[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (1999, Book II)]
[December 8, 1999]
[Pages 2226-2239]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]
The President's News Conference
December 8, 1999
The President. Good afternoon. Before I take your questions, I have
a statement to make. We are at a pivotal moment in the Middle East peace
process, one that can shape the face of the region for generations to
come. As I have said on numerous occasions, history will not forgive a
failure to seize this opportunity to achieve a comprehensive peace.
We've made good progress on the Palestinian track, and I'm
determined to help Prime Minister Barak and
Chairman Arafat move forward in accordance
with their very ambitious timetable.
We've also been working intensely, for months, for a resumption of
negotiations between Israel and Syria. Today I am pleased to announce
that Prime Minister Barak and President
Asad have agreed that the Israel-Syrian peace
negotiations will be resumed from the point where they left off. The
talks will be launched here in Washington next week with Prime Minister
Barak and Foreign Minister Shara.
After an initial round for 1 or 2 days, they will return to the
region, and intensive negotiations will resume at a site to be
determined soon thereafter. These negotiations will be high level,
comprehensive, and conducted with the aim of reaching an agreement as
soon as possible.
Israelis and Syrians still need to make courageous decisions in
order to reach a just and lasting peace. But today's step is a
significant breakthrough, for it will allow them to deal with each other
face to face, and that is the only way to get there.
I want to thank Prime Minister Barak and
President Asad for their willingness to take
this important step. And I want to thank Secretary Albright who has worked very hard on this and, as you
know, has been in the region and meeting with the leaders as we have
come to this conclusion.
Before us is a task as clear as it is challenging. As I told Prime
Minister Barak and President Asad in phone conversations with them earlier today, they now
bear a heavy responsibility of bringing peace to the Israeli and Syrian
people.
On the Palestinian track, Prime Minister Barak and Chairman Arafat are
committed to a rapid timetable: a framework agreement by mid-February, a
permanent status agreement by mid-September. I'm convinced it is
possible to achieve that goal, to put an end to generations of conflict,
to realize the aspirations of both the Israeli and the Palestinian
people. And I will do everything I can to help them in that historic
endeavor.
It is my hope that with the resumption of Israeli-Syrian talks,
negotiations between Israel and Lebanon also will soon begin.
There can be no illusion here. On all tracks, the road ahead will be
arduous; the task of negotiating agreements will be difficult. Success
is not inevitable. Israelis, Palestinians, Syrians, and Lebanese will
have to confront fateful questions. They face hard choices. They will
have to stand firmly against all those who seek to derail the peace, and
sadly, there are still too many of them.
But let there also be no misunderstanding. We have a truly historic
opportunity now. With a comprehensive peace, Israel will live in a safe,
secure, and recognized border for the first time in its history. The
Palestinian people will be able to forge their own destiny on their own
land. Syrians and Lebanese will fulfill their aspirations and enjoy the
full fruits of peace. And throughout the region, people will be able to
build more peaceful and, clearly, more prosperous lives.
As I have said, and I say one more time, I will spare neither time
nor effort in pursuit of that goal. Today the parties have given us
clear indication that they, too, are willing to take that path. Peace
has long been within our
[[Page 2227]]
sight. Today it is within our grasp, and we must seize it.
Thank you very much. Terry [Terence Hunt, Associated Press].
Elian Gonzalez
Q. Mr. President, on another matter involving a foreign government,
as a father, do you sympathize with the demand of Elian Gonzalez for the
return of his 6-year-old son to Cuba, now that the boy's mother and
stepfather were drowned in a boating accident on the way to Florida?
The President. Well, I think, of course, all fathers would be
sympathetic. The question is and I think the most important thing is
what would be best for the child? And there is a legal process for
determining that.
I personally don't think that any of us should have any concern
other than that, that the law be followed. I don't think that politics
or threats should have anything to do with it, and if I have my way, it
won't. We should let the people who are responsible for this, who have a
legal responsibility, try to do the right thing by the child.
These decisions are often difficult, even in domestic situations,
but I hope that is what would be done, and it should be done without
regard to politics.
Helen [Helen Thomas, United Press International].
Middle East Peace Process
Q. Mr. President, did both sides make a lot of concessions to get to
this breakthrough point? And also, are you aware that Amnesty
International says that Israel is continuing the demolition of
Palestinian homes in east Jerusalem and on the West Bank and also the
expansion of the settlements? Are all these part of a package?
The President. Well, Prime Minister Barak
made a very important statement about settlements yesterday, which I
think was quite welcome. And it's a good first step. As you know, we
believe that nothing should be done which makes it more difficult to
make peace or which prejudges the final outcome. But I do think that the
statement yesterday is a step in the right direction.
As to your question about Syria, I think it's very important at this
point that we maximize the chances for success, which means it would not
be useful for me to get into the details. But the negotiations are
resuming on the basis of all previous negotiations between the United
States and Syria--I mean, between Syria and Israel, and with the United
States.
I think it is clear that both parties have sufficient confidence
that their needs can be met through negotiations, or they would not have
reached this agreement today.
Steve [Steve Holland, Reuters].
Russia and the Situation in Chechnya
Q. On Chechnya, you used sanctions to punish Yugoslavia and
Indonesia for repression; why aren't sanctions being considered against
Russia?
The President. Well, there are two categories of aid here in
question--or, at least--let's talk about the aid. A sanctions regime has
to be imposed by the United Nations, and Russia has a veto there. But
I'm not sure that would be in our interest or in the interest of the
ultimate resolution of the crisis.
Let me just say, with regard to the aid, because I've been asked
about that, I think it's important to point out to the American people
that two-thirds of the aid that we spend in Russia is involved in
denuclearization and safeguarding nuclear materials. And I think it is
plain that we have an interest in continuing that.
