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From @lex-luthor.ai.mit.edu:jcma@REAGAN.AI.MIT.EDU Wed Apr 28 20:02:55 1993
Date: Wed, 28 Apr 1993 14:30-0400
From: The White House <75300.3115@compuserve.com>
Subject: AM Press Briefing by Dee Dee Myers 4.28.93
To: Clinton-News-Distribution@campaign92.org
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
_____________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release April 28, 1993
PRESS BRIEFING
BY DEE DEE MYERS
The Briefing Room
9:50 A.M. EDT
MS. MYERS: A couple of quick things. First of all,
consider this for the networks the formal announcement of the Tokyo
trip. We will travel to Tokyo for the G-7 summit July 7th, 8th, and
9th.
The details of the Friday trip are coming together. We
will travel to New Orleans for the National Service College
Opportunity Program announcement. The President will leave the White
House at roughly 9:00 a.m. He will speak in New Orleans at roughly
11:00 a.m. Central time -- excuse me, noon Central time, and arrive
back in the White House sometime around 7:00 p.m. Eastern time.
Q The weekend?
MS. MYERS: The weekend at this point, the only things
on are the radio address and the White House Correspondents Dinner.
Q Who is going to go?
Q I hate to be real picky about New Orleans here, but
it's not in the same time zone. (Laughter.)
MS. MYERS: I know. It's close, though.
Q It may be for him. (Laughter.)
MS. MYERS: Right, the operational time zone is Central
time zone because Little Rock's in Central time.
And then as you know , at 12:00 noon today the President
will announce -- appoint his drug czar.
Q Is his name Brown?
MS. MYERS: I can't say that. At 12:30 p.m., you're
eager to know, he'll have lunch with the Vice President in the Oval
Office. George will brief at 1:00 p.m. At 4:15 p.m. he'll meet with
the National Governors Association health care group in the State
Dining Room. And then tonight at 8:00 p.m., he'll have a group of
about six or eight Democratic members of the House over for dinner to
discuss mostly health care.
Q When's that -- tonight?
MS. MYERS: That's tonight at 8:00 p.m.
Q Is there any coverage of that?
MS. MYERS: No.
Q Is there any other travel associated with the trip
to Japan?
MS. MYERS: At this point, too soon to say.
Q Can you rule it out, or is it still --
MS. MYERS: No.
Q No -- and what a stupid question. (Laughter.)
MS. MYERS: I just -- I don't think -- we're still
working on Friday. July is a little off of our chart. (Laughter.)
Q Now, is Japan in the same time zone? (Laughter.)
MS. MYERS: We may issue an executive order making it in
the same time zone. The President's --
Q Will he rest for a few days in Hawaii on the way to
Japan? (Laughter.)
MS. MYERS: I think you guys can write letters to the
President offering him your suggestions on the foreign travel
schedule.
Q There are many precedents for Hawaii.
Q Bali.
MS. MYERS: Believe me, I'm for it.
Q What about tonight, on this dinner tonight, just so
we can convince our bosses not to try to cover it, will they be
coming in the back door? In other words, will they be --
MS. MYERS: I have no idea where they'll be coming in.
There are no plans now to do a stakeout or anything like that.
Q Is it bipartisan?
MS. MYERS: No, it's Democratic members of the House.
Q Can you now just -- maybe it's been gone over all
week -- to make it definite there will be a health plan in May, mid-
May, and it will be a legislative thing in June -- is that the --
MS. MYERS: We're still on track. We're still moving
toward the May deadline as we had outlined earlier.
Q What's the next step in the process of consultation
on Bosnia after yesterday's meeting with members of Congress?
MS. MYERS: He will continue to consult with our allies
and with members of Congress. I don't expect any announcement this
week, although it's coming soon.
Q Is there a meeting of the NSC this week or today or
tomorrow?
MS. MYERS: There's no formal meeting scheduled that I
know of, but certainly the senior national security advisors are
meeting on a regular basis and consulting on a regular basis and
moving forward
Q When you say consult with allies, has he directly
talked
with anybody of late?
MS. MYERS: He hasn't spoken with anyone else this week,
but there consultation going on at a number of levels. Tony Lake's
talked to his counterparts, as have other people in the
administration.
Q He was supposed to talk to Mitterrand on Monday.
MS. MYERS: Right.
Q Has he talked to him yet?
MS. MYERS: He hasn't.
Q Why? What's the problem?
Q Did he cancel that phone call?
MS. MYERS: It was something that was discussed. As you
know, they spoke last week and agreed that they would be in touch
this week. So they haven't spoken directly and I don't think there
are any specific plans to, although I wouldn't rule it out. But
there is consultation going on at a number of levels.
Q Why did he change his mind between Monday and now?
