Bill Clinton photo

Press Briefing by Mike McCurry

May 24, 1996

The Briefing Room

1:50 P.M. EDT

MR. MCCURRY: All right, ladies and gentlemen, it's Friday. Happy Memorial Day Weekend. I can do whatever you would like to do. I can kind of run through anything, take questions. I can do questions on the President's exam or run through some notes, tell you about the President's reaction to the tests -- whatever you'd prefer. Whatever you all prefer.

The President was more enthusiastic than he needed to be about his exam because he was surprised, as I think some of us were, that overall some of his test results improved somewhat from last year, because based on his gastronomic performance of yesterday and other days we thought the results might have been somewhat different. But his general -- the President's general reaction to his physical exam today, he felt that he was in a little better shape than last year. He was disappointed that he had not had quite as much weight loss as he had hoped for.

He pointed out that had it not been for yesterday, he might very well have been weighed in at somewhat less than last year's figure.

Q: Like 15 pounds?

MR. MCCURRY: And he vows to be lighter at this time next year when he takes his tests.

Q: Is that a campaign promise?

MR. MCCURRY: Let me run through a couple of other things about his tests that the statement doesn't cover in detail. He was examined by some sports medicine specialists. They looked at two things in particular. He's had a little bit of stiffness in his left hand, so they examined that and X-rayed it to make sure there hadn't been any damage to any of the bone structure there. They concluded, but after looking at it carefully, it was probably a muscle pull and probably associated with his golf -- not an uncommon golf injury. But there was no indication of any type of stress fracture.

He also -- the President from time to time complains about lower back pain, and he has some back stiffness. So they looked at that, determined that the joints were fine, that probably that was the wear and tear of his jogging, which he does on a regular basis.

Q: Has he been encouraged, as so many other joggers who have experienced that have, to use some other form of aerobic exercise?

MR. MCCURRY: I don't know the answer to that, Brit. I know Dr. Mariano said that he will -- that one of the specialists that examined him today will probably come out and jog with him at some point just to look at his technique as he runs, and to see if there is anything about his running that he might do differently given some of the lower back pain that he experienced. They also recommended some better stretching for him. So he is going to do a different kind of warmup and do some stretch exercises before he goes out.

Q: But he has not been discouraged from running and to change to a lower impact --

MR. MCCURRY: No, I think overall, the doctors, as you see from the statement, recommend that he continue his exercise regimen because it has had some positive effect on his cholesterol and his overall cardiovascular health.

Q: Mike, does the President take any medications regularly, and if so what are they?

MR. MCCURRY: He does. The President has for some time suffered from what's known as reflux disease. The exact name is gastroesophagal reflux disease, which is essentially stomach acid that can come up and irritate the vocal chords and the upper chest area. That can be aggravated by allergies, which the President suffers from. It also can be aggravated by extensive use of the vocal chords. For that they have prescribed the prescription drug Prilosec, which is basically a strong anti-acid, kind of an acid blocker.

Q: How long has he had that, Mike?

MR. MCCURRY: He has been on that -- I don't know when he began it -- probably about a year.

Q: Previous to that, what's it known as?

MR. MCCURRY: I don't know the trade name of it. I'm not going to use --

Q: It's called Big Mac Counterattack. (Laughter.)

MR. MCCURRY: In describing -- it is probably safe to say it's a strong form of Xantac would be one way of describing it, extra strong form of Maalox.

Q: When was the onset of this reflux, does he know? I don't remember this being --

MR. MCCURRY: He's had that for some time and has been treated with it for a year. That is -- as we've indicated in the past, likely source of the irritation that he suffered for his vocal chords. Now, they did examine his vocal chords and given that they will get an extensive workout this year, they are described as being in good shape.

Rita, back to your question on drugs, medications. In addition to Prilosec, which he takes for reflux, the President also is treated for allergies. He's been diagnosed as having some common allergies to things that are in the local environment here in Washington. (Laughter.) Air pollution -- airwaves pollution -- no, principally weed and grass pollen, and things like that, that he suffers from. He gets an allergy shot once every seven to ten days, a specially designed serum similar to the way most allergy patients are treated.

Q: Broadly speaking, is this hay fever?

MR. MCCURRY: No, it wouldn't be accurate to say that. He's just got a combination of allergies from everything from household dust to weed and grass pollen. They are aggravated, the President says, in the fall and sometimes around the holiday season when there are a lot of evergreen cuttings in the White House. They tend to be worse in the fall than they are in the summer, which is not dissimilar from some of the people who suffer from allergies.

