pd05oc98 Remarks at a Unity '98 Dinner...

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Conference aiming at a peaceful resolution and an end to the fighting. 
They called upon Iran and Afghanistan to resolve their differences by 
peaceful means. Also, both sides reaffirmed the danger and threat that 
terrorism constitutes for international security and stability. They 
called on all countries to prevent terrorists from operating from their 
soil and assist in bringing known terrorists to justice. They considered 
that concerted international action is an effective way to combat 
terrorism.
    Both sides were united in the view that the current situation in 
Kosovo is unacceptable and condemned the harsh measures taken by the 
Yugoslav government causing displacement of large segments of the 
population of Kosovo. They also noted with concern the recent nuclear 
testing in India and Pakistan and called on all states to sign and 
ratify the CTBT at the earliest possible date.
    They reviewed the current state of the international economy. Both 
sides agreed on the need to continue to consult closely on these issues 
and to continue cooperation to enhance trade and investment between the 
two countries. The United States expressed its support for Saudi 
Arabia's accession to the World Trade Organization, and both sides look 
forward to the increasing trade opportunities and further integration 
into the global economy which will flow from Saudi Arabia's membership 
in that organization. Both sides agreed to continue their efforts to 
complete these important economic negotiations as soon as possible. The 
American side welcomed continued Saudi efforts to enforce measures for 
protecting intellectual property rights and looked forward to further 
progress. The two sides renewed their intentions to fully consult and 
cooperate on the issues related to global climate change and will 
continue to assure that measures taken in this regard are based on the 
state of scientific evidence and data. They stressed the need to 
encourage technical cooperation and scientific research in the fields of 
water; agricultural standards, regulations and policies; and 
specification and measurements.
    The two sides stressed the importance of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia 
in the world oil market, and the United States reiterated its 
recognition of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as a secure and reliable 
supplier of energy resources, especially to the United States.

Note: An original was not available for verification of the content of 
this joint statement. This item was not received in time for publication 
in the appropriate issue.

[[Page 1897]]


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[Page 1897]
 
Monday, October 5, 1998
 
Volume 34--Number 40
Pages 1895-1963
 
Week Ending Friday, October 2, 1998
 
Proclamation 7127--Gold Star Mother's Day, 1998

September 25, 1998

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

    Throughout our Nation's history, brave Americans have put on the 
uniforms of our Armed Services and placed themselves in harm's way to 
preserve our cherished freedoms and advance the ideals of democracy. In 
the brutality of war, many have sacrificed their lives, bringing 
devastating pain and grief to their families and friends. No one feels 
such a loss more acutely than do the mothers and fathers of these 
patriots who have paid so dearly to serve our country. To bear and 
nurture children, to give them life and unbounded love, to raise them 
with care to adulthood, only to lose them to the fatal grip of war, 
brings an abiding sorrow.
    Yet, with strength and determination, a group of extraordinary women 
has transformed sorrow into service to others. Since 1928, America's 
Gold Star Mothers have worked together to serve their communities and 
our Nation. They bring comfort and hope to disabled veterans and their 
families, to keep alive the memory of all Americans who have paid the 
ultimate price for our freedom, and to promote harmony among all the 
peoples of the world. Their quest for peace is especially poignant 
because they know better than most the cruel costs of war. Every Gold 
Star Mother has faced the inevitable and unyielding truth that the proud 
son or daughter who marched off to battle will never come home to her 
loving arms. Bound by sorrow yet filled with compassion, America's Gold 
Star Mothers are a noble example of love, dedication, and patriotism.
    As a Nation, we have a sacred duty to remember those who have died 
in service to our country, but we have an important responsibility to 
the living as well. America's Gold Star Mothers deserve our unfailing 
gratitude and profound respect, not only for their courage and 
compassion in the face of great personal sadness, but also for their 
constant love for our country and their fellow Americans. That is why 
the Congress, by Senate Joint Resolution 115 of June 23, 1936 (49 Stat. 
1895), has designated the last Sunday in September as ``Gold Star 
Mother's Day'' and authorized and requested the President to issue a 
proclamation in observance of this day.
    Now, Therefore, I, William J. Clinton, President of the United 
States of America, do hereby proclaim September 27, 1998, as Gold Star 
Mother's Day. I call on all government officials to display the United 
States flag on government buildings on this day. I also urge the 
American people to display the flag and to hold appropriate meetings in 
their homes, places of worship, or other suitable places, as a public 
expression of the sympathy and the respect that our Nation holds for its 
Gold Star Mothers.
    In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-fifth 
day of September, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-
eight, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two 
hundred and twenty-third.
                                            William J. Clinton

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 11:26 a.m., September 
28, 1998]

Note: This proclamation was published in the Federal Register on 
September 29. This item was not received in time for publication in the 
appropriate issue.


