THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Press Secretary _____________________________________________________________________ For Immediate Release July 16, 1993 PRESS BRIEFING BY DEE DEE MYERS The Briefing Room 1:13 P.M. EDT MS. MYERS: A few details about Saturday's schedule. The President will arrive in St. Louis around 9:00 a.m. He'll take a helicopter tour of St. Charles County. He will then go to *Fox Hall High School in Arnold, Missouri, where he'll have a sort of a general session with governors and some members of Congress and representatives of eight or nine federal agencies to talk about the emergency response, what they're doing now, what the governors and others anticipate future needs to be. Then they'll talk about sort of long-term recovery, what we need to do beyond just cleaning up the mess. That will last two hours, from 10:00 a.m. to noon. And the President will leave after that. The session will continue, however, with different federal agencies working with state delegations to talk about their specific needs and how they can access federal resources in response. He will then go to Little Rock to spend the weekend. It will be personal time. He has no public schedule. Q Do you have any reaction to Barney Frank saying that he can't support the outline of the proposal because it does not do enough to preserve people's privacy, particularly in terms of off- base behavior? MS. MYERS: As you know, the President received -- he met with Secretary Aspin last night. He did not receive the report until after Secretary Aspin had left -- that came over separately late last night. The President is still reviewing the report. And I don't think that all of the details have been -- have been completely reported as to what's in Secretary Aspin's recommendations. I think the President is reviewing it, and he'll have an announcement. It won't be over the weekend. It won't come until Monday at the earliest. I'm not going to comment on the specific details of what may be in the Secretary's proposal. We may have more to say -- we will have more to say about it later today. Q Let me ask you about Barney Frank. You had thought that you would have -- Q Wait, later today? Q Meaning what? MS. MYERS: Background briefing. Q You had thought that you would have Barney Frank's support. Barney Frank is suggesting that you may not want to discuss the details, but you're not going to change the Uniform Code of Military Justice, which does require that off-base behavior be consistent with on-base behavior. That's a fundamental principle. Can you respond to the fact that Frank cannot support what the President is about to do? MS. MYERS: Well, my point is that the President is still reviewing it and I am not going to comment at this point on what the President may or may not be about to do. I don't know that Congressman Frank knows exactly what the President intends to do. The President has not made a decision and I understand that Congressman Frank had some comments about it. I don't think anybody is going to be happy, 100 percent happy with this decision. I think that that is clear. This is a difficult issue. It is one that the President is working very hard to find an appropriate solution, one that will preserve the needs of the military, but at the same time allow people to serve in the military without exclusion based on status. Q Why should we not believe that what happened yesterday with the Elders hearing is not a prelude to one more nominee being withdrawn or otherwise dropped? MS. MYERS: I think that the members of the Senate Labor Committee wanted time to review additional documents. They hadn't been able to obtain all of the documents that they thought they needed from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. I think that the postponement will give them time and give Dr. Elders time to get the answers that they need. We don't expect that this will be a problem. I think Dr. Elders will get the answers to the questions and the hearing will proceed -- I believe it's been rescheduled now for next Friday. But none of the issues raised are disqualifying. We think that there are -- that Dr. Elders has good answers to all of this, and we expect it to go forward. Q And the President is not backing down from her? MS. MYERS: The President supports her 100 percent. Q Why is he not making a public show of support for her so that it doesn't appear that she's falling into the same category of previous nominees? MS. MYERS: Well, he didn't have any public events about it today, and wasn't asked about it yesterday; although all of the people who speak for him said unequivocally yesterday and again today that he supports her 100 percent. We expect that the confirmation will proceed. There's been no change -- if you look at what's happening in Congress, the Labor Committee wants additional information. The people who were against her three weeks ago are still against her. Nobody else has changed their position based on new