Administration of William J. Clinton, 1996 / May 17

on behalf of a grateful nation, I thank you for Best wishes for a memorable observance. what you have done and continue to do to keep America strong and free. BILL CLINTON

Remarks at a Dinner for Representative Richard A. Gephardt in St. Louis, Missouri May 17, 1996

Thank you very much. August Busch, thank States House of Representatives and enabling you for that introduction. Thank you for your him to help to lead our Democratic Party, the friendship and support. Thank you for all you Democratic caucus in the House, and this coun- do for this community. try. I told a group of people earlier this evening To Representative Bill Clay and Representa- that Dick Gephardt had done a lot for this coun- tive Karen McCarthy, Mayor Freeman Bosley, try, and whenever I met him he always wanted your county executive, Buzz Westfall, ladies and to talk about issues of great national concern gentlemen. I am delighted to be here today. after he has twisted my arm for one more TWA I have been here all day. I have been to a route to somewhere. And believe me, even wonderful high school. I have talked to a lot though I said ‘‘somewhere,’’ I have the list in of wonderful young people. I have been with my pocket; I know exactly what I’m supposed Congressman Gephardt and Mrs. Gephardt as to be lobbying for. [Laughter] we have stormed a bocce ball—or you say bocce I had a wonderful time talking with Dick this here—a bocce ball arena, where I think I better afternoon about the weekends he comes home go back to golf. But I loved playing. and just goes into neighborhoods and knocks In my public life I’ve had an opportunity to on doors to talk to his constituents and ask do a lot of things, but I have never given a them what they think. I must say that one of speech in a domed football stadium before. I the things that I miss about public life since feel that I’d be better off passing or punting becoming President is that I don’t get a chance or something else. But I still feel like it’s first to do that sort of thing so much anymore. down instead of fourth, so I’m going to try to When I sought this office, some of the people get through the talk. on the other side used to make fun of me for I know that St. Louis has done a lot of re- being the Governor of a small Southern State. markable things in the last few years, including Well, I was, and I’m proud that I was. One build this magnificent facility and attract the of the great virtues of that is you got to know Rams here. I know you’re looking forward to your people. And they felt they could call you celebrating the centennial of the World’s Fair by your first name, and they felt they could and the bicentennial of the Louisiana Purchase. share their real feelings with you. And that’s I’m always excited when I come here to the what helps to make democracy work. And I heartland, and I want to congratulate you for hope all of you appreciate just how rare it is what you have done. to see a person who has years of national leader- I feel deeply indebted to the people of Mis- ship experience like Dick Gephardt but never souri for many things, and the people of this forgets the folks back home and always puts fine city. But I want to say a special word of their concerns first. That’s what makes American thanks to those of you who met with my wife democracy work, and I am very grateful for on her recent trip here. She had a wonderful him And I know that you are, too. time; she loved the reception. She sold a few I want to ask you to take just a few minutes of her books, and she came back in a very tonight not so much to listen to me but to good humor. And that’s something I was very kind of listen to yourself. We’re just 4 years grateful for. Thank you. away now from a new century, indeed a new I’d also like to say a special word of thanks millennium. We’re going through a period of to you for keeping Dick Gephardt in the United astonishing change in how we work, how we