The other third goes to fund democracy, the things that we Americans
believe would lead to better decisions. It goes to an independent media;
it goes to student exchanges; it goes to NGO's, helping people set up
small businesses. I don't think our interests would be furthered by
terminating that. And as of now, there is no pending IMF transfer
because of the general opinion by the IMF that not all the economic
conditions have been met. So that's a bridge we'll have to cross when we
get there.
Yes.
Middle East Peace Process
Q. Mr. President, when Israel and Syria do sit down, they obviously
are going to have to confront the issue of the Golan Heights almost
immediately. How are they going to resolve that? What will the U.S. role
be? Will you see the administration--Secretary Albright, yourself
possibly--being a mediator? And finally, why isn't President Asad
sitting down with Prime Minister Barak at this point?
The President. I think they're sitting down because they want to
make peace, and they have now concluded that they can do it on terms
[[Page 2228]]
and that will meet both their interests. You've asked good questions,
but any answer I give would make it unlikely that they would be
successfully resolved. Frankly, we all took a blood oath that we
wouldn't talk beyond our points today, and I'm going to keep my word.
Q. Sir, maybe you misunderstood. I was asking why President Asad is
not personally involved in the talks at this point.
The President. Oh, he is very personally
involved. I think that--I believe that he felt it was better--and maybe
you should ask the Syrians this--but let me just say, he is very
personally involved in this. I think he thinks it better, for whatever
reason, he's made the decision that Foreign Minister Shara, who, thankfully, has recovered from his recent
stroke and is perfectly able to come here, to do so. And I'm quite
comfortable that this is as close to a person-to-person talk that they
could have without doing it.
Yes, go ahead.
Elian Gonzalez/Situation in Chechnya
Q. Mr. President, can I follow up about Cuba and Chechnya? With
regard to Cuba, you said that politics ought to stay out of this
decision regarding the boy. Are you saying, sir, that you can envision a
circumstance where, in your mind, it would be appropriate to return this
young boy to Communist Cuba?
Second question, regarding Chechnya: Given the fact that two-thirds
of the aid goes to denuclearization, a third to democracy effects, do
you envision no circumstances, sir, under which the United States would
cut off that aid? And how does that square with your statement that
Russia will pay a heavy price for its war against Chechnya?
The President. Okay, the first question first. I do not know enough
about the facts, so you can draw no inferences to what I might or might
not do because it's not a decision for me to make. There is a law here.
There are people charged with making the decisions. I think they ought
to do their best within the parameters of the law; do what seems to be
best for the child.
That is all I have to say, and you shouldn't read anything into it.
I don't know enough about the case, and I don't think that any of us
should interfere with what is going to be a difficult enough decision as
it is.
Now on Russia, I have stated what my present view is, and that is
all I have done. I think Russia is already paying a heavy price. I think
they'll pay a heavy price in two ways. First of all, I don't think the
strategy will work. As I said, I have no sympathy for the Chechen
rebels; I have no sympathy for the invasion of Dagestan; and I have no
sympathy for terrorist acts in Moscow; and none of us should have. But
the people of Chechnya should not be punished for what the rebels did.
They don't represent the established government of Chechnya. They don't
represent a majority of the people there. And the strategy, it seems to
me, is more likely to hurt ordinary citizens than the legitimate targets
of the wrath of the Russian Government.
So I think that--first of all, I think the policy will not work, and
therefore, it will be very costly, just like it was before when it
didn't work. Secondly, the continuation of it and that amassing of
hundreds of thousands of refugees, which will have to be cared for by
the international community--we've already set aside, I think, at least
$10 million to try to make our contributions for it--will further
alienate the global community from Russia. And that's a bad thing,
because they need support not just from the IMF and the World Bank, they
need investors. They need people to have confidence in what they're
doing.
They're about to have elections. And so there will be a heavy price
there. And I don't think there's any question about that.
I think it's already--yes, go ahead.
Elian Gonzalez
Q. Sir, regarding the Cuban boy, you say you don't know enough about
the facts. A lot of people in South Africa think the facts are pretty
simple. They say that even though the boy's father's in Cuba, this boy
would be better off growing up in the United States than in Cuba under
Castro. What would you say to those people?
The President. Well, I think the decisionmakers will take into
account all the relevant facts. But I don't think I should make the
decision. First of all, I can't make the decision under the law. And I
don't think I should tell them how to make the decision because I don't
know enough about the facts. I believe they will do their best to make
the right decision.
[[Page 2229]]
Q. What about growing up in Cuba as opposed to growing up in the
United States?
The President. Well, of course, I'd rather grow up in the United
States. But there may be other considerations there, and one was asked
in the previous question about it. So we'll just have to evaluate it.
You know, there are times in the United States when judges have to
make decisions. The legal standard governing domestic cases is the best
interest of the child. There's a slightly different characterization, I
think, of what will determine the international decision here. This is,
you know, an unusual case for us. But even here, sometimes it's very
hard to say. You know, will children be better off with their parents in
America? Almost always, but not always.
So you just can't--I don't think--I can't serve any useful purpose
by commenting on it, because I don't know enough about the facts of the
family life or even the governing law on this. I just know that I think
we ought to let the people make the decision, urge them to do their best
to do what's best for the child, and try to take as much political steam
out of it as possible so that the little child can be considered.
Yes.
Federal Action Against Gun Manufacturers
Q. Sir, on another legal matter, your threat of a class-action
against gun manufacturers, is this an attempt, sir, through either
coercion or, ultimately, the judicial branch, to get accomplished what
you couldn't get accomplished through legislation? And with the
difficulties that you've had recently getting some of your initiatives
passed in Congress, as you head into this last year of your Presidency,
is this the hint of a new tactic to get those initiatives passed, when
you can't get them through Congress?
The President. Let's talk about the gun suit first, and then I'll
respond to the general question. The litigation, which is being
initiated by public housing authorities, has a good grounding in fact.
