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Remarks to the Service Employees International Union Convention April 24, 1996

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Remarks to the Service Employees International Union Convention April 24, 1996 Administration of William J. Clinton, 1996 / Apr. 24 parties. But the United States is working hard. Q. Mr. President, the view in Lebanon and And I can't set a timetable on it, but it could in the Arab world is that your administration be done before too long if we can reestablish was very slow in intervening to stop the carnage the peace. But first of all, we have to stop last week, that the United States had not even the killing. sent condolences to the victims, to the families of the victims, until it was too late. What is Middle East Peace Process your view of this? Q. Mr. President, on what basis do you ask President Clinton. Well, all I can tell you is, for a cease-fire? the moment I heard about the fighting, I in- President Clinton. We ask for a cease-fire, structed the Secretary of State to immediately first of all, on strictly humanitarian termsÐthat try to achieve an end to it and to protect the the people who are being hurt by this, starting lives of the people involvedÐthe minute I heard when the shelling started 6 weeks ago, are inno- about it. cent civilians on both sides of the border and We wereÐas you know, our whole foreign that all these people who are being dislocated, policy team was in the Far East. And I in- the people who have died, they're not a part structed the Secretary of State to leave our mis- of the larger fight that's going on here. sionÐwe were going to Russia for the nuclear We, first of all, want to reestablish peace. summitÐand fly directly to the Middle East Secondly, we want to do what we can to help to try to reestablish a cease-fire and stop the Lebanon deal with the problems of the refugees. killing. And as soon as I had an opportunity The third thing we want is an arrangement so to publicly comment on it, I expressed my pro- that the violence doesn't recur. And thenÐ found condolences to the people who were thenÐwe want to go back to the peace process. killedÐthe minute, the first opportunity I had We do support U.N. Resolution 425. We do to say something about it. support the sovereignty of Lebanon. We don't I am sorry that the people feel that way, think there should be any foreign troops in Leb- but the important thing is to stop others from anon. But history has shown us, from our point being killed and help people put their lives back of view, at least, that the only way to achieve together and restore some sense of normalcy that is to get a comprehensive peace in the and peace. And that's what I'm trying to do. Middle East. And I have worked very hard for that. I have tried to be an honest arbiter, if you will, of the positions of both sides. I have NOTE: The President spoke at 9:55 a.m. in the done everything I could to that end, and we Oval Office at the White House. A tape was not are still working. And we will continue to work available for verification of the content of these for that. remarks. Remarks to the Service Employees International Union Convention April 24, 1996 Thank you for that wonderful welcome, and enjoyed his speech, and I thank him for his thank you, Dick, for that fine introduction. I work on your behalf. really enjoyed working with you, and I want And finally, let me thank SEIU for one of to congratulate you on the many years of service its greatest gifts to America, John Sweeney. Be- you have given to your great union. I look for- cause of John's leadership, and because of your ward to working with your new president, Andy commitment, labor is back. I know in this polit- Stern. I know he has also made a tremendous ical season some people aren't too happy about contribution as your organizing director, and I that, but I am delighted. I am proud that in wish him every success. 1996 the voice of organized labor, the voice I want to also acknowledge your secretary- of working men and women from all across our treasurer, Betty Bednarczyk, and my wonderful country, will be heard in our national debate. Secretary of Labor Bob Reich. I know that you 625 VerDate 06-OCT-99 14:02 Oct 11, 1999 Jkt 010199 PO 00001 Frm 00625 Fmt 1240 Sfmt 1240 C:\96PUBP~1\PAP_TEXT txed01 PsN: txed01 Apr. 24 / Administration of William J. Clinton, 1996 I welcome your voice. America needs to hear in homeownership, and we have finally halted it. And I promise you this: You will be heard. the decade-long slide in real hourly earnings. You know, in a way, it's hard to believe that But let's face it, we all know this is a record SEIU is celebrating its 75th anniversary, for you to be proud of, but to build on, not to sit stand out as America's most dynamic and inno- on. Too many Americans still are working harder vative union, a shining example of labor's revival. just to hold on. We have to do more. We have Not only has SEIU given renewed hope for to continue to focus on the concerns of working millions of union members, you've also pio- Americans, the concerns they have about their neered new ways to organize both workers in own families' economic security at a time when low-wage industries and workers in fast-growing the country is undergoing profound economic industries like health care. transformation, a transformation every bit as mo- Of course, we all know your contributions to mentous as the shift from farms to factories America stretch far beyond collective bargaining. a century ago. From civil rights and family and medical leave As I said in the State of the Union, one to the minimum wage and the fight to save of the main challenges we face is to make sure Medicare and Medicaid, SEIU has been a lead- that this new economy with all of its opportunity er in the struggle to achieve economic and social doesn't leave behind people who are willing to progress for all Americans. work for their own opportunities. We need to In many ways, we're on a shared mission. make sure that every American can be a winner Four years ago our economy was drifting with in this time of economic change, to make sure high unemployment, a deficit twice as high as that every American has access to education and it is now, and very few new jobs. I took office training and good health care and secure pen- determined to change our course, to cut the sions. And we absolutely have to get wages ris- deficit in half in 4 years, to invest in education ing again in our country. We have got to do and training, to shrink and reform the Govern- that for working people and working families. ment so that it works better and costs less. Our That's why I fought for the passage of the Government is now the smallest it's been since Family and Medical Leave Act. That's why we 1965, but it's still strong enough to protect have dramatically expanded the earned-income workplace safety, pure food, clean air and water, tax credit, to give tax cuts to more than 15 to help Americans to get the education and million working families with incomes under training they need, to help grow the economy $28,000. That's why just after I took office I and to protect our seniors through Medicare. swept away my predecessor's anti-worker, anti- And I'm proud of that strength. You helped union Executive orders. And that's why, with to get it there, and you helped to keep it there, an Executive order of our own last spring, this and I thank you very much. administration said in no uncertain terms we In 1992, I told the American people that if will not allow companies who replace striking we carried out our economic plan, two things workers permanently to do business with our would happen, we'd get 8 million new jobs and Government. I also want you to know that I the deficit would be cut in half. Well, just a directed the Justice Department to take all ap- couple of weeks ago, we learned that our econ- propriate steps to overturn a recent court deci- omy has already created 8.5 million new jobs, sion blocking that Executive order. nearly all of them in the private sector. And Now unfortunately, for the past year you and last month the Congressional Budget Office said I have been trying to work with a Congress that by the end of this year the deficit will that didn't always see eye to eye with us when be less than half of what it was when I took it came to putting in place an agenda that would office. Over 8 million new jobs; the deficit cut make the American dream accessible to all in half. Americans. I'm proud to say that in these battles Those are two important commitments you we've had with Congress we've more than held helped me keep to the American people. We our own. Not only have we managed to stall also have the lowest combined rates of unem- or defeat practically every major attack on ployment and inflation in 27 years.
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