THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Press Secretary _____________________________________________________________________ For Immediate Release April 21, 1994 PRESS BRIEFING BY DEE DEE MYERS The Briefing Room 3:17 P.M. EDT MS. MYERS: First, as you know, the House just passed the crime bill -- statement from the President to that effect. "I want to commend the strong bipartisan action taken by the House of Representatives this afternoon in passing the crime bill. Today's vote is symbolic. Democrats and Republicans joined together to break gridlock and make our nation's streets safer. Both parties made the courageous decision to tackle the rising tide of violence in America today by voting for a tough, smart crime bill that will put more police officers on the street, make three strikes and you're out the law of the land, and give our kids something to say yes to. The House of Representatives made their intentions clear: Crime will not pay. I want to extend my thanks to Attorney General Reno, Chairman Brooks and all of the members of the House who worked so hard for passage of this important measure." Q Can you respond to the remarks on the Senate floor for the lifting of the arms embargo? MS. MYERS: Well, the President, as you know, has supported lifting the arms embargo all along; that's been his preferred policy from the beginning. He does not believe that it's something we can do alone or should do alone, I should say, because we have multilateral commitments on a number of issues, including enforcement of the blockade of the sanctions against Serbia. The President believes that to pull out of one embargo could threaten international action in other areas, including sanctions against Serbia, sanctions against Iraq, potentially sanctions against North Korea if that ever becomes an issue. So at this point, he, again, supports doing it on a multilateral level as opposed to unilaterally. Q Would he veto this? MS. MYERS: I think it's too soon to say. We haven't had a chance to see what's in the resolution. I think it's attached to another bill and it's unclear what the -- Q Is it a binding resolution? MS. MYERS: I believe so, yes. Q You would not oppose, would you, the provision -- MS. MYERS: Yes, it is. Q the provision that bars the President from sending any U.S. troops into action there, simply on constitutional grounds, would you? MS. MYERS: There's a provision -- Q There's a provision in there that bars him from sending troops in even if he wants to -- stipulate it that he doesn't want to, but even if he does, he's prevented from doing so in this resolution. MS. MYERS: I don't know. We haven't had a chance to evaluate the language in the amendment yet. The President, as you know, does not support sending troops to Bosnia at this point, unless there is a negotiated settlement that all the parties agree to. Q On the crime bill, how much of this passage is the President taking credit for, and what does he feel is his contribution to getting it passed? MS. MYERS: Well, certainly, I think the credit belongs with members of the House today. The bill is something that he's supported, something that he's worked hard for, something that he's spoken out on, on a number of occasions -- particularly on the elements that he supports most strongly -- the three strikes and you're out provision, putting 100,000 additional police officers on the street, and giving our kids something to say yes to, putting in there some prevention measures -- all those are included in the House bill. Q You just said it was a bipartisan effort and praised all that. But today, the Democrats had to turn back a major onslaught by Republicans. Janet Reno was out there, accusing the other side of being partisan. Was this really a bipartisan effort? MS. MYERS: Well, I think it received some support from both sides of the aisle, which is important. Now it goes to conference where the two sides will try to work together to get good support for the bill. The crime bill is something the President believes should be above partisan politics, something that so many Americans are concerned about, given the rising tide of violence in this country. I think he's going to continue to work to try to get as much support from Democrats as well as Republicans to get the final bill passed once the conference reports are produced. Q What about Bosnia now? What's happened in terms of the President's statement yesterday and what seems to be a very defiant response on the part of the Serbians? MS. MYERS: In relation to the President's statement yesterday we're at this point consulting with our allies and with the Russians about the initiatives that the President outlined yesterday. As you know, UNPROFOR is sending an additional 141 troops into Gorazde. They haven't reached there yet, but they're en route. General Shalikashvili was here earlier today. He met with Tony Lake and the President to discuss the command and control issues relative to the initiatives the President outlined, as well as the situation in Gorazde. So the President's been working on this today. We're doing what we can Q Can you update his consultations to tell us with whom he has now spoken and the results there -- MS. MYERS: The President has had any additional phone calls today with foreign leaders. Secretary Christopher has been in touch with his European