    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (1999, Book II)]
    [October 20, 1999]
    [Pages 1828-1832]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks on Signing the Departments of Veterans Affairs and Housing and
    Urban Development, and Independent Agencies Appropriations Act, 2000,
    and an Exchange With Reporters
    October 20, 1999

        The President. Ladies and gentlemen, let me, first of all, welcome
    you all here for the signing of the VA/HUD bill, and say what I would
    like to do. I want to make a statement, sign the bill, pass out the
    pens, and then if you have questions, I'll answer the questions then.
    Okay?
        Q. It's a deal.
        The President. We've got a deal? [Laughter] That way we won't all
    have to claw each other to death before we finish this.
        I would like to welcome Senator Edwards and
    Congressman Walsh and Congressman
    Mollohan, Secretary Cuomo, Secretary West, NSF Director
    Colwell, NASA Director Dan Goldin, and FEMA Director James Lee Witt, as well as the representatives of all these groups who
    are here who worked so hard with us to fashion what I think is a truly
    remarkable and positive piece of legislation.
        I also want to say a special word of thanks to our OMB Director,
    Jack Lew, to Sylvia Mathews, and his whole staff, for the wonderful work that they did
    on this in working with the Congress, and all the people here
    represented.
        For over 200 years, Presidents have been called upon to approve or
    not approve spending bills passed by the Congress. Because these bills
    can profoundly affect the future of our Nation, Presidents must
    carefully weigh their decisions about signing them. In the 6\1/2\ years
    I have been President, I have put my signature on spending bills only
    when convinced they reflect the values of our people, respected the need
    for Government to live within its means, and looked toward the future.
    The VA/HUD bill I'm about to sign clearly meets these standards. It not
    only maintains the fiscal discipline that has led us to this moment of
    prosperity; it also honors our highest values.

    [[Page 1829]]

        We value fairness and work. This bill reflects that by strengthening
    fair housing enforcement and by providing housing vouchers to help
    60,000 more hard-working, low income families move closer to where their
    jobs are. I want to thank Secretary Cuomo,
    especially, for his initiative on this. The bill also provides
    significant increases in housing for elderly Americans and puts in place
    a plan to ensure that they will continue to have safe and affordable
    places to live.
        We value opportunity. This bill expands opportunity to those who
    have not felt the full benefits of our prosperity yet. It maintains our
    commitments to empowerment zones and enterprise communities, while
    adding part of my new markets initiative, to give investors the same
    incentives to invest in our inner cities and poor rural areas they
    currently get to invest in new markets overseas. And the Vice President
    and I have worked very hard on this for many years, and I thank the
    Congress. I think the idea of bringing free enterprise and empowering
    poor communities is something that is becoming a bipartisan consensus in
    our country. I hope it is. We know that the Government can never provide
    enough economic opportunity in these areas. And we know if we can't
    bring private sector enterprise to these areas now, when our economy is
    so strong, we'll never get around to doing it. So I thank the Congress
    for putting these provisions in.
        We value clean air and clean water. This bill provides the
    Environmental Protection Agency with the resources it needs to protect
    our air and water.
        We value our fighting men and women, and thanks to the leadership of
    the Vice President and the commitment of
    this Congress, this bill adds the extra resources necessary to improve
    our veterans' health care.
        We value strong communities. This bill will help young people
    continue to serve their communities through AmeriCorps. And later today,
    we'll celebrate our fifth anniversary, and I'll have more to say about
    that.
        The bill also provides critical funding for FEMA, to help
    communities cope with hurricanes and other unforeseen natural disasters,
    especially now, the disasters caused by Hurricane Floyd. Senator
    Edwards is here, and I want to thank him for
    his work on that.
        Last night I asked the congressional leaders when we met to look at
    doing more to pay for the agricultural disasters caused, particularly in
    this part of our country, by the hurricanes coming on top of the
    drought.
        This bill also looks to the future. It gives NASA the resources it
    needs to probe the mysteries of space and provides the National Science
    Foundation with the extra resources it needs to fund research on the
    frontiers of information technology. This is a little noticed, I think,
    but profoundly important part of this bill, which I predict will have a
    big impact on our future for years and years to come.
        The legislation is important not just for what it will achieve but
    for how it was achieved. I'm pleased that our administration and the
    Congress were able to work together successfully on this bill in a
    genuine spirit of bipartisan cooperation to resolve our respective
    differences. Together, we produced legislation that is fully paid for
    and effectively addresses the critical needs of the American people.
        We're especially pleased we were able to achieve acceptable funding
    levels in a number of areas by providing offsets that were agreed to by
    both sides. There is no debate on this bill that there is any Social
    Security surplus money involved at all.
        Now, as all of you know, I met last night with congressional leaders
    of both parties. We agreed to work together in that same spirit to
    resolve our remaining differences and make the tough choices necessary
    to reach an overall agreement on our other outstanding values and budget
    priorities.
        First and foremost, we must protect Social Security and strengthen
    Medicare. I regret that the leaders of the Republican Party have said
    they won't take up the Medicare reform and the prescription drug benefit
    this year. I did ask them to consider my proposal, which would lengthen
    the life of the Social Security Trust Fund to 2050 and take it out
    beyond the life expectancy of the baby boomers, without a tax increase
    or without any benefit cuts. And I hope they will do that.
        I believe the priorities that we have must also include making the
    largest and most diverse group of students in our schools ever, the
    smartest and best educated students ever, by giving them a world-class,
    21st century education. That includes reducing class size by hiring
    100,000 more teachers, building or modernizing 6,000 schools, connecting
    every classroom to the Internet, investing in after-school programs to
    keep