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[Page 1897-1903]
 
Monday, October 5, 1998
 
Volume 34--Number 40
Pages 1895-1963
 
Week Ending Friday, October 2, 1998
 
Remarks at a Democratic National Committee Dinner in San Jose, 
California

September 25, 1998

    Thank you. Thank you, John. I sort of hate to speak after that. 
[Laughter] He made a better case than I could have made for myself. I 
thank you. And I want to thank Mayor Susan Hammer for her friendship and 
her leadership of this great city.
    I'm delighted to be back here again, or in the new Tech, and I do 
hope that because of this event tonight you'll receive even wider 
publicity, and you'll have throngs of children coming here, learning all 
the things that they need to see about their own future. [Applause] 
Thank you very much.

[[Page 1898]]

    I want to thank all of you for being here tonight. Some of you are 
probably in danger of overexposure. There are several people here who 
were with Hillary last night in Seattle. [Laughter] And you've already 
heard the better of the two speeches, I can tell you that. [Laughter]
    We've been working--I was in Chicago today, and she was in Portland 
and Seattle last night, and we're going to, as you know, spend the night 
with our daughter tonight. And then I'm going on to San Diego tomorrow 
and then to Texas and then back to Washington. But I can't thank you 
enough, all of you, for the kind things that you said, as I was going 
around before the dinner, about my family and what we're dealing with. 
And I just want to thank you on a very personal basis. Even Presidents 
have to be people from time to time, and you made me feel like one 
tonight, and I thank you very much.
    I also want to thank you for giving me a way to work with this 
community. When I came out here with Al Gore and we were working in 
1992, I felt that it was imperative that we establish a strong 
relationship with the people and the companies of this area for what we 
could do together to rebuild the American economy, and then to build an 
American future that is worthy of our people. And you mentioned a few of 
those issues, but it's just the last list of issues. We've worked on a 
lot of things over the last 6 years, things that I never would have 
known very much about, and that most Presidents probably wouldn't, had 
it not been for your input and your consistent involvement, and even, 
sometimes, your stimulating argument. And I thank you for that.
    I don't know that that was the greatest endorsement my Vice 
President could ever get, what John said. [Laughter] But it's not all 
bad. I do want to say something about him. I thank you for working with 
him. As you all know, one of the reasons I asked him to become my Vice 
Presidential partner is that he had a background in technology issues 
far superior to mine and a consuming interest in it. And all of you have 
fed it and broadened it, and I'm very grateful to you.
    I think that when the historians write about this administration, 
they may differ on whether our economic or social policies were right or 
wrong, but one thing is absolutely beyond question, and that is that the 
Vice President has had more influence on more important issues in more 
areas than any person in the history of this country that ever held that 
job. And he's made it possible for us to do a lot of the things that 
we've done, and I'm very grateful to him.
    Now, if I could just run over--you mentioned a couple of things. We 
have worked out the so-called H-1B visa issue. It will be coming to my 
desk soon. And it was done in a way that's really good for everybody in 
America, because in addition to permitting more visas of high-skilled 
people to come into our country and strengthen us, it also provides a 
lot more funds to train our own people, to upgrade their skills. So it's 
a good, good bill. It has the best of both worlds.
    The securities reform legislation is now in conference and they're 
arguing only over some legislative intent language that those of you who 
are working the issue are very familiar with. But I think we'll be 
successful there. I think we've reached a broad agreement on encryption 
policy and now you just have to make sure you work with us on the 
implementation of it so that the rules don't contradict the policy, but 
instead reinforce them. And I think we can do that.
    There's legislation to implement the world intellectual property 
agreements to which we are a part, and there's some problems there, but 
I think that on balance it does a lot of good. And I hope you'll help us 
get it right and get it through. The bill which keeps the Internet from 
being interrupted for a period of time by various kinds of local taxes 
is making its way through the Senate, and there are some extraneous 
issues that are having an impact on it, but those of you who are working 
it understand that, and I remain committed to it. And I think we can be 
successful there. And I think it's very, very important.
    One other thing I'd like to just say to you is a lot of you are very 
concerned, as you should be for your own markets, with the situation in 
Asia. And I am working very, very hard to help those countries regroup, 
to restore growth, and to limit the reach of the contagion. I believe 
we're doing about all we

