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DA V Speech 7/28/96
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PRESmENT WILLIAM J. CLINTON
75TH ANNUAL CONVENTION
DISABLED AMERICAN VETERANS
NEW ORLEANS, LA
JULY 28, 1996 .
Acknowledgn1ents: Gregory Reed, Senior Vice Commander~ Tom McMasters,
, National Commander; Barbara HJcks, Auxiliary National Commander; ~rt Wilson, National
Adjutant; Secretary Jesse Brown.
Let me begin by saying that when I ran for President, I promjsed veterans that l would
appoint a true advocate for veterans as Secretary of Veterans Affa.irs. It did not take long to
find that person. He .is one of your own. Jesse Brown honed his sktns while serving as
executi.ve d1recto:r of the DA V. He and his deputy, Hershel.. Gober, make up one of the best
leadership tea.ms in government. They both share with all of us a deep desire to make life
better for all veterans. They are. doing a remarkable job, and 1 thank them for their service.
I am honored to join you in celebrating three quarters of a century of service to your
count.ry. You are the best representatives of something I want to talk about today-- the duty
we owe to our veterans, the duty we owe each other as Americans, and the duty we owe the
world.
We owe a duty to all of you, nl'>t only fl)f your bravery and sacrifice .in defense of
liberty, but for an you continue to do for each other, for your families, and for our country.
Last year we celebrated the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II. Many of you
fmlght in that great struggle. With your lives before you, you left everything -- famili.es,
loved ones, home -- to 'fight for a just cause. From the Aleutians to Okinawa, and from the
Mediterranean to the North Sea, you put your Jives on the line for freedom. Fortunately, you
made it back home. So many of your friends did not. We lost more than 400,000, and
700,000 more were wounded many of you among them. , But still our veterans never
faltered. You gave~ so that funm-: generations of Americans might be free. Your
country owes you a deb~"'~f-~atitude we know we can never fully repay. But allow me to say
· to you and every American who served in World War II, including the Republican candidate
for President, Bob Dole, thank you for your courage. Thank you for your sacrifice. But the
need for vigilance in defense of freedom did not stop with the end of World War II. Freedom
has come under attack again and again -- in Korea, in Vietnam. in the Persian Gulf, in Bosnia.
America, and much of the world thanks all of you who answered the call.
But your tradition of service extends beyond the battlefield. This is also the 50th
anniversary of your involvement in the VA Vol\JI'ltary Service Program. Last year, you
donated more volunteer hours at VA hospitals around the country than any other organjz.ation .
. I also. want to thank_ you fo.r your recent donation of another 141 vans to VA hospitals to help
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transport patients. And J want to congratulate the two people you selected as volunteers of
the year -- Tillman Rutledge and Dorothy Marie Waters. They are the best examples of what
you stand for and what America stands fo~.
I believe there is no more important obligation than the one we owe to all of you.
Jesse Brown and J recognize a simple truth: the troops of tomorrow witJ only be as sttong as
our commitment to the veterans of today. When our men and women leave the service~ we
must not let. them down. From education to employment, from buying a home to getting
quality medical care', our veterans deserve our, nation's unwavering support And for the past
th.ree-and-a-half years we have given it to you. Even as we cut government spending, l have
asked for a $1 biJJion increase in funding for the VA. More than ha1f is for medica) care and
other discretiona.ry programs. Also in that request are funds for a new hospital and nursing
home in Brevard County,· Florida and a replacement hospital at Travis Air Force Base in
Californ.ia.
My Administratjon js also committed to keeping the VA hospital system strong into the
21st century. We are carrying out a dran1atic restructuring that wiJJ improve tne quality of
care and ma~ our hospitals more patient-centered and less bureaucratic. J have sent the
Congress legislation that witl allow us to si111plify eligibility rules and· improve access to care
at VA hospitals. And soon, we will submit legislation that will allow Medicare-eligible
veterans to obtain treatment at a VA facility, and to have the costs reimbursed by .Medicare.
· We have also reached out to veterans seJVice organizations, appointing veterans as
delegates to the White House Conference on Aging and the Presidentia.l delegation to Vietnam.
We establjshed the first-ever Interagency Veterans Policy Group to coordinate and spur
progress on issues of concern to veterans and military organizations.
One such issue-- for anore than two decades-- has been the suffering our nation•s
Vietnam veterans have endured as a result of exposure to Agent Orange. In Mayt I announced
that Vietnam veterans with prostate cancer and peripheral neuropar.hy are entitled to disability
payments based upon their e1eposure to Agent Orange. Just this week, I sent Congress
legislation to provide an appropriate remedy for children of Vietnam veterans who suffer from
spina bi.fid.a: My Administra.t.ion has also responded aggressively to Persian Gulf illness. I
established the Pres.idential Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans' Illness. I have
charged that commission to Ieave no stone unturned in finding rhe cause of these illnesses and
improving care available to Persian Gulf veterans.
