[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 29, Number 4 (Monday, February 1, 1993)]
[Pages 94-95]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks on the Establishment of the National Economic Council and an 
Exchange With Reporters

 January 25, 1993

    The President. This is the Executive order which establishes the 
National Economic Council and which brings into the economic 
policymaking of the Federal Government not just the traditional 
Secretaries of Treasury, OMB, the Council of Economic Advisers, but also 
the Departments of Commerce, Labor, Agriculture, HUD, Transportation, 
Energy, EPA, as well as the Trade Office, State, so that we can all work 
together. I want to thank all of the people around this table for all 
the work they've done on this and especially Mr. Rubin for the work that 
he's done to try to reconcile all these things. I believe that this will 
enable us to make economic policy in a much more specific, clear, and 
effective way than the Federal Government has in quite a long while.

[At this point, the President signed the Executive order.]

Gays in the Military

    Q. If the Joint Chiefs oppose this lifting of the ban on gays in the 
military, are you still going to go ahead with that?
    The President. I'm going to meet with them and discuss it this 
afternoon. But I intend to keep my commitment. I want their input on how 
we should do it, however. I think they're entitled to really be listened 
to on a lot of the practical issues.
    Q. Is this part of what you said in your Inaugural Address, that it 
will require sacrifice?
    The President. I think everybody wants to make a contribution to 
solving these problems, and we're going to give everyone the opportunity 
to do that.
    Q. How quickly will you lift this ban, Mr. President?
    The President. I don't have anything else to say about it right now. 
We're going to have a meeting----
    Q. Are you going to have a meeting on it?
    The President. I want to talk to the Joint Chiefs about that, and 
then I'll have a statement to make later.
    Q. Today?
    The President. I don't know. We've got a lot of other things to do 
today. Maybe; I don't know.

Taxes

    Q. Mr. President, can you say anything about the consumption tax 
that Senator Bentsen addressed yesterday?
    The President. No. I thought he did a very good job on television. I 
wasn't sure that I was reading about the same interview in the press 
this morning. He said that no decision had been made, and no decision 
has been made. We have a lot of options under consideration, but no 
decision has been made.

Note: The President spoke at 11:30 a.m. in the Roosevelt Room at the 
White House. A tape was not available for verification of the content of 
these remarks.

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