[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 29, Number 42 (Monday, October 25, 1993)]
[Pages 2107-2108]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks and an Exchange With Reporters Prior to a Meeting With Members 
of Congress

 October 19, 1993

NAFTA

    The President. Let me say, first of all, I'm glad to have this 
bipartisan House delegation here, the latest in a round of several 
meetings on NAFTA. I want to begin by expressing my encouragement of 
today's housing numbers as well as the reports of increased business 
investment, which indicate that the economy is picking up. And I'm 
encouraged by that. And I know that all of us hope that that will work 
and that the lower interest rates and the declining deficit will help to 
support continued economic renewal.
    But if America wants to grow more jobs, we're going to have to 
increase our exports. And therefore it is critical that we continue 
pushing and pass this trade agreement before the Congress goes home. And 
I'm here to--hopeful we pick up a few more votes for the NAFTA agreement 
today and to discuss some of the outstanding issues on it with the 
Members here. It's imperative: We can have an economic recovery, but if 
we're going to create jobs, we're going to have to increase exports. 
That's what wealthy countries have to do. And I hope we can do that here 
and pass NAFTA.

Somalia

    Q. Mr. President, does the withdrawal of the Rangers from Somalia, 
sir, mean that you've given up on the search for Aideed?
    The President. No, it means that we have 3,600 marines coming in, 
many of whom have similar capacities, who will be there. And it means 
that right now we are engaging in a political process to see how we can 
resolve our mission in Somalia and to do all the things the United 
Nations ordered to do, including working out a political solution and 
having a process by which the people who were responsible for killing 
the Pakistani soldiers--that's what started all this--that that 
investigation can proceed and appropriate action can be taken. There may 
be another way to do that. So right now we're in a stand-down position. 
It does mean that a final decision's been made.
    Q. Mr. President, you have set a deadline of March 31st to get the 
troops out of Somalia. Do you have any contingency plans for Somalia at 
all?
    The President. Well, we're doing what we agreed to do. We're 
pursuing negotiations to try to get a political solution. And I'm happy 
to say that, if anything, as you probably noted in the paper today, 
we're able to fulfill our mission better now than we have been for the 
last few months. We're delivering the safety of the--and our mission is 
going along as planned.

NAFTA

    Q. Mr. President, this is your sixth meeting with the Members of 
Congress on NAFTA. So far only three Members have emerged saying that 
they've shifted their position--these meetings. Are you making the 
progress you need in order to ratify it and----
    The President. I think we are. A lot of people have said things to 
me privately that they haven't said yet in public. And I think the 
Congress is still waiting to see how we're going to work out some of 
these other issues, including the training programs--a lot of the 
Democrats want to know--and they're going to have a chance to vote on 
that. And we still have to work through the whole issue of how we deal 
with the fact that if we pass NAFTA, we have to reduce tariffs. And 
that's a $2.5 billion tax on American consumers today, the tariffs are, 
that we will reduce. And under our budget laws, that has to be 
replacing--so we have to work through that. There are still some 
practical things to work out.
    I believe that a majority of the Congress today believes it's the 
right thing to do. So our question is whether we can persuade a

[[Page 2108]]

majority to vote, do what they think is right. I think by the end of 
November we'll be able to do that.

Note: The President spoke at 10:45 a.m. in the Cabinet Room at the White 
House. A tape was not available for verification of the content of these 
remarks.