MS. MYERS: Well, it just hasn't happened yet. I don't
know that he's changed his --
Q Is he avoiding him?
MS. MYERS: No, he's not avoiding him.
Q He doesn't have to talk to him at that stage or
it's too early?
MS. MYERS: No. I mean, again, they spoke last week and
there are consultations going on at a number of levels. People in
the administration are talking to people throughout the French
government, and we are in direct contact with them on this, as we are
with a number of our other allies.
Q So you're not going to talk to him until the two of
them agree.
MS. MYERS: I don't know if that's exactly right, but
there's nothing scheduled at this time.
Q It's pretty close.
Q When you say it's coming soon, what are you saying
-- an announcement on where the U.S. is going next on Bosnia?
MS. MYERS: The President will make a decision and we
don't have any specific plans for how that would be announced yet,
because we don't know what the decision is. But, yes, there will be
something.
Q A decision on which direction you will try to push
the U.N.? Is that basically what the decision --
MS. MYERS: Well, yes, what the President has decided to
do.
Q Will that be sort of an Oval Office address?
MS. MYERS: Again, until we know what the decision is, I
don't think we can discuss exactly how we might talk about it.
Q Do you hope that this will be sort of a
simultaneous announcement with other foreign leaders making similar
statements the same day?
MS. MYERS: Again, I don't know exactly how we would
announce it, but it's certainly something that we hope to do in
concert with our allies. As the President has said, we don't expect
to act alone on this.
Q How far along is he actually? Can you give us an
idea? Has he -- does he have the outlines of the policy? Is he
still -- does he have to, when he's talking to the other leaders
among Congress, is he still formulating that, or what?
MS. MYERS: Yes. I think -- as you know, he had a
rather lengthy meeting with a group of members of Congress yesterday.
Consultations are ongoing. I don't know that there's any particular
-- I don't want to comment on specifically how he might formulate
this, but I think he has certainly had a lot of conversations, both
within the administration, with members of Congress, and with people
-- foreign leaders. And I think that he's moving -- making progress.
Q Is it complicated and maybe even held up by the
decision this past weekend by the Europeans, the failure to agree on
the air strike position? Has that held things up?
MS. MYERS: No, I don't think that -- and I think that
they're clearly going through the same process we are, a lot of our
allies, as they reconsider what their options are and what their
policy towards Bosnia is. And obviously, we're going to continue to
press them on this and continue to try to work with them for further
action. But I think that, clearly, the President is moving towards a
decision.
Q Is he concerned about the obvious lack of support
in the American public for any involvement in Bosnia?
MS. MYERS: Yes. I mean, that's something that he has
to consider, sure. And as he said the other day, he believes it's
important. And I think Secretary Christopher pointed out yesterday
that informing the American people and bringing them into this
decision will be part of any policy that the President decides upon.
Q To what extent is -- maybe to stop him from
choosing some option that otherwise he would think are the best
options?
MS. MYERS: Well, I think clearly he's already ruled out
introducing ground troops into Bosnia, which I think would be
something that the American people would object to. But the
President's not considering that for a number of reasons.
I think any other decisions that he made, he clearly
will want to talk to the American people about it. It's important,
as the Secretary pointed out yesterday, that it be explained, that
our objectives be clear, and that they be clearly explained to the
American people.
Again, we haven't made any decisions about how we would
talk about a Bosnia decision, but those are the things that are of
concern.
Q In what context is he doing all this consultation
-- that is, Senator Biden came out last night and talked specifically
about -- all of this depends on what our goal is. So what is the
goal that he's striving to reach in this?
MS. MYERS: Well, that is clearly one of the key
decisions as he moves forward. What the goal is and what action you
take are inexorably linked, and that's -- so that will be the
foundation of any decision that he makes as what are we trying to
achieve.
Q It's also the starting point. What is that? How
is that defined now, in what way?
Q But isn't it obvious --
MS. MYERS: We're just not ready to say. I mean, the
goal, the obvious goals -- I mean, the broad goals are very obvious
-- to stop the fighting and to move the parties toward some kind of a
negotiated settlement so that the -- to stop ethnic cleansing --
Q Well, stopping the fighting isn't necessarily -- I
mean, those two things may be separable. That's --
MS. MYERS: Well, stopping ethnic cleansing and stopping
Serbian aggression, which is -- I mean, broadly stopping the fighting
on some level are clearly what we're seeking and have been seeking
through a policy that includes sanctions and enforcing the no-fly
zone and other actions that we've taken in Bosnia. I mean, clearly
that's the objective here. Not just of the Americans, but of our
allies as well.
Q Dee Dee, when you talk about Serbian aggression, do
you mean Bosnian Serbian aggression or the Serbian Yugoslavian --
MS. MYERS: I mean Bosnian Serbian.
Q So you're ruling out the Yugoslav Republic, which
is ruled by Serbia?
