    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1999, Book I)]
    [May 12, 1999]
    [Pages 749-751]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks on the Secretary of the Treasury Transition
    May 12, 1999

        The President. Please be seated. I'd like to welcome all of you here
    today, especially the families of the people who are at the center of
    this announcement, and members of the Cabinet, Members of the Congress,
    Mr. Greenspan, ladies and gentlemen.
        For 6\1/2\ years now, I have worked hard to build an economy that
    gives all of our people a chance to prosper and to live out their
    dreams. When I took office in 1993, it was a time of record deficits,
    high unemployment, decades of stagnant wages. It was clear then that we
    needed to make difficult and too long deferred choices.
        So we put in place a new economic strategy rooted in the realities
    of the emerging information age. By now, the elements of that strategy
    are tiresomely familiar to those of you who have been a part of this:
    fiscal discipline, investment in our people, expanded trade. But the
    results are plain: over 18 million new jobs; the lowest unemployment and
    inflation in three decades; the strongest economy in a generation,
    perhaps ever, ushered in by new technologies; the productive energies of
    the American people; and sensible policies.
        In 1992 I told the American people I would focus on the economy like
    a laser beam. The first step was to establish within the White House a
    National Economic Council, modeled on the National Security Council, and
    then to pick Bob Rubin to lead it.
        As the first Chair of the National Economic Council, Bob forged a true team and built an enduring and vital
    institution, now ably led by his successor, Gene Sperling.
        Four years ago, when Secretary Bentsen resigned, I appointed
    Bob to be Secretary of the Treasury.
    Alexander Hamilton, our first Treasury Secretary, insisted that the
    United States pay

    [[Page 750]]

    its debts and practice fiscal prudence. That then-controversial proposal
    gave the new Nation a chance to grow into the powerhouse it is today.
    Bob has been acclaimed as the most effective Treasury Secretary since
    Alexander Hamilton, and I believe that acclaim is well deserved. I thank
    again the Members of Congress who have come here, both Republicans and
    Democrats, in testament to that.
        He has upheld the highest traditions of
    the office. He has merged old-fashioned fiscal conservatism with new
    ideas to help all Americans benefit from the new economy and to maintain
    and enhance America's leadership in the world economy. He understood the
    importance of fiscal discipline and the accountability and the impact
    that it would bring, not only low interest rates but also intangible
    economic confidence, both of which have brought us more jobs, more
    businesses, higher wages, lower mortgage rates, and a rising standard of
    living for all Americans.
        He cares very deeply about the impact of
    abstract economics on ordinary people. I can tell you that for all these
    years, he has always been one of the administration's most powerful
    advocate for the poor and for our cities, for the investments that we
    put into the empowerment zones, for the earned-income tax credit, for
    the community development banks and the Community Reinvestment Act, and
    for the new markets initiative that I was out promoting in Atlanta
    yesterday. He has also tried to help our friends abroad when they needed
    it, knowing that our friends and trading partners need to do well if
    America is to do well.
        We were reminiscing in the Oval Office just a moment ago about the
    night just before he was appointed Secretary
    of the Treasury when we decided we had to give assistance to Mexico. At
    the time, I think 11 percent of the American people thought we were
    doing the right thing. But since then, I think almost always, the
    American people have concluded that Bob Rubin's recommendations have
    been the right thing for our country.
        It's no secret to all of you who know him that Bob has been pining for private life for a long time now, and
    I have been pleading for all that long time for him not to pine too
    much. But 2 weeks ago, he told me that he was ready to go. I will miss
    his cool head and steady hand, his sharp mind and his warm heart. I also
    want to put him on notice that I expect him to show up here regularly
    for the next 2 years until we're done, for lots of free advice.
        I used to joke that Bob Rubin came to
    Washington to help me save the middle class, and he'd stayed so long
    that by the time he left he'd be one of them. [Laughter] He just wants a
    little time to prove me wrong. [Laughter] But I thank him from the
    bottom of my heart for being a true patriot and a true friend.
        To carry forward our economic strategy, I will nominate Larry
    Summers to be the next Secretary of the
    Treasury. He is brilliant, able, a critical part of our economic team
    during the entire life of this administration, therefore, deeply
    knowledgeable and more than ready to help steer our Nation through the
    strong and sometimes turbulent currents of the new economy.
        Rarely has any individual been so well prepared to become Secretary
    of the Treasury. For the past 6 years he
    has been a senior official at Treasury, first Under Secretary of the
    Treasury for International Affairs, and then for 4 years as Deputy
    Secretary. He has always been Bob Rubin's
    partner in many, many ways, working with him to balance the budget, to
    strengthen Social Security, to reform the IRS, to build a stronger
    economy at home and abroad. He has a close working relationship not only
    with Chairman Greenspan but with key finance
    ministers and central bankers around the world. He has the rare ability
    to see the world that is taking shape and the skill to help to bring it
    into being.
        I will also nominate Stu Eizenstat
    to be Deputy Secretary of the Treasury. I have known him now for well
    over 20 years, since he was President Carter's Domestic Policy Adviser.
    He has served our administration very well in several positions:
    Ambassador to the European Union, Under Secretary of Commerce for
    International Trade, and most recently Under Secretary of State for
    Economic Affairs.
        Of all the people on this platform today, the person making the
    greatest sacrifice for the national interest is Secretary Madeleine
    Albright. And I appreciate her
    presence here and the absence of tears in losing a man as able as Stu
    Eizenstat. [Laughter]
        Stu has handled many of our
    Nation's most difficult missions over the last 6 years, from our
    successful efforts to lift food and medicine sanctions on trading
    partners--or non-trading

