THE WHITE HOUSE

                    Office of the Press Secretary
______________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release                             April 15, 1993     

	     
                       REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
                   TO LAW ENFORCEMENT ORGANIZATIONS
	     
	     
                           The Rose Garden 


2:52 P.M. EDT


	     THE PRESIDENT:  Good afternoon.  Ladies and gentlemen, 
two months ago I presented a comprehensive plan to reduce our 
national deficit and to increase our investment in the American 
people, their jobs and their economic future.  The federal budget 
plan passed Congress in record time, and created a new sense of hope 
and opportunity in the country.  
	     
	     Then, the short-term jobs plan I presented to Congress, 
which would create a half a million jobs in the next two years passed 
the House of Representatives two weeks ago.  It now has the support 
of a majority of the United States Senate. 
	     
	     All of these members of Congress know it's time to get 
the economy moving again, to get job growth going again, to get a 
fast start on the investments we need to build a lasting prosperity.  
Unfortunately, a minority of the members of the United States Senate 
have used gridlock tactics to prevent their colleagues from working 
the will of the majority on the jobs bill.
	     
	     When Congress returns, I ask every senator from every 
state and from both parties to remember what is at stake.  The issue 
is not politics, it's people.  Sixteen million of them are looking 
for full-time jobs and can't find them.  These men and women don't 
care about who's up or down in Washington.  They care about paying 
the rent and meeting the mortgage payment, about putting food on the 
table and buying shoes for their children, about regaining a sense of 
dignity that comes from doing a day's work and supporting their 
families and drawing a paycheck.
	     
	     They're asking those of us who have the privilege of 
serving to put aside politics and do something now to move our 
economy forward.  I am prepared to do that.  And I have been working 
with the Senate to come up with an adjusted package that meets some 
of the concerns of those who have been blocking action on the jobs 
plan.  I'm willing to compromise, so long as we keep the focus on 
jobs, keep the focus on growth and keep the focus on meeting unmet 
national needs.  
	     
	     Our opponents have been asking for a smaller package.  
Today I ask them to join me in determining exactly what kind and what 
size package Congress can approve that actually meets the needs of 
the American people. 
	     
	     But even as we make those reductions and the package 
will be smaller, I believe we must address problems that are on the 
minds of millions of Americans, and one in particular, and that is 
the need to toughen law enforcement in our society to deal with the 
dramatic rise in violent crime. 
	     
	     So I will ask, even in this reduced package, for an 
additional $200 million in federal funding to help local communities 
to rehire police officers who have been laid off because of the 
fiscal problems caused by the national recession.  Together, with a 
matching effort by local governments, this could put as many as 
10,000 police officers back on the job, and back on the beat in 
communities all across our nation.
	     
	     At a time when too many of our people live in fear of 
violent crime, when too many businesses have closed and too many 
people have lost their jobs because people are afraid to leave their 
homes, rehiring thousands of officers is one of the best investments 
America can make.  And I ask both Houses of Congress to make that 
investment in our people's safety and in their piece of mind.  
	     
	     I believe in the need for strong federal action to keep 
the economy going toward recovery and to create jobs.  Make no 
mistake about it:  I will fight for these priorities as hard as I 
ever have.  I will never forget that the people sent me here to fight 
for their jobs, their future and for fundamental change.
	     
	     I want to thank the police officers who are here today 
and tell you that not a single one of them knew before they came here 
that I had determined to ask for more money in this jobs bill to 
rehire police officers.  They came here because they believe in the 
summer jobs portion of the package.  And I want them to be free to 
talk about that.  They came here not out of any law enforcement 
concern other than the fact that they wanted the kids in this country 
to have a chance to have jobs this summer, to have safer streets and 
a brighter and more peaceful future.
	     
	     I say what I say today not just because it's good for 
law enforcement but because it's good for the people who live in 
these communities.  I have always supported community policing not 
only because it helps to prevent crime and to lower the crime rate, 
but because it cements better relationships between people in law 
enforcement and the people that they're hired to protect.  It reduces 
the chances of abusive action by police officers and increases the 
chances of harmony and safe streets at the same time.
	     
	     These are the kinds of things that we are trying to do.  
I promised in my campaign that I'd do everything I could to put 
another 100,000 police officers on the street over the next four 
years.  This makes a good downpayment on that.  This keeps in mind 
the core of the jobs package.  And this will help us to move forward.  
	     
