THE WHITE HOUSE

                    Office of the Press Secretary
_____________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release                                 October 4, 1994


                            PRESS BRIEFING
                           BY DEE DEE MYERS


                          The Briefing Room


1:47 P.M. EDT


          MS. MYERS:  A couple of things here today.  First of
all, at 2:30 p.m. over at the State Department, the United States and
the People's Republic of China will put forward a joint statement
about their agreement to work together to promote the
nonproliferation of missiles and to promote a ban on the production
of fissile materials for nuclear weapons or other means of explosive
devises.  That is something that has come out of the talks in the
last couple of days, including discussions yesterday with the
President and with the Vice President and with other members of the
administration -- at 2:30 p.m. today.

          Q      Did they agree to stop selling to Iran and
Pakistan?

          MS. MYERS:  I'll let them go ahead and make the
announcement.  It is with respect to the Missile Control Technology
Regime and sanctions we imposed last summer.

          This is just a quick note.  A young woman by the name of
Niya Powell wrote the President a couple of weeks ago and asked that
she be invited to meet President Mandela during his visit here.  She
said that she had met Bishop Desmond Tutu, and the experience had
changed her life.  So the President invited her, and she attended the
ceremony today.  She's 11 years old and she's from Fort Washington,
Maryland.  She gave President Mandela a doll with a note attached
that said, "To the children of South Africa.  Keep believing."

          So that was a nice touch.  She was accompanied by her
parents, Mr. and Mrs. Wayne Powell.

          On Haiti, I think if you had a chance to see General
Shalikashvili's press conference, he just went through the state of
play.  Just as a reinforcement of some of the points he made, I think
all of you know by now, Police Chief Michel Francois left the country
today; he's in the Dominican Republic.  The national leader of FRAPH,
Tutu Constant, has a press conference today at 2:00 p.m., which you
might want to check out.  President Aristide is speaking at the U.N.
at 2:00 p.m. as well.  He will continue his call for peace and
reconciliation.

          General Shalikashvili also announced that 1,300 marines
have left Cap-Haitien, bringing the total troop force below 20,000,
and he expects that it will be at about 15,000 by the end of the
month.  At the same time, the second phase of Uphold Democracy began;
262 CARICOM troops have arrived and are now deploying.  At the same
time, the international police monitors continue to arrive.  There
are over 200 in-country now, and as you know, Ray Kelly arrived over
the weekend and is working with those police monitors who are now
accompanying Haitian police officers on their routine patrols.

          Q      They don't do routine patrols, do they?

          MS. MYERS:  Well, their patrols.  I don't know if they
are routine, but during their patrols -- to enforce international
human rights standards, among other things.  So the mission there is
going according to plan and I think there is quite a bit of order
throughout the countryside, including in Port-au-Prince.  And as
General Shali also said, they've now collected over 4,000 weapons,
including more than 1,100 hand grenades.

          Q      On Francois, is the U.S. satisfied with the fact
that he just went to the Dominican Republic?  He can come back any
time, presumably.

          MS. MYERS:  Well, I think he made a decision to leave.
He made is own arrangements to leave.  We said that we expected as a
practical reality that the military would leave, and we still expect
that that is true.  So this is clearly one step.  I assume he's not
altogether pleased with the progress of events on the ground in Haiti
-- although we are.

          Q      Dee, Dee, could you just give of a brief readout on
the meeting that the President had with Mandela?

          MS. MYERS:  It was just a brief meeting today.  The
actual bilateral is tomorrow.  They just had a chance to sit down
briefly and just sort of talk generally about a number of issues.
They have a longer bilateral scheduled for tomorrow as well as an
expanded meeting where they'll talk about a number of issues.  And
then we expect to sign a number of agreements about housing, Peace
Corps and investment issues at the press conference, which I believe
is scheduled for 3:30 p.m.

          Q      There are many reports that Henry Cisneros has
offered to resign in one forum or another.  Has he formally or
informally told anyone here at the White House that he is willing to
quit, should he be an embarrassment to the administration, and does
anyone in the administration consider him thus?

          MS. MYERS:  I think --

          Q      Question.

          MS. MYERS:  The question was, has Henry Cisneros offered
to resign formally or informally if he becomes an embarrassment to
the White House, and does anyone in the White House consider him
such.