MS. MYERS: I'm not implicating -- I'm not discussing
them, I'm talking about the Bosnian Serbs. And I would point out
that there is some evidence of friction between the Bosnian Serbs and
the Serbian Serbs.
Q That sounds like --
Q We had an official here yesterday, the other day,
say the address of the war is Belgrade. How could you rule out the
Serbs?
MS. MYERS: I'm just -- he asked me if I was talking
about them, which I'm not. When I said stopping Serbian aggression I
was just talking about -- particularly -- about Bosnian Serbs. I
don't want to get into a broader policy discussion of that.
Q Then you're not saying that the Serbs in Serbia are
not supplying the Serbs in Bosnia?
MS. MYERS: I'm not saying that.
Q But all the sanctions are aimed against Serbia?
MS. MYERS: Correct.
Q Any more guidance on a possible Christopher trip?
MS. MYERS: No. No specific decisions on that.
Q Dee Dee, can you rule out that the decision will
take place this week and this weekend?
MS. MYERS: I think it's unlikely that it'll happen this
week, and beyond that I don't know. It just hasn't been decided yet.
Q Is Secretary Aspin going to reverse policy on women
in combat?
MS. MYERS: Well, I mean, clearly the President has said
and said throughout the campaign that he supports expanded roles for
women in the services, and I think Secretary Aspin will have more to
say about that later.
Q You're not denying that?
MS. MYERS: No, I mean, Secretary Aspin will have more
to say about it. Again, but I would point out that it's something
that the President did support during the campaign.
Q There have to be some legislative changes to make
some of this happen. Has the President gotten legislation ready to
go?
MS. MYERS: Again, the Secretary will make an
announcement on this and we can talk about the details later.
Q When is he going to do that?
MS. MYERS: You'll have to talk to DOD about that.
Q That's going to happen over there, it's not
anything involving the President?
MS. MYERS: Other than the President -- I mean, the
President's position on this, I think, has been clear. But I think
before we discuss the details of the policy we will wait to see what
the policy exactly is.
Q? What's the status of campaign finance reform?
MS. MYERS: It will not happen this week. It's been --
Q It was supposed to be Monday, then it was going to
be today; what happened?
MS. MYERS: It's just we're continuing to work with
Congress to try to put together a package and the process is ongoing.
Q Bob Dole said that he couldn't support your package
and were you not ready for another one of these fights?
MS. MYERS: It's interesting that he says he can't
support our package before he knows what's in our package, but --
Q Well, it's been reported in The New York Times
evidently.
MS. MYERS: Well, therefore ergo, why bother announcing
it? Don't believe everything you read.
Q What about what you see or hear?
Q No.
MS. MYERS: Clearly, no. (Laughter.) Every day I see
things on TV and I can't believe it.
Q What kind of big celebration are you planning for
tomorrow?
MS. MYERS: What big celebration are we planning for
tomorrow?
Q What is happening for tomorrow? That was the hole
in the schedule.
MS. MYERS: Excellent question.
Q Can we go to a picnic, or --
MS. MYERS: We could have a picnic for you all out by
the fountain, if you'd like.
Q We accept.
MS. MYERS: We can cancel the briefings in honor of the
100th day. I'd be for that. (Laughter.) No, we don't have any
specific plans for a celebration of any kind.
Q Do you have any plans at all? Anything?
Q What is on the schedule?
MS. MYERS: We'll have to let you know more about
tomorrow's schedule later today.
Q Dee Dee, since the death of the stimulus package
more than a week ago, we've heard you and George and the President
say that individual pieces will be sent back up. Is any piece of
that ready to go in legislative form to be sent back --
MS. MYERS: Not yet. We're still talking to our friends
on Capitol Hill about how best to approach that.
Q Dee Dee, on drugs, what is the official White House
explanation for the fact that you supposedly want to pay more
attention to the drug issue, but you are cutting back on funding and
on personnel for that office?
MS. MYERS: I don't think we've cut back on funding for
drug policy. I think there's been an increase --
Q Actually, I think it's about the same as Bush,
right?
MS. MYERS: About a seven percent increase, actually.
Q Is it?
MS. MYERS: Yes.
Q I thought it was about the same.
MS. MYERS: No, it's about a seven percent increase.
Q What's that figure? Do you know?
MS. MYERS: I don't have it in front of me. We'll
certainly get it to you by sometime today.
First thing is, the President is going to elevate the
head of the Office of Drug Policy to Cabinet status. And rather than
having the Office of Drug Policy with a staff just in the
White House, there are 30 different agencies and departments which
handle -- which have drug-related responsibilities -- drug policy-
related responsibilities. All of those will be coordinated through
the Office of Drug Policy through the new drug czar.
