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�Bill and Debbie Fish^>aginaw,JH^
Bill Fish works in production for Saginaw Ball and Screw. Early this spring, his wife,
^~ O O l ^
Debbie,
Thanks to FMLA, Bill was able to take
time off to drive her to the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, 85 miles away, where
Clinton Library Photocopy
�£'6
a. p
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�THE CLINTON RECORD ON CRIME
FALSE CLAIM: The Clinton Administration doesn't understand the crime problem. The President
knows what to say, but he doesn't grasp what needs to get down.
THE FACTS: Over the past three years, the Clinton Administration has made tremendous progress
in bringing crime and drug abuse under control. The violent crime and murder rates across the
country are falling, tens of thousands of criminals have been prevented from buying guns, and nearly
20,000 new police are on the street. President Clinton is committed to stopping any attempts to roll
back the progress we have made in reducing crime and will continue in his efforts to put more cops
on the beat and take guns, drugs, and gangs off the streets.
The Toughest, Smartest Crime Bill Ever. After six years of gridlock. President Clinton
passed the toughest, most comprehensive Crime Bill in the nation's history. It passed with the
strong support of every major law enforcement organization in the country, including the
Fraternal Order of Police and the National Sheriffs Association, as well as prosecutors,
m a y o r s , a n d State a n d lOCal O f f i c i a l s . [Source: Department of Justice]
More Police Are on the Street. The President's plan to put 100,000 more police on the
streets is working. Already, almost 20,000 new police are on the streets of America's
communities and more than 44,000 additional officers have been funded. This represents the
federal government's largest commitment ever to local law enforcement. Every major law
enforcement organization has expressed support for the Crime Bill's COPS program. [Source:
Dept. of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, 7/96]
Taking Deadly Assault Weapons off the Streets. The Crime Bill banned the manufacture
and importation of 19 of the deadliest assault weapons and their copies while specifically
protecting more than 650 legitimate sporting weapons. Already, in just one year since the ban
took effect, the number of assault weapons traced has dropped 18%. [Source: Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco
and Firearms, Firearms Traced for the Period September Tlirough September for Years 1992-1993, 1993-1994. 1994-19951
•
Keeping Guns Out of the Hands of Criminals. President Clinton stood up to the gun lobby
and won passage of the Brady Bill which provides for a 5-day waiting period and background
checks of prospective handgun buyers. In the two years since its enactment, the Brady Law
has stopped more than 60,000 fugitives and felons and other criminals from purchasing
h a n d g u n s . [Source: Secretary Rubin and Attorney General Reno, Statement on Second Anniversary of Brady Bill, 2/28/96]
Tougher Laws and More Prisons. The Crime Bill provides for:
A targeted "Three-Strikes-and-You're-Out" provision to put career violent offenders
behind bars for life.
An expanded death penalty for drug kingpins, murderers of federal law enforcement
officers and nearly 60 additional categories of violent crime.
Funding for 100,000 more prison cells to help states to ensure that violent offenders
Serve t h e i r f u l l Sentences. [The Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994]
Increased penalties for sex offenders and a registration requirement for violent sexual
offenders.
1994. 9/13/95]
[Source: The Attorney General's Report to the President: The First Year of the Violent Crime Control Act of
Fighting to End Domestic Violence. The Clinton Administration has done more than any
other Administration in history to fight violence against women, domestic violence and sexual
abuse. The Crime Bill's Violence Against Women Act combines tough new penalties with
p r o g r a m s tO p r o s e c u t e O f f e n d e r s a n d h e l p w o m e n v i c t i m s . [Department of Justice, Violence Against Women Office]
�FALSE C L A I M : The Clinton Crime Bill was oversold and is seriously flawed.
THE FACTS: The President's tough action to fight crime is working. Violent crime rates across
the country are down after four years of increases before President Clinton took office. The rate of
reported violent crimes has fallen each year of the Clinton Administration — the first three-year
C o n s e c u t i v e decrease Since 1982.
[Federal Bureau of Inveslieation. Crime in the United States. 11/19/951
Crime is Down Across the Country — This is No Time to Turn Back
The number of murders fell 8% in 1995 — one of the largest decreases in more than 30
years.
[Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation Release, May 5, 1996]
The nation's largest cities saw their overall crime fall 6% during the same period. [Source:
FBI Release, May 5, 1996]
The number of crimes reported to police has fallen 5% since 1992. [Source: Department of Justice,
Bureau of Justice Statistics]
The number of violent crimes reported to police has fallen 7.4% since 1992. [Source:
Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics]
The number of murders fell 25% in New York City, 11% in Chicago, and 19% in San
DiegO in 1995.
[Source: FBI, Uniformed Crime Report, May 5, 1996]
MAYORS, P O L I C E C H I E F S AND COPS ON T H E FRONT LINES A R E STANDING UP
FOR PRESIDENT'S C R I M E FIGHTING P O L I C I E S
Dewey Stokes. National President of Fraternal Order of Police, 2/6/95: "...In the interest of
public safety and officer safety, we strongly support the assault weapons ban contained in the
Crime Bill which you signed on September 13, 1994."
Mayor Victor Ashe. President. U.S. Conference of Mayors. 2/1/95: "I would like lo
congratulate you on the outstanding job which the Department of Justice has done in
implementing the 1994 crime act ... We strongly support the COPS Program."
Charles Meeks. National Sheriffs' Association: "7 am writing in support of the continuation
of the COPS Program enacted in the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of
1994 ... This program of policing, will go a long way in helping to reduce crime in our
counties."
Patrolman John Greg says that his neighborhood in Sharon, PA, "has quieted down
immensely" and "that the biggest measure [of the precinct's] success is you have the kids out
playing again and you have people sitting on their front porches again." [Source: Herald, 7/15/95]
Police Commissioner Michael Carpentieri of the village of Pawling says, "/ was not only
impressed at the speed, but happy with the way they handled it. No bureaucracy, and it was
cptick and decisive. This is the first lime money flowed from a bill so quickly." [Poughkeepsie
Journal, 2/9/95]
�FALSE CLAIM: Clinton's Crime Bill is not tough on crime. It has about $7 billion worth of
ineffective social programs like Midnight Basketball and dance programs.
THE FACTS: That simply is not true. The Crime Bill includes:
100,000 New Police. Putting 100,000 new police on America's streets ahead of schedule.
which is already helping reduce crime across the country.
Expanded death penalty. Includes the death penalty for drug kingpins and murderers of
law enforcement officers.
Tougher Punishment. It increased penalties for sex offenders and imposed a registration
requirement for violent sexual offenders.
"Three-Strikes-and-You're-Out." Targeted career violent offenders with a "ThreeStrikes-and-You're-Out" policy that keep them behind bars for life after the third offense.
Since its enactment, 16 career criminals in thirteen states [check] have either been
sentenced to life in prison under the Three Strikes provision, or are awaiting sentencing or
trial. [Source: Department of Justice]
More Prison Cells. Provides funding for 100,000 prison cells to help states ensure that
v i o l e n t o f f e n d e r s Serve t h e i r f u l l Sentences.
[The Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994]
Most Comprehensive Provisions to Fight Violence Against Women. Included a firstever Violence Against Women Act which triples funding for battered women's shelters
and already has provided $26 million in state grants to bolster law enforcement,
p r o s e c u t i o n a n d v i c t i m s S e r v i c e s . [Source: Department of Justice, Violence Against Women Office]
The Crime Bill is giving states and cities the resources they need to fight crime. But it is
also giving children hope before they enter into a life of crime. So while Republicans tried to
dramatically cut funding for the Safe and Drug-Free Schools Act, the Crime Bill:
Community Schools Program. Created the Community Schools Program, which
promotes constructive alternatives for young people after school, in the evening, on
weekends, and during the summer to prevent involvement in and the victimization of
crime.
Boys and Girls Clubs of America. Providing resources to the Boys and Girls Clubs
of America to establish and enhance more than 300 new clubs this year throughout the
United States. These Clubs are situated in at-risk communities and are expected to
reach 100,000 kids through violence prevention and reduction, educational and health
p r o g r a m s a n d y O U t h l e a d e r s h i p d e v e l o p m e n t . [Source: Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance
Fact Sheet, Boys & Girls Clubs of America. 10/95, updated 7/30/95]
D.A.R.E. Supported the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program which is
equipping elementary, middle and high school students with the skills to resist drugs,
violence and gangs. More than 27,000 community-oriented police officers from 7,000
communities have taught the D.A.R.E. curriculum to more than 25 million elementary
school students. [Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics Fact Sheet, Drug Abuse Resistance Education
(D.A.R.E.), 9/95]
National Citizens' Crime Prevention Campaign. Supported the National Citizens
Crime Prevention Campaign which is helping residents of urban and rural communities
to fight crime, violence and drug use by allowing law enforcement authorities and
residents across the nation to share information about effective crime prevention
methods. One component of the campaign includes public service announcements,
with the campaign's symbol, McGniff (he Crime Dog. Efforts like these are providing
information that generates both a community and an individual sense of responsibility
for preventing crime.
[Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics Fact Sheet, National Citizens' Crime
�Prevention Campaign. 11/95]
National Night Out. Supported community-based, law-enforcement affiliated crime
prevention activities, like National Night Out, which creates community support for
anti-crime and anti-drug abuse prevention activities, as well as a high level of
community participation. In 1995, a record 28 million people representing 8,800
communities in all 50 states participated in the National Night Out. This year, 9,000
communities across America are expected to participate. [Department of justice, B r a of justice
ue u
Assistance Fact, National Night Out: A Community-Police Partnership Program, 11/95, updated 7/30/95]
�FALSE C L A I M : The Clinton Administration does not deserve any credit for crime rate reductions.
Crime rates have fallen because incarceration rates are increasing. The total estimated correctional
population (probation, jail, parole, etc.) has risen 7.8% since 1992.
THE FACTS: Violent crime across the country has fallen in each and every year since President
Clinton took office -- the first time the violent crime rate has fallen three years in a row since 1982.
Yet, for four years before the President took office, the violent crime rate increased. The Crime Bill
and the Brady Bill are two major reasons why we are finally seeing crime fall across the country.
[Federal Bureau of Investigation, Crime in the United States. 11/19/95]
•
Community Policing is Working. In city after city across America, crime is down.
it
"Backed by residents, community policing has cut crime in some of Americas
toughest neighborhoods, such as Englewood in Chicago and the Bronx in New
York, as well as among the most crime-prone age groups." [Source: christian science
Monitor, 7/20/95]
^
"Community Policing works, and promoting it is one small thing Washington
Can d o r i g h t i n the f i g h t a g a i n s t C r i m e . "
if
[Source: Gerald Seib, Wall Street Journal, 9/13/95]
"The decline [in crime] can be explained in part by policy-driven
enforcement effort that capitalize on community crime-fighting
i n i t i a t i v e s a n d t a k e the b a d g u y s O f f the Streets. "
University,in Wall Street Journal, 9/6/95]
law
[Source: John Dilulio Jr., Princeton
Tougher Laws are Putting More Criminals Behind Bars. With the passage of the
Crime Bill, tough action replaced tough talk, giving communities the tools to prosecute
and punish more criminals than ever before.
*
Three Strikes-And-YouYe Out. The Crime Bill made "Three-Strikes" the law
of the land. Prosecutors are using this provision to target the small number of
violent, repeat offenders who commit a great deal of the crime in this country.
Taking Violent Criminals Off of America's Streets and into Prison for Good
Thomas Farmer was sentenced to a mandatory life sentence without possibility of parole
under the President's "Three Strikes" law for his part in the armed robbery of an Iowa
supermarket. Farmer had urged his accomplices to kill a store employee who was unable
to open the store's safe. He had previously been convicted in 1971 of second degree
murder, in 1979 of robbery, which he committed while on parole; and in, 1983 of
murdering a fellow inmate. Had Farmer been prosecuted in state court, he might have
been eligible for parole in just two and one-half years.
Clayton James Phillips was sentenced to hvo concurrent life sentences without parole for
the armed robbery of hvo St. Mary Parish, Louisiana post offices under "Three Strikes."
Phillips had been convicted in state court in 1978 of armed robbery and again in 1989 of
attempted first degree murder. Phillips also was sentenced to an additional, consecutive
25 year sentence for being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm.
�Keeping Guns Out of the Hands of Criminals. The President stood up to the gun lobby
and won passage of the Brady Bill which has already stopped more than 60,000 fugitives,
f e l o n s a n d Other C r i m i n a l s f r o m b u y i n g h a n d g u n s .
on Second Anniversary of Brady Bill, 2/28/96]
[Source: Secretary Rubin and Anomey General Reno, Statement
The Brady Law is Making a Difference
In February 1996, a Brady background check prevented Randy Eddy, under a restraining
order for murder threats made against his estranged wife, from buying a handgun from a
Wichita County, Kansas gun dealer.
In October 1995, a Brady background check prevented Edward Johnson, a convicted
murderer, from purchasing a handgun in Dekalb County, Georgia.
In April 1995, a Brady background check helped law enforcement officers apprehend
Rodney Wharton, a convicted heroin trafficker and fugitive, as he attempted to buy a
handgun in Blair County, Pennsylvania. It was later determined that before the Brady
Law, Wharton had successfully purchased at least seven other guns without being
challenged and traded them to support his crack addiction.
FALSE CLAIM: If President Clinton was really serious in fighting crime, he wouldn't have vetoed
a tough anti-crime bill.
THE FACTS: The President vetoed the Republican attempt to gut proven crime fighting programs
because it represented an unacceptable retreat in the fight against crime and drugs. That bill was a
step back, not a step forward.
No New Police on Our Streets. It tried to eliminate the plan to put 100,000 new police on
the street. Instead, the bill's block grant would not have guaranteed a single new police
o f f i c e r On A m e r i c a ' s Streets. [Source: President's Veto Message Re: Commerce, Justice, State Appropriations, 12/19/95]
It abolished the Drug Court Program. Drug Courts are a proven success in breaking the
cycle of crime and drugs by stripping drug users of their addiction to controlled substances
a n d t h e r e b y e n d i n g t h e i r a d d i c t i o n tO C r i m e .
Appropriations, 12/19/95]
•
[Source: President's Veto Message Re: Commerce, Justice, State
It Cut Funding for the Federal Drug Enforcement Efforts. The Republican bill cut $5
million from the President's request for the Drug Enforcement Agency and also cut federal
law enforcement task forces (OCEDTF) of FBI, DEA, and Treasury agents who are busting
drug traffickers. This bill also cut funds for the FBI, U.S. Marshals, drug prosecutors, Bureau
o f P r i s o n s a n d Other d r u g f i g h t i n g resources.