counterparts at the NAC. He's been in communication with them. As you know, the NAC ambassadors voted yesterday in support -- moved in support of Boutros-Ghali's letter from a few days before, which was encouraging. We're currently in discussion about the initiatives the President put forward and expect a vote sometime within the next few days. Generally, the first response has been encouraging, although we still have work to do. Q Can you tell us how this is being presented, the arguments that you're using? Chris was widely criticized last year for going over there and asking people their opinion, and when they said they didn't like it, backing down and leaving. Are you presenting this as a U.S. demand that people go along with this? How is it different from last year? MS. MYERS: Well, I think we're making clear this is our strongly preferred position. And we're working with our allies, and with the Russians, to obtain their support as we move forward on this. I think that there is a general agreement that more needs to be done. That's why the NAC ambassadors voted as they did yesterday. Q Yeltsin's spokesman said today that there was agreement on -- in the telephone call -- on the need for a well- prepared summit meeting involving the leaders themselves, Yeltsin and the President; and that it wouldn't be next week, but it should be within a reasonably short period of time. Does the President agree with that? MS. MYERS: I think the President agrees that we need to pursue diplomatic measures -- that the only solution to the crisis in Bosnia will be a negotiated settlement. That's something that President Yeltsin and President Clinton clearly agreed on. I think the President discussed with him the initiatives that he's putting forward, including moving forward on some kind of a diplomatic measure. But I think the details of that have yet to be worked out. Q What the idea of a summit? Q What about Yeltsin's -- MS. MYERS: Well, it's something that would have to be -- as the Russians pointed out, first it's something that could not happen within the next few days or even in the very near future. It's something that both sides, all sides, would need to be very well prepared for. So there are discussions ongoing about, but I think no final decisions have been made. Q So you're cool to it? MS. MYERS: No, I think, again, it's something that can't happen within the next few days, as Kostikov said today. It's something that all sides would have to be well prepared for. And that does take some time. I think we're in discussions about it, and no final decisions. Q Kostikov also said that Yeltsin told the President that he is against air strikes. MS. MYERS: Well, I think the Russians have made their position clear on that. I think what President Clinton said was he discussed our initiatives, the initiatives that he put forward yesterday. And I think he made it clear to President Yeltsin that he'll continue to discuss with him, to consult with him, to work with him, as we have done to some effect over the last several weeks. Q So there's no agreement on that yet? MS. MYERS: We're working on it. I think we're in discussion with the Russians and others and working toward a unified policy. Q So you don't feel you've gotten a final answer from Russia on the question of air strikes? MS. MYERS: I don't think we have. I think it's too soon to say that we have final answers on these initiatives. But I think we're making good progress on them. We're in discussions. And we expect the NAC to take it up. I would just point out that while we're going to continue to consult with the Russians, this is a NAC decision. Q You haven't been able to talk to John Major yet on this? MS. MYERS: He has not spoken to him today, no. Q What do you think about Senator Nunn's statements that if you're going to do it, you might as well get ready for casualties, and go into Serbia if necessary itself in order to get the job done? MS. MYERS: Well, I think when the President announced the Sarajevo policy, I guess a couple months ago now, he said that while you do everything you can to minimize the risk, none of these operations are risk-free; and that the American people had to be prepared for some casualties. I think that that is still true. While air strikes carry much lower risk than sending in ground troops, there still is some risk. And that's just a fact of life. As for extending beyond the borders of Bosnia, there's no authority to do that within the U.N., and the United States isn't prepared to act unilaterally. Q Has the President of Bosnia sent a letter that -- the same letter that's being circulated at the U.N. concerning very stringent demands on the part of the Serbians? MS. MYERS: Are you talking about his statement that said he had been in contact with Washington? That's the only thing I've seen. I don't know of any other communication. Q Some sort of ultimatum -- MS. MYERS: Yes. The only thing I know, we've seen reports to that effect. But I don't know -- I'll have to take the question. I don't think we've received any formal communications from them, but I can take that and make sure. Q There's been in the last week a lot of op-ed-page type criticism in general of the President's foreign policy, that he's irresolute, uncertain and even uninterested. What's your general response to this wave of criticism? MS. MYERS: I think that that's unwarranted and just not true. If you look at -- there's also been some support for the President's policies, including -- and I don't usually quote the -- Q That was all ed, though, this is op-ed. MS. MYERS: Oh, we're not interested in editorial op-ed. Q This is op-ed -- that's what his question is. MS. MYERS: But just in terms of -- there was an editorial in The New York Times, which has hardly been sort of constantly in tandem with the administration on foreign policy that says all along, the Clinton administration's performance on Bosnia has been better than it looked. And I think that that's generally true. I think that this administration has had a lot of foreign policy successes, including Russia and helping them in their transformation to democracy, with trade issues and generally promoting democracy around the world; we're going to continue to push forward. If you look at our agreements with the former Soviet republics that are nuclear -- Kazakhstan, Belarus, Ukraine -- those have certainly been important agreements that moved the world toward denuclearization. So I think this administration has a lot of foreign policy accomplishments to be proud of, we're going to continue to press forward on our major strategic objectives, such as Russia, such as expanding democracy and increasing free trade and denuclearization. At the same time, we're going to deal with regional concerns that are important to us, like this crisis in Bosnia. None of these problems are easy or lend themselves to easy solutions. But I think this administration has made steady progress on a number of important fronts. Q criticism -- shots taken at him by President Aristide this morning -- Q Can we stay on Bosnia for a couple more questions? MS. MYERS: We'll come back to Haiti. Q What was the urgency yesterday that caused the President to go public with his suggestion, when he had only spoken to two of the allied leaders about it and only had opinions from one? MS. MYERS: I think the urgency is the situation on the ground in Bosnia. Q Yes, but why go public here with that? MS. MYERS: Well, because I think everybody knew that the administration had reached some decisions about next steps in Bosnia, that the President was consulting with the allies, and that these are important initiatives. And I think part of it, I think, is just being straightforward about what the President is pursuing. Q Doesn't that carry the attendant risk, though, that if it goes badly in consultations that you turn up with -- MS. MYERS: Sure -- Q egg on your face in a way that you wouldn't if you carried out your diplomacy in private? MS. MYERS: Sure. But this is something that the President is committed to. And I also think that to think that some of the details of the policy wouldn't end up in print through other means is probably naive. Q Committed enough to consider unilateral action if the allies don't go along? MS. MYERS: No, we don't believe we have the authority or the desire to do it unilaterally. But it's certainly something that we hope to convince the allies to go along with, as we did in creating the exclusion zone around Sarajevo, as we did in getting the allies to agree to enforce the no-fly zone and to use close-air support in protection of UNPROFOR forces. Those were all U.S. initiatives, and all were achieved with significant support from the United States. Q Are you saying authority or interest both -- you said you don't think you have the authority -- MS. MYERS: To act unilaterally? No, I shouldn't say "authority." We don't have the desire. We clearly have the authority. Q Do you intend to go forward with this even in the face of Russia's possibly strong objections? MS. MYERS: I think we're working with Russia. We worked -- we consulted with them on the Sarajevo policy. They didn't have a vote on that. Again, that was a NAC initiative. But they ultimately went along and they've been supportive on a number of issues. They've been working hard to get the Serbs to act responsibly and humanely with limited success. And I think they're as frustrated as the rest of the world at the Serbs' unbelievably insupportable behavior. Q I know that, and I recognize that -- I see the diplomacy in your characterization of their lack of response yesterday. But I'll repeat the question to you: Is it something we're going to do even if the Russians object strongly? MS. MYERS: And I would repeat to you that we're working with the Russians, and we hope to have support in many quarters for this policy. Q You spoke today of the command and control of the conversations that Shali had. Is that in terms of air strikes? MS. MYERS: Correct. It's in terms of working through the details of the policies, the initiatives that we talked about yesterday. Q to streamline it and take the U.N. out so that you can more -- MS. MYERS: It's more a question of working out exactly how the initiatives would work in a sort of military details. Q Do we have a new proposal to make it more clear and more effectively -- MS. MYERS: I think what it is, is it's a case of fleshing out the proposals that exist. Q I don't mean proposals in light of the President's proposals; I mean, do we have a new proposal for command and control authority? -- briefing NATO on the new military -- MS. MYERS: I think what we're doing is within the initiatives outlined by