Home > News & Policies > February 2001

For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
February 13, 2001

Remarks by the President to the Pool
Aboard Air Force One
En Route Andrews Air Force Base

12:15 P.M. EST

     THE  PRESIDENT:   Glad  to see you all again.  It's been a while since I've been able to emerge out of the -- are you doing okay?

     Q     We  wondered what your thoughts were on the retail sales jumping seven-tenths of a percentage point last month, and does that still speak to the need for a tax cut?

     THE  PRESIDENT:   Oh, I think it's one good statistic amongst a sea of some  pretty  dismal  statistics.   I  am  concerned  about the economy.  I strongly  believe  the  combination  of monetary policy, fiscal policy will help  ease  whatever  economic  pain is on the horizon.  I'm obviously very pleased about those numbers and hope that other numbers bear out that piece of good news.

     Q     Are you going to try anything beyond what you've done already to try  to  get  Congress to move up?  I know you oppose retroactive, but they still have to pass to pass it.

     THE  PRESIDENT:   No,  we've  got  it get it through, and I understand that.  It's just, you know, the calendar is what it is, and we'll work with the  Congress  to get all our bills moving as quickly as possible.  They're in charge of the time frame and I believe we're going to get a good hearing on  our  pieces  of legislation as quickly as possible.  But it will take a while.

     Q     Are  you  concerned about the allegations from the Japanese that the crew of the Greenville stood by and did not offer assistance?

     THE  PRESIDENT:  I called the Prime Minister today -- that's why I was three  minutes  late,  on  the  on-time administration.  (Laughter.)  But I spoke  to  Prime Minister Mori, I assured him that we will do everything we can to try to recover and find -- find or recover the bodies.

     He did not bring up that allegation to me.  I have yet to hear all the facts from Secretary Rumsfeld, and I look forward to what he has to say.  I am -- I did assure him, I apologized on behalf of the country.

     Q     Are you distracted at all by the furor over the Mark Rich pardon and the former President?

     THE PRESIDENT:  Not at all.

     Q    Not a distraction?

     THE  PRESIDENT:  Not at all.  I will tell you one thing, just in terms of  the  former President.  All the allegations that they took stuff off of Air Force One is simply not true, for example.  But, no, I'm not the -- sit down, I'll come back.

     Q    Thank you, Mr. President.

                        * * * *

     THE PRESIDENT:  As promised.  (Laughter.)

     Q     --  talked  about  modernizing  the  military a number of times. Should  members  of  Congress  who are trying to promote their own program, like  the  F-22  or some of these older programs, should they be worried at this point?

     THE  PRESIDENT:  Well, I think they ought to wait until we have -- the Secretary  presents  a  strategic vision.  I said during the campaign -- as you know, Tom -- I worry about defense spending based upon politics and not based  upon  a  strategic  vision.   I  said  that again today.  I said the strategy  and the spending ought to follow.  I don't think members ought to worry  about  that.   I  think  they  ought to be pleased with that type of approach to budgeting.

     Q    Will you be shutting down some major weapons programs?

     THE PRESIDENT:  Let's wait until the review is finished.

     Q    Mr. President, as you've been talking to the soldiers and sailors the  last  couple  of  days,  what kind of response do you feel like you've gotten?  What have you learned from them?

     THE  PRESIDENT:   First of all, I think the men and women who wear the uniform  respect  the  office of the Presidency, for which I'm grateful.  I think they're just honored that the President would come and say "hello."

     I was taken aback by the -- "taken aback" isn't the right word.  I was --  there  was  a  lot  of concern about over-deployments yesterday at Fort Stewart.

     Q    About what?