But we must.do more-- especially for ou·r disabled veterans, many of whom are
overcoming tremendous odds to contribute to our progress. That is why today, as we celebrate
the sixth anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, I want to reiterate the pl.edge I
~ade in 1992. Our disability policy must be based on three simple creeds: inclusion,
tndependence and empowerment. I know how hard you fought, along with others in the
d.isability community for the passage of this important legislation. My Administration has
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·.
made vigorous enforcement of all laws protecting people with disabilities a top priority. And
we wi11 continue to do so until all the barriers against people with disabilities come down.
Consi!;tent with that commitment. my budget for 1997 proposes an increase in the resources
available to enforce the ADA. ·
You who have given so much tq preserve freedom 'and opportunity for the generations
that followed, understand how important it is to honor the duty we owe one anothe.r as
Americans. If we are going to prosper in the next century, we must unleash the power of our
diversity and realize that we will go up or down together. The most important thing we can do
to honor the duty we owe each other is to build an economy that provides oppo:rtunity to alJ
who are willing to work for it. That is what I have. been working to do since 1 took office.
Just 1oolc at what we have accomplished together: Home ownership is at a 15-ye.ar high. We
have an all-time high in exports and new business formations for three years in a row. We
have the lowest combined rates of inflation and unen1ployment in 27 years. Our deficit is now
Jess than half what it was four years ago. And we have ·help create 10 million new" jobs.
Veterans have benefitted·, along with all Americans. The veterans unemployment rate has been
cut by almost a third-· from 7.2% in January of l993 to 4.9% in January of 1996. And in the
past three-and-a-half years, 6 million veterans have received training andjl..,b search assistance·
through the efforts of the Department of Labor .. Two million of them now have jobs. So, we
are moving in the right direction.
But we know we must do more. Unemployment among disabled veterans is still too
high. That is why J appointed Ron Drach, the employment director of the DAV to serve as
Vice Chairman of the President's Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities. He
is working hard to improve those employme11t numbers and we all should be thankful that he is
on the job.
But none of this will matter unless ~e do all we can to build strong families and ensure
peace and safety at home and around the world.
Our d\lty to each other begins with making sure that you and every American feels
. secure in your homes, in our schools and in our streets. We must intensify our fight against
crime. The deaths of two police officers within a 24-hour period this past week here in New
Or.leans painfully drove that point horne. 1 want to personally l)ffer any condotences to the
_families of officers Joey Thomas and Chris McCormick who d1ed while protecting the citizens
of this city. We must not let their dearhs be in vain. In the past three-and-a-half years we
have worked hard to put more pc.'llice 011 the streets, take guns off the streets~ and increase
penalties for violent crimes. ·aut we must do more and we musl do it together. The only way
we are going to win this tight is with a renewed partnership between citi~ens and the police.
Our duty to each other means that we must work rogether to see that the freedom and
opportunity you made possible is there for future generations. That is why we are fighting to
strengthen Medicare. That is why we are committed to preserving our national guarantee of
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medi.cal coverage for older Americans, pregnant women, low inco1ne children and people with
disabilities. Last year the Congress sent me legislation to repeal that guarantee. r vet.oe'.d it
last year, and 1 will veto it agai.n if they send· it to me again.
You who have given so much to preserve freedom and oppo.rtunity for generations that
followed, understand how important it is to honor the duty we no~ owe your children and
grandchiJdren. That is why we th.ink that the best tax cut is l'me that helps rnore young people
go to college. l have also as·ket~ the Congress to make two years of educalion after high school
as universal as a high school education is today by giving people a refundable tax credit worth
$.1500 a year to go to any community co11ege i.n America for two. years .. That is how we honor
our obligation to our children.
But the key to our success i.n the 21st century is the same as it has been throughout the
220 years of our history -- strong fami1ies. .1 believe the way to honor the duty we owe to our
famiBes is to make sure people get. the help they need to succeed at work and at home. That is
why 1 fought so hard to pass the Family and Medical Leave Law. That .is why we are
committed to raising the minimum wage. And that is why we are going to make sure the
· Ameri.can peo,ple get the right kind of welfare reform. Do we need welfare reform? Of
course we do. In the last four years, ~e have worked 'with 41 stales to launch 69 experiments
to move people fr(nn we1fare to work in a way that was tough on work. but good for children.
Today, for 75 percent. of peop1e on welfare, the rules have changed. The New York Times
has called our app.roach a "quiet revolution." And it is working. I am proud. that there are 1.3
mil1ion fewer people on welfare than the day l took office. We can continue this progress and
bring about real welfare reform ifthe Congress sends me a bJU that honors work and protects
children.
·
Finally, let me say that we have a sacred duty to keep America strong -- and we are.
A.s I pledged from the beginning of our Administration, ours is the best-equipped, best-trained,
best-prepared military jn the world .... As we near the end of the most successful drawdown in
our history, America's military rea.di.ness has never been higher. Whether standing down
aggression in the Persian Gulf, restoring democracy in Haiti, safeguarding peace in Bosnia, or
saving lives in .Rwanda, our servicemen and women have proven their abilities time and time
again over the last three years. To maintain that high state of readiness and to keep our
military strong, our funding and support must not -- and will not •• falter.
We are committed to making sure we have the money and military technology to meet
any cha11enge now or in (he future. But we also know that at t.he end of the day, our men and
women in uniform are the rnl')St precious resource in our arsenal. That is why we must be
·there for them, as they have always been there for America.
