[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (2000, Book II)]
[July 10, 2000]
[Pages 1397-1399]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks on the Home Heating Oil Reserve and the Secretary of Veterans 
Affairs Transition and an Exchange With Reporters
July 10, 2000

Home Heating Oil Reserve

    The President. Good afternoon. I want to say a few words in a moment 
about Togo West and Hershel Gober and the direction of the Department of Veterans 
Affairs and its mission.

[[Page 1398]]

But first, I'd like to make one brief announcement.
    Since March, I have asked Congress to establish a home heating oil 
reserve in the Northeast to reduce the chance that future shortages will 
hurt consumers, as they did last winter. Congress recently, again, has 
failed to act, and time is running out. Winter may seem far off on this 
hot day, but if we don't do something now, reserve stocks of heating oil 
may not be in place before the cold weather comes. That's why today I am 
taking action to establish a home heating oil reserve to help families 
avoid higher energy costs this winter.
    First, I'm directing Secretary Richardson to exchange crude oil from 
the Strategic Petroleum Reserve for 2 million barrels of home heating 
oil to store in the Northeast. Second, we're taking steps to establish 
this reserve on a permanent basis. The action I take today will leave us 
far better prepared to face the winter months. But it does not relieve 
Congress of the responsibility to act.
    So I renew my call to Congress: Please, provide the authority so we 
can tap into this new home heating oil reserve when we need it; take up 
my energy budget initiatives and the tax incentives; pass comprehensive 
electricity restructuring; reauthorize the strategic petroleum reserve. 
These are things Congress can do right now to build a better, safer, 
more secure, and more affordable energy future. I ask them again to do 
their part to increase our energy supply, protect the environment, 
increase energy conservation, and keep our economy strong.

Secretary of Veterans Affairs Transition

    This morning I accepted the decision of Togo West to step down as Secretary of Veterans Affairs by month's 
end, after more than 2 years of effective leadership on behalf of our 25 
million veterans and their families.
    Every day, in every way, Togo West has 
given his all to make sure America does right by our men and women who 
have served us in uniform. As Secretary of the Army at the beginning of 
our administration, Togo West was known as a ``soldier's Secretary.'' 
His leadership helped make the Army part of the best trained, best 
equipped, most potent fighting force in the world. He took special care 
to make sure that America took good care of our Army families. And he 
brought that same sense of purpose to the Department of Veterans 
Affairs.
    Under his leadership, the VA has begun 
to confront some long-neglected problems head on, reaching out to more 
than 400,000 veterans who were exposed to Agent Orange, pressing for 
answers to the Gulf war syndrome and proper care for those who suffer 
from it, beginning the process of building five new national cemeteries, 
the most since the Civil War, and making a special effort to bring 
homeless veterans back into the society they did so much to defend.
    His leadership and devotion to our 
veterans helped improve lives and make this country a better place. And 
on behalf of all Americans, Togo, I want to thank you for more than a 
quarter century of service and selfless devotion to our Nation.
    To carry forward the vital work of the Department of Veterans 
Affairs, I turn to one who knows the work and the mission of the VA as 
well or better than anyone ever has, Deputy Secretary Hershel 
Gober. You all know we've been friends for 
many years. He did a superb job as the State director of veterans 
affairs in Arkansas when I served as Governor. He did a superb job as 
Acting Director between the tenures of Secretaries Jesse Brown and Togo West. There are 
few people in our country who have ever been as prepared for a job as 
Hershel Gober is for this one.
    He has an ear for the needs of our 
veterans because he has the heart of a soldier. A veteran of both the 
Army and the Marine Corps, Hershel Gober served two terms in Vietnam, 
earning the Purple Heart, the Bronze Star, and the Soldier's Medal. A 
few years ago, I was honored that he agreed to head a delegation back to 
Vietnam to seek the fullest possible accounting of our men and women 
still missing in uniform.
    Hershel has already made his mark on 
the critical issue of veterans' health care. Early in our 
administration, he came to me and recommended that we look for ways to 
bring health care closer to the veterans who needed it. Since then, 
we've opened more than 200 outpatient clinics all across America and 
have more planned this year. That's one of the big reasons we were able 
to treat--listen to this--400,000 more veterans last year than we did 
the year before.
    Hershel Gober has been a strong partner 
for both Secretary Brown and Secretary 
West. He will serve in a great tradition, 
and I thank him for agreeing to do so. Now I'd like to ask them

[[Page 1399]]

both to say a few words, beginning with Secretary West.

[At this point, Secretary of Veterans Affairs Togo D. West, Jr., and Secretary of Veterans Affairs-designate 
Hershel W. Gober made brief remarks.]

    The President. Thank you.

Middle East Peace Summit

    Q. Mr. President, the Israeli Government is falling apart. How is 
Barak going to be able to negotiate a peace?
    The President. Well, first, I think it's important to note that, as 
the news reports this morning in Israel reflect, a solid majority of the 
people want him to come and want him to pursue 
peace.
    Look, if this were easy, it would have been done a long time ago. 
This is difficult. It is perhaps the most difficult of all the peace 
problems in the world, certainly dealing with the most difficult issues 
of the whole Middle East peace process, on which I have worked for 
nearly 8 years now. But both Prime Minister Barak 
and Chairman Arafat have the vision, the 
knowledge, the experience, and the ability and the shear guts to do what 
it takes, I think, to reach an agreement, and then to take it back to 
their people and see if they can sell it.
    And keep in mind, Prime Minister Barak has said that the people of 
Israel will have their say on this. So this is really, I think, a matter 
of trying to come to grips with the issues on the merits, asking whether 
the price of peace is greater than the price of continued conflict and 
all the associated difficulties and heartbreaks and uncertainties and 
insecurity that that carries.
    And I'm going to do my best to help them. I admire both of them for coming. It's 
not easy for either to come. But they have come because they think that 
the price of not doing it is greater than the risk of going forward. And 
I hope we'll have the thoughts and prayers and best wishes of all 
Americans. It's going to be a difficult process. But the fact that 
they're coming means that we still have a chance.
    Q. Mr. President, given the fact that these are the most difficult 
issues, do you think you can do this in just 8 days? And would you 
consider delaying your trip or abandoning your trip to Japan?
    The President. Well, first of all, let me say, just because they're 
difficult doesn't mean they're not understood. I mean, I would say the 
answer to that would clearly be, no, if this were happening in 1993 or 
'94. But an enormous amount of time and thought has gone into this. I 
think both sides have a pretty clear idea of what the various options 
are.
    And I don't want to set an artificial deadline for these talks. But 
I think that they need to listen to each other, and I need to listen to 
them, and we need to get right after it, because it's not as if we don't 
know what's out there to be done. And this has been simmering on the 
stove for some years now, and I think we understand generally what the 
options are, and we'll go there and go to work, do our very best.
    Thank you.

Note: The President spoke at 12:26 p.m. on the South Lawn at the White 
House prior to departure for State College, PA. In his remarks, he 
referred to Prime Minister Ehud Barak of Israel and Chairman Yasser 
Arafat of the Palestinian Authority. The transcript released by the 
Office of the Press Secretary also included the remarks of Secretary 
West and Secretary-designate Gober.