[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 29, Number 25 (Monday, June 28, 1993)]
[Pages 1143-1145]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Interview With Bob Levey of WMAL Radio, Washington, DC

 June 21, 1993

    Mr. Levey. I'm pleased to welcome you to Newstalk 630, WMAL. Thanks 
so much for joining us.
    The President. Glad to do it, Bob.

Economic Program

    Mr. Levey. Let's begin with a question about the deficit reduction 
bill. It passed the Senate Finance Committee last week. Does this now 
put you on the high road to passage of this bill, or are we still 
trundling along somewhere below the high road?
    The President. Well, I think it is a high road in the sense that 
that probably was the most difficult committee in the Senate to get such 
a bill out of. And the fact that they did it and they did it in a timely 
fashion is encouraging. And I think what we just have to do now is to 
try to see that the bill--let the bill pass the Senate and send it over 
to conference, where the Senators and the House Members can discuss what 
each of them can live with as well as the principles that I have laid 
down. And I think we can come out of this with a bill which brings the 
deficit down, requires upper income people, who are in the best position 
to do so, to pay the lion's share of the taxes, has more cuts than taxes 
in it, protects the middle class and particularly gives an incentive to 
the working poor to work their way out of poverty, and has a lot of 
economic incentives to grow the economy, the kinds of things that have 
led so many big companies, labor unions, the homebuilders, the realtors, 
and others to endorse this plan. I think that it is a very good and 
balanced plan, and I think you'll see that coming out of the session 
between the Senate and the House, if the bill will be passed in the 
Senate this week, and of course I'm hoping it will be.
    Mr. Levey. Sir, so you know, of course, that the Republicans, 
cheered up by the results in Texas, are now going around the country 
saying that you, President Clinton, are doing more for them than they 
can do for themselves. What's your reaction to that?
    The President. Well, my reaction is that it is unfortunate that our 
side was not, in

[[Page 1144]]

effect, defended in Texas. Neither of the candidates in the Texas Senate 
race had voted for or supported my economic program. So the voters of 
Texas, unfortunately, were permitted to cast their ballots in an 
atmosphere of unreality, I mean, where one candidate is running saying 
the issue is spending stupid, and we'd cut $250 billion in spending 
programs. We'd cut veterans, Medicare, agriculture, foreign aid, 
defense, just about everything you can see. And it's going to be very 
interesting now, in light of what happened there, to see the debates 
that are coming up.
    I have been a strong supporter, because I believe in it, of the 
space station and the super collider. We had a qualified panel of 
experts. Both those projects are in Texas, you know, super collider 
entirely in Texas, space station largely in Texas. I had a qualified 
panel of experts look at the space station. They recommended ways to 
redesign the project that would save $4 billion and to change the 
management of NASA in a way that would make the whole space program work 
better. And we also reduced some spending in the super collider. And I'm 
hoping I can save those projects now.
    But there are strong opponents of those projects in the Congress, 
and they're saying, ``Well, the voters of Texas voted to kill them,'' 
because of the unrealistic atmosphere in which that whole election 
unfolded. And I wish that Lloyd Bentsen, who was Senator from there, had 
been able to spend full time down there telling the people of Texas he 
put the program together, and he would not have put a program together 
which was unfair to Texas, unfair to the middle class, and which didn't 
have spending cuts.
    When you take tough stands and you want to make tough decisions, you 
have to expect to suffer some unpopularity in the short run as the 
rhetoric overtakes the reality. But every evidence we have is when the 
voters know the specifics of the program, that we prevail. In the race 
in California for Leon Panetta's House seat, where this whole program 
became the issue, the person who was elected to Congress defended the 
program, advertised it. Leon got on television and gave the specifics of 
the program. Our opponent attacked us and said how terrible it was. The 
voters gave the guy who took my position a 10-point margin. And I 
thought that in view of all the other problems out there, that was 
pretty impressive.
    Mr. Levey. Mr. President, I thought you got off a good line last 
week. You said that Washington has become the home of gridlock and 
greed. Are we really that bad, or is this just political language?
    The President. No, I think we're breaking that. I think if this 
economic program passes, it is fair, it is balanced, and it will bring 
an end to gridlock. But what I'm saying is it's been more than a decade 
since a President's budget was even taken seriously by Congress. Nobody 
ever wanted to talk truth about economics to the American people because 
the truth is that back in 1981 we cut taxes a bunch, and we increased 
spending a lot, and we went from a $1 trillion to a $4 trillion debt, 
and we permitted health care costs to soar out of control. We haven't 
done anything long-term about our economic health, and now we don't have 
the money we actually need to be spending on defense conversion, on 
education and training, on Head Start, on giving people incentives to 
revitalize our cities.
    But if you want to change, it's tough because it means we all have 
to give up a little something now to get something tomorrow. What we're 
getting is lower interest rates, more investment, and an economy that 
will really produce jobs. But to do it we've got to break a mentality of 
``what's in it for me today.'' But I think we're on the way to doing 
that. I think the era of gridlock and greed is fading into the distance, 
and I'll be surprised if we don't adopt the economic program and a lot 
of other things that need to be done around this town like political 
reform, lobbying reform, campaign finance reform, national service. I 
think we'll get health care reform. I'm hopeful. I'm very optimistic. 
But I want the people to understand clearly that these things don't 
happen overnight.