. .
Last year, we set aside funds to ensure that'1~1.ilitary personnel receive the highest pay
ra1.se allowed by law through the end of the century. ln addition, we are commjtted to
tnai.ntain and improve the quality of life for service members and thejr families a.round the
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globe-- including better housing. community support~ youth programs and child care .. You
know better than anyone how hnportantit is to ta.ke care· of those who serve.
ln closing let me say that your sacrifice and patriotism have built the strongest nation
on earth and ushered in an era of peace and prosperity f<.lr millions of people around the world.
If we honor our duty to you .. .if we honor the duty we owe one another, I am confident that
America's best days are still to come.
Than.k you and God bless you all.
5
~006
�THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
(New Orleans, Louisiana)
For Immed1ate Release
July 28, 1996
REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
,
TO THE 75TH ANNUAL DISABLED AMERICAN VETERANS CONVENTION
Riverside Hilton Hotel
·New Orleans; Louisiana
1:52 P.M. CDT
THE PRESIDENT:
Thank you very much.
Thank you for the
exuberant welcome. I want to thank the ladies of the Auxiliary for
leading the applause for Hillary -- that was a nice thing to do.
Thank you very much. That was a very nice thing. (Applause.)
I want to thank Commander .McMasters for that introduction.
It's been so long I'd forgotten I'd done some of those things.
(Laughter.) And he mentioned that I was a saxophone player -- I
think we have a Navy band over there, I want to thank the Navy
Band. Thank you for being here and for playing. I'll always laugh
anytime someone says I'm a saxophone player now because a couple of
weeks ago, Colonel John Bourgeious, the Commander of the United
States Marine Band, the President's own, retired, as one of the
longest serving conductors of the Marine Band -- and he did a
television interview on national television in which he was asked
about my saxophone playing, and having sworn an oath to truth, he
said that I "was adequate." ·(Laughter.) And, painfully, I admit
. that that is about all he could say. And that's why I'm here today
in this position rather than playing for you in your entertainment.
·(Laughter.)
I'm delighted to be here with Commander McMasters, with your
Senior Vice"·Commander Gregory Reed; Barbara Hicks, your Auxiliary
National Commander; Art Wilson, your National Adjutant; the other
officers of your distinguished organization, and with all of you.
I'm glad to be joined today by Secretary Jesse Brown -(applause.)
You know, the first time I realized that you would
cheer like that -- I love to kid Jesse and I was kidding him on the
way in, and I said, you think they give that kind of reaction
because they love you so much or because they're glad I took you
off of their hands? (Laughter.) I think it's the former, and I
think you should. (Applause.)
I'm also delighted to be joined today by a number of state
officials from the state of · Louisiana and by Congressman Bill
Jefferson and Congressman Cleo Fields -- I thank them for coming.
(Applause.}
Ladies and gentlemen, as veterans who have given so much to
defend our country, you know what it is personally to face an
enemy. Today, we have an enemy it is difficult to face, because
the enemy is so often hidden -- killing at random, surfacing only
to perform cowardly acts.
Their aim is to demoralize us as a
people and to spread fear into everyday life. We must not let them
do tha"t.
As Americans, we can -- and must -- join toge.ther to
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defeat terrorism wherever it strikes and whoever practices it.
(Applause.)
We all are outraged by what happened in the Centennial Olympic
Park in Atlanta. And we all admire the athletes, the thousands of
volunteers, ,the tens of thousands of fans who made a strong
statement to the. world yesterday when they showed up and carried on
the Olympics, saying that they would not be intimidated by
terrorism and that no terrorist could kill the Olympic spirit.
(Applause.)
What we So?W yesterday was a symbol of an emerging consensus
among all responsible nations and freedom-loving people everywhere
.that we have to work closely together to stop the spread of
terrorism. We know from the Tokyo subway to the streets of Tel
Aviv; to the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia where we lost 19 ,of our
fine Air Force personnel, that terrorism is a problem that knows no
boundaries. We have learned here so painfully in America -- from
the World Trade Center to Oklahoma City -- that attacks from
terrorists can be homegrown or can be generated in other lands. We
know that nations are beginning to understand that ·there is no
place that is safe when anyplace is vulnerable to terrorists.
Not very long ago after the upsurge of terrorist attacks in
Israel, we had a remarkable meeting of 29 nations at Sharm
el-Sheikh in Egypt, where for the first time 13 Arab states
condemned terrorism in Israel.
It was the beginning of wisdom,
because, as the Saudis have seen, there is no nation which can hide
from terrorism unless we all recognize that the rules of civilized
people do not permit it to be practiced.
The recent meeting of the G-7 nations in France produced a
significant increase in international measures to cooperate against
terrorism. And this week, following up on that, we will have a
very important conference in Paris, France, involving those nations
with high-level representatives to deal with the questions that
terrorism presents us.
Terrorists are often supported by states.
And states that
sponsor or permit terrorism -- including Iraq, Iran, Libya· and
sudan,· and any others -- must face strong sanctions. We all have
to say we cannot live with this, it is wrong. People must seek to
·resolve their differences by ways other than killing innocent
civilians... (Applause.)
'• ....
