[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 30, Number 17 (Monday, May 2, 1994)]
[Pages 925-926]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Exchange With Reporters on Departure From the Washington Hilton Hotel

April 28, 1994

National Economy

    Q. Have you had a chance to look at the--numbers?
    The President. I'm positive about it.
    Q. Do you think it calmed the market fears about inflation?
    The President. It certainly should. You look at this--the job 
numbers are still very good. This is the job numbers for the 4 years 
before our administration. Here are the private sector job numbers just 
for January of '93 through March of '94.
    So this rate of growth is enough to keep the deficit coming down and 
jobs coming into the economy. And it certainly should send a clear 
signal to the markets saying we don't have an inflation worry.
    I think that if you look at the pattern of the last few years, this 
means we'll have growth in the range of 3 percent this year, which means 
more jobs, steadily growing economy, more and more opportunity. So I 
feel good about it. But it ought to also send a clear signal that 
inflation is going to be at or below 3 percent. There is no inflation 
worry in this economy.

Social Security

    Q. So why separate the Social Security Administration? Why is that 
necessary?
    The President. Oh, I think that, first of all, that the 
administration will tend to work better. The reinventing Government 
program under the Vice President almost recommended it. But there has 
also been a feeling, I think, among the constituencies of the senior 
citizen groups for years that if the Social Security Administration were 
separate, that would help to guarantee the integrity long-term of the 
Social Security program, the Social Security fund, and that there would 
be more responsiveness to the specific concerns of people on Social 
Security.
    And I'll just give you one--we're going to start, as soon as we can, 
on a limited basis sending out statements to the American people. But 
within the next 4 or 5 years, we'll be able to send out statements to 
everybody in the country every year on their Social Security account: 
here's what you've got in it; here's how much money it's earned; here's 
what you can look forward to getting out. It will be a statement that 
every American who's stockholder, if you will, in Social Security will 
get every year. And it's all part of this effort to ensure that Social 
Security is there well into the next century even though our population 
is aging.
    Q. Is the integrity----
    The President. No, it's not at all.

Note: The exchange began at 12:08 p.m.

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