[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 8 (Monday, March 1, 1999)]
[Pages 283-284]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks Prior to a Meeting With Congressional Leaders and an Exchange 
With Reporters

February 23, 1999

Kosovo Peace Talks

    The President. I'd like to make a very brief statement, and then 
we'll take a couple of questions. And as you know, you'll get to ask the 
leaders questions after the meeting, and we've got a lot of work to do.
    But I think it's important to--first of all, I want to say how 
pleased I am to have the whole leadership here, how much I appreciate 
their coming down. We've got a lot to discuss, and I'm looking forward 
to it. I'd like to make just a couple of comments about the peace talks 
at Rambouillet on Kosovo. They made a lot of progress; they've got about 
a 40-page document, which describes in greater detail than ever before 
what the nature of an autonomous Kosovo within Serbia would be like. And 
that's the good news.
    There are still some important disagreements. The Serbs have still 
not agreed to a NATO-led multinational force to try to maintain the 
peace over a 3-year period. The Kosovars still want some sort of 
assurance of a referendum at the end of the 3-year period, and neither 
side will agree to the other's position on that. And so we're working 
through that today, hoping for a resolution.
    I talked to Secretary Albright last night. Whatever happens today 
and however they agree to proceed, I think it's very important that the 
Serbs exercise restraint on the ground and that the Kosovars respond in 
kind. They've made a lot of progress, and they don't need to let this 
thing get away from them. And we'll keep watching it, and I expect there 
will be more news on it as the day breaks.
    Q. Will you extend the deadline again, sir, is that it?
    The President. No, I don't know. That's up to the parties. I hope 
that they'll be able to resolve what they're going to do today. I think 
there will be some sort of resolution about where to go from here today, 
and we'll just have to see.
    Q. But no bombings?
    The President. Well, whether NATO bombs or not, the Secretary 
General has the

[[Page 284]]

authority in his pocket now. That depends upon the actions of the Serbs. 
And what we need is continued restraint. But as I said, they made a lot 
of progress; they had these two big differences, each side having one 
condition the other won't agree to. So we'll just have to see where we 
go today.
    Q. Mr. President, Senator Lott expressed concern about a costly, 
open-ended, no-defined peace-keeping mission. What kind of reassurances 
can you give him on that point?
    The President. Well, I think that what we learned in Bosnia was that 
we shouldn't set a date certain and later find out we can't meet it and 
have people feel that they've been misled. I don't want to do that. So I 
think the important thing to do is to have an exit strategy based on 
benchmarks, on developments. And then if the Congress agrees with the 
benchmarks, that those are reasonable standards, then I think we can 
have an open relationship that has some credibility in the agreements 
between the Congress and the executive branch.
    In terms of paying for it, I think in this fiscal year, whatever we 
have to do, we would need emergency funding because we're in a fiscal 
year where the Defense budget is already set. In the years ahead, I 
would expect that we would have to work that into the budget, and I 
think that's what the Congress leaders--Congress, as far as I know in 
both parties--have expected us to do, because they don't want the 
Pentagon to have to absorb these costs away from readiness and taking 
care of our people in the military.

Cooperation With Republicans

    Q. Mr. President, these Republican leaders all voted to oust you 
from office. How can you work with them?
    The President. We all took an oath, and I think we intend to follow 
it. We owe it to the American people, and I'm looking forward to it.

Note: The President spoke at 9:15 a.m. in the Oval Office at the White 
House. In his remarks, the President referred to NATO Secretary General 
Javier Solana. A tape was not available for verification of the content 
of these remarks.