          The answer is that I am sure that Secretary Cisneros
would step aside if he believed he were an embarrassment to the White
House, or that the White House wished him to do so.  The fact is
there's been no change in his status.  He has not offered his
resignation, nor has he been asked to resign.  And certainly he's had
discussions with people here about the status of his situation, but
as you know, that is something that is being looked at at the Justice
Department.  And I would again emphasize there's been absolutely no
change in his status.  He continues to serve, the President has full
confidence in him, thinks he's done an outstanding job as Secretary
of HUD.

          Q      What makes you so sure, Dee Dee, that he'd step
down?  Has he, in fact, conveyed --

          MS. MYERS:  I don't think it's appropriate for me to
disclose personal conversations that he may have had with people
here.  But I think that he's an honorable man and would not want to
serve if he thought it were a detriment to the White House.

          Q      Are you confirming the stories then?

          MS. MYERS:  He's not resigning.  He's not been asked to
resign.  There's been no change in his status.  I cannot make that
more clear.  I would just urge you to ask him about the content of
conversations he may have had.  It's inappropriate for me to, I
think, discuss any more about them.

          Q      Has he spoken with the President or with the Chief
of Staff about any possibility of resigning?

          MS. MYERS:  No.

          Q      How about Mike Espy?  Any replacements in mind?

          MS. MYERS:  No.  We'll begin a process to find a
replacement.  As you know, Secretary Espy will stay until the end of
the year.  And I think, in the meantime, we'll continue -- or begin
the search for a replacement, but at this time, we have no
announcements.

          Q         on what activities he can supervise?

          MS. MYERS:  He has recused himself from issues dealing
with meat and poultry inspection.  I think the President believes
that that's appropriate.  But he'll go forward with his other
responsibilities, which is the vast majority of his responsibilities.

          Q      Dee Dee, on the Francois departure, could you
outline what role, if any, U.S. officials there or here played in
convincing him to leave, and whether he's been assured that now
that's he left, sanctions would be lifted against any accounts that
he would have access to?

          MS. MYERS:  No decision has been made about how
sanctions against the personal assets of the military leaders and
their friends and relatives will be treated.  That is something that
there's been no change in the status of those sanctions at this
point.  The decision to leave was Francois's.  He made the
arrangements himself, and there's been no guarantees provided by us.

          Q      Did we give him any assurances through third
parties that this money would be available to him were he to leave?

          MS. MYERS:  Again, no decisions have been made about
what will happen with the sanctions on their personal assets.

          Q      I realize no decisions here have been made, but has
any message been conveyed to him about what may be available to him
if he does leave?

          MS. MYERS:  We can't make guarantees about decisions
that haven't been made.

          Q      How is it going with the other leaders?  Are you
getting any indication that they are thinking about doing the same or
are officials talking to them on a regular basis?

          MS. MYERS:  Certainly, officials are talking to them on
a regular basis.  For example, General Shelton talks with General
Cedras on a regular basis about what's happening on the ground.  I
think they've made public statements, or at least General Cedras has
-- I haven't seen anything recently from Biamby -- but General Cedras
has made public statements about his intentions.  I think under any
circumstances we don't think there's been a change.  We do expect, as
a practical matter, they will leave the country.  They, of course,
have agreed to step down no later than October 15th.

          Q      Dee Dee, was there anything in the President's
discussion with Mandela today about the question of what sounded like
a request for more direct aid?

          MS. MYERS:  They had a brief conversation today.  I
don't want to get into the details of it.  I think, clearly,
investment and economic assistance will be on the agenda throughout
this week, or this next couple of days -- not just with President
Clinton, but also with the business community and others that
President Mandela will meet with.  He's made it very clear that
creating an environment for additional investment is a very important
objective of this trip.

          Q      He's met with many of them and that's emerged, but
the question of direct government assistance, financial assistance,
dollars --

          MS. MYERS:  Again, I think that's something that will be
discussed, and we'll have more to say about exactly where we are on
that tomorrow.

          Q      Do we want him to meet with Aristide?

          MS. MYERS:  There has been some discussion about that.
It's not resolved --

          Q      We want what?

