clinton press briefing by george stephanopoulos the white house office of the press secretary for immediate release april press briefing by george stephanopolous the briefing room a m edt mr stephanopoulos as you know the president is soon to be on his way on amtrack to camden yards he ll be throwing out the first pitch q it s marc the maryland area transit it s not amtrack mr stephanopoulos oh it s not amtrack well he s going from union station you re right excuse me q george what exactly are you prepared to do to break the logjam with senate mr stephanopoulos well as you know there are discussions between senator mitchell and senator dole this morning and i think that the president is going to continue to make the point that he believes that our investment package our jobs package needs to be passed as quickly as possible we need this investment for summer jobs for immunization for highway construction for the important programs that will put people back to work right away this summer and the president continues to believe his program should be passed q will he compromise that s the question mr stephanopoulos well as you know the discussions are going on this morning in the senate betwen senator mitchell and senator dole let s see what they come up with but the president believes his jobs program should go forward q george would the president be willing to accept billion for one year which apparently appears to be the compromise being offered by mr stephanopoulos well i don t know what is being offered by either side the senate discussions are going on right now let s see what happens today q would he go that far no matter what the republicans have offered so far would he go that far billion per year mr stephanopoulos the president believes that his program should be passed at this time clearly we re going to be willing to listen to what the senators might or might not be able to come up with but i m not going to get into figures right now let s see what happens q it s reasonable to assume isn t it from what has happened so far that a compromise is going to be necessary in order to get a vote mr stephanopoulos well the republicans seem more intrested in stopping progress on the president s jobs bill than in doing something to create mr stephanopoulos well the republicans seem more interested in stopping progress on the president s jobs bill than in doing something to create real action real jobs this summer for the american people i think there s no question about that there s been some frustration of legislative activity over the last few days q so you ll need to compromise to get your package through mr stephanopoulos we ll see what happens with the conversations between senator mitchell and senator dole this morning q prepared to compromise mr stephanopoulos the president s prepared to listen to what senator mitchell has to say this morning after his meeting with senator dole q does he feel that he has been defeated in his mr stephanopoulos not in the least in fact he s been very successful so far in the beginning of his term q how mr stephanopoulos he passed his budget in record time in six weeks and it s a budget which reduces the deficit by billion over five years and it s a budget which provides for important investments in our future right now we ve also had strong passage of his jobs program through the house simply because a minority of republicans in the senate choose to perpetuate gridlock and hold up action on the president s jobs program is not a sign that he is not succeeding overall q he can t beat this can he q the fact is they can do that mr stephanopoulos well the republicans can stop action there s no question about that q what are you going to do about it q george what do you know about these alleged notes taken by boris yeltsin during one of the meetings in which it appears that the president told boris yeltsin not to trust the japanese that when they say yes they mean no mr stephanopoulos i think that s a complete misreading of what happened at the meeting the context of the conversation was that president clinton was actually reassuring president yeltsin at the time about his conversations with prime minister miyazawa over the kuril islands and the prime minister s belief that japan would play a constructive role in the g process i mean this was a casual comment about japanese courtesy and etiquette but overall it was in the context of a conversation where he was reassuring president yeltsin that he believed the japanese were serious about their commitment to the g process q are you saying that the president said that when the japanese say yes they mean no mr stephanopoulos that s not i don t know the exact words and there was a much longer discussion about he did say something along the lines that he believes that on this issue prime minister miyazawa intends to really go forward with the g process q have there been any attempts to explain this to the japanese because apparently the japanese press has picked this up and there appears to be mr stephanopoulos i ve seen the reports in the japanese press and it actually does put the situation in context it does talk about the japanese understanding the japanese points of view i don t think it s going to be a problem i believe that there may have been some diplomatic context just to clear things up but i m not positive q george was the specific comment that was made specific to the kuril island situation or was it a general