I think the President's intention is to have a very
coordinated drug policy, one that focuses both on prevention on the
street level through things like community policing and other things,
as well as an increase in drug treatment. There's actually a much
larger increase in drug treatment funding -- well, not much larger,
but a larger increase in drug treatment funding in this year's drug
budget than there is in enforcement. It's five percent versus 10
percent or something.
Q This is basically the Bush budget.
MS. MYERS: Yes, because we don't have enforcement.
Q The emphasis on law enforcement.
MS. MYERS: Right. And I think we have to have a new
head of the Office of Drug Policy before we can completely overhaul
the policy; but that will certainly happen.
Q So you just kind of went with the status quo until
you get somebody in --
MS. MYERS: Correct. We couldn't redo drug policy
without having a head of the Office of Drug Policy --
Q Are there drug tests given here?
MS. MYERS: Everybody had to take a drug test before
they were officially hired, yes.
Q Dee Dee, just how powerful will this job be?
Q Did they pass?
MS. MYERS: As far as I know.
Q the drug czar? When you say "coordinate," will
that person have the final say in setting drug policy?
MS. MYERS: I think that that person will be responsible
-- yes, for coordinating the resources of the government.
Q Say you've got two or three conflicting views.
Does the drug czar settle it?
MS. MYERS: The drug czar will be a Cabinet-level person
who will be the person who reports directly to the President, and I
think hopefully you can resolve a lot of those policy issues through
negotiation and discussion, but ultimately the head of the Office of
Drug Policy will set drug policy.
Q If you wanted to change the direction of the drug
policy, why would you appoint a law enforcement officer to be your
drug czar?
MS. MYERS: We're going to appoint somebody who is very
experience and capable, who has a number of qualifications and who
will do a great job. How's that for an unexpected answer?
Q Do you expect to be submitting some amendments to
Congress in the drug area to change the status quo that you
originally proposed?
MS. MYERS: I don't know how that will be done. I'm
sure that's something that the new drug czar will have a chance to
discuss and to figure out what the best approach is.
Q What about the idea of treatment on demand that
Clinton talked about so much during the campaign? Do you envision
that coming as part of the health care reform plan or some sort of
stand-alone program or, how are you going to go about it now?
MS. MYERS: I think clearly drug treatment is something
that is being discussed as part of the health plan. It's also
something that Clinton has said he would like to see be more of a
focus of a drug policy. And I think you'll see all that reflected as
the new drug czar comes in and starts to reshape policy.
Q In which area, though? Health care reform or --
MS. MYERS: Well, again, in terms of what, treatment on
demand? I think there will be, again, without -- since the final
health care plan hasn't been either completed or announced, I think
there will be coordination between the various aspects of the
administration with drug-related responsibility. But I think the
President is clearly committed to a more treatment and prevention
orientation than perhaps the previous administration.
Q I'd just like to clarify a little bit on campaign
finance reform, because we got off of that real quick. You all had
obviously planned to introduce it this week. You've gone so far as
to print a brochure in which you named the today. So that obviously
something has come up that has forced you all to put it off. I hate
to assume, but my assumption is that you're having difficulties on
the Hill with somebody or the other. Is there anything -- is that
wrong?
MS. MYERS: We're continuing to try to work with
Congress on this. As you know, this is something that's been
introduced before, something that we'd like to work with Congress on,
something that we'd like to pass. The President's committed to it.
Sometimes these things take longer than you had expected or hoped.
But we do expect it to happen next week, and I think it'll be a
significant campaign finance reform package.
Q Are you doing it, as the story in the paper
suggested this morning, trying to lure enough Republicans over to
your side to make sure that Dole does not have the filibuster that
was threatened on this as well?
MS. MYERS: Well, I mean, clearly we'd like this to get
passed. We'd like to have bipartisan support for it. I think we'll
do what we can up to a point. But the President is committed to
campaign finance reform, and we do expect it to be ready next week.
Q Did the White House either preview or approve
Director Sessions's testimony on Waco up on the Hill today?
MS. MYERS: I don't believe so. I will double-check,
though -- take that question. I don't think so. We don't normally.
Q If so, does the President share his view that it
might have been wise to have used tear gas earlier?
MS. MYERS: I don't know. I'll check.
Q Any final thoughts on the Panetta flop?
MS. MYERS: I think that was -- I think we had plenty to
say about that yesterday.
Q Did the President do anything? Did he cheer him up
this morning?
MS. MYERS: Don't tell him, I think the President's
sending him balloons today. (Laughter.)
Q I think that's what Panetta released. (Laughter.)
Q When is he speaking to the Sperling Breakfast?
(Laughter.)
MS. MYERS: I don't believe --
Q He's never speaking at one.
Q Never again.
MS. MYERS: Right. (Laughter.)
THE PRESS: Thank you.
END10:06 A.M. EDT