[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 36, Number 34 (Monday, August 28, 2000)]
[Pages 1917-1920]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks on Departure for Monmouth Junction, New Jersey, and an Exchange 
With Reporters

August 23, 2000

California Electricity Shortage

    The President. Before I leave for New Jersey today, I want to make a 
brief announcement about some action we're taking to help consumers in 
southern California who have been hit very hard by skyrocketing electric 
bills. I want to thank Governor Davis, Senator Feinstein, Senator Boxer, 
and Congressman Filner for their leadership on this issue and their work 
with me.
    The wholesale price of electricity has risen sharply in California 
this summer as a result of tight supplies and growing demand. This is 
having a particularly heavy impact where the price hikes are being 
passed on to consumers, as they are in the San Diego region. Many 
families and small businesses in San Diego have seen their electric 
bills more than double. I've heard reports of senior citizens on fixed 
incomes being forced to choose between medicine and air-conditioning.
    Today we're taking three new steps to help ease the burden. First, 
Secretary Richardson has asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission 
to expedite its investigation of the wholesale power markets, so we can 
better understand what is happening in California and provide 
policymakers with the information they need to protect consumers in a 
timely fashion.
    Second, I'm directing the Department of Health and Human Services 
and Secretary Shalala to release $2.6 million in Low Income Home Energy 
Assistance Program funds for the families of southern California. This 
doubles the amount of LIHEAP assistance in the San Diego region and will 
help to ensure that low income families and senior citizens have the 
emergency help they need to pay their bills and stay cool.
    Third, I'm directing the Small Business Administration to step up 
their efforts to inform small businesses about SBA loans to help cope 
with unusually high electric bills.
    All of these are short-term steps to help families in southern 
California during the current power crunch. I also renew my call to 
Congress to work with us to build a better energy future over the long 
run, to take up my energy budget initiatives and the tax incentives to 
promote energy efficiency and conservation. I hope they will also pass a 
national comprehensive bill to foster a new era of the right kind of 
competition in the electric industry to establish a more competitive, 
efficient, and reliable electric power system for our Nation and to beef 
up efforts to prevent utilities from abusing their market power to raise 
rates above competitive levels. This legislation would save our 
consumers about $20 billion a year in power costs. We ought to do it, 
and we ought to do it this year.
    Let me say once again to the people of southern California, we'll 
continue to keep a close eye on the situation. We'll do what we can to 
help you get through this summer.
    Thank you very much.
    Q. Mr. President, do you think--[inaudible].
    The President. Excuse me, sir?
    Q. Mr. President, do you think the power companies are profiteering 
in California?
    The President. Well, that's what FERC's going to investigate. 
Secretary Richardson and I talked about it. We want the FERC to look 
into it and see what the facts are. There is an unusual impact there, 
different from virtually any other place in America, and it needs to be 
examined, and I hope it will be. I hope the assistance we're giving in 
the meanwhile will help.
    And again I will say, I believe that we could do an enormous amount 
if the Congress would pass the energy budget initiatives, the tax 
incentives to buy energy-efficient homes, vehicles, to retrofit 
businesses, and would pass the electric utility deregulation.
    Let me remind you--some of you may remember this--I went out to the 
Inland Empire, east of L.A., I believe it was in San Bernardino, to 
dedicate a housing project that was part of an effort with the National 
Home Builders and the Energy Department, for working people on modest 
incomes. And the homes that they built there lowered average electric 
rates by over 40 percent.
    So we need to take some structural action here to empower the 
American people to solve this problem themselves, too. If we

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have deregulation and we give better incentives to people to build or 
retrofit their homes, their offices, and to buy other energy-efficient 
appliances, we could make a big difference here in almost no time. So I 
hope that will happen.
    Go ahead, Mark [Mark Knoller, CBS Radio].

1996 Campaign Fundraising

    Q. Sir, what do you think of Janet Reno's decision not to name a 
special counsel to investigate Al Gore's fundraising? Do you think it 
may look to some people like a whitewash?
    The President. I don't know any more about that than you do. I 
learned about it when I picked up the paper this morning.
    Go ahead.

Meeting With President-Elect Vicente Fox of Mexico

    Q. Well, what are you hoping for from your meeting tomorrow with 
President-elect Fox of Mexico in terms of U.S. business potential and 
potential for the U.S. economy?
    The President. Well, first of all, I want to get to know him, and I 
want to reaffirm the support of the United States, which I think is 
bipartisan, for good strong relationships with Mexico, the need for us 
to work together to deal with the drug challenge, our common 
environmental challenges along the border, and to make our trade 
relationship work for both sides. And so, obviously, I hope that there 
will be long-term economic benefits.
    I think he's quite serious about modernizing the Mexican economy and 
moving forward with our relationship. And I've been impressed with what 
I've seen and heard about him so far, and I'm anxious to meet him and do 
what I can to get our relationship off to a good start.

2000 Election

    Q. Mr. President, a lot of State Democratic chairs would like you to 
come out and do some targeted campaigning to help get out the base in 
November. Do you think that's a good idea? Is that something you intend 
to do?
    The President. Well, first of all, I think the most important thing 
is for me to do as much as I can for the American people in the job I 
have between now and January the 20th, and that's my main priority. The 
second most important thing is for Al Gore and Joe Lieberman to go out 
and spread the message, engage in the debate, and make sure the American 
people know what the choices are before them. And I think they're doing 
quite a good job of that.
    Now, if I can help, of course, within those parameters, I will do 
that. I went to Michigan yesterday. I'm going to New Jersey today. I 
will do some work within the limits of my ability to do it. But the main 
thing is that the candidates carry the message, and I think they're 
doing a fine job.