This year I signed into law an antiterrorism act which made
terrorism a federal offense, expanded the role of the FBI in
solving these crimes, and imposed the death penalty for terrorism.
As strong as the bill was, it did not give our law enforcement
officials some of the powerful tools I had recommended because they
wanted and needed them -- including increased wiretap authority for
terrorists .who are moving from place to place.
Where they are
flexible, so must we be.
And chemical markers, often called
taggets, for the most common explosives, black and smokeless
powder, so that we can track down those who make bombs that kill
innocent people.
This morning I was very encouraged to hear the Speaker of the
House, Mr. Gingrich, express a willingness to consider these
tougher measures.
I have asked' the Speaker; Majority Leader,
Senator Trent Lott; the leaders of the Democratic minority, Senator
Daschle and Mr. Gephardt; and the FBI director, Louis Freeh, to
come to the White House tomorrow to help to agree on a package that
will provide these additional protections against terrorism and any
other measures we need to take to increase the protection of the
American people. (Applause.)
We will continue· to do whatever is necessary to give law
enforcement the tools they need to find terrorists before they
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strike and to bring them swiftly to justice when they do. This
week I announced new measures aimed at increasing airport security
-- increasing baggage searches and screening, to tighten passenger
checks, to plan the deployment of the latest x-ray technologies.
I said then and I will say again, I am well aware that these new
security measures will increase inconvenience and may even carry a
modest increased cost to the air-traveling public.
But this
inconvenience is a small price to pay
for better peace of mind
·when our loved ones board a plane. These measures went into effect
immediately •
. And so, my fellow Americans, we have opened up three fronts
against terrorism.
We're increasing international efforts to
ensure that terrorists will have no place to plan or hide their
operations. We're making use of expanded antiterrorism powers at
home, including the death penalty. And we are tightening airport
security .. We will continue to expand our efforts on all. three
fronts against terrorism.
I want to remind you that we have had som~ results. We have
seen· a record number of terrorists captured and convicted. We have
thwarted a number of planned terrorist attacks, including a serious
one against the United Nations and one against the United States
airlines flying out of the West Coast over the Pacific. We are
keeping the heat on terrorist organizations and those who would
support them.
But I would remind you that every death is one death too many.
And we have seen now over many, many years, from the struggles of
our allies, as well as from those we hav.e faced recently, that this
is a long, hard fight.
But if we work together, this is a
challenge we can and will meet.
It may well be the most
significant security challenge of the 21st century to the people of
the United States and to civilized people everywhere.
And the
veterans of the United States, I know, will support our country
being as strong and tough and· smart and steadfast as it takes to
get the job done. (Applause.)
Now, let me continue by saying to you·that when I ran for
President I promised the veterans of America I would appoint a true
advocate as Secretary of Veterans Affairs.
I found that person
among your ranks. Jesse Brown honed his skills while serving as
Executive .Director of the DAV. He and his Deputy, Hershel Gober,
who is also'here with me today, I believe make up one of the finest
leadership teams in the entire federal government. (Applause.) I
can tell you this:· Not only in public but in private, in every
meeting on any subject, they are consistently committed to a better
life for all veterans.
And I thank them for their service.
(Applause.)
I'm also honored to join you in celebrating three-quarters of
a century of service to your country.
You are the best
representatives of what I'd like to talk about today: the duty we
owe to our veterans, the duty we owe to each other and to our
children, the duty we owe to the rest of the world and to our
future. We owe a duty to all of you, of course, not only for your
bravery and sacrifice, but for all·you continue to do for each
other, your families and our country.
Last year we celebrated the 50th anniversary of World War II.
Many of you fought in that great struggle and put your lives on the
line for freedom. Your country owes you a debt of gratitude we can
never repay. ·And I can honestly say one of the most humbling
honors of my life was representil')g the United states at those
ceremonies in 1994 and 1995.
But I want to say again to you, to every American who served
in World War II, including the Republican candidate for President,
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Senator Bob Dole, thank you for your service; thank you for your
sacrifice; thank you for your courage. We're still around because
of you.· (Applause.)
And to all who have s.erved since, in Korea and Vietnam, in the·
Persian Gulf, in Bosnia, in peacetime as well as wartime, America
thanks you, too, and so do freedom-loving people all around the
world.
Your tradition of service, of pourse, extends beyond the
battlefield. This is also the 50th anniversary of the VA Voluntary
Service Program 1 s involvement of the DAV. Last year you donated
more volunteer hours at VA hospitals around the country than any
other organization. (Applause.)
· I want to congratulate your Volunteers of the Year whom I had
the privilege to meet just a moment ago -- Tillman Rutledge and
Dorothy Marie Waters. They are great examples of what you stand
for. Thank you. Thank you. (Applause.)
You have done your duty to America and America must do it's
duty to you. Secretary Brown and I recognize a simple truth: When
men and women leave the service we must not leave them. In keeping
. our veterans' commitments·, our commitments to our veterans, to help
them make t.he most of their own lives does not only help veterans
and their families, it 1 s made America a better and stronger place.
From education to employment, from buying a home the getting
quality' medical care, our veterans deserve our nation's support.
And when we give it our nation is better off. For the past three
and a half years that is what we have done.