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    our children safe, and demanding accountability, so that we can turn
    around failing schools.
        We must also work together to keep the crime rate going down. I say
    again, I'm glad we've got the lowest crime rate in 26 years and the
    lowest murder rate in 32 years. No American believes our country is safe
    enough. We should set a goal of making this the safest big country in
    the world. That means doing more of what we know works, including
    putting 50,000 more community police into our toughest neighborhoods.
        It also means, achieving this agreement, that we will have to put
    aside our differences and honor our commitment to our environment and
    our national security.
        Again I say, in spite of all the conflicts of the last few weeks, we
    still have a great opportunity to make this a season of progress and
    work together to pass a budget that lives within its means and lives up
    to our values. We've done it before, and we can do it again. We will be
    stronger in the new century because of what we have achieved here today,
    and I hope it is just the beginning.
        Again, let me thank all of you for your role in this and especially
    the Members of the Congress who are here.

    [At this point, the President began to sign the bill.]

        The President. Helen [Helen Thomas, United
    Press International], how many pens did President Johnson use when he
    signed the Voting Rights Act?
        Ms. Thomas. Fifty. [Laughter] He gave one
    to the press, too. [Laughter]
        The President. When all else fails, I can always spell my middle
    name. [Laughter]

    [The President finished signing the bill.]

        The President. I'll answer the questions and then pass out the pens.
    How's that?

