Bill Clinton

I hope we will have more trade, not less, more openness, more growth, and more jobs in both Japan and the United States.

The United States has no more important bilateral relationship than our relationship with Japan.

I want to say how glad we are to be in Japan.

There is no more important relationship to the United States than our relationship with Japan.

The United States has no intention at this moment or in the future of weakening its security ties in the Pacific, not to Japan, not to South Korea.

We think it is in the interest of both countries for that to happen.

I come here with an outstretched hand and the hope that all of the ferment and change and political debate going on in Japan will be a very positive thing for your people and for our relationship.

This is already a period of change in Japan, and I would hope that that would be viewed with hope and not with fear by the Japanese people.

I have invested a lot in both the change and the continuity because I think they are terribly important.

Can we take one more question? [Governor Branstad said he had testified about ethanol before the Environmental Protection Agency on behalf of a coalition of Governors and expressed his concern about what position EPA would take concerning…

You know, if I might say, when that whole energy tax issue was being debated, we recommended that ethanol be exempt. And then we had an alternative that was effectively going to just take the tax out of the production sector, out of…

I agree with that. Let Mike talk a little about what we're doing. [Secretary Espy indicated that the USDA strongly supported the use of ethanol as a viable alternative resource.]

I don't know--Iowa--is this thing on? I don't know what to say. Where I come from, we grow more rice than anybody else in the country. We're kind of interested in that market access you're talking about. And the rice land floods anyway. So…

Most 22-year-olds don't have that kind of money. Lucky you. I'm proud of you. [A participant thanked the President for visiting and advocated action during the G-7 summit to improve market access overseas. He also stated that commodity…

Well, if your income is under $30,000, you'll probably get a tax cut under my plan. If it's between $30,000 and $100,000, according to the Congressional Budget Office, it will cost you a very little amount of money.

Well, you didn't hear me say no new taxes. I've promised to raise taxes on the wealthy because their incomes were produced----

Well, if we had a decent crop insurance program, we wouldn't have to worry about disaster payments. In other words, if we had one that worked, if there was a system of crop insurance that worked, we wouldn't have to worry about it.

Well, I don't think we'll have any trouble getting it because this year we're way below the spending targets established by the Congress before I became President. We've got the deficit way down; it's much lower than they thought it was…

I think it will be extended. We're trying to make it permanent, and I hope we can do it. [A participant discussed the loss of crops that had not yet been planted and the requirement that a certain percent of any county must be damaged…

That whole tax-exempt bond law is now part of the discussion now being held on the budget, and I am strongly in favor of extending it. We had a program like that at home. It works, and I'm strong for it. I think it will be extended…

You know, there's another issue that you alluded to there that I don't have an answer to, but I worked on it quite a lot when I was a Governor, and that is the whole question of the small number of young farmers, unless there are just…

Under the law, just to flat out do it, we don't have the authority right now. So you either have to change the law or do what Mike said in terms of putting back the filing date and having people come in and make a declaration. [A…

I think I'll let Secretary Espy answer that. We talked about that very thing on the airplane when we were about to land, and we saw how much land was under water. It was the first thing that came up when we were looking at the damage…

Can I ask just one fact question before we start, just for my interest because we're a little bit further north than my home State. Can you plant soybeans this late here?

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