[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 29, Number 20 (Monday, May 24, 1993)]
[Pages 907-908]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Exchange With Reporters During a Luncheon With Business Leaders

 May 19, 1993

Energy Tax

    Q. Mr. President, do you think you can persuade these business 
leaders that your en- 

[[Page 908]]

ergy tax is a good tax and that you have enough spending cuts in the 
budget?

    The President. Well, I hope so. Several of them endorsed this 
program yesterday. Mr. Chee on behalf of the realtors did, and Mr. 
Armstrong, he's aircraft. Mr. Wolf did. So I think we're making a real 
good dent. I think the main reason is that the business leaders who are 
familiar with what is actually in the program know that there's $100 
billion in entitlement cuts there, know that the energy tax is going to 
work as an important part of getting the interest rates down and having 
credibility in the markets. So I think we've got a real shot at it.

Health Care Reform

    Q. What about an entitlement cap, as some people on the Hill want? 
Wouldn't that help?

    The President. Well, it has to be done in the right way. My view 
is--and this is a good place to discuss this--the United States 
Government has already contributed to the rising costs of health care 
for employers by squeezing Medicare and Medicaid and forcing those costs 
off onto private employers. So if we have a cap on health care spending, 
which I'm not opposed to, and it should be done in a right way, it 
should be done in connection with the health care plan so that we're 
helping everybody. If we did it without doing it on the health care, if 
we did it now, it would run the risk of 2 or 3 years from now having 
another big increase in their costs, undermining their ability to hire 
American workers and to keep America competitive. So if we're going to 
do a health care cap, let's do it with health care. That's the way it 
should be done.

Note: The exchange began at 12:23 p.m. in the Residence at the White 
House. In his remarks, he referred to William Chee, chief executive 
officer, RESCO; Michael Armstrong, chief executive officer, Hughes 
Aircraft; and Steven Wolf, chief executive officer, United Airlines. A 
tape was not available for verification of the content of this exchange.