[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 42 (Monday, October 25, 1999)]
[Pages 2076-2078]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Message to the Congress Transmitting the Nuclear Regulatory Commission 
Report

October 18, 1999

To the Congress of the United States:

    As required by section 307(c) of the Energy Reorganization Act of 
1974 (42 U.S.C. 5877(c)), I transmit herewith the Annual Report of the 
United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which covers activities 
that occurred in fiscal year 1998.
                                            William J. Clinton
The White House,
October 18, 1999. Remarks on Arrival in Newark,
New Jersey, and an Exchange
With Reporters

October 18, 1999

Hurricane Floyd Disaster Relief Funding

    The President. I want to begin my visit to New Jersey by announcing 
several steps our administration is taking, either today or previously 
over the weekend, to deliver Federal assistance to the citizens in the 
communities of New Jersey that were hurt and are recovering from the 
flood damage caused by Hurricane Floyd. We're doing all we can, and I 
hope these steps will help.
    Earlier today, I directed the Department of Health and Human 
Services to release $5 million in LIHEAP funds to New Jersey for energy-
related damage caused by the hurricane. The Low Income Energy Assistance 
Program makes funds available for emergency use to help at-risk families 
in times of weather distress and in the aftermath of natural disasters. 
The State can use the funds for utility repairs, for furnace and air 
conditioning replacement, for the removal of damaged insulation, and for 
energy costs related to the crisis.
    Initially over the weekend, the Department of Housing and Urban 
Development announced the early availability of approximately $34 
million in HUD community development block grants for the counties hit 
hardest by Hurricane Floyd. These expedited funds, which normally would 
have been released in January of 2000, can be used by communities now 
for disaster recovery and for repairs to both homes and businesses--I 
know this has been a big issue up here--as well as to water and sewer 
facilities.
    Last, on Saturday the Federal Emergency Management Agency announced 
a lump sum rental assistance of up to $10,000 for individuals whose 
homes were damaged in the hurricane. We will continue to do all we can 
to help, and I hope that these measures will be particularly helpful. I 
have been following this very closely. I know there's been a lot of 
concern up here, particularly from businesses who felt that they needed 
more help

[[Page 2077]]

than just the low-interest loans could provide. So I hope this early 
release of community development block grants will give them the help 
that they need.

Budget Negotiations

    Q. Mr. President, do you expect Republicans to make any concessions 
at your budget summit tomorrow?
    The President. Well, I don't know. What I would like to see is the 
return to the spirit of working together that we had in 1996 and 1997 
and 1998. We had plenty of arguments, but we banded together in all 
those 3 years to pass good budgets. We passed the welfare reform; we 
passed the Balanced Budget Act of '97; and we passed the remarkable 
budget in 1998, that, among other things, contained the 100,000 
teachers. In the balanced budget, we had the HOPE scholarships, which 
have opened the doors of college to virtually all Americans--first 
balanced budgets, back-to-back, in 42 years. So there has been this year 
something that I hoped we wouldn't have; there's been a return almost to 
the spirit they had in 1995. I don't understand that, and I thought that 
I did everything I could to reach out my hand to them early in the year 
to try to get the country back together, and I still hope we'll do that.
    I still think that it's almost inexplicable that we're going through 
these really good times, and some people see good times as a luxury to 
indulge in division and diversion. To me, they impose an obligation to 
make the most of them. So you know, I'm just going to reach out a hand 
of friendship and hope that we can work together. We've done it on one 
of these bills, the VA/HUD bill--I think is quite a good bill, based on 
what I understand of it, and we can do it throughout, we can work 
through all of this if we just have the right attitude. I'm going to 
bring my right attitude to the meeting.

Vieques Island

    Q. Sir, have you had a chance to consider the military's report on 
the Vieques Island?
    The President. I have not. I think it's just been released. But I do 
know that Secretary Cohen said that he wanted to have further 
discussions and to try to talk to the leaders down in Puerto Rico, which 
is what I think ought to be done. The best of all worlds here would not 
only reach a good result, but it would reach a good result in a good 
way, and we would have a process which would restore a sense of trust 
and partnership between Puerto Rico and the Pentagon. An enormous number 
of Puerto Ricans have served with great distinction in the American 
Armed Forces, and to have the whole island, starting with the Governor 
and Congressman Romero-Barcelo feel estranged from the Pentagon, not 
only over this but over the way the memorandum of understanding has 
developed since 1983, I think is a very bad thing.
    So it may be that something good can come from this, and I think the 
fact that Secretary Cohen wants to actively reach out to the Governor 
and to that committee that has been appointed down there and have 
further discussions with them before making some sort of final 
recommendation to me is quite a good thing, and that's what I'm looking 
forward to.

Hurricane Floyd Disaster Relief Funding

    Q. Mr. President, a lot of the frustration of the people in New 
Jersey over the flood situation is that--a lot of them have said this to 
me--is that when natural disasters occur, one, they're given grants very 
quickly, but they're saying. ``Hey, here we are in the United States and 
we have to deal with loans, SBA loans, and keep waiting and waiting.''
    The President. That's why I gave this community development block 
grant money early. Because this money can be used as grants to do this 
kind of work. And I've been following this very closely. We spend a lot 
of money, if you will, in grants in America, but most of it is in 
repairing public facilities and in helping people get through immediate 
emergencies, which is about all we can do overseas as well. But under 
unusual circumstances, we've seen this in other places.
    In North Dakota, when they had that terrible flood, you remember in 
Grand Forks, we were able to release some community development block 
grant funds, which they were able to use not only for individuals but 
also for businesses who were so devastated that the low-interest loans 
were not enough.

[[Page 2078]]

    So I'm hoping that this announcement I've made today will respond 
directly to what I have heard from the people of New Jersey needs to be 
done.

Note: The President spoke at 6:37 p.m. at Newark International Airport. 
In his remarks, he referred to Gov. Pedro Rossello of Puerto Rico. A 
tape was not available for verification of the content of these remarks.