    Meeting With Congressional Leaders

        Q. Mr. President, after the meeting last night, why did both sides
    come out with such conflicting views on taxes, Social Security, tobacco?
        The President. I'll tell you exactly what I said about the tobacco
    issue and what we said about spending. Now, first of all, there's a big
    controversy, as you know, about whether the Congress has already spent
    into the Social Security surplus. I don't think we can fully evaluate
    all that until we see all these bills and we have a comprehensive
    resolution. This bill had its own pay-fors. There's no question that
    this bill does not get into the Social Security surplus.
        So what I said to them is--I said the following things: Number one,
    let's try to have a comprehensive solution. Let's look at all these
    bills together, see where we are and where we need to go. Number two,
    there were some things that I felt very strongly that we ought to fund
    that weren't presently in the bills. I wanted to make sure that we
    continued to work on the 100,000 teachers, that we continued to work on
    the police, that we paid our commitments to the Middle East peace
    process, to reducing the nuclear arsenal in Russia, to our part of our
    efforts to alleviate the debt of the poorest countries--that's a big
    part of the world's millennium project--to the U.N. dues--I'm trying to
    work that out--but that if I ask for extra money, over and above what
    they had appropriated, I would make a commitment that we would pay for
    it, we would find a way to cover that, so there would be no question
    that any extra funds we asked for--which, in the context of the overall
    budget, would be quite modest now; there's not that much difference in
    the dollars--that that would be paid for and that we ought to get all
    this together and look.
        Now, with regard to the tobacco tax, what I said was, I was well
    aware that they were not going to raise the tobacco tax 55 cents, as I
    had originally proposed. I still believe that it would be good health
    policy to have a more modest increase or at least a look-back provision
    to protect kids from smoking. We're seeing all over the country an
    absence of those kinds of efforts. Even in the States that have gotten a
    lot of money, some States are doing it; some States aren't. So I think
    it would be good policy.
        So all I said was that I realized they weren't going to accept my
    proposal but that we were now talking about much more modest money that
    I thought we could find a way to pay for that they could live with.

    2000 Election/Campaign Finance Reform

        Q. Mr. President, Elizabeth Dole pulled out of the Presidential race
    today. And also, as you know, for I guess the fourth year in a row,
    Senate Republicans have defeated the campaign finance efforts. So I
    wondered whether--first, what you think of that, the fact that they've
    put that aside again, and also, whether Mrs.

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    Dole's pulling out is another example, in your opinion, of why these
    efforts are necessary?
        The President. Well, first of all, let me say about Mrs. Dole, I think she's a very, very, impressive person.
    She's had a lot of important public service in her career, and she was
    clearly qualified to seek the Presidency. And I regret the fact that
    finances alone kept her from going through the first few primaries and
    getting to the stage when all those candidates have debates and the
    voters can actually see them all in ways other than they see them in
    their ads. And I think that's too bad, because I think she has a kind of
    experience that's different from that of any other person running, her
    work in the Cabinet and in the Red Cross. And I think it's a loss to the
    Republican Party and a loss to the country that she couldn't go forward.
        Secondly, I think that part of what you see is that fact that
    Governor Bush is the first candidate in the
    history of the modern era when we've had Federal financing who has given
    it up so that an unlimited amount of money could be raised; so that puts
    all the others at, I think, a relative disadvantage. It's something that
    some people urged on me 4 years ago, because I could have done that, and
    I decided it wasn't fair, and I didn't do it. I didn't think it was the
    right thing to do.
        And finally, obviously it does make the point, as Senator McCain
    pointed out earlier, that we do need campaign finance reform, that it's
    not just the Presidential campaigns. It's also the Senate races. It's
    also the Congress races. And I can only say, I'm very proud of the
    members of my party. There were some, I think when I got here in '93,
    some of our folks felt ambivalent about it, and we worked and worked and
    worked until we've now got, I think, 100 percent of our party in both
    Houses voted for both those bills.
        You know, the truth is, this is now a matter that's in the hands of
    the American people. If they decide it's important enough that it will
    become a voting issue for them, we can change the direction of the
    country. If they continue to say they care about it but it doesn't
    influence their votes, then we won't, because it's a democracy, and
    they're in the driver's seat.
        But obviously, I think we ought to pass something like the McCain-
    Feingold bill. I would even go further. I think--my whole view of this
    is that the biggest problem is the cost of communications. So if you
    want--and that's not a criticism of the people who charge us money to
    run our ads, either, because they can get even more money, as you know.
    In the election season, they can get even more money for commercial
    clients. But it costs a lot money. So you're either going to have to
    have free or reduced television time, radio time, access to the
    newspapers, or some guaranteed source of funding, because no matter how
    you change the rules, until people can have more or less comparable
    access to have their views heard, it's going to be a difficult thing.
        But I think we should keep working on it. I hope that Senator
    McCain and Senator Feingold aren't too discouraged. I hope they'll be willing to come
    back next year. And we'll keep working.
        But the plain fact is that the American people need to say not only
    that they care about it but that they care enough about it for it to
    influence how they vote. And if they do, we'll make some progress.