But for allergies he takes a prescription antihistamine called Claritin D, which is a prescription antihistamine, but not sedative.

Q: Does he take it regularly, Mike, or just when he has an attack?

MR. MCCURRY: He takes that, I think, regularly, in addition to his shots. And then he also takes some regular OTC multivitamins. That's it as far as drugs. Nothing about the test indicated any additional prescriptions or any additional tests.

Q: He doesn't take a routine aspirin?

Q: What about the keratosis?

MR. MCCURRY: He had an actinic keratosis on the tip of his nose, which is basically a pre-cancerous skin lesion. Many people who have been out in the sun for a long time are familiar with that. They are treated by touching them with liquid nitrogen and freezing them. So you'll likely see kind of a -- some type of scab area develop on the President's nose in the next couple of days.

He also, in his dermatological exam, they found on his neck area -- you're going to get more than you wanted to know. I'm sorry. They found an inclusion cyst.

Q: A what?

MR. MCCURRY: An inclusion cyst on his neck, which he'll probably elect to have excised at a future date. So you'll notice that sometime in the future that he will have a little cyst cut out.

Q: Mike, is the keratosis the same as last year?

MR. MCCURRY: Well, no, it's not --

Q: Exactly the same?

MR. MCCURRY: Not the same one. In fact, the dermatologist checked the areas that he had spotted and treated last year, and there hadn't been a recurrence in those areas. This one was more on the tip of his nose.

Q: But it was precisely the pre-cancerous lesion as the one from last year?

MR. MCCURRY: Same kind of thing. Sun damage that accumulates over years. They are pre-cancerous. There is no indication of melanoma or basal cell carcinoma in any of the indications.

Q: Was he encouraged to wear hats or sun block?

MR. MCCURRY: He takes -- uses SPF-36 sun block, Brit, when he is out there swinging at the golf ball.

Q: Mike, the President's skin is occasionally uneven in its color. He is redder in one area. Is that diagnosed as any kind of a condition, or is that a result of allergies, or what's the deal there?

MR. MCCURRY: He has sensitive skin. It can be the result of many things. For example, the exam today by the dermatologist looked at him and said, have you been out in the wind recently. And the President said, yes, I was jogging on Lake Michigan yesterday when I was in Milwaukee. He said, well, you're wind-burned. So he'll sometimes get blotchiness related to windburn. He sometimes -- I think, if I'm not mistaken, it could also be associated with allergies sometimes, too.

Q: Is the reflux a result of stress, and does he take that Prilosec every day or is it something that comes and goes?

MR. MCCURRY: I don't know, I didn't ask about dosage. But that is -- it essentially can be aggravated by allergies, I'm told. It can be affected by stress. It can also be affected by other things that are not indicated in the President's own -- some people suffer from this as a result of alcohol use. That's not indicated, obviously, in the President's lifestyle -- or sometimes tobacco use. So there are a number of things that can cause that. But it can be associated with stress or with diet or with eating lots of Miss Katie's chicken wings.

Q: Mike, is this keratosis something that would be biopsied or is it something the dermatologists can just look at and say it's pre-cancerous?

MR. MCCURRY: No, no, it's more commonly known as a pimple. How much more excruciating detail would you like?

Q: Is it pre-cancerous?

MR. MCCURRY: Oh, I'm sorry, I thought you meant the cyst on the neck. No, no, it's a skin lesion and it's not -- if you want to see what happens when it really gets bad, look right here under this eye and you'll see what happens when you have to have one carved out. But it's a very common form of skin abrasion that comes from over-exposure to the sun over a long period of time.

Q: On the back problem, does he wear any kind of a brace? Some of us have noticed that in the back of the limousine there's a -- he's taken to using some sort of a cushion or a metal-type back brace.

MR. MCCURRY: Because he has some discomfort there from time to time, I think he props himself up with a pillow sometimes in the limo. Not the most comfortable car in the world to ride in, I might say.

Q: Trade Wire 2 for it. (Laughter.)

Q: New subject?