information. Q Did you just uncover the facts about this -- about the collection of salary at the same time she was here working and being paid, when did that emerge? MS. MYERS: I don't think that's new information. I think it's new in that it -- but there's nothing even -- there's nothing illegal or wrong about that policy. Q I understand that. I'm just trying to -- and as to the other controversies that surrounded her having to do with the nanny situation -- or the nurse, I'm sorry -- and the bank situation, when did the administration find out about those matters? MS. MYERS: The bank situation is not new. That's a public -- Q I'm not saying it is. I asking when you found out about it. MS. MYERS: I think through the vetting -- I don't know the exact date. That certainly is not new. The fact that she was being paid as a consultant to the federal government is not new, it's something that's common. Q And what about the nurse? MS. MYERS: And I don't know about the -- I'll have to take the question about the nurse. Q It would be good to know when -- that come out in the vetting process, do you know? MS. MYERS: It did, yes. But I'm just not sure as to timing when it did. Q Dee Dee, Sam Nunn just announced that his committee will mark up whatever the President's policy is, will review it, and that he wants this to put into legislative form. Was the President anticipating that Congress would act on his policy and possibly amend it or change it? MS. MYERS: I think that's always been a possibility. I don't think we knew and I don't think we will know exactly what Congress is going to do until the President makes his policy public. But that has always been a possibility. Q And Nunn asked that the policy not be implemented until Congress can act. Is that acceptable to the President? MS. MYERS: I think that -- I don't know exactly what the timeline will be for implementation of the policy, but it's certainly something he wants to do in conjunction with Congress. And what action Congress takes, I think, will not be completely clear until the policy is announced. But, I mean, he's certainly -- one of the reasons that we created a six-month period to review this was to enable Congress to participate, to make sure that Congress' opinions about this were fully reviewed. And the President always intended to work with Congress on this. Q But is he willing to delay the directives implementation until Congress passes on it? MS. MYERS: I think that's something that we'll have to talk about. Q Had not he always planned to have an executive order, to issue an executive order and make his policy the policy of the Pentagon? MS. MYERS: I think that we'll have to wait until the President announces the details of this until we can talk about implementation. Q You guys announced that this would be implemented as of October 1st if it was reached here under the schedule of July 15th. Are you now saying that you don't intend to implement it October 1st as you had announced? MS. MYERS: I'm saying that we'll wait until the President makes an announcement to deal with those kind of details. Q What is this backgrounder on if you're not -- if he hasn't made a decision -- if he's not going to make a -- MS. MYERS: It will be on -- I think that there is desire here to be clear about perhaps some of the recommendations that have come from Secretary Aspin and few other things that I think we will be prepared to talk about later today. Although the President's final decision -- I think that it will be Gergen and/or George. Q And it will list the recommendations that the -- MS. MYERS: Well, I don't think that they'll give -- talk entirely about what's exactly -- everything that's in the report and exactly where the President is in his decision-making process. But I think they'll be able to shed some light on these questions. Q What time, Dee Dee? MS. MYERS: We haven't scheduled it yet. Q I don't understand. Normally backgrounders are given to explain policies that have been announced. That's sort of the idea. It seems odd to have -- MS. MYERS: There's a lot of -- I think there is a good deal of misinformation out there. And I think a lot of people are reacting to misinformation. What we're going to try to do is be -- try to clear some of that up. Now because the President hasn't made an announcement, we won't be able to clear all of it up. But I think if we can make some progress toward getting -- Q Why can't it be on the record? MS. MYERS: I think that since the President hasn't made an announcement that the briefers would prefer to be on background. Q What's his problem in making a decision? MS. MYERS: He hasn't spent much time on this. I don't think he has a problem. But he hasn't spent much time on this issue over the course of the last six months. I think that he just received the recommendations from Secretary Aspin last night and he'd like a little time to review them. Q known for six months that July 15th was the deadline. Why is it that we have this perils of Pauline