There are 10,000 gun crimes every year in the largest public housing
authorities. Now, they spend a billion dollars on security. And I think
it's important that the American people know they're not asking for
money from the gun manufacturers; they are seeking a remedy to try to
help solve the problem.
They want, first of all, more care from the manufacturers and the
dealers with whom they deal. Senator Schumer released a study, you may remember, that said that one
percent of the gun dealers sell 50 percent of the guns involved in gun
crimes. Now, if that study is accurate--and he believes it is--that is a
stunning fact. And there ought to be something done about that. And if
there is a way that the court could craft a resolution of that, that
would be a good thing, I think. The second thing we want to do is to
stop irresponsible marketing practices. You all remember that one
company advertised an assault weapon by saying that it was hard to get
fingerprints from. You know, you don't have to be all broke out with
brilliance to figure out what the message is there. And the third thing
they want is some safety design changes.
Now, let me hasten to say that we have a lot of gun manufacturers in
this country who have been, I think, immensely responsible. You'll
remember the majority of the gun manufacturers signed on to our proposal
for child trigger locks. I still would like legislation to cover them
all. But this should not be viewed--if you look at the nature of the
release, they're not trying to bankrupt any companies; they're trying to
make their living spaces safer. And I think it's a legitimate thing.
Now to your general question, I think if you go back over the whole
reach of our tenure here, I have always tried to use the executive
authority in areas where I thought it was important. We're doing it on
medical privacy. We're doing it on--yesterday we had the press
conference on prevention of medical errors. We're doing it with the paid
family leave initiative we offered to the States. We did it when we set
aside the roadless areas in the forests. So I think this is an
appropriate thing to do.
But I would also remind you at the end of this legislative session
from the Congress, we got 100,000 teachers, 50,000 police, 60,000
housing vouchers to help people move from welfare to work. We passed the
Kennedy-Jeffords bill to allow people with disabilities to move into the
workplace and keep their medical care from the Government. We passed the
Financial Modernization Act, which will dramatically, I think, improve
financial services, grow the economy. And we've protected the Community
Reinvestment Act. We doubled funds for after-school programs. We
provided, for the very first time ever, funds to help school districts
turn around failing schools or shut them down.
[[Page 2230]]
So I'm continuing to work with Congress, and I will do so
vigorously. But I think this was an appropriate thing to do on the
merits.
Yes.
Seattle Round
Q. Mr. President, some of your critics have suggested that the
reason that you pressed the issues of the environment and labor at the
WTO meeting in Seattle is to benefit the Presidential candidacy of Vice
President Gore, knowing that there might be a backlash from the
developing nations. How do you respond to that?
The President. That's wrong. And I would like to make two comments,
one on the WTO ministerial meeting and, secondly, on that general issue.
The Uruguay round was launched in 1986. The trade ministers started
trying to launch it in 1982. It took them 4 years to get it off the
ground. The fundamental reason a new round was not launched here had, in
my judgment, very little to do with my philosophy of trade, which I'll
talk about in a moment. There were--the big blocks here were the
Europeans and the Japanese, on the one hand. The United States and the
developing nations, we all had positions that couldn't be reconciled.
The Europeans were not prepared at this time to change their common
agricultural policy, which accounts for 85 percent of the export
subsidies in the world. The Japanese had their own agricultural and
other issues to deal with.
The United States was not prepared to change its policy on dumping,
because--and I think the recent Asian financial crisis justifies that, I
might add. Even though we did finally move under our dumping laws, and
we had to move, to try to keep our steel industry, which took down 60
percent of its employment and modernized during the eighties and the
early nineties, we still bought 10 times as much steel during that
crisis as the Europeans did. The recent WTO agreement we made with China
protects us from surges and unfair dumping. We have the largest trade
deficit in the world. Now, we get a lot of good out of it: We get low
inflation; we get goods from all over the world. But there has to be
some sense of fairness and balance here.
And the developing nations, for their part, felt that they had not
yet gotten enough benefits from the last trade round and the entry into
the WTO. They think that we and everybody else--the Europeans, the
Japanese, everybody--they think we ought to have more open markets for
agricultural products, which doesn't affect America so much, and for
textiles, which does affect us. That's the big issue being negotiated
still with the Caribbean Basin and the Africa trade initiative.
So it's very important that you understand that there were real
differences that we thought we could bridge, unrelated to labor and the
environment, which we couldn't and which I think would have been clearer
but for the backdrop of the demonstrations in Seattle over these other
issues.
Now, to your second question. When I ran for President in 1992 and
the big issue being debated was NAFTA, I said that I wanted to be for
NAFTA, I would fight hard for it, but I felt strongly there ought to be
provisions on labor and the environment in the agreement, and those
provisions were included. I have always had what I guess you would call
a Third Way position on trade. I think the position of Americans,
including some in my party, that trade is bad for America and bad for
the world is just dead wrong.
I think that the world is more prosperous, and I know America is
more prosperous because of the continuing integration of the world's
economy and the mutual interdependence of people and people being able
to produce what they produce best in a competitive environment,
including costs. And I think we benefit, not just from our exports but
from the imports. That's what I believe. I believe we will have both a
more prosperous and a more peaceful world if we have more of the right
kind of globalization.
I read--one of the many, many articles that's been written in the
last several days in the aftermath of Seattle pointed out that many of
the world's most troubled places, the Balkans, the Caucasus, Africa, to
some extent the Middle East, suffer because they have too little
economic interconnection with the rest of the world.
I believe, even though I'm proud of the role that we've played and
especially proud of the role George Mitchell played in the Irish peace settlement, I think it is
unlikely that we would have done that if, also, Ireland didn't have the
fastest growing economy in Europe and Northern Ireland weren't growing
and people didn't imagine that they could have a totally different
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life if they just let go of what they've been fighting over.
