    [Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 30, Number 12 (Monday, March 28, 1994)]
    [Pages 585-586]
    [Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

    <R04>
    Exchange With Reporters in Miami, Florida

    March 20, 1994

    North Korea

        Q. Anything new on North Korea, Mr. President?
        The President. As you know the Board of Governors of the IAEA is
    meeting tomorrow. Our goals remain the same. We haven't changed our
    policy. We did do quite a bit of work yesterday, spent a good deal of
    time discussing this. But I really don't have anything else to say at
    this time. I'm talking to our allies. And we're working through this and
    what our options are.
        Q. Is there any possibility that sanctions can be avoided at this
    point?
        The President. Is there what?
        Q. Do you have any reason to believe that sanctions can be avoided
    at this point?
        The President. Well, of course, they can. They can--that really is a
    decision that's up to the North Koreans as much as anything else. But
    there are--we also have some hope that they will go forward. They did
    let the inspectors in; then they didn't; they did. There seems to be a
    difference of opinion within their country about how to proceed. So to
    some extent the ball is still clearly in their court. But we are
    proceeding to consider all of our options and to talk with our allies
    about it.
        Q. What is your hope based on, that they might allow full
    inspections, sir?
        The President. I didn't say I hope. He didn't ask me if I hoped they
    would.
        Q. You said that there's still a hope, you said?
        The President. Well, of course, there is. There appear to be people
    within North Korea that want to proceed to normalize the relations of
    their country with the international community and people who don't. And
    we'll just have to see what they do now, where we go from here. But our
    objectives remain what they have always been. We have been entirely
    reasonable and forthcoming. And we have also worked very closely with
    not only our strong allies in South Korea but with the Japanese, the
    Chinese, and others who share many, or if not all of our objectives. So
    we're going to keep going forward, see what happens in the next few
    days. But the next step is to see what happens at the Board of Governors
    meeting.
        Q. Are tensions ratcheting up so high--there appears to be some
    concern that this may evolve into some kind of armed conflict, given the
    height of the rhetoric?
        The President. Well, I have done everything I could to avoid
    ratcheting up the tensions while being firm in the objectives of our
    policy and what I think are in the interests of not just the United
    States but the people of that part of the world and Asia. So we're just
    working ahead.
        I'm not trying to ratchet up the tensions, I'm just trying to work
    through this in a very deliberate but very firm and disciplined way, and
    that's what we'll continue to do.
        Thank you.

    [At this point, the President moved from White House reporters to a
    group of Miami reporters and continued answering questions. His remarks
    are joined in progress.]

    Health Care

        The President. ----have a system of comprehensive benefits, leave
    Medicare alone--it works--but add prescription drugs, and phase in over
    time options other than nursing homes for long-term care, and cover
    people who work through the workplace. Nine out of ten people who have
    private insurance are already covered through the workplace. This is a
    very, very big deal. And it is imperative if we're ever going to do what
    we ought to do to give security to the American people.
        We've got to reform the insurance system. You can't have in any
    given time 39 million people without health insurance. You can't have
    113 million--30 million Americans with lifetime limits on their
    policies. You can't

    [[Page 586]]

    have 81 million Americans with preexisting conditions so that they can't
    change jobs or they're paying insurance premiums that are too high. You
    can't have rates that discriminate against older Americans when older
    Americans are the fastest growing group of our population, and more and
    more of them want to work. So these are all things that have to be dealt
    with. And I think that the Congress is going to face up to their
    responsibilities this year. We've got the economy turned around. We're
    going in the right direction with the economy. We're going to have
    welfare reform--got some very important school reforms going. But we
    have to face the obligation to deal with health care reform.

    Cuba and Crime Legislation

        Q. ----rule out the possibility to talk with Fidel Castro in the
    near future?
        The President. Yes, I have no plans to do that.
        The other thing I want to emphasize to you, that before we get to
    health care--this is a very important issue here in Florida, and I
    talked with the Attorney General about it in some length just
    yesterday--that Congress must move quickly to pass the crime bill. In
    addition to all the interest groups trying to kill health care reform,
    delay on the crime bill could cause us significant problems. So that's
    the other big objective. Next week when Congress meets, or this week
    now, we've got to go ahead and pass that crime bill. I feel very good
    about where we are on that.
        Q. ----any change in the current policy?
        The President. My policy is clear, and I have no plans to change it.

    Immigration

        Q. Mr. President, on immigration, the State of Florida is talking
    about a lawsuit against the Federal Government to recoup the monies that
    this State pays on incoming refugees. Should the Federal Government help
    pay for that?
        The President. We should pay more. And under my administration we
    are paying more than ever before. This situation has been allowed to
    develop, in my judgment, to a very severe degree when I became President
    only a little over a year ago. Since that time, we have moved
    aggressively to try to alleviate the health, the education, and the
    welfare costs that States bear because of immigration. The States that
    have the biggest burdens, California, Florida, and Texas, to some extent
    New York, have not been fully reimbursed. But I'm moving ahead to try to
    alleviate this burden. It isn't fair. National policies, or lack of
    policies, and the inability of our country to control our borders in the
    face of illegal immigration, are not the fault of any particular State.
    And it is a national responsibility. But we are moving in the Congress
    to try to alleviate these burdens. I worked hard--we made some real
    progress last year. We're going to make some more this year. And I think
    Florida should do what they can to keep the pressure on us. But they
    need to know that I'm on the side of the Florida officials on this one.
    It's just going to take some time to work ourselves out of a very big
    hole that I found when I came here.
        Thank you all.
        Q. Welcome to Florida, Mr. President.
        The President. Glad to be back.

    Note: The exchange began at approximately 3:30 p.m. at Miami
    International Airport. A tape was not available for verification of the
    content of this exchange.