[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.