Colombia

    Q. Mr. President, on Colombia, you signed a waiver yesterday so that 
the aid could start flowing. There are still some problems of human 
rights violations, and Congress has a lot of doubt. You're going to be 
there next Wednesday.
    The President. I did sign the waiver, but the Congress also passed 
the aid package, and they expect it to go forward. I did it because I 
believe President Pastrana is committed to dealing with the human rights 
issues about which we're still very concerned. He has submitted 
legislation to the Colombian Parliament, for example, for civil trials, 
for allegations of military abuses of human rights. And we also have a 
system in place for specific case-by-case investigation of serious 
allegations.
    So I think that we've protected our fundamental interest in human 
rights and enabled the Plan Colombia to have a chance to succeed, which 
I think is very, very important for the long-term stability of democracy 
and human rights in Colombia and for protecting the American people and 
the Colombian people from the drug traffic.
    Q. Are you--[inaudible]--human rights in favor of the money?
    The President. No. No. First of all, the money is designed to help 
combat the drug-trafficking and to help alleviate a lot of the social 
problems, to help to develop alternative economic development, and also 
to build the civil institutions in Colombia which will help to protect 
human rights.

[[Page 1919]]

    So what I did was to permit Plan Colombia to go forward and be 
implemented because I'm convinced that the President is committed to the 
proper course in human rights--he submitted legislation which is 
evidence of that--and because we haven't given up our ability to look 
into case-by-case allegations of human rights violations dealing with 
specific military units who can be kept from getting any of this 
assistance if they have, in fact, committed human rights violations.

Human Embryo Research

    Q. Mr. President, can you talk about your administration's decision 
to support federally-funded stem cell research, and are you worried 
about the controversy involved in that?
    The President. Well, I believe if people will actually--Secretary 
Shalala and I had a long talk about this before we came out this 
morning--I think that if the public will look at, first of all, the 
potentially staggering benefits of this research, everything from birth 
defects to Parkinson's to Alzheimer's to diabetes--profoundly important 
there--to certain kinds of cancers, spinal cord injuries, burns, 
anything kind of regeneration of cells that's required, the potential to 
change the future, the health future for Americans and for people around 
the world is breathtaking.
    Secondly, these guidelines were not put out without a rigorous 
scientific review. And human embryo research deals only with those 
embryos that were, in effect, collected for in vitro fertilization that 
never will be used for that. So I think that the protections are there; 
the most rigorous scientific standards have been met. But if you just--
just in the last couple of weeks we've had story after story after story 
of the potential stem cell research to deal with these health 
challenges. And I think we cannot walk away from the potential to save 
lives and improve lives, to help people literally to get up and walk, to 
do all kinds of things we could never have imagined, as long as we meet 
rigorous ethical standards. And I'm convinced, and Secretary Shalala is 
convinced, that that has been done.

Meeting With President-Elect Fox of Mexico

    Q. Mr. President, President-elect Fox has talked about open borders 
between the United States and Mexico. Generally speaking, sir, do you 
support that concept even over the long term, and do you expect it to be 
a dominant part of your meeting tomorrow?
    The President. Well, I want to hear what he has to say about it, and 
how we would go about dealing with the problems that we have with the 
trade arrangement we have now, whether they would be amplified. In 
general, I think there will be increasing interdependence of the world's 
economies over the next decade, increasing interdependence in our 
region.
    I think--I believe we should have done more with South America. 
We've got the Caribbean Basin trade initiative, which I think is good. 
We've got the relationship with Mexico, which I think has been a net 
plus for the United States, both economically and politically. We didn't 
extend our trade agreements to the rest of South America, and I think 
that the Europeans have benefited at our expense. So I think there will 
be more interdependence, and the United States has to be a part of that.
    But like everything else, the devil is always in the details here, 
so I want to talk to him about it and see what he has in mind. I would 
imagine most of this work would have to be done by the next 
administration.
    Yes.

Oil Production

    Q. [Inaudible]--U.S. doing to convince OPEC nations to increase 
output, and will you be discussing this issue with Nigeria when you go?
    The President. OPEC nations? I'm sorry. Well, as you know, we have 
done what we could--I was actually--I was reviewing the situation last 
night, and yes, I will discuss it with Nigeria. But we have to look at 
where there is excess capacity.
    Part of this is a question of whether the OPEC nations can increase 
their production. Part of the problem is coming because

[[Page 1920]]

there's now renewed economic growth elsewhere in the world. And it seems 
to me, just looking at all the numbers over the long run, we're going--
we'll get some benefit out of that. That is, I expect you'll see a 
significant increase in American exports over the next 6 months to 2 
years because of the increasing growth in other parts of the world, but 
as a result of that, it's putting more pressure on the oil supplies that 
are available.
    So I'm going to do what I can to keep these prices moderated and to 
continue to argue to all the OPEC nations that, if the price gets too 
high, they will cause recession in other countries, and then the 
purchases will drop dramatically and for a longer period of time. 
They're much better off with a price that's below where it is now but 
one that can be sustained. They don't want to go down to $13 to $15 a 
barrel again, but we don't need it--it needs to be, I think, in the low 
twenties somewhere. I think that's--low to mid twenties is a more 
sustainable rate. And so I will clearly discuss it with President 
Obasanjo and with others in the weeks ahead.
    Thank you.
    Q. Mr. President, how--look for your legal defense fund?
    Q. Are you back in the spotlight? [Laughter]
    The President. I'm going to New Jersey.

Note: The President spoke at 10:53 a.m. in the Rose Garden at the White 
House. In his remarks, he referred to Gov. Grey Davis of California; 
Democratic Vice Presidential candidate Senator Joseph I. Lieberman; 
President Andres Pastrana of Colombia; and President Olusegun Obasanjo 
of Nigeria.