[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 36, Number 28 (Monday, July 17, 2000)]
[Pages 1608-1610]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

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

July 10, 2000

Home Heating Oil Reserve

    The President.  Good afternoon. I want to say a few words in a 
moment about Togo West and Hershel Gober and the direction of the 
Department of Veterans Affairs and its mission. But first, I'd like to 
make one brief announcement.
    Since March, I have asked Congress to establish a home heating oil 
reserve in the Northeast to reduce the chance that future shortages will 
hurt consumers, as they did last winter. Congress recently, again, has

[[Page 1609]]

failed to act, and time is running out. Winter may seem far off on this 
hot day, but if we don't do something now, reserve stocks of heating oil 
may not be in place before the cold weather comes. That's why today I am 
taking action to establish a home heating oil reserve to help families 
avoid higher energy costs this winter.
    First, I'm directing Secretary Richardson to exchange crude oil from 
the Strategic Petroleum Reserve for 2 million barrels of home heating 
oil to store in the Northeast. Second, we're taking steps to establish 
this reserve on a permanent basis. The action I take today will leave us 
far better prepared to face the winter months. But it does not relieve 
Congress of the responsibility to act.
    So I renew my call to Congress: Please, provide the authority so we 
can tap into this new home heating oil reserve when we need it; take up 
my energy budget initiatives and the tax incentives; pass comprehensive 
electricity restructuring; reauthorize the strategic petroleum reserve. 
These are things Congress can do right now to build a better, safer, 
more secure, and more affordable energy future. I ask them again to do 
their part to increase our energy supply, protect the environment, 
increase energy conservation, and keep our economy strong.

Secretary of Veterans Affairs Transition

    This morning I accepted the decision of Togo West to step down as 
Secretary of Veterans Affairs by month's end, after more than 2 years of 
effective leadership on behalf of our 25 million veterans and their 
families.
    Every day, in every way, Togo West has given his all to make sure 
America does right by our men and women who have served us in uniform. 
As Secretary of the Army at the beginning of our administration, Togo 
West was known as a ``soldier's Secretary.'' His leadership helped make 
the Army part of the best trained, best equipped, most potent fighting 
force in the world. He took special care to make sure that America took 
good care of our Army families. And he brought that same sense of 
purpose to the Department of Veterans Affairs.
    Under his leadership, the VA has begun to confront some long-
neglected problems head on, reaching out to more than 400,000 veterans 
who were exposed to Agent Orange, pressing for answers to the Gulf war 
syndrome and proper care for those who suffer from it, beginning the 
process of building five new national cemeteries, the most since the 
Civil War, and making a special effort to bring homeless veterans back 
into the society they did so much to defend.
    His leadership and devotion to our veterans helped improve lives and 
make this country a better place. And on behalf of all Americans, Togo, 
I want to thank you for more than a quarter century of service and 
selfless devotion to our Nation.
    To carry forward the vital work of the Department of Veterans 
Affairs, I turn to one who knows the work and the mission of the VA as 
well or better than anyone ever has, Deputy Secretary Hershel Gober. You 
all know we've been friends for many years. He did a superb job as the 
State director of veterans affairs in Arkansas when I served as 
Governor. He did a superb job as Acting Director between the tenures of 
Secretaries Jesse Brown and Togo West. There are few people in our 
country who have ever been as prepared for a job as Hershel Gober is for 
this one.
    He has an ear for the needs of our veterans because he has the heart 
of a soldier. A veteran of both the Army and the Marine Corps, Hershel 
Gober served two terms in Vietnam, earning the Purple Heart, the Bronze 
Star, and the Soldier's Medal. A few years ago, I was honored that he 
agreed to head a delegation back to Vietnam to seek the fullest possible 
accounting of our men and women still missing in uniform.
    Hershel has already made his mark on the critical issue of veterans' 
health care. Early in our administration, he came to me and recommended 
that we look for ways to bring health care closer to the veterans who 
needed it. Since then, we've opened more than 200 outpatient clinics all 
across America and have more planned this year. That's one of the big 
reasons we were able to treat--listen to this--400,000 more veterans 
last year than we did the year before.
    Hershel Gober has been a strong partner for both Secretary Brown and 
Secretary West. He will serve in a great tradition, and I thank him for 
agreeing to do so. Now I'd

[[Page 1610]]

like to ask them both to say a few words, beginning with Secretary West.

[At this point, Secretary of Veterans Affairs Togo D. West, Jr., and 
Secretary of Veterans Affairs-designate Hershel W. Gober made brief 
remarks.]

    The President. Thank you.

Israeli Knesset Vote

    Q. Mr. President, the Israeli Government is falling apart. How is 
Barak going to be able to negotiate a peace?
    The President. Well, first, I think it's important to note that, as 
the news reports this morning in Israel reflect, a solid majority of the 
people want him to come and want him to pursue peace.
    Look, if this were easy, it would have been done a long time ago. 
This is difficult. It is perhaps the most difficult of all the peace 
problems in the world, certainly dealing with the most difficult issues 
of the whole Middle East peace process, on which I have worked for 
nearly 8 years now. But both Prime Minister Barak and Chairman Arafat 
have the vision, the knowledge, the experience, and the ability and the 
shear guts to do what it takes, I think, to reach an agreement, and then 
to take it back to their people and see if they can sell it.
    And keep in mind, Prime Minister Barak has said that the people of 
Israel will have their say on this. So this is really, I think, a matter 
of trying to come to grips with the issues on the merits, asking whether 
the price of peace is greater than the price of continued conflict and 
all the associated difficulties and heartbreaks and uncertainties and 
insecurity that that carries.
    And I'm going to do my best to help them. I admire both of them for 
coming. It's not easy for either to come. But they have come because 
they think that the price of not doing it is greater than the risk of 
going forward. And I hope we'll have the thoughts and prayers and best 
wishes of all Americans. It's going to be a difficult process. But the 
fact that they're coming means that we still have a chance.

Middle East Peace Summit

    Q. Mr. President, given the fact that these are the most difficult 
issues, do you think you can do this in just 8 days? And would you 
consider delaying your trip or abandoning your trip to Japan?
    The President. Well, first of all, let me say, just because they're 
difficult doesn't mean they're not understood. I mean, I would say the 
answer to that would clearly be, no, if this were happening in 1993 or 
'94. But an enormous amount of time and thought has gone into this. I 
think both sides have a pretty clear idea of what the various options 
are.
    And I don't want to set an artificial deadline for these talks. But 
I think that they need to listen to each other, and I need to listen to 
them, and we need to get right after it, because it's not as if we don't 
know what's out there to be done. And this has been simmering on the 
stove for some years now, and I think we understand generally what the 
options are, and we'll go there and go to work, do our very best.
    Thank you.

Note: The President spoke at 12:26 p.m. on the South Lawn at the White 
House. In his remarks, he referred to Prime Minister Ehud Barak of 
Israel and Chairman Yasser Arafat of the Palestinian Authority. The 
transcript released by the Office of the Press Secretary also included 
the remarks of Secretary West and Secretary-designate Gober.