So the people who don't believe that trade is good, I just think
they're wrong. Now having said that, I think that as the world grows
more interdependent, it is unrealistic to think that there will be an
international economic policy with rules unrelated to an emerging
international consensus on the environment and an international
consensus on labor. That does not mean that I would cut off our markets
to India and Pakistan, for example, if they didn't raise their wages to
American levels. I know that's what the sort of stated fear was. I never
said that, I don't believe that.
But I think that--let me give you an analogy. Several years ago, the
Europeans did this, and I applaud them: They were actually the impetus
for protecting intellectual property more than the United States was.
And people debated that for years. Why, intellectual property has no
place in trade bills. Who cares if people are pirating books and selling
them for 60 cents apiece when they cost $20 somewhere else? And now, we
just take it as a given. And it's a good thing for the United States.
You think about all the software we're exporting, all the CD's we're
exporting, all the things. Intellectual property is a big deal to us
now. It was just as alien a subject a few years ago to trade talks as
questions of labor and the environment are today.
So I think I've got a good position here. It has nothing to do with
this campaign. It's a position I've had for years. And I believe the
world will slowly come to it. We do have to be sensitive to the
developing countries. We cannot say that, you know, you're out of here
because you can't have the same labor environment we do. But we also
have to--all we ask for was to start a dialog within the WTO on trade
issues. On the environment, all we ask is is that the decisionmaking
process not degrade the environment when countries have environmental
policies and interests, and just blithely override them because there's
an immediate, short-term economic benefit.
I think that's right. And I believe that 10 years from now, somebody
will be sitting here, and we'll all take it for granted that we've come
a long way in integrating trade and the environment--I mean, trade and
labor. That's what I think, and that's what I believe.
Man of the Century
Q. Mr. President, I'm afraid this is in the pop-quiz category of
questions, but I'll try to make it easy for you. Every year, this time
of year, we pick a Man of the Year. Maybe one day it will be Person of
the Year. I'd like to know what your pick of the Man of the Century
would be; and note that I'm not asking you for the millennium.
[Laughter]
The President. Well, if it were for the millennium, it might be
someone different. Well, this century produced a lot of great men and
women. But as an American, I would have to choose Franklin Roosevelt,
because in this century our greatest peril was in the Depression and
World War II and because he led us not only through those things and
laid the building blocks for a better society with things like Social
Security and unemployment insurance, which was, interestingly enough,
first recommended by his cousin Theodore Roosevelt when he was
President, but he also looked to the future, endorsing the United
Nations and a lot of the other international institutions which were
subsequently created under President Truman.
Finally, I think Roosevelt was an example to Americans of the
importance of not giving up and of the dignity inherent in every person.
And when Franklin Roosevelt was first elected, Oliver Wendell Holmes was
still in the Supreme Court; he was 92 years old. And President Roosevelt
was taken to see Oliver Wendell Holmes who was still reading Plato in
his nineties and all that. Holmes was a pretty acerbic fellow when he
said, after meeting Roosevelt, that he thought he might not have had a
first-class mind, but he certainly had a first-class temperament.
And he did. He understood that reality is more than the facts before
you; it's also how you feel about them, how you react to them, what your
attitude is. That was the advice that--``only thing we have to fear was
fear itself '' was much more than just a slogan to him. He had lived it
before he asked the American people to live it.
So for all those reasons, if I had to pick one person, I would pick
him.
Yes, sir.
Colombia and Venezuela
Q. Mr. President, I'd like to ask you two questions on two very
important South American
[[Page 2232]]
countries that are vital to U.S. foreign policy, Colombia and Venezuela.
First of all, on Colombia, sir. President Pastrana has been
extraditing people, and they're still waiting for the help that he is
expecting from the United States. Will you fight, will you go to the mat
for this, starting in the year 2000, for President Pastrana? That's the
first question.
The second question----
The President. You're all asking two questions. That's pretty
impressive. [Laughter]
Q. We're just following the others.
You met President-elect Chavez when he first came to Washington, and
then you met him as President in New York. He will be--Venezuela will be
holding a very unique plebiscite a week from today, which has polarized
the country. Some people that back President Chavez thinks it's great;
others think it will cause damage to democracy. I'd like your opinion on
both subjects, sir.
The President. My opinion on the second question is that I'm not a
citizen of Venezuela, and I think that they ought to make their own
decisions. But I'm glad that they're getting to vote on it.
My opinion on the first question is--I should point out remember,
now, Colombia is already the third biggest recipient of American aid.
But I do think we should do more. And President Pastrana has, number one, extradited drug criminals to this
country, which is important; number two, is facing a terribly difficult
situation where he has both a longstanding civil insurgency in Colombia
and all the problems of the drug cartels and the possible interrelation
of the two. It's a terrible situation.
Colombia is a very large country. They've been our ally for a long
time. They had a long period of steady economic growth. They have
suffered terribly in the last couple of years. And I think we should do
more.
I had a talk with Speaker Hastert
about it, who is also, by the way, very interested in this, when we were
together in Chicago recently. And I hope that early next year, we will
have a proposal to provide further assistance to Colombia that will be
substantial, effective, and have broad bipartisan support. That is my
goal.
Ken [Ken Walsh, U.S. News & World Report].
Vice President Al Gore
Q. Vice President Gore has made a point of saying that his candidacy
for President now will take precedence over his duties and activities as
Vice President. I wonder, how has his role diminished in your
administration, and how much has he missed? And does a diminished role
by a Vice President in your administration hamper what you're trying to
do in any way?
The President. Well, obviously, he's not around as much. We don't
have lunch every week, and I miss that terribly. But he was there all
day today. He had the meeting with President Kuchma. He knows that the future of Ukraine is very important
to our interests and to what we're trying to accomplish in that part of
the world. And he came to our meeting this morning, and then, after our
meeting was over, he ran a whole series of meetings for several hours
after that. So in his critical functions, he's still performing them.
