For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
February 27, 2001
Remarks by President Bush and President Pastrana of Colombia
The Oval Office
2:10 P.M. EST
PRESIDENT
BUSH: It's my honor to welcome a friend of our country to
the Oval Office, President Pastrana. We've had a very good
discussion about Colombia -- Plan Colombia -- the renewal of a Trade
Preference Act for the Andean nations to help their economies
grow. President Pastrana is a courageous leader who is
dealing with very difficult problems. I'm confident that
with his leadership his nation will be better off.
And, Mr.
President, I can't thank you enough for taking a lead in your country,
for having the heart that you have and the compassion for the Colombian
people, and the ability to make tough decisions.
I explained
to the President that we're fully aware of the narcotics that are
manufactured in his country, but also told him that many of them
wouldn't be manufactured if our nation didn't use them, and we've got
to work together to not only help Colombia, but help our own country.
So, Mr.
President, you're welcome to come -- if you'd like to make a few
comments, you're welcome to.
PRESIDENT
PASTRANA: Thank you, Mr. President. Once again,
it is a great pleasure to be back with now President
Bush. We had the opportunity to meet in 1999 when President
Bush was governor. So, once again, Mr. President, thank you
for this opportunity in which we could exchange a lot of ideas of
what's happening in our country and how can we deal with a common enemy
that is narco-trafficking; that in the end that is the one that is
financing the violence in my country and maybe also in part of your
country. And that we are going to put all the efforts to
continue our fight, as we have done in our commitment against
narco-trafficking, trying to reach a peace agreement in our country and
strengthening our economy, creating new jobs and better jobs for our
people.
So I want
to thank you publicly, also, Mr. President, for all the help that you
are giving us and the U.S. to get forward in this process. Thank you
very much.
PRESIDENT
BUSH: A couple questions.
Q Mr.
President, would you be part of the negotiation table -- will the U.S.
be part of the negotiation table as President Pastrana --
PRESIDENT
BUSH: No, we will not be.
Q Why?
PRESIDENT
BUSH: This is an issue that the Colombian people and the
Colombian President can deal with. We'll be glad to help
Colombia in any way to make the peace. We'll be glad to help
the Colombian economy through trade. But I won't be present
for the discussions.
Q Mr.
President, on the budget, your chief economic advisor is saying that
your administration will not seek to retire all of the outstanding
federal debt, which is something that President Clinton had
promised. Can you explain why that is --
PRESIDENT
BUSH: Yes.
Q --
and what you would suggest doing with the hundreds of billions of
dollars that would be left over in the Social Security surplus that
would have gone to retire it?
PRESIDENT
BUSH: Yes. Mr. President, I'm giving a speech
tonight on the budget. I don't know if you have to give
budget speeches, but sometimes it's hard to make those budget speeches
very poetic. (Laughter.)
It does not
make sense to pay down debt prematurely and, therefore, have to pay a
premium on the debt that you pre-pay. And so we've
calculated the amount of debt that our nation can pay off over the next
10 years, and that's $2 trillion, leaving about $800 billion unpaid.
The second
follow-up question to that was Social Security. And tonight
during my speech, I will lay out the part of the vision for modernizing
the Social Security system.
We have an
issue in this country, Mr. President, because people my age,
affectionately known as "baby boomers," will be retiring
soon. And in my case, later rather than sooner, I
hope. But anyway, we have trouble enough -- there won't be
enough money being put in the system to take care of the baby boomers
when we retire. And therefore, the question is how do we
make the system work.
And I want
to give younger workers the opportunity to manage some of their own
money in the private markets. And to answer your question,
some of that money could be used as part of a modernization plan.
Q Do
you and your economic advisors think that maybe some of this -- on the
table -- short term or long-term --
PRESIDENT
BUSH: No, we don't at all. As a matter of fact,
we think it's the wise, wise thing to do. Again, American
people have got to understand that we'll be paying down the debt as it
comes due. But the idea of pre-paying debt at a premium to
the taxpayers makes no sense to do that.
Q But
no impact on interest rates because of the consequent --
PRESIDENT
BUSH: No, I don't think so. As a matter of fact,
the interest rates would more likely be affected by monetary
policy. The economy would be affected by good, sound fiscal
policy because one of the things -- I don't want to give you the whole
speech, because I, of course, want you to pay attention to
it. But I do believe we ought to accelerate the tax relief
plan. The sooner we get money into the pockets of our
taxpayers, the more likely it is our economy will even out.
We've got
an economic problem, Mr. President, that is of concern. It should be a
concern to our neighbors. I discussed this with President
Fox. We've got a mutual friend in President Fox, the
President of Mexico. And he is concerned about the nature of the U.S.
economy, as well. And we're going to do everything we can to
make sure our economy recovers quickly, which will be
beneficial. As our trading partner, it will be very
beneficial. Si.
Q Did
you discuss anything about the TPS for the Colombia --
PRESIDENT
BUSH: We did. And the President made a very
strong case. He was very plain spoken. He brought
up the case, the concerns of over a million Colombians who live here in
the United States, mainly in Queens, New York, and in the state of
Florida, and I listened carefully.
Q (Asked
in Spanish.)
PRESIDENT
PASTRANA: (Answered in Spanish.)
Q Do
you expect Democrats to give your speech a fair chance
tonight? Or do you suspect that they're just ready to
pounce? (Laughter.)
PRESIDENT
BUSH: I, of course, will be giving the speech in the Chamber
and there will be Republicans and Democrats, but I'm really speaking to
the American people. This is a speech -- hold on a second --
this is a speech that I want to make it clear to the American people
that I have a reasonable plan for the budget.
I'm going
to make it clear we meet priorities, and I'll explain what many of
those priorities are; that we make sure that Social Security, the money
aimed for Social Security goes only to Social Security; that we pay
down debt and it will be the largest repayment of debt ever; that we've
got money for contingencies in the budget; and, that there is still
money left over for the tax relief plan.
The problem
we have oftentimes in America is that people will be asked the
question, do you want tax relief or do you want somebody not to get
their Medicare check? I'm going to be making the case that
with the right leadership, the right priorities, and the right focus,
that we will fund important programs and have money left over for tax
relief.
And it's
important -- it's important for the American people to get some of
their own money back. One, it will help the economy.
Secondly, it will help the American taxpayers pay off their own
personal debt.
One of the
issues we have, Mr. President, in the United States is high energy
bills. The cost of energy is going up because we haven't had
enough exploration relative to demand. And this cash that
people will get back through tax relief will help the American families
manage their budgets.
I really am
looking forward to giving this speech. I hope you're looking
forward to listening to it.
Q --
most important speech so far, sir?
PRESIDENT
BUSH: Every one of them are important.
Q (Inaudible.)
--
PRESIDENT
BUSH: For trade? Absolutely. It's a
very important treaty. She is asking about the Free Trade
treaty of the Andean nations. Yes, sir -- yes, ma'am, I'll be pushing
it. I'm a free trader.
Q --
to help the economy?
PRESIDENT
BUSH: Through trade, absolutely. And the
President made a very strong case for broadening the trade
agreement. I will bring up the matter with Ambassador
Zoellick, who is my trade negotiator.
Adios.
END 2:18
P.M. EST
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