Appropriations, 12/19/95]
[Source: President's Veto Message Re: Commerce, Justice, State
�FALSE CLAIM: This Administration has not provided the leadership the country needs in the fight
against crime.
THE FACTS: Under President Clinton's leadership, we passed the toughest, most comprehensive
Crime Bill ever after six years of gridlock. The President stood up to the gun lobby and won
passage of the Brady Bill, which has prevented over 60,000 fugitives, felons and other criminals
from purchasing guns. We've enacted an Assault Weapons Ban, which is taking 19 of the deadliest
assault weapons and their copies off of America's streets. This Administration has also provided:
•
Unprecedented Federal Support. Directed more federal resources to the state and local
level to help them fight crime than any other administration in history. [FY95, FY96 and F 9 Budgets,
Y7
Department of Justice funded)
First-Ever National Police Program. Created the Community Oriented Policing Program
which is putting 100,000 new police on America's streets ahead of schedule and is already
helping to reduce crime across the country. The COPS program represents a 20% increase in
t h e n a t i o n s ' p o l i c e f o r c e l e v e l s . [Source: Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, 7/96]
First-Ever Violence Against Women Act. Won passage of the Violence Against Women
Act which tripled funding for battered women's shelters; bolstered local law enforcement,
prosecution and victims' services to better address violence against women through $26
million in state grants; created National Domestic Violent Hotline. The Act also established
the first Violence Against Women office at the Department of Justice. [Source: D p rm n of Justice,
e at e t
Violence Against Women Office]
First-Ever Prison State Grant Program. Authorized nearly $8 billion to states to build and
expand prisons. In FY96, the Justice Department will give out approximately $400 million
f o r p r i s o n c o n s t r u c t i o n g r a n t s tO States. [Source: Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994]
First-Ever State Criminal Alien Assistance Program. Directed more funding to states to
help them incarcerate dangerous undocumented criminal aliens than any other administration.
[Source: Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994]
First-Ever Drug Court Program. Providing nonviolent, substance-abusing adult and
juvenile offenders with sanctions and services necessary to change their destructive behaviors
and keep them from cycling through our courts, jails, and probations systems. Drug Courts
are a tough, effective and popular alternative to incarceration for non-violent offenders. The
Justice Department has already granted 64 grants in 34 states to design, implement and
e n h a n c e t h e i r O w n D r u g C o u r t s . [Source: Department of Justice, Drug Courts Program Office Fact Sheet, 5/96]
First-Ever Boot Camp Program. Providing prosecutors and the courts with a viable
sentencing solution for youthful offenders by placing them in a military-style atmosphere that
instills self-discipline and provides physical conditioning that was lacking in their lives, while
freeing up conventional prison, jail and juvenile corrections space for violent offenders. The
Justice Department has already awarded 43 grants to 27 states and three territories to plan and
build B o o t Camps.
[Source: Department of Justice]
�FALSE CLAIM: Juvenile crime is up substantially since President Clinton has been in office. We
need to start getting tough with juvenile criminals. The President's policies are not tough enough to
meet the growing problem of juvenile crime.
THE FACTS: Juvenile crime is down under President Clinton. The juvenile crime arrest rate
decreased 2.9% in 1995 — the first decline in seven years. The juvenile murder arrest rate declined
15.2% last year — the largest one year decrease in more than 10 years. Since 1993, the juvenile
m u r d e r r a t e has d r o p p e d an i n c r e d i b l e 2 2 . 8 % .
[Department of Justice, 1995 Uniform Crime Report, 8/8/96]
These are positive signs — but we still have a long way to go in our efforts to reduce youth violence.
This President is working hard to get children off the streets and into the classroom or home. We
can reach kids before they turn to a life of crime. But while working to keep kids off the streets and
out of a life of crime, the President is calling for the prosecution of juvenile offenders as adults
— juveniles who commit adult crimes should face adult consequences.
Keeping Kids In School and Out of Harms Way
Safe and Drug-Free Schools Act. Strengthened and expanded the Safe and Drug-Free
School Act, which provides school security, drug prevention and education programs in 97%
of America's school districts. The President successfully fought off an attempt by
Congressional Republicans to dramatically cut the Safe and Drug-Free Schools program.
[Source: Based on House-passed FY96 Labor/HHS Appropriations Bill; Department of Education release 2/9/96]
School Uniforms. Encouraged school to adopt school uniform policies, which promote
discipline and respect, and developed a manual to be distributed to 16,000 school districts to
assist them in establishing these policies.
Curfews. Encouraged cities across the country to adopt curfew programs to decrease juvenile
delinquency and victimization. Curfews, when backed up by a community of support and are
part of a larger plan to help fight juvenile crime, can play an important role in keeping our
children safe.
Truancy Programs. Providing $10 million in grants to schools and community groups to
design and operate their own truancy programs to keep our children in school and off the
streets -- out of harms way.
Youth Crime Interdiction. Working with 17 cities and their police chiefs, local prosecutors,
and federal investigators and prosecutors to trace firearms found on youths back to the crime
gun traffickers. For the first time, every time a gun is used in a crime and seized by law
enforcement, it will be tracked through a national tracing system. Law enforcement will use
that trace information to help identify and local illegal gun traffickers who, especially, peddle
guns to kids.
Getting Tough on Juvenile Offenders Who Continue to Test the System
"Zero Tolerance" Gun Policy. Keeping dangerous weapons out of our children's classrooms
by enforcing a "Zero Tolerance" gun policy in schools.
National Gang Tracking Network. Announced funding for the first step of a National Gang
Tracking Network. This computerized network will provide federal, state, local and
municipal law enforcement agencies with the ability to share and exchange gang information
quickly and efficiently.
Juvenile Violence and Anti-Drug Legislative Package. President Clinton has sent
legislative proposals to Congress to help stop the rise of youth violence and drug use,
including:
*
*
*
*
*
[Anti-Gang and Youth Crime Control Act of 1996]
Trying juvenile offenders as adults for violent and drug crimes
A first-ever national strategy to stop the spread of methamphetamine
Reinstating the ban on guns in schools
A $75 million grant program for juvenile drug and gun courts
Increasing the penalties for drug dealers who sell drugs to children, or use children to
sell drugs
�100.000 POLICE
FALSE CLAIM: President Clinton has not put anywhere close to 100,000 police on the street. The
Administration has grossly exaggerated the number of actual police on the street.
THE FACTS: We are keeping our promise to add 100,000 new police on the street. This increase
will represent an almost 20% increase in the nation's police force levels when fully implemented.
Critics said the Clinton Administration would never fund even 20,000 cops in six years. Yet, in just
two years, nearly 20,000 new police are on the beat in America's communities and funding for more
than 44,000 additional police has been approved. This is unprecedented federal, state and local
cooperation to give communities the crime-fighting resources they need, [source: D p rm n of Justice, office of
e at e t
Community Oriented Policing Services, 7/96]
We're Ahead of Schedule. The funding of 44,000 additional police by July 1996 is
actually ahead of schedule as originally mandated by the Crime Bill which was passed
by a bipartisan m a j o r i t y i n Congress.
Services, 7/96]
[Source: Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing
We're Working Hard to Put the Most Qualified and Well-Trained Police on the
Street. Some conveniently forget that it does take time to find qualified professionals
to be community policing officers, to engage in necessary background checks and to
rigorously train these crime-fighters.
The COPS Program is Already Making a Difference in America's Communities
Charles Meeks. National Sheriffs' Association: "/ am writing in support of the
continuation of the COPS Program enacted in the Violent Crime Control and Law
Enforcement Act of 1994 ... This program of policing, will go a long way in helping to
reduce crime in our counties."
"Backed by residents, community policing has cut crime in some of Americas toughest
neighborhoods, such as Englewood in Chicago and the Bronx in New York, as well as
a m o n g t h e niOSt C r i m e - p r o n e a g e g r o u p s . " [Source: Christian Science Monitor, 7/20/95]
"Community Policing works, and promoting it is one small thing Washington can do right
i n the f i g h t a g a i n s t Chnie. "
[Source: Gerald Seib, Wall Street Journal, 9/13/95]
FALSE CLAIM: Nearly 60 percent of eligible communities chose not to apply for the COPS
program, citing their inability to pick up the cost of the program after the three-year grant comes to
an end. This program is just another unfunded federal mandate.
THE FACTS: The widespread impact of the COPS program is obvious to almost everyone. In less
than two years, COPS grants have been awarded to more than half the policing agencies in the
United States. As a result, the over 44,000 officers already funded will be serving 87% of the
American public. Furthermore, the COPS office has outstanding requests for more than 4,000 law
enforcement agencies for over 20,000 additional community policing officers. [Source: D p rm n of Justice,
e at e t
Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, 5/24/96]
This is not an unfunded mandate. Localities have the option of participating in the COPS program.
The federal government does not force them to apply. But over half of all law enforcement agencies
in the country did choose to apply and now have new police on their streets. [Source: D p rm n of Justice,
e at e t
Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, 5/24/96]
�FALSE CLAIM: Clinton's COPS program is just another example of wasteful bureaucratic
spending.
THE FACTS: Not one tax dollar was raised to pay for putting 100,000 police on the street or for
any other program or initiative in the Crime Bill. In fact, every new officer on the street is paid
through the Violent Crime Reduction Trust Fund — money saved by the President's efforts to cut the
f e d e r a l w o r k f o r c e b y Over 2 3 0 , 0 0 0 .
•
[Source: Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, 5/24/96]
No New Cops. The Republican's so-called crime bill eliminates the President's plan to put
100,000 new police on the street. Instead, the bill's block grant would not have guaranteed a
single new police officer. The last time block grants were made available to states, some
funds were misused and wasted to purchase goods and materials which were dubiously related
tO f i g h t i n g C r i m e , SUCh as C o n s u l t a n t s , Cars a n d tanks.[President's Veto Message Re: Commerce, Justice, State
Appropriations, 12/19/95] [ n e e d misUSC c i t e ]
if
Chief Steve Olson, Cottage Grove. Wisconsin Police Department: This is the first
time in my 17-year career that I have seen the federal government put together a
program that helped small police agencies that did not bury the department in
papenvork and had a reasonable turn around period. [Source: The Attorney General's Report to the
President: The First Year of the Violent Crime Control Act of 1994, 9/13/95]
if
Robert Scully. Executive Director. National Association of Police Organizations: "Our
members find the COPS office to be one of the most efficient government programs in
existence. One example of the COPS office's unprecedented proficiency can be found
in the application for law enforcement agencies with jurisdictions under 50,000
residents and no resources to fill out bureaucratic documents — the application was
j u s t One p a g e . "
[Source: Letter to Rep. Bill McCollum, House Subcommittee on Crime, 12/4/95]
! *
The Clinton Administration has directed more resources at the state and local level to help
cities fight crime than any other Administration in history. [Source: FY 95, F 9 and F 9 Budgets,
Y6
Y7
I
Department of Justice Funded]
j
FALSE CLAIM: The few Clinton cops that are out there, aren't even patrolling the streets, but
parks and marine sanctuaries or coral reefs, instead. This is not crime-fighting.
THE FACTS: This is nonsense. No Clinton cops are guarding coral reefs. Less than two-tenths of
one percent of the number of new police funded through the Crime Bill patrol parks. And, the few
that do patrol camps are protecting campers, hikers, boaters and families simply enjoying a day at the
park. These are sworn law enforcement officers who have full arrest authority. They are serving a
Vital f u n c t i o n .
[Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services]
Unfortunately, Violent Crime Does Occur in our Parks. In 1993, a young child
was brutally killed at a campsite in a Florida park. Recently, two women were
murdered in Shenandoah National Park in Virginia. It is these types of violence that
Park Patrol guards against, as it seeks to ensure that state parks are safe and secure.
*
Senator Dole recently visited Redondo Beach, CA to praise community
policing efforts in ridding Perry Park of criminals and drug dealers.
*
The 1996 Florida State Law Enforcement Officer of the Year was a marine
patrol officer who was involved in a shooting outside Miami.
�BRADY LAW
FALSE C L A I M : The Brady Law and gun control, in general, does not stop crime. It's ineffective.
THE FACTS: I f it wasn't for the Brady Law, an additional 60,000 fugitives, felons and other
C r i m i n a l s W O U l d b e W a l k i n g t h e Streets O f A m e r i c a w i t h h a n d g u n s . [Source: Secretary Rubin and Attorney General
Reno, Statement on Second Anniversary of Brady Bill, 2/28/96]
Brady Law Moves Towards Instant Check. Right now, the Brady Law provides for a
5-day waiting period and background check on prospective handgun buyers, it requires that a
National Instant Criminal Background Check System be established by November 1988. The
Crime Bill authorized $200 million to help states upgrade their criminal history records.
Before this funding, few states had the resources to develop their own instant check system.
In February 1996, a Brady background check prevented Randy Eddy, under a restraining
order for murder threats made against his estranged wife, from buying a handgun from a
Wichita County, Kansas gun dealer.
In October 1995, a Brady background check prevented Edward Johnson, a convicted
murderer, from purchasing a handgun in Dekalb County, Georgia.
In April 1995, a Brady background check helped law enforcement officers apprehend
Rodney Wharton, a convicted heroin trafficker and fugitive, as he attempted to buy a
handgun in Blair County, Pennsylvania. It was later determined that before the Brady
Law, Wharton had successfully purchased at least seven other guns without being
challenged and traded them to support his crack addiction.
Law Enforcement Leaders Support the Brady Law.
if
Gilbert Gallegos, National President of the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP): "// is
clear on this second anniversary of the Brady Act that the waiting period has
prevented thousands of criminals from obtaining firearms and has saved lives.
Members of the FOP continue to be impressed with the cooperation between the ATF
and local law enforcement in implementing the Brady Act."
if
David Walchak. President, International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP): "The
IACP strongly pushed for Congress lo pass legislation allowing for a five-day waiting
period to conduct thorough background checks on all prospective handgun purchasers.
The IACP continues to strongly support the Brady Act."
J. Tom Morgan. District Attorney. DeKalb County. GA: "/ believe the Brady Bill has
reduced the number of crimes those felons would have committed. It shows criminals
do go to stores lo buy guns, and they obviously don't buy handguns to go duck
hunting. "
[Source: New York Times, 3/12/95]
�ASSAULT WEAPONS BAN
FALSE CLAIM: The Assault Weapons Ban is not taking assault weapons off the streets.
Manufacturers are just reconfiguring them. The solution is not to ban them, but to provide instant
background checks.
