[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 29, Number 9 (Monday, March 8, 1993)]
[Pages 353-355]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks on Signing the Emergency Unemployment Compensation Amendments of 
1993 and an Exchange With Reporters

 March 4, 1993

    The President. I want to, first of all, acknowledge the presence 
here of Senators Mitchell, Moynihan, Riegle, Sarbanes, Sasser, Hatfield, 
and Durenberger; the Speaker and Congressman Matsui and Congressman 
Fish. I would also like to acknowledge the Labor Secretary and two of 
his employees, whom I will recognize formally in just a moment.
    Today I am signing important legislation to extend unemployment 
benefits long term. I want to thank the Congress for passing this bill, 
which is the first provision in the eco- 

[[Page 354]]

nomic package I recommended to them in my joint address.
    The bill reforms existing law. It symbolizes the success of a new 
management style we are bringing to the Government. And it reminds us of 
how critical it is to adopt the rest of our economic plan, to increase 
investment, reduce the deficit, create private-sector jobs, and increase 
the incomes of working Americans.
    We have extended unemployment benefits. Now it's time to extend 
jobs. It's been less than a month since I asked the Secretary of Labor 
to prepare the emergency legislation. I want to commend the leadership 
of the Congress, of those who are here and those who are not, who made 
rapid action possible. Thanks to them, the benefits of millions of 
Americans will proceed without interruption. More important, this 
legislation takes an existing pilot program and applies it nationally in 
ways that I am convinced will help tens of thousands of workers 
immediately.
    This reform was brought to the attention of Secretary Reich by line 
workers at the Department of Labor, and it reflects the kind of 
innovation and imagination we must bring to the entire Federal 
Government. It is at the core of the national performance review 
initiative that the Vice President and I announced yesterday.
    The Department of Labor funds a demonstration project in New Jersey 
that matches up workers who are permanently displaced with training and 
reemployment services. They use existing data to provide services to 
people in need. Once they're identified, the workers receive the kind of 
counseling, training, and retraining that gets them back to work faster 
and often at higher wages than would have otherwise been the case.
    Secretary of Labor Reich held a town meeting in his Department of 
Labor to break down the walls that too often have existed between senior 
management and Federal employees. Because two dedicated public employees 
brought this successful innovation to his attention, today it is 
becoming the law of the land everywhere, thanks to the Congress. It's a 
great example of what we can and must do throughout the Government.
    And the people who made it happen have joined us here for this 
important moment. With this bill becoming law, 1\1/2\ million unemployed 
Americans who need help making the rent and buying groceries and paying 
for school clothes will receive it. I hope they will also recognize the 
efforts of the two gentlemen to my left with the Secretary of Labor, 
Steve Wandner and Steve Marler, the Labor Department employees who 
brought the profiling reform to the Secretary's attention. Thank you 
very much.
    Some of the indicators are that we are coming out of a long and deep 
recession. But, as all of you know, this has been a slow, anemic 
recovery when it comes to job growth especially. It is time now to get 
on to the important work of stimulating our economy and putting the 
American people back to work, to creating the conditions that will allow 
the private sector to create jobs, and to create jobs at good wages. I 
hope that this is a good first step.
    There are those who say we don't need to do anything else to our 
economy, but I would remind you all that we are 3 million jobs behind 
where we would be at this point in an ordinary American recovery. Claims 
for unemployment benefits are up again this week, and there are still 
deep structural changes going on in this economy as well as a recession 
in Europe and a very difficult economic problem in Japan, all of these 
things affecting our future prospects. I think we can grow our economy, 
and we can create jobs. But we have to be committed, as I said, to a 
long-term program to create jobs and raise incomes. That is what our 
economic plan seeks to do.
    As I said, we're now extending unemployment benefits, and that's a 
good thing to do. We are recognizing the fact that more and more 
Americans who lose their jobs now don't expect to go back to those old 
jobs. There's been a stunning increase in the number of people who say 
when they lose their jobs today, I don't expect to get this job back. 
And the reform brought to our attention by these two fine gentlemen will 
help us to help those people. But in the end, what we have to do is to 
extend jobs and not unemployment. That is our next great test, and I 
think we're off to a good beginning today.



[[Page 355]]


[At this point, the President signed the bill.]


Bosnia

    Q. Mr. President, do you have any response to Mr. Karadzic, who had 
an implied threat of violence against the United States because of its 
policy of airdrops?
    The President. Well, if that's what he meant to do, he made a 
terrible mistake, and it was something that I viewed with grave concern 
and real disapproval.

World Trade Center Bombing

    Q. Do you think that the incident in New York and the arrest today 
should make Americans afraid about foreign policy decisions that might 
affect us domestically through terrorism?
    The President. No, I don't think the American people can afford to 
be afraid. I think we all have to be concerned about any risks to our 
people's safety. But I would say again what I said to you earlier: My 
feeling now is one of real gratitude to the law enforcement officials at 
every level who worked together and moved quickly to try to resolve this 
matter and who did make an arrest.
    I think we should wait until the formal statement is issued, until 
we know more facts before we can draw any conclusions about anything 
other than the fact that an arrest was undertaken. When I know more 
facts I'll be glad to answer more questions and say more. But I think 
that today we ought to be very impressed that the law enforcement 
authorities in this country moved so quickly to make an arrest. And I'm 
grateful to them.
    Q. Why would it be a grave mistake for him to make implications?
    Q. Based on what you know, sir, do you think they'll be able to 
crack the bombing case?

The Deficit

    Q. What does this say about your commitment to cutting the deficit?
    The President. It says I've done more about it than anybody in 
recent history. And I intend to keep on.
    Thank you.

Note: The President spoke at 4:33 p.m. in the Roosevelt Room at the 
White House. H.R. 920, approved March 4, was assigned Public Law No. 
103-6.