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communicate with each other, how we live, how the digital chip is the most significant thing to we relate to the rest of the world. happen in the way people communicate with At a period like this, when everything is each other since Gutenberg printed the first changing, the role of your Government in Wash- Bible in Europe 500 years ago. ington has to change as well. And for the last Now, when I think about that, what I think 31⁄2 years I’ve been trying to find ways to make is that this is an incredible age of possibilities. those changes work for all the American people, Most of us have been able to benefit in some as August said, in a way that creates more op- way or another from this age of possibility; oth- portunity and brings us together as a country. erwise you couldn’t afford to be here for Dick But tonight I want to ask you to answer these tonight. And we owe it to ourselves, to our questions that I have to ask of myself all the children, our grandchildren, and to our country time. Because in this country the people are to think about what kind of age we want to still in the saddle. That’s what a free country pass on to our children. is. That’s what democracies mean. That’s what I have three simple things I want for America elections are for. And in order to make really in the 21st century. I want every child in this good decisions, I think you have to know the country, without regard to their race, their reli- answer to that question. Here this great country gion, their gender, where they grow up or how is, more than 200 years old, the longest lasting much they start out with in life, to have a great democracy in human history, standing on chance to live out their dreams if they’re willing the brink not only of a new century but a whole to work for it. I want this to be a country new era in the way human beings work and that relishes in all of its diversity. Today I was relate to each other. What do you want your in an Italian-American neighborhood in St. country to look like in that new era? Most of Louis, the Hill. I went to a high school where us in this room tonight are adults. We have there were children of many different racial and lived most of our lives in the 20th century, and ethnic groups. The other day I was in New we will leave the 21st century to our children Jersey, in what used to be primarily a white and our grandchildren. What kind of America ethnic neighborhood; it’s still primarily that, but do we want to leave for them? Those are the there were African-American children there, great questions before the American people there were Hispanic-American children there, today. there were children from the Indian subconti- When I look ahead into this next century and nent who are Hindus, there were children from I see that the nature of work is changing and the Middle East who are Muslims. And they the nature of American life is changing more were all there in this American school. than any time in a hundred years, since the All over the world people are consumed with beginning of our own century when we moved fighting each other and keeping each other from being primarily a rural people to being down because of their racial, their ethnic, or more a city people, when we moved from most their religious differences. I have done what I of us making our living on the farms to most could to end those tragedies, from Northern of us making our living either in the factories Ireland to Bosnia to South Africa to the Middle or around factories. Now we’re moving from East. But I know that this country has always a national economy to a global economy, indeed, had a legacy of battling within its own soul, a global society. We’re moving from an indus- when we look at our brothers and sisters who trial economy to one dominated by information are different from us and ask, do we have more and technology in every form of human endeav- in common, or are our differences more impor- or, including agriculture. I don’t know how tant? many farmer friends of mine at home know Now, if you look at this global society in more about computer technology than I do, be- which we are going to live, the diversity of cause that’s how they have to make their judg- America—all these different kinds of people ments about what to plant and how to bring with different languages, different cultures, dif- the crop in. ferent backgrounds, different experiences, dif- The great computer genius who is the head ferent ties to other countries, every country in of Microsoft, Bill Gates, says that the trans- the world Americans have ties to—that is a meal formation in technology we’re undergoing in ticket to the future if we make up our mind communications is the greatest in 500 years, that we’re going into the future together, we’re going

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to be bound together by the values we share, the deficit in America is less than half of what not divided by the differences among us. That it was 4 years ago. It’s the first time the deficit is my second dream for the American people has gone down 4 years in a row since Harry in the 21st century. Truman was President. And if it hadn’t been The final thing is, I hope and pray that we for Dick Gephardt and the Democrats in Con- will not lay down the mantle of leadership in gress, it would not have happened. And he de- the world that is on us now. I know it is burden- serves the credit for it. some. I know many of our fellow Americans The unemployment rate in Missouri when I think that we should not do it. But America took office was 6.2 percent. The last time I has to remain the world’s strongest force for checked it was under 4, because we got the peace and for freedom, for prosperity and for deficit down, interest rates down, and growth security. I am proud of the fact that in the up again. In this country we have 81⁄2 million last 3 years there are no more nuclear weapons more jobs than we had 4 years ago; pointed at the children of America for the first homeownership’s at a 15-year high; we’ve had time since the dawn of the nuclear age. an all-time high of new business formation— But there are still security threats to the chil- self-made, not inherited, millionaires—self- dren of America. There is terrorism. There is made, it’s a good thing—and an all-time high organized crime. There is drug running. There in the sales of American products around the is the proliferation of weapons of destruction, world. chemical and biological weapons. There is the People told me when I became President we threat of global environmental destruction. And could never work out a fairer trade relationship we have to work with our neighbors. And we with Japan. We’ve negotiated 20 separate agree- have to try to get other great, strong countries ments. In those areas, our exports are up 85 to define their greatness in the way we try to percent in 3 years. If it hadn’t been for the define ours, not by whether we can push people support I had in the Congress demanding not around beyond our borders but by what we only free trade but fair trade—that would not stand for and what we believe in and what we have happened if it hadn’t been for Dick Gep- believe free people can do when they work to- hardt and his friends in the Congress and what gether. And this is very important. We cannot they stood for. I appreciate that. America is walk away from that. stronger and better because of those efforts. So that’s what I want: opportunity for all, Four years ago, the Congress had spent 6 a country that is coming together instead of long years bickering about the problem of crime, being divided, and a country that is leading the and our country was being gripped by a wave world to peace, freedom, and prosperity. If we of crime. But people were learning what to do do that, our children will live in the greatest to bring the crime rate down, and a lot of it age of possibility in all human history. was pretty old-fashioned: going back to commu- So the question is, what’s that got to do with nity policing, getting the police out from behind Dick Gephardt? What’s that got to do with the the desks and the cars and on the streets again, House of Representatives? What’s that got to in the schools again, talking to people again, do with the future we all hope to share? I not only catching criminals and closing crack can just give you a couple of examples. houses but preventing crime from occurring. When I became President, the deficit was And we passed a bill that put 100,000 more like a lot of problems that a lot of us have police on the street, that took a serious position in our personal lives: we all say we ought to against domestic violence for the first time and do something about it, but we never got around gave the communities of this country the re- to it. It’s kind of like that diet I keep meaning sources to help deal with that. It stiffened our to go on. And there was no popular way to abilities to break the serious gangs and to deal reduce the deficit and still keep America’s values with the international threat of drugs. We passed intact and fulfill our responsibilities to edu- the Brady bill. We passed a ban on 19 kinds cation, to investment in technology, to the envi- of assault weapons. And a lot of this was very ronment, to the elderly, to those with disabil- controversial. ities, to people who had legitimate needs. But here’s what has happened. The crime rate We couldn’t find a perfectly popular way, but is down in America for 3 years in a row— we did pass a deficit reduction plan. And now and this year it will be down for 4 years in