THE FACTS: In fewer than two years since the President signed the Assault Weapons Ban into
law, the number of assault weapons traced has dropped a full 18%. [Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms,
Firearms Traced for the Period September Tlirough September for Years 1992-1993. 1993-1994. 1994-19951
Supported by Every Major Police Organization. The Assault Weapons Ban is supported
by every major law enforcement organization in the country. They know that assault
weapons are the guns of choice for gangs, drug dealers and murderers, not sportsmen or
hunters. Between January 1994 and September 1995, 36% of law enforcement officers who
were killed with firearms that could be identified, were killed by assault weapons or guns sold
with magazines affected by the assault weapons ban. [ a d u control, inc., " o s U d r Fire," 11/29/95]
Hn g n
Cp ne
Dewey Stokes. National President, Fraternal Order of Police, 2/6/95. "No position
taken by the FOP is more strongly rooted in conviction than that taken on semiautomatic assault weapons. While it is true that these weapons do not differ in terms
of function and capability from other semi-automatic weapons, it is equally true that
semi-automatic weapons are eight times more likely to be used in crime than
conventional weapons. Therefore, in the interest of public safety and officer safety, we
strongly support the assault weapons ban contained in the Crime Bill..."
Assault Weapons Need to be Banned, Not Run Through Background Checks. Assault
weapons are the guns of choice for drug dealers and gang members, not sportsmen or hunters.
They are designed for one reason only: close-quarter, rapid-fire killing. Too many police
officers have lost their lives outgunned by violent criminals armed with assault weapons. Too
many children have been killed by violent criminals spraying a rain of bullets from these
weapons.
FALSE CLAIM: The Assault Weapons Ban merely keeps law abiding citizens from purchasing
firearms they are entitled to buy under the 2nd Amendment.
THE FACTS: Not one sportsmen or hunter has lost their rifle because of the Assault Weapons Ban.
The Ban specifically exempts more than 650 types of hunting and sporting weapons so that the rights
of law abiding citizens to own guns for legitimate purposes is protected. Cop killing assault
weapons, like the Uzi, are the weapons of choice for drug dealers and gangs — not hunters and
sportsmen.
�VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN ACT
FALSE CLAIM: The Violence Against Women Act sounds great, but it hasn't done much. There
have only been 18 federal prosecutions since the Act has been in existence. States should be
handling these crimes, not the federal government.
THE FACTS: The fact of the matter is that the vast majority of violence against women cases are
already brought at the state and local levels. That's why the Administration provided $26 million in
FY95 and $130 million more in FY96 in state grants to support state and local law enforcement.
[Source: Department of Justice, Violence Against Women Office]
Without the Law, Some Criminals Would Go Unprosecuted. In some instances, criminals
travel across state lines and the federal government has an obligation to use its jurisdiction to
bring that criminal to justice. Already under the Act, a domestic abuser was sentenced to life
in prison for interstate domestic violence and kidnapping. Without the Act, this case would
h a v e l i k e l y g o n e UnprOSeCUted. [Source: Statement of Janet Reno, Attorney General Before the Committee on the Judiciary,
United Stales Senate Concerning the Violence Against Women Act, May 15, 1996; Violence Against Women Act News, Vol. 1: July 1996,
Violence Against Women Office]
The Violence Against Women Act ~ Working with States to Put Abusers Behind Bars
In California, Ricky Steele was prosecuted for savagely beating his girlfriend in Oregon
and then forcing her to drive with him to Las Vegas. While driving through California, a
witness saw the girlfriend try to escape and called 911. California Highway Patrol
officers made the arrest. California officials were worried about their ability to prosecute
Steele successfully, as there was no clear assault in California. Officials in Oregon
indicated that Steele was not likely to get more than a year in prison if found guilty under
its state law for assaults. Both states consulted federal officials and it was decided to
prosecute Steele in federal court under the Violence Against Women Act. Steel was
sentenced to over seven years in jail.
In Ohio, Derek Page was arrested after severely beating his former girlfriend, stabbing her
with claw end of a hammer several times, breaking her femur bone, punching her with his
fists until her eyes were shut and injuring her feet so that she could not walk. After the
beating, Page took his victim, who was close to death, 150 miles to a hospital in
Pennsylvania in order to avoid prosecution in Ohio. Local prosecutors in Ohio faced
difficult evidentiary problems and in Pennsylvania, authorities could not proceed because
no criminal conduct had occurred in the state. Officials in Ohio turned to federal
prosecutors who prosecuted the case and obtained a conviction. Page has been held in
custody without bond since his arrest nine months ago and is awaiting sentencing.
The Violence Against Women Act Will Continue to Make a Difference
Helping States Fight Domestic Violence. In 1995, $26 million went directly to the states
through STOP grants. Every state has been awarded funds to develop and strengthen law
enforcement and prosecutorial strategies and improve victims services in cases involving
violent crimes against women. Approximately $130 more will be sent to states in FY96.
Giving Women in Need the Help They Need. Established the National Domestic Violence
Hotline — 1-800-799-SAFE — to reach every community in the nation. This national toll-free
hotline will serve as a lifeline to victims of domestic violence across the country, providing
referral information to victims in need. In its first three months, the hotline responded to over
2 0 , 0 0 0 c a l l s f r o m W o m e n aCrOSS t h e C o u n t r y .
[Source: Department of Justice, Violence Against Women Office]
�FALSE CLAIM: This Administration is not serious about protecting women from violence. More
than halfway through 1996, it only released $473,000 of the $175 million appropriated by Congress
for FY96.
THE FACTS: Shutting the government down twice in one year is going to have ramifications on
government programs. The $174.5 million in STOP and other Violence Against Women grants was
appropriated in each of the seven continuing resolutions passed between October, 1995 and April,
1996. Almost all of the FY96 grant programs could only be implemented once the Omnibus Budget
Bill was passed and signed by the President on April 26, 1996.
Releasing the Funds After Each Continuing Resolution Would Have Been Costly and
Burdensome. It would have been nearly impossible to begin the FY96 grant-making process
until the budget was resolved. It would required the Department of Justice to make as many
as seven different grants to the states to account for the seven continuing resolutions. This
would have been an extremely costly and burdensome process for both the states and Justice
Department as each state would have been saddled with filling out paperwork with each
separate application and each separate Continuing Resolution.
The Justice Department Has Already Provided Nearly Half of the FY96 Violence
Against Women Funding to States. Since the FY96 budget was passed and signed into law,
the Clinton Administration has announced that more than $77 million in STOP grants to
combat domestic violence and sexual assault have gone to 30 states and five territories.
These grants will be used to train police, hire new prosecutors and provide assistance to
victims.
jSource: Department of Justice, Violent Against Women Office, Release, 8/9/96]
FALSE CLAIM: The Violence Against Women Act is a pork program. Of the $1.6 billion
allocated over five years, only $200,000 of it will go to research on national trends in domestic
abuse.
THE FACTS: The Violence Against Women Act's priority has been to make a difference in the
lives of women and families across the country. We have worked hard to provide prosecutors with
the tools needed to prosecute domestic violence and sexual assault.
Research remains vital to creating new and innovative solutions to violence against women. The fact
is that the Act required that nine studies be conducted in the area of domestic violence, sexual assault
and stalking. Already six of those reports have been completed and transmitted to Congress.
HELPING GIVE VICTIMS THE SUPPORT THEY DESERVE
In West Jordan, Utah, Sgt. Gary Cox, a 16-year veteran police officer has been the
impetus to build a shelter for victims of domestic violence in the South end of Salt
Lake Valley. He is using STOP funds to hire victim advocates for the shelter.
In Delaware, STOP grant funds are being used by the Wilmington Police
Department to hire a civilian victim service outreach worker to help victims secure
protection orders and to follow the victim through the prosecution phase of their
case.
�FALSE CLAIM: According to the FBI, 1,500 women are killed in domestic disputes each year —
not the 4,000 as claimed by some Violence Against Women advocates.
THE FACTS: Even one death is one too many. And violence against women comes in many
tragic forms.
Violence Impacts Many Women and Many Families
*
In 1993 and 1994, women age 12 or older annually sustained almost 5 million violent
v i c t i m i z a t i o n s b y an i n t i m a t e .
[Source: Department of Justice, Violence Against Women Office, 8/96]
*
During 1992 and 1993, women annually reported to interviewers about 500,000 rapes
and sexual assaults. Friends or acquaintances of the victims committed over half of
these rapes or sexual assaults. [Source: Department of Justice, Violence Against Women Office, 8/96]
*
About 60% of all violence against women was perpetrated by offenders the victim
knew; about 15% of violence against women was committed by their relatives; and
3 0 % b y S o m e o n e w e l l - k n o w n tO t h e v i c t i m .
Office, 8/96]
if
[Source: Department of Justice, Violence Against Women
The Stakes Are Too High to Ignore This Problem. A recent study found that children who
are abused and who witness violence at home are substantially more likely to commit violent
act themselves. Given these high stakes, we must make every possible effort to reduce
domestic violence i n A m e r i c a . [Source: American Psychological Association]
�Drug Prosecutions
FALSE CLAIM: Under the Clinton Administration, drug prosecutions are down and his Attorney
General has ordered federal prosecutors not to seek mandatory minimums for drug pushers.
THE FACTS:
Drug Prosecutions Are Up. During the past three years, there has been a
9.4% increase in prosecutions of the toughest, most complex drug cases and
federal prosecutors have achieved an 84% conviction rate in all drug cases in
1995.
D r u g p r o s e c u t i o n s a r e a l s o Up 1 3 % f r o m 1 9 9 4 .
U.S. Attorney's Office]
[Source: Department of Justice,
Record Number of Drug Dealers in Prison. There are now about 48,000
convicted drug dealers in federal prisons —the highest in history. [Source:
Department of Justice, U.S. Attorney's Office; Bureau of Prisons]
�Judges
Mainstream Judges. President Clinton believes that the public interest is best served by the
appointment of federal judges with a commitment to the rule of law and a respect for the
limited role of the federal courts in our constitutional system. He looks forjudges with the
temperament and integrity to apply the law fairly and impartially to the facts of each case.
The President has not applied ideological litmus tests to the appointment of federal judges nor
has he insisted on adherence to a rigid ideological orthodoxy. He has appointed only those
men and women who have proven that they will apply the law as they find it and leave policy
choices to the legislative and executive branches.
The President's appointments to the federal bench have been widely praised as "well-qualified,
mainstream lawyers." US News itself said that "centrism is carrying the day."[Source: Prof. S ed n
hl o
Goldman, US News 2/12/96]
The Legal Times says of President Clinton's judges: "From the beginning, his
philosophy toward judicial selection has differed from that of his two immediate
predecessors [who] engaged in a crusade to put committed conservatives on the bench.
President Clinton's criteria, by contrast, seem less ideological. He has primarily sought
two attributes in his judicial candidates — undisputed legal qualifications, and gender
and ethnic diversity." [Source: 9/11/95]
A recent report by the Knight-Ridder Newspapers states flatly that objective studies of
the voting records of President Clinton's appoints "contradict Republican Bob Dole's
charge that Clinton has filled the federal bench with lenient, liberal judges who are
soft on crime" and instead show that the Clinton judges '"exhibit moderate decisional
t e n d e n c i e s . ' " [Source: 5/8/96]
Insight Magazine came to the identical conclusion in an extensive article about the
Clinton record of judicial appointments finding that "there is slender evidence that
Clinton appointees are outrageously protective of the rights of the accused." [Source:
4/29/96]
The USA Today likewise found that Senator Dole's attacks are "out of order." Tony
Mauro wrote that all objective analysis points to the conclusion that President Clinton's
appointments "are markedly moderate" - slightly more liberal than President Reagan's
choices but much "more conservative than those appointed by President Carter.
Overall, Clinton's judges are about as liberal as Gerald Ford's." [Source: 5/7/96]
Al Hunt of the Wall Street Journal noted that prior to the advent of the election year
even Republicans had acknowledged that the President had nominated "mainstream
appointees."
[Source: 5/9/96]
Linda Greenhouse of the New York Times recently noted that while conservatives have
been screaming incessantly about activists run amok, "liberal Democrats have spent
much of the last three years complaining that liberals need not apply for Clinton
judgeships." Ms. Greenhouse noted that "40 percent of the 53 judges named by the
Administration during 1995 are former prosecutors. The Clinton nominees comprise a
moderate, mainstream group. . . . All but a handful received strong bipartisan support
i n t h e S e n a t e . " [Source: 3/23/96]
�And the audience for Senator Dole's first major address on this issue -- the nation's
newspaper editors — overwhelming rejected the critique. In the weeks that followed
his speech before the American Society of Newspaper Editors, editorial board articles
ran 14 to 1 against the Senator's unfounded attack on the President's record. The
editors accused Senator Dole of raising "phony issue" while distorting the President's
record and that of his appointees, (editorials available)
In a comprehensive report at the mid-point of President Clinton's first term, the New
York Times reported, "Political scientists, legal scholars and nonpartisan groups like
the American Bar Association who have studied the new judges' records also said Mr.
Clinton's choices were better qualified than those of Mr. Reagan or President George
Bush.
"The new judges were deliberately chosen to fit squarely in the judicial mainstream
and were, by and large, replacing liberal Democrats." [source: 10/17/94)
•
Over two-thirds of the President's judicial appointments have been rated "well
qualified" by the ABA, a higher percentage than any of his three predecessors. These high
marks have been won at the same time the President has succeeded in diversifying the federal
bench to an unprecedented degree.
Attacked by Liberals
But it's the beginning of an election year and Republicans are criticizing President Clinton for
appointing "soft-headed, bleeding heart" judges. At the very same time, the liberal Alliance
for Justice has issued a report critical of the President for "pursuing] consensus" and failing
to nominate ideological liberals. Prominent liberal federal judge Stephen Reinhardt recently
complained that "President Clinton doesn't care much about what the philosophy of the
judiciary is." [Source: Waii street journal, 3/15/96] Judge Reinhardt also said earlier that "[tjhose of us
who waited for three decades for a Democrat to be appointing liberal judges, especially to the
Supreme Court, have been deeply disappointed." [Source: Nw Y r Times, 10/17/94]
e ok
"Left and right both gripe about Clinton's taste in judges," says US News. [ source: 2/12/96]
Clinton Judges' Record on Crime
Tough on Crime. Other than obviously isolated and unrepresentative cases, Republicans
have produced no credible evidence that Clinton judges are any less tough on crime than
appointees of Presidents Reagan or Bush.