Even as we.cut government spending to reduce the deficit and
move toward a balanced budget, I have asked for a billion-dollar
increase in funding for the VA -- more than half for medical care
·and discretionary programs, including funds for a newhospital and
nursing home in Brevard County, Florida, and a replacement hospital
at ~ravis Air Force Base in California. (Applause.)
We are committed to keeping the VA health care system strong
into 21st century, and we know that requires us to carry out a
dramatic restructuring that will improve the quality of care and
make our hospitals more patient-centered and less bureaucratic.
Last year I sent to Congress legislation that will allow us to
simplify the comp1ex and arcane eligibility rules and improve
access to care at VA hospitals.
(Applause.)
I am pleased that
Congress is beginning to act on this important proposal and I hope
they will get a bill to me this year ..
Very soon we will submit legislation for a pilot project to
allow Medicare-eligible veterans to obtain treatment at a VA
facility and to have the costs reimbursed by Medicare. (Applause.)
I also want to make special mention of the extraordinary care
that is provided by our veterans facilities to people with spinal
cord injuries, and my commitment to continue the work ·and research
and care in this important area.
Recently, after a visit with.
Christopher Reeve, I was pleased to announce that we are increasing
our research commitment $10 million a year in this year. And I
hope all of you noticed just a few days ago that we finally are
beginning to show some incredible results --where nerve transplants
from the ribs to the spinal cord of laboratory animals have
succeeded in giving laboratory animals some mobility in their limbs
again. We can do better on this and we have ·to· keep· going until we
have some real success. (Applause.)
We have also reached out to veterans service organizatipns,
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appointment veterans as delegates to the White House conference on
Aging and the Presidential Delegation to Vietnam. We established
the first ever interagency veterans policy groups to coordinate and
spur progress on issues of concern to veterans and military
organizations. One such issue for more than two decades has been
the suffering of our nation's Vietnam veterans who were exposed to
Agent Orange.
(Applause. ) - In May, I announced that Vietnam
veterans with prostate cancer and peripheral neuropathy are
entitled to disability payments based on their exposer to Agent
Orange. Just this .week I sent to Congress legislation to provide
an appropriate remedy for children of Vietnam veterans who suffer
from spina bifida. (Applause.)
We have also responded aggressively to Persian Gulf illnesses.
(Applause .. ) As the First Lady was traveling around the country
talking about health care to people all over America, she kept
coming back to the White House with stories of people who had
served in the Persian Gulf conflict who had difficulties that were
otherwise inexplicable. She got very involved, even emotionally
involved, with some of the families, and she kept hammering on me
that there had to be an explanation for this and there was no other
conceivable explanation for
some
of these instances of
difficulties.
She encouraged me to appoint a presidential advisory committee
on Gulf War veterans illnesses. I did that and charged them to
leav~ no stone unturned in finding the cause of the illnesses and
improving care available to Persian Gulf veterans. Meanwhile, we
have made available for the first time ever compensation to the
victims of undiagnosed illnesses who served in the Gulf War.
I
think they did the right thing there. (Applause.)
one other area of endeavor is especially important to me
improving the contributions of all of our veterans to the
maintenance of their own lives and their families and our
communities. Today as we celebrate the sixth anniversary of the
Americans With Disabilities Act, I want to reiterate a pledge I
made in 1992. our disability-policy should be based as a nation on
three simple prirtciples: inclusion, independence and empowerment.
(Applause.)
I know how hard you fought, along with others · in the
disability community,
for the passage of this important
legislatio·ri. We've made vigorous laws protecting all people with
disabilities a top priority. We' 11 continue to do so until all the
barriers come down~ Consistent with that commitment, my budget for
1997 proposes an increase in the resources available to enforce the
Americans With Disabilities Act.
One of the main objectives of the act is to improve employment
possibilities for people with disabilities.
Employment among
disabled veterans in particular is still too high. I am pleased
that Ron Drach, DAV's Employment Director, is serving as Vice Chair
of the President's Committee on Employment of People with
Disabilities.
I thank him for his hard work to turn those
employment numbers around. And we should all be grateful that he
is on the job~ (Applause.)
Beyond the duty we owe to our veterans there are certain
duties we all owe to each other and t_o our country if our children
are to live in a 21st century that is full of peace and
possibility.
First' we have to give the American Dream- of
opportunity to everyone who is willing to work for it. That means
we have to have an economy that is strong and growing, ·that
produces good jobs with growing incomes.
When I became President, I was worried about the drift in our
economy and the increasing divisions within it. We've put in place
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an aggressive strategy -- to reduce the deficit, because that would
get interest rates down and spur private investment and remove a
burden from. future generations; to increase trade so that we could
sell more American products and services around the world in a
global economy; and to invest in'our people and their potential so
that everyone could participate in this global economy in a
positive way over the long run. ·
·
We invested in education; in how to protect the environment
while growing the economy; in transportation; in research and
technology; in defense conversion to help those communities that
had helped us to win the Cold War so that they wouldn't be left out
in the cold.
We even lowered the average closing cost for
first-time home buyer~ by $1,000 so young families could start
getting in homes again instead of just having a distant dream.
(Applause.) Thank you.