And I would say, first of all, I strongly support what he's doing. I
think he has the right to run. I'm glad he's running, and you know I
think he'd be a great President. But he--even having said that, whenever
there's an important decision in an area that he's been very active in,
I always call him; we still talk about it. And his role is probably
still larger than that of any previous Vice President, even though he's
out campaigning. But it's just less than it used to be, because he's not
here all the time.
But I have no criticism of it. I think he's doing what he ought to
be doing, and I think it's in the best interests of the country for him
to do it.
Mara [Mara Liasson, National Public Radio].
Accomplishments and Disappointments of 1999
Q. You're ending a tumultuous year that began with impeachment and
closed with tear gas in Seattle. Could you tell us what you're proudest
of this year, and what events or accomplishments of yours that you're
the least proud of?
The President. Well, I'm very happy--what I'm proudest of is that it
turned out to be a very productive year. If you look at--I'll just
mention them again. I did before, but we wound up--after a year in which
almost nothing was accomplished in the Congress, we wound up with a
recommitment to the 100,000 teachers, to the 50,000 police. We passed
the financial
[[Page 2233]]
modernization bill. We passed an historic 60,000 housing vouchers to new
people from welfare to work. We passed the bill to give disabled people
the right to take health care into the workplace. We doubled after-
school funding. We passed this fund that I've been pushing hard for, for
a long time, to help the States turn around or shut down failing
schools. We had quite a lot of accomplishments.
On the foreign front, we had the China-WTO agreement; progress with
the Middle East peace; the Northern Ireland peace agreement; Kosovo,
which I am very, very proud of. I still believe our country did the
right thing there. And we've got talks starting on Cyprus now. We've got
a Caspian pipeline agreement, which I believe 30 years from now you'll
all look back on that as one of the most important things that happened
this year. We had the Conventional Forces in Europe agreement with
Russia, which will result in the removal of their forces from Georgia
and Muldova. We had the debt relief for the poorest countries in the
world, something I'm immensely proud of and deeply committed to. We made
a big dent in our U.N. arrears issue. And we have worked with North
Korea to end their missile program. So I'm very proud of what happened
this year.
What I'm most disappointed in is what still got left on the table.
I'm terribly disappointed that we still haven't passed a Patients' Bill
of Rights, that we still haven't raised the minimum wage, that we still
haven't passed hate crimes legislation, that we still didn't pass that
commonsense gun legislation, which was crying out for action after what
happened at Columbine--and we had another school incident this week. I
am disappointed that we didn't pass the school construction bill. I'm
hoping we will pass the new markets initiative next year. If we don't do
something now to bring economic opportunity to the areas of this country
which have been left behind, we will never forgive ourselves. And I'm
profoundly disappointed that we still haven't done anything to take the
life of Social Security out beyond the baby boom generation and extend
the life of Medicare and add a prescription drug benefit.
So my only disappointments are what we didn't get done. But I'm
gratified by what was accomplished.
Q. Do you blame yourself for that, that you didn't put forward a
plan on Social Security, to make it more substantive? Is there something
you're--[inaudible].
The President. No, I gave them--first of all, I asked them--there's
no point in putting forward--look, I tried it the other way with health
care. I put forward a plan. And everybody said, you put forward--I
remember Senator Dole saying, ``You put forward your plan, then I'll put
forward my plan. We'll get together. We'll agree, and we'll pass a
plan.'' And so, you know, I've had experience with that. That didn't
work out too well.
So I had all these meetings on Social Security. You remember, I
worked very hard on it, and I asked if we could get together and work
out something. I still haven't given up on that, by the way. And I know
the conventional wisdom is that these things are less likely to be done
in election years, but in some ways they may be more likely.
And I did give them a plan which, if they had embraced it--which
would simply require them not only to save the Social Security surplus
but to take the interest savings from paying down the debt, with the
Social Security surplus, and if you just put that back into Social
Security, you could take Social Security out beyond the life of the baby
boom generation. And I offered to do more with them.
But in order to pass something like that, we've got to have a
bipartisan process. And I will do whatever it takes to get that done.
But I worked as hard as I could this year to keep working in a very open
and collegial spirit with not only the Democrats--without whom I
wouldn't have passed any of those things I just mentioned, and all of
you know that; they hung in there at the end; we got those things done--
but also with the Republicans, with whom I began to have, I think, some
real progress there along toward the end of the legislative session. And
I hope we will continue it.
Yes, go ahead.
Russia and the Situation in Chechnya
Q. Mr. President, on Chechnya, it seems as though the Russians don't
feel they will pay a heavy price, and perhaps they don't care. I'm
wondering if between now and Saturday's deadline you plan to try to
directly contact President Yeltsin to once again convey your feelings on
this matter.
The President. Well, I haven't decided what else I can do. I do
think--first of all, they may
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believe that because of their position in the United Nations and because
no one wants them to fail and have more problems than they've got, that
they can do this. But most of life's greatest wounds for individuals and
for countries are self-inflicted. They're not inflicted by other people.
And I will say again, the greatest problems that the Russians will
have over Chechnya are--one is I don't think the strategy will work. I
have never said they weren't right to want to do something with the
Chechen rebels. But I don't think the strategy will work, and therefore,
it will be expensive, costly, and politically damaging, internally, to
them.
Secondly, it will affect the attitude of the international community
over a period of time in ways that are somewhat predictable and in some
ways unpredictable, and that is a very heavy price to pay, because it
works better when everybody's pulling for Russia. It's a great country,
and they have all these resources and talented, educated people, and
they need to--and yet, they've got a declining life expectancy as well
as all these economic problems. And I think it's a bad thing for this to
be the number one issue both inside the country and in our relationships
with them. So I do think it's going to be a very costly thing.