Professor Robert Carp of the University of Houston has studied all decisions by Clinton
appointees in criminal cases and compared them to all criminal law decisions by judges
appointed by Presidents Bush, Reagan, Carter, Ford and Nixon. His conclusion? "There is
no empirical evidence that [Clinton judges] are inordinately disposed toward criminal
defendants." [Source: CNN inside Politics 4/1/96] In a paper delivered last month, Carp stated that
President Clinton's judicial appointees "exhibit moderate decisional tendencies."
That's the conclusion of someone who looked at all the cases, instead of scanning them for a
handful that will make headlines.
Many of the President's appointees come to the bench with prosecutorial backgrounds almost 40% of the men and women Clinton put on the bench had served as federal or state
�prosecutors.
Death Penalty. Clinton judges have upheld the death penalty against constitutional
challenges.
•
And sentences for those convicted of violent and firearms offenses in the first 2 fiscal
years since President Clinton took office are up dramatically — increasing from 74.5
months to over 88 months. [Source: U.S. Sentencing Commission annual reports]
Clinton's Record on Crime
•
The very fact that Republicans are reaching for unfair and unrepresentative cases reflects their
frustration that more Americans trust President Clinton on the crime issue than they do
C o n g r e s s i o n a l R e p u b l i c a n s . [Source: Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll January 12-16, 1996]
A Record of Accomplishment. The President won passage of a comprehensive crime bill
that is helping to put 100,000 new cops on the beat. His bill also expanded the death penalty
and put three-time violent felons in prison for life without parole. The President has stood
with the police on every major crime issue — from the Brady Bill limiting handguns to the
ban on assault weapons. And the President has pushed for adoption of the toughest antiterrorism bill in history, which many Congressional Republicans tried to gut even as they
attacked a few isolated decisions by Clinton judges.
•
Congressional Republicans voted against putting more police on the beat, against
new
death penalty crimes, against three-strikes-and-you're-out, against bans on cop-killer bullets,
against the introduction of taggants into explosive materials, and against gun laws that are
saving the lives of police men and women across the country. The President wanted to step
up surveillance of terrorists. Congressional Republicans only want to conduct inquisitions of
the police and other law enforcement officers.
Now these same Congressional Republicans — who have been on the wrong side of every
vote important to cops - are resorting to the phony issue of whose judges are tougher on
crime.
The Congressional Record Doesn't Lie
Almost all Clinton judges were confirmed unanimously by the Judiciary Committee and
the Senate.
In fact, only three of the 185 lower court federal judges whom President Clinton has
appointed to the bench have even been the subject of contested votes. Even these three
judges received significant Republican support. Rosemary Barkett (CA11-F1.) was confirmed
61-37; Lee Sarokin (CA3-NJ) was approved by a margin of 63-35; and James Dennis (CA5La.) won a contested vote by 54-46.
•
Senator Dole, Senator Hatch and all of the other Republican critics have voted for 182 of the
185 Clinton judges now on the Courts of Appeals and District Court.
The point is that Presidents and Senators all recommend, nominate and approve judicial
nominees based on their record of accomplishments and their understanding of the law. We
do not ask for and do not receive any assurances or promises about what nominees will do
once they are on the bench. Every President will disagree with individual cases that his
�appointees make once they are on the bench, just as President Clinton vehemently disagreed
with Judge Baer's initial ruling.
Judges and Politics
It is in the country's best interest to keep politics out of the selection of federal judges as
much as possible and, even in an election year, for as long as possible. In 1992, a
Democratic-controlled Judiciary Committee and Senate confirmed 66 Bush judges, including
11 Court of Appeals judges.
President Clinton's open and non-ideological approach to picking judges has gone a long
way to decreasing the toxic political rhetoric that had in recent years been injected into the
confirmation process. Everyone talks about making the judicial selection process less
political. President Clinton did something about it.
Now presidential election year politics threatens to bring that poisonous rhetoric right back.
Let's take a pledge not to make the federal judiciary a political football in an election year.
���THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
May 13, 1996
REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
AT ANNOUNCEMENT OF JUVENILE VIOLENCE ACT
The East Room
12:56 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Ladies and gentlemen, let me begin by thanking all of you for
coming here and, more importantly, for the work that you are doing. I'm glad that we finally
have a chance to talk about these efforts to stop youth violence.
As you know, we were slated to have this event the day that Ron Brown and his
delegation tragically lost their lives in the Balkans. Before I go forward, I think I have to
acknowledge that today all Americans have heavy hearts over another air tragedy - the one in
Miami. We send our prayers, our condolences to the families of those who lost their lives in
the Everglades.
The Federal Aviation Administration has been conducting a review of ValuJet since
February. Last night the FAA announced it will broaden the review to assure that ValuJet's
flights are safe and fully comply with FAA requirements. I have directed Secretary Pena to
report to me this week on additional measures the Department of Transportation and the FAA
can take to ensure that all our airlines continue to operate at the highest level of safety. I'm
determined to do everything I can to make sure that American aviation is the safest in the world.
Now, let me thank the Attorney General and the U.S. attorneys and all of those who
worked with them for the work they have done to curb youth violence and gangs. Thanks to
the U.S. attorneys and the police chiefs here today, thanks to citizen supporters throughout this
country, including a number of ex-gang members who in some communities have been very
helpful in this regard, we have been able to see a substantial drop in the crime rate. We are
determined to do all we can to help you and to help our young people.
The Crime Bill of 1994 employed, as the Attorney General said, police, punishment and
prevention, backed by the best of new technologies and supported by communities. We knew
this strategy would work because law enforcement people said it would work. And it is
working. The 100,000 police, the Brady Bill, the assault weapons ban, the other supports have
�led to drops in violent crime and murder and rape and robbery - everything across the board,
except for crimes committed by young people.
Youth violence is on the rise, as you have noted, not just in large cities, but in small
towns. And whenever there has been a dramatic rise in youth crime, it has a terrifying face ~
organized gangs.
In my State of the Union address I challenged our country to focus on the problem of
youth violence, and I pledged that the United States government would take on gangs in the way
we had taken on the mob decades ago. We're fighting with a strategy that is coordinated and
unrelenting, that does rely upon national, state and local prosecutors and police and, above all,
on citizens working with us.
Two weeks ago in Miami, General Barry McCaffrey, our Drug Policy Coordinator, and
I set forth our drug strategy. We know what works there, too - education, treatment, stopping
drugs at the border, punishing those who sell to the young. We are focusing this strategy more
than ever before on young people.
Last Friday, at Perm State University, I asked citizens all across our country to play their
role. We know that community policing won't work if we rely on police alone, that we need
citizens, too. And I ask one million new citizen volunteers to join the 100,000 new police we
are putting on the street. That's just 50 new members for every one of the community police
watch organizations across this country today.
Today I want the announce two more steps. First, we have just seen a remarkable
demonstration of the National Gang Tracking Network, which is an important part of this
strategy. I am pleased to announce that the first step of this network will now be funded through
the Justice Department for use in Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Vermont, Maryland,
and Florida. Gangs are no longer local. We saw that today with the statement Miss Seymour
made about South Carolina. So we say this: The gangs may run to another state, but they
cannot hide. And they will find it tougher and tougher to escape the law.
Second, we are proposing legislation designed with valuable help from the U.S. attorneys
here, from local law enforcement officials, and lawmakers, especially Senators Biden and Kohl
and Congressman Schumer. Our Anti-Gang and Youth Crime Control Act of 1996 will use the
very same strategy our Crime Bill used to make the juvenile justice system tougher and smarter,
and to help our young people stay drug-free and away from guns and gangs and violence. It
makes it earlier for prosecutors to prosecute violent youth offenders as adults, toughens penalties
for possession and use of firearms, reinstates a ban on guns in the schools, reviving a law that
was struck down in the courts. It will establish more juvenile drug courts which give nonviolent
offenders the chance to get off drugs before they wind up in jail. It will raise the maximum
detention to 10 years and give judges flexibility in sentencing. It will harden penalties for those
who sell drugs to children or use children to sell drugs.
�All this will help, but we also will have to have more parents being more responsible in
teaching their children right from wrong and in looking out for them, and more communities
showing young people that they care, considering things like keeping their schools open more
after school.
We know 50 percent of the juvenile crime in this country occurs in the hours after the
school day ends. More communities have considered doing what Long Beach, California has
done and what the Attorney General is trying to help others do - consider whether setting up
a school uniform policy will help to reduce the influence of gangs and help to identify gang
members, and help to keep the crime rate down and the children safer. Regardless, we've all
got a role to play if we're going to move toward a 21st century that is more free of guns and
rugs and violent gangs.
The message today to the Bloods, the Crips, to every criminal gang preying on the
innocent is clear: We mean to put you out of business, to break the backs of your organization,
to stop you from terrorizing our neighborhoods and our children, to put you away for a very
long time. We have just begun the job, and we do not intend to stop until we have finished.
(Applause.)
Let me say again - this legislation I offer today has been developed with help from law
enforcement. It is like the Crime Bill of 1994, straightforward , common sense, there are no
hidden meanings, there are no poison pills. It relies on partnerships with communities and
citizens. And I hope Congress will join us in a bipartisan commitment to save our
neighborhoods, our families and our children from the threat of gangs and gang violence.
This again is something we should be able to do, even this year, in a genuine spirit of
bipartisanship, because we know it will work and we know it will make a profound difference.
Thank you all very much. (Applause.)
END
1:05 P.M. EDT
�the police and with each other.
We here in this chamber must do our part.
That means keeping guns out of the hands of criminals. Under the Brady Bill,
already 45,000 criminals have been stopped from buying guns. If anyone tries to repeal the
Brady Bill and the assault weapons ban, I will veto it.
That means putting more police on the street through community policing. Across
America, we are making good on our promise to put 100,000 new police on our streets. And
if Congress passes a bill to stop us from putting 100,000 police on the street, I will veto it.
And I challenge Congress to honor the men and women who protect us every day by
passing my bill to ban cop-killer bullets.
We made three-strikes-and-you're-out the law of the land, and said that if you kill a
law enforcement officer, you will get the death penalty. Tonight, I challenge judges,
prosecutors, and legislators in every state to meet a new national goal: by the year 2000,
every violent criminal must serve out at least 85 % of his sentence.
We could hire a million more police and build a million new prison cells, and we
would not win this war on crime and drugs unless we all join together - every one of us.
Thousands of citizens are working together, to spot trouble, watch out for their
neighbors, tum in crack houses. In city after city, the crime rate has dropped three years in
a row for the first time in decades. In New York, murders^are down 25%; St. Louis. 18%^t
Seattle^Sg^E. jTWQ y&tfs ago, lesidenls Of Jeffeisun PSnsh", Louisiana, were under seige Titerallysleeping in their hallways to avoid stray bullets. Then police began working with
the neighbors to identify drugjjealers .and drive them off the street. The crime rate in
Jefferson Parish has smc^dropped 60%/)That is what can happen when law-abiding
Americansriseto th^^anengerff-ftghtrng crime together.
And that is how we will address the one type of crime that continues to rise: violence
by juveniles.
A few years ago, I spoke to grade school children in South Central Los Angeles.
They told me their biggest fear was getting shot on the way to school ~ and their second
biggest fear was being forced to join a gang when they tum 12. That is no way for any
American child to grow up.
Government will do its part: Tonight I am directing our nation's prosecutors to step
up prosecutions of violent juveniles as adults. And I am directing the FBI and other
investigative agencies to target gangs that involve juveniles in violent crime. It is time to
break the gangs the way we broke the mob.
�The Clinton Administration Anti-Drug Record
Under President Clinton, overall drug use has dramatically declined. The number of cocaine
users has dropped by 30% since 1992. The amount of money Americans spend on illicit
drugs has declined by 23%. Every year, he has sought the largest drug budgets ever and his
1994 Crime Bill is the toughest and smartest crime bill ever — it will put 100,000 new police
officers on the streets, provide the death penalty for drug king pins and "three strikes and
you're out" for career criminals, break the cycle of crime and drugs through Drug Courts and
Boot Camps. Internationally, he has dismantled the Cali Drug Cartel and on our borders he
has provided more resources than ever before. He has developed a program to drug test all
federal arrestees and supported drug testing of high school athletes. And he has fought
Republican efforts to eliminate prevention programs that address adolescent drug use, which
has been on the rise since 1991.
FALSE CLAIM: President Clinton has decimated our country's anti-drug efforts by
cutting interdiction funds by 25%, eliminating 227 DEA positions, and cutting the Drug
Czar's office by 80%.
THE FACTS:
•
Drug Use is Down. Overall drug use in the United States has declined under the
Clinton Administration. During this Administration the number of<(£ocaine^isers have
dropped by 30%. The amount of money Americans spend on illicitdrngslias declined
by
2 3 % . [Source: Office of National Drug Control Policy, The National Dmg Control Strategy. April 1996]
The Largest Anti-Drug Budgets Ever. Year-in and Year-out,
President Clinton has proposed the largest Anti-Drug Budgets of any
President ever. Indeed, under the Clinton Budget now before Congress,
the DEA would grow by 18% in one year and 116 new DEA agents
would be added. [Source: Office of National Drug Control Policy, The National Dmg Control Strategy. April
1996;
Department of Justice, FY96 Budget Request]
He is the first President to make the Director of National Drug Control Policy a
Cabinet position. He is also the first President to nominate a Drug Czar with drug
interdiction background.
Before Bill Clinton came to office, the Drug Czar's office was a dumping ground for
political appointees and its effectiveness was roundly criticized in the press. The last
Republican Drug Czar was a dethroned Governor with no experience other than to
W a t c h d r u g s e s c a l a t e OUt O f C o n t r o l i n h i s h o m e State.
6/28/92]
[Source: Orlando Sentinel.
Republicans Rhetoric Doesn't Match Their Action. In taking control of Congress in
1994, the Republicans began to conduct their own war — against effective anti-drug
programs. They voted to eliminate funding for Drug Courts, to drastically cut the Safe
and Drug Free Schools Program by more than 50%, to cut by more than 50% drug
programs targeted at at-risk youth, to cut funding for the DEA by $5 million, and
tried to eliminate the President's 100,000 Community Police Officer Program. [Source:
President's Veto Message Re: Commerce, Justice, State Appropriations, 12/19/95; House-passed FY96 Labor/HHS Appropriations
Bill]
�NATIONAL N A R C O T I C OFFICERS* ASSOCIATIONS C O A L I T I O N
if
"You have given State and local law enforcement officers an opportunity to
participate — at the highest level — in the development of national law enforcement
policy — and for that we thank you."
"In past Administrations, the opinions of State and local law enforcement officers
were ignored by policy makers in Washington." [NNOAC letter to President Clinton, 7/12/96]
F A L S E C L A I M : President Clinton has been silent on the drug issue. He never
mentions drugs in any of his speeches and his Administration has ignored this issue.
