Ban Treaty. In fact, I don't think we can get the treaty ratified unless
    we can convince the Senate that the stockpile stewardship program works,
    that we will be secure while we try to make the world safer from the
    dangers of nuclear development and nuclear use in other countries. Now,
    by combining past nuclear data with the high-tech simulations that
    computers like those here at Los Alamos make possible, we are keeping
    the arsenal safe, reliable, and effective. And we're doing it without
    detonating a single explosion.
        I just received a briefing, as you heard, by Dr. Browne and the other Directors of our national labs on the
    stewardship program. They confirmed that we can meet the challenge of
    maintaining a nuclear deterrent under the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty
    through the stockpile stewardship program. This Test Ban Treaty is good
    for America's security. Already, four former Chairmen of the Joints
    Chief of Staff, General John Shalikashvili, General Colin Powell, General
    David Jones, and Admiral Bill Crowe, have all endorsed it. I also discussed the
    issue last week when I had my annual meeting with our Nation's senior
    military leadership, all of our four stars, the Joint Chiefs of Staff,
    and the heads of various commands around the world. General
    Shelton, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs,
    and General Habiger, the Commander in
    Chief of our Strategic Command, have both given their treaty their full
    support. This is in America's interests.
        Five years ago I extended the moratorium on testing passed by
    Congress in 1992. The Test Ban Treaty will hold other nations to the
    same standard we already observe; that is its importance. Its ban on all
    nuclear explosions will constrain the nuclear powers from developing
    more advanced and more dangerous weapons, making a costly arms buildup
    less likely.
        It will also make it more difficult for states that don't now have
    nuclear weapons to develop them, because without testing there's no way
    for them to know whether a new weapon will work as it is designed or
    whether it will work at all. The treaty will also put in a place an
    extensive global network of monitoring stations to detect and deter
    nuclear explosion on land, underground, beneath the sea, or in space.
    Our national security demands that we monitor such nuclear weapons
    programs around the world. We have to do that with or without the Test
    Ban Treaty. But with the treaty in force, we will gain a powerful new
    tool to do that monitoring.
        The great scientist Louie Pasteur once said that he held, and I
    quote, ``the unconquerable belief that science and peace will triumph
    over ignorance and war, that nations will come together not to destroy,
    but to construct, and that the future of humanity belongs to those who
    accomplish the most for humanity.'' With the new balanced budget, with
    our commitment to science and technology, with our commitment to the
    Test Ban Treaty, with the work you have done here and at the other labs
    to assure the safety of the treaty through the stockpile stewardship
    program, all these things are helping to build a stronger America for
    the 21st century, a safer world for our children in the 21st century,
    and a legacy worthy of America's glorious past. For your role in that, I
    thank you very, very much.
        Thank you, and God bless you.

    Note: The President spoke at 11:45 a.m. in the Main Auditorium of the
    Administration Building. In his remarks, he referred to John C. Browne,
    Director, Los Alamos National Laboratory; New Mexico Attorney General
    Tom Udall; Jerome D. Block, chair, and Eric P. Serna, member, New Mexico
    Corporation Commission; Gen. Henry H. Shelton, USA, Chairman, Joint
    Chiefs of Staff; and Gen. Eugene E. Habiger, USAF, Commander in Chief,
    U.S. Strategic Command.