Yes.
Panama Canal/China and Taiwan
Q. Mr. President, with China building a second short-range missile
base, allowing them to take Taiwan with little or no warning, are you
concerned about America's ability to defend that island, especially with
a Chinese company taking over the Panama Canal's ports at the end of
this month?
The President. Well, let's talk about the Panama Canal, and then
I'll come back to Taiwan. And to be fair, I think I may have misstated
this earlier. It's important for the American people to understand that
the canal itself will be operated and controlled entirely by the
Government of Panama, through the Panama Canal Authority. That is the
locks, ingress and egress, access, openness, the canal is completely and
totally within the control of the Panamanians.
Now, the Hong Kong company which got the concession to operate the
ports will be responsible for loading and unloading ships. They also do
this in three or four ports in Great Britain. It's one of the biggest
companies in the world that does this. The managing director is British.
Most of the employees will be Panamanian. So I feel comfortable that our
commercial and security interests can be protected under this
arrangement. That's the first question.
Now, the second question is China is modernizing its military in a
lot of ways. But our policy on China is crystal clear: We believe there
is one China. We think it has to be resolved through cross-strait
dialog, and we oppose and would view with grave concern any kind of
violent action. And that hasn't changed.
There has been a lot of buildup of tension on both sides that I
think is unnecessary and counterproductive. If you look at the amount of
Taiwanese investment in China, for example--that goes back to my Irish
example--if you look at the Taiwanese investment in China, it's obvious
that eventually they're going to get this worked out because they're too
interconnected by ties of family and, increasingly, by ties of the
economy, and the politics of neither place should lead either side into
doing something rash. And I hope that this will not happen. But our
policy is clear, and you know what I've done in the past. And I think
that's all I should say about it right now.
Yes.
Hillary Clinton's Senate Campaign
Q. There is some confusion in people's minds about the First Lady's
plans for the coming year. She has referred to the new house in New York
as ``my house'' and indicated she plans to make that her primary
residence. I'm wondering if you could tell us how much time you think
the two of you will be apart in the coming year and how you feel about
this arrangement?
The President. Well, first of all, I am happy for her, for the
decision that she made. She was encouraged to run by many people, and
she decided she wanted to do it. And if she's going to do it, she's got
to spend a long time in New York. So she'll be there a lot. She'll be
here when she can. I'll go up there when I can, and we'll be together as
much as we can. We always make it a habit to talk at least once, if not
more, every day. It's not the best arrangement in the world, but it's
something that we can live with for a year. I love the house. We picked
it out, and we like it, and I'm looking forward to living there when I
leave here.
[[Page 2235]]
But I've got a job to do, and she now has a campaign to run, and so
we'll have to be apart more than I wish we were. But it's not a big
problem. She'll be here quite a lot, and I'll go up there when I can,
and we'll manage it, and I think it will come out just fine. I'm very
happy for her.
Wendell [Wendell Goler, Fox News Channel].
Responsibility for Impeachment
Q. Mr. President, just a couple of minutes ago you said that most of
life's greatest wounds are self-inflicted. If I can paraphrase a recent
request by Ken Starr, sir, I wonder if now you can tell us how much of
the pain you went through last year was self-inflicted and how much due
to excesses by other people, political, and Mr. Starr's excesses
himself, sir?
The President. The mistake I made was self-inflicted, and the
misconduct of others was not.
Yes.
Golden Parachutes
Q. Mr. President, in the case of--on the subject of corporate golden
and platinum parachutes, particularly in the case of mergers and change
of controlled packages, tens of millions, and more in most cases, are
awarded to corporate officers. Directors just rubberstamp most of these
sales to the detriment of other stockholders.
The President. What's the question?
Q. I'd like to know, what can and will the administration do to put
a ceiling on this acrimonious alimony?
The President. Well, first of all, unless it's an abuse of the
stockholders--and if it is, then we have Federal agencies which have
jurisdiction over it--there's nothing we can do. We have made some
changes in the tax laws--we did back in '93--that I thought were
appropriate. But I don't think beyond that there's anything else we can
do.
April [April Ryan, American Urban Radio Networks], and then John
[John M. Broder, New York Times]. Go ahead. No. April. I'll call on all
of you, but April first.
Q. Okay.
The President. April first. [Laughter] That's the way I feel up here
sometimes. [Laughter]
Q. It should be that way, though. [Laughter]
Racial, Ethnic, and Religious Differences
Mr. President, America is ending the century with resurfacing scars
of racism. And where does the issue of race, in terms of your agenda for
2000, stand? And are you still prepared to release your book on race by
the end of your term? And what do you think about the comments that
there's internal fighting over this book in the White House?
The President. There really isn't much. I have a draft now, and I'm
working on it. And I do plan to release it. And it will stay at the
center of my concerns not only now but after I leave the White House.
I think that after the cold war and with the sort of end of the
ideological battles, you've seen, I think that the biggest problem the
world faces today is the conflict people have over their racial and
ethnic and their related religious differences. And I plan to be heavily
involved in it at home and around the world for the rest of my life.
Q. When do you think the book will come out, though?
The President. I don't know. I've got a day job, you know, and I'm
not going to--I've got a library full of books on race, and almost all
of them are quite good. But I don't want to put it out unless I think it
could make a difference, even if it just says what other people have
said, somehow it can make a difference. And I'm trying to make sure how
it ought to be done. I don't want to just put it out because I said I
would put it out; I want to make sure when I do it, it at least achieves
the objectives I'm trying to achieve.
John.
Health Care Coverage
Q. Mr. President, the number of Americans who are not covered by
health insurance has increased since you took office by about 7 million.
