pd18oc99 Statement on the Conclusion of the Independent Counsel's Investigation...

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<DOC>
[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents]
 [frwais.access.gpo.gov]
                         

[Page i-iii]
 
Monday, October 18, 1999
 
Volume 35--Number 41
Pages 1991-2064
 
Contents

[[Page i]]

Weekly Compilation of

Presidential

Documents



[[Page ii]]

  

  


Addresses and Remarks

    American Academy of Pediatrics--2006
    Canada, Forum of Federations Conference in Mont-Tremblant--1991
    Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, Senate action--2026
    Democratic Leadership Council gala--2027
    Forest ``Roadless'' Areas--2020
    Illinois, U.S. Hispanic Leadership Institute conference in Chicago--
        2000
    Millennium Evening at the White House, eighth--2015
    National Summit on Community Food Security, videotape remarks--2050
    NCAA men's and women's basketball champions--2053
    Philip Morris company admission--2020
    Radio address--1998
    U.S. Secret Service Memorial Building, dedication--2048
    Virginia, George Washington National Forest--2020
    Youth violence, unveiling public service announcements--2055

Appointments and Nominations

    Defense Department
        Commander in Chief, United States Space Command, and related 
            positions, statement--2051

Appointments and Nominations--Continued

        Supreme Allied Commander Europe, statement--2052
        Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, statement--2051
      

Bill Signings

    Department of Transportation and Related Agencies Appropriations 
        Act, 2000, statement--2005
    Family farmers, statement on legislation to extend bankruptcy 
        relief--2006
      

Communications to Congress

    Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act, message transmitting report--
        2015
    Cuba, message transmitting report on telecommunications payments--
        2025
    East Timor, letter transmitting report on deployment of U.S. forces 
        to provide support to the multinational force--1998
    Food Aid Convention 1999 with documentation, message transmitting--
        2025
    Naval Petroleum Reserves, message transmitting report--2004
(Continued on the inside of the back cover.)

Editor's Note: The Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents is also 
available on the Internet on the GPO Access service at http://
www.gpo.gov/nara/nara003.html.


              WEEKLY COMPILATION OF
          ------------------------------
              PRESIDENTIAL DOCUMENTS

Published every Monday by the Office of the Federal Register, National 
Archives and Records Administration, Washington, DC 20408, the Weekly 
Compilation of Presidential Documents contains statements, messages, and
other Presidential materials released by the White House during the 
preceding week.

The Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents is published pursuant to
the authority contained in the Federal Register Act (49 Stat. 500, as 
amended; 44 U.S.C. Ch. 15), under regulations prescribed by the 
Administrative Committee of the Federal Register, approved by the 
President (37 FR 23607; 1 CFR Part 10).

Distribution is made only by the Superintendent of Documents, Government
Printing Office, Washington, DC 20402. The Weekly Compilation of 
Presidential Documents will be furnished by mail to domestic subscribers 
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for a single copy is $3.00 ($3.75 for foreign mailing).

There are no restrictions on the republication of material appearing in 
the Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents.


[[Page iii]]

Contents--Continued

Communications to Federal Agencies

    Forest ``Roadless'' Areas, memorandum on protection--2023
    Individual Training Accounts for Federal Workers, memorandum--2053
    School-Based Health Insurance Outreach for Children, memorandum--
        2013
    White House Council on Youth Violence, memorandum--2059

Interviews With the News Media

    Exchange with reporters outside the Oval Office--2026
    News conference, October 14 (No. 182)--2035

Joint Statements

    Joint United States-Norway Statement--2060

Meetings With Foreign Leaders

    Canada, Prime Minister Chretien--1991
    Norway, Prime Minister Bondevik--2060

Proclamations

    Columbus Day--1997
    National Forest Products Week--2063
    White Cane Safety Day--2062

Statements by the President

    See also Appointments and Nominations; Bill Signings
    Death of former President Julius Nyerere of Tanzania--2052
    Hate crimes legislation--2024
    Independent Counsel's investigation of Interior Secretary Babbitt--
        2024
    Mexico, floods and mudslides--2024
    Pakistan, military coup d'etat--2025
    World population growth--2015

Supplementary Materials

    Acts approved by the President--2064
    Checklist of White House press releases--2064
    Digest of other White House announcements--2063
    Nominations submitted to the Senate--2064

[[Page 1991]]




<DOC>
[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents]
 [frwais.access.gpo.gov]
                         

[Page 1991-1997]
 
