[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 31, Number 21 (Monday, May 29, 1995)]
[Pages 900-901]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

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

May 25, 1995

Surgeon General Nomination

    The President. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Doctor Foster and 
I have just had coffee. We discussed some of the issues we always 
discuss in terms of the health challenges our country faces. And of 
course, we discussed the upcoming vote in the Senate committee on the 
question of his confirmation. I want to say again, he has my strong 
support. I believe that he should be voted out of the committee and he 
certainly should be confirmed by the United States Senate.
    In the hearings, he clearly demonstrated his qualifications to be 
America's doctor. And as I have said repeatedly, I hope the American 
people will never forget the group of young people who came up from his 
home State and his home town to talk about the work he had personally 
done to urge them to live upright and healthy and productive lives and 
the work that he had done to rescue them from difficult circumstances. 
If he is not qualified to be America's doctor, it's hard to imagine who 
would be.
    There have been a lot of politics and a lot of talk back and forth 
on this nomination, but now the time has come to do the right thing. And 
I trust that the committee and, ultimately, the Senate will do the right 
thing and confirm Dr. Foster as Surgeon General.
    Q. Do you think they will--the committee and the Senate?
    The President. I believe they will.
    Q. What do you base your optimism on?
    The President. Well, I base my optimism on the fact that, usually in 
this country, right prevails over political pressure over the long run. 
They have--we have dragged this thing out. You known, Dr. Foster was 
never a political football before--President Bush thought enough of him 
to make him one of the Points of Light--and because we had a hearing, 
and he demonstrated in the hearing why he should be a Surgeon General 
and he answered all the questions.
    Q. Do you think you can overcome the filibuster, sir?
    The President. Let's get out of committee first. I think you've got 
to get out of the committee, and then I think he certainly should be. 
We'll have lots of arguments to make about that in the appropriate time. 
I think, if the majority of the United States Senate is for him, he 
should certainly be confirmed.

Budget Proposals

    Q. Mr. President, it looks like the rescission bill is going to pass 
today. Do you still intend to veto it? And what happens next?
    The President. Well, the answer to your question is yes, if it 
passes in this form.
    I want to emphasize, first of all, I am for a rescission bill that 
cuts this much spending. I have sent a bill to the Congress that cuts 
even more from the deficit. I have been very specific about it.
    My objection is that having--after I negotiated with the Senate on 
spending reductions, we got politics as usual. Congress went behind 
closed doors and cut a lot of education and training out and put some 
pork in the bill for specific Congressmen and specific congressional 
districts and States. That's the old politics. What we're doing here now 
is new and different, and we can't continue to do it.
    So if the bill comes to me in the same form, without the restoration 
of the education and training, yes, I will veto it. Well, what happens 
next? Then--well, they have a bill right now which they could vote on 
today and send to me before they go on recess, which would cut the 
spending, restore

[[Page 901]]

the education by not protecting the pork. Now, that's my position. And 
that's what I think should be done.
    If instead I get the bill and there's a veto and they go home for 
their break, then when they come back, we ought to get together and 
restore the education and the training funds, reduce the deficit by as 
much or even more than is in this present bill, and then let them send 
it to me, and I will sign it. I am for making a down payment on the 
deficit reduction in this rescission bill.
    I certainly want to get the money out to Oklahoma City, to finish 
our obligations in the California earthquake, to deal with the floods in 
the South, and of course we've got some other problems in other parts of 
the country, to fulfill the commitment of the United States on the 
Jordan issue as part of our Middle East peace process. I want to do all 
of that--to cut the spending and to get that money out there. But if 
we're going to be cutting around here, we cannot afford pork protection, 
politics as usual. We have to do what we're going to do in the open, not 
go behind closed doors and change all the priorities. We need to do this 
in a disciplined, good way.
    So that is my position. It is very clear, and it has nothing to do 
with deficit reduction. I am for as much--I will support more spending 
reduction, but not in this form.

Bosnia

    Q. Do you support, sir--do you support NATO air strikes around 
Sarajevo today?
    The President. Well, my position is that NATO should be prepared to 
react when our commanders on the ground need them. And you know, I've 
been--of all of our NATO allies, the United States has been the most 
vigorous proponent of the use of NATO airstrikes in all appropriate 
circumstances. And we've laid those out repeatedly.
    Thank you.

White House Security

    Q. Mr. President, after still one more attack on the White House, 
are you starting to think, ``Why me?''
    The President. No. [Laughter] I do think--first of all, the American 
people should know that the system here worked and the Secret Service 
did a terrific job. And the two agents in question immediately put 
themselves in harm's way to do their job. And the system worked exactly 
as it is supposed to work. And the whole rest of the system worked. It 
was amazing. It worked. It worked quickly. And it's something that every 
citizen of this country can be very proud of.
    I--to answer your other question, I don't, no. I just think that in 
a couple of cases, we've had people who for their own personal reasons 
have seen this as a symbol of something that they could attach 
themselves to in some way or another.
    I do--I will say again that in our country today, we all need to try 
to reach out to each other and to talk and to reach across our divides 
when a lot of people out there may be like this gentleman, in trouble, 
and maybe can be brought back just by people reaching out to them and by 
trying to avoid letting things get to that point. And certainly I think 
that about the political rhetoric and dialog.
    So I hope that we'll take another opportunity to reexamine, all of 
us, how we might make this country work better and have more thoughtful 
words and try to keep people from getting to extreme positions in their 
lives. But in this case, I don't feel badly at all. The Secret Service 
did a terrific job, and I'm very proud of them.
    Thank you.
    Q. So you have no fears?
    The President. No.

Note: The President spoke at 8:54 a.m. in the Rose Garden at the White 
House.