 And to add to that announcement, my nominee as the new Secretary of Labor, Bill Brock. He was our top choice from a blue ribbon list of candidates, I have to say. He has an outstanding government background, six years as a United States senator from Tennessee, four years now at cabinet level, and he was no stranger to politics. He was chairman of the GOP, helped rebuild the Republican party from 1976 to 1980, and I think laid the groundwork for what was one of the great Republican party victories of quite some number of decades. And he's been a trade negotiator in anyone who spent four years dealing with international trade can negotiate with almost anyone. Among his primary interest is rebuilding and maintaining the ties with labor, organized and unorganized, attacking the serious endemic problem of youth unemployment, in particular minority youth. And I know he looks forward to working with our job partnership plan, has been working fairly successfully now for some time and finding work particularly for the untrained, training them and then placing them. And so I'm very pleased and proud to announce that Bill has agreed to accept the nomination for this cabinet post. And having said that, I'm going to... We understand you didn't want the job. What? We understand you didn't want the job. Well, you know, you just can't believe everything you read, can you? There's the way for you to move the trade representative right into commerce, doesn't it, Mr. President? What? There's the way for you to move the trade representative's job right into commerce, right? Well, that seems like a long way around, doesn't it? I'm not going to take any more questions. You're going to have at me tomorrow night. So, your reaction to the M.X. vote, House of Representatives... No, I'm not going to change the subject here. I'm going to leave you in the hands of the nominee for Secretary of Labor, William Brock. Thank you, Mr. President. Very much. We've been talking about it for several days. Do you think he will at least be able to meet and talk with Lane Kirkland since your former Labor secretary never did? I'm going to let you answer that. I'm happy to answer that if I may. See you tomorrow. See you. Maybe I could begin, Andrea, by addressing that I've already talked to Lane. He's an old friend. A man I have a great respect for and a man I think I can work very comfortably with. Don't you think you have a lot of fence mending to do given what's been going on in the Labor Department? Well, we've had some very difficult times and we have a lot of communicating to do, but that's precisely what I would like to do. What about these stories that you didn't want this job, Mr. Brock? As the President said, you have to be careful with what you hear. I liked being United States Trade Representative. I valued that opportunity. I enjoyed it very much and I was comfortable with what we were trying to achieve. This is a very new challenge and one that I'm very excited about and I welcome it. I didn't have the opportunity to initially turn it down. Pardon? I understand you said through a spokesman yesterday that you were not interested in this job. Have you changed your mind in the last 24 hours? I am intensely interested in this job. What changed your mind on that? The President is not only persuasive, but he's a man that I have great affection for. And when he says that he would like this job done in a certain way and I feel that I can do it that way, it's a challenge that is impossible to resist. You said you didn't have the opportunity, Mr. Brock. I'm sorry. Bill. The Special Trade Representative can now be folded into a Department of Powers and trade. I wouldn't make that presumption. Still against it. Well, I think there are certain problems associated with that proposal, sir. Mr. Brock, are you going to take place at the Special Trade Representative's office? I'm sorry. Who is going to succeed you in this here? Well, I have no idea. I don't think those conversations have even begun. The President talked to me this morning and we really have been talking almost exclusively about Labor since then. Mr. Brock, you said you talked to Wayne Ternlin. What did he say about the email that you were being chosen and what did he say about it? I'm not sure that I ought not to ask you to ask Wayne that question, but he indicated some pleasure and an appreciation of the fact that we've known each other, are comfortable with each other, and clearly can work together. Mr. Brock, what did you hope to achieve by becoming Labor Secretary in terms of the administration's relationship with organized labor? Well, I think let me just question the premise a little bit. It is not just organized labor. I think my primary job is to do whatever I can to create as many jobs as I can. That's the fundamental goal of this administration overall. It certainly is the focused goal of the Department of Labor. In that sense, I'd like to express primary concern about some of the problems that are so obvious. The number of young people and particularly black young people who don't have adequate job opportunities in this country, I don't know enough about what has been