the President -- just fleshing them out in terms of exactly how they'll work. And I don't mean -- one of the things I think we're going to try to do is make sure that this is as efficient as possible, that it is streamlined and that it can operate effectively. But those are all contained within the initiatives. This would not be anything separate from the initiatives, but rather details contained within the initiatives -- how do you structure the exclusions, how do you carry out air strikes should that become necessary. Q Before you can reach that stage, are we doing anything today in terms of evacuations, humanitarian medical drops to relieve the pressure on Gorazde? MS. MYERS: We are reviewing options as per Gorazde. We've told the U.N. that we stand ready to work with them to do what they need. They have some concerns about the situation on the ground and how best to protect the residents of Gorazde. So we continue to offer our services to them and to work with them to try to find ways to alleviate the suffering. But nothing specific to announce at this point. Q Is there something being worked on, though? MS. MYERS: Well, I think we continue to look -- Q Specifically with regard to Gorazde outside of the President's initiative. MS. MYERS: I think we'll continue to look at options and see if there aren't additional steps we can take, but nothing specific to report at this point. Q What does the President feel the Gorazde situation has done to the prestige and word of the United States? MS. MYERS: I think the U.S. has kept its word. We said that we would stand ready to carry out air strikes if called for by UNPROFOR. For situations I think General Rose and others have detailed, that hasn't been possible in the last several days. I think that the situation there is grave. The President is disturbed by it, he's concerned about it, and has proposed additional action to deal with the situation both in Gorazde and throughout Bosnia. Q Is he concerned that this whole series of events has left the United States looking weak and weak-willed? MS. MYERS: I think the situation in Gorazde is grim, and it's -- I think, again, the President's troubled by it. But if you look at the situation in Bosnia generally. There has been some progress. And that's not to diminish the importance or tragedy of what's happening in Gorazde now. But the progress that has been made in Bosnia over the last few months has been at the behest of -- has been as a direct result of American leadership. Q Aren't we in the situation where the Serbs gave there word to the various powers, including Russia and the United States about what they would do, and have proceeded in violation of that to carry out what looks like a terrible humanitarian series of actions there? Does the United States not feel that its prestige is involved? Does the President not feel that his prestige is engaged here? MS. MYERS: I think that we're going to do what we can, taking additional steps now. This isn't about American prestige; it's about what to do next to move the situation toward the only reasonable conclusion, which is a negotiated settlement. Obviously, nobody's happy about the situation. Nobody's happy about the way circumstances have worked out. It is a desperate humanitarian situation, and something that, again, the President is deeply concerned about. That's why he's proposed additional initiatives. That's why we're going back to the NAC. That's why we're working with the Russians and our other allies to get consensus for additional action. Again, the U.S. is leading on this. And it's -- I think within a matter of days we'll be a little further down the road. Q Does it not seem necessary in any way to the administration to severely punish someone who double-crosses this country in this way? MS. MYERS: We are taking steps now for additional action. I mean, I don't think anybody would suggest that what the Serbs haven't done is terrible. I mean, I think that they have acted with complete disregard for the lives of people in the city of Gorazde regardless of their ethnic origin or religion. And I think there's no excuse for that. At the same time, the only reasonable outcome to this, the only solution to the crisis in the country is a negotiated settlement. And so the President continues to push both diplomatic and military initiatives to try to reach that ultimate goal. Q While you're doing all the diplomatic work that will set the stage for these expanded air strikes, Gorazde seems to be still under heavy fire. Isn't there anything that you can do right now to stop that? There are planes in the area that can bomb Serb positions in and around Gorazde. MS. MYERS: And we certainly stand ready to use those planes to bomb should the UNPROFOR commanders on the ground call for it. And at the same time we're reviewing options to see if there aren't additional steps that we can take relatively to Gorazde. Q Are you going to ask the NAC or anyone else to take specific actions to relieve Gorazde, or are you waiting -- MS. MYERS: Well, we're certainly asking them to create an exclusion zone around all the safe havens, including Gorazde. Q But until the diplomacy is done, are you asking for any specific actions to be taken, or are you waiting for people to ask you? MS. MYERS: We are considering additional options. And I'm just not at liberty to discuss