[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (2000, Book II)]
[June 29, 2000]
[Pages 1345-1347]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks Announcing the Nomination of Norman Y. Mineta To Be Secretary of Commerce and an Exchange With Reporters
June 29, 2000

    The President.  Good afternoon. I'm pleased to bring you here to 
announce my nomination of Norm Mineta to be the 33d Secretary of 
Commerce, to carry on the successful work of Bill Daley, Mickey Kantor, and Ron 
Brown.
    I want to welcome Norm and his wife, Danealia, here. And I want to thank Secretary Daley for returning from his new duties to be with us 
and for the truly magnificent job that he has done.
    I also want to thank our Deputy Secretary of Commerce, Rob 
Mallett, for being here today and for also 
being part of that same tradition of excellence--his leadership in 
improving the way the Department is run and especially his efforts to 
open Government contracting to women and to minority-owned businesses. 
We couldn't do it without you, Bob, and we thank you for your service.
    Norm Mineta is a worthy addition to the Cabinet. He was, of course, 
a Member of Congress for 21 years, representing Silicon Valley, serving 
as chair of the House Committee for Public Works and Transportation. He 
was a leader on trade and technology and helping his colleagues 
understand and promote the emerging digital economy.
    We worked closely together on trade issues but on others as well, 
such as family and medical leave, where his support was absolutely 
pivotal. And he has ably chaired my Advisory Commission on Asian-
Americans and Pacific Islanders.
    Now, Norm thought he'd left politics for good in 1995 when he left 
Congress to work for Lockheed Martin. But politics and public service 
have a way of calling the best back. Norm is one of the best, a strong 
leader for the Department of Commerce, a highly skilled negotiator in 
Washington and throughout the world. He will play a crucial role in 
keeping our economic strategy on track, opening trade around the world, 
investing in our people, promoting high technology, bridging the digital 
divide.
    He brings an indepth understanding of American business and a strong 
sense of the needs of our high-tech economy. But he also has a deep 
concern for people--for the people in places who are not yet fully 
participating in this economy.
    You see, Norm Mineta's family story tells a lot about the promise of 
the American dream and the power of one person's devotion to opportunity 
and to justice. As a young boy during World War II, he and his family 
were forced from their home and held hundreds of miles away in a 
desolate internment camp for Japanese-Americans. When he got home, young 
Norm vowed to work to make sure that kind of injustice could never 
happen to anyone else.
    He grew up, went to college, served with the Army in Korea and 
Japan. Then he began a career of public service in the San Jose 
government, becoming the first Asian-Pacific American mayor of a major 
American city. He was elected to Congress in 1974 and became the first 
Asian-Pacific American to chair a major congressional committee. But he 
never stopped fighting for justice. His efforts led to the passage of 
the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, which provided an apology and 
compensation for every survivor of the wartime internment camps.
    I am proud to add to Norm's string of firsts by naming him the first 
Asian-Pacific American ever to hold a post in the President's Cabinet, 
proud to have a man of his qualities as a member of our economic team, 
as we work to make the most of this moment of unprecedented opportunity.
    Recently I received a remarkable book called, ``Asian American 
Dreams.'' It's author writes that Asian-Pacific 
Americans are ``a people in constant motion, a great work in progress, 
each stage more faceted and complex than before. As we overcome 
adversity and take on new challenges, our special dynamism is our gift 
to America.''
    Well, that pretty well describes Norm Mineta's life and why I 
decided to name him Secretary of Commerce. I am very grateful to him, 
and to his wife, for giving up the joys and the remunerations of private 
life to come back into public service. And I hope he will be swiftly 
heard and confirmed by the United States Senate.
    Norm.

[[Page 1346]]

[At this point, Secretary of Commerce-designate Mineta made brief 
remarks.]

    The President.  Thank you.

William M. Daley

    Q.  Mr. President, Mr. Daley is leaving your Cabinet, but he's going 
to another important job, and I wonder if you have any advice for him as 
he moves to take over the Gore campaign, and also, if you think you're 
going to be offering advice regularly to him over the next couple of 
months.
    The President.  My advice is not to discuss such advice in public 
but just to listen and do what he thinks is right.

