George H.W. Bush: “I just signed a defense authorization bill, and in it we have a lot of money for retraining. And that is a very…”

“I just signed a defense authorization bill, and in it we have a lot of money for retraining. And that is a very important part of it. But let me explain my view toward defense. Because we have been successful in the cold war and because we have lowered the threat of nuclear war--the deal I worked out with Yeltsin was to eliminate these SS-18's which are the major intercontinental ballistic missiles. It's a good thing. That hasn't been accomplished yet, but the deal is signed. Because we have made a lot of progress, we've been able to reduce defense spending. To reduce it to where we are, I took the recommendation of Colin Powell and the Chiefs and Dick Cheney, who I think have earned the confidence of the American people. I do not want to cut into the muscle of our defense. Governor Clinton, to pay for a lot of other domestic spending, is now wanting to cut $50 billion, or $70 billion--I can't remember. He and Perot both want to cut significantly more than I do. My view is there are still wolves out there. The Soviet bear may be dead, but there are a lot of wolves in the woods. You've got antiterrorism; you've got all kinds of people trying to acquire nuclear weapons. And who knows where the next challenge will come to the security of the United States? And so I don't want to cut into the muscle of defense. But for those that are being dropped out of the military, we must go for the retraining. The Montgomery bill on education is a very important part of all of this, but retraining is the answer. And the bill I've just signed adequately provides funding to really help on that. Health Care”