[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 36, Number 9 (Monday, March 6, 2000)]
[Pages 405-408]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks on Departure for West Palm Beach, Florida, and an Exchange With 
Reporters

February 29, 2000

Medicare and Tobacco

    The President. Good morning. I would like to say just a couple of 
words about two subjects vital to the health of the American people: 
Medicare and tobacco.
    Throughout the life of this administration Vice President Gore and I 
have done everything we could to protect our children from the dangers 
of tobacco. Five years ago, we put forward a landmark rule affirming the 
FDA's authority to regulate tobacco products.
    Since that time, the tobacco industry has fought our efforts at 
every turn. I am heartened today by news reports that the Nation's 
leading cigarette maker is now willing to accept Government regulation 
of tobacco.
    If Philip Morris is ready to support the FDA provisions of the 
tobacco bill the industry and the Congressional leadership killed just 2 
years ago, that is an important step forward.
    Every day, 3,000 young people smoke for the first time, and 1,000 of 
them will die earlier as a result. We have a duty to do everything we 
can to save and lengthen their lives by protecting our young people from 
the dangers of tobacco.
    I also want to comment briefly about an important new report I am 
releasing today on the future of Medicare. I am pleased to be joined 
here today by some of the Nation's foremost leaders on behalf of our 
senior citizens, along with a number of seniors who know from their 
personal experiences what Medicare means to their lives.
    In the 34 years since it was created, Medicare has eased the 
suffering and extended the lives of tens of millions of Americans. It 
has given young families peace of mind knowing they will not have to 
mortgage their children's future to pay for their parents' health care.
    If we want our children to have the same peace of mind when our 
generation retires, we must act now to strengthen Medicare. When I 
became President, the Medicare Trust Fund was scheduled to go broke last 
year, 1999. Because of the tough actions we have taken, the life of the 
Trust Fund has been extended by 16 years.
    Still, we must do more. The Trust Fund is projected to go broke now 
by 2015, and the new report I am issuing shows why. Not only will the 
senior population nearly double over the next 25 years, but already 
today, in 40 of our 50 States, 1 in 10 Medicare beneficiaries is 85 
years of age or older. This is the fastest growing group of seniors, and 
they require the greatest amount of care. And they will spend--consider 
this--almost a

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quarter of their lives on Medicare. The report also shows that in every 
State in America, there are more women on Medicare than men; on average 
57 percent women, 43 percent men.
    This report is the most compelling evidence to date that we must 
strengthen and modernize Medicare for the long run, including adding a 
voluntary prescription drug benefit. With our economy strong, our budget 
balanced, our people confident, now is the time to deal with this 
important issue. The budget I propose does just that while maintaining 
our surplus and paying down our debt over the next 13 years to make us 
debt-free for the first time since 1835. It uses the savings from debt 
reduction to lengthen the life of Social Security and Medicare. It uses 
competition and the best private sector practices to control costs and 
improve quality in Medicare. And it provides funds to give every older 
American, at long last, a choice of affordable coverage for prescription 
drugs.
    These drugs are an indispensable part of modern medicine. No one 
creating a Medicare program today would think of creating a program 
without prescription drug coverage. Yet more than three in five Medicare 
recipients now lack dependable drug coverage which can lengthen and 
enrich their lives. It's even worse for seniors in rural areas, who have 
little or no option to purchase private prescription drug coverage. And 
as today's report shows, nearly a quarter of our Nation's elderly live 
in rural areas.
    Our budget would extend seniors the lifeline of optional 
prescription drug coverage. It creates a reserve fund of $35 billion to 
build on this new benefit, and protect those who carry the heavy burden 
of catastrophic drug costs.
    I have been gratified to see the growing bipartisan support for 
adding prescription drugs to Medicare since I first proposed it last 
year. But I am concerned, frankly, about two things.
    First, some in the congressional majority have talked about 
providing drug coverage only to the very poorest of our seniors. This 
report shows that doing so would mean denying a prescription drug option 
to the nearly half of all seniors who have modest, middle incomes 
between $15,000 and $50,000--the majority of whom lack dependable drug 
coverage as well. I think it would be wrong to deny them the opportunity 
to get that drug coverage.
    Second, the majority party in Congress has begun talking again about 
spending the surplus on huge, risky tax cuts which would make it 
impossible to pay down our debt. That would leave nothing for extending 
the life of Social Security and Medicare, nothing for a voluntary drug 
benefit. I believe that when they read this report they will understand 
what the consequences of such a decision would be.
    The American people have worked hard to turn our economy around and 
turn our deficits into surpluses. Now, we have a once-in-a-lifetime 
opportunity to both pay down the national debt and to reform Medicare, 
lengthen the life of Social Security, and add a voluntary prescription 
drug benefit to the Medicare program. We owe it to the American people 
to seize this opportunity this year. And I thank all of these fine 
people who are with me for the contributions they are making to that 
effort.

