[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 29, Number 25 (Monday, June 28, 1993)]
[Pages 1168-1172]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks on the Appointment of Kristine M. Gebbie as AIDS Policy 
Coordinator and an Exchange With Reporters

 June 25, 1993

    The President. Good morning. Thank you very much. First, let me 
welcome Speaker of the House and other distinguished Members of the 
House of Representatives here. I appreciate their coming. I understand 
they were able to get a little more sleep than the Senators were last 
night. I also want to welcome all the rest of you here.
    Before I make the announcement that we're all here to witness and to 
be a part of, I do want to say a word about the vote that was cast early 
this morning in the United States Senate to pass a version of the 
economic plan which I presented to them, which, to be sure, was changed 
to some extent from the House plan but still reflected, I think, a 
remarkable degree of courage: $500 billion in deficit reduction in the 
Senate plan, over 78 percent of the new revenues coming from people with 
incomes above $200,000, real commitment to significant budget cuts that 
were slightly greater than the ones in the House plan, and now clearly 
more budget cuts than tax increases.
    The most important thing is that now both Houses of Congress, under 
very difficult circumstances, with the same old rhetoric of the last 12 
years flying at them, had the courage to try to change this country for 
the better. What this means is incalculable. It means we can now move on 
to a conference committee with a clear signal to the financial markets 
that its interest rates should stay down and people should be able to 
continue to refinance their homes and finance their businesses at lower 
interest rates and that for the first time in a very long time an 
American President can go to a meeting of the G-7 nations in a position 
of economic strength,

[[Page 1169]]

trying to lead a renewal of growth and opportunity all over the world.
    So I very much appreciate that. I want to compliment Senator 
Mitchell, Senator Sasser, Senator Moynihan, in particular, for their 
leadership and the courage of the Senators who voted in the way they 
did, so that we can go forward.
    One of the things that was in this budget that has received almost 
no notice is a real commitment to intensifying our efforts to deal with 
the AIDS crisis, even in the midst of all the budget cutbacks. One of 
those important efforts is the naming of a new AIDS coordinator with a 
higher visibility, a more important policy role, and more influence in 
the National Government than has been the case in the past.
    It is my distinct pleasure today to announce the appointment of 
Kristine Gebbie as our Nation's first AIDS Policy Coordinator. This 
position has never existed before, but circumstances now require us to 
look for unprecedented remedies to an unprecedented problem.
    Today, as we toil against one of the most dreaded and mysterious 
diseases humanity has ever known, we must redouble our Government's 
efforts to promote research, funding, and treatment for AIDS. The 
appointment of Kristine Gebbie is part of our pledge to do that. She is 
a proven health care leader who will bring to the administration years 
of experience in the AIDS field. I'm confident she'll work hard to 
ensure that our Nation no longer ignores an epidemic that has already 
claimed too many of our brothers and sisters, our parents and children, 
our friends and colleagues.
    I'm particularly pleased that Kristine Gebbie is so committed to 
helping our AIDS effort, for she certainly is no stranger to the field. 
To begin with, she hails from the Pacific Northwest, one of our 
country's most progressive regions when it comes to health care. A 
former nurse, she became the administrator of the Oregon health 
division, a position she held for 11 years, and later served as the 
secretary of the Washington State department of health. Currently she 
serves as a special consultant to the Department of Health and Human 
Services. She's also spent a lot of her time and energy on AIDS 
prevention. Since 1989, she's served as chair of the Centers for Disease 
Control Advisory Committee on the Prevention of HIV Infection. She 
served on the Presidential Commission on AIDS. She was for 3 years a 
member of the National Academy of Sciences AIDS oversight committee, and 
she was chair of an HIV committee of State health officials around the 
United States.
    AIDS is terrifying. It inflicts tragedy on too many families. But 
ultimately, it is a disease, one we can defeat just as we have defeated 
polio, many forms of cancer, and other scourges in the history of our 
Nation. How can we do it? With commitment and courage and constancy, and 
with vocal and responsible leadership from our Nation's Government. 
Already this administration has requested a large increase in funding 
for AIDS research and prevention, even in the face of our severe budget 
cutbacks. We are now moving toward full funding of the Ryan White 
Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency Act. Our budget requested in 
fiscal 1994 a 78 percent increase in funding for Ryan White, an 18 
percent increase for AIDS research, and a 27 percent increase for 
prevention.
    In addition, the upcoming health care reform plan will make sure 
that AIDS sufferers are not victimized by unfair insurance policies when 
they seek treatment for their illnesses. AIDS touches all of us, and no 
single group should be discriminated against on the basis of this 
disease.
    To make Government's role in AIDS more efficient, we're also taking 
steps to coordinate AIDS policy. On June 10th, I signed into law the 
National Institutes of Health Revitalization Act that establishes an 
AIDS research office to coordinate all the AIDS research at NIH. By now 
appointing an AIDS Policy Coordinator, we will ensure that one person in 
the White House oversees and unifies Governmentwide AIDS efforts.
    Kristine Gebbie will be a full member of the Domestic Policy Council 
and will work closely with the Department of Health and Human Services--
and I'm glad to see Secretary Shalala here today. She has my full 
support in coordinating policy among all the various executive branch 
departments.

