Political Quotes

“earlier today President Clinton announced that he was working to develop an alternative package for addressing the Mexican peso crisis. This comes as a welcome response to a situation that was worsening by the day, as financial markets reflected increasing pessimism that Congress would approve the loan guarantee package. It is unfortunate that we were unable to act more expeditiously to help stem the crisis, and I want to commend the President for recognizing that we would all suffer from further delay. While the details of the new package have not yet been clarified, as currently proposed it would include a $20 billion share from the United States Exchange Stabilization Fund, $17.5 billion in credits from the IMF, and a $10 billion short-term lending facility from the Bank of International Settlements. These aggressive but prudent measures should serve to shore up the Mexican peso as well as investor confidence in the Mexican economy as a whole. Mr. President, without immediate action on the part of the United States and the world community, the short-term debt crisis in Mexico threatens to escalate into a full-scale recession that would negatively impact on all of us. Perhaps lost in the debate over the details of the financing mechanism was the fact that the United States and Mexican economies are now closely intertwined, and what happens there cannot help but affect us.”