          MS. MYERS:  The question was, do we want President
Mandela to meet with President Aristide, and the answer is there's
been some discussion about that.  It's been suggested not by us, but
by others.  We would certainly do whatever we could to facilitate
that if the parties wanted to do it, and there's just no conclusion
to it.

          Q      Dee Dee, what commitment did President Clinton give
to Prime Minister Major about meeting with Gerry Adams or U.S.
contacts with Gerry Adams?

          MS. MYERS:  Well, I think that -- certainly, we've been
in touch with the British throughout this process.  We consult with
them very closely on a number of issues, including this one.  I think
it was explained to them the modalities of our meetings, which
includes a 2:15 p.m. meeting today at the State Department between
Gerry Adams and representatives of the White House and the State
Department.  But I think, clearly, we're aware of their concerns in
this regard, but we made decisions about it with reference to our
policy and certainly kept them abreast of those.

          Q      Did the President promise Prime Minister Major that
he would not meet with Gerry Adams until --

          MS. MYERS:  They have not spoken about this.

          Q      Dee Dee, one House Democratic leader said today
that it's looking a little bit more iffy about whether the House will
actually take up GATT this week, and meeting increasing pressure from
some members, including Democrats, that they not bring it up before
the adjournment.  Does the White House now have any change of view
about how that's going to play out?  Are you aware that you have you
been advised by the House leadership that it may not come up for a
vote this week?

          MS. MYERS:  Well, I think that process is ongoing in the
House right now.  There have been a number of discussions about it on
the Hill today.  I think that process is ongoing.  I believe that a
vote on the rule and on the legislation could come as early as
tomorrow, but that is something that will have to be worked out in
the House.  And I don't think that they've resolved the issue, and
they certainly haven't informed us about anything conclusively.

          Q      The President, of course, has pushed for
implementation as quickly as possible.  Has he been talking to people
on the Hill?  Has he been making calls, or has he stepped up in any
way his attempt to get this done this week in the House?

          MS. MYERS:  I think he would certainly be willing to
make calls on this.  As you know, there is strong bipartisan support
for GATT.  The President has made it very clear that he wants it done
this year, and the President remains confident that it will get done
this year.  The Senate has now scheduled a vote for December 1.  The
House was scheduled to vote before adjournment this week.  We'll just
have to wait and see what happens in that regard.  One way or
another, I think the President is confident that GATT will pass this
year with bipartisan support.

          Q      Dee Dee, you said that Clinton had not spoken with
Major about Adams, but were there assurances provided by this
government to the British government --

          MS. MYERS:  Well, I think it was communicated to the
British government what the arrangements were, and that was that Vice
President Gore called Gerry Adams yesterday, and that officials from
the White House and State Department would meet with him today.

          Q      But in advance, did you assure the British
government that the White House --

          MS. MYERS:  Well, we told him what our plan was.  And I
think that that speaks for itself.  The plan was for the Vice
President to call him yesterday and for White House and State
Department officials to meet with him after that which ended up being
scheduled for today.  And, of course, the British --

          Q      Are you saying that's always been the plan, Dee
Dee?

          MS. MYERS:  No, no.  That's the plan that's been worked
out after Gerry Adams made it clear he was coming.  We approved the
visa, but it's -- look, we told the British government what our plans
were.  And that did not include a meeting with the President and did
include a phone call from the Vice President.

          Q      Excuse me.  At that point, though, officials in
this government were telling the press and presumably -- they said
they were telling the British government that he would meet only with
low-level or mid-level State Department --

          MS. MYERS:  No, we said that they'd meet at the working
level.  And that's what we -- I mean, these are, I think, people who
are very involved in the policy process both in the White House,
which is Nancy Soderberg, and Leon Fuerth, whom you all know; and at
the State Department it's the principal Deputy Assistant Secretary
for Europe.  Those are people who are, again, involved in the
policymaking process.  But it is a working level meeting.

          Q      Are you saying that's not a change from the person
he was going to meet with originally, the lower-level person?

          MS. MYERS:  No, it was never resolved who he was going
to meet with before.  It was something that was under discussion.
And I think the level of the meetings was established last week, and
I think that that was fulfilled this week.

          Q      Dee Dee, a follow-up:  Was the British government
angry?  Did they express concern to you?