It's been a remarkable turnaround in these last three and a
half years. The deficit was lowered from $290 billion a year when
I became President; it will be $117 billion this year, a 60 percent
reduction. It's the first time since John Tyler was President in
the 1840s that an administration has reduced the deficit four years
in a row. And I'm proud of that.
(Applause.)
I have·to tell you, by the way, that my staff is pleading with
me to stop using that statistic because John Tyler was not
reelected, but -- (laughter) -- still it sounds great because it's
true -- and it's important.
Our economy has produced 10 million new jobs, 3.7 million new
home owners, 8 million home owners who have refinanced their
mortgages at lower interest rates. Home ownership is at a 15-year
high. Exports are at a record -- for three years in a row we've
had a record number of new small businesses formed in America. And
for the first time in a decade, incomes are actually going up for
average American working people again.
This is important.
It
matters. (Applause.)
Veterans employment -- veterans unemployment has dropped by
nearly a third, from 7.2 percent to 4.9 percent in January of 1996.
Six million veterans have received training and job search
assistance through the Department of Labor in the last three and a
half years. Two million now have jobs. We are clearly moving in
the right di~ection.
We have other responsibilities as well. And I want to just
mention a couple. One is heavily on my mind at this moment. We
have a responsibility to make our streets and our schools and our
neighborhoods safer. The United States cannot· tolerate the rates
of crime and violence which have come to be almost commonplace in
our country in the last several years. We ·have to intensify our
efforts to reduce crime.
The deaths of two police officers within a 24-hour period
right here in New Orleans last week painfully drove that point home
to everyone who knew about them.
I had the opportunity to meet
with their families just before coming in here.
And I want to
personally offer my condolences to the families of Officers Joey
Thomas and Chris McCormick, who died while protecting the citizens
of this city.
They, too, were patriots who paid the ultimate
price.
And I know you join me in praying for· their families.
(Applause.)
In the past three and ~ half years we have tried to change the
nation's approach to crime from rhetoric to action. We've had a
clear strategy: Look at what works and make it happen everywhere.
When I became President, to be perfectly frank, even though we had
a high crime rate, there were cities all over the country that had
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already begun to lower their crime rate.
And I went to those
places and asked them how they were doing it. It was obvious to me
what was going on. They were putting more police on the street -out from behind the cars, out from behind the desk, walking the
streets, getting to know kids, getting to know neighbors, working
with them, preventing crime, as well as catching criminals more
quickly.
I asked them what they needed and they told me.
And that
became the Crime Bill that we passed in 1994 -- 100,000 police on
the street, a ban on assault weapons, tougher punishment for people
who are serious criminals, and prevention programs to help kids
stay out of crime in the first place. We also passed the Brady
Bill that kept 60,000 felons, fugitives and stalkers from buying
handguns, and there wasn't a single hunter that lost his or her
hunting weapons. So we did the right thing, and four years in a
row crime has been coming down in the United states. We can be
proud of that. (Applause.)
But it is not enough.
We're now going around the country
trying to explain to communities how they can, without the fear of
legal challenge, institute curfew policies, as New Orleans has, for
juveniles in a way that has dramatically lowered the juvenile crime
rate here -- and in a positive way has helped a lot of juveniles
sort through their own problems and get back on the right track in
life. School uniform policies and tough truancy policies, like so
many California communities I've seen have implemented in a way
that has increased learning in the schools and diminished crime
beyond the school yard. There are more things we can do in this
way and we must all continue to do it. (Applause.)
. We have a responsibility to reform the welfare system. I'm
sure you've all seen the big debate about welfare in Washington.
Let me just say that we have been working for three and a half
years on that through a provision of existing law which allows the
President to say to any state in the country that presents a plan
to move people from welfare to work and to require them to move
from welfare to work, you can get around all the federal rules and
regulations if you're doing that.
·
But let me ask you as you see this debate unfold in the next
few days to think about your own family and ask yourself., well,
what do I really want to change in the welfare system. I think to
answer the ~question you have to say, what do I want for poor people
in America; how would I like for them to be able to live. And I
think what we want for them is what we want for middle class
families and, indeed, for upper-income families in America.
We
want people to have strong families an~ successful work lives. We
want them to succeed when they go to work and when they're working
at raising their children.
And we don't want them to have to
choose. We want them to do both. And that's exactly what we want
other families in America to do, as well -- success at home and.
success at work. And if we have a system that undermines either
one, America is weaker because of it.
So we have worked hard -- we've got 75 percent of everybody on
welfare now under welfare-to-work experiments in a way that enables
them to continue to support their children when they leave the
welfare rolls and go onto the work rolls. And that's what we ought
to want for every American. There are 1. 3 million fewel:' people on
welfare today than there were the day I became President. This
will work. We can move people from welfare to work if we do it in
the right way. (Applause.)
The other big part of this is that
pay their child support. (Applause.)
were collecting $8 billion a year in
collection $11 billion -- a 40 percent
-more-
people who owe it ought to
When I became President we
child support. Now we're
increase. But you need to
�8
know that if every person in this country who owes support for
their own children is legally obligated to pay it and is
financially able to pay it, if they paid it all tomorrow, tomorrow
morning there would be 800,000 fewer women and children on welfare
in the United States. So that's a big part of this and a big part
of why we need national legislation to reform the welfare law.