situation when we get down to the last 48 hours and there's a flurry of meetings, and back and forths, and language that doesn't work, and Reno comments? Why didn't you just do all this two weeks ago? I mean, was there something special about waiting to the last minute? MS. MYERS: No. I don't think there's been any change here. The President said, in announcing this, that he would ask Secretary Aspin to report back to him by July 15th. I don't think that there's anything unusual about having meetings as a policy preparation enters its final phase so that Secretary Aspin could get a little more direction from the President. And I don't think it's unreasonable for the President who spent very little time on this issue over the last few months to spend a day or two reviewing something that is going to have serious implications for the military and for all the parties that have been involved in this decision process. We had hoped at one point to do it today. The President would like a little more time. I don't think that that is unusual. Q Do you think it's helpful for the administration to have three, five, seven days of coverage of gays in the military? MS. MYERS: I think it will be helpful for the administration to have the best policy possible and to have this done in the most thoughtful and comprehensive way. Q Dee Dee, when did the Counsel's office learn that Dr. Elders was claiming vacation days for this time when she was on the federal payroll? And when did they inform you of that fact? MS. MYERS: I don't know exactly -- this is not an unprecedented thing. Other people who have other jobs have taken vacation days and there's certainly no prohibition on what people can do on their earned vacation time. If people want to go someplace and relax that's their choice. If they want to work as a consultant to the federal government, that too is their choice. There is certainly nothing wrong with that. So Dr. Elders, I think, was doing what -- taking her accrued vacation time to do with as she pleased. Q Why weren't you able to say that yesterday? Why did it take so long for this matter to get resolved and get out? MS. MYERS: I think we did say that yesterday. As so did HHS. Q Doesn't that raise the issue of impropriety? Doesn't it just look bad? MS. MYERS: No. Absolutely not. It is not improper. There's nothing improper about it. People should be free to do with their vacation time as they choose. Q Dee Dee, how do you answer the fact that Governor Tucker doesn't seem to share your views? MS. MYERS: I think you have to talk to Governor Tucker's office about that, but there's no prohibition against it in Arkansas. I think they -- I don't know why or what Governor Tucker knew about the details of it at the time. Q But would you have wanted somebody -- Governor Tucker has said if he'd known he wouldn't have approved. Do you think it's appropriate for somebody to collect a salary from a state government that doesn't approve of them doing it while -- MS. MYERS: I think that people -- that Dr. Elders accrued her vacation time after many years of service to the state of Arkansas and is free to do as she chooses with her vacation days. I think that all people should be free to use their vacation days any way they want to. That's why they earn it. Q Has there been any communication between Governor Tucker's office and the White House since this issue arose? MS. MYERS: I think there's been contact at a staff level to just explain the circumstances of this. And I think a couple of you folks have also spoken to Max Parker, who's Governor Tucker's spokesperson. Q Have you spoken to Max Parker -- MS. MYERS: Yes, I have. Q Dee Dee, on the gay issue again, is Aspin going to be coming back this afternoon or over the next few days? And if --is Clinton going to invite the Joint Chiefs over here before he makes an announcement? And also, if he makes major revisions in this, does it have to go back to the Joint Chiefs? MS. MYERS: Secretary Aspin is not scheduled to come back here today, although I wouldn't rule it out. He did come back yesterday. He may talk to a number of people, including members of the Joint Chiefs, although again, nothing is scheduled. But he may just choose to pick up the phone and ask one of the members a question about some aspect of it. I don't -- and then I think if the President makes revisions, it will be certainly in consultation with a number of people. Q Will he have to formally go back to the Joint Chiefs and -- MS. MYERS: Not necessarily, no. I think their position through this process is fairly clear. Q Can I clarify something in response to Andrea's question? It's not clear to me whether it's okay with you if Nunn tries to codify your policy. MS. MYERS: I think that Congress will do with it as they see fit. And it's something that we could talk more about once we have a policy. Q The Elders papers in connection with the bank case, which seems to be what Senator Kennedy and some of his colleagues are mostly interested in