[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 30, Number 34 (Monday, August 29, 1994)]
[Pages 1713-1715]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks on Crime Legislation and an Exchange With Reporters

August 25, 1994

    The President. Good afternoon. For 6 long years, the American people 
have watched and waited as Washington talked about stemming the tide of 
crime and violence in this country but did not act. Today Senators of 
both parties took a brave and promising step to bring the long, hard 
wait for a crime bill closer to an end.

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    I want to salute the Senators of both Republican and Democratic 
ranks who put law and order, safety and security above politics and 
party.
    Ordinary Americans all across our country ought to take heart today. 
In the last 2 weeks, Members of Congress in both Houses and from both 
parties have thrown off the bonds of politics-as-usual to do the 
people's business. That's what the people sent us all here to do. I hope 
this crime bill will now rapidly pass the Senate and that we can move on 
doing the people's business across party lines, unencumbered by the 
labels of the past and the false choices of the past, moving to a better 
future for all Americans.
    Thank you.

Cuba

    Q. Mr. President, Fidel Castro says there's a simple way to stop the 
exodus of Cuban refugees, and that is to open up a high-level dialog 
between Washington and Havana. What's so bad about that?
    The President. Well, I think, first of all, we have asked that we 
resume our talks, as you know, or we have offered a resumption of talks 
on the whole issue of immigration. And I have been doing a careful study 
over the last few days of the nature of our immigration laws and their 
implementation, especially since the 1984 agreement signed in the Reagan 
administration. But that is what this issue is about.
    The other issues--I think President Castro or Premier Castro needs 
to be in consultation with his own folks. The people of Cuba want 
democracy and free markets. And that's always been our policy, and that 
will continue to be our policy. But I would urge the American people to 
be firm and be calm about what is going on here now. We must not let any 
nation, even a nation as close to us as Cuba, even with so many American 
citizens of Cuban descent, control the immigration policy of the United 
States and violate the borders of the United States. We have to be firm 
in this. And we will work this through to a successful conclusion, I 
believe.
    Q. Mr. President, what's wrong with talking to Cuba and Fidel Castro 
when we talk with other so-called outlaw nations like North Korea?
    The President. Well, we have a different policy of 30 years 
standing. And I think Mr. Castro knows the conditions for changing that 
policy. The discussions that have been held on a regular basis for 
several years now between our two countries have been limited to matters 
of immigration. They can be held, and we would support that.

Health Care Reform

    Q. Mr. President, is health care dead this year?
    The President. I wouldn't say that, no. I don't think you can say 
that because--and I don't think the recess will kill it--was that what 
you were going to--and the reason I say that is because, like most of 
you, I have watched with great interest what has happened and what has 
not happened in the Senate and the House. I told you all when we started 
this issue a long time ago, now over a year ago, that it was a very 
complicated issue, that it's no accident that Presidents of both parties 
for 60 years have tried to find a way to solve the health care crisis 
and have never been able to do it, particularly in the face of intense, 
organized, and expensive efforts to stop it.
    But I think the less I say the better right now, as long as Senator 
Mitchell and Senator Chafee and Senator Breaux and others are doing 
their best to continue this dialog. I spoke to another Democratic 
Senator today who said that she felt there's still a good chance that a 
bill could come out that people would want to vote for and think was the 
right thing to do. So I think we just have to let this thing develop a 
little bit and see what happens in these dialogs. And again, I think the 
less I say about it, the better.
    Thank you very much.

President's Vacation

    Q. When do you go on vacation?
    The President. It's still up to the Congress, isn't it?
    Q. Will you wait until the Senate goes into recess?
    The President. Oh, absolutely. I want to wait until the crime bill 
is over for sure.
    Thank you.

Note: The President spoke at 5:36 p.m. in the Rose Garden at the White 
House.

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