[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 36, Number 18 (Monday, May 8, 2000)]
[Pages 1015-1017]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks on Departure for Farmington, Pennsylvania and an Exchange With 
Reporters

May 5, 2000

Employment Report

    The President. Good afternoon. In a few moments I will depart for a 
meeting with the Senate Democrats in Pennsylvania, where we will discuss 
ways to keep our economy strong and our Nation moving in the right 
direction.
    Before I leave, I'd like to share the latest good news about our 
economy. This morning, we received the news that we have achieved 3.9 
percent unemployment. That is the lowest peacetime unemployment since 
1957. That was the year the Dodgers last played ball in Brooklyn.
    Most Americans have never lived in a peacetime economy with 
unemployment as low as it is today. Indeed, its lowest rate overall in 
over 30 years. Over the last 7 years, our Nation has created 21 million 
new jobs, cut the unemployment rate almost in half.
    I just want to make the point again that this is clear evidence that 
our economic strategy works, fiscal discipline, more investment in 
education, technology and training, the expansion of markets for 
American products and services. It's given us the lowest unemployment 
rate for African-Americans and Hispanic ever recorded, the lowest 
unemployment rate for women in more than 40 years, strong wage growth 
among all income groups.
    The American people deserve the lion's share of the credit for this 
historic achievement. But we have a responsibility to stay

[[Page 1016]]

on the path that got us here, the path of fiscal discipline, debt 
reduction, expanded trade and increased investments in our future. I 
hope we will do that. This is a happy day for the people of the United 
States. Thank you.

National Rifle Association

    Q. Mr. President, what did you think of the video done by the NRA 
sometime ago?
    The President. The NRA video? I haven't seen it. I thought you were 
great in mine.
    Q. Put that in writing. [Laughter]
    Q. Mr. President, we don't know if your----
    The President. No, I really haven't seen it. I'll be glad to comment 
on it once I see it or know what's in it. But I haven't seen it.
    Q. You haven't read about it?
    The President. I heard about it, but I haven't--the one where 
they're--oh, do you mean the film where they say they're going to have 
an office in the White House? Did they make that video, or was it just 
video by someone else? I thought they were trying to keep that a secret 
until after the election.
    What I think about it--I don't know that they think that Mr. 
LaPierre will literally have an office here if President Bush--Governor 
Bush gets elected President. But I do believe that it's clear, from the 
record of Governor Bush in Texas and from the statements and from the 
increased visibility of the role of the NRA in the Republican National 
committee, that whatever is done on this issue will only be done with 
their approval. They will have unprecedented influence here if the 
American people should decide that that's what they want.
    But you know, that's what you have elections for. You can--I can 
believe that without thinking anything bad about Mr. LaPierre or about 
Governor Bush. I think they may just really agree that we shouldn't 
close the gun show loophole or ban the importation of large-scale 
ammunition clips.
    Q. Do you think it's going to be a----
    The President. Let me just say--let me remind you, the previous 
Republican administration was not for the Brady bill and they weren't 
for the legislation banning cop-killer bullets. That's just the way they 
think.
    But I think one of the reasons I'm glad the Million Mom March is 
occurring is that it at least raises the possibility that Americans who 
disagree, who believe that we can have commonsense gun safety measures 
to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and children, without having 
something that they believe is destructive gun control, those people may 
vote on these issues this year.
    But the American people need to understand, this is one of the four 
or five big choices before them, and they'll just have to decide and 
that all the NRA did was to commit the truth. I mean, they told the 
truth, and what they said was right.

``I Love You'' Computer Virus

    Q. Mr. President, I don't know if your office has been affected or 
infected in any way, but what does this ``I love you'' computer virus 
say about the world, our society, et cetera, and how maybe even one 
person can affect it and create chaos?
    The President. Well, it says that--first of all, we've been very 
fortunate--the Government has fared well, here. But it says that we've 
got a lot more work to do to protect all these systems in the private 
sector, and the Government has to keep working, too. It says that as we 
become more interconnected, in an open way, that we become--as we reap 
the benefits of greater inter-connectivity, we become more vulnerable to 
the disruptive forces that would seek to--either for bad design or just 
to provoke chaos--to take advantage of it, and we just have to keep 
working on this. But I'm very gratified that the fundamental 
governmental systems seemed to have been unaffected here, and we just 
have to keep working on it.

Osama bin Ladin

    Q. Mr. President, the State Department, the other day, issued an 
international report on terrorism. And also, this was the last of your 
administration, sir, and as Osama bin Ladin is still at-large, so what 
do you have to say about international terrorism and all the----
    The President. You mean about bin Ladin still being at large? Well, 
we're doing our

[[Page 1017]]

part to change it. And I hope we'll be successful.

Interest Rates

    Q. Mr. President, on the economy, are you afraid the Fed's going to 
raise the rate in response to the numbers?
    The President. Well, I think that these numbers have to be seen in 
terms of yesterday's numbers. Yesterday's inflation figures were quite 
encouraging, and I think they show that--core inflation at something 
like 2.4 percent, and I think the overall inflation rate will come back 
toward that, now that the oil prices are moderating. So I think that 
should be quite encouraging, not just to the Fed but to all Americans 
and to American business--that basically the productivity of the work 
force, continuing to be fueled by information technology, has enabled us 
to have an amazing amount of growth and low unemployment, at quite 
modest levels of inflation, and so that's encouraging to me, and I think 
the facts speak for themselves on that.
    Thank you.

Vieques Operation

    Q. What did you think of the Vieques operation?
    The President. Well, it went pretty well, I think. They did a good 
job.
    Thank you.

Note: The President spoke at 1:12 p.m. on the South Grounds at the White 
House. In his remarks, he referred to Wayne LaPierre, executive vice 
president, National Rifle Association; and Osama bin Ladin, who 
allegedly sponsored bombing attacks on the U.S. Embassies in Kenya and 
Tanzania on August 7, 1998.