Statehood for the District of Columbia

    Mr. Levey. Sir, speaking of things that need to get done, let's talk 
for a minute about statehood in the District of Columbia, which you 
greatly favored and strongly swore that you would lobby for once you got 
into office.

[[Page 1145]]

And I have not heard word one from you or from your office about that 
since you took over. Is this still on your list? And, if so, how high?
    The President. Absolutely. I strongly favor it. I think it ought to 
be done. Nothing is clearer to me than when you see the Congress still 
trying to make up their mind what the domestic policy of the citizens of 
the District of Columbia in non-Federal matters ought to be. I think 
that the District of Columbia should chart its own course. And I still 
believe all the concerns are very compelling.
    I have to tell you that there has always been substantial opposition 
in the Congress. And a lot of Members who might ordinarily be strongly 
for statehood are nervous about whether their own citizens are going to 
be taxed by the District of Columbia if it becomes a State. I think the 
question now is, since this is going to be a major debate that will 
require an awful lot of concentration on the part of the Senators and a 
lot of focus to work through the issues, when is the appropriate time 
for it to be brought up to guarantee that it will be seriously 
considered? Because unless you get serious consideration, it won't pass. 
That is, the easy thing for a lot of the Members of Congress will be is 
just to vote no. The only way it can win is if we can bring it up in a 
relatively calm atmosphere where people can really focus on the 
practical problems the people living in the District of Columbia face 
and on the contribution the District of Columbia makes to the country in 
terms of taxes, people in military service, and in many other ways.
    So I still very much believe that this ought to be done. But we have 
to bring it up at a time when we've got a fair shot to prevail. I mean, 
I could bring it up and make a speech for it and let it go down. If we 
want it to pass, we have to bring it up at the right time where people 
can really focus on it.

President's Priorities

    Mr. Levey. Sir, you said the night before you took over, that you 
did not want to be allowed to become a captive of the White House. You 
wanted to be the kind of President who got out. Do you think you've 
succeeded in that?
    The President. To some extent. You know, early on here, I have to 
stay here a lot and just do the work. There's just so much work to be 
done.
    Mr. Levey.  I guess so.
    The President. If you're trying to change things as much as we are, 
if you want to put on the Nation's agenda a new economic plan and a new 
health care plan and then follow that with a plan to open the doors of 
college education to all, the plan to reform campaign finance and 
lobbying, a plan for moving people from welfare to work, that requires 
an immense amount of effort. And then, of course, every President has to 
spend a significant amount of time on national security and foreign 
policy issues.
    But I have traveled some. I expect to do it more, and I also try to 
get out and around in DC a lot. You know, one of the reasons I try to 
jog downtown is just so I can stop and talk to citizens and let them 
visit with me and kind of make sure I don't lose touch with the real 
world. I wish I could go----
    Mr. Levey.  Well, don't jog when it gets humid out there.
    The President. It's pretty hot out there.
    Mr. Levey.  Yes, it is.
    The President. But I'm straight. I expect it to be a never-ending 
struggle, but I hope it's one I can prevail in.
    Mr. Levey.  Mr. President, we thank you so much for joining us on 
Newstalk 630 WMAL.
    The President. Thank you. I enjoyed it.

Note: The interview began at 1:12 p.m. The President spoke from the 
Roosevelt Room at the White House.