Transcript - Remarks: Donald Trump Signs S. 3508 to Address Marine Debris - October 11, 2018 | Factba.se

Donald Trump

00:00:00 - 00:00:11 (12 sec)

Okay. Thank you very much. I very much appreciate your being here. We have hurricane reports on Hurricane Michael. Unbelievably destructive, powerful.

Donald Trump

00:00:11 - 00:00:28 (17 sec)

The one good thing we can say — we were just discussing — is that it was the fastest hurricane anybody has seen. It just was speedy. If it wasn't, there would be absolutely nothing left. It was incredibly powerful. You've seen the destruction.

Donald Trump

00:00:28 - 00:00:45 (18 sec)

It's moving through Georgia now at a much lesser pace both in terms of speed and in terms of its power — 50, 60-mile-an-hour winds. But some of those winds reached almost 200 miles an hour, which is unheard of. People are saying it's the third most powerful that they've seen hit our country anywhere.

Donald Trump

00:00:45 - 00:01:10 (24 sec)

We've done — I'll tell you, FEMA has gotten rave reviews. The first responders, law enforcement — everybody has gotten rave reviews. I just spoke with Governor Scott. They're very happy. Food is being now — following the hurricane — being now brought in. We have unbelievable large amounts of water and food and everything that people can want.

Donald Trump

00:01:10 - 00:01:19 (9 sec)

The electric companies have been terrific. They're already working. The roads are being cleared out. Many trees are in the path of the electric companies.

Donald Trump

00:01:19 - 00:01:35 (16 sec)

The roads are being cleaned right now. They're being — for the most part, they're open enough to get the electric companies in. And a lot of electricity is already back on. Some of the off electricity is already back on. That's in Florida. They're following up in Georgia.

Donald Trump

00:01:35 - 00:01:53 (17 sec)

A lot of water will be in North and South Carolina, added to the horrible situation they had with Florence two weeks ago. But they're incredible people and they know how to do it. They've done it before and they'll do it again. But they know how to do it.

Donald Trump

00:01:53 - 00:02:30 (37 sec)

So we've had great reports in everything. The only — the big problem with this hurricane was the tremendous power. And fortunately, it was very fast. It went through Florida very, very quickly. It didn't linger. It didn't come back as we had in Texas, where it actually came back a second time and then a third time. It went out, filled up, came back. This one went very quickly. But it's tremendous destruction in the areas where it — the path that it chose is incredible, the kind of destruction. We've not seen destruction like that in a long time.

Donald Trump

00:02:30 - 00:02:51 (21 sec)

But it's — the rebuilding, I can actually say — the rebuilding process and the survivor-looking process, we hope we don't have too much of that. The area most affected was, hopefully, 100 percent evacuated, but there's always somebody that stays. And in this case, they would have been in big trouble.

Donald Trump

00:02:51 - 00:02:55 (4 sec)

But so far, the reports, as you know, are very good. So I want to thank you for that.

Donald Trump

00:02:55 - 00:02:59 (4 sec)

And I don't know if you have any questions on the hurricane. Does anybody have any questions?

Question

00:02:59 - 00:03:04 (5 sec)

Do you have enough time to focus on the hurricane? You have a very busy day at the White House. Obviously, Kanye West is here and —

Donald Trump

00:03:04 - 00:03:28 (25 sec)

Yeah, I do. I have a very busy day today. We're doing — as you know, we're doing — having to do with copyright music. We're doing, right now, the Save Our Seas Act of 2018, which is a very important thing. But I — and yesterday I had a tremendous rally in Pennsylvania, and we had thousands of people lined up. And I just couldn't — you couldn't tell those people — and they were there for a day and a half before.

Donald Trump

00:03:28 - 00:03:43 (15 sec)

And I couldn't tell people that had been standing in line for a day and a half, wanting to get into the arena, that I'm not going. I went there. We had great control over what we were doing both on Air Force One, at the White House, and in Florida.

Donald Trump

00:03:43 - 00:03:59 (16 sec)

And I think you're seeing we're getting tremendous marks for the job that we did. And I wasn't going to disappoint thousands and thousands of people who have been standing in line for, in some cases, a day and a half. I wasn't going to do that.