          MS. MYERS:  You'll have to contact the British
government.  I think we informed them, and you can certainly address
those questions to them.  But I think they're aware of what our views
are on this.

          Q      Apparently, the latest problem with GATT on the
House side is the Republicans are threatening to pull their support
possibly in an effort to embarrass the President.  Would his threat
to hold the Senate in equally apply to the House?  Would he be
willing to make that threat?

          MS. MYERS:  I think the President wants to see GATT done
this year.  He's made that very clear.  He believes it's important.
He's made a commitment to get it done by the end of the year.  He
believes he can do that, and I think he'll take whatever steps are
necessary to make that happen.

          Q      I take that as a yes.

          MS. MYERS:  He'll take whatever steps are necessary.

          Q      Dee Dee, Secretary Cisneros -- and please forgive
me if this specific question was addressed before I got here -- the
impression that could be created by this sort of emerging again today
in the story that the AP had this morning is that someone is sending
a signal to Secretary Cisneros.  Could you address yourself; is
someone sending a signal or is this --

          MS. MYERS:  I think we talked about this before, but I'm
happy to say again that there's been no change in his status.  He has
not offered -- has not resigned.  He's not been asked to resign.  The
Justice Department is looking into this.  And I would just emphasize
again, there has been no change in his status.  He continues to serve
and serve with the confidence of the President.

          Q      You say he has not offered to resign?

          MS. MYERS:  He has not offered a resignation.  He has
not resigned.  He's not submitted a resignation in any way.

          Q      But he has said that --

          MS. MYERS:  I'm not going to get into what he may or may
not have said to his friends or associates or --

          Q      In the White House?

          Q      It is fair that whatever he has said or did not
say, the White House is under the clear impression that if he were
called upon to leave or felt he was an embarrassment, he'd go.

          MS. MYERS:  I think that the White House believes that
the Secretary's view on this is that he serves at the pleasure of the
President.  But, again, there's been no -- absolutely no call for him
to resign.

          Q      Obviously, girlfriends and boyfriends don't --
aren't required to file ethics statements.  Has the episode of the
scholarship going to result in any broader warnings or missives to
political appointees to be careful of their associations --

          MS. MYERS:  No, I think, as was discussed yesterday,
there are specifics in the guidelines that do cover close friends and
family members of people who are regulated.  And if you want, I can
get you more information about specifically what those chapter and
verses are.  But those are covered.  I think what I said earlier
today is that I think -- as the President directed, the Council's
Office will finish it's review of Secretary Espy and make public it's
findings in some regard.  And I think one of the things you can
expect to see in that is just a reemphasis of how important it is
that all members of the Executive Branch understand the guidelines
and adhere to them faithfully.

          Q      Are you still expecting a GATT vote tomorrow?

          MS. MYERS:  We'll have to see.  That's up to the House.
The President, again, is hopeful and actually expects that it will
get done this year.  And the timing, again, is up to the Congress.

          Q      Can you release Niya Powell's letter, please?

          MS. MYERS:  Sure.

          Q      Whose?

          MS. MYERS:  Niya Powell, the young woman that was here
today.

          Q      When do you expect that report to be made public?

          MS. MYERS:  Judge Mikva said he expected it would be
done by the end of the week -- or hoped it would be done by the end
of the week.  So, as soon as it's ready, which could come as soon as
Friday.

          Q      Is there any travel this week?

          MS. MYERS:  We could end up a day trip on Friday.

          Q      Where?

          MS. MYERS:  Down and back.  Somewhere on the Atlantic
Coast.

          Q      Why would we do that?  Why would we want to do
that?

          MS. MYERS:  We definitely want to do it, because it's
going to be a lot of fun.

          Q      It depends on who "we" are, right?

          Q      The coast could be North Carolina, right?

          MS. MYERS:  No, it's a little farther north of that.

          Q      Not much.

          MS. MYERS:  Not much.  Right.

          Q      Is it a place where the high school cheer begins, "
We don't drink, we don't smoke"?  (Laughter.)

          MS. MYERS:  I don't think so, but it's close.

          Q      Dee Dee, would it be a political trip?

          MS. MYERS:  No, it would not be a political trip; this
would be an official trip.  I'll just give you a hint.  It might have
something to do with Haiti troops,

          Q      Boats?

