[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 31, Number 41 (Monday, October 16, 1995)]
[Pages 1797-1798]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks Prior to Discussions With President Zedillo and an Exchange With 
Reporters

October 10, 1995

Mexican Financial Recovery

    President Clinton. Let me say again how very pleased I am to have 
President Zedillo here and to congratulate him on his strong, determined 
leadership during this period of economic difficulty for Mexico. 
Inflation is down, the peso is stable, the stock market is stabilized, 
and interest rates have been cut in half. I think Mexico has clearly 
turned the corner, thanks to his leadership.
    I also would point out that he has continued to implement the NAFTA 
agreement and to lower tariffs on American products during this 
difficult time, and he deserves a lot of credit for that. As a result of 
that, our exports to Mexico are now above where they were before NAFTA 
was passed, even though Mexico is going through this difficult time.
    So I have nothing but the highest compliments for the way Mexico has 
handled this difficult period, and I think it's due to the leadership of 
the President and his team who are here. And I am delighted to have this 
chance to visit with him.
    President Zedillo. I also want to congratulate you for the 
international leadership that you have shown regarding the Mexican 
situation. I think that your decisive, effective action avoided a major 
crisis in the international financial system and a much higher cost for 
many other countries, perhaps including your own country. You have 
proven to have a vision, courage, perseverance. And the Mexican people 
recognize you for that.
    President Clinton. Thank you very much.

Antiterrorism Legislation

    Q. Mr. President, earlier you mentioned the derailment of the train. 
And after you spoke to us, your Press Secretary talked about the 
unhappiness within the administration about Congress' failure to pass 
the terrorism bill. I wondered if you could give us your thoughts on 
that and whether you think there's any legitimacy in what some Members 
are saying, that is, the FBI behavior at Waco and Government behavior at 
Ruby Ridge have made people a little bit leery about passing that kind 
of legislation.
    President Clinton. First of all, what we asked for in the 
antiterrorism bill would not make more likely any kind of actual or 
alleged abuse of police authority. It would just give us the ability to 
deal with terrorism.
    Secondly, I have been very eager to be accountable and to see this 
administration accountable and to see Government generally accountable 
for the mistakes that are made in the past, whether it was on--whether 
someone believes we did something wrong at Waco--we've had an 
independent review of that--or on the Ruby Ridge thing which happened 
before I became President, or what we've done with the announcement we 
made on the radiation experiments which happened a long time before I 
became President.
    So I think the answer is: Give us the tools we need to fight the 
problems of today and

[[Page 1798]]

tomorrow with antiterrorism, but hold us strictly, strictly accountable. 
That's the answer. That's the balanced, fair answer. We can achieve 
both.
    There are some things--if the House, for example, wanted to make 
some modifications in the habeas corpus provisions, some other things to 
try to guard against abuse or protect people, they could do that. We 
could work that out. But to do nothing is a mistake. That's the point I 
want to make. It's a mistake to do nothing.
    Q. Is Congress playing games here, do you think?
    President Clinton. I don't want to characterize their motives. I 
just think they should act. They said that we'd have a bill by, I think, 
Memorial Day, and that was months ago. So we should not do nothing. We 
should act. If they want to work on how we should change the bill, I'd 
be happy to discuss that. But we need the bill.

[At this point, one group of reporters left the room, and another group 
entered.]

Mexican Financial Recovery

    President Clinton. I would like to again welcome President Zedillo 
to the United States, along with his very able governmental 
representatives here, and to say again how much the United States 
appreciates the difficulty that Mexico and the Mexican people have been 
through in the last several months and how much we respect the 
leadership that the President has shown.
    It is clear to us, looking from the outside, that the worst is past, 
that the economy is turning around. And it is clear that the United 
States did the right thing in trying to provide some financial support 
to Mexico in that difficult period. I think the future looks good.
    I know there are difficult times ahead, but I have been very 
impressed by the strong and steady leadership of the President. And I 
hope that we can continue to work together until prosperity is fully 
restored to Mexico and we can have the kind of partnership for the 21st 
century that I believe will benefit both the people of Mexico and the 
people of the United States.

Note: The President spoke at 11:09 a.m. in the Oval Office at the White 
House. Following President Clinton's remarks, President Zedillo made 
brief remarks in Spanish, but a translation was not provided. A tape was 
not available for verification of the content of these remarks.