(Applause. )
So we Ire working hard with the Congress to try to get a
welfare reform bill out so we can cover all the states, all the
people and have even tougher child support enforcement, especially
for the cases across state lines. But remember when you hear this
debate and you hear people propose certain things,_ ask yourself,
what do I want for those families, and don't I want for them the
same thing I want for the families in my neighborhood and the
families of America -- success at home and success at work. And I
think if we think about it that way we'll make the right decisions.
Finally, let me say we have a responsibility to finish the
work of balancing the budget, but to do it in a way that is
consistent with our values and our long-term interests, which is,
in my view, taking care of the health care needs of seniors, people
with disabilities, poor children; making sure that we continue to
invest in education; and protecting the e·nvironment and other
things that are critical . to our future; making sure we do not
increase the burdens on the hardest pressed working families. But
we can do that and I am committed to it.
And, lastly, we have a responsibility to maintain the national
defense and to continue to be the world's strongest force for peace
and freedom.
(Applause.)
As we enter the -- near the end of the most successful
drawdown in our history, our military readiness have never been
higher, we continue to have the best equipped, the best trained,
the best prepared military in the world. And we must always have
that. Whether we're standing down aggression in the Persian Gulf,
restoring democracy in Haiti, safeguarding the peace in Bosnia,
saving lives in Rwanda, working with NATO and our new allies from
the former communist bloc in the Partnership for Peace, our service
men and women have proven their abilities time and time again in
the last three and a half years .. ·
our ft1nding and support for them must not falter --first for
military technology 1 to meet any new challenges now or in the
future and, even more important, to support the men and women in
uniform. For they are the most precious resource in our military
arsenal and we have to be there for them. (Applause.)
Last year we set aside funds to ensure that military personnel
received the highest pay raise allowed. by law through the end of
the century. We are committed to maintain and improve the quality
of life for service members and their families around the globe,
including better housing, community support, youth programs and
child care.
They, too, have a· right to know that if they're
succeeding for us at their work, their homes are going to be
successful and their children and their spouses are going to be
taken care of. And that is a very, very important part of defense
spending in this world. (Applause.)
There are a lot of things that we have to do for the future.
We're working in Washington now to raise the minimum wage; to pass
the Kassebaum-Kennedy bill, which will say you don't lose your
health insurance if you change jobs or someone in your family gets
sick. We're working hard on welfare reform. I hope that we can
strengthen the Family and Medical Leave law, which has permitted 12
million working Americans to take some time off when they've had a
baby born or a sic]{ parent without losing their jobs. And I'd like
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�'
.
9
to see more done so that people could go to regular doctor's
appointments with their parents or ' their kids, or go a
parent-teacher conference at school without losing their jobs.
We've got to make it possible for working parents to succeed at
work and at home with their children and with their parents.
(Applause. )
I want to make a college education available to every person
in this country who's willing to work for it. I think we ought to
the most important tax cut we could pass in America today is to
give people a deduction for the cost of college education, their
own or their kids' . · (Applause. ) And I would like to see -- I
would very much like to see us make the two years of education
after high school that most Americans now get in community college,
I want that to become just as universal in the next couple of years
as a high school education is today. (Applause.) So I propose a
tax credit for the cost of community college for the next two years
after high school. That would be a good thing to do. (Applause.)
And finally, let me just mention this last duty. We have a
duty to respect our differences and to learn to bridge the gaps
between us. If you look around the world today, what's fueling a
lot of this terrorism? What caused all the slaughter in Burundi
and Rwanda? Why did people who live for decades in peace in Bosnia
all of a sudden become the sort of nagging agony of the entire
world, slaughtering each other with reckless abandon after having
lived in pe~ce together for decades -- neighbor against neighbor,
killing each other? Why can't we fix what's gone wrong in the
Middle East? Why did Northern Ireland start violence again after
15 months of peace when they've got the lowest unemployment rate in
15 years; and when Hillary and I went there, we were mobbed by
Catholic and Irish young ·people alike saying we love peace, we
don't want to go back to war? What happened?
Because throughout. history there has been an atrocious
tendency among human beings to give in to racial, ethnic, religious
and tribal hatred. (Applause.) And as your generation helped to
ensure victory for us in the Cold War -- so that billions of people
every day didn't have to get up wondering about whether someone was
going to drop a bomb on them from the communists or the
non-communist world,' depending on what side of that Cold War they
lived on -~ and people were able to relax, too many have fallen
back into the old patterns of racial, religious, ethnic and tribal
hatreds . ,~·
Why do people hate other people who are different from them?
Either because t~ey think they won't permit them to live as they
want to live, or more likely, they really need somebody to look
down on.
·
You know, I guess nobody has a perfect family, but I'll go my
grave being grateful for my mother telling me, don't you ever -don't you ever feel better because of somebody else's misfortune.
You should feel better because of what you are and what you do.
Don't ever think·you've got to put somebody else down because of
that. (Applause) .
