Remarks at a Rally for Democratic Candidates in Detroit, Michigan
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Administration of William J. Clinton, 1994 / Nov. 1 2215 in population groups like Native Americans a little louder and maybe you can hear. Can that have traditionally been lower income, you hear now? I will do the best I can, and there is no other way to do it in the near you do the best you can. term, apart from dramatically increasing the Mayor Archer, County Executive Ed number of young people whoÐand perhaps MacNamara, Congressman Carr. Folks, Bob not-so-young peopleÐwho go to and finish Carr gave a good speech, and you ought to college. There is no other near-term way for give him a good vote on November the 8th us to turn our society around on this eco- and send him to the United States Senate. nomically. And I hope you will support Howard Wolpe So what I'm really hoping will happen as and Debbie Stabenow. I thank Senator Rie- a result of this direct loan program is that gle, Senator Levin, Congressman Conyers, enrollments will continue to rise dramatically Congressman Ford, Congressman Kildee, and people who do not drop out will continue Congressman Dingell, Congressman Bonior, to drop dramatically, so that our country be- and two people you ought to send to Con- comes a more educated place and our econ- gress, Bob Mitchell and Lynn Rivers, I thank omy will become more powerful and our so- them all for being here. I'm glad to see your ciety will become more equal because people secretary of state, Dick Austin. And I want will be able to compete and win in a global to ask you to support Judge Conrad Mallett, economy. That is the ultimate goal of this who is not here today. I thank the Straight entire enterprise. And from what I've heard Gate Gospel Choir; the Murray Wright High today, I think it's been an effort worth mak- School Band; the Mason Drummer Corps; ing. and Jennifer Holiday, was she great, or what? I thank you all for being here. Ladies and gentlemen, we're a week be- Q. Mr. President, on behalf of the Univer- fore election. There have been some clouds sity of Michigan and our sister institutions, in this election, but they're starting to clear. we want to express our gratitude for your The Sun is coming out. The choice is becom- meeting with us today and sharing in this dis- ing stark and clear and unambiguous. Do we cussion. want to go forward or turn back? Do we want I should point out that the President and to support people who vote for ordinary I had a brief discussion before we came in, Americans or people who just vote for orga- and we've agreed that we are going to ar- nized interest groups? range a little basketball match-up the first [At this point, there was a disruption in the week in April between Arkansas and Michi- audience.] gan out in Seattle. [Laughter] Of course, we've got to do a little bit to get there first. You know, 21 months agoÐlet them talk, The President. That's right. let them talk. Wait, wait a minute. They Q. The rematch. couldn't get a crowd like this. They had to Q. Thank you very much for returning to come to ours. We welcome them here; let Michigan. them come. And we welcome a little free The President. Thank you. speech and debate. If we had more of it, we'd be doing even better in this election. NOTE: The President spoke at approximately Let me ask you something, folks. When 10:40 a.m. at the University of Michigan at Dear- we came here 21 months ago, you elected born. A tape was not available for verification of the content of these remarks. me President to change this country and to move this country forward, to face up to 30 years of social problems, 20 years of eco- Remarks at a Rally for Democratic nomic stagnation, 12 years of their trickle- Candidates in Detroit, Michigan down economics, and 4 years of the worst November 1, 1994 job growth since the Great Depression. We said we could change that, and we've been Thank you so much. Can you hear me in working at it steadily, to make this Govern- the back? Well, I'm doing the best I can. ment work for ordinary people, to get this But if you'll be a little more quiet, I'll be economy going again, to empower people so VerDate 14-MAY-98 09:18 May 28, 1998 Jkt 010199 PO 00001 Frm 00023 Fmt 1244 Sfmt 1244 C:\TERRI\P44NO4.002 INET03 2216 Nov. 1 / Administration of William J. Clinton, 1994 they can compete in this global economy, and and get a good education and not drop out to make this world safer and more secure. and not turn back. In Michigan alone, And I tell you, folks, there are still a lot 580,000 people will be eligible for better of problems in America, but we have made terms on their college loans because of this a very good start. This country is in better administration and its partners in the Con- shape, and we don't need to go back now. gress. If you look at Michigan alone, because of And let me just say this. I noticed that Mr. the work of our administration, with the help Carr's opponent ran a television ad using my of these Members of Congress behind us, voice against him, saying if it hadn't been 11¤2 million workers are now protected by the for him we wouldn't have passed the eco- family and medical leave law, so they can take nomic program. Well, that's why your unem- a little time off when a baby is born or a ployment rate is down; that's why your jobs parent is sick; 400,000 working families with are up; that's why this country is moving for- children in their home got a tax cut so they ward. won't fall into poverty if they're working full But I want to give you another one, and time and raising their kids. You heard the I bet you won't see this in his television ad. mayor talking about the crime bill: more po- If it hadn't been for Bob Carr, we would lice, more prisons, tougher punishment, and never have had the votes to reform the stu- prevention to give our children something to dent loan program; we wouldn't be having say yes to as well as something to say no to. 20 million more Americans eligible for lower We brought down the deficit that the other interest rates, lower costs, better repayment party only talked about. We slashed the bu- terms. If the other fellow had been there, reaucracy they only complained about. We it never would have happened. And that's the cut the regulations that they gagged over but kind of choice we're facing in this election. never did anything about. When we put this economic strategy forward, the Republicans What have they done? They said no to stu- said if it passed, the economy would collapse. dent loan reform. They said no to the crime Well, they were wrong. In 21 months we bill. They said no to family leave. They said have cut the deficit 3 years in a row for the no to the reduction of the deficit. They said first time since Truman was President. We no to economic recovery. That's what they have shrunk the Federal Government, but did. They killed campaign finance reform we have invested more in your jobs, your fu- and lobby reform and the Superfund bill to ture, and we have 4.6 million new jobs in clean up the toxic waste dumps. America. In Michigan, we've seen a 11¤2 per- And now they have told us what they will cent plus drop in the unemployment rate. do if you put them in office. They want to Is there more to do? You bet there is. Yes, take us back, back to trickle-down econom- there is. But if there's more to do, we ought ics; back to massive tax cuts for the wealthy. to keep on doing what we've been doing for They have made you a trillion dollars' worth 21 months, not go back to what worked so of promises. Elect us, they say, and all will poorly for 12 years before. be easy: tax cuts, spending increases, a bal- It was in the last 21 months that we ex- anced budget. Does it sound familiar? panded the Head Start program, that we Their contract on America doesn't say passed a law to immunize all the kids in this much about how they're going to pay for this. country under the age of 2 by 1996, that we But they do say that if you give them power, passed laws to have apprenticeship programs they will cut $9 billion worth of college loans all over this country to help people who don't for over 3 million students. We ought to be want to go to college move from school to sending more people to college, not less peo- work into good jobs, not dead-end jobs. ple. Vote for the Democrats, and keep this We passed the reform in the student loan country moving forward. laws to provide for lower cost, longer repay- Listen to this.