[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 24 (Monday, June 21, 1999)]
[Pages 1130-1132]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Exchange With Reporters Prior to Discussions With Prime Minister Keizo 
Obuchi of Japan in Cologne, Germany

June 18, 1999

    Prime Minister Obuchi. I look forward very much to meeting you again 
next summer, in July, when we host the Kyushu-
Okinawa summit. I hope to see you there.
    President Clinton. And I'm very pleased that it's going to be in 
Okinawa. That's great.

[[Page 1131]]

Gun Control Legislation

    Q. Mr. President, as you know, Dingell won and McCarthy lost, and 
the NRA is crowing that they beat you. What's your reaction?
    President Clinton. They did. But they didn't beat me, they beat the 
American people. When the NRA got the House leadership to put the vote 
off a month, past the Memorial Day recess, so that the memories of 
Littleton would fade and they could wear the Members out--from these 
districts where they were vulnerable--they were given a terrific 
advantage. And they did what they always do with backroom politics; they 
made the most of it.
    But I noticed even last night they kept putting the vote off. When 
did they vote, 1:30 a.m.? After, so it wouldn't be on the evening news, 
in the hope that no one would find out that they are still running the 
Congress, this Congress, for their own convenience, instead of for the 
interest of the people.
    They did win, and it's a great tribute to their money and their 
power. But it's not a tribute to the children or the future of America. 
So one more time the Congress of the United States, with the majority in 
the lead, says, ``We don't care what's necessary to protect our 
children. We can't possibly bear to make anyone in the NRA mad.'' And 
the American people are going to have to send them a signal some way or 
another. Because the NRA can always produce several hundred telephone 
calls for every one an ordinary citizen would make. The people who feel 
strongly about this are not organized. They don't have a lot of money, 
and they don't normally threaten people in public life the way the NRA 
threatens them.
    So now they say, ``Okay, if you go to a gun show and you'd rather 
not have your background checked, just walk outside and swap guns and 
money and everything is fine.'' I think when the American people figure 
out what they did in the dead of night, they will be bitterly 
disappointed; they'll be shaking their head; and they'll wonder what in 
the world is going on in Washington. What is going on is business as 
usual. And it was a great victory for the NRA, but it was a great defeat 
for the safety of our children.
    There's a reason they did this at 1:30 a.m. They will never be able 
to explain why it's okay not to have a background check if these guys go 
outside, or why it's okay to have a background check that the FBI has 
already told them will let over 20 percent more criminals get handguns. 
They'll never be able to defend it, so they did it at 1:30 a.m.

NATO-Russia Negotiations on Kosovo

    Q. Mr. President, what do you hear from Helsinki this morning?
    President Clinton. That they're still working, that they've got 
almost all the issues resolved, that there are still some matters still 
to be resolved. When I was briefed this morning it didn't seem to me 
that it would take too much longer, given the nature of the issues.
    Q. Mr. President--[inaudible]--you and President Yeltsin to solve 
the issue?
    President Clinton. Well, I think the important thing right now, 
insofar as possible, is to focus on making decisions that will work. I 
don't think that--it may be necessary for this to be resolved not only 
at our level but the involvement of Prime Minister Blair, President 
Chirac, Chancellor Schroeder, and others. But I don't think so, I think 
the Defense Ministers are working. Secretary Cohen is consulting, 
basically, all the time with our Defense Ministers and NATO.
    The thing that I think we need to focus on is what is necessary to 
make this work. You know, you folks have done--the news media has done a 
stunning job in the last day or 2 in reporting what our people are 
finding, now that they're finally in Kosovo, about the dimensions of the 
wholesale slaughter that went on there. We must not make any decisions 
which will in any way, shape, or form, undermine the ability of the 
Kosovars or the willingness of the Kosovars to come home.
    So we can work through all this. We want to protect the Serb 
minority, they deserve that. We want this to be a balanced force, but we 
have got to achieve our objectives. And certainly the horrible, horrible 
stories that have been coming out in vivid detail in the last 2 days 
should reinforce that in the minds of all of us, including, I would 
hope,

[[Page 1132]]

the Russians. So I expect we'll get this worked out today.

Economic Recovery in Japan

    Q. Mr. President, do you think the Japanese economy has turned the 
corner with the strong--[inaudible]----
    President Clinton. [Inaudible]--they had good news, I certainly hope 
so. I want to talk to the Prime Minister about it. His opinion would be 
better than mine, but I was thrilled by their economic performance in 
the last quarter. And I think it's a tribute to the steadfast economic 
reform program of the Prime Minister. I hope that they will be able to 
keep doing that. I think it's good for the world for Japan to have this 
kind of growth. And the United States should welcome it, too, because as 
one part of it, as you probably know, is that there has been a 
substantial drop in the trade deficit we had with steel, imported 
Japanese steel which, as you know, has been a huge bone of contention in 
America.
    So I hope we can keep making progress on that, and I hope they can 
keep growing, because I think it's good for the world, as well as for 
the Japanese people.
    Q. So do you think Mr. Obuchi's economic policies are paying off 
now, with the 7.9 percent economic growth----
    President Clinton.  It's very good news. I know that he wants to see 
it continue, and so do I. But I think--you know, this is good news. The 
people of Japan have endured a lot of disappointing quarters. They must 
be very happy about this, and the people in the United States, we're all 
pulling and hoping that this is a trend and that we'll see more of it.

Note: The exchange began at 10:21 a.m. at the Hyatt Regency Hotel. In 
his remarks, the President referred to President Boris Yeltsin of 
Russia; Prime Minister Tony Blair of the United Kingdom; President 
Jacques Chirac of France; and Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder of Germany. A 
tape was not available for verification of the content of this exchange.