Do you agree with Vice President Gore that Senator Bradley's plan for
covering most of those people is irresponsible and unaffordable, even
though we're enjoying the healthiest economy in decades?
The President. First of all, I'm not going to get in the middle of
the Gore-Bradley campaign--I know you want me to, but I'm not going to
do that for you--[laughter]--because I want you to write about Syria and
Israel tomorrow.
[[Page 2236]]
Let me say, first of all, Hillary and I said when the health care
plan went down that the number of people uninsured would go up. And you
would all draw the same conclusion. You would have drawn the same
conclusion back then if you spent as many years and as much time
studying it as we have.
So what happened is exactly what we've predicted would happen.
Ironically, all those people who attacked me and said I was trying to
socialize medicine, which was a ridiculous charge, trying to have the
Government take over health care, which is a ridiculous charge, they got
their way in that debate, and the consequence is now, we now have a
higher percentage of Americans whose health care is funded by the
Government than we did in 1993. But we also have a higher percentage of
people without insurance.
Now, I'm not going to get in the middle of that, but I'll tell you
what questions you ought to ask. First of all, anybody who makes any
proposal, you have to make certain choices. If you want to cover people
who don't have coverage and you accept the premise that they all can't
afford it, you have to decide: Are you going to make them buy insurance;
are you going to make their employers to pay in? If not, are you going
to have the Government do it, or are you going to have a big tax
subsidy?
All of those choices have problems with them. You know what the
employer mandate problem was; we couldn't pass it, because a lot of
people said it's too burdensome, even though we exempted small
businesses and tried to give them subsidies. If you give all taxpayers
subsidies, the problem is you have to give subsidies to people who
already have insurance, and it may operate as an incentive for employers
to drop people even faster.
So there is no perfect plan. Let's start with that. There is no plan
without difficulty. If it were easy, somebody would have done it
already.
Second question is how much are you going--if you're going to have
the taxpayers involved, either in a tax incentive or expenditure
program, how much does it cost, and what do you give up? And I think
this is the way this thing ought to debate. People ought to actually try
to figure out what the consequences of these plans are and evaluate them
and decide.
You talked about the prosperity of the country. That's true. We are
prosperous. But do we want to--how much do we want to spend on that as
compared with eliminating child poverty or continuing to improve
education? Are we willing to get into the Social Security surplus? If
we're not, are we willing to raise taxes for it? In other words, I think
whatever the choice is, I think it's important that we be as honest as
possible about what it costs, everybody be as honest as possible that
there is no perfect plan. And then you be as honest as possible about
what else you're giving up if you do it. It's a very complicated issue.
I did my best on it. I am gratified that we finally passed the Child
Health Insurance Program. And we might get those numbers down again.
We've now--I think we're at about 2 million. I think we've gone from 1
million to 2 million just in the last several months in the number of
people covered under CHIP. And if we can get up to 5 million with CHIP
and extra Medicare kids--and the States are really gearing up, now;
they're really trying now--then maybe we can drive that number back down
some.
And what the Vice President is trying
to do is to target discrete populations, on the theory that you can
cover more people for relatively less money. And that's his position,
and he believes he can pass that.
Let me just say one other thing. It makes me proud to be a Democrat.
I am proud that, number one, that my party is debating this. And as near
as I can see, there is no debate going on in the other party. And if
they pass the size tax cut plan, they're talking about, they not only
won't have any money to help more people get health care; they'll either
have to get into the Social Security surplus, or they won't have any
more money for education or the environment or anything else. That's the
first thing I want to say.
The second thing I want to say is I'm grateful that my country is
doing so well that these kinds of issues can be debated in this way and
be seriously debated, but I'm not going to get into handicapping the
campaign. I can tell you what questions I think you should ask, how you
should analyze it. But there is no perfect solution here. And I'm glad
that the two candidates in the Democratic Party are debating it.
Yes, go ahead. I promised these people.
Space Program
Q. Mr. President, in the decade that's just closing, the American
people have seen around
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$1.5 billion of their tax dollars lost in space, most recently either up
in smoke in the Martian atmosphere or trashed on Mars itself. Does NASA
need better quality control or better management? And sir, how do you
answer Americans who say that that money could be much better spent on
more urgent needs here on this planet?
The President. Well, let me try and answer all those questions.
First of all, I think Dan Goldin has done a
great job at NASA. He's adopted a lot of economy measures and gone for
small and more discreet missions, including more unmanned missions, that
I think make a lot of sense.
Secondly, we all use the slogan, ``Well, this isn't rocket
science.'' Well, this is rocket science. We're trying to take a
spaceship the size of a boulder and throw it 450 miles into a very
uncongenial atmosphere and hit a target, and it isn't easy. I regret
that both of those things didn't succeed as much as we all--the first
Mars mission we got quite a lot out of--because I think it's important.
I think it's important not only for the American tradition of
exploration, but it's important if we want to know what's--we have to
keep doing this if we ever hope to know what's beyond our galaxy. We now
know there are billions of them out there, and we know there are all
these big black holes in the universe. We know all these things, and I
think it's important that we find out.
The third point I'd like to make is that we actually do get a lot of
benefits here on Earth from space travel. We get benefits in engineering
advances, in material science, in environmental protection, and in
medical science. We've made quite a lot of interesting health-related
discoveries. I remember going down to the Space Center in Houston and
talking to people who were from the vast medical complexes in Houston
about all the interesting joint work they were doing.
So I think the American people get things out of it right now. I
think we have gotten a lot out of it in the past, and I think we'll get
more out of it in the future. So I have always been a big proponent of
the space program. They need to analyze what went wrong and figure out
how to fix it.
But just think of all the problems we've had along the way with the
space program. This is too bad, but this is nothing compared to the
tragedy when those astronauts burned to death when their spaceship was
still on the ground. I'll never forget that as long as I live. But they
didn't quit, and America didn't quit, and I'm glad. And I don't think we
should quit now.
