    [Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 29, Number 31 (Monday, August 9, 1993)]
    [Pages 1540-1542]
    [Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

    <R04>
    Remarks on Signing the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993
    and an Exchange With Reporters

     August 3, 1993

        The President. Thank you very much. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen,
    when I took this office with a real determination to engage in what
    we've come to call reinventing Government around here, it was really
    encouraging to me to see that there were Members of the Congress who had
    been examining these questions for years and seriously trying to address
    them. I want to say a special word of thanks to Senator Glenn, in his
    absence, and to Senator Roth; to my friend Congressman Conyers and
    Congressman Clinger and the other Members who have worked so hard to try
    to put us on the road to seriously reexamining how this Government
    works. It is important to restore the confidence of the American people
    in their Government. It is important because, to the extent that our
    Government works with greater efficiency and effectiveness and less
    unnecessary cost, it will strengthen the American economy as well as the
    bonds of our citizenship.
        This law holds a lot of promise to do both things. The legislation
    itself mainly involves the inner workings of Government, things that
    most people don't think about and maybe don't ever want to think about.
    It requires the formulation of strategic plans, of setting yearly goals
    and targets for every program, of measuring and reporting how well
    programs actually perform compared to the targets set for them, and more
    accountability for achieving results. But we should view this structure
    in much simpler terms, terms that every American should be able to
    identify with. The law simply requires that we chart a course for every
    endeavor that we take the people's money for, see how well we are
    progressing, tell the public how we are doing, stop the things that
    don't work, and never stop improving the things that we think are worth
    investing in.
        Earlier this year I met with our staff to discuss this. The Vice
    President and I were both enthusiastic about this bill, and I am very,
    very pleased that it has passed so rapidly. I do want to point out that
    it is, as the Vice President said, an important first step in the
    efforts to reform the way the Federal Government operates and relates to
    the American people. It may seem amazing to say, but like many big
    organizations, ours is primarily dominated by considerations of input,
    how much money do you spend on a program, how many people do you have on
    the staff, what kind of regulations and rules are going to govern it,
    and much less by output, does this work, is it changing people's lives
    for the better, can we say after we take money and put it into a certain
    endeavor that it was worth actually having it away from the taxpayers,
    into this endeavor, and their lives are better? These may seem like
    simple questions, but for decades they haven't been answered in a very
    satisfactory way. We are determined to do that.
        I think it's fair to say that most Americans will understand that no
    organization as large and complex as the National Government can be
    transformed overnight. I also want to say that a lot of the things that
    this Government does, it does pretty well, and there are a lot of
    dedicated employees out there who do their jobs well. But everyone who
    has ever spent any time looking at how we do things, how decisions are
    made, how they tend to pile one on top of the other, year-in and year-
    out, without ever being examined in total or in terms of their effect
    would say that this is an effort that is long, long overdue.
        So I ask, as I sign this bill, for the support of the American
    people to continue the work of reinventing Government and for their
    careful attention to the report that the Vice President will present to
    me next month. I ask for the support of the Congress in being willing to
    reexamine all of our assumptions and to try to take a fresh look at the
    way we spend the people's money. And I ask for the support of the fine
    people who work for the Federal Government to try to find a new spirit
    of renewal and change that I think will make their jobs more satisfying,
    and I know will help to restore the credibility and confidence of the
    American people in the public enterprise.
        Thank you very much.

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

    [[Page 1541]]

    Income Tax Increases

        Q. Mr. President, sir, on the subject on which you're not getting
    bipartisan support, on the budget, can you respond to Republican, very
    sharp Republican criticism of the retroactivity of the income tax
    increases?

        The President. Well, as you know, we had supported moving it up for
    6 months. But in the conference committee there was a very strong demand
    to do some other things that made it very difficult not to put it back
    retroactively, apparently. For example, the conference wanted to raise
    the income threshold to which Social Security recipients were subject to
    higher income taxes so that now no one on Social Security, and I think
    it's about the bottom 90 percent, will not be subject to any higher
    taxes.

        And the people that we have to get votes from asked for the
    following: They said, we want the economic incentives in, we want $495
    billion of deficit reduction, and we don't want a higher energy tax
    number. And I think the conferees--I don't think any of them were very
    happy about that, but I think they thought that since that had been
    announced in January, or February, since a lot of people were already
    making adjustments on the basis of that, that that was a fairer way to
    do it than to run the risk of dropping below $490 billion in deficit
    reduction and, frankly, not being able to pass the program.

        Q. Won't it be underwithheld, and won't it be a drag on the
    economy----

        The President. It depends on what else we do. We think we have some
    options to offset it, but it is ironic that the same people who
    filibustered the jobs program earlier this year are worried about a drag
    on the economy. They had a chance to put a half a million Americans to
    work and turned away from it.

        This money will be spent to reduce the deficit and to provide
    economic incentives to many of those same people who will provide the
    higher taxes. So I think that, on balance--I understand the decision the
    conferees made. I wish it hadn't been necessary. But part of it was just
    dictated by the size of the deficit reduction package we wanted and the
    low energy number. I think it is a good package; it's solid; it's
    clearly real numbers. It's very different from the 1990 package in many
    ways. So I feel quite good about it.

    Bosnia

        Q. Mr. President, what message is being sent to Bosnian Serbs and
    Muslims with this agreement that NATO has reached?

        The President. The message is, first of all, that the allies are
    determined to protect the United Nations forces there, determined to
    secure the humanitarian relief program. And the other message is that we
    would very much--all of us--like to see a successful agreement and a
    fair peace agreement that can then be enforced. We'd like to see an end
    to the fighting. There should be an end to the shelling of Sarajevo, an
    end to the misery before we go through another winter with grave, grave
    difficulties ahead. And I hope the message will be there. I feel very
    good about what happened yesterday, and I appreciate the support of the
    allies for the United States position.

        Q. How long do the Serbs have before air strikes would begin?

        The President. Thank you very much.

    Spending Cuts

        Q. Did you notice they kept the honeybee subsidy, the one thing you
    had promised to get rid of?

        The President. We'll eventually get it.

        The Vice President. Phil Lader and I are going to get rid of that.

        The President. Let me tell you, there will be many more budget cuts.
    This is the beginning, not the end. The House has already embarked on
    that course. There will be more.

    Note: The President spoke at 9:43 a.m. in the Roosevelt Room at the
    White House. S. 20, approved August 3, was assigned Public Law No. 103-
    62.

      The Office of the Press Secretary issued a statement on August 2
    concerning the NATO decision on air strikes against the Bosnian Serbs,
    with the text of the NATO resolution attached.

    [[Page 1542]]