    Thank you.  

Middle East Peace Process

    Q. Are you throwing in the towel on the Middle East negotiations, 
and why have you never condemned the bombing of the power plants for 
civilians in Lebanon?
    The President. First of all, I am not throwing in the towel. And Mr. 
Ross is coming home to consult with me to see where we are. We've made 
some important headway. We've still got some stumbling blocks there. 
We're working harder than ever. I'm doing what I think is most likely to 
succeed this year in securing dramatic advances with the Palestinians 
and with Syria and with Lebanon. And I'm doing the best I can on it, 
just as I have been for 7 years.
    But it would be a great mistake to over read the significance of his 
coming home. He's coming home because we need to talk about where we are 
now and where we're going. But there is no throwing in the towel here.

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China

    Q. Is the China WTO vote starting to slip away from you? And what 
are you going to say to the Chinese to get them to stop undermining your 
message?
    The President. Well, no, I don't think it's slipping away. I think 
the White Paper contains some fairly inflammatory language which caused 
me, once again, to say that we have had the same policy for 20 years 
now. We believe in one China, but it has to be resolved peacefully. And 
we are adamantly opposed to any sort of force.
    The White Paper also contains some specific suggestions, however, 
about how a dialog might be opened. And I understand that this is the 
political season over there as well. They're having a Presidential 
election in Taiwan. And I have noticed not only in this election in 
America but in previous ones, sometimes things are said in political 
seasons that might not be said at other times. I'm sure you've noticed 
that as well.
    I don't mean to trivialize this. It is very important that everyone 
understand how strongly the United States views our long-standing 
policy. We accept one China. We believe there must be cross-strait 
dialog, and we believe there must be no violence of any kind. But I do 
not sense that this vote is slipping away.

Oil Prices

    Q. Americans today are paying $1.42 a gallon for gas. That's a 
pretty good hit at the pump every day when they fill up their tanks. Is 
there anything that your administration can do to solve that problem, 
and specifically, is the release of oil from the strategic oil reserves 
still on the table?
    The President. The answer to the second question is yes. We're 
looking at this oil swap issue. But I think that--as you know, there 
have been lots of press reports about the prospect that production will 
be increased and if it is, then the oil prices will go down and the 
gasoline prices will go down. And that's really what is needed here. And 
we'll see--I'm encouraged that that might occur. So that's the main 
thing we can do. But no, I have not taken the petroleum reserve issue 
off the table. And I certainly wouldn't do that in the event that we 
don't seem to have any other options.

Middle East Peace Process

    Q. Mr. President, if I could follow up on the Middle East question 
for a moment. You have a little more than 10 months left in your 
Presidency, are you prepared to turn this process over? And will you 
take steps to turn this process over to whoever your successor is?
    The President. Well, if we haven't gotten it done I will. But keep 
in mind, the Israelis and the others--the Palestinians have committed to 
resolve their issues by the middle of September. That's their common 
commitment. And neither one of them have given up on that deadline.
    And secondly, I think that on the Syrian track, given how hard it 
was to get it started, and how close, I believe, they are on the 
substance of it--I don't think there is as much difference there as is 
commonly assumed--I think it is more likely that we'll have success, if 
we have it this year, than if we put it off.
    But they're not operating on my timetable. They're operating on 
theirs. And I'm doing what I can to help to get them get the job done as 
quickly as possible.

Austria

    Q. Mr. President, does Haider's resignation really make a difference 
while the Freedom Party is still in the Austrian Government, and should 
the international community normalize relations with Austria now?
    The President. Well, I think the answer to your question is: I don't 
know if it makes a difference or not. It might, it might not. The EU has 
put out a very cautionary statement this morning, and obviously they're 
closer to it than we are. I think the important thing is that the party 
reject the kind of intolerance that we fear has been a part of it.
    And I think the EU statement is a pretty good capturing of how we 
all feel right now.

Expulsion of Cuban Diplomat

    Q. The Cuban Government continues to insist that the diplomat that 
was expelled on Saturday had committed no illegal acts. What is your----

[[Page 408]]

    The President. Well, my belief is that that matter was handled in 
the appropriate way, in the way that countries always handle such 
matters with diplomats. There is no difference in the way we've handled 
that than the way we've handled many other cases, not just in my 
administration, but long before. And I don't think I should say more 
about it than that.
    Thank you.

Note: The President spoke at 9:46 a.m. on the South Lawn at the White 
House. In his remarks, he referred to U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle 
East Dennis B. Ross; Austria's Freedom Party leader Joerg Haider, who 
resigned on Feb. 28; and Cuban diplomat Jose Imperatori.