Donald Trump

00:03:59 - 00:04:16 (18 sec)

But I think we've really, really done a job. This is a particularly busy day because we're signing a number of bills. Very different kinds of bills. So you'll be seeing me a little while later, I think with a couple of the senators standing behind me right now. And you'll be seeing me and us in a little while.

Donald Trump

00:04:16 - 00:04:32 (15 sec)

And we're having lunch with Jim Brown, one of the great football players of all time and a great guy, and Kanye West. He's coming in — they're coming in for lunch. And after that, we're doing some additional interesting things.

Donald Trump

00:04:32 - 00:04:35 (3 sec)

But we have a busy day. But I always have a busy day.

Donald Trump

00:04:35 - 00:04:45 (10 sec)

And the economy is doing really well. Jobs are looking — we think jobs are going to be better than ever. And we think records are broken already, but we're going to continue to break the records.

Donald Trump

00:04:45 - 00:05:07 (22 sec)

So let's talk about the Save Our Seas Act, if we could. And again, thank you all for being here. I want to thank also the members of Congress that are with us. That's Senator Dan Sullivan, who's been absolutely terrific; worked along with Sheldon Whitehouse. And these two have been spearheading something that's very important, and we want to thank you both.

Donald Trump

00:05:07 - 00:05:08 (1 sec)

Sheldon, thank you very much.

Sheldon Whitehouse

00:05:08 - 00:05:09 (2 sec)

Thank you, Mr. President.

Donald Trump

00:05:09 - 00:05:14 (5 sec)

Thank you very much. We appreciate it. Really do. I know you worked very hard on that.

Sheldon Whitehouse

00:05:14 - 00:05:15 (1 sec)

Worked well together.

Donald Trump

00:05:15 - 00:05:21 (6 sec)

And, Mr. Sullivan, thank you very much for being here. We appreciate it very much.

Donald Trump

00:05:21 - 00:05:36 (15 sec)

We have Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross who worked along with the senators, and Acting NOAA Administrator Admiral Tim Gallaudet. You're here, and thank you for being here, Tim. Thank you very much. Great job you're doing.

Donald Trump

00:05:36 - 00:05:51 (15 sec)

Every year, over 8 million tons of garbage is dumped into our beautiful oceans by many countries of the world. That includes China, that includes Japan, and that includes many, many countries.

Donald Trump

00:05:51 - 00:06:16 (25 sec)

This waste, trash, and debris harms not only marine life, but also fishermen, coastal economies along America's vast stretches. The bad news is it floats toward us. I've seen pictures recently, and some of you have seen them, where there's — a vast, tremendous, unthinkable amount of garbage is floating right into our coast, in particular along the West Coast.

Donald Trump

00:06:16 - 00:06:31 (15 sec)

And we're charged with removing it, which is a very unfair situation. It comes from other countries very far away. It takes six months and a year to float over, but it gets here, and it's a very unfair situation. It's also unbelievably bad for the oceans.

Donald Trump

00:06:31 - 00:06:50 (18 sec)

Every year, over 8 million tons of garbage is dumped into our beautiful oceans. And when you think of that number — I mean, to think 8 million tons — and I would say it's probably — Senators, I think it's probably more than that, based on what I've seen and based on the kind of work that I've seen being done.

Donald Trump

00:06:50 - 00:07:05 (15 sec)

This dumping has happened for years and even for decades. Previous administrations did absolutely nothing to take on the foreign countries responsible. We've already notified most of them and we've notified them very strongly.

Donald Trump

00:07:05 - 00:07:44 (39 sec)

The Save Our Seas Act will help address this problem by extending the Marine Debris Program for five additional years. We also are strengthening that up to improve waste management overseas and clean up our nation's water. We will boost the federal government's response to ocean waste by authorizing the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to declare severe marine debris events, which happen all the time. It's incredible. It's incredible when you look at it. People don't realize it, but all the time we're being inundated by debris from other countries.

Donald Trump

00:07:44 - 00:07:52 (8 sec)

This legislation will release funds to states for cleanup and for response efforts. And we will be responding and very strongly.