what those are. Q Is the American public ready to support expanded U.S. involvement, NATO involvement in air strikes? What is your reading, the administration's reading about where the American public stands? Are you polling on it, is Stan Greenberg doing polling on it at all? MS. MYERS: No. Contrary to some columns in today's newspaper, polling does not play a role in foreign policy decision- making. I think it is important, however, that the President continue to communicate with the American people; to continue to prepare them or to bring them up to speed on the steps that he's taking and the reasons for that. I think the American people are concerned about the situation in Bosnia and in Gorazde in particular. I think there is support for multilateral efforts, including air strikes, to help ease that humanitarian situation. Q Just to follow up, polling, you said, does not play a role in the decision; but has there been polling? Do you understand what perhaps education or leadership the American public needs to -- MS. MYERS: Not to my knowledge. I mean, I would say that there's probably questions about, how do you think the President's handling foreign policy. Q Did you just say, though, that the public supports multilateral efforts? If you don't poll on that, how do you know that? MS. MYERS: I read the USA Today poll, for example, that was in today's newspaper. I think there was plurality -- Q Believe a lot of outside polls? MS. MYERS: Well, I just anecdotally and through outside polls, I was asked a question, do the American people support it. I think that's -- Q Presumably, Dee Dee, part of the reason why the President does things like coming into the Briefing Room to explain what his initiative is to try to build support for it. MS. MYERS: Of course. Q That being the case, then how do you know when you've got it? MS. MYERS: I think you can continue to try to build support for it. You don't always need a poll to tell you whether or not people support certain actions. And I think -- specifically, I was -- did not -- knocking down the notion, included in the column today, that foreign policy is driven by polling. It's not. And that's a ridiculous notion. Q But nonetheless, you do polling on foreign policy questions. You simply place the questions in your normal surveys, right? You have for the last year and some odd months. Q Why else are you spending $2 million on Stan -- Q If he's not including foreign policy, you're not getting your money's worth. MS. MYERS: I definitely wouldn't rule out that there's ever a question, but it's not -- the polls do not focus on foreign policy questions. That's just not true. It just doesn't happen. Q Or do you mean that the foreign policy questions don't focus on the polls? MS. MYERS: I mean both. But particularly the latter, but the former as well. Q You mean Clinton doesn't care enough about foreign policy to poll? (Laughter.) Q His focus is no longer specifically Bosnia. MS. MYERS: I'm going to have -- damned if you do, damned if you don't. Q focus has moved out, obviously. Has there been any contact between the White House and TransAfrica over the past week and a half? MS. MYERS: I don't think there's been any direct contact. Not that I know of. Are you talking about Randall Robinson? Q Yes. I want to know if there's any attempt to either get him to eat or to get you guys to rethink the Haiti policy. Are you talking? MS. MYERS: We are rethinking the Haiti policy. I don't know of any direct contact between the White House and Randall Robinson. Q Is that an ongoing process or something new? MS. MYERS: It's an ongoing process. It's been -- we've been in the process of sort of an overall review of Haiti policy for a couple of weeks. I'll take the question, Wendell, and just double- check, but I don't think there have been any direct contacts. Q Is Aristide coming here? MS. MYERS: No, he's not. Tony Lake is meeting with him, but not here. Q With who? MS. MYERS: With Aristide. Q Where is he meeting? MS. MYERS: Somewhere outside the White House. I'm not sure where. Q Today? MS. MYERS: This afternoon. Q Well, his group seems to think that he's coming here at 4:00 p.m. MS. MYERS: That's not correct. Q Why isn't he meeting him here? MS. MYERS: The meeting got set up someplace else. I don't know why. Q What are they going to discuss? MS. MYERS: Haiti policy. Q Are you considering tightening the sanctions on Haiti? MS. MYERS: We're considering a number of things. The policy is under review at this point. Q Is that one of them? MS. MYERS: I think -- yes, broad -- I wouldn't rule that out. Q Aristide's criticisms this morning in the news conference? MS. MYERS: Which ones? Q All of them. MS. MYERS: I mean, the Haiti policy is under review. I think the President said that things haven't worked there as well as we had hoped. We're reviewing it now, discussing it with a number of people, including members of Congress, President Aristide. As you know, he's met with other members of the administration, including the Vice President in recent weeks. And we'll continue to work on that. Our objective remains to restore democracy and to restore President Aristide. We're looking at ways to revive or reinvigorate the process that will lead to that goal. Q Sounds like you deliberately are keeping this meeting away from the White House. Q seems to be taking a beating, why do