MR. MCCURRY: Let me see if there's any -- I mean, in general, nothing -- as you can tell from the readout I'm giving you, nothing that is surprising. There were not any special concerns they had about any of the test results. There are some tests that, for time, they didn't do today. They might do a hearing test in the future. He didn't do any extensive tests on allergies because he sees an allergist on a regular basis. They did not do a dental exam today. They do that from time to time here at the White House. The President had his teeth cleaned and examined several months ago, so that's why there's no indication of a dental exam here.

The White House considers, obviously, the treadmill test to be the most significant because that is an indicator of overall cardiovascular health. And the doctors were very well satisfied with the test and the results very closely matched last year. One of the reasons why Dr. Mariano recommends this test is because you can look for any subtle differences year to year in the performance on the treadmill test, and then that can indicate if there's any further areas that need to be examined. They didn't notice anything of that note.

Obviously, the pulse rate is low. The overall total cholesterol is down and the good cholesterol was up and the bad cholesterol was down and the total cholesterol was down. So that's good news I'm told.

Q: New subject? The RNC has got an ad coming out to be aired over the weekend or Memorial Day attacking this soldier-airman issue raised by the President's lawyers in the Jones' case. Can you respond to the ad and explain the President's position on that?

MR. MCCURRY: Well, I'll just repeat what, Mr. Bennett, the President's attorney, has said. This ad distorts the truth and is an attempt to politically embarrass the President. It is consistent with repeated efforts by the Republican Party to attack the President in a very personal and very negative way. They know, and Mr. Bennett has made clear for several days now, the President does not rely on the 1940 act as a basis for requesting relief. This same provision has been in briefs filed in the lower court prior to the filing in the Supreme Court, and the appearance of this ad on Memorial Day Weekend serves the obvious political purposes the Republicans have in mind. In short, it's a cheap shot.

Q: Nevertheless, Bennett's filing says that the President would be entitled to that protection. He may not be claiming it in that brief, but his brief says that the President is entitled as commander-in-chief to this protection.

MR. MCCURRY: As Mr. Bennett says, and you can read it for yourself, he cites it as one of five illustrative examples of the types of stays that can temporarily defer lawsuits in occasions, and the President does not rely on the act as a basis for he request for relief.

Q: Why cite it then, Michael --

Q: But he goes on to say --

MR. MCCURRY: I'm not a lawyer, Ann, so I can't tell you why Mr. Bennett cited it, but he is more than willing to answer that and has been answering it for several days.

Q: But doesn't it seem somewhat disingenuous to say it's there, but we don't mean it?

MR. MCCURRY: You can ask Mr. Bennett why, legally, his expert judgment was that it should be cited in the brief.

Q: What has the President said to you about this? He knows this has been kicking around for a couple of days. He must have noticed, he must have said something.

MR. MCCURRY: I mean, just pretty much what I have told you. I mean, it's clear that this is a political attack by the Republicans that coordinates with a very aggressive strategy they have developed from the Speaker to Senator Dole to governors around the country to the RNC and Mr. Barbour to personally attack the President and to question his character.

Q: Well, I understand that, Mike. But still, it wouldn't be -- obviously they wouldn't be -- you would be saying something different about it if he had not made this representation to the court. So what you're saying is it's an attack. I think it's clear the it's an attack. But what's the answer to the attack?

MR. MCCURRY: The answer to the attack is that they are deliberately distorting the truth of what's in the brief.

Q: How so?

MR. MCCURRY: By mischaracterizing what Mr. Bennett has stated in the brief and misstating the case upon -- or the basis upon which the President seeks relief.

Q: Mike, the members who wrote the letter asked that the President withdraw any use of this act even as it is used in the briefing. I think you can have very different interpretations of that. Does the President feel comfortable with how Mr. Bennett used this law in his brief, and does he have any intention of withdrawing the use of this act in his legal brief to the Supreme Court?

MR. MCCURRY: The President is comfortable with the legal representation he is getting from Mr. Bennett and the arguments made by Mr. Bennett, he is very well qualified and willing to answer to.

Q: And does he have any intention of doing what the members who are signing this letter have asked him to do, and that is, withdraw this portion of his argument?

MR. MCCURRY: I don't believe that Mr. -- I don't believe the President has paid a great deal of attention to things that Mr. Dornan says.

Q: There are 220 people who signed this. It's not just Mr. Dornan.

Q: How does he feel -- even if it's not the basis for his claim, does he feel comfortable with saying that he is entitled to this kind of relief?

MR. MCCURRY: He does not make a claim that he is entitled to this relief.

Q: He says that he is --

Q: That's simply not so.