sorting out now -- as I understand it, a lot of those records were sealed. Will the White House make available those records? MS. MYERS: I'll have to take that question. It depends on what -- I would imagine it depends on exactly what they are. I think that they'll certainly be available to the Senate. And whether or not they become public, we'll have to look into. Q Why weren't those questions about the lawsuit cleared up in the vetting process or the FBI background check? MS. MYERS: Again, I don't know exactly what the legal requirements were surrounding some of the documents. I think the suit was just very recently settled. Q Okay, another question. Who is going to be speaking to the groups -- the Elders groups who are coming into the White House, I understand, today to -- or maybe the OEOB? MS. MYERS: A number of people in the -- this is -- the question is, some groups supporting Elders are coming into the White House today, I believe, at 2:30 p.m. for -- and I don't have a list of who the groups are -- I think they'll be available at the stakeout afterwards -- just to talk about -- I think that they want a little more information about exactly where these issues stand. Q Who are they going to meet with? MS. MYERS: They're going to meet with, I believe, Alexis Herman's shop is coordinating it. Q Is this a matter of rallying support for her? Is she in trouble? Is this a matter of rallying -- White House rallying support -- MS. MYERS: I think it's a matter of our ongoing commitment to this nomination. These are groups that have been involved in and supportive of her. Q Did you summon them or did they call up and say, hey, we want to come in? MS. MYERS: I think it was a combination of -- there were a lot of questions, and I think some of the groups were asking questions, so they were invited in just to clear up -- Q meet with Counsel's office or -- MS. MYERS: I don't know who's all on the docket. We can certainly get that for you. But there will be a number of groups coming in. And again, they will available at the stakeout afterwards. Q on the Counsel's question. It's my understanding that they knew yesterday morning, or maybe it was as late as the night before last, about the vacation days and just didn't tell you. Is that right -- didn't tell you before yesterday's 1:00 p.m. briefing? MS. MYERS: I didn't -- I think we had the answer to those questions yesterday. It didn't come before yesterday. I didn't have all the specifics on it during the briefing, so I took the question. But I think we answered it widely yesterday. Q On another subject, yesterday Mr. Altman and Panetta had a little session in which they said that the reason there will be no mid-session budget review is that there's no budget in place. If I'm not mistaken, you and your predecessors have told us repeatedly that the President passed his budget in record time. What are they talking about? MS. MYERS: We passed a budget resolution in record time. We passed versions through the House and Senate in record time. You know more about the legislative process than I do, but there is no formal budget until it has passed conference. Q Well, no -- well, that's not -- MS. MYERS: The budget resolution was passed in record time. Q That's all there ever is. The reconciliation bill is a collection of legislative measures to implement the budget. But the budget that they've passed is all the budget there ever is. And when you say you haven't got a budget in place, I don't understand how you can say that having made the claim repeatedly that you've passed budget in record time. MS. MYERS: I think that we passed a budget resolution in record time. And I think that the final details of the budget will be worked out through the conference process. Q details of reconciliation. But is it your position that because you don't have a reconciliation bill yet that you're excused from the requirements of the law that a mid-session budget review be done? MS. MYERS: I think that Director Panetta made it very clear yesterday that our position on this is that in order to make the most useful and honest mid-session review possible, that merits waiting for the budget process to finish so that we will know what the effects of the budget will be on the economy. Should the President's budget pass, that will be radically different than if the budget doesn't pass in terms of its effect on the economy over the next five years. Q I know, but isn't one of the reasons why you have a midsession review is that so Congress when voting on legislation such as that in the reconciliation package will have the latest information? MS. MYERS: You can do that -- first of all, let me just point out that it's been delayed 10 of the last 12 years. This is not anything new. Q They said five, I think, yesterday -- MS. MYERS: I think that they went back and checked and this morning Director Panetta said 10, 10 of the last 12 years. This is not uncommon, it is nothing new. Q I know, but aren't you the new guys who are