	     So I ask the people in the Senate who have blocked the 
jobs bill, let's work together.  I can accept a reduced package if 
you will increase your commitment to safe streets.  I do not accept 
the fact that we should reduce our commitment to summer jobs or to 
building our infrastructure or to doing those other things that will 
create real and lasting  prosperity for our people.  I have done my 
part now to end the gridlock; I ask you to do yours.  
	     
	     I want now to give the people who are here with me on 
the platform a chance to make some remarks and to be heard by the 
American people -- beginning with Janet Reno, the distinguished 
Attorney General.
  
	     
	     *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   * 
	     
	     Q	  Mr. President, can you tell us -- do you think that 
the jobs package could be put in further jeopardy by controversy over 
the suggestion of a VAT tax at this point in the congressional 
dialogue?
	     
	     THE PRESIDENT:  Not at all.  I think it should have --
they wouldn't have any relationship one to the other.  First of all, 
I made absolutely no decision on that.  You should know that there's 
a lot of support in the business community and the labor community -- 
people have asked us to consider that because of the enormous burden 
of the present system on many of our major employers, particularly 
many of those that we depend upon to generate jobs and to carry the 
strength of this economy.  But I have made absolutely no decision 
that would even approach that on that or any other kind of general 
tax.
	     
	     Q	  Do you personally believe that the American public 
is ready to pay for -- to have another tax to pay for health care?  I 
mean, apart from what business and labor leaders have said --
	     
	     THE PRESIDENT:  I'm not going to speculate on that.  I 
will say this:  The real issue is how quickly we can recycle the 
benefits of all the savings to cover the cost.  I mean, that is --
everyone knows that if you do what we're proposing to do, if you 
streamline the insurance system, if you fix the system so that 
there's no longer an enormous economic incentive to over-utilize or 
over-provide certain services, if you provide primary and preventive 
care in places where it isn't now, every single analysis shows 
absolutely massive savings to the health care system.
	     
	     The real question is whether you can transfer those 
savings to cover those who have no coverage now or those who have 
virtually no coverage so that you provide people the security.  I 
have no idea.  The polls say that, but I don't know.  All I know is 
the polls that I see in the press that many of you have commissioned, 
they say overwhelmingly the American people want the security of an 
affordable health care system.
	     
	     But I don't think that has anything to do with this 
stimulus, and it certainly shouldn't have.  People want a job first 
and foremost.  They want that more than anything else.
	     
	     Q	  Now that you've announced your willingness to 
compromise on the stimulus package, can you tell us what parts of 
your package you consider vital and uncompromisable?  I assume summer 
jobs is one.
	     
	     THE PRESIDENT:  I want the summer jobs; I want the 
highway program and I want the police program.  I still intend -- let 
me say this:  I still intend to fully and aggressively push the crime 
bill, which did not pass the Congress last year.  This is a 
supplement to that, not a substitute for it in any way.  But I think 
we need to do that.
	     
	     I think we need the Ryan White funds because of the 
enormous health care burdens to the communities that are inordinately 
and disproportionately affected by the problems of caring for people 
with AIDS.  And there are several other things that I think should be 
done.  We have to do the Agriculture Department meat inspectors; the 
safety of the public depends on that.  
	     
	     There are a number of other things that I don't -- I 
don't think any of it should be cut, but I have given Senator 
Mitchell and Senator Byrd -- I talked to them.  And Senator Dole 
called me yesterday to discuss this, and I told him that I would call 
him back.  I called him back last night in New Hampshire and we 
discussed this.  And I basically asked them to talk today, and said 
that I would not make any statements about any specifics until at 
least they had a chance to talk to see whether or not they could 
reach some accord.  
	     
	     So I don't want to be any more specific than I have been 
already, and let's see if they can talk it out.
	     
	     Q	  When you talked to Senator Dole and Senator 
Mitchell did you tell them about your -- increase also, that $200 
million, that you want that as part of the package?
	     
	     THE PRESIDENT:  I did -- I told Senator -- I left word 
for Senator Mitchell last night about it.  When I talked to Senator 
Dole -- I don't remember for sure -- I do not believe I mentioned it.  
But I did tell him that I was prepared to reduce the package and I 
wanted to break the gridlock, and I told him that I was working on a 
reformulation of it so that -- in the hope that it would become even 
more focused on jobs and the kinds of issues that I thought the 
American people wanted us to address.  And this is certainly 
consistent with that.
	     
	     Thank you.