MR. MCCURRY: Mr. Bennett says --

Q: He flat states that this is a --

MR. MCCURRY: Mr. Bennett says that the President has not intention of relying upon this act as a basis for requesting relief in this case, as you know from his statement yesterday.

Q: Mike, he says he's entitled to that.

Q: But the brief says that it's relief to which he would be entitled as commander-in-chief.

MR. MCCURRY: It says that -- it is cited as an example of the types of stays that can temporarily defer lawsuits. That's correct.

Q: Would you at least acknowledge that while this may have been an effective legal argument, that when arguments that are made on behalf of the President of the United States, they occur in a legal context, but also in a political and policy context; and that while this may have been an effective an appropriate argument in a legal context, in a policy and political context it may not have been the greatest thing that ever happened?

MR. MCCURRY: You're exactly right that this brief can be misused by the President's political opponents.

Q: Is that what I said? (Laughter.)

Q: -- major veterans groups are now also misusing this brief? It says three of the largest have --

MR. MCCURRY: I believe they -- the VFW, the American Legion and others have put out statements that set forth their views.

Q: Do you think --

MR. MCCURRY: You're correct, they put out statements that set forth their views. You can interpret --

Q: Are they misusing this?

MR. MCCURRY: No, you can interpret it for yourself. What they say is considerably different from what some of these Republican opponents of the President have said, if you read their statements carefully.

Q: But does the President think he is or is not entitled to this relief, regardless of whether he's claiming it for the purposes of --

MR. MCCURRY: The President believes that this case, or this act was cited properly as an example in the brief. The President, frankly, did not pay a lot of attention to this particular citation and a fairly long brief cited along with other examples.

Q: He didn't read it before it was filed?

MR. MCCURRY: No, he did not.

Q: How will he counter this ad, then? Because they are going to play it all over the place over the weekend.

MR. MCCURRY: Look, we'll see whether they do or not. They have a tendency of saying that they're going to run a lot of ads, and then they mostly put them around places to get you interested and then they go on.

Q: Are you likely to get the CNO nomination today?

MR. MCCURRY: Not that I've heard. Have we heard anything? Not as near as I can tell.

Q: Talking about things that are being put out to get your attention, the DNC has also put out some stuff that's -- complaining about a Republican --

MR. MCCURRY: That's on welfare reform, in which the Republicans have just lied about the President's position. The Republicans, the RNC has got another ad that says Clinton still supports giving welfare benefits to illegal immigrants. He doesn't. He never has. And it's already against the law.

Q: Well, that letter from the general counsel particularly cites -- quotes references to the Federal Communications Commission and licenses and that sort of thing. Is this -- in asking stations not to air this ad. Is this some sort of subtle warning?

MR. MCCURRY: You'll have to ask the DNC that. I'm not familiar with the letter that they've sent.

Q: Where does minimum wage stand now?

MR. MCCURRY: Minimum wage is closer to being a reality for the American people. And the President will continue to fight for it and we hope that, as the President said yesterday, that Senator Dole will bring it up for a vote and do it quickly in the Senate.

Q: Well, what is your feel on it?

MR. MCCURRY: The President believes there's very strong bipartisan support in both the Senate -- or in the Senate, clearly in the House, as reflected in the vote in the House, to raise the minimum wage. And he believes it can be done quickly. And he believes it should be done free of other amendments that might make the measure controversial. We hope that they will take a clean up or down vote for an increase and do it soon after the Memorial Day break.

Q: Have you got any kind of a promise on that? MR. MCCURRY: Well, Senator Dole has indicated today he wants to bring it up rather quickly and he has

indicated to the President on prior occasions that he would like to do that prior to his retirement.

Q: Senator Dole was on the floor just a minute ago trying to bring up his welfare reform bill. If the Senator's bill and the House Republican plan comes to the President without the Medicaid provision will he sign it, or does he have other problems?

MR. MCCURRY: The President wants them to have a good debate in the Senate on welfare reform. The President, as he said yesterday, likes some of the approaches taken in the Breaux-Chafee measure, but if they pass a welfare reform bill that matches what Senator Dole talked about on Tuesday -- now, this is opposed to what the House Republicans have been doing -- but if they bring up a bill that does those things that the President described for you yesterday, the President, as he indicated yesterday, would sign it.