[[Page 1170]]

    With the dedication and leadership that she has shown and that she 
will bring to this effort, I believe we will be able to wage the battle 
against AIDS with complete resolve. I look forward to working with her 
as we tackle the challenges that are posed to us. I assure you this is 
another step in the beginning of our effort, not the end of my personal 
commitment. This will guarantee the kind of focus this effort has long 
needed.
    Ms. Gebbie.

[At this point, Ms. Gebbie expressed her appreciation to the President 
and gave her perspective on a coordinated approach to AIDS.]

    The President. Let me also say before we take a question or two, to 
Mr. Speaker and to Congressmen Studds and Frank and McDermott and Pelosi 
and Morella and to all the other Members of the Congress who have been 
willing to support increased efforts for AIDS in the face of these 
difficult budgetary times, I'm grateful for them, too. Because without 
the congressional support, we would not be able to make any progress, in 
my judgment, even with this heightened administrative effort.

Gays in the Military

    Q. Mr. President, as you approach your decision on gays in the 
military, have you reached a conclusion about the directive that says 
that homosexuality is incompatible with military service? Have you 
decided----
    The President. I have not received any such directive. And until I 
receive a report from the Pentagon, I have no further comment on this.
    Q. Can I just ask you a broader question, then, about this?
    The President. I'm not going to discuss it until I receive the 
report from the Pentagon. I have nothing else to say now.

AIDS

    Q. Mr. President, I have a question for Ms. Gebbie, please. During 
the time that you served in Washington and Oregon on dealing with the 
AIDS epidemic, what will you bring to this job that you learned there?
    Ms. Gebbie. I think one of the biggest things I learned is that 
people have to be able to hear each other, not just talk to each other 
but hear each other, and then put that listening into effect, developing 
policies that work. That's a bit of a global answer, but it really has 
to be applied to each piece of this puzzle. And it's putting a puzzle 
together that's developing policy around this disease.

Terrorism

    Q. Mr. President, yesterday when the news broke of the terrorist 
attempts at bombing various points in New York City, a lot of Americans 
felt an increased sense of vulnerability. I wonder if you would share 
with us your thoughts when you learned about it, and do you share that 
increased sense of vulnerability to terrorism in this country?
    The President. Any free society has always some exposure to 
terrorism. I think what the American people should do, though, is to 
feel an enormous sense of pride in the aggressive work done by the New 
York Police Department and all the Federal authorities involved in New 
York. We are working aggressively on this issue. We will continue to 
work on it in a very tough way, and we will put whatever resources the 
United States has to put in to combating it.
    I think one of the problems that has plagued much of the world in 
the 1980's is random acts of terrorism. And there is always the 
possibility with increasing political instability in various places of 
increased terrorism. But I can tell you that I view the action in New 
York as reassuring. And all I can tell you is that we're going to do our 
best to be as tough, as intolerant, as effective in dealing with these 
kinds of problems consistently as the local and the Federal authorities 
were in New York.

Economic Program

    Q. Mr. President, now that the Senate has voted, can you tell us 
where you come down on the differences between the House and Senate 
bills in terms of the gasoline versus Btu tax, in terms of the level of 
Medicare funding, and the other differences in the bills? And can you 
tell us, did you win a political victory at the possible expense of your 
program, in making so many deals that it's just complicated the process 
of getting things through conference?
    The President. Actually, this administration didn't make any deals. 
The Senate Finance Committee put together a bill that it