THE FACTS:
•
President Clinton has Matched his Words with Action. President Clinton has been
very active and outspoken on the issue of drugs. In his 1996 State of the Union, he
challenged parents to talk openly and firmly to their children about the harm of drugs
and announced General Barry McCaffrey as the Nation's New Drug Czar. He used
international drug control policy as the centerpiece of an annual address to the United
Nations. He convened a White House Leadership Conference that specifically
addressed the issues of rising adolescent drug use and violence.
*
•
While some are nostalgic for the days when saying "Just Say No,"
represented government action, President Clinton is taking
unprecedented action to take drugs out of our communities and
schools.
But unlike Republicans, President Clinton has matched his words with action.
if
He is the first President to make the Director of National Drug Control Policy
a Cabinet position.
if
He is the first President to refuse full certification to Andean source countries
blocking them from receiving international loans and most U.S. foreign aid i f
they do not cooperate with U.S. anti-drug measures.
if
He is the first President to use international drug control policy as the
centerpiece of an annual address to the U.N.
He is the first President to propose restricting youth access to tobacco products
and reducing the advertising and promotional activities that make these
products appealing to young persons.
if
He is the first President to convene a White House Conference that specifically
addressed the issues of rising adolescent drug use and violence.
He is the first President to nominate a Drug Czar with drug interdiction
background.
�if
He is the first President to develop a comprehensive drug testing program for
the Federal criminal justice system and he urged states and localities to adopt a
similar program.
-fc
He is the first President to establish a National Methamphetamine Strategy that
brings law enforcement, medical, environmental and treatment communities to
attack this problem.
if
He is the first President to issue a Heroin Strategy to develop international
cooperation against heroin.
Unprecedented International Drug-Fighting Efforts. In addition. President Clinton
has also continued to propose the largest drug budgets to Congress of any
Administration while the Republican-led Congress has attempted to cut interdiction
e f f o r t s . [Source: Office of National Drug Control Policy, The National Drug Control Strategy. April 1996; President's Veto
Message Re: Commerce, Justice, State
Appropriations, 12/19/95]
*
Taking Down the Cali Cartel. The Clinton Administration's assisted in the
arrest of six of the top leaders of Colombian Cali Cartel — the most powerful
d r u g Syndicate i n the w o r l d .
Control Strategy, April 1996]
*
[Source: Office of National Drug Control Policy, The National Drug
Fortifying our Borders. The President has strengthened U.S. borders by
increasing the number of Border Patrol Agents by nearly 40% on the
Southwest Border. Seventy percent of the cocaine that enters the United States
comes across the U.S.-Mexican border. And the Clinton Administration has
provided more resources to the Southwest Border than any prior
Administration.
[Source: Office of National Drug Control Policy. The National Drug Control Strategy. April
1996; INS Budget Office, 7/96]
*
Stopping Drug Smugglers. In 1995 the Clinton Administration implemented
"Operation Hard Line" to stop drug smugglers from funneling their illicit drug
cargo through U.S. ports. As a result, the number of port runners declined by
42 percent. Operation Hard Line also resulted in dismantling a major portrunning organization in El Paso, Texas, which was reputed to have smuggled
drugs in more than 2000 instances. The success against smuggling has
continued with a 125% increase in narcotics seizures in commercial cargo
a l o n g the Southwest B o r d e r i n F Y 1995.
The National Dmg Control Strategy. April 1996]
*
Increasing Drug Seizures. In the last three years, the Border Patrol has seized
over $4.7 billion in drugs — a 38% increase over the three prior years. The
$4.7 billion represents nearly 20,000 drug seizures — an increase of 22%.
[Source: Department of Justice, U.S. Border Patrol, Total
seized, 1995
*
[Source: Office of National Drug Control Policy,
Dmg Seizures; Narcotics: Dollar Value of Dmgs
Proven Leadership. And unlike George Bush, who replaced his Drug Czar
with a defeated politician, President Clinton nominated Four-star General Barry
McCaffrey - a hero of the Persian Gulf War and U.S. military commander in
South America — to lead the country's efforts to reduce drug use.
�FALSE CLAIM: The White House is staffed with numerous former drug users who
have given a clear message to America's youth that drugs are acceptable.
THE FACTS: This is another Republican falsehood. No one has ever tested positive for
drug use while working in this White House. The Clinton White House has a comprehensive
drug testing program for its employees. The specific drug testing program that was set up to
monitor White House employees whose background checks showed recent or extensive drug
use covered only 21 employees, nine of whom are still subject to testing. None of
these nine employees are among the 130 most senior White House employees, at the level of
Assistant to the President, Deputy Assistant or Special Assistant.
•
Republicans Should Look in Their Own Backyard. The Republican Congress has
absolutely no drug testing policy for any staff position regardless of their access to
classified documents, including the Senate and House Intelligence Committees, Armed
Service Committees, and other Committees that handle sensitive issues and classified
documents.
FALSE CLAIM: Drug Use has skyrocketed during the Clinton Administration,
especially adolescent marijuana use.
THE FACTS: Drug Use is Down. Overall drug use in the United States has declined under
the Clinton Administration. During this Administration the number of cocaine users have
dropped by 30%. In addition, The amount of money Americans spend on illicit drugs has
declined by 23%.
•
[Source: Office of National Drug Control Policy, The National Drug Control Strategy. April 1996]
Increase in Marijuana Use is Not a Recent Development. While adolescent
marijuana use is on the rise, it actually began going up markedly in 1991
— two years before Bill Clinton came to office. [Source: National Institute on Drug Abuse, The
Monitoring the Future Study. Institute for Social Research, The University of Michigan]
*
Restricting Kid's Access to Tobacco Will Have an Effect on Drug
Use. According to a study conducted by the Center on Addiction and
Substance Abuse, a consistent statistical relationship exists between
adolescents' tobacco and alcohol use and their subsequent use of
marijuana and other illicit drugs. President Clinton is the first
President to propose restricting youth access to tobacco products and
reducing the advertising and promotional activities that make these
products appealing to young persons. Why aren't Republicans talking
about the connection between marijuana and tobacco?
Joseph Califano, President of the National Center on Addiction and Substance
Abuse at Columbia University and former Secretary of Health, Education and
Welfare: "The President has his public health sights on precisely the right target.
Virtually all individuals addicted to cigarettes and illegal drugs begin smoking
nicotine or marijuana cigarettes or using drugs before they are 21. The way to
reduce adult disease and death from smoking, alcohol and illegal drugs is to
p e r s u a d e c h i l d r e n a n d t e e n - a g e r s n o t tO Start." [Source: New York Times, September 16, 1995]
�Getting Tough with Kids Who Drive Drunk. He also signed the
1995 Highway Act, which requires States to adopt a "Zero Tolerance"
standard for drivers under the age of 21. The result — alcohol related
crashes involving teenage drivers are down as much as 20 percent in
those States which have a Zero Tolerance law on their books.
When it Comes to Talking About Solutions to Combatting Drugs,
Republicans "Just Say Nothing." Newt Gingrich's Contract with
America never mentions the word "drugs" once. Bob Dole, given an
opportunity to address the Nation after the State of the Union, never
mentions the word "drugs" once.
And When They Aren't Saying Anything — Republicans "Just Do
Nothing."
Earlier this year, the President forwarded to the Congress a
request to fund various counter-drug programs totalling $250 million.
In addition to including funding for domestic law enforcement programs
to address methamphetamine and other drugs, this funding included a
$15 million Youth Drug Awareness mass media campaign. The overall
goal of the initiative is to increase youth awareness of the health, social
and economic costs of drug abuse. The Republican Congress rejected
this proposal in whole, i&xsrcer
Republicans Cut Drug Prevention and Treatment. The Center for
Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP) and the Center for Substance
Abuse Treatment (CSAT) are the lead federal agencies whose sole and specific
mandate is drug abuse prevention and treatment. Six of the 12 programs under
CSAP specifically are directed at drug abuse by at-risk youth. The Republican
Congress cut these programs by 62% and 58% respectively in FY 96 and
currently is proposing more cuts to the programs for FY 97 — thereby
eliminating numerous substance abuse programs focused on adolescents across
t h e COUntry.
[Source: Department of Health and Human Services] d X ^ O
C - V ^ ^
Joseph Califano, President of the National Center on Addiction and Substance
Abuse at Columbia University and former Secretary of Health, Education and
Welfare: "The answer to recent increases in teen drug use is renewed prevention
efforts that have at their core a no-use message; such programs cut drug use in half
in the 1980s. We need expanded and more effective treatment and an investment in
substance abuse research comparable to that in cancer, heart disease and AIDS.
Retired general Barry McCaffrey's demonstrated leadership and familiarity with the
Army's success in combatting soldiers' drug use after Vietnam make him just the
man
tO C o o r d i n a t e A m e r i c a ' s a n t i - d r u g e f f o r t s . " [Source: The Washington Post, May 26, 1996]
�*
Republicans Should Stop Playing Political Games with the Drug
Issue. Republicans politically brag about increase adolescent marijuana use
which actually started going up half-way through the Bush Administration, and
then cut the exact programs that will help bring these numbers down — For no
logical reason, one of the first budget acts by the new Republican Congress
was an attempt to cut by more than 50% the Safe and Drug Free Schools
Program, which provides drug and violence prevention education to 40 million
students in over 97 percent of the nation's school districts. President Clinton
vetoed this misguided effort. [Based on House-passed FY96 Labor/HHS Appropriations Bill;
Department of Education Release, 2/9/96]
FALSE CLAIM: President Clinton has done nothing to address the problem of drug
use ~ it's no wonder it's getting worse.
THE FACTS:
Drug Testing for Federal Arrestees. The President has developed a plan to
drug test people arrested on federal criminal charges. These tests will help
federal judges determine whether a defendant should be granted bail.
Drug testing for High School Athletes. In January of 1995, the Clinton
Administration supported high school athlete drug testing in an amicus brief to
the Supreme Court, sending the message to parents and students that drug use
will not be tolerated in our schools. [Vernonia School District 47J vs. Acton]
Working to end teen tobacco use. President Clinton has proposed restricting
youth access to tobacco products, and reducing the advertising and promotional
activities that make these products appealing to young people.
Zero-tolerance on underage drinking. The Clinton Administration has
encouraged states to adopt a "zero tolerance" standard for drivers under the age
of 21 who drive while intoxicated.
Safe and Drug-Free Schools. President Clinton expanded the Drug Free
Schools Act into the Safe and Drug Free Schools Act in 1994, making violence
prevention a key part of that program. The President has fought throughout his
term for full funding of the program, fighting back a $266 million cut by the
House in 1996. Forty million students in over 97% of the school districts in
the country use these funds to keep violence and drugs away from students and
our schools.
Combatting youth drug use. The number one goal of President Clinton's
1996 National Drug Control strategy is to motivate America's youth to reject
illegal drugs and substance abuse. The first ever White House Conference on
Youth, Drug Use and Violence in March 1996 launched a national media
literacy and drug deglamorization campaign aimed at youth.
�President Clinton has announced a 5-part strategy to combat drugs:
T H E NATIONAL DRUG C O N T R O L S T R A T E G Y : 1996
Motivate America's youth to reject illegal drugs and substance abuse.
=> President Clinton has expanded the Safe and Drug-Free Schools program.
Enhance the safety of American's by substantially reducing drug-related crime and
violence.
=> President Clinton's 1994 Crime Bill is putting 100,000 new police on the
street.
Reduce health, welfare and crime costs resulting from illegal drug use.
=> The Administration has expanded drug treatment for hard-core users and
developed a drug testing program for all federal arrestees to help end the cycle of
violence and drug abuse.
Shield America's air, land and sea frontiers from the drug threat.
=> Initiatives such as U.S. Customs' "Operation Hard Line," and increasing the
number of border patrols have helped to close down the border to drug
traffickers.
Break foreign and domestic sources of supply.
=> The Administration refused full certification to Andean source countries,
pressure which resulted in the arrest of six of the Cali Cartel's top leaders and
the dismantling of the cartel.
F A L S E C L A I M : Under the Clinton Administration, drug prosecutions are down and
his Attorney General has ordered federal prosecutors not to seek mandatory minimums
for drug pushers.
THE FACTS: Drug prosecutions are up 13% from 1994 and federal prosecutors have
achieved an 84% conviction rate in all drug cases in 1995. During the past three years, there
has been a 9.4% increase in prosecutions of the toughest, most complex drug cases. There
are now 48,000 convicted drug dealers in federal prisons — the highest number in history.
[Source: Department of Justice, U.S. Attorney's Office]
We Passed a Crime Bill with Tougher Penalties for Drug-Related Crimes. The
1994 Clinton Crime Bill, which was supported by every major law enforcement
organization in America, provided for:
•
Expanded Death Penalty. Included the death penalty for drug kingpins
and for a murder committed during a drug crime.
Three-Strikes-You're Out. A tough "Three-Strikes-and-You're-Out"
sentence to lock up the most dangerous career criminals for life.
Drug Courts and Drug Testing. Provided for Drug Courts and drug
testing and treatment for state prisoners to help break the cycle of
crimes and drugs.
�100,000 New Police. 95% of all arrests occur at the State and local
level. President Clinton's COPs program will hire 100,000 new state
and local police officers -- increasing the number of cops on our streets
by almost 20% — and putting them where they count.
The President Has Introduced Even Tougher Measures — But Congress
Has Failed to Act. Earlier this year, President Clinton submitted to Congress legislation that
would:
•
Tougher Penalties. Increase the mandatory penalties for drug dealers
who either sell drugs to children or use children to sell drugs.
Announced May 13, 1996
•
First-Ever Meth Strategy. Implement the legislative aspects of the
President's Methamphetamine strategy by increasing the penalties for
trafficking in this drug and expand the Attorney General's ability to
control the chemicals used to make it. Announced April 29, 1996
Faster Response to New Drugs. Give the Attorney General the
emergency power to increase the penalties for emerging drugs that
greatly impact adolescents, such as the "date-rape" drug — Rohypnol.
-- This legislation was sent to Congress in May; Yet The Republican
Congress has yet to act on this legislation --
F A L S E C L A I M : President Clinton's Surgeon General endorsed legalization of drugs
reflecting this Administration's true position on this issue.
THE FACTS: President Clinton official position on legalization has never changed one iota
- he is adamantly opposed to the legalization of drugs. He has consistently spoken forcefully
about the harm and destruction that drugs cause our society and his National Drug Control
Strategy reaffirms this steadfast position against legalization.