you want him in? MS. MYERS: Because he was the duly-elected President by the people of Haiti. He's the President. And we have always supported returning him, and we continue to support him. Q Could we say that you are a little disappointed at least in his efforts to work with you to get him back into office? MS. MYERS: No, I'm not going to say that. Q He's been less than helpful on many occasions. MS. MYERS: He's been -- he's very committed. He continues to work very hard at trying to restore democracy to his country. He is, again, the duly elected president of that country, and we're continuing to work with him. That doesn't mean he's going to support everything that we do, but -- Q He's says a lot of mean things about the President. Q Yes, he described the policies today as -- MS. MYERS: That doesn't give us the right to thwart the will of the people of Haiti. Q But you can keep him out of here, right? Q He described the policies as racist. Q You don't want him to get to close to President Clinton, though, do you? Q I have a question on the crime bill. There's a provision the House bill that would allow defendants in capital cases to introduce statistics on how the death penalty actually works. The House retained that by a very close vote, and there have been confusing signals from the administration as to whether you support or oppose that provision. You just give a ringing endorsement of the House bill -- does that also include an endorsement of that provision? MS. MYERS: We didn't -- the administration has not taken a position either for or against that provision. It's something that will have to get worked out in conference. The Senate bill didn't include a similar provision. So I'd assume that it will get worked out in conference. Q Right now you're staying totally aloof from that provision? MS. MYERS: Yes, we haven't taken a position on it one way or another. Q Why is that? MS. MYERS: We haven't taken a position of a number of measures in the crime bill. Q Are you studying it, or do you hope to take a position? MS. MYERS: I don't know if we'll take a position or not. It depends. I think -- Q What if it ends up in the bloody bill? MS. MYERS: Then that's something that will get worked out by the conferees and supported by both the House and the Senate. Q Is it being studied in -- MS. MYERS: I think our position is that we have no position at this point. Q And it will stay that way? MS. MYERS: At this point. Q I also want to ask you something on the economic policy. The President, in recent days and weeks you know has mentioned good signs about economic growth but he's still very disappointed that wages haven't gone up sufficiently. Yet, when the Fed raises interest rates, Laura Tyson immediately points to the fact that wages are low. Which is it? Does the administration want higher wages at the risk of greater inflation and higher interest rates? Or are you satisfied to keep wages stagnant so as not to precipitate further interest rate hike? MS. MYERS: I am not going to get into setting economic policy here, but the President has always supported increasing wages. That's one of the things that he talked about again and again during the campaign. What we have now is an economy that's growing in what we think is a sustainable way. Inflation remains low, and we are hopeful that the economy will continue to grow, that there will be some growth in wages without a whole lot of growth in inflation. Q Is the administration getting its act together? Because when Laura Tyson -- MS. MYERS: The administration's act is very much together. I think this economy is growing in many ways as a result of our specific policies. Q When Laura Tyson boasts of wages being flat -- MS. MYERS: Leo, I don't think that she boasts -- Q as a sign of inflation not being a threat -- MS. MYERS: Dr. Tyson does not boast of wages being flat, but I think it is an indicator -- I think it supports our conclusion -- there's a number of things that determine inflationary pressure within the economy; wages is one of them. But being that wages have not grown tremendously, that is yet another indication that inflation remains low, and that -- Q But you want it to grow? MS. MYERS: Of course we want wages to grow. Q Any more contact with anyone in the Nixon family recently? He's taken a turn for the worst. MS. MYERS: That's what I saw on the wires before I came out here. No, he has not spoken directly to anybody else, but the President continues to monitor the situation. Q Do you expect travel next week after Monday? MS. MYERS: Nothing on the docket at this point, but that could change. Next week's schedule is a little bit in flux. Q There were reports yesterday that Blinder would be the nominee for the vice chairman of the Fed, and today reports that Yellin would be the second Fed nominee. What's holding up that announcement? Are you still planning a two-tier announcement program on that? MS. MYERS: As soon as we have a specific decision on announcements we'll let you know. Nothing's holding it up. We're moving it forward, and we expect to have that very soon. Q Are you also counting on these people as being easy money advocates and slowing down the Federal Reserve's pace of raising interest rates? MS. MYERS: We think there would be responsible and effective members of the Fed Board of Governors. END 3:45 P.M. EDT #163-04/21