observation on japanese etiquette mr stephanopoulos the discussion was about q the specific comment is what i m asking about that has alleged to have been translated from the russian notes when the japanese say yes they mean no mr stephanopoulos well it was a combination i mean i don t think that s the whole sentence i think that the specific comment was a broad general observation followed up by a specific finish to the sentence where he said in this case he believes that prime minister miyazawa means to keep the commitment q was he saying it facetiously first mr stephanopoulos i think it was just a casual observation q and then you say diplomatic contacts were made to clear it up has the president sent a message mr stephanopoulos no i don t think the president spoke i believe that secretary christopher has made some calls but i m not sure exactly how many q well this obviously is a bigger deal than you re making it out to be if christopher has had to make some calls mr stephanopoulos no no it was just that we got the reports in vancouver and the secretary wanted to make sure that it was understood and make sure there was absolutely no mr stephanopoulos reports in vancouver and the secretary wanted to make sure that it was understood and make sure there is absolutely no misunderstanding and i don t believe there is on q what is our position about the japanese that they may have to say one thing but actualy mean another mr stephanopoulos no the position on the japanese is as the president stated to president yeltsin throughout the two days he said that he had had a good conversation with prime minister miazawa prior to the summit he reiterated the u s position the long standing support for the japanese position on the kuril islands but also reiterated prime minister miazawa s commitment to move forward on the g process and to play a constructive role and i think president yeltsin was very glad to hear that q after listening to secretary christopher on iraq for the last few days i m a little confused what is the u s policy do you want to see saddam hussein overturned mr stephanopoulos it s the same policy that secretary christopher has reiterated and all of the u s officials have reiterated we expect full and complete and unequivocal compliance with all u n resolutions right now we do not have that compliance q throwing it out further that if iraq complies saddam can t stay in office mr stephanopoulos right i think that that s our judgment is that it is not possible for saddam hussein to comply with the resolutions and stay in power but the important point is that we expect compliance by iraq with all u n resolutions and we will continue to demand it q and are you concerned the iran will become the dominant power in the area mr stephanopoulos secretary christopher has also spoken to iran over the last several days and he says we also expect full iranian compliance with all international norms and stopping support of terrorism q that s a very glib statement that he won t stay in power if he complies with u n resolutions on what logic do you base that mr stephanopoulos right now saddam hussein is not complying with the u n resolutions at all he is not respecting the rights of his people as is required by the u n resolution he is not fully complying with all the resolutions regarding inspections he is not fully complying with all the resolutions regarding armaments q well when do you think that if he did comply he would be out of power mr stephanopoulos well right now his power rests on the repression of his people if he stopped doing that it would make it more difficult for him to stay in power q george back on the stimulus package why is it that you and the president accuse the republicans of playing pure politics and perpetuating gridlock why is it that what evidence do you have that they just don t have a genuine idealogical difference with you that s in good faith mr stephanopoulos well the fact that several times in the past the republicans many of the ones who are now leading the fight for the filibuster have supported the very funding they now seek to stop most especially the highway funding q george in regards to that some of the moderate republicans said that the white house erred by not being more open to them during the while the plan was put together that they had one sort of proforma meeting between the white house and the senate republicans and that was it does the administration look back and thinks perhaps it could have done a better job of working with some mr stephanopoulos well i m not sure that it s true that there was only one meeting i mean the president met with the republican leadership on at least two occasions before the introduction of his package he met with the entire senate republican caucus also for lunch and went up there we are continually in contact with as many republicans as we can find who have an interest in the president s package we are interested in what they have to say as well but we believe that this program is important and we re going to continue to fight for it q your all or nothing do it with the democrats alone strategy did you maybe miscalculate the ability to get it through mr stephanopoulos well i mean i think that there is no question that under the senate rules a determined minority can frustrate activity i mean there is just no question about that you only need plus one to keep going plus one to keep going and to stop any action and that s what