In addition, President Clinton's National Drug Control Office cosponsored the 1995
"American Cities Against Drugs" conference in Atlanta, Georgia, where officials representing
dozens of American cities signed a declaration of resolute opposition to the legalization of
illicit drugs.
F A L S E C L A I M : The President has been missing in action in the fight against drugs.
T H E FACTS:
Drug Testing for High School Athletes. Supported school athlete drug testing before
the Supreme Court, sending the message to parents and students that drug use will not
be tolerated in our schools.
Drug Testing for Federal Arrestees. Issued a Presidential Directive to develop a
comprehensive drug testing program for the Federal criminal justice system and urged
states and localities to adopt a similar program.
�First-Ever National Meth Strategy. Developed a National Methamphetamine
Strategy that provides an action plan for future efforts to avert the spread of this
dangerous drug.
Safe and Drug-Free Schools. Strengthened and expanded the Safe and Drug-Free
Schools and Communities Act which enables schools and school districts to develop
and implement violence and drug programs; over 97 percent of the school districts in
the country utilize these funds to keep violence and drugs and alcohol away from
students and out of schools. President Clinton vetoed an effort by Republicans to cut
the program by more than 50%.
Fighting Tobacco Use by Children. Proposed restricting youth access to tobacco
products and reducing the advertising and promotional activities that make these
products appealing to young persons.
Drug Courts and Drug Testing. Provided states and localities resources to help
break the cycle of crime and drugs through drug courts and enhanced drug testing and
treatment for state prisoners.
•
Full Cabinet Status. Made the National Drug Policy Director a full Cabinet level
position.
Drug Treatment. Expanded drug treatment for hard-core users to help end the cycle
of violence and drug abuse.
Anti-Drug Education. Initiated a National Drug Media Literacy Campaign for
parents, youth and communities.
First-Ever Heroin Strategy. Issued first Heroin Strategy to develop international
cooperation against heroin.
Challenging the World Community to Continue the Fight Against Drugs.
Dedicated a United Nations address to solving the international drug crisis; announced
a freeze on assets of companies cooperating with the Cali drug cartel, and called for
worldwide cooperation in stopping money laundering and narcotics flow.
Unlike his predecessor, President Clinton refused full certification to Andean source countries,
which resulted in the arrest of six of the Cali Cartel's top leaders.
�tir^Jzn
bur
�MOST COMMON TALKING POINTS:
Toxic Waste Clean-ups: Completed as many toxic waste site clean ups in three years
as were completed in the previous 12. Fought Republican Congressional attempts to
gut the Superfund law that makes polluters - rather than taxpayers - pay to clean up
toxic dumps. Vetoed Republican Congressional bill that cut Superfund clean ups by
25%.
Enforcement: Ensured compliance with environmental safeguards by toughening
EPA's enforcement programs and fought to protect enforcement programs from drastic
budget cuts of 25%.
BUDGET REFERENCE INFORMATION:
VA/HUD APPROPRIATIONS (EPA. CEO) (HR 2099):
Cut Superfund toxic dump cleanup funding by 25 percent. President Clinton
vetoed a GOP budget bill that included a 25 percent cut from his request. Earlier, the
House and Senate had each voted to cut Superfund 36 percent. In the end, Congress
restored all of the President's $150 million add-back proposal. (H, C )
1
Cut EPA's environmental enforcement by 25 percent. President Clinton vetoed a
GOP budget bill that cut enforcement 25 percent from his request. Congress restored
$40 million of the President's $45 million add-back proposal. (C)
Denotes location of the measure (H=House, S=Senate, C=Conference report).
�coMSTsacrzoN coMPtsnov PROJECTIONS
FISCAL
YBAR ; SITES
(PY)
ADQED
TOTAL SITES
CONSTRUCTIOir
COMPLETE
(ACTUAL)
TARGET
CatfSTRUCTION
COHPLETION
# OF SITES
REQUIRED TO
WEST TARGET
SITES TO
ADDED
CERCLIS
PROJECTION
TOTAL
SITES
BY
CERCLIS
Sff-i&l
61
61
92
88
^-_149
»
130
65
93
68
217
^
20O
51
94 •
61
276
^
265
48
95
68
346
^
330
52
57
335
49
110
445
. 140
585
i
/
. 96
\
n
r-
395
97
460 ,
98
525
• i '
.
.176
761
•'•.•-rAl
99
590
2Q00
ess
•
/
L
•
FAX
\
219
980
r-,--'
.•
'
TRANSMITTAL
38
5
in
ADMMSnwnau
�Toxic Waste Dumps Cleaned Up
Completions by Year
FY81-FY91
FY92
FY93
FY94
FY95
FY96*
NOTE: "Toxic Waste Dumps Cleaned Up"representsNPL sites which have reached Construction Completion during a given year.
* EPA projects 65 construction complelions during FY96. — S o u r c e . EPA Construction Completion/Deletion Tracking System
<
2
�Cumulative
500
Clinton Administraiion
M First Twelve Years of Superfund
FY81 -FY92
FY93
FY94
FY95
FY96*
NOTE: "Toxic Waste Dumps Cleaned Up" represents NPL sites which have reached Construction Completion during a given year.
* EPA projects 65 construction completions during FY96.
Source: EPA Construction Completion/Deletion Tracking System
�Cumulative, Program-To-Date
500
400
300
200
100
0
4
i.
I
i.
FY81 FY82 FY83 FY84 FY85 FY86 FY87 FY88 FY89 FY90 FY91 FY92 FY93 FY94 FY95 FY96+
NOTE: "Toxic Waste Dumps Cleaned Up" represents NPL sites which have reached Construction Completion during a given year.
* EPA projects 65 construction completions during FY96!
Source: EPA Construction Completion/Deletion Tracking System
C
\
�Toxic Waste Dumps Cleaned Up
Cumulative, Program-To-Date
FY81 FY82 FY83 FY84 FY85 FY86 FY87 FY88 FY89 FY90 FY91 FY92 FY93 FY94 FY95 FY96*
-
NOTE: "Toxic Waste Dumps Cleaned Up"represents NPL sites which have reached Construction Completion during a given year.
* EPA projects 65 construction completions during FY96.
Source: EPA Construction Completion/Deletion Tracking System
�United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Office of Enforcement
and Compliance Assurance
(2221)
EPA 300-R-96-006
July 1996
Enforcement
and Compliance Assurance
Accomplishments
Report
FY 1995
11
CD
�Table 3-3
Criminal Enforcement Major Outputs (FY 1991 through FY 1995)
NO
f
re
a
&
a
a.
a
1
Cases Initiated
Defendants
Referrals
Sentences
2
a
Fines
rs
\FY91
Cases
Iitftwfad
FY 1991
FY 1992
FY 1993
FY 1994
FY 1995
m
203
410
525
562
D FY 92
\FY93
®FY94
Dtfendam
Referrals
81
107
140
220
256
104
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:
:
:
:
:
150
re
St
I FY 95
Sentences
(Years)
80.3
94.6
74.3
99.0
74.0
: :
:
:
:
:->:>: ::-i >
:: . ->:i:
>
1!
37.9
36.3
6 ^.7
3
r
�121002
08/1,3/96
TUE 15:39 FAX
THE CLINTON ADMINISTRATION
APPROACH TO REDUCING YOUTH TOBACCO USE
"Our children face a health crisis that is getting worse.
One-third more 8th graders, and one-quarter more 10th
graders are smoking today than four years ago. One out
of five high school seniors is a daily smoker. We need to
act, and we must aa now, before another generation of
Americans is condemned to fight a difficuh and grueling
personal battle with an addiction that will cost millions
of them their lives."
Presidem Clinton
August 10, 1995
�1^1003
08/13/96
TUE 15:40 FAX
Introduction
Nicotine addiction is a pediatric disease. Every day, about 3,000 young people become
regular smokers. Nearly 1,000 of them will ultimately die of cancer, emphysema, heart
disease, and other diseases caused by smoking. More than 80 percent of adult smokers stan
smoking before their 18th birthdays. In. fact, smokers almost always become addicted during
their teenage years. This occurs despite the existence of laws in every state that prohibit the
sale of tobacco products to minors. And it occurs despite the fact that we know that every
year smoking takes the lives of more than 400,000 Americans, more than AIDS, alcohol, car
accidents, murders, suicides, illegal drugs, and fires combined.
To combat this public health crisis. President Clinlon has proposed the nation's first
comprehensive and meaningful strategy designed to prevent future generations of our youth
from becoming addicted to tobacco. The key to this strategy is to focus on the two factors
that cause our young people to use tobacco products and disregard their dangers. They are:
•
Access. Young people know how easy it is to buy tobacco products: every day they
walk past unmomtored cigarette vending machines; the local pharmacist and grocery
store clerk sells Them tobacco, no questions asked; and they even receive free
promotional samples.
•
Appeal. The tobacco industry spends over six billion dollars every year to portray
smoking as fun, sexy, and glamorous - qualities that are particularly appealing to
young people.
In August 1995, President Clinton proposed regulations designed to address these problems.
First, he would significantly resaict the way cigarettes may be purchased by penrntting sales
only by a face-to-face transaction. Second, he would place restrictions on tobacco
advertisements that glamarizctobaccouse to young people. Third, the President would
require tobacco companies to fund an educational campaign to prevent youth smoking.
This packet of material summarizes the severity of the public health crisis caused by youth
tobacco use and describes more fully the President's proposed FDA regulation. It also
describes other methods the Administration is employing to confront the problem and that
augment and complement the proposed FDA regulation. For example, in January 1996, the
Administraiion issued the so-called *Synar regulation," which requires that the states enforce
their laws prohibiting the sale of tobacco products to minors. In addition, the Administration
has created partnerships with state and local governments, as well as with private
organizations composed of parents, health professionals, teachers, community leaders, and
others, to devise community-based tobacco control methods. Together, these methods, which
are described in the following pages, will help our country achieve the President's goal of
reducing young people's use of tobacco products by 50 percent over me next seven years.
�[21004
08/13/96
TUE 15:40 FAX
Children and Tobacco: The Problem
Easy Access
Despite laws in every state prohibiting the sale of tobacco to minors, children can easily
buy tobacco products. One study estimated that teenagers annually purchase 255 million
packs of cigarettes and 26 million containers of smokeless tobacco. A 1994 review of 15
smdies of over-the-counter sales found that, on average, children and adolescents were able
to purchase tobacco products 73 percent of the time.
•
Vending machines are a primary source of tobacco products for the youngest
underaged smokers. A study by the vending machine industry found that 22 percent
of 13-year-old smokers use vending machines compared with 2 percent of 17-year-old
smokers. Hie 1994 review referenced abovereportedthat, on average, in 96 percent
of their attempts, young people succeeded in buying cigarettesfromvending
machines.
•
Self-service displays allow children to easily obtain tobacco products. The Institute of
Medicine, in its landmark 1994 report, "Growing Up Tobacco Free." concluded that
placing tobacco products "out of reach reinforces die message that tobacco products
are not in the same class as candy or potato chips."
•
Free samples are obtained by children, including those in elemenraiy school, despite
an industry code prohibiting distribution to anyone under 21. Our children find free
samples on street comers, at shopping malls, and sporting events. A 1992 Gallup
poll found that 24 percent of smokers aged 12-17 received free samples. And a New
Jersey survey found that one third of high school students who were smokers or
ex-smokersreportedreceivingfree samples before age 16.
•
Young people often ate not asked for identification when they attempt to purchase
tobacco products. A 1995 study found that 78% of high school students aged 17 and
younger who bought a pack of cigaretres in a store in the past month were not asked
to show proof of age.
Appealing to Children
Advertising and promotional activities can greatly influence a young person's decision to
smoke or use smokeless tobacco products. Awareness oftobaccoproducts and messages is
very high among even the youngest children. One study showed that 30 percent of
3-year-olds and 91 percent of 6-yeai-olds could identify "Joe Camel" as a symbol for
smoking. In 1994, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that 86 percent
of underage smokers who purchase their own cigarettes purchase one of the three most
heavily advertised brands: Marlboro. Camel and Newport. And a 1996 study found that the
effect of cigarette advertising expenditures on brand preferences was three times greater for
teens than for adults.
�08/13/96
TUE 15:41 FAX
Tobacco products are among the most heavily advertised products in the United
States. In 1993, the tobacco industry spent $6.2 billion on advertising and promoting
cigarettes and smokeless tobacco. Tobacco advertising expenditures have increased
more than 1,500 percent between 1970 (the year before television and radio
advertising was banned) and 1992.
Promotion of tobacco products through non-tobacco items such as t-shirts, hats and
gym bags and through sponsorship of events is reaching children. A 1992 Gallup
Survey found that half of adolescent smokers and one quarter of adolescents who do
not smoke owned at least one tobacco promotional item such as a tee-shirt, cap,
lighter, or other paraphernalia. Another report found that one out of four 12- and
13-year-olds own one of these items. Anyone who uses or wears these items becomes
a "walking billboard," promoting tobacco products in schools and other locations
where tobacco advertising is umally prohibited.
0
0
0
5
�08/13/96
121006
TUE 15:41 FAX
Children and Tobacco: The Facts
Smoking is the leading preventable cause of premature death in the United States, and health
care costs associated with smoking soared to $50 billion in 1993. More than 80 percent of
smokers begin to smoke by age 18. While the rate of adult smoking is considerably lower
today than it was ihirty years ago, the prevalence cf smoking by young people has been
steadily rising in the last decade, smokers.
A Pediatric Disease
The average smoker starts at 14 1/2 years old and becomes a daily smoker before age 18.
More than 80 percent of all adult smoker? had tried smoking by their 18th birthday and more
than half of them had already become regular smokers by that age. Studies show that if
people do not begin to smoke as teenagers or children, it is unlikely they will ever do so.
Each and every day, about 3,000 young people become regular smokers, and nearly
1,000 of them will die prematurely as a result of their smoking. Currently, more than 3
million children and adolescents smoke cigarettes, and 1 million adolescent boys currently
use smokeless tobacco. Smoking by young people is rising sharply. Between 1991 and
1995, the percentage of eighth and tenth graders who smoke increased 34 percent. Overall,
in 1595, over one third of high school students were cuirent smokers.
Children tend to vastly underestimate the likelihood that they will become addicted to
these products. Although only 5 percent of daily smokers surveyed in high school said they
would definitely be smoking five years later, close to 75 percent were smoking 7 to 9 years
later. A survey conducted in 1992 found that approximately two-thirds of adolescents who
smoked said they wanted to quit and 70 percent said they would not start smoking if they
could make that choice again.