    [[Page 751]]

    partners--to the struggle for justice and compensation on behalf of the
    victims of the Holocaust, an endeavor he will continue.
        I would like to say a special word of thanks to him for all the many missions he has undertaken, but
    especially for the work he's done in the Holocaust area. He has done it
    better, more energetically, more completely, and with greater
    sensitivity for all the elements involved than I think any other
    American could have. And not just Jewish Americans and other survivors
    and family members of survivors of the Holocaust around the world, but
    all Americans should be grateful for this unique contribution he has
    made to making the American dream real.
        With his legendary grasp of policy
    and the art of practical government, his long experience, his stamina,
    and his steady judgment, he will be a vital, full member of our economic
    team.
        Our economy continues on its remarkable path, but we must press
    forward with the strategy that has brought us thus far. We have a lot to
    do to strengthen Social Security and Medicare in the months ahead; to
    maintain our fiscal discipline and begin to pay down this debt; to renew
    our public schools so that they can play the role that they must play in
    preparing all of our people to succeed in the economy we are working to
    build; and to bring economic opportunity where it is still not in
    sufficient supply in underinvested urban and rural areas in America.
        With a steady strategy and now, a strong economic team, I am
    confident we can enter the 21st century stronger than ever. But I would
    like to say that more than any other single citizen, Bob Rubin deserves the credit for building all the teams
    we've had with all the members, because he started with his National
    Economic Council. No one had ever made it work before. No one had ever
    made it really a priority to bring together all the strands and all the
    economic actors, to bring together the State Department and the Treasury
    Department and the Commerce Department and the Export-Import Bank and
    the Overseas Private Investment Corporation and a lot of other things
    most Americans had never heard of.
        He brought it all together. He got us to work as a team. He worked
    for a consensus. He was always honest with me in presenting
    disagreements. And he built a spirit and a belief that we could actually
    make this economy what it ought to be for our people. That will be his
    enduring achievement, along with the fact that everybody believed as
    long as he was Secretary of the Treasury, nothing bad could happen.
        Ladies and gentlemen, Bob Rubin.
        Secretary Rubin. Thank you.
        The President. You're not used to this.

    [At this point, Treasury Secretary Robert E. Rubin, Treasury Secretary-Designate Lawrence H. Summers, and Deputy Treasury Secretary-Designate Stuart E.
    Eizenstat made brief remarks.]

        The President. Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you.

    Note: The President spoke at 3:48 p.m. in the Rose Garden at the White
    House. The transcript released by the Office of the Press Secretary also
    included the remarks of Treasury Secretary Rubin, Treasury Secretary-
    Designate Summers, and Deputy Treasury Secretary-Designate Eizenstat.