ACCESSION NUMBER:377300
FILE ID:POL402
DATE:02/02/95
TITLE:WHITE HOUSE REPORT, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 2 (02/02/95)
TEXT:*95020202.POL
WHITE HOUSE REPORT, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 2
(Deficit/interest rates, China/rights, intelligence study) (600)
1EWS BRIEFING -- Press Secretary Mike McCurry discussed the following
topics:
INTEREST RATE HIKE WILL IMPACT CLINTON '96 BUDGET
McCurry said he did not know if the Federal Reserve's hike in interest rates
compelled President Clinton to go back into the budget for "more
programmatic cuts." McCurry told a questioner, "That is a good question.
I don't know whether they had to adjust any of their baseline calculations
based on the actions of the Fed yesterday. I have to refer that to those
who will be briefing next week" on the 1996 federal budget.
McCurry said that as part of budget calculations, the administration would
have to determine "what the impact" of higher rates will be "on the federal
budget. How you calculate that, how you anticipate the interest on the
federal debt that will then be added, in a sense, to the federal budget
deficit," he said, are determinations made by budget experts who will
answer questions February 6.
Clinton, talking with reporters while presenting his choice for surgeon
general, told a questioner that he will not be able to reduce the deficit
as much as he had originally planned because of the Fed's action.
The president said again that he plans twice as much in spending cuts as in
tax reductions in the Middle Class Bill of Rights. "We will keep a tight
rein on the budget deficit," he said. "One thing that we have no control
over," Clinton noted, "is the impact of higher interest rates. The
American people should know that whenever interest rates are raised by the
Fed, among other things the cost of carrying the nation's debt goes up. We
can't do anything about that. In that sense, the deficit will not go down
as much as I had hoped, because interest rates have gone up. We can't
fully compensate for that, there's nothing to be done about it."
OTHER DEVELOPMENTS:
CLINTON SAYS CHINA TREATED FAIRLY IN HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT
President Clinton rejected China's claim that the State Department's Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1994 treated it unfairly, noting,
"That's always been their defense; we disagree. We believe that there are
international standards of human rights. The assistant secretary is
charged by law with submitting a report every year. All he did was fulfill
his legal responsibility to tell the truth as he saw it, and that is what
he did. I think Mr. Shattuck has done a good job."
The president called this year's report "the most comprehensive report ever
filed by the State Department and it covers far more than China. China was
not singled out. We evaluated every country in every part of the
globe...in this regard."
CLINTON NAMES INTELLIGENCE COMMISSION MEMBERS
President Clinton named Les Aspin to head the Commission on the Roles and
Capabilities of the United States Intelligence Community and former Senator
Warren Rudman as co-chairman. Aspin, the former congressman and former
defense secretary, is chairman of the Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board.
In a written statement, Clinton said intelligence gathering and analysis
"remains a critical element of our national power and influence," and he
called for a renewal of bipartisan support for intelligence operations.
Clinton also named to the commission Zoe Baird, Ann Caracristi, Stephen
Friedman, Anthony Harrington, Robert Hermann, former ambassador Paul
Wolfowitz, and retired General Lew Allen.
Congress selected former Congressman Tony Coelho, David Dewhurst,
Congressmen Norman Dicks and Porter Goss, Senators James Exon and John
Warner, former Senator Wyche Fowler, and retired Lieutenant General Robert
Pursley.
1NNN
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