the republicans are doing q going to rethink the way you attempt to get other things passed as you go through this process for the rest of the summer q work with republicans and try to woo some republicans into your camp mr stephanopoulos i think we re going to continue to look for the support of republicans whenever we can get it on the president s intiatives q but on this one how are you going to do it differently than you did it on this one because on this one you really did stiff the republicans from the beginning and made it clear that it was a democratic majority that would get this through and could get it through and you really didn t need republican votes are you going to take a different tack when you have to go for particular votes when you have to go through mr stephanopoulos i can t see into the future and understand every possible turn in the legislative road clearly the president s going to continue to reach out when he can q you don t have any regrets then about the way you have handled it up to now and you don t plan any changes in your approach in dealing with the republicans in congress based on this experience mr stephanopoulos obviously the president would like his package passed as quickly as possible and he s going to continue to press for that we will continue to reach out to republicans there s not question about that and we ll continue to reason with them and try and find appropriate avenues for cooperation in this case the republicans have chosen to unify around a filibuster around a plan to frustrate action not a plan to move forward q they re being denied any other legislative means of putting their proposals forward mr stephanopoulos i think they re being q any ideas mr stephanopoulos i think their amendments are being defeated i don t know that they re being denied q to present them mr stephanopoulos that s not exactly true i mean they get the votes q that theirs can be passed though by the parliamentary rules under which they re playing mr stephanopoulos unless they get a majority in support all the way around no that s not exactly true q george one more on iraq is the administration backing any of the iraqi opposition grooming any new leadership q backing any of the iraqi leadership mr stephanopoulos oh i again we re pressing for iraqi compliance i don t know if we can get into the business of grooming leadership i believe there have been some contacts at some levels with iraqi opposition groups i don t know about anything recently q jesse jackson who of course is not the president s best friend has however been told that there is to be some kind of town meeting or some kind of involvement by the president pre empted the ball game los angeles will he consider something like that or any other kind of intervention there mr stephanopoulos well as you know the president appointed commerce secretary ron brown about days ago to be a special envoy to california and coordiante cabinet activities around the california economic situation including the situation in los angeles i believe there will also be visits out to los angeles by the education or have been visits by the education secretary mr riley i believe that transportation secretary pena and hud secretary cisneros are also going out and there may be other visits by cabinet officials over the next several days and weeks i wouldn t rule out the possibility of a visit by president clinton to california obviously he is following the situation closely and is concerned about making sure that we make the right long term policy decisions that will help create the kind of economic opportunities which help prevent disturbances but we re going to continue to watch it q george as a follow up reverend jackson is also supposed to be outside the ball park today in baltimore with a group of supporters protesting the lack of minorities in baseball management does the president have a position on that mr stephanopoulos the president has received correspondence from reverend jackson i know that reverend jackson has also spoken with the white house chief of staff mack mclarty he clearly raises serious questions there has been some progress in baseball over the last several years but still not enough but the president intends to continue to go to the ball game q is he going to say anything about it today or see reverend jackson while he s out there mr stephanopoulos i don t know if he is going to see them but as i said the president believes that reverend jackson has raised some serious questions and it s something that as i said even though there has been progress it s clearly not enough q did reverend jackson ask him not to go to the ball game mr stephanopoulos i m not sure about that i believe the characterization the reverend jackson is talking about is an informational pickett i don t know that he asked him not to go to the ball game but he sent a long detailed formal letter outlining his concerns with the situation in major league baseball and the president read it q george the orioles are playing the rangers the managing partner of the rangers is george w bush is he going to be there and is he going to meet with the president mr stephanopoulos i don t know q what is the mubarak schedule mr stephanopoulos i know that president mubarak is coming tomorrow morning for a working meeting they will have a lunch and i believe that he is having dinner tonight with vice president gore q and joint statements tomorrow mr stephanopoulos i