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a row—the murder rate is down, the robbery We did it in a decent way. Less than one per- rate is down, all serious categories of crime are cent of the people in that 240,000 had to be down. Contrary to what people said who fought separated involuntarily from the Federal Gov- us in the crime bill, there is not a single hunter ernment; everybody else we got an early retire- in Missouri or Arkansas who lost a weapon that ment. We did it by attrition. We gave them they used in duck season or deer season or a generous severance package. We found other hunting anything else in the wide world. But jobs for them. We did it in the way that we I’ll tell you who did lose weapons: 60,000 people ought to handle transitions. with criminal records and bad mental health So, yes, we’ve got a smaller Federal Govern- histories couldn’t buy handguns because we ment. But when they had the 500-year floods passed the Brady bill. And it wouldn’t have hap- along the Mississippi River, in Missouri and pened if it hadn’t been for Dick Gephardt. Iowa and other places, nobody wanted a weak So it makes a difference. What you do tonight Federal Government, they wanted a strong Fed- in helping Dick Gephardt and his allies makes eral Emergency Management Agency to come a difference. They’ve made America a more in here and help to rebuild Missouri and help prosperous place. They’ve made America a more to rebuild all the other places that were dev- secure place. astated. We have a lot more to do. We’re working With most of the new jobs being created in in Washington now on a whole range of things small business, nobody wants a weak Small Busi- to strengthen families, to increase economic op- ness Administration. So we cut the budget by portunity, to say to the working people of this country in this global economy maybe there 25 percent, but we doubled the loan volume won’t be quite as much ability to say, ‘‘I know of the Small Business Administration. I am I’ll have this particular job for my whole work proud of that. That’s the kind of Government life,’’ but at least we owe you the right to get we need. You’re getting more for less, helping a lifetime access to education, lifetime access America to grow stronger. to affordable health care, and lifetime access We rewrote the student loan laws of America to a pension you can carry around with you so that young people who want to go to college if you move from job to job or if you lose and are afraid they can’t afford it can now get your job. That’s the way we can keep the dyna- student loans at lower cost on better repayment mism of the American economy, grow the jobs, terms. And if they get out of college and they and help people who work still raise stable, want to do something that serves the rest of strong families. Those are the kinds of chal- us but doesn’t earn them a lot of money, if lenges we have to meet. they want to teach school or be nurses or work We have to do more to ensure the education as law enforcement officers, they can now pay of our children, its quality, and its opportunity. those loans back as a percentage of their in- We have to do more to protect the environment come, so that no child should ever not go to in ways that grow the economy. We have got college or drop out of college because they are to do more to ensure our position in the world. afraid they can never pay their loans back. That We’ve got to do more, as I told the children is a change that we made thanks to Dick Gep- today here, to fight crime. And to do it we hardt, and it made a difference in the United need a different kind of Government. States of America. Let me tell you something you may not know. So I ask you to think about these things. Under legislation that we passed when Dick was There is so much more to do. I honestly believe the majority leader, we have reduced the size that even in this year, we’ve still got a chance of the Federal Government by 240,000. It is to pass the right sort of balanced budget; to the smallest it has been since Mr. Johnson was pass a good welfare reform plan; to pass the President. By the first of the year, the Federal Kennedy-Kassebaum bill that will say to people, Government will be the smallest it’s been since if you lose your job or someone in your family John Kennedy was the President of the United gets sick, you can still keep your health insur- States of America. We have reduced the size ance. I believe we can do these things. I sure of Federal regulations by 16,000 pages. hope we’ll get a chance to pass an increase But you haven’t heard anything about this, in the minimum wage, so it doesn’t fall to a probably because we did it in a decent way. 40-year low.