Donald Trump

00:07:52 - 00:08:18 (26 sec)

The legislation also encourages the executive branch to engage with those nations responsible for dumping garbage into our oceans. My administration is doing exactly that. For example, the new United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement is the first U.S. trade agreement ever to include commitments by the parties to cooperate to address land- and sea-based pollution and improve waste management.

Donald Trump

00:08:18 - 00:08:32 (14 sec)

And I can tell you that Dan and Sheldon were very insistent on trying to get that into the USMCA, the new agreement that we have with Canada and Mexico. And we'll be putting it into other agreements also.

Donald Trump

00:08:32 - 00:08:55 (22 sec)

The United States has some of the most beautiful beaches and oceans in the world, and the coastlines are incredible. As President, I will continue to do everything I can to stop other nations from making our oceans into their landfills. That's why I'm pleased — very pleased, I must say — to put my signature on this important legislation.

Donald Trump

00:08:55 - 00:09:07 (12 sec)

And again, I'd like to thank Dan and Sheldon, and all of the people — the Admiral and Wilbur — all of the people that worked so hard on this. This was a tough one, but it had great bipartisan support.

Donald Trump

00:09:07 - 00:09:09 (2 sec)

What was the final vote?

Dan Sullivan

00:09:09 - 00:09:10 (1 sec)

It was unanimous consent in the Senate.

Donald Trump

00:09:10 - 00:09:11 (1 sec)

Dan Sullivan

00:09:11 - 00:09:12 (1 sec)

Donald Trump

00:09:12 - 00:09:17 (5 sec)

Bipartisan. Did you ever think, Jon, you'd hear that? Bipartisan.

Question

00:09:17 - 00:09:18 (2 sec)

It's unusual to see Sheldon Whitehouse here.

Donald Trump

00:09:18 - 00:09:24 (6 sec)

Well, that's pretty good. Can you imagine Trump and Whitehouse in the same area? It's all right. Hey, I have a lot of respect.

Dan Sullivan

00:09:24 - 00:09:35 (11 sec)

And what the President said about the administration — the Trump administration — doing a great job on this, it's an underreported story but they are really taking the lead globally. And, Mr. President, we want to thank you for [Inaudible] very bipartisan.

Donald Trump

00:09:35 - 00:09:42 (7 sec)

Well, I want to thank you, and I want to thank Sheldon. Thank you. Come here, Sheldon. See, we can shake hands.

Dan Sullivan

00:09:42 - 00:09:44 (2 sec)

Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you very much.

Donald Trump

00:09:44 - 00:09:50 (6 sec)

Thank you, Wilbur. Thank you. Admiral, thank you.

Donald Trump

00:09:50 - 00:10:02 (12 sec)

All right. Let's get this done properly here.

Donald Trump

00:10:02 - 00:10:02 (0 sec)

[The bill is signed]

Donald Trump

00:10:02 - 00:10:10 (8 sec)

So with that, we're all completed. And I just want to say it's an honor. And hopefully that goes a long way for our oceans.

Donald Trump

00:10:10 - 00:10:24 (15 sec)

We've notified other countries that have been abusers. They abuse the ocean. We have notified them already about this. And they're doing things. They tell us they're doing things. And I think some cases at least they are. But they will be.

Donald Trump

00:10:24 - 00:10:26 (1 sec)

And I want to thank you very much.

Sheldon Whitehouse

00:10:26 - 00:10:28 (2 sec)

Thank you, Mr. President. The Philippines is up next, Mr. President.

Donald Trump

00:10:28 - 00:10:29 (1 sec)

Yes, that's right.

Sheldon Whitehouse

00:10:29 - 00:10:32 (3 sec)

The Philippines is up next. They're one of the worst three.

Donald Trump

00:10:32 - 00:10:33 (1 sec)

Well, that's right. That's going to be interesting.

Sheldon Whitehouse

00:10:33 - 00:10:34 (1 sec)

Donald Trump

00:10:34 - 00:10:35 (1 sec)

So you're working on that?

Sheldon Whitehouse

00:10:35 - 00:10:35 (0 sec)

Donald Trump

00:10:35 - 00:10:37 (2 sec)

That's very good.