believe so yes at the end yes q is there evidence george that the egyptians did warn the u s about a potential terrorist bombing terrorist activities mr stephanopoulos as reported in the new york times i mean i think that president mubarak did say that there has been general conversations with the egyptians as there have been for a long period of time we do have general intelligence sharing i mean but president mubarak was very careful to point out that there was no specific information on this visit that was passed forward the president will continue to investigate the situation but he also reiterates his belief that we cannot tolerate terrorism of any kind q george he did make specific or the egyptians apparently did issue specific warnings about this individual who forgive me this individual who forgive me the name escapes me at the moment and said the egyptians were more or less rebuffed in their attempts to get some kind of action mr stephanopoulos again i don t know if i would agree with your characterization of the mubarak interview he did say that they gave general warnings about the possibility of a network in the united states and upon which we took appropriate action but there was no specific information on this specific operation at all q so the white house doesn t feel that any of the law enforcement agencies whether it be the cia or fbi who would have received this kind of information was lax or derelict in its duty in not pursuing some kind of mr stephanopoulos no not at all q what s next with serbia it got only a passing mention in the news conference yesterday mr stephanopoulos you didn t get to ask your question q yes exactly was there any agreement on concerted action between the two countries and even if there wasn t what does the u s do next mr stephanopoulos i think the u s is clearly going to move forward in the u n today continuing discussions with our allies on a sanctions resolution and we ll continue to look for ways to press the serbians to come to the negotiating table and sign an agreement q george why do you think sanctions is still an option i mean the serbians make it clear that at least the leadership is surviving just fine and they feel like they can wait you out and even the administration officials we had in the other day said there s no evidence that they re going to have an effect any time soon the bosnian serbs have said no to the peace plan when does no mean no and you have to do something different mr stephanopoulos well i mean we are doing something different we re moving forward on further sanctions through the u n and those discussions will continue we re going to continue to try and tighten the noose on serbia and i think that every opportunity we have to do that will have an effect over time q are we looking again at lifting the arms embargo mr stephanopoulos the president has said that this is something that is under consideration q george do you have any more on hugh rodham s condition how he s doing mr stephanopoulos as far as i know nothing s changed q george week after mr mubarak mr stephanopoulos it s a little unclear i think we ll be able to get you more either tonight or tomorrow morning after the mubarak visit q is he going somewhere for easter mr stephanopoulos not that i know of q what more can you tell us about the additional aid to russia that the president plans to ask congress about mr stephanopoulos he s going to be consulting with the congress and with our g partners over the next couple of weeks i know that he spoke last evening with congressman gephardt and their delegation before the the congressional delegation meets with the russians this week and those consultations will continue over the next several weeks q do you expect that package to be of the magnitude of the one announced sunday mr stephanopoulos i m not going to discuss the magnitude q how about the list of cold war restrictions where do you stand on that mr stephanopoulos as the president said yesterday he s going to be looking for that list from the congress this week and reviewing it he believes he s going to try and get it this week and he s going to review the list and we re going to take a hard look at it q but they re making it up i mean it s no white house involvement congress is compiling this list mr stephanopoulos i think he s going to talk to the congressional leaders about compiling the list but i m certain we ll be able to get our own researchers working as well q george isn t lifting the arms embargo more of a probability than a possibility mr stephanopoulos it s something that s under discussion q secretary christopher has said that it s a matter of time and for months before that happens mr stephanopoulos again all i can say is that it s something that the president is reviewing right now we re working with our allies in the u n on a sanctions resolution and we ll continue to review other matters q george can you tell us anything about the schedule this week any travel mr stephanopoulos they just asked about that i don t have anything more beyond tomorrow s visit with mubarak right now q are there consultations george with any jewish american organizations concerning jackson vanick mr stephanopoulos as you know the national conference of soviet jewry has a list of i believe mr stephanopoulos as you know the national conference of soviet jewry has a list of i believe refuseniks we ll certainly take a look at that and continue appropriate discussions thanks