     THE  PRESIDENT:   Over-deployments, it was on people's minds.  I'm not surprised  that  was  --  talking  about pay, and they were pleased to hear there  were going to be some more pay increase coming.  But there was a lot of  talk about extended trips overseas.  It's really not one trip, it's the multiple trips and it's the time away from base, the training required.      You know, people are deployed to the Balkans, they go through training to  prepare  for the mission in the Balkans.  They go to the Balkans.  They then  come  back and have to be retrained for the mission that they used to be  a part of.  And sometimes the training exercises are not at the base in which they're -- you know, their main base.  And so there was just a lot of time away from their homes and that was a concern.

     I  was touched by the ceremony, when I reviewed the troops, to look in the eyes of the men and women who wear the uniform.  It's a pretty powerful feeling.   And it reminded me that we need to be very judicious and careful about committing our troops.

     And  today's  incident, they called me early this morning -- about the Blackhawks  that  had  crashed over Oahu.  And it was right on the heels of the visit when I got to see, stare people in the eyes, realize how precious the  lives  are  of  everybody,  of  course  --  the soldiers are my direct responsibility as the Commander in Chief.

     It  was  just  --  it  was  a  very  necessary trip, because it really personalized the job.  I take the responsibilities incredibly seriously.  I do want to see more of the military, meet more of the troops, I want to see more  of  the  missions.   I get a much better feel for what's happening in different -- specialties.

     Q     --  really  respect  the office.  Did you get some feedback that they  appreciate  you  or  appreciate  what  you  are  going  to do for the military?

     THE  PRESIDENT:   I  think  they've  got  high  hopes  for  me  and my administration.   I  felt  like  yesterday's  statement, that, first things first  are  the  people  who  wear  the  uniform  and that the first public statement  I  made  since  --  or  the  first  speech  I gave on a military installation  had  to  do  with  better  pay  and better housing and better medical care.

     There  is going to be -- you know, redesigning the strategic vision of the  military  is  going  to take some time.  But we must do it.  There are going to be some tough choices to make, but that's why you get elected.

     Q     Mr.  President, on the Greenville, the USS Greenville, would you support a salvage effort?

     THE  PRESIDENT:   We've  got  an  unmanned sub heading out there -- to determine  exactly what the status is.  I need to find the facts -- I think we need to do what we need to do to get the bodies out of there, if they're there.

     Q     You  said you had apologized to Prime Minister Mori, but you got cut off.

     THE  PRESIDENT:   Oh,  I'm  sorry.   Well,  I  did.  I said I was -- I apologized  on  behalf  of our nation for the accident that took place, and the lives that are missing.

     Q    Did he ask you to do anything or did he --

     THE  PRESIDENT:   He asked me to do everything I could -- which we are doing -- to find, to locate the missing folks.

     Q     As  a  former  military  man,  yourself,  sir, know the absolute preeminence  of  safety  --  every  operation.   Were you comfortable, as a former military officer that -- were taken?

     THE  PRESIDENT:   John,  I  haven't  seen  the full briefing yet.  And that's  going  to  go  up  through the proper chain of command.  I know the Secretary  of  Defense  has  asked that question and -- once the facts have surfaced, I will -- I'm sure it will be brought to my attention and I'll be able to answer that question better after I hear the facts.

     Q    (Inaudible.)

     THE  PRESIDENT:   Well,  I'm  looking  forward  to  be with my friend, Vicente Fox, to make sure that he understands that when I say friends, that we'll  be friends, I mean it.  There will be a lot of discussions, a lot of issues  --  trade  us  a  big  issue, energy a big issue, immigration a big issue.  And I look forward to discussing them.

     It's  really  a  continuation of a chat we had in Dallas.  He had been elected,  I hadn't been.  But we had stopped off in Dallas, had a chance to visit  with  him.   I've  known  him  from  before  and  I've  got  a  good relationship with him.  It's why I'm going to Mexico, I think it's going to be  a  good  signal to the Mexicans, and others in our hemisphere, that the best  foreign  policy starts at home -- we've got to have good relations in the hemisphere.