Go ahead.
WTO-China Agreement
Q. Mr. President, one of the things left on your plate for next year
is pushing the historic trade agreement with China on Capitol Hill.
China's labor standards are clearly not what you and the world community
would wish for. And the question is will it be difficult for you to sell
that to members of your own party in Congress? And more broadly, what do
you think are the prospects for Congress approving the WTO accord with
China?
The President. Well, in our caucus some are for it; some are against
it; and some have questions. We have a good deal of support for it and a
good deal of opposition to it, and then some have questions. But I'm
going to make an all-out effort to pass it. And I'll come back to your
labor question in a minute.
I think it is plainly in America's interest. We gave up nothing, in
terms of market access, to get this. It's very important that you
understand that. What we gave in this was our assent to China's joining
the WTO. What we got in return is much more market access on everything
from farmers to people in the telecommunications industry. This is a
huge economic benefit to the people of the United States. Plus, we have
a big and growing trade deficit with China. We've got specific
protections on dumping and antisurge protections. So it is in the
economic interest of the United States.
Secondly, it is in the strategic interest of the United States. One
of the great questions of the next several decades, as China's economy
grows to match the size of its population, is whether China and the
United States will have a constructive relationship or be at odds. I
believe that, just as we worked together in the United Nations, even
though we sometimes disagree, we will work together in the WTO. I think
having China in a rule-based system for the international economy is
profoundly important. And I think it would be a terrible mistake not to
do it.
Now, do I agree with all their labor standards? No. But we shouldn't
impose conditions on membership on China that we don't impose on any
other country to get into the WTO.
[[Page 2238]]
What we should do, in any judgment, is to go back to the American
position. We ought to begin a dialog on these labor initiatives within
the WTO--that's all we ask for--and then we ought to get everybody to
ratify the International Convention on Child Labor and observe it and
deal with the other most egregious forms of labor abuses in the world.
That is the right way to proceed here.
Last question.
National Sovereignty and Internationalism
Q. Mr. President, in future years, what do you see taking great
precedence, sir, national sovereignty or international institutions? And
how does the world prevent such slaughters as you've had recently in the
Balkans, in Africa, or East Timor, without violating national
sovereignty or interfering in international affairs?
The President. Well, first of all, at least from the International
Declaration of Human Rights, 50 years ago, the world community
recognized that sovereignty was not the only value in human society. The
Russians, even though they've criticized our intervention in Kosovo--
although now I might say the Russian soldiers are doing a very good job
there, working with all the other allies--recently acknowledged in their
signing off of the new charter of the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe, that the internal affairs of a country can become
the legitimate concern of others, whether it's in East Timor--now, wait
a minute.
So what I think will happen is national sovereignty is going to be
very, very important for a very, very long time. But countries are
becoming more interdependent, and they will still have to make decisions
about the kinds of internal systems they will have for how their people
live together and work together; they will still be able to make
decisions about when they will or won't cooperate worldwide in many
areas. But if you want the benefits of interdependence, you have to
assume the responsibilities of it.
And we've all recognized that from the beginning of the United
Nations, nobody, no country in the United Nations, has given up its
sovereignty, even though some people still allege that's true. But the
more interdependent the world grows, the more likely we are, in my
judgment, to have more broadly shared prosperity, fewer wars, and a
better life for everyone. That does not require us to give up our
national sovereignty, but it does require us to act in our real national
interests.
Last question.
Minorities on the White House Staff
Q. Thank you. I have another question on the issue of race, and it's
on your record of appointing minorities to top-level jobs in your
administration. You've talked throughout your career about the
importance of diversity and inclusion, and setting aside your Cabinet
and Federal bench appointees, the top seven West Wing jobs in your
administration have all been held by whites. Twenty-six people have had
the jobs.
The President. I disagree with that. What are they?
Q. Well, Chief of Staff, National Security, Domestic Policy,
Economic Adviser, White House Counsel, Press Secretary, Senior Adviser,
Counselor--all those jobs have been held by--not a single person of
color has held any of those jobs. And I wonder if you could tell us why?
The President. Well, first of all, you might be interested to know
there were a couple of people of color that I tried to get to do those
jobs but preferred other jobs in the administration. And they had jobs
they liked better. And I have--you didn't point out that a lot of those
jobs have been held by women, who also had never held those jobs before
I came along. And I think that--all I can tell you is I have never not
tried to recruit minorities for any job that was open in the White
House. And I have never followed a quota system. I have had more blacks
who have served in my Cabinet, more Hispanics who served in my Cabinet,
more people from Asia have been appointed to my administration than any
previous administration by far. It's not even close. So there was never
a decision made. I now have a Hispanic woman
who is my Deputy Chief of Staff.
So I never thought about those seven jobs to the exclusion of
others. I've tried to make sure that the senior jobs--my political
director is an African-American woman. Alexis
Herman, before she became Secretary of
Labor, was head of public liaison. I was unaware that those were the
seven most important jobs in my Cabinet and in the White House in the
way that you said them.
Thank you very much.
[[Page 2239]]
Note: The President's 185th news conference began at 2:36 p.m. in the
Dean Acheson Auditorium at the State Department. In his remarks, the
President referred to Prime Minister Ehud Barak of Israel; Chairman
Yasser Arafat of the Palestinian Authority; President Hafiz al-Asad and
Foreign Minister Farouk al-Shara of Syria; Juan Gonzalez, father of
Cuban refugee Elian Gonzalez; President Andres Pastrana of Colombia;
President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela; former Senator George J. Mitchell,
who chaired the multiparty talks in Northern Ireland; President Leonid
Kuchma of Ukraine; former Senator Bob Dole; former Independent Counsel
Kenneth Starr; and President Boris Yeltsin of Russia.