supposed to do everything differently and be all straight with everybody? I mean, you obey the law and -- MS. MYERS: Well, we have done things differently and we are being straight with people, which is why we're not going to cook up a midsession review based on numbers we know aren't real. We could do that. Q What is your position on the requirements of the law? MS. MYERS: We try to comply with the law whenever possible. I think we did a preliminary review yesterday -- Q So, your view is what the law says that you're supposed to try to comply wherever possible? MS. MYERS: We, I think, have a very good record of complying with the law. Q Dee Dee, on the budget, the talking points that have been put out by the White House, who wrote those and what's the purpose? How do you want them to be used? MS. MYERS: We do talking points every day. Q Hallelujah, the change is acoming. MS. MYERS: That was coordinated by a number of people including Ricki Seidman. Q Did the DNC have anything to do with it? MS. MYERS: No, it was done here. It was done out of the White House over the course of the last week or two. Ricki Seidman and Roger Altman, as you know, are coordinating that effort. I think that what we're going to try to do is keep the people in the White House, on the Hill and other places informed, out in the various states across the country, informed as to what's in the President's package and how it's going to affect them in the future and where we are in this process as we go forward. Q Dee Dee, what do we make of the talking point that says it doesn't matter what happens in this conference because the important parts of the President's program are in both bills and that it will be a 100 percent Clinton's success no matter what happens? Is it your view it doesn't matter what happens in the conference? MS. MYERS: No, and I think that those -- of course, it matters what's happening in the conference. That's why we've created this process to make sure that the conference reflects -- the outcome of the conference reflects the President's goals and priorities in this process, which I think he's made clear throughout, and which we're going to work very hard to make sure are reflected in the final outcome. It makes a great deal of difference. I think what that talking point reflects is that I think we've had a great deal of success in the process so far in both the House and Senate versions of getting bills that largely reflect the President's priorities. That is a big success. We got 95 percent of what we wanted out of the House and a little bit less but still a very good response in the Senate. I think we feel very good about this budget process so far. It hasn't been easy. We've worked very hard at it. We're going to work very hard at the conference process to make sure that the final budget meets the President's objectives. Q How is this document being distributed through the agencies? By whom and to whom? MS. MYERS: I think there's only a limited number of copies of hallelujah and I think those have already been distributed to people in the White House. Now, I think in terms of -- Q agencies as well? MS. MYERS: I predicted it would take until Sunday but, boy, was I wrong. Q What about the agencies? You're saying they haven't been distributed in the agencies? MS. MYERS: I don't believe so but I think, certainly, the talking points -- a couple of copies might have gone out. There aren't that many copies of that whole document but I'm -- certainly, talking points and other documents that -- Q By whom and to whom? MS. MYERS: By Ricki Seidman and Roger Altman's operation. Q To? MS. MYERS: To -- well, the original document has gone mostly to people in the White House. Now, a few people in the agencies might get it. I believe Ann's telling me that's where she got it, and that's very helpful to know. I appreciate it. (Laughter.) Q Who were the intended recipients of this? MS. MYERS: The intended recipients -- most of that document are mostly people who are working on this process. Now, that's not to say that the talking points and others won't go to other people who have a stake in the outcome of this. Q I understand that. But there's a question there -- there's always been a question about the White House's distribution of partisan materials through the executive agencies. This document is filled with partisan commentary and the question is, therefore, by whom and to whom? MS. MYERS: I told you by whom and I told you to whom -- Q Well, sort of. MS. MYERS: -- the hallelujah was, and I'll double-check this, but intended for people in the White House. Q Will you take the question. MS. MYERS: Yes. But there's a very limited number of copies of that document, and I don't know who in the agencies might have gotten their hands on it. But we certainly -- we certainly reserve the right to distribute information about the President's programs to the agencies who are part of the federal government and who will be affected by it. Q Dee Dee, another -- question. Is