It's not clear at all we're going to get that kind of measure. It looks like we're going to get one that might be incumbered with poison pills such as the guarantee of health care under Medicaid. The way to avoid that is to just go back to where the consensus is now on welfare reform, and that lies in the President's view in the proposal that has developed in the Senate by Senators Breaux and Chafee. And we hope that Democrats and moderate Republicans in the Senate will be successful bringing that measure up for discussion when they get into the welfare reform debate.

Q: Yesterday he said Senator Dole's plan and the new House Republican plan are a lot closer to Breaux and Chafee, and if that's the new plan, send it to me without a poison pill and I'll sign it. What I'm asking is, if he gets this bill and it doesn't have Medicaid on it, will he sign it, or are there other poison pills that he hasn't elaborated on?

MR. MCCURRY: If he gets it -- the principal poison pill is Medicaid. Our other concerns are about food stamps and some other things. But if he gets that bill that matches that formula he described yesterday, the President is inclined to do it. And we think we're close. We believe it can get done.

Q: Does that bill contain the child care and health care provisions that the President wants in welfare reform?

MR. MCCURRY: It does not -- it doesn't match precisely what we find encouraging about the Wisconsin plan, which is the commitment by the state to increase funding for child care and health care. But it does have some commitments on maintenance of effort and things that would guarantee that the safety net for kids won't be taken out from underneath kids as you move welfare dependents from welfare to work, through the work requirement.

Q: Is he going to Camp David?

MR. MCCURRY: I don't think so. I think his plans are to enjoy a quiet weekend here and then he's got public events on Monday.

Q: How full a day does he have on Monday? Does he have the afternoon open for himself?

MR. MCCURRY: He's got -- let's see. He's got a breakfast here in the morning. He lays the wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at 11:00 a.m., and then an address in the amphitheater. I don't show anything on the public calendar in the afternoon, as far as I know.

Q: What does that mean, that nodding?

MR. MCCURRY: Don't have anything. I think he's got the rest of the day off.

Q: Is that yes, there is something, or no, there's nothing?

Q: What's the radio address about?

MR. MCCURRY: The radio address for the weekend will be appropriate, given the Memorial Day Weekend.

Q: He's not going to do a CNO this weekend some time?

MR. MCCURRY: You keep asking me that. Why do you keep asking me this?

Q: Well, I'm asking because my desk is on me. (Laughter.) But it seems kind of a likely time, given that you said it would be soon.

MR. MCCURRY: David just said, well, not sure if it's likely, wouldn't exclude it, which means we don't know.

Q: Press conference scheduled?

MR. MCCURRY: Nothing is scheduled.

Q: Is it going to be taped?

Q: Mike, earlier today you made several references in the morning briefing session to a vicious personal attacks on the President. Why are you characterizing these things this way and why shouldn't they simply be regarded as the normal rough and tumble of the political campaign?

MR. MCCURRY: Because I detect in some of the statements that have been made by the Speaker, Mr. Gingrich, unfortunately, by Mr. Dole, by Mr. Barber, to be sure, certainly by Mr. Armey, to be sure, a level of escalation in this type of attack that does go beyond what you normally see in May of an election year.

This would be bad enough if it was in October. But it's May, and this is going to be a pretty awful campaign if the rhetoric on the other side goes at this rate all the way through to November. You know, I suppose -- oh, I don't know. I can't speak to their motive. They are looking for some way, absent any substantive ideas that are exciting to the American people, they're looking at some way of provoking the American people or dividing the American people and they're choosing this route.

Q: But, Mike, if the President puts out an ad that's -- excuse me, the Democrats put out an ad that says that essentially Bob Dole is a quitter, that he ran away from the Senate and didn't try to get anything through, isn't your side playing in this equally?

MR. MCCURRY: Look, I think, in the face of the type of personal attacks that the President has taken on from a variety of Republican sources and what seems a very coordinated attempt to disparage his character, to point out that Bob Dole had a choice between staying in the Senate and working with the President and getting some of this work done, or leaving to go to the campaign trail so he could continue this pattern of negative personal attacks is a fair point to make. He had a choice. He could have stayed here in the Senate. He could have stayed here to work with the President to pass some of this legislation in a bipartisan fashion. The President repeatedly said to Mr. Dole, let's come down here, let's get the work of balancing the budget done. Let's expand health care. Let's raise the minimum wage. Let's reform welfare. Let's get some things done before this campaign begins. And Bob Dole took a hike.

