    [Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 31, Number 21 (Monday, May 29, 1995)]
    [Pages 910-911]
    [Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

    <R04>
    Remarks During a Meeting With Surgeon General-Designate Henry Foster and
    an Exchange With Reporters

    May 26, 1995

    Surgeon General Nomination

        The President. I want to thank the Senate Labor and Human Resources
    Committee for endorsing the nomination of Dr. Foster to be Surgeon
    General, and for doing it in a bipartisan fashion. I'd also like to say
    a special word of appreciation to the people of Tennessee who stood with
    him, and especially to the young children in the ``I Have A Future''
    program, who came up here and talked about how he helped to turn their
    lives around, helped to convince them to stay in school, to keep
    working, to turn away from drugs, from teen pregnancy, from the other
    problems that bother so many of our children.
        This is a good day for the United States, and I look forward to
    going on to the next stage, and to working right through until we get
    Dr. Foster confirmed.
        Q. Mr. President, what are you going to do if the----
        The President. I would like for Dr. Foster to say something, too.
        Dr. Foster. I, too, would like to thank the Senate Labor and Human
    Resources Committee for a fair hearing and for moving this forward to
    the full Senate. I also particularly want to thank the person on that
    committee who knew me best, Senator William Frist, for supporting my
    nomination. And lastly, I want to thank the President, his
    administration, congressional Members, and my family for supporting me
    so stoutly during these times.

    Bosnia

        Q. Mr. President, what are you going to do if the U.N. peacekeepers
    are harmed in Bosnia by the Serbs? They have threatened to retaliate on
    the bombing.
        The President. We'll have to examine their actions as they take
    them. The United States is in a--I want to make clear the position we're
    in here--we, as a part of and a leader of NATO, responded to the request
    of the United Nations, which I thought was very appropriate, to deal
    with the shelling of Sarajevo and the shelling of civilians by the
    Bosnian Serbs, in clear violation of the understandings that have been
    in place for quite some time now. And we did that in an appropriate way
    against military targets, so that the taking of hostages, as well as the
    killing of civilians by them is totally wrong and inappropriate, and it
    should stop.
        The United Nations, the forces on the ground and the United Nations
    Command obviously will have to analyze these circumstances on a daily
    basis. We will work with them, and we'll do whatever is appropriate. And
    I still believe that the action we took was appropriate. It was in
    response to the request from the U.N., and it certainly was provoked by
    the inappropriate shelling of civilians by the Bosnian Serbs.
        Q. Do you have a backup plan if something happens? You're sending an
    aircraft carrier to the Adriatic? Does that have a----
        The President. I can't comment any further on what's going on now. I
    think it's important for the United Nations, who have the forces on the
    ground, to be able to deal with this situation, and as the events
    unfold, I'll be happy to comment.

    China

        Q. Mr. President, why are you giving China MFN again, sir?
        The President. Well, I haven't made a decision on that yet. But as
    you know, I said last year--and I believe--that we should continue to
    press China on the human rights issues, but I don't believe that
    singling China out on the MFN is necessarily the best way to do it.
    There are other countries with whom

    [[Page 911]]

    we have human rights differences as well, and we have certainly pressed
    our differences with China, not only person-to-person, face-to-face with
    the Chinese but also in the appropriate international forum, and we will
    continue to do that.
        And we also have other differences with them. I agreed to let
    President Li from Taiwan come here. I thought that was the appropriate
    thing to do. We won't always agree with the Chinese, but I think it's
    important that when we disagree, we do it in the right way, aggressively
    and forthrightly, but in the proper forum.
        Q. President Yeltsin has called Mr. Major and Mr. Kohl complaining
    about the--[inaudible]--has he tried to reach you, and what would you
    tell him?
        The President. Not yet, no. If he did, I would tell him just what I
    told you, that the United Nations asked for this; they certainly weren't
    put up to it, that the Bosnian Serbs went way beyond the bounds of
    acceptable conduct. There have been clear restrictions on bombing
    civilians and the shelling those areas for a long time now. I would ask
    him to call the Serbs and tell them to quit it and tell them to behave
    themselves and that this would not happen.

    Surgeon General Nomination

        Q. Are the Democrats ready to overcome a filibuster on the Foster
    nomination if it happens?
        The President. The Democrats are not numerous enough to overcome a
    filibuster. But Senator Frist and Senator Jeffords put their country
    above their party today and did what they thought was right, and I think
    there will be others. There may even be some who may not think they
    should vote for him, Dr. Foster, who believe that it's wrong to
    filibuster a nomination of this kind.
        In the past, when the Democrats were in the majority in the Senate,
    they often did that as well. They often gave Republican Presidents votes
    on their nominees, even if they didn't agree with them. This--it would
    be unusual and unwarranted if this fine man were denied his day in court
    in the Senate, and I don't believe the American people want that to
    happen, and I don't believe that a majority of the Senate wants that to
    happen.
        Q. What are you doing for the rest of the day?
        The President. Working. [Laughter]

    Note: The President spoke at 12:33 p.m. in the Oval Office at the White
    House. In his remarks, he referred to Prime Minister John Major of the
    United Kingdom; Chancellor Helmut Kohl of Germany; and President Boris
    Yeltsin of Russia. A tape was not available for verification of the
    content of these remarks.