done in the department to comment on specifics except to say that that is a major concern of my own and one that I hope that I can effectively address. Secondly, in the trade area, one of the biggest concerns I've had is the fact that this economy changes as fast as it is and as fast as it will in the next 10 or 15 years. I have a lot of problems with keeping our skill development programs up to date so that people have the flexibility to move into better jobs, higher-skill jobs, and if we can contribute in that area, I think it would be very important also. You're asking questions that I don't know how to answer yet. I don't even know what the budget of the department is. I have a lot to learn. Are you going to be leaving trade with the summit coming up, the problems with Japan? Aren't you leaving a vacancy in a really important position? Yeah, but I have the best team in Washington at the U.S. trade office and they're eminently capable of carrying on those programs. Who do you tell us how many questions you've persuaded you? I've been waiting for about a dozen questions. I've been waiting, too. Have you intended to continue the relaxation of rules and regulations on occupying the occupational safety area as your predecessor did? And do you think that's gone far enough? You're asking an area that is outside of my experience of the last four years and I rather would rather wait and see. There is a real value to the safety standards that we have established and to the extent that we can make them effective and workable and cost efficient as well as human efficient. I'll try to do that. Could you tell us how the president persuaded you to take this job? Tell us how you came to take it? He asked. Well, I guess the conversation was sometime early morning. Yeah. I had discussed the possibility with Don Regan for the last day and a half and frankly had decided that I needed some time to think about whether I could contribute anything to this responsibility that might be unique. And as a matter of fact, I was working where I think best. I was working in my yard this morning and yes. Mr. Bach, do you plan to take an active part in difficult labor management disputes where workers have been on strike for a long time, like the particular in the airline industry? No. I think it is important that the government stay out of negotiations and let the collective bargaining process work. Let's take Sheila for the last question. Mr. Bob, you just said that your priority is creating as many jobs as possible. Isn't that going to put you in conflict with some of the positions you've taken against protection? I don't think in the least. This country cannot, as an economy, create the maximum number of jobs, achieve the maximum level of growth, deal with inflation, which was the cancer that was causing us jobs, if we have protectionism. That's a contradiction in terms. Protectionism will ultimately destroy jobs in this country and it is the wrong way to go. Mr. Bach, what do you see as your role in terms of building ties between the Republicans and the blue collar in a political role? Chris, I guess it is primarily to listen, to communicate what we're trying to do to listen and learn. There are a lot of good ideas in labor on things that we might be able to do better and to try to give them a welcome opportunity to participate, to have a place where they can have a voice. But do you acknowledge that part of your role is to try to solidify the labor support for Republicans? Well, to the extent that the President does a good job and we achieve the goals that he set for this country, I think the President's base and, in turn, the Party's base will be secure. Did you sound out of Kirkland before? You got the nomination? I mean, at what point did you call him? I called him after I had been asked. After you were asked before you were inducted? No, I had accepted immediately preceding that. Did you talk with any other labor leaders? No, I had not. I have not had time. This has been a fast morning. Thank you all very much. What do you intend to call? Let me cover what TikTok you may be interested in and that will conclude it. I don't think there will be any more TikTok discussions. Don Regan has had some discussions over the weekend with a number of individuals and an opportunity to look at a list of recommendations. This list was presented, he's talked to several that were on that list throughout the weekend, including the nominee, and the list was presented to the president in Don Regan's meeting with him this morning, which the vice president, Mike Dever, were present. The president made a decision in that meeting, picked up the phone, called Bill Brock, who was in his garden, and Bill Brock accepted, and the president wished to announce it promptly and did so. Well, that is Regan's choice first. Regan, did he come at the top of the list? I don't know that the list was ranked. Can you tell us that? How many names were on the list? We just won't go into those type of interim discussions. Regan's garden? Regan's garden. Any basic change in the thrust of the administration's labor policies, or can you say this is a continuation of all?