     I  assured  the  Prime  Minister  of  Canada  that  my  vision  of the hemisphere  goes  both north and south.  We had a really good visit, by the way; Chretien is a very interesting man, a down to earth fellow.

     Q     He's the only politician who speaks out of one side of his mouth --  and he's admitted that, himself.  (Laughter.)  Do you think a potential solution to California's energy crisis lies in Mexico?

     THE  PRESIDENT:   Could  be.  You know, you've been reading talk about well,  Mexico  needs  to  import  natural  gas.   But  every  MCF  of newly discovered   gas  in  our  hemisphere  helps  the  overall  supply  picture throughout  the  hemisphere.  Now, that sounds obvious but, somehow, people are  writing that, well, you know, the idea of maybe working with Mexico to attract foreign capital develop natural gas really won't help in the United States.   Of course it will help in the United States.  It means that there will  be  less  exports from the United States to Mexico.  There's an issue evolving right now in California about natural gas going from California to the  Mexican  power  plant.  I don't know exactly what the status is.  It's conceivable  that  that  gas  will  be  interrupted  and  it  will  create, obviously, a problem for our neighbors to the south.  But gas can flow both ways.   And any gas down in Mexico that improves the Mexican situation will help America.

     Secondly,  the  idea  of  --  I  am  going  to  discuss  this with the President,  about  improving the power plants to be able to help additional power get into the western grid.  That would obviously be farther west than where  we're  going  to  be.   But,  yes,  I  think  with an opportunity -- potential.

     Q    -- natural gas prices.  Is there something the government can do? Some people really need to --

     THE  PRESIDENT:   Yes, they are.  We supported LIHEAP, of course.  But what the natural gas price will end up doing is attracting more investment, more  capital more exploration, which we surely need.  We've got a shortage of  gas  and  a  growing demand.  That's why the price is where it is.  The issue  in  the  state  of  California,  they  didn't increase the supply of energy, but the demand for energy increased in a significant way.  It turns out the Internet, while it created a brand new economy, also created a huge need  for  power.  We need more power, pure and simple.  That's part of the discussions  with  the President of Mexico will be, to determine whether or not  there  is  the ability to jointly work on the ability to generate more power.

     Q     Sir,  I  just wanted to follow up on the previous question.  You had  mentioned  -- you've often said, about your predecessor, that you want to  look  forward,  and  not  the  past.  Do you think it's a good idea for Congress  to  be investigating pardons, or for the Justice Department to do that?  Or should they just let it go?

     THE PRESIDENT:  I think it's time to move on.  And --

     Q    Will you ask Chairman --

     THE PRESIDENT:  No, the Congress is going to what they're going to do. They've already started the process.

     Q    What about your Attorney General?

     THE  PRESIDENT:  I haven't talked to the Attorney General about it.  I read something about it today, but --

     Q    He would consider --

     MR.  FLEISCHER:   The  Attorney General just simply said that he would look at what Congress was doing.

     THE  PRESIDENT:   Yes,  I  don't  think  -- didn't investigate; he was responding  to a congressional inquiry.  You know, the Congress is going to do  what  they're going to do.  My attitude is, you know, all this business about  the  transition  --  it's time to move on, it is.  It's time to stay looking forward and that's what I'm going to do.

     Q    Are you concerned that there's an -- the appearance of a quid pro quo with all of the money flowing into the Democratic coffers?

     THE  PRESIDENT:   That's  up  for  the  able journalists in America to determine.

     Always  a pleasure.  Sorry we don't get to spend so much quality time, like we used to in the campaign.

     Q    Are you warming up for Opening Day?  It's only six weeks.

     THE PRESIDENT:  Down in Houston?  (Laughter.)

     Q     Are you going to work with Tony Williams to bring a ball team to Washington?

     THE  PRESIDENT:   You're  not going to believe this, it was one of the first   topics   he  brought  up  during  our  conversation  --  seriously. (Laughter.)

     Q    Thank you.

                         END                    12:30 P.M. EST