Remarks on signing the Riegle-Neal Interstate Banking and Branching Efficiency Act of 1994

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, Oct 3, 1994

September 29, 1994

Thank you very much, Dick Kovacevich, for your fine words and your strong support of this endeavor. Thank you, Tom Labrecque, for what you said. Thank you, as always, Secretary Bentsen, for your remarks and your stellar leadership. I thank all the Members of Congress for coming and the Members of the House who are out voting; you were all introduced by name in absentia. [Laughter] But I do want to say a special word of thanks to retiring Congressman Steve Neal for his wonderful leadership bill, and I thank him. I thank the Senators, those who are here especially, Senator Dodd, Senator Sarbanes, Senator Bennett, and of course, Senator Riegle. We will miss you, and we thank you for this very important part of your legacy. I thank Chairman Greenspan and Mr. Blinder and Chairman Levitt for coming and for their role in stabilizing and strengthening our economy. I never comment on these things, but I'm awfully glad this bill is taking effect at a time when banks will still be able to make loans at reasonable interest rates. [Laughter] There are a lot of other people here--I'll live to regret--[laughter]--a lot of other people here that could be introduced, but I think I would be remiss if I did not say something about someone who fought for this issue when he was in Congress and is now the distinguished Governor of the State of Connecticut, Lowell Weicker. We're delighted to see you here, sir. Thank you for coming. We're delighted to see Sarge and Eunice Shriver here; thank you for coming.

Now, there are two other people I would be personally remiss if I did not introduce because they had a lot to do with my interest in this issue. The thing that sparked my interest in this issue, first of all, was being Governor of a State when banks were dropping like flies all around the country and we were determined to protect ours. And I began then to seriously think what was structurally wrong with the financial system in this country. There is a gentleman here from my home State who has been my banker, my adviser, my supporter, and was the last person who served as my chief of staff as Governor of Arkansas. I'd like to ask him to stand up, Mr. Bill Bowen, former chairman of the Commercial National Bank. [Applause] And the other person here who stayed up with me half the night once. You may think you can't stay up half a night talking about interstate banking. [Laughter] You may think it would put you to sleep even though--but you have never heard Hugh McColl talk about it. Will you please stand up? Thank you so much. [Applause] I figured if he could be rhapsodic about this at 2 a.m., I ought to be for it, strong for it. [Laughter]

You've already heard how important this legislation is and what it will do for the banking industry. I'd like to just take a few moments to describe to you from my point of view as President how this fits into our comprehensive economic strategy. You've already heard people say it will make us stronger economically; it will be better for consumers; it will make us more efficient. It represents another example of our intent to reinvent Government by making it less regulatory and less overreaching and by shrinking it where it ought to be shrunk and reshaping it where it ought to be reshaped.

The people who are here up on this stage with me represent the economic team who worked with me to try to develop a strategy that would put the American people first and enable us to compete and win in the 21st century and enable us to stay together and go forward in spite of all of our differences, to restore prosperity and to renew the American dream.

The economic strategy we have crafted, while it may have critics in every corner from point to point, still should be recognized for what it is: a serious attempt by the national administration to systematically address the problems of the American economy and the opportunities of the American economy that enable us to increase our capacity to work together for opportunity for all.

Secretary Bentsen has been my wise counsel and strong leader. Secretary Brown is with President Yeltsin in Seattle today, probably still trying to make another sale. [Laughter] As all of you know, he's traveled from South America to South Africa to promote American businesses and exports and has been the most active Commerce Secretary certainly in my lifetime. Secretary Reich has been tireless in his advocacy for a skilled work force and for changing our whole unemployment system into a reemployment system. Alice Rivlin and before her Leon Panetta have played a central role in shaping tough and responsible budgets and in giving us 3 years of declining deficits for the first time since Mr. Truman was the President of the United States. Ambassador Kantor has given us more leadership on trade in the last 20 months than in any comparable period in the last 35 years. Erskine Bowles is not here, but the Acting Administrator of SBA is here, Sandra Pulley. And let me say, among other things, they have proved that if you put people in charge of the Small Business Administration whose job it is or has been in the past to create and expand small businesses, it makes a remarkable difference. The agency is less political but more effective than it has ever been. One of the things they did was to take the small business loan form, which was that thick, and cut it to one page and give you a decision in 3 days, yes or no, which is something that interstate banking will probably make possible for every bank in America to do, before you know it. I want to thank Laura Tyson, the Chair of our Council of Economic Advisers, who has done so much to help us analyze the economy and strategize long-term. But most important of all, I want to thank the most self-effacing but talented person I've ever had the privilege to work with in the area of the economy, Bob Rubin, for coordinating this entire team. And I'd like for him to stand up, because he never gets any recognition. [Applause]