Smoking; Leading Cause of Avoidable. Premature Death
Tobacco use takes an enormous, deadly toll each year. Tobacco products are responsible
for more than 400,000 deaths each year due to cancer, respiratory illness, heart disease, and
other health problems. Cigarettes kill more Americans each year than AIDS, alcohol, car
accidents, murders, suicides, illegal drugs and fires combined. Smokers who die as a result
of smoking would have lived on average 12 to 15 years longer i f they had not smoked
The health care costs associated with tobacco use are staggering. The Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention estimated that in 1993 the health care costs associated with
smoking totalled $50 billion-. $26.9 billion for hospital costs; $15.5 billion for doctors; $4.9
billion in nnreing home costs; $1.8 billion for prescription dmgs and $900 million for
home-health care expenditures. The Office of Technology Assessment calculated the social
costs attributable to smoking in 1990 at $68 billion. That calculation was based on $20.8
billion in direct health care costs, $6.9 billion in lost productivity from disabilities, and $40.3
billion in lost productivity from premature deaths.
�121007
08/13/96
TUE 15:41 FAX
The FDA proposal
In August, 1995, the Clinton Administration proposed a comprehensive and coordinated set
of measures designed to significantly reduce the number of children and adolescenis who
become addicted to nicotine in cigarettes and smokeless tobacco. While the proposed
measures would continue to maintain the legal status of cigarettes and smokeless tobacco
products for adults, they would reduce the easy access and strong appeal for children.
The proposal builds on previous actions taken by Congress and others such as the ban on
television advertising and state laws ro prohibit the sale or use of tobacco by children. In
addition, it follows recommendations by the American Medical Association and the Institute
of Medicine. Experts have consistently recommended that the keys to achieving the goal are:
reducing access to and limiting the appeal of tobacco to children. The key elements of the
proposal are as follows:
Ari
Reducing Ek'Y Tss bv Children
•
Require age verification.
•
Require face-to-face sales by eliminating vending machines, mail order sales, free
samples, self-service displays, sale of single cigarenes ("loosies") and packages with
fewer than 20 cigarettes ("kiddie packs").
Reducing Appeal to Children
•
Ban outdoor advertising within 1,000 feet of schools and playgrounds. Permit
black-and-white, text only advertising for all other outdoor advertising, including
billboards, posters, and all point-of-sale advertising.
•
Permit black-and-white text only advertising in publications with significant youth
readership (under 18). (Significant readership means more than 15 percent or more
than 2 million. No restrictions on print advertising below these thresholds).
•
Prohibit sale or giveaway of products like caps or gym bags that cany cigarette or
smokeless tobacco product brand names or logos. Prohibit exchange of non-tobacco
products for proof of purchase of tobacco products.
•
Prohibit brand name sponsorship of sporting or entertainment events, but permit
sponsorship in the corporate name.
•
Require tobacco industry to fund ($150 million annually) a public education campaign
to prevent kids from smoking.
�gjoos
08/13/96
TUE 15:42 FAX
The Svnar Regulation
In luly, 1992, Congress enacted the Synar Amendiuent - named for its authoi. the late
Congressman Mike Synar - which requires states to enact and to enforce laws restricting the
sale and distribution of tobacco products to minors as a condition of the states receiving
substance abuse block grants. In January 1996, the U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services and the Substance Abuse and Menial Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)
issued the Synar Regulation implementing the statute.
In addition to requiring states to have in effect laws prohibiting the sale of tobacco products
to minors (under age 18), theregulationrequires the states to enforce those laws in a manner
designed to achieve a sales violation target rate of no more than 20 percent. To measure the
rate, states must use random, unannounced inspections of over-the<ounter and vending
machine outlets, but the regnlation allows the states maximum flexibility in detennining the
strategies they use to attain the 20 percent goal, e.g., stings (use of minors in inspections),
licensing ofretailers,vending machine restrictions, etc. According to the regulation, each
state must negotiate with HHS an interim performance target for achieving the 20 percent
goal and must report annually on their progress.
It is critical for states to enforce their already existing laws prohibiting the sale of tobacco
products to minors. la 1991, an estimated 255 million cigarette packs were sold illegally to
minors, according to the American Journal of Public Health. In the 1995 Monitoring the
Future Survey, more than 90 percent of high school 10th graders surveyed said it was "fairly
easy" or "very easy" to obtain cigarettes.
Although the Synar regulation and the proposed FDA regulation are designed toreduceyouth
tobacco use, they use different approaches to address the problem. While the Synar
regulation deals with state enforcement, the FDA proposed regulation would restrict the
manner by which manufacturers, retailers, and distributors sell and promote tobacco
products. Working in tandem, the two regulations would increase the effectiveness of each
other. State enforcement would be considerably easier under the FDA's proposed
restrictions on how tobacco is sold and promoted, and the President's goal of a 50 percent
reduction in smoking by children under 18 would be more easily attained if the states
aggressively enforce their already-existing youthtobaccolaws.
�121009
08/13/96
TUE 15:42 FAX
Administration Tobacco Control Partnerships
State and Community Partnerships
The Clinton Administration supports state- and community-level tobacco control activities,
including, for example, the National Cancer Institute's (NCI) ASSIST program and the
Center for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDQ IMPACT program.
ASSIST is a $25 million collaboration between NCI, the American Cancer Society, state and
local health departments and private voluntary organizations in 17 states. Its objective is to
implement comprehensive tobacco control programs and demonstrate that the widespread
coordinated application of tobacco control strategies will significantly reduce smoking rates.
ASSIST awards range from $647,000 (West Virginia) to $1,8 (New York).
CDC's IMPACT program is an ongoing cooperative program that assists 32 states, the
District of Columbia, and a variety of national organizations in planning and implementing
tobacco initiatives. The awards may also be used to develop and sustain statewide tobacco
control coalitions, IMPACT, with awards thatrangefrom$74,000 (planning awards) to
$211,000 (core awards), to develop or improve state tobacco control plans to achieve Healthy
People 2000 objectives, establish or strengthen state tobacco control coalitions, and provide
assistance to community efforts to address the tobacco issue.
Pnblic/Private Partnerships
The Administration also works direcdy with private organizations and businesses to create
unique programs to assist young people and adults in their efforts to reduce youth tobacco
use. Examples include the partnerships with the U.S. Women's Soccer Team and with the
National PTA.
Launched in March 1996. "Smoke-Free Kids and Soccer" is an innovative collaboration
between the Department of Health and Human Services, the U.S. Women's National Soccer
Team, and the U,S. Soccer Federation. Its purpose is to highlight the smoke-free lifestyle of
national team members — now members of the U.S. women's Olympic soccer team — and to
promote participation in soccer as a means for adolescent girls to resist the pressures to
smoke. Team members have appeared in PSAs and in posters carrying the "Smoke-Free
Kids and Soccer" message. The posters and other material are being distributed to youth
soccer associations, local PTAs, and State/local health departments throughout the country.
Slop the Sale - Prevent the Addiction is a video public health education program produced in
1994 by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration. HHS
and the National PTA are working together to distribute the program material, such as the
video and a program guide, to the more than ?7,000 local PTA chapters throughout the
country. Stop the Sale is intended to heighten community concern about youth smoking, to
improve the enforceroeni of existing youth access laws.
�8l
O C
O
'X LU
O. EC
Q-
�HOMEOWNERSHIP & M O R T G A G E R A T E S
UNDER PRESIDENT CLINTON
Homeownership Is At Its Highest Level in 15 Years. After homeownership fell during
both the Reagan and Bush Administrations, it is up since President Clinton took office. In
1995. the homeownership rate reached its highest level since 1981. [Source: D p rm n of c m ec ,
e at e t o m r e
Bureau of the Census]
Since President Clinton took office, 4.4 million Americans became homeowners that's more new homeowners than during any comparable time on record. [Source:
Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census]
Homes Are More Affordable. According to the National Association of Realtors, homes
have been more affordable during the Clinton Administration than during any other
Administration since Richard Nixon was President, including Ronald Reagan's terms in
office. [Source: National Association of Realtors]
Alan Greenspan, 7/23/96: "And clearly, with the fairly slowed pace of price of homes,
affordability is in reasonably good shape in the sense that at current interest rates and prices,
the average American is in far better position to buy a home than his counterpart was, say, a
generation ago."
Money Magazine, August 1996: "Moderate interest rates combined with stable housing prices
have helped make housing more affordable under Clinton than at any time since Jimmy Carter's
term in the late '70s." [NOTE: On average, though, home affordability is lower under Clinton
than under any President since Nixon.]
Lower Mortgage Rates Boosts Housing Market And Help Families.
•
Lower Mortgage Rates. Since January 1993, fixed mortgage rates have been low - averaging 7.8 percent, compared to 9.5 percent during the Bush Administration and
12.8 percent d u r i n g the Reagan A d m i n i s t r a t i o n .
Policy]
•
[Source: Department of Treasury, Office of Economic
Interest Rates Came Down With '93 Plan. After passage of President Clinton's
1993 Economic Plan, the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond hit a 20-year low of
5.8 percent (October 1993), providing a substantial boost to interest-sensitive sectors
SUCh as business investment, housing, and autOS. [Source: Department of Treasury, Office of
Economic Policy ]
•
10 Million Homeowners Refinanced Their Mortgages Savings As Much As $25
Billion the Chief Economist at Mortgage Bankers Association: "In all, the rate
rollback allowed some 10 million homeowners to save as much as $25 billion by
refinancing their loans, according to David Lereah, the chief economist at the
M o r t g a g e Bankers A s s o c i a t i o n . " [Source: Money Magazine, August 1996]
�THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
June 6, 1996
REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
AT NATIONAL HOME OWNERSHIP SUMMIT
The Washington Hilton Hotel
Washington, D.C.
11:51 A.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. When Lisa was up here talking and she
said, when we bought our home I didn't realize this went along with it, I thought I would (laughter.) But her husband and I agree that she did so well she may have a future at this line
of work. Don't you think she did? (Applause.)
I want to thank all of you for being here - the other families who are here. I'm sure
they could have given a testimonial much like the one that Lisa and Spencer gave. I want to
thank the public officials who are here - Congressman Chaka Fattah from Pennsylvania, and
Mayor and Mrs. Lanier; Mayor Obano; Mayor Yunits; Prince George's County Executive, my
neighbor, Wayne Curry; and Jefferson County Commissioner David Armstrong, who shares my
common roots and home.
I want to thank all of you in the private sector who worked for a year with our national
home ownership strategy and those of you who worked for a lifetime to help people realize the
dream of owning their own home.
When I became President I saw this mission of expanding home ownership as part of our
larger goal of restoring economic opportunity and a sense of security to Americans who are
working hard and trying to build families and raise children. The fact that home ownership had
stagnated for several years, to me, was just another indication of why we needed to get our
economy moving and working for ordinary people again.
I think everybody here, of whatever age, remembers the first home you bought.
Actually, I was thinking how much more persuasive Spencer was than I was - he got married
first and then bought a home. (Laughter.) Some of you heard me tell this story before, but I
had to buy a home to get married. (Laughter.) Hillary and I had been going together for
�several years and we were living in Fayetteville, Arkansas, and we were both teaching at the
University law school. And she was going away on some trip - she was always getting trips
to go away on. And she - I took her to the airport one day. We passed this old house.
She said, boy, that's a pretty house. I said, it really is. So I took her to the airport, I
went back and checked on the house. It was 1,100 square feet, it cost $20,500. And it was a
beautiful little house -- no air-conditioning, attic fan, hard-wood floors. And I bought the house.
And I made whatever the down payment was. I remember my mortgage payment was $174 a
month. (Laughter.)
And so, three or four days later, she came back from her trip and I said, you know that
house you like so well? I said, I bought that house. Now, don't you think you'll have to marry
me so I won't have to live there by myself? (Laughter and applause.) I am a living example
of the power of home ownership to strengthen families and build better futures. (Applause.)
I am very proud of what has been done in the last year. I want to thank Secretary
Cisneros, all of the team at HUD. They have done a wonderful job. I don't believe we've ever
had a HUD Secretary as energetic, as full of good ideas, as able to build bridges, as able to
achieve thing as Henry Cisneros. (Applause.)
We knew if we could get the economy going again, something would happen to home
ownership. And in 1993, we began to work on a strategy that would do three things: First of
all, it would drive the deficit down and, therefore, get interest rates down. Second, one that
would open the world's markets to our products and services so we could get our exports up and
create more jobs that were high-wage jobs. And third, one that would invest in the areas that
are critical to our long-term growth - the education and training of our people, technology,
research, development, our infrastructure.
And after three and a half years, we've got over 8.5 million new jobs. The deficit has
gone down now for four years in a row. (Applause.) The deficit was $290 billion when I took
office. It's projected to be about $130 billion this year, and it's come down a long way.
(Applause.)
We've had three years of record numbers of new small businesses starting, which is
something that's very important to our long-term health and well-being. And now we have, in
the last three years, 3.7 million people, like the Kastens, new home owners in America. And
I think that's something we can all be proud of. (Applause.)
Home ownership is now at a 15-year high, and last year the increase was the highest rate
of increase in home ownership in almost 30 years. (Applause.) And one of the things that I
also want to point out that I'm very proud of is that home ownership is more broadly distributed
now in America than it has been in a long time. There's been a very rapid increase in the
number of African American first-time home owners, very rapid increase in the number of
Hispanic home owners, an increase in the number of working women with children who own
their own homes now.
�So we are working hard to broaden the benefits of that. And so many of you are a big
part of that. Sixty-five percent of the American people now own their own homes. Our goal
is to go from 3.7 million new home owners to 8 million new home owners by the year 2000,
bringing us to over 67 percent of the American people or two-thirds of the American people that
own homes by the year 2000 - the first time that has ever been achieved in the history of this
country. Together, you and I - all of us working together - we can achieve that goal. And
I think we ought to recommit ourselves to it today. (Applause.)
I'd like to talk a little bit about what we're trying to do to increase further our role and
do our part to work with the private sector on home ownership in the larger context of our
obligation to create more opportunities for Americans who are willing to assume the
responsibility of working for it, to achieve those opportunities.
A couple of days ago at Princeton I went to talk about the idea of making education
more accessible to all Americans, and reaffirmed my commitment to giving families a $10,000
deduction for the cost of education after high school ~ and then said, in addition to that, I
believe we know enough about the world economy that a high school education is not a
guarantee of a good job with a growing income and, therefore, we should make two more years
of education available to every American by giving a tax credit of $1,500 for the 13th and 14th
year for people who need it. So that will take every American and open the doors of community
college to every single American who needs it. And I think we ought to do that. I think it's
very important. (Applause.)