there any concern among the senior staff that this nomination, the Elders nomination has not been handled in the most competent manner? MS. MYERS: I think that the nomination will go forward. It's gone well. We expect her to be confirmed. Q Is this another success -- MS. MYERS: It will be. Q Let me follow that. How did this happen? You've gotten through all these problems with nominees. Each time you say we've learned something. And now at the last minute on the day before a confirmation hearing, the hearing has to be postponed because some new allegations have popped up about a nominee. MS. MYERS: No, they're not new allegations. It is a request for additional documents for a legal case that has just recently been resolved and that the documents weren't entirely available. We will go back, Dr. Elders will make those documents available, and the process will go forward. I think -- you know Dr. Elders was nominated a long time ago. And I think that -- Q And nobody said to -- that perhaps we should get some documentation to the Senate because they might have questions about this? MS. MYERS: This case was recently resolved. And I think that they requested additional documents which weren't readily available. I think it is completely prudent and understandable that the hearing will be delayed a week in order to give her a chance to get those documents and present the best answers possible to outstanding questions. Q Has the President told her that he stands behind her? Has he had any person contact? MS. MYERS: I don't think he's talked directly to her, but it's been made very clear to her that we expect this nomination to go forward. And we expect it to be confirmed. Q Whom -- who do -- I mean, he -- MS. MYERS: She's talked to a number of people including Ricki and others who have working on this process. Q Dee Dee, by virtue of the fact that the President hasn't rushed to embrace the recommendations that Aspin had sent over yesterday, can we construe from that that he's still not happy with them? MS. MYERS: No, I wouldn't read too much into that. I mean, I wouldn't rule out the chance that there'd be some changes, but there is not some -- this is a case of the President wanting a little more time to review this. There may be some changes. I certainly wouldn't rule it out. But he hasn't spent much time on this, he thought it would be prudent to spend a little more time and so he's going to do that. Q Why doesn't the President just do what he said as a candidate: Issue this Executive Order and have done with it? MS. MYERS: Because I think that he would like to make some progress on this and he believes he can come up with a plan that will make progress that will be something that can be implemented and that will not be immediately overturned in Congress. Q Dee Dee, on the timing part of that, it was explained today that we had a big empty day because the President was preparing for the flood stuff tomorrow, which doesn't seem that complex to figure out. Is he going to spend some time today thinking -- MS. MYERS: I don't know who told you that. Q That was what we understood, that this was a day of preparation for the floods -- Q What is he doing today? Q Yeah, what -- MS. MYERS: Sure. Q -- and how much time is he going to spend on the gays -- Q Is he playing golf? MS. MYERS: He's -- no, he's been in his office all day with a number of meetings including -- I'm sure he'll spend some time on this issue today. He has a reconciliation meeting this afternoon with Secretary Bentsen and Director Panetta. He's doing work on a number of other issues and has some phone and office time. He's been out of the country for the last week and a half, or a little over, and I think he's -- few things he need so catch up on. So he's spending most of the day doing that. Q NSC -- MS. MYERS: No. Q Are you issuing a statement on Somalia? MS. MYERS: No. Q We were told this morning that you would have something on Somalia and on Bosnia. Now earlier this week we were told the President was studying options for possible aid to the people in Sarajevo. Do you have anything on -- any decisions or any reaction to the U.N. considering pulling out of Bosnia? MS. MYERS: I don't -- we don't expect the U.N. to pull out of Bosnia. We're moving forward with the resolution to protect safe havens, as you know. NATO has sent a plan to the U.N. which we're awaiting approval of that to be implemented. And I don't think there's been any change there. Q What about Somalia? MS. MYERS: Same thing. I mean, we continue to support the U.N. action there. That mission is both to provide humanitarian aid and to restore civil order to that country. I think U.N. actions have been consistent with that. We continue to support that. Q The President's not concerned about Italy's -- I mean, you've sent an envoy to negotiate with the Italians. MS. MYERS: No, I think obviously we welcome the Italian participation in this and we want to continue to work with them. But we believe that the U.N. is