Labor

    Q.  Mr. President, the industrial labor movement is none too pleased 
by Mr. Daley's movement over to the Gore campaign. I'm wondering if you 
think choosing someone from the corporate world will further antagonize 
the labor movement and cause difficulty for the Clinton/Gore 
administration generally, and for Vice President Gore and the campaign.
    The President.  No. I think, for one thing, anybody that looks at 
Bill Daley's lifetime record or his 
family's lifetime record would have a hard time finding someone who has 
been in the mainstream of Democratic politics who's been any more pro-
labor.
    You know, we all have a difference on these trade issues. The Vice 
President does, and I do, and Secretary 
Daley does. But on virtually every other 
issue, I think you can make a very compelling case that this has clearly 
been the most pro-labor administration since President Johnson, and 
maybe going back before that.
    So, I don't think so. And I think he and John Sweeney will get along well. They're just two good Irish boys that 
are trying to do right by their country.
    Q. Mr. President, while it's laudatory----
    Q.  [Inaudible]--in the corporate world, sir, do you think that will 
have any effect on labor movement's general direction?
    The President. No. Certainly not. I mean, he's got a great record, 
particularly when he was chairman of the committee. I think labor 
supported what he did there, and I think they will receive him very 
well.

House Vote on Private Insurance Prescription Coverage

    Let me just say this. I have to make one other announcement before 
you all go, because this is the only chance we have to talk about this. 
I want to talk about last night's vote on prescription drug coverage in 
the House.
    As you know, the Republican bill passed by three votes. They would 
allow no vote on the Democratic bill. And I just want the American 
people to know that the bill that they passed is an empty promise to 
most of our seniors. The bill passed along partisan lines, and it offers 
a flawed, unworkable private insurance prescription benefit that the 
insurance companies themselves--to their everlasting credit--the 
insurance companies themselves have said, this will not work; these 
policies will not be affordable; most seniors who need help will not be 
able to take advantage of this bill.
    Now, they have said it over and over. This provides more political 
coverage for the Republicans who voted for it than insurance coverage 
for the seniors who need to buy medicine.
    Now, let me just say this. In a report that was made available only 
late yesterday--too late to be of use in the debate, I might add--
Congress's own budget office concluded that more than half the Medicare 
beneficiaries who don't have drug coverage today would not be covered by 
the Republican private insurance plan. It also shows that their premiums 
would be 50 percent higher than those under our plan, and the coverage 
would be 20 percent lower.
    So, for seniors with incomes over $12,600 a year, or couples with 
incomes over $16,600 a year, this plan doesn't do the job. And it 
certainly doesn't do the job for Americans with disabilities, who would 
also be covered by a real Medicare prescription drug plan. That's why 
the leading aging and disability groups across the country have 
supported our plan, and that's why the drug manufacturers and their 
allies have supported the Republican plan. And it's important that the 
American people understand the difference between the two proposals.
    Again I say, we have a substantial budget surplus projected. If we 
can protect the Medicare tax receipts, I'm prepared to work with 
Congress on a real prescription drug benefit and on marriage tax relief 
and other tax relief that will cost about the same amount of money that 
the Republicans say they want. But we're going

[[Page 1347]]

to have to work across party lines on a bipartisan bill. We don't need 
the kind of one-party vote we had last night, especially without 
allowing us to even bring up our substitute and see how many Republican 
votes we could get for a real bill.
    So I haven't given up, and we're still working.
    Thank you all very much.

Middle East Peace Process

    Q.  Mr. President, do you expect Secretary Albright to recommend a 
summit in the near-term, or are you just going to take a couple more 
weeks before that's a possibility?
    The President.  I just don't know because I haven't talked to 
her. I want her to come back and 
visit. Obviously, I've been spending a major amount of time thinking 
about this, working on it, talking to all the parties. But I really 
wanted her to go there and get a sense of it, come back, and then we'll 
decide where to go from here.
    But I actually don't know the answer to your question. This is not 
one of those deals where I'm just not ready to announce it; I just don't 
know. And I'm going to do whatever I can in the time I have left to help 
them make peace. So whatever I do or don't do will be based on my 
calculation that it will maximize the possibilities of ultimate success. 
But I don't know yet.
    Q.  Do you expect any kind of decision today or tomorrow?
    The President.  No.

 Note:  The President spoke at 12:11 p.m. in the Oval Office at the 
White House. In his remarks, he referred to author Helen Zia and her 
book, ``Asian American Dreams: The Emergence of an American People''; 
and John J. Sweeney, president, AFL-CIO. The transcript released by the 
Office of the Press Secretary also included the remarks of Secretary-
designate Mineta.