Q: So it's okay then?

MR. MCCURRY: So pointing that out to me is fair, particularly if you consider the type of vicious personal assault that has come from the other side.

Q: So when you criticize them it's a fair point, but when they criticize you it's vicious?

MR. MCCURRY: I'm sorry, I'll come back to you.

Q: Can you give us an example of a couple of the specific attacks that you're talking about?

MR. MCCURRY: Well, the Speaker of the House has all but called the President of the United States a liar, for one.

Q: Wait a minute. Aren't you all saying that the Republicans are lying about the President's position on welfare?

MR. MCCURRY: Yes. And I just substantiated it.

Q: Then you're calling him a liar.

MR. MCCURRY: No, I said that they got a -- I just cited to you one line in an ad that they have on the air that is a lie. Okay? Now that's factual. (Laughter.)

Q: The China munitions thing. Is the administration attempting to see how far up in the Chinese government goes this with two officials arrested being -- two people arrested being officials of a state run munitions concern and the evidence indicating that they knew the guns were allegedly destined for street gangs?

MR. MCCURRY: My understanding is, the State Department indicated yesterday that we have initiated discussions in Beijing with appropriate representatives of the People's Republic on those types of issues. As to what the evidence indicates, I will refrain from any comment on that, because I don't want to jeopardize any investigation or a possible prosecution.

Q: Those types of issues involved, meaning this case as well as others?

MR. MCCURRY: Well, the nature of the PRC's knowledge of this type of activity.

Q: Can you comment on recent developments regarding lawsuits filed against big tobacco, what some people might characterize as setbacks for the plaintiffs in these cases?

MR. MCCURRY: I don't know that we have looked at that. I haven't looked at that issue myself. You might want to try the FDA or the Justice Department, see if either one have looked at those cases in particular. To my knowledge, just based on what we've seen so far, they don't have a direct effect on the President's initiative related to tobacco use among minors; these are separate cases that arise under liability claims. Our interest is in pursuing measures that would curb tobacco use among young people.

I don't think there's any direct effect on that very important initiative that the President has launched.

Q: Mike, as long as we're doing fact checks, is the President going to stop saying that he's put 43,000 cops on the street --

MR. MCCURRY: Yes. We're going to say that we have got 17,000 trained people on the street and funding for 43,000 positions in fulfilling the President's commitment of getting 100,000 cops on the street.

Q: So the answer is yes, no, what? Sort of?

MR. MCCURRY: The answer is, we're going to make sure that 43,000 -- we've funded 43,000 positions now -- that we want these community cops to go through training and to be equipped to go out and help communities protect themselves against crime, to help keep people in neighborhoods safe. And one of the good things, encouraging things about community policing is, people go through some training so that they work with the community and they can work with neighborhood groups and do a good job.

This program, in the 17 months or so that it has been up and running, a lot of these slots that we have now funded are for people who are getting the right kind of training so they can be effective in fighting crime in the neighborhood. And there are 17,000 out on the street now. There will be 43,000 as a result of the position we've funded, and the President is determined to get to 100,000 as part of the COPS program.

Q: And just to be clear, you're not suggesting that the issue of character is anything that should not be raised?

MR. MCCURRY: Character is something the American people judge for themselves. You know, what I'm talking about it spitball politics and the kind of smudge that they put on the air. That's a different thing.

Stop it, Brit.

Q: Mike, how can I keep a straight face when you can't?

MR. MCCURRY: What else do you want for the weekend? Q: Golf. Lid? Can we put on a lid now? MS. GLYNN: There's a piece of paper coming out. MR. MCCURRY: Do we have one piece of paper, and can

someone go tell me we won't appoint a CNO, and so we can put a lid on?

MR. JOHNSON: Don't think we're going to do that today.

MR. MCCURRY: Don't think we're going to do that today.

Q: Is he going golfing?

MR. MCCURRY: I don't think so.

Q: Are you going to free up food reserves to replenish the loss Wisconsin suffered yesterday? (Laughter.)

MR. MCCURRY: I think Governor Thompson pronounced himself well satisfied to the gain that the state had received as a part of that impressive summit meeting yesterday. The economy was helped.

Thank you and have a good Memorial Day Weekend. See you Tuesday.

END 2:23 P.M. EDT

William J. Clinton, Press Briefing by Mike McCurry Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/270308

Filed Under

Categories

Simple Search of Our Archives