fulfilling it's mission both providing humanitarian aid and restoring civil order to that country. It is not an easy process. But one that we think it well worth while and one that is proceeding. Q But when American troops first went over to Somalia, it was strictly to escort the food from the ports to the feeding centers and so forth. Obviously, that mission has expanded a great deal. In December they were saying we're not going to interject ourselves in local politics. What's changed and why and when? MS. MYERS: Well, I'm not sure that there's been a big change other than that clearly we have been very successful in the first part of that mission, which is to provide humanitarian relief. If you remember back a few months ago, there was mass starvation and death in that country, and clearly that's been turned around. And the society is starting to function again. Schools are operating, hospitals are operating, crops are being planted. Q Yes, but it's obviously moved into a new phase now. MS. MYERS: The next -- well, the second half of that is to restore civil order to that country, to keep from having to go back there in a few months if chaos should descend again. And one of the things you have to do is to combat the people who have a stake in chaos. And that includes people like General Aideed's forces who helped to create that desperate situation in the first place. We are committed to restoring civil order through the U.N. and we'll continue to participate in that program. Q I'm a little confused. This morning, Mark told us -- basically cut off questions about Bosnia and Somalia by saying that he had just spoken to Tony Lake and that he expected to have some sort of statement for us today, and you seem surprised by the question. MS. MYERS: I think what he -- and I'll certainly take this -- but I think what he meant was just that he was waiting for guidance from NSC. Q That isn't what he told us. He told us you would have something to say on -- MS. MYERS: Don, does this -- do you know if we're going to have a statement on these things? MR. STEINBERG: No, I don't think we are. MS. MYERS: Okay. I think that -- I will check with him and get back to you, but -- Q Are we staying in U.N. in Somalia and Bosnia? MS. MYERS: Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. Q And on Bosnia you're telling us that nothing further is being contemplated or done by the United States at this time despite the situation in Sarajevo and the U.N. High Commissioner's expressions of concern? MS. MYERS: We're continuing to work through the U.N. and toward the implementation of U.N. resolutions. Q I mean, they're talking about the possibility of having to evacuate tens of thousands of Muslims, and that's not on your radar screen? MS. MYERS: This is not something -- what I'm steering you away from is any suggestion of unilateral action. We're going to continue to work through the U.N. And, as you know, the U.N. Security Council passed a resolution allowing for the enforcement, or the protection, of safe havens. And that is proceeding. Q Within that framework, then, is there something the President is deciding upon, or some course of action we're getting involved in? MS. MYERS: NATO submitted a plan to the U.N., which we're waiting for the Secretary General to approve, which would be a plan for protection of the safe havens, including Sarajevo. And that's on track. Q But nothing in terms -- Q the purpose for the C-130s that were brought into Italy? MS. MYERS: That's it. As you recall, that was -- the U.N. resolution allowed for an additional 7,500-plus additional peacekeepers, plus air support to protect the UNPROFOR forces on the ground. The directive at that point was for NATO to draw up a plan which was then submitted to the U.N. It is now at the U.N. and waiting for approval. Q Wasn't there a NSC deputies meeting on this on Tuesday or Wednesday in which you went over additional options in connection with Sarajevo? MS. MYERS: There was a deputies meeting on Tuesday. They discussed a number of things, but I'm not going to go into details. Q What does the schedule look like for next week, and what's the President going to do to get involved in the conference process? MS. MYERS: I don't have many details on the schedule for next week yet, but the President's going to be quite involved, as is the administration, Secretary Bentsen and others, in this process. I think he'll meet with a number of members of Congress, a number of different groups to talk with them about what his objectives are and to hear from them what they think is possible. Q What sort of -- MS. MYERS: We'll let you know more next week. Q The Black Caucus? MS. MYERS: I think that maybe that may happen at some point. Q Senator DeConcini and some other senators are quite upset about the increase in the CIA budget. Is the administration absolutely determined to see that budget increased, and why, given the CIA's lousy track record? MS. MYERS: It's not an increase. As you know, the