    Defense Appropriations Legislation

        Q. Mr. President, are you going to sign or veto the defense bill?
        The President. Well, let me tell you what I said yesterday to the
    leaders. That's not a decision that I have to make until early next
    week. And what I said to them I will say again to you. All these other
    bills raise questions already about how they're financed and whether
    they're properly financed. And then there are these outstanding
    questions I mentioned. I think the teachers--keeping the commitment that
    a bipartisan majority of Congress made just a year ago, in 1998, to the
    smaller classes and the 100,000 teachers, continuing to do the things we
    know will bring the crime rate down with the police, doing right by the
    environment, these things are important.
        So what I said we needed to do is to look at all the bills that are
    outstanding so that we can evaluate exactly where we are and try our
    best to reach agreement by next Tuesday. And I promised that our people
    would work hard with the congressional leadership, the appropriators,
    and all the relevant committees and subcommittees, and that if we had
    to, we'd be prepared to work around the clock between now and next
    Tuesday to get the job done.
        So I think that's how I would like to leave it now. I think it's
    important not to give the impression that this whole issue is just about

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    one bill, because it's not. You can't just take one bill out of the
    reality of the aggregate budget. We got the deficit down and eliminated
    it and then got to a surplus by looking at the big picture, and that's
    how we ought to deal with this.

    Indonesian Elections

        Q. Can you comment on the Indonesian elections and the outcome of
    that election's impact on the situation in East Timor?
        The President. Well, first of all, they accepted the results of the
    referendum, which is good, because the Government offered the East
    Timorese the chance to vote, and they took it, and they voted--over 78
    percent, I think--for independence. So the first thing that has happened
    is they accepted the results of the referendum.
        The second thing that has happened is they have selected a new
    leader consistent with the constitution of Indonesia. And I think that
    has to be a very hopeful development for the world.
        So I feel pretty good about where we are today. Now, there are still
    a lot of problems in East Timor. There are still a lot of hurdles for
    Indonesia out there. They've been through an incredibly traumatic time,
    not just politically but economically, and a lot of people have been
    hurt very badly economically. But I think the events of the last 2 days
    should give us all hope that a very great country that the world needs
    very much is on the way back, and that's what I'm hoping is happening.

    Federal Budget

        Q. Mr. President, you said on the budget that the amounts were quite
    modest now. How much? How much money are we talking about?
        The President. I don't know. I've asked our people to go back and
    look at it. But we're not talking about a great deal of money, so that
    if we're just talking about that amount of money, I think we could reach
    agreement with the Republican and the Democratic leaders about ways to
    pay for it.
        We're also talking about the substance, though, of some of the
    bills. I feel very strongly about not just the amount of money in
    education but how is the money going to be spent. We shouldn't back off
    of the commitment we made to the American people and to the children of
    this country just a year ago, that both Republicans and Democrats were
    bragging on in the election a year ago--we shouldn't just turn around
    and drop it. I think that's a big mistake, and I'll fight for that.
        I think that we need to continue to push raising standards, testing
    kids, ending social promotion, but not blaming them for the failure of
    the system, which means you've got to have more after-school programs;
    you've got to have more summer school programs; and there ought to be a
    system which provides help to turn around failing schools, because we
    know that's working. In the States where that's going on, that's really
    working. Where these schools are being targeted and being told you're
    going to have to shut down if you don't turn around, it's working. But
    those aren't money problems. And then I have several environmental
    concerns that I hope we can work out, that I personally believe are
    quite important to our country's future.
        Thank you.

    Note: The President spoke at 12:47 p.m. in the Oval Office at the White
    House. In his remarks, he referred to Gov. George W. Bush of Texas. H.R.
    2684, approved October 20, was assigned Public Law No. 106-74. A portion
    of these remarks could not be verified because the tape was incomplete.