[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 31, Number 42 (Monday, October 23, 1995)]
[Pages 1859-1860]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks Prior to a Meeting With the Initial Base Adjustment Strategy 
Committee in San Antonio, Texas

October 17, 1995

    Well, I'd like to begin by making an opening statement and to say 
how very pleased I am to have a chance to come here to San Antonio and 
to Kelly Air Force Base to follow up on the meeting that I had with the 
fine committee in Washington 2 months ago.
    I know that officials from the Defense Department, John White and 
Rudy DeLeon, were here in August, and they're back here with me today. 
And we have done a lot of work with this community. I have been very, 
very impressed with their Kelly 21 Project, the vision of it, the energy 
of it. I hope that you have seen the commitment of the administration to 
try to maintain employment at appropriate levels, to try to have a 
reasonable period of transition, and to try to make sure that in the end 
you are as successful as you possibly can be. We believe that if we do 
this right, we can generate even more employment in this area as we go 
through this transition period.
    I want to say a special word of thanks to your former mayor 
Secretary Cisneros, who has worked with me very closely on this and 
advised me. General Viccellio, I want to say I know that this community 
is very encouraged by the fact that you're going to be overseeing this 
process. And I want to say a word of appreciation, too, to Congressman 
Henry B. Gonzalez, who can't be here today--he's in Washington--and of 
course, to Congressman Frank Tejeda, our prayers

[[Page 1860]]

go out to him. I had a quick conversation with him just a few days ago.
    The most important thing, I think, to announce today for the San 
Antonio community is that we have reached an agreement on joint use of 
the base which will, obviously, permit you to do precisely what you 
proposed to do. We are committed to implementing that agreement on joint 
use in good faith. And as I said, my goal is to do this in such a way 
that the strengths of this community and the strengths of this great 
resource will generate even more employment and more stability for you 
at the end of this 5-year process--really an 8-year process--than you 
had when we began it and than you would have had given the fact that we 
have to lower our presence all across the country in the aftermath of 
the cold war.
    Mr. Mayor, that's my commitment, and I think we're going to deliver 
on it. Thank you very much.

Note: The President spoke at 1 p.m. in the Pilots Lounge in the Base 
Operations Building. In his remarks, he referred to Deputy Secretary of 
Defense John White; Under Secretary of the Air Force Rudy F. DeLeon; 
Gen. Henry Viccellio, Jr., USAF, Commander, Air Force Materiel Command; 
and Mayor William E. Thornton of San Antonio. A tape was not available 
for verification of the content of these remarks.