I recommend it because I think it's good policy and because it's consistent with what
we can afford and still balance the budget - that anybody will be able to get the $1,500 the first
year to go back to community college and then they get it the second year if they maintain a B
average. I believe that if the taxpayers are going to pay for it to, in effect, make it 14 years of
public schooling, but do it through tax credits, that we ought to give it to people who are really
working hard and trying to do their part as well. So I hope all of you will support that and get
behind it. (Applause.)
We can do the same sorts of things with home ownership. Anybody who's willing to
take the risk and make the mortgage payments to buy their own home - it seems to me, we
ought to do what we can to help. Besides that, it's not all that easy to own your own home.
Not all of us are plasterers like Mr. Kasten here. (Laughter.) Anybody who's ever been up at
3:00 in the morning trying to fix a pipe sometimes probably has second thoughts about whether
he did the right thing in the first place. (Laughter.)
But this country, for most of this century, has had a commitment to home ownership.
And we've understood that home ownership was about more than a statistic, it was about
growing the entire economy. It was about increasing the savings rates of Americans. It was
about stabilizing the forces of family and child-rearing and strengthening communities. That it
was a big, big issue.
President Roosevelt and the Congress understood that in creating the FHA way back in
1934. They recognized that out-of-work families losing their homes because they couldn't keep
�up with payments was a long-term disaster for the United States, for more than the families
losing their homes. They realized that letting people buy their own homes was the best way to
make sure that they had a stake in our system and in our future. That's what the
nationally-backed mortgage system of insurance did.
And thanks to the FHA and the G.I. Bill's VA home guarantee, for the first time - in
1948 - for the very first time in the entire history of America - a majority of Americans own
their own homes. And what we are doing today is simply building on a 50-year commitment
to continue to enhance that.
In the 1980s what happened was our country got so concerned with short-term gains that
we were willing to sacrifice a lot of long-term interests to those short-term gains. The big
deficits that came about in the 1980s paid for some short-term economic growth, but at the cost
of very, very high interest rates, which put the brakes on home ownership. And we have been
working, as I said, for three years to reverse those trends. It's looking pretty good.
One of the first things I noticed that came about after we announced and then enacted
the deficit reduction plan in 1993 and we had a big reduction in interest rates was that people
began to refinance their homes. So many people were on variable rate mortgages, they could
do that. We believe that in 1993 alone 5.5 million families refinanced their home loans in a way
that saved them an average of more than $1,000 a year in payments. That was a stunning
indicator to me that something was going right in this direction and we needed to continue to
do more of it.
That is, by the way, why we will in this budget continue to bring the deficit down and
why we ought to pass a balanced budget plan because that's the best guarantee to keep the
interest rates down while we grow the economy. And over the long run, keeping that kind of
environment will guarantee more than anything else we can do the availability of affordable
home ownership for the American people.
So I hope all of you will continue to support us as we find ways to bring the deficit down
and balance the budget and still meet our fundamental commitments to bring this country
together and to help those who need it.
Let me also say that we tried to focus on what it would take to get from here where
we are, with 3.7 million to 8 million home owners. And we've asked for all of your help in
the partnership that you're a part of with Secretary Cisneros and others in our administration.
But one of the things that we focused on and that all of us can remember from our own
experiences, I think, when we first started to buy a home is how much it costs in front-end
costs. And we found that one of the biggest barriers to young families buying homes was not
the monthly mortgage payments, but the up-front costs. They averaged about $4,400 a year.
And so I challenged FHA to do what it could over the next year to cut those costs by
$1,000. For a lot of us who maybe have more yesterdays than tomorrows, that may not seem
like a lot of money. But for these folks, that's a lot of money to come up with at one time.
�And I want to thank the FHA for the work they've done to meet the challenge I gave them to
reduce the front-end costs closing on a home by $1,000.
In 1994, FHA cut it's up-front mortgage insurance premiums by 25 percent. That was
the first $600 on their $1,000 goal. Then over the next year or two, since 1994, FHA has been
streamlining, consolidating its office, cutting red tape, putting offices on line, speeding up the
process - sometimes it's turned around and it's gone from as long as 60 days to as short as two
days in the best places. And they are working very hard to implement these reforms throughout
the country. As these changes go throughout the country, they will save literally in the time
$200 per customer. So that takes us to $800. We have one more step to make to get to $1,000.
And I've directed the FHA to further reduce the up-front mortgage premiums by another
25 basis points which amounts to $200 and which can be easily funded in our balanced budget
plan. It doesn't cost a lot of money. But this will enable FHA to say, okay, we did it. With
the 1994 cut, with this cut, with the streamlining, we will cut average closing costs from $4,400
to $3,400 to try to make the dream of home ownership more achievable to young, hardworking
people so they can get off to a good start. (Applause.)
Now, let me also put in one plug here on an issue that's kind of hot around town now
because I think it's the wrong way to promote home ownership. There are some people who
say that we should just privatize the FHA altogether and that, if by selling off an agency that's
made the American Dream of home ownership real for almost 25 million Americans without
costing a dime, somehow that will reduce the housing costs for America's families. That's not
so.
If we just ended FHA's loan guarantees we know that one thing would happen - interest
rates would go up. The mortgage rates home guarantees. We know that one thing would
happen - interests rate would go up, the mortgage rates would increase. Families now eligible
for FHA loans would pay hundreds of dollars more a year in mortgage payments. That would
be like a significant tax increase for people buying homes. As many a 400,000 families could
be denied mortgages all together who would otherwise be eligible to get them.
So I believe this would be a mistake. This is a - you can call it a subsidy as the critics
do - I say it's a pretty good subsidy. It's a pretty good investment by the American people as
a whole to get two-thirds of us into our own homes. I think it's a pretty good investment for
people like me, who can afford to pay market mortgage rates, to help young people like the
Kastens get started and raise their kids, afford a home, be good citizens, and build a future. I
believe it's worth doing. (Applause.)
But let me say again, I'm committed to reducing the deficit, I'm committed to reducing
the size of government, I'm committed to getting rid of programs we don't need. We have
eliminated hundreds of programs in the last three years. There are 237,000 fewer people
working for the federal government than there were the day I took the oath of office - 237,000.
(Applause.) And I might say, we have the smallest federal government since 1965. By the end
of the year it will be the smallest it has been since President Kennedy was in office. As a
percentage of our overall civilian work force, the federal government today is as small as it was
�in 1933, before the New Deal.
We don't have to get rid of the FHA to shrink the size of the federal government.
(Applause.) We can do this in the right way. I bet most of you probably didn't know that.
And one reason you probably don't know it is - I'm very proud of this - of the 237,000 people
who have left the federal employment since I became President, fewer than 2,000 were separated
involuntarily. We tried to take care of those folks and honor their service and recognize that
they had to go on with their lives and they needed to find other jobs, they needed to do other
work, or they needed to move gracefully into retirement.
So we have tried to handle this in a humane way. But I say this to make the point again:
We need to keep our eyes on the major things here. The major thing is to keep the deficit
coming down and go into balancing the budget, to do it in a way that enables us to honor our
obligations to our children and our parents, to families with children with disabilities, and to
others who need that, need help, and to do it in a way that grows the economy while preserving
the environment and that helps people like the families we honor today to build a good future
for themselves and their kids. We can do these things.
And I will say one more time, we've got a lot of work to do even with all these efforts
to get from 3.7 million in 1996 to 8 million in 2000. But we can do it. I want to have 8
million Americans able to say two of the most beautiful words in the English language,
"Welcome home" by the year 2000. And with your help, that's exactly what we're going to do.
Thank you and God bless you. (Applause.)
END
12:11 P.M. EDT
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�MEMORANDUM
To:
Paul Meyer
cc:
Jim Kohlenberger, Jon Orszag
Prom:
Tom Kalil f ; ^
Re:
Techno-factoids
Date:
August 15, 1996
Below are a few fun facts to know and tell that might be useful for the speech
1. With fiber optics technology, we will eventually be able to cany all of the phone calls
on Mother's Day on a single strand offiberthe width of a human hair
"One fiber thread the width of a human hair can potentially use about 25 trillion of those herz
for communications ... This span is enough to cany all the phone calls in America on the
peak moment of Mother's Day."
[George Gilder, "From Wires to Waves," Forbes ASAP, June 5, 1995.]
2. In 25 years, the number of transistors on a micro-chip has increased from 2,300 to
5.5 million
Name of Microprocessor
Transistors
1971
4004
2300
1978
8086
29,000
1982
286
134,000
1985
386
275,000
1989
486
1.2 million
1993
Pentium
3.1 million
1995
Pentium Pro
55 million
[Source: Intel web site — www.intel.com]
zoo®
D K asnoH aiiHM
3
S09T 921" ZOZS, 0Z:ST
96/ST/80
�3. Yon ain't seen nothing yet
In 1997, Texas Instruments plans to make chips with 125 million transistors. These
transistors will be 0.18 micron in size — l/600th the width of a human hair. This will make
picture phones, "Dick Tracy" wrist computers, and voice recognition systems affordable to
consumers.
[Source: Texas Instruments; "New TI Technology Opens the Door to Science Fact", August
1996]
3. In 10 years, the Internet has grownfromconnecting roughly 2 thousand computers
to 13 million computers
Computers connected to Internet
2/86
2,308
1/93
1.31 million
7/96
12.88 million
[Source: Internet Domain Survey at Network Wizards web site: http://www.nw.com]
4. Today, 22-24 percent of North Americans (U.S. and Canada) 16 years of age or
older have access to the Internet.
[CommerceNct/Nielsen Study, August 13, 1996. http://www.conmierce.net]
5. The World Wide Web, which was virtually unheard of when President Clinton
entered office, has exploded
Number of Web sites
January 1993
Today:
50
tfdo
More than 275,000
2- ^
M*
[Source: Mathew Gray's World Wide Web Wanderer, Altavista search engine:
http://altavista.digital.com]
COO®
DSN 3S110H 3 1 I M
S09T gSfr ZOZG
0Z:ST
96/ST/80
�Computers / Internet
Four years ago, there was no such thing as a web page. Today, there are more than 100
million. (Source: Jim Kohlenberger, OVP - specific cite to follow)
There are 50 million PCS sold every year worldwide. (Source: Bill Gates, The Road
Ahead, page 246)
In 1946, EINAC, the world's first electronic computer, weighed 30 tons, contained
17,000 vacuum tubes and filled a 30-by-50-foot room. Today, desktop computers
50,000 times faster than EINAC sit in millions of American homes. (Source: The
Baltimore Sun, July 14, 1996)
Already, more than half of U.S. businesses permit jelecommuting jby some of their
workforce (3 million companies in 1996, up from just 1.3 million in 1994). (Source: USA
Today, June 18, 1996)
Nationwide, the number of people working full or part time from home hit 46 million in
1995. (Source: IDC/LINK Resources quoted in The Sun Sentinel, April 22, 1996)
By the end of the year, Intel will finish work on a calculator that can complete one trillion
calculations per second. At a rate of one calculation per second, it would take 40,000
years to complete that many calculations. (Source: The Atlanta Constitution, July 13,
1996)
Biotech
Within the next seven years, the mapping of the human genome should be complete.
People will be able to take genetic tests to see if they have genes that lead to Alzheimer's
disease or put them in a high risk category for breast cancer or heart disease. (Source:
Toronto Star, February 2, 1996)
Because of our ability to use the new technology of functional brain imaging, which
photographs the brain at work, we now understand why people with dyslexia have trouble
translating the sound of language into written words. We can detect dyslexia in young
children and give them the early reading help they need. (Source: Toronto Star,
February 2, 1996)
When the Human Genome project began in 1988, only 400 human genes had been
identified. By mid-1995, 35,000 had been identified. (Source: LA. Times Magazine,
March 3, 1996)
�The Human Genome Project could be complete by the year 2000. (Source: LA. Times
Magazine, March 3, 1996)
People will carry their entire genome and medical history on a credit card. (Source: LA.
Times Magazine, March 3, 1996)
�"A Ford Taurus has more computing power than the Apollo 11."
In a conversation with Tom Kalil, Ford claimed that the Taurus performs 6-7 MIPS (millions of
instructions per second). NASA confirmed that the Apollo 11 performed fewer that 6-7 MIPS.
�
Dublin Core
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Title
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Michael Waldman
Description
An account of the resource
<p>Michael Waldman was Assistant to the President and Director of Speechwriting from 1995-1999. His responsibilities were writing and editing nearly 2,000 speeches, which included four State of the Union speeches and two Inaugural Addresses. From 1993 -1995 he served as Special Assistant to the President for Policy Coordination.</p>
<p>The collection generally consists of copies of speeches and speech drafts, talking points, memoranda, background material, correspondence, reports, handwritten notes, articles, clippings, and presidential schedules. A large volume of this collection was for the State of the Union speeches. Many of the speech drafts are heavily annotated with additions or deletions. There are a lot of articles and clippings in this collection.</p>
<p>Due to the size of this collection it has been divided into two segments. Use links below for access to the individual segments:<br /><a href="http://clinton.presidentiallibraries.us/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=43&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=2006-0469-F+Segment+1">Segment One</a><br /><a href="http://clinton.presidentiallibraries.us/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=43&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=2006-0469-F+Segment+2">Segment Two</a></p>
Creator
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Michael Waldman
Office of Speechwriting
Date
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1993-1999
Identifier
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2006-0469-F
Extent
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Segment One contains 1071 folders in 72 boxes.
Segment Two contains 868 folders in 66 boxes.
Provenance
A statement of any changes in ownership and custody of the resource since its creation that are significant for its authenticity, integrity, and interpretation. The statement may include a description of any changes successive custodians made to the resource.
Clinton Presidential Records: White House Staff and Office Files
Publisher
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William J. Clinton Presidential Library & Museum
Format
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Adobe Acrobat Document
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
paper
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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Chicago [Binder] [2]
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Office of Speechwriting
Michael Waldman
Is Part Of
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Box 48
<a href="http://clinton.presidentiallibraries.us/items/show/36404"> Collection Finding Aid</a>
<a href="https://catalog.archives.gov/id/7763296">National Archives Catalog Description</a>
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
2006-0469-F Segment 2
Provenance
A statement of any changes in ownership and custody of the resource since its creation that are significant for its authenticity, integrity, and interpretation. The statement may include a description of any changes successive custodians made to the resource.
White House Staff and Office Files
Publisher
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William J. Clinton Presidential Library & Museum
Format
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Adobe Acrobat Document
Medium
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Preservation-Reproduction-Reference
Date Created
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6/3/2015
Source
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7763296
42-t-7763296-20060469F-Seg2-048-013-2015