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But the main thing I want you to keep in who share a vision and share a strategy for mind is the big picture. If you want more oppor- achieving it. tunity for people who show responsibility, if you And I can tell you that I have worked with want us to come together around our shared Dick Gephardt for years now, and what you values instead of being divided in the old ways, see is what you get. We spent 50 hours together if you want your country to lead the world, in budget negotiations in the quiet of the Oval then we need a Government that is smaller and Office with the Republican leaders of Congress. less bureaucratic, yes, but one that is still strong He never raised his voice. He never lost his enough and committed to a central goal, not temper. He never did anything that you giving things to people but giving them a chance wouldn’t have been very proud of. But he was to make the most of their own lives as citizens, always, always sticking up for the idea that we as workers, as members of families, as members had to balance the budget, but we had to do of communities, as citizens of this great country. it in a way that would grow the economy, en- That’s what we need. And that’s what we’re hance opportunity, bring this country together, working on. And that’s what’s at stake. and leave us all stronger. You would have been So when you go home tonight, think about proud of that. There was never a reporter, never that. Yes, I have worked hard for the economy a camera, never anything public about it. But because I think people need to have a chance his quiet, determined strength impressed me to make a decent living and because I think more even than I had been in the past. that when people work hard they ought to be- So you think about that when you go home lieve they can do a little better every year. But tonight. I hope you’ll be proud you came here. this is about much more than economics. As I hope you’ll think your investment was worth I have said many times, if we’re fortunate it. And I hope, for the rest of this year, for enough, any of us, to know in advance, as a the rest of this decade, which is the rest of gift from God, when the last time we ever put this century, you’ll be asking this question of our head on the pillow is, before we end our yourself and answering it, because America, in life on this Earth, I’ll bet you anything we won’t all probability, will wind up looking like your be thinking about finances. We’ll be thinking vision of it, especially if you work to realize about what we really loved, our families, our it. friends, our children, what we cared about, what Thank you, God bless you, and goodnight. we did that made us proud. I want this to be a country where everybody can feel those things are within their grasp. That’s what I want. And NOTE: The President spoke at 7:25 p.m. at the we can achieve it. But in our system, the Presi- Trans World Dome. In his remarks, he referred dent doesn’t do that alone. In our system, it to August Busch IV, chairman of the board, An- requires people in the United States Congress heuser-Busch Co.

The President’s Radio Address May 18, 1996

Good morning. Four years ago, I challenged productive Federal rules that get in the way America to end welfare as we know it, to re- of reform. quire work, promote responsible parenting, shift Most of the Governors took me up on that the system from dependence to independence. deal. So in the last 3 years, my administration Just a few days after I took office, I met with has granted 38 States welfare reform waivers, the Nation’s 50 Governors, and I urged every clearing away Federal rules and regulations to one of them to send me a welfare reform plan permit States to build effective welfare reforms that would help to meet that challenge. In re- of their own. The State-based reform we’ve en- turn, I pledged to waive outmoded or counter- couraged has brought work and responsibility

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