Sheldon Whitehouse

00:10:37 - 00:10:41 (4 sec)

With your trade team on the Philippine trade agreement. We'll make sure this is part of that.

Donald Trump

00:10:41 - 00:10:48 (7 sec)

We're okay with that. I understand. A lot comes from there.

Question

00:10:48 - 00:10:51 (3 sec)

Mr. President, what exactly is the U.S. doing to investigate the missing Saudi journalist? You said there were U.S. investigators over there.

Donald Trump

00:10:51 - 00:10:52 (1 sec)

Yes, we're looking at it.

Question

00:10:52 - 00:10:54 (2 sec)

Could you explain what exactly that means?

Donald Trump

00:10:54 - 00:11:05 (11 sec)

We're looking at it very strongly. We'll be having a report out soon. We're working with Turkey, we're working with Saudi Arabia. What happened is a terrible thing, assuming that happened. I mean, maybe we'll be pleasantly surprised, but somehow I tend to doubt it. And we take it very seriously.

Question

00:11:05 - 00:11:10 (5 sec)

Does the U.S. have any kind of responsibility to warn him if [Inaudible] were picked up?

Donald Trump

00:11:10 - 00:11:26 (17 sec)

Well, it's not our country. It's in Turkey, and it's not a citizen, as I understand it. But a thing like that shouldn't happen. It is a reporter with the Washington Post, and it's — something like that should not be allowed to happen. Something like that should not happen. And we intend to get to the bottom of it.

Question

00:11:26 - 00:11:38 (11 sec)

Mr. President, you have talked a little bit about the markets. The markets are down again, today. How long do you think this correction, which you said was coming anyway, is expected to last?

Donald Trump

00:11:38 - 00:11:56 (18 sec)

Well, we're still up 40 percent for the period of time. So, I mean, the markets are way up over what they were. It's a correction that I think is caused by the Federal Reserve with interest rates. The dollar has become very strong, which, frankly, people can debate whether or not they like a strong dollar or not.

Donald Trump

00:11:56 - 00:12:17 (22 sec)

The dollar is very strong, very powerful. And that causes a little difficulty with doing business, frankly. A strong dollar doesn't necessarily mean all good, but we do have a very strong dollar. And we have interest rates going up at a clip that's much faster than certainly a lot of people, including myself, would have anticipated.

Donald Trump

00:12:17 - 00:12:37 (19 sec)

I think the Fed is out of control. I think what they're doing it wrong. Under the Obama administration, you had a lot of help because they had very little interest. You know, when you talk about economies, our economy is far better than that. But we have actually — we're paying interest. And they weren't. They were using funny money.

Donald Trump

00:12:37 - 00:12:43 (7 sec)

But I think the Fed is far too stringent, and they're making a mistake and it's not right.

Donald Trump

00:12:43 - 00:12:53 (9 sec)

And it's — despite that, we're doing very well but it's not necessary, in my opinion. And I think I know about it better than they do. Believe me.

Question

00:12:53 - 00:12:56 (3 sec)

Would you consider firing the Fed Chairman? I mean, is his job secure?

Donald Trump

00:12:56 - 00:13:02 (6 sec)

No, I'm not going to fire him. I'm just disappointed at the clip. I think it's far too fast. Far too rigid, far too fast.

Question

00:13:02 - 00:13:13 (11 sec)

Mr. President, after what happened with the Soyuz capsule today, are you at all worried that American astronauts have to rely on the Russians to get into space? Because you've been talking about Space Force.

Donald Trump

00:13:13 - 00:13:28 (15 sec)

No, I'm not worried. We have a tremendous space program going right now, in addition to which you're going to have the Space Force. I think by next year we intend to have that. It's already in this budget. And we'll have our own everything. But no, I'm not at all. Not at all worried at all.

Question

00:13:28 - 00:13:36 (8 sec)

Will Jamal Khashoggi's case affect the way you deal with MBS or other Saudi officials?

Donald Trump

00:13:36 - 00:14:01 (25 sec)

We'll have to see what happens. A lot of work is being done on that, and we're going to have to see what happens. I don't like stopping massive amounts of money that's being poured into our country on — I know they're talking about different kinds of sanctions, but they're spending $110 billion on military equipment and on things that create jobs, like jobs and others, for this country.