Monday, October 18, 1999
 
Volume 35--Number 41
Pages 1991-2064
 
Week Ending Friday, October 15, 1999
 
Remarks to the Forum of Federations Conference in Mont-Tremblant, Canada


October 8, 1999

    Thank you. Thank you so much. Prime Minister Chretien; to the Prime 
Minister of Saint Kitts and Nevis, Denzil Douglas; Premier Bouchard; 
cochairs of this conference, Bob Rae and Henning Voscherau; to 
distinguished visitors; Governors--I think the Lieutenant Governor of 
South Dakota, Carole Hillard, is here--and to all of you: I think it is 
quite an interesting thing that we have this impressive array of people 
to come to a conference on federalism, a topic that probably 10 or 20 
years ago would have been viewed as a substitute for a sleeping pill. 
[Laughter]
    But in the aftermath of the conflicts in the former Yugoslavia; the 
interesting debates--at least I can say this from the point of view as 
your neighbor--that has gone on in Quebec; the deepening, troubling 
efforts to reconcile different tribes who occupy nations with boundaries 
they did not draw in Africa; and any number of other issues, this topic 
of federalism has become very, very important.
    It is fitting that the first global conference would be held here in 
North America, because federalism began here--a founding principle 
forged in the crucible of revolution, enshrined in the Constitution of 
the United States, shared today by all three nations on our continent, 
as I'm sure President Zedillo said.
    It is also especially fitting that this conference be held in 
Canada. A land larger than China, spanning 5 times zones and 10 distinct 
provinces, it has shown the world how people of different cultures and 
languages can live in peace, prosperity, and mutual respect.
    In the United States, we have valued our relationship with a strong 
and united Canada. We look to you; we learn from you. The partnership 
you have built between people of diverse backgrounds and governments at 
all level is what this conference is about and, ultimately, what 
democracy must be about, as people all over the world move around more, 
mix with each other more, live in close proximity more.
    Today I would like to talk briefly about the ways we in the United 
States are working to renew and redefine federalism for the 21st 
century; then, how I see the whole concept of federalism emerging 
internationally; and finally, how we--how I think, anyway--we should 
judge the competing claims of federalism and independence in different 
contexts around the world.
    First let me say we are 84 days, now, from a new century and a new 
millennium. The currents of change in how we work and live and relate to 
each other, and relate to people far across the world, are changing very 
rapidly.
    President Franklin Roosevelt once said that new conditions impose 
new requirements upon government and those who conduct government. We 
know this to be the case not only in the United States and Canada, Great 
Britain and Germany, Italy and France, Mexico and Brazil, but indeed, in 
all the countries of the world. But in all these places there is a 
federalist system of some form or another. We look for ways to imbue old 
values with new life and old institutions with new meaning.
    In 1992, when I ran for President, there was a growing sense in the 
United States that the compact between the people and their Government, 
and between the States and the Federal Government, was in severe 
disrepair. This was driven largely by the fact that our Federal 
Government had quadrupled the national debt in 12 years, and that had 
led to enormous interest rates, slow growth, and grave difficulties on 
all the States of our land which they were powerless to overcome.

[[Page 1992]]

    So when the Vice President and I ran for national office, we had no 
debate from people who said, ``Look, this is a national priority and you 
have to deal with it.'' But we talked a lot to Governors and others 
about the necessity to create again what our Founding Fathers called the 
laboratories of democracy. We, frankly, admitted that no one knew all 
the answers to America's large welfare caseload, to America's enormous 
crime rate, to America's incredible diversity of children and challenges 
in our schools. And so we said we would try to give new direction to the 
Nation and deal with plainly national problems, but we would also try to 
build a new partnership that would make all of our States feel more a 
part of our union and more empowered in determining their own destiny.
    Now, people develop this federalist system for different reasons. It 
came naturally to the United States because Great Britain set up 
colonies here as separate entities. And the States of our country 
actually created the National Government. So we always had a sense that 
there were some things the States were supposed to do and some things 
the Federal Government were supposed to do.
    Our Founding Fathers gave us some indication in the Constitution, 
but the history of the United States Supreme Court is full of cases 
trying to resolve the whole question of what is the role and the power 
of the States as opposed to what is the role and the power of the 
National Government in ever new circumstances.
    There are different examples elsewhere. For example, in the former 
Yugoslavia when it existed before, federalism was at least set up to 
give the appearance that all the different ethnic groups could be fairly 
treated and could have their voices heard.
    So in 1992 it appeared that the major crisis in federalism was that 
the States had been disempowered from doing their jobs because the 
national economy was so weak and the fabric of the national society was 
fraying in America. But underneath that I knew that once we began to 
build things again we would have to resolve some very substantial 
questions, some of which may be present in your countries, as well.
    As we set about to work, the Vice President and I, in an effort that 
I put him in charge of, made an attempt to redefine the mission of the 
Federal Government. And we told the people of the United States that we 
actually thought the Federal Government was too large in size, that it 
should be smaller but more active, and that we should do more in 
partnerships with State and local governments and the private sector, 
with the ultimate goal of empowering the American people to solve their 
own problems in whatever unit was most appropriate, whether it was an 
individual citizen, the family, the community, the State, or the Nation.
    And we have worked at that quite steadily. Like Canada, we turned 
our deficit around and produced a surplus. We also shrank the size of 
the Federal Government. The size of the United States Federal Government 
today is the same as it was in 1962, when John Kennedy was President, 
and our country was much, much smaller.
    In the economic expansion we have been enjoying since 1993, the 
overwhelming majority of the jobs that were created were created in the 
private sector. It's the largest percentage of private sector job 
creation of any economic expansion in America since the end of World War 
II.
    Meanwhile, many of our State and local governments have continued to 
grow in size, to meet the day-to-day demands of a lot of the domestic 
issues that we face in our country. And I think that is a good thing.

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