[[Page 1899]]

can do at this time, but we need some support, and I'll say more about 
that in a minute.
    Now, I mention these issues partly to make a specific point to 
Silicon Valley, but partly to make a more general point. Today I was at 
Moffett Air Force Base, and we had an open arrival. And typically, when 
we do this, a couple hundred people will show up that are associated 
some way or another with the base facility. There were about 600 people 
there today, and they were all different kinds of people talking about 
very specific things about their lives, things that had changed--the 
schools their kids were in, the family and medical leave law, or other 
things that we had all been involved in together.
    I entered public life because I thought it would give me an 
opportunity to work with people to help them make the most of their 
lives. I believe that Washington would serve America better if we 
worried more about the people that lived outside Washington than where 
people stood on the totem pole inside Washington. And I think you 
believe that, too. And that's what I ask you to think about tonight.
    I'll be very brief. I want to mention to you what I think are the 
central questions facing the country in this election season which is 
unfolding rapidly now, and then what I think are some of the central 
questions facing this country over the next 20 years, because I ask you 
to begin thinking about it. We were talking about it at one of the 
tables tonight. And this community has got to continue to be involved in 
America to help us raise our imaginations and raise our visions toward 
these long-term issues as well.
    I tell all my fellow Democrats that, contrary to what you might 
think, the great enemy of our cause in this election is not adversity, 
it is, instead, complacency. Because oftentimes, when people are doing 
well and things are doing well and they have a high level of comfort and 
confidence, particularly if they come through a very wrenching time--and 
our country came through a pretty wrenching time in the late eighties 
and early nineties, indeed throughout the decade of the eighties--the 
tendency is to say, ``We'd like to relax a little bit. We're tired. 
Things are good for us now. We just want to not think about this.'' In 
this case, ``this'' is politics right now.
    You live in a world that never permits that, because it's changing 
so fast. One thing I'd like to ask you to do is to think about how you 
can communicate that sense of urgency to the rest of your fellow 
Americans. And that's what I hope to do here tonight--because even 
though people may not understand it in the way you do, if you're 
struggling to develop a new product, a new service, keep up with some 
new discovery, the truth is that everyone else's life is more dynamic 
than most people realize as well.
    And while I am profoundly grateful that we have the lowest 
unemployment rate in 28 years and the lowest crime rate in 25 years and 
the smallest percentage of people on welfare in 29 years, and next week 
the first balanced budget and surplus in 29 years, and the highest 
homeownership in history, and we just learned yesterday the lowest 
African-American poverty rate ever recorded, the biggest increase in 
wages in 20 years--I'm grateful for all that. The truth is that this is 
a dynamic world. And so the right thing to do is not to rest on that but 
to build on it, to ask ourselves, ``Okay, what else needs to be done?''
    Now, in this election season, I think there are the following major 
issues that, to me, are very important. We had a big vote on one in the 
House today. There are some who say, ``Well, we're going to have a 
surplus for the first time in 29 years and it's just a few weeks from 
the election, so let's have a tax cut.'' And even though I'm not a 
candidate anymore and won't be running for anything anymore, I 
understand the appeal of that, but I think it's dead wrong. For one 
thing, I'd just like to see the red ink turn to black and dry before we 
start spending again. [Laughter] I've been working for this for 6 years. 
I'd just like to see it dry, you know? [Laughter]
    And in a more serious way, in this world financial situation we have 
been a pillar of stability and strength and responsibility, and we need 
to communicate that to people. And I know it's popular to offer a tax 
cut right here before an election, but in this case it would be wrong.

[[Page 1900]]

    And there's another reason it's wrong. It's wrong because we finally 
have, I believe, a bipartisan consensus for making modifications in the 
Social Security system that will enable us to preserve it when the baby 
boomers retire--and at present rates, at least, there will only be two 
people working for every one person drawing. And I can just tell you the 
baby boomers are--and a lot of you are too young to be one--[laughter]--
but, basically, the baby boom generation is everybody between the ages 
of 52 and 34. And when that group--only the present group in school is 
bigger than the baby boom generation. And when that group retires, 

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