THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

                        REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
                             UPON DEPARTURE

                         Andrews Air Force Base
                                Maryland   

1:05 P.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT: Before I leave on this trip I want to say a word about the antiterrorism legislation that I have sent to the Congress.

I sent that bill to Congress because it will strengthen our ability to investigate and prosecute and to deter -- to deter the kinds of problems we saw and the kind of horror we endured at Oklahoma City and, of course, at the World Trade Center.

I applaud the fact that the leadership in Congress has said that they will have that bill on my desk by Memorial Day. That is only three weeks away. And so, before I leave, I want to urge Congress again to pass this legislation and to do it without delay.

Nothing can justify turning this bill into a political football. We have kept politics completely out of our fight against terrorism. We kept it out of our mourning. We kept it out of our law enforcement efforts. We're going to keep it out of the rebuilding efforts in Oklahoma, and we must keep it out of this legislative effort.

The government needs the ability to deal with the technological challenges presented by terrorism in the modern age. This legislation does it, and there is simply no reason to delay it. Nothing can justify it. And it needs to pass, and pass now.

Thank you.

END1:07 P.M. EDT