[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 29, Number 6 (Monday, February 15, 1993)]
[Pages 160-162]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks and an Exchange With Reporters Prior to a Meeting With Economic 
Advisers

 February 8, 1993

Economic Stimulus Package

    Q. Mr. President, do you have any response to the Republican letter? 
Did they say that they will not support your economic plan unless you do 
more on the spending side?
    The President. They said they were against the stimulus program, and 
that's basically a statement that they think things are fine in the 
economy now, and I just disagree with that.
    I'd like to read this statement, and then I'll be glad to answer it. 
That reflects the old way of thinking, you know, we're coming out of a 
recession; therefore we don't need a stimulus package. It overlooks the 
fact that there are now 3 million jobs less in this economy than there 
would be if we were in a normal recovery, that we now have fewer non-
farm payroll jobs today than we did 2 years ago--3 years ago, 646,000 
fewer jobs than in January of 1990.
    Let me make this announcement about unemployment, and then I'll 
answer a couple of more questions on this.

Unemployment

    You all know that we've been here working every day for hours and 
hours, putting together this economic package designed to increase 
income and generate jobs and reduce the deficit.
    Before we begin our next meeting, I have two things that I want to 
say: First, despite these encouraging statistics about the increased 
productivity, there are still millions of Americans who want to go to 
work to support their families, but they can't find jobs. The 
unemployment rate, indeed, is 7.1 percent. It's been above 7 percent for 
14 months, and is now higher than it was at the so-called bottom of this 
recession.
    Secondly, no short-term solution to the problems of the unemployed 
is adequate. Many unemployed workers are what we call ``permanently 
displaced.'' And they need much better access to reemployment services 
that will provide them the information and

[[Page 161]]

the changing skills necessary to compete in the changing world. The old 
ways of doing business are simply not good enough anymore. Unemployment 
compensation must now be both a short-term lifeline for workers and a 
long-term link to the skills that it will take for them to get where 
they want to be, back in the work force.
    Interestingly enough, Secretary of Labor Reich just showed me this 
little chart which makes the point painfully well. In the last four 
recessions, 56 percent of the workers laid off did not think they would 
get their jobs back; 44 percent did. In this recession, 86 percent of 
the workers don't believe they're going to get their jobs back, and only 
14 percent think they will. That means that we need a much stronger plan 
to create new jobs and an aggressive effort at unemployment compensation 
that does more than just pay.
    Today I want to announce a two-part initiative. First, I'm directing 
the Department of Labor to pursue legislation to extend the emergency 
unemployment compensation program for 7 months beyond March 6th, the 
date set for its expiration. I'm very pleased to also announce that this 
package will include reforms to the unemployment insurance program that 
will dramatically improve reemployment services available to 
structurally unemployed workers.
    The first step is to provide the critical link between permanently 
displaced workers and services to help them find the jobs. Using the 
data that is now routinely collected when an unemployed worker files a 
claim, individuals can be profiled by the fifth week of their 
unemployment to determine their need for reemployment assistance, and a 
referral for appropriate services can then be made. Recently, a number 
of demonstration projects, particularly the New Jersey Re-Employment 
Project, showed that this kind of work and referral can significantly 
reduce the time that workers spend unemployed, as well as raise their 
earnings once they do go back to work. And of course, that means that 
that will reduce State unemployment insurance costs and costs to the 
Federal Treasury.
    I will say again: I know the economic upturn looks good in terms of 
the big statistics, but the unemployment rate is higher than it was at 
the bottom of the recession. There are fewer jobs than there were 3 
years ago this month. We are 3 million jobs below where we would be in a 
normal recovery at this time. So we need this unemployment extension, 
and we need the economic stimulus program that I will propose when the 
Congress comes back into session.

Economic Stimulus Package

    Q. Have you made your decision on that stimulus program, and have 
you ruled out anything except the COLA on the Social Security?
    The President. I have made the decision on the general outline of 
the stimulus program, and I have made a lot of the specific decisions 
within it, but we're going to go back over it all one more time to 
refine it. I have worked very hard on the deficit reduction package, and 
I'll have more to say about that on the 17th.

Kimba Wood

    Q. Mr. President, a lot of groups feel that there is a double 
standard here on the gender issue, because Kimba Wood was disqualified 
even though she had paid Social Security, but members of your Cabinet 
have not paid Social Security and are now trying to catch up. Are women 
being treated unfairly?
    The President. Absolutely not. For one thing, this issue was never 
an issue, and it never occurred to anyone to make it an issue, until Zoe 
Baird voluntarily disclosed it. So, no one knew, so no one was subjected 
to the double standard. Since that time--the Attorney General, which 
should be held to a higher standard than other Cabinet members on 
matters of this kind--all of our interviews, for men and women alike, 
have been conducted in a totally evenhanded fashion.
    And finally, I think Judge Wood has been somewhat unfairly treated 
inasmuch as what happened to her happened in the ordinary course of the 
vetting process. It's happened to many other people in the months that 
we have been working on this. She was singled out only because it was 
wrongly reported that she had been offered a job that she had not been 
offered by me or anybody else. I'm sorry that happened, and some say 
that a leak inside this administration caused that. If I knew who did 
it, they wouldn't be here.

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    Q. What about the leak about the----
    Q. Playboy bunny girls, and----
    Q. ----Playboy Club?
    The President. That did not come out of here. Absolutely!
    Q. Where did----
    The President. It categorically did not come out of here, and I 
thought whoever leaked it, it was outrageous. But it did not come out of 
here.
    Q. When do you hope to have a decision on Attorney General, sir?
    The President. I have nothing else to say.

Note: The President spoke at 3:15 p.m. in the Roosevelt Room at the 
White House. A tape was not available for verification of the content of 
these remarks.