President's budget was a $7-billion decrease over five years. He thinks that that is an adequate level of funding, but we need to maintain adequate intelligence capability in the post-Cold War era. Q (inaudible) -- MS. MYERS: I guess so. Q Are you talking about a decrease in absolute terms, or a decrease below previous objections? MS. MYERS: A decrease below what President Bush had proposed. Q So that's an increase. Q But it's still a billion dollar increase in for next fiscal year. MS. MYERS: Yes, but it's a decrease over what President Bush had proposed over the five-year period. Q I'd like to go back and maybe close this out with one last Elders question. Is the President aware of all of the information surrounding her involvement in the bank, and the other questions about the nurse and the double-dipping? You've, in the past, offered support to other nominees who then were withdrawn. Are you going to be able to assure these groups this afternoon and other people that there is no possibility that the President would have to ask Joycelyn Elders to step aside, that he is completely behind her no matter what happens, he's fully aware of everything? Q Ever, ever, ever. (Laughter.) Q Is there coverage on that? Q I mean, there's some nervousness out there about the President's support -- MS. MYERS: The President has been briefed about the status of her confirmation, and, again, stands 100 percent behind her. Q That's the message that will be given -- Q Hold it. Hold it. We may have something new here coming in. (Laughter.) Q This just in. Q But he's going to tell people -- I mean, the message goes out that she goes forward no matter what? MS. MYERS: The message, yes -- the message today is, I think, that here are the details on where this stands. I think just to -- so they're clear on what -- on things that have been reported in the press over the last couple of days, and that the President stands 100 percent behind her. Q Can you give us some kind of accounting at some point of when the General Counsel's Office knew what about these various allegations? I just don't understand why the General Counsel's Office wasn't able to answer these questions about the bank for the committee. MS. MYERS: Once again, because -- and I will double- check this and post the answer -- but this is a court case that has recently concluded, some of the documents weren't available. We've taken this time and the Labor Committee wanted this time to make sure that those documents were available. Q But, I mean, you know, they're saying some pretty ugly things about the Counsel's Office up there today on the Hill. And I just don't understand -- and again, we've asked you over and over again -- MS. MYERS: Comes with the territory. Q But when did they -- we've asked you over and over again when did they know this, and you haven't answered. MS. MYERS: I took -- I answered one part of the question, which was the alleged double-dipping, which is not double- dipping, which is not uncommon. I said that the court case had recently concluded, and therefore the documents weren't available, and I took the third part of that question, which was when did Counsel know about -- about a half an hour ago. Q Dee Dee, in this idea of a message of the day, why did you wait until 7:00 p.m. or 7:30 p.m. last night to put out this four pages on why the President's plan is so pro-small business? MS. MYERS: I don't know about the timing of that. I think that -- that a lot of times, just for your edification, we put out information to be used the following day the night before, so it's not late, it's early. Q Did you put out -- MS. MYERS: It wasn't a -- Q This is -- MS. MYERS: I'm sorry. This wasn't talking points that we put out -- Q No, no. This was -- this was this release and a fact sheet -- letters. MS. MYERS: Because that's when it was ready. Q Well, couldn't this have been -- well, I won't tell you -- but the point -- MS. MYERS: That's when it was ready. Q One of the points made in here, in one of the letters that you released, dealing with the capital gains provision was the point being it would create 80,000 jobs over five years. Well, the Office of Science and Technology recently put out a specific report on high performance-type jobs, making the argument that you really don't need to tinker with the tax code, specifically expensing or capital gains, that those particular types of emerging growth companies really will get the capital if they have a good idea without needing to have a federal incentive. MS. MYERS: I'm not familiar with what the Office of Science and Technology might have said about that. Our position has been all along that there are things the government can do to increase the availability of capital to small business. And the President has suggested a number of ways to do that, and we'll continue to push for those. It's Chad's birthday, so why don't we sing? Helen, lead us in Happy Birthday. THE PRESS: (Sings Happy Birthday to Chad.) END 1:50 P.M. EDT #96-07/16