Donald Trump

00:14:01 - 00:14:23 (22 sec)

I don't like the concept of stopping an investment of $110 billion into the United States. Because you know what they're going to do? They're going to take that money and spend it in Russia or China, or someplace else. So I think there are other ways. If it turns out to be as bad as it might be, there are certainly other ways of handling the situation.

Donald Trump

00:14:23 - 00:14:46 (23 sec)

But I will tell you, upfront, right now, and I'll say it in front of senators: They're spending $110 billion purchasing military equipment and other things. If we don't sell it to them, they'll say, "Well, thank you very much. We'll buy it from Russia." Or "Thank you very much. We'll buy it from China." That doesn't help us — not when it comes to jobs and not when it comes to our companies losing out on that work.

Donald Trump

00:14:46 - 00:14:52 (6 sec)

But there are other things we can do. Let's find out what the problem is first. Okay?

Question

00:14:52 - 00:14:55 (3 sec)

You mean sanctions in that case? You oppose sanctions against Saudi Arabia?

Donald Trump

00:14:55 - 00:15:22 (27 sec)

I oppose — I would not be in favor of stopping a country from spending $110 billion — which is an all-time record — and letting Russia have that money and letting China have that money. Because all they're going to do is say, "That's okay. We don't have to buy it from Boeing. We don't have to buy it from Lockheed. We don't have to buy it from Raytheon and all these great companies. We'll buy it from Russia. We'll but it from China."

Donald Trump

00:15:22 - 00:15:25 (3 sec)

So what good does that do us? There are other things we can do.

Question

00:15:25 - 00:15:28 (3 sec)

Well, do you think they should pay a price if it turns out that the Saudis are responsible?

Donald Trump

00:15:28 - 00:15:41 (13 sec)

Yeah. There'll be something that has to take place. First, I want to find out what happened. And we're looking. Again, this took place in Turkey. And to the best of our knowledge, Khashoggi is not a United States citizen. Is that right? Or is that —

Question

00:15:41 - 00:15:42 (1 sec)

Permanent resident.

Donald Trump

00:15:42 - 00:15:46 (4 sec)

He's a permanent resident. Okay.

Donald Trump

00:15:46 - 00:16:02 (16 sec)

We don't like it, Jon. We don't like. And we don't like even a little bit. But as to whether or not we should stop $110 billion from being spent in this country, knowing they have four or five alternatives, two very good alternatives — that would not be acceptable to me.

Donald Trump

00:16:02 - 00:16:07 (5 sec)

Okay. But we're looking for the answer. And I think probably you'll have an answer sooner than people think.

Donald Trump

00:16:07 - 00:16:09 (2 sec)

Thank you very much. I'll see you in a little while.

Question

00:16:09 - 00:16:11 (2 sec)

We'll see you with Kanye later? Are you going to —

Donald Trump

00:16:11 - 00:16:15 (4 sec)

Yeah. We're going to have you come in for Kanye for just a couple of seconds, okay?

Question

00:16:15 - 00:16:15 (0 sec)

Donald Trump

00:16:15 - 00:16:20 (5 sec)

He'll be here and we're going to do a little — you'll have a little fun. Okay?

Donald Trump

00:16:20 - 00:16:26 (7 sec)

Everybody asks about Kanye. You know, we have Kanye West and Jim Brown coming in. And everybody wants to know about —

Question

00:16:26 - 00:16:28 (1 sec)

[Inaudible] Jim Brown too.

Donald Trump

00:16:28 - 00:16:33 (6 sec)

I like Jim Brown. That Jim Brown is some running back. Hey, do you think the NFL would be paying him a couple of dollars nowadays?

Donald Trump

00:16:33 - 00:16:50 (17 sec)

What people don't know — he might have been — he was the greatest football player, perhaps. He may have been an even better lacrosse player. Did you know that? At Syracuse. He may have been an even better lacrosse player. And he's a great guy. And he's been with me for a long time. He's been a big supporter.

Donald Trump

00:16:50 - 00:16:54 (5 sec)

Thank you all very much. You'll come back in a little while.