But all over the world there are:· people that will get up
tomorrow morning and start out the new week defining themselves in
terms of who they can nate, who they can look down on, who they can
hurt. And it is a cancer of the modern world.
we fight it on its most . flagrant basis when we stand against
terrorism .. But we have to also recommit ourselves to purging· ever
vestige of it in the United States.
The United states military has done a better job than any
other organization in our · society 1 I believe, in opening up
opportunities for people based on merit -- 250,000 new r9les for
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i
!
�-----;------------
'
10
women in the -last three and a half· years in the 'm'ilitary.
proud of that. (Applause.)
·
\
I'm
We not only have in General Powell an African American who
became Chairman .of the Joint Chiefs, we. have a record number of
officers now reaching the "general" rank who are African American,
Hispanic American, Asian America, Arab American, Jewish America -coming from all kinds. of backgrounds -:.-: in an organi·zation that
runs· strictly on merit . and depends· on 'performance for our ·.very
survival. And yet even there -~ the other day at Fort Bragg, one
of the centers o( our patriotism, the home of the Special .Forces,
African American ·soldiers had swastikas painted on their doors. We
have to work to purge this.
'
All of.these church.burnings
I just learned that·over the
weekend a church in my home state was burned -- African American
churches, synagogues defaced, three Islamic centers burned. ·That
. is the opposite of what AMerica is all about.
· · ·
· · When Hillary and I visited our Olympic team and I looked ·at
them, I can't help telling you, first of'all, I was just bursting
with pride. And I told them, I. said, you know, just the fact. that
you made this team should give you great pride and great 'joy. And
you should go out among the people of the world here and relish.the
spirit of peace and freedom and equality that exists here.
·
.
,.
\'·
:
-·
'
'
And it was a magical moment. One of the young people said
that they'd been. to lunch the day before and the athletes from
south Korea and North Korea: ·were .sitting at tables next to ea·ch
other and ..talking.
And I .thought, shoot, I've been trying for
three and a half years to get them to talk, and !.couldn't do it.
(Applause.) It was a magic moment •.. I couldn't do it. (Applause.)
But what struck me about the American team was this -- if the
'American team broke up and were just walking in. the Olympic
Village, you could see them and think, well, that athlete is from
Africa; that .athle'te's from Latin America; that athlete's from the
caribbean; that athlete'$ from Scandinavia;- that athlete's froin the
Middle East. But they could all be. Americans, because we· are bound
together 110t by our race but by our fidelity to the Constitution,
the Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Independence, and our
belief that we can all live here. in peace and harmony and ml,ltual
respect.
·
So I leave you with that thought.
If we meet our
responsibilities to each other and to our children and t::o our
future,. our responsibilities to the world, and. if we meet our
fundamental responsibility. to go forward together ip. mutual
·respect, then our days are going to _get better and·our best days
are still to come •.
~
You can. have an enormous influence wherever you five and
whatever you do because of your service to America in uniform and
because of the sacrifice of that service, if you wili remind your
fellow Americans of those fundamental lessons.
Thank you, and God bless you..
END
(Applause.)
2:33 P.M. COT
,.
�
Dublin Core
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Title
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Speechwriting Office - Antony Blinken
Description
An account of the resource
<p>Antony Blinken served in the Clinton Administration as the chief foreign policy speechwriter in the National Security Council Speechwriting Directorate from 1994 thru 1998.</p>
<p>Blinken prepared remarks for President Clinton, Anthony Lake, Samuel Berger, James Steinberg, and General Donald Kerrick. His speechwriting topics cover a variety of subjects for various audiences including but not limited to: foreign trips or head of state visits, United Nations General Assembly addresses, and State of the Union and weekly radio addresses. As an NSC speechwriter, Blinken produced speeches on major foreign policy actions during the Clinton Administration on Haiti, Iraq and Bosnia. The documents in the collection consist of speech drafts, newspaper and magazine articles, memos, correspondence, schedules, and handwritten notes.</p>
<p>This collection was made available through a <a href="http://clinton.presidentiallibraries.us/freedom-of-information-act-requests">Freedom of Information Act</a> request. </p>
Creator
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National Security Council
Speechwriting Office
Antony Blinken
Date
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1994-1998
Is Part Of
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<a href="http://clinton.presidentiallibraries.us/items/show/36017" target="_blank">Collection Finding Aid</a>
<a href="http://research.archives.gov/description/7585787" target="_blank">National Archives Collection Description</a>
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2006-0459-F
Provenance
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Clinton Presidential Records: White House Staff and Office Files
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Clinton Presidential Library & Museum
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Adobe Acrobat Document
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941 folders in 39 boxes
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Paper
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DAV Speech 7/28/96
Creator
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National Security Council
Speechwriting Office
Antony Blinken
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2006-0459-F
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Box 23
<a href="http://clintonlibrary.gov/assets/Documents/Finding-Aids/2006/2006-0459-F.pdf" target="_blank">Collection Finding Aid</a>
<a href="http://catalog.archives.gov/id/7585787" target="_blank">National Archives Catalog Description</a>
Provenance
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Clinton Presidential Records: White House Staff and Office Files
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Adobe Acrobat Document
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Clinton Presidential Library & Museum
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9/17/2014
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42-t-7585787-20060459f-023-021-2014
7585787