    [Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 33, Number 4 (Monday, January 27, 1997)]
    [Page 86]
    [Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

    <R04>
    Statement on Senate Confirmation of the Secretary of State and the
    Secretary of Defense

    January 22, 1997

        I applaud the Senate for acting so swiftly on the nominations of
    Madeleine Albright and William Cohen. In confirming both Ambassador
    Albright as Secretary of State and Senator Cohen as Secretary of Defense
    by unanimous votes, the Senate has recognized the extraordinary
    capabilities of these two outstanding individuals.
        Equally important, the Senate has sent a strong signal to the world
    of its determination to work in a constructive and bipartisan spirit
    with the administration on our Nation's foreign policy and national
    defense. I welcome that resolve. Nothing is more important for
    maintaining America's leadership in the world than preserving the
    bipartisan consensus on national security policy that was so vital to
    our success in World War II and the cold war. I look forward to a
    continuation of that spirit of bipartisan cooperation as the Senate
    takes up the nominations of Congressman Bill Richardson to be Ambassador
    to the United Nations and Anthony Lake to be Director of Central
    Intelligence.