[104-10438-10237.pdf — page 186]
And I have to say in summary that I am very pleased with my relationship with the Congress now.## 9. The Election ProcessQ. Mr. President, in view of your assignment to Vice President Mondale regarding the election laws, could you give us your view, sir, on the direct election of a President versus the Electoral College. And also do you think that the public financing should be extended to Congress as well as the Presidency?A. There are three basic questions that come up. In the first place, I do favor at least an automatic vote by Presidential electors once the general election is completed. I think the Electoral Colllege, for instance, should be eliminated. Whether the ratio among states of votes ought to be changed I'm not prepared to comment on now. financing of congressional elections by public funds-it has proved to be successful, I believe, in the Presidential election. I strongly favor that, yes. And the other element of the overall package would be a simple way for American people who are citizens and 18 years old to register to vote. And I am committed to that proposition and the Vice President has graciously consented to take on this overall election process responsibility. Those three will be basic elements of the proposals.## 10. Relations With CubaQ. Mr. President, are you prepared to lift the tradé embargo against Cuba as one step toward normalizing relations?A, I think any substantial move in our relationship with Cuba would have to await further discussions with them indirectly, and also some tangible evidence on our part that they are willing to restore basic human rights in Cuba, involving the number of prisoners who are being held, their attitude toward overseas adventures such as the one In Angola, and other matters. So I can't say what might come in the future. I'm willing, though, to discuss these matters with the Cuban leaders. At this lime we have no direct relationships with them, political. But through intermediaries comments are being exchanged back and forth. Most of my comments are in public statements like this, but we do have messages coming back from people who visit Cuba.## 11. Defense Savings GoalQ. In answer to an earlier question, Mr. President, you said that you couldn't say whether next year's defense budget will be lower or higher than this year's. But as I understood your earlier postion, you did want to achieve a five to seven billion dollar savings. regardless of the overall level of spending. Do you still hold with that figure? Is that still your goal and a commitment?A. Yes. The analyses that I've made if the defense budget so far-which is you know has been limited to about month's study just part-time-indicate that that's a goal that will be reached.## 12. Natural Gas DeregulationQ. Mr. President, in letters to the governors of Oklahoma, Texas and Louisiana last October, you said unconditionally that you would work with Congress to deregulate new natural gas. And I wondered if you planned to keep that promise, and if so how about it?## 14. Rise in Gasoline TaxQ. Another question, sir, on the sacrifices that you say your upcoming energy program is going to demand. Is it likely that one of those sacrifices is going to come in the form of a largely increased Federal gasoline tax?A. I don't know how to answer your questions about specifics of the proposal. I want to make this clear. The purpose of the energy policy evolution is not to cause sacrifice or hardship among the American people. Unless I can demonstrate that in balance the temporary sacrifices in a certain area are far overcome by immediate and ultimate benefits then nobody's going to buy it.And I believe that we've now got such a horrible conglomeration of confusion in the energy field that nobody knows what's going to heppen next. So I think that the sacrifices will be far overcome by the benefits that the American people will be easily able to discern for themsels.## 15. U.S. Ro on CanadaQ. You said that in spite of the fact that the. Canadian eople would have to determine their future for themselves, particularly in regard to the separatism issue in Quebec that you had confidence that the issue would be straightened out relatively peacefully. Do you really think that there is little concern in this country about the future of a unified Canada and is there anything really that we can do about it?A. There's a great deal of concern in this country about the future of Canada and I have complete confidence, as I said in an interview with the Canadian news media in the sound judgment of the Canadian people.I'm familiar-and even more famillar today than I was two days ago after Prime Minister Trudeau's visit-with the problems in Quebec and the inclination of some of the French Canadians to have an independent status from the rest of Canadian Provinces.I don't know what's going to be the ultimate outcome. But I believe that we are so closely tied together with Canada on a mutually beneficial basis, sharing problems, sharing opportunities, sharing trade, sharing manufacturing companies that have joint ownership, our exchange of energy sources, our sharing of the St. Lawrence Seaway, the Great Lakes as far as water pollution is concerned, the bringing of Alaskan oil and natural gas down to us that we have got to have a continuing relationship with Canada.My own personal preference would be that the commonwealth stay as it is and that there not be a separate Quebec province. But that's a decision for the Canadians to make and I would certainly make no private or public move to try to determine the outcome of that great debate.## 16. Keeping Campaign PromisesQ. Mr. President, you've had a month now to enjoy the view from the Oval Office. Do you think you'll be able to keep fully all the campaign promises you made?A. As you know, we have issued what I believe is the complete book of my campaign promises, which is, I presume, being made available to all of you. My determination is to keep all those promises.Obviously if circumstances should change I would have to reserve the are not going to be easy to solve. But we're going to do the best we can openly and forcefully offering our good services, not trying to impose our will on other people.Q. Thank you, Mr. President.## Carter Errs on Rabin And U.S.-Uganda TiesWASHINGTON, Feb. 23 (AP)-President Carter made two errors in his news conference today, which the White House staff later corrected.Mr. Carter used a wrong date for the forthcoming visit to the United States of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin of Israel. The President said that he thought the visit would take place March 12.The White House later corrected that to say "the proposed visit is tentatively planned for March 7 and 8."The White House also corrected the President's statement that the United States does not have diplomatic relations with Uganda."This is not strictly accurate," the