          MS. MYERS:  Boats -- (laughter) -- could be sailors.

          Q      Just north of North Carolina.

          MS. MYERS:  Just north of North Carolina.  It's not
done, but I expect we are looking toward something along those lines,
and we'll probably have --

          Q      The largest Navy base in the world.

          MS. MYERS:  Could be.  Could be something along those
lines.  We'll have more on that probably by tomorrow.

          Q      Well, what's your guess at this point, if that
happens, whether you would do a charter or whether you would expect
us to get down on our own --

          MS. MYERS:  We were looking at the possibility of a
charter, and I think that we were leaning in that direction,
expecting that there would be enough interest to make that feasible.
But, again -- so, in other words, if there is enough interest among
you all, I think it will be possible.  But it will obviously depend
on whether it could be made affordable.

          Q      Any reaction to the election of Mr. Cardoso, the
new president of Brazil?

          MS. MYERS:  We'll probably have a statement on that
later, as soon as it's confirmed.

          Q      Today?

          MS. MYERS:  Has it been officially confirmed yet?  Not
yet.  So as soon as it is, and I'm not sure what the timing is on it.

          Q      What's this -- I'm sorry.

          MS. MYERS:   The elections in Brazil.

          Q      No, no.  I didn't mean to interrupt you.  Go ahead.

          MS. MYERS:  That was it.  As soon as it's official, the
President will clearly have a statement.

          Q      What's on the agenda for the meeting with the
mayors?

          MS. MYERS:  For the meeting with the mayors?  That's
sort of an update.  It's just sort of a general briefing on what's
happening in the White House, what we're working on in the end of the
legislative session.

          Q      What is happening in the White House?

          MS. MYERS:  There are a number of mayors here.  Let me
just catch everybody up on what it is -- there's a group of, I think,
about eight mayors here from around the country for the Mandela
visit.  We took advantage of this time to bring them in and to brief
them on what's happening at the White House; in other words, what
kind of progress we're making on legislation --

          Q      Why should they know?  What about us?  (Laughter.)

          MS. MYERS:  If you'd like to know what's going on here,
you can talk with Mayor Rice, or any of the other mayors that were
here.  But it's just a general sort of across the board briefing.

          Q      Yes, but if you're going to send them off to
stakeout, I mean, could we get some idea of what you're pushing?  To
be blunt.

          MS. MYERS:  I think we're talking there will be a number
of people who will brief them.  And normally what's on -- and I
haven't seen the exact list of speakers, but in talking to -- this is
put together by Marcia Hale, who is the head of Intergovernmental
Affairs, who does this normally.  And the kinds of things that
they've talked about is what's on the agenda for the end of the
legislative session, where we are, what we expect, perhaps coming
along next year.

          One of the things that they've been interested in, which
we'll put a statement out on is unfunded mandates, for example.
They're also interested in everything from issues affecting crime,
what we're doing on crime over the course of the next few weeks to
implement the crime bill, generally what's happening politically,
what we expect to happen in the upcoming elections.  I mean, it's
generally a broad range of things; includes a lot of Q&A and a lot of
times turns on what they are interested in.

          They are not scheduled to see the President.

          Q      Who's briefing them?

          MS. MYERS:  Wait a sec, let me make sure.  He may do a
drop-by.  Yes, I guess he's supposed to do -- let me see if I have
today's scheduled.

          Q      Who are they?

          MS. MYERS:  Who are they?  There are -- I don't have the
-- they are African-American mayors from around the country.

          Q      They're the same ones who met with him in New
Orleans a few weeks ago.

          MS. MYERS:  The mayor of New Orleans is one of them.
Most of them are members of the Conference.  I don't have the list in
front of me; someone will get it.  I gave it this morning, and we can
certainly post it this afternoon; I think there were eight or nine.

          And the President was going to do a drop-by at 4:25 p.m.
in the Roosevelt Room.

          Q      Photo op?

          MS. MYERS:  White House photo.

          Q      We don't have photo ops anymore.

          MS. MYERS:  They're an anachronism, a dinosaur.
(Laughter.)

          THE PRESS:  Thank you.

                                 END                    2:09 P.M. EDT

#213-10/04