[[Page 1171]]

could get out of the Senate Finance Committee. And then the question was 
very much whether we would go on to conference. I think there was a 
great sense in the Senate that they had to go forward with the bill. 
There were many Senators who told me they liked the House bill better. I 
mean, there were divisions even in the Senate. There were a couple of 
Senators who indicated they would have voted for the House bill who did 
not vote for the Senate bill. There was all kinds of difference of 
opinion.
    I think what happened was there was an institutional feeling there 
yesterday, which crystallized in the late afternoon, that the worst 
thing they could do is not to go forward, and that the worst thing they 
could do is not to break the gridlock, not to find a way to continue to 
push for real economic reform. And all this happened rather late last 
evening, and no decisions have been made. I haven't even had an ample 
opportunity to analyze whatever amendments were made yesterday. But this 
administration was not nearly as involved in the details of what came 
out of the Senate as was the case in the House.
    I am confident that the conferees will get together, will produce a 
bill that in some ways is superior to both bills and will have a broader 
support. That's what I think will happen.
    Q. Gas tax, sir?
    Q. On the budget, assuming that you want the final bill to resemble 
your own plan as much as possible, what is your response to Senator 
Moynihan's observation recently when he said that he felt that directing 
one-third of all tax increases and spending cuts to investment would be 
perhaps too excessive?
    The President. Well, we'll see. A lot of the Senators who came on to 
the bill late yesterday were holding out because the investment 
incentives have been cut back so much by the committee. One of the 
biggest hurdles was trying to convince some of the Senators that we 
might increase the investment incentives in the conference. So I can 
tell you that will be a point of continuing tension. But I expect there 
will be some real effort to try to get the investment and growth options 
back in there.
    Keep in mind, reducing the deficit helps you by bringing down 
interest rates. But still in the end if you want to grow the economy, 
somebody has to invest money and create jobs and put people to work. If 
the unemployment rate in this country were 4 percent instead of 7 
percent, we'd have far fewer problems than we do. And the stagnation 
worldwide of economic activity, which has been going on for some time 
now, is holding this country back and requires this country to make 
extraordinary efforts if we're going to swim against the tide and try to 
grow more than other nations to increase incentives to invest and create 
jobs and to grow this economy.
    If you take investment out of part of the country as, for example, 
you see in California with the big cutbacks in defense, there needs to 
be some offsetting investment. You can't create jobs out of thin air. So 
I think we want to see in this economic plan two objectives: really 
tough deficit reduction, keeping the interest rates down, freeing up 
money for private sector investment, and increasing incentives by the 
National Government to get more investment in the economy. And I hope we 
see it.

Iraq

    Q. Mr. President, there seems to be another standoff in Baghdad 
between U.N. weapons inspectors and the Iraqi Government. This is the 
first time this has happened on your watch. How serious is this 
standoff? And what, if anything, do you plan on doing about it?
    The President. It's quite serious. And the United Nations--you've 
already heard the U.N. speak to it, and I would expect that the matter 
will have to be resolved one way or the other in the fairly near future. 
I do think that--I don't have much to add to the pronouncements that 
have come out of the U.N. The United States has to continue to support 
compliance with the U.N. resolutions as they apply to Iraq.

G-7 Summit

    Q. Mr. President, you said that this is the first time that we're 
going to the economic summit in a position of economic strength. Another 
way to view that is that you had a tie vote in the Senate; that you're 
caught

[[Page 1172]]

going into conference between the demands for more social spending, more 
investment, and those who want more cuts; and that there's no margin for 
error, which is not a very strong signal of the ability to resolve this 
and to get anything that will pass finally both Houses----

    The President. I don't think any of the people who have looked at 
this really believe that we won't get a bill out of the conference that 
will be marginally changed in ways from both the House and Senate bills 
that will make the bill more passable in the Senate as well as the 
House. For example, the House wanted basically the incentive package 
that was there but some less tax and some more spending cuts. That came 
out of the Senate. The Senate obliged the less tax and more spending 
cuts but did it at the expense of cutting so much of the investments 
out, because the energy tax had to be reduced as much as it did, not for 
the floor of the Senate but to get it out of the Senate Finance 
Committee.

    Now, what will happen now is you'll see a negotiation, and they'll 
try to bridge those gaps. I don't think they are particularly large. I 
think it's quite encouraging. And if you look at the level of aggression 
this country has displayed in trying to do something about its economic 
circumstances as compared with what is going on in these other nations, 
the political and the economic problems, I think the United States 
should be very proud. It is not easy to change.

    I mean, we've been on an incredible roller coaster ride for 12 years 
now, just sort of spending more than we're taking in and living by 
political rhetoric and hot air. And when you try to change, it's not 
easy. You know, it's the same--my daughter always says when she is 
gigging me a little that old line about denial being more than a river 
in Egypt. I mean, you know, it's not easy to change.

    Thank you very much.

Note: The President spoke at 8:43 a.m. on the South Lawn at the White 
House.