Copyright 2000 The Atlanta Constitution
The Atlanta
Journal and Constitution
February 17, 2000, Thursday, Home Edition
SECTION: News; Pg. 1A
LENGTH: 920 words
HEADLINE:
Clinton targets oil crunch;
He urges aid to help poor keep warm, seeks ways
to put brakes on rising gas prices.
BYLINE: Bob Deans, Cox Washington Bureau
SOURCE: CONSTITUTION
DATELINE:
Washington
BODY:
With oil prices bounding to a
nine-year high, President Clinton on Wednesday called for $ 725 million in
emergency aid to help poor people pay their heating bills.
In his first
news conference of the new year, Clinton spoke of ways to fight an oil supply
crunch that also has driven gasoline prices to their highest levels in a decade.
Among Clinton's proposals: dispatching Energy Secretary Bill Richardson
to press world oil producers for production increases and possibly drawing down
the nation's strategic oil reserve.
It's not just gasoline prices that
have Clinton's attention, though. Bitterly cold weather, particularly in the
Northeast and Middle Atlantic states, has added to home heating oil prices.
Clinton said he had ordered the immediate release of $ 125 million in emergency
fuel assistance for low-income families on top of the $ 175 million already paid
out since January. Georgia residents will receive more than $ 1. 26 million
under the latest disbursement.
In addition, Clinton announced he would
send Congress a request over the next week or so for an additional $ 600 million
in emergency funding for fuel oil assistance.
In an hourlong news
conference in which he answered 21 questions on topics ranging from
international affairs to the presidential primary races, Clinton also said:
He is considering going to Pakistan, where a military junta recently
overthrew the democratically elected government, when he visits neighboring
India late next month. Clinton said he would be happy to help mediate the
long-simmering dispute between the two Asian neighbors, if invited.
He
is open to compromise with congressional Republicans on strengthening gun
control.
He still holds out hope for peace in Northern Ireland, even
though a self- rule accord suffered a serious setback this week when the Irish
Republican Army and its political arm, Sinn Fein, withdrew from talks on IRA
disarmament.
His hard-fought bid to get China into the World Trade
Organization and congressional approval of permanent normal trading relations
with the world's most populous nation is "a huge national security issue." WTO
membership would open China's market to the United States.
Asked about
attacks on his character by Republican presidential candidates, Clinton said,
"People are really smart, you know, and . . . it's pretty hard to convince them
that they should hold anyone responsible for someone else's mistake,
particularly a personal mistake. I mean, I can't imagine any voter ever doing
that."
When asked whether he could vouch for the integrity of Vice
President Al Gore, Clinton said, "He was always brutally honest with me. . . .
In all my dealings with him, he has been candid in the extreme."
Some
political adversaries questioned Clinton's motives on the subsidies for home
heating oil.
"The timing is interesting," said former New Jersey Sen.
Bill Bradley, who is challenging Gore for the Democratic nomination for
president.
White House spokesman Jake Siewert said Clinton's release of
money for the poor to buy fuel for heat was based entirely on guidelines that
take into account oil prices, weather and other factors.
"The money is
allocated according to statute and formula and law," the spokesman said. "It's
very specific."
In what brought to mind the 1970s oil shocks, Clinton
discussed high- efficiency vehicles and alternatives to petroleum-based fuels.
He hinted at the possibility of government subsidies for large energy users that
switch to petroleum alternatives, such as natural gas.
The government
all but abandoned those ideas two decades ago, when oil gluts made fuel cheaper.
Clinton told reporters he has ordered Richardson to produce a report
within 60 days on measures the government might undertake to help businesses and
households reduce their reliance on petroleum-based fuels.
"We need to
examine . . . what are the institutional barriers for businesses and individuals
converting away from home heating oil to heating sources that are more commonly
used in other places," Clinton said. "What are the costs? Are there any federal
actions that might be undertaken, in concert with the states or with the private
sector, to help minimize those costs and facilitate a conversion?"
Richardson is preparing for a diplomatic mission to key members of the
Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to caution them against further
production curbs that have helped spark a tripling of oil prices in the past
year.
With prices surging this week to $ 30 a barrel --- the highest
since U.S. forces drove Iraqi troops from the oil fields of Kuwait in 1991 ---
Clinton said Richardson would warn OPEC members that further increases could
squeeze global growth, eventually crimping demand for fuel and forcing down
prices.
"If the price stayed up for any period of time, it would make
non-OPEC members who could produce oil more likely to do it, which would further
drive the price down," Clinton said.
"I think the OPEC members
understand that," Clinton said, "and I think that there is an interest in stable
prices at an acceptable level."
Responding to a reporter's question,
Clinton said he was considering opening the spigot on the strategic oil reserve,
millions of barrels of crude oil stored as a national security hedge against
supply disruptions.
Clinton said he would await a response to
Richardson's mission to OPEC before assessing further action, but added, "I
wouldn't rule out using the petroleum reserve."
LOAD-DATE: February 17, 2000 
