You are waving the flags for yourselves and your colleagues that are here because you know that basically creativity and continuous improvement requires people who can think and then who are free to act along the lines that they think and work out things together. The very intellectual processes that you are trying to make permanent and embed in the daily work of your companies require a level of thinking and reasoning skills that mean that we have to be committed in America to universal excellence in education. Now, not everybody needs a college degree in physics. But everybody needs more than a high school diploma today, and everybody needs the ability to keep on learning for a lifetime. That is why we have tried to say-implement the national education goals and to oversimplify it by saying every 8-year-old should be able to read, every 12-year-old should be able to log on to the Internet, every 18-year-old should be able to go to college, every adult should be able to keep on learning for a lifetime. And we are trying to set up a system where that will be true for every American, because it will help more companies to do what you have done. In this last balanced budget, I think 30 years from now when people look back on it, they will say, Aside from the fact that we balanced the budget for the first time in a generation, the most important thing about that bill was it opened the doors of college to every American who would work for a college education, with a tax credit called the HOPE scholarship that virtually makes the first 2 years of college virtually tax-free to every American and other tax incentives and more Pell grants. That is very important that we are setting the stage for promoting a comprehensive reform of America's schools, kindergarten through 12th grade, based on national standards and accountability for them and real production so that all schools will be organized for performance for all the children. And I want to compliment Secretary Daley's brother on the remarkable work that has been done in Chicago to try to totally change the culture of education there to make it more like a continuous quality operation, systematically in the way that all of you have achieved. So we are trying to do that. And as I said, we also have to do that for people who lose their jobs or who are drastically underemployed. What else do we have to do? We want to set up-we have doubled funds for dislocated workers in the last 5 years to invest in their training.


I'd like to see us consolidate all these Government programs and give the workers a skills grant. Most people who are out of work have got enough sense to figure out what they could learn to get a better job or to get a new job. And I'd like to see anybody that qualifies just get a skills grant that they can take to the nearest educational institution of their own choosing and get the education they need to become a productive member of society and have a great chance to get a good job in an organization like the ones we honor today. I'd like to see us, when a community is hard hit by a big plant closing, go in there like we did when the military bases closed. People are out of work, and you have great capacity. They deserve a chance to have everybody work together to get them started again. So we need to do more on that. But that is the right answer, not to run away from the global economy, not to say we are not going to trade. The right answer is to do more, more quickly for the people that are dislocated. I guess what I am saying is, we are still trying to get it right here. The objective is to give every American the chance to live up to their God-given capacity and live out their dreams. The objective is to give people the power they need to not only have successful careers but to build strong families and strong communities. The objective is to help people balance the demands of work and family, a problem that I hear in every place I go. The objective is to help our country balance our obligation to grow the economy and preserve the environment, something we have proved, repeatedly, we can do over the last 30 years. The objective is to reach out to the rest of the world and get the benefits of the global economy while meeting its challenges instead of pretending they do not exist. We are, whether we like it or not, all interconnected, one with another, in this country and, increasingly, beyond our borders. I have spent an enormous amount of time in the last month-enormous-trying to help come to grips with the financial difficulties you are reading about every day in the Asian markets. Because a huge percentage of our exports go to Asia. They are our neighbors now for all practical purposes.

Remarks on Presenting the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Awards


And it is in our interest that those countries be able to be stable, growing, increasingly healthy countries from which we not only buy but to which we sell, countries that together we can build a stable future. Instead of have a part of the world in the 20th century that called Americans there to fight and die in three wars, better to be a part of the world that participates in- -three new stages of the global economic revolution in the 21st century. We still have a lot of challenges out there. It bothers me some of the things little kids can see on the Internet at night. It bothers me that people who know how to do it can figure out how to build bombs and have access to dangerous weapons just by having the technological availability of it. There are a lot of things that bother us about it. There are troubling questions of our competitive laws and how they should apply to new technologies that have to be worked out. That is why we all have to be committed to the idea that we can continuously improve. Or in the language that was quoted from David Kearns, that our endeavor is a journey without an end. That is frustrating to some people; they always want to get there. But, you know, the older I get, the more I like the journey. So I thank you. I thank you for making America a better place. I thank you for your enthusiasm and for being a model for other American workplaces. And I ask you when you go home to share with your friends and neighbors, who may not work with you, the idea that this country is like where you work. America is still around after 220 years because we have a Constitution which said, if you want the country to always get better, you have to make it possible for people to always get better. And you have to give them the freedom to fail and mess up. I mean, that is what the Bill of Rights is all about. That is what the Constitution is all about, limiting the powers of Government and mandating, in effect, partnerships. That is what the flexibility of the Constitution is all about, so we could change over time to adapt to new circumstances without giving up our values. That is the kind of country you live in. And if it is going to be everything it ought to be in the 21st century, it has to do, as a nation, what you are trying to do every day at work.


Twenty-six days ago the people of Los Angeles suffered a devastating earthquake. Sixty-one people died; thousands of homes were destroyed; thousands of people were hospitalized. Highways were broken and twisted by the violent movement of the earth. Because of the extent of the damage, I have just approved $8.6 billion in emergency disaster assistance for the people of California to help them rebuild roads and other public structures, to fix gas lines, provide small business loans, and help pay the expenses of people who have lost their homes. Many have lost everything. With $900 million in aid already on the way, the total payment nears $10 billion, the largest Federal disaster assistance ever. Our country's mission, as it is after every national disaster, is to help our people recover from this tragedy and to get on with the business of everyday life. Across much of our country, everyday life has been interrupted by heavy snow and harsh winter cold. So please take care of yourselves and your neighbors who may need help. When we respond to others in need, we show that bad weather or earthquakes or floods can bring out, in the words of President Abraham Lincoln, the better angels of our nature. By the way, Abraham Lincoln was born in a log cabin in Kentucky 185 years ago today. He became President just as our country was coming apart, and he lived in the White House during the 4 most troubled years in American history. From here he appealed to the best in the American people when they were going through their worst. Here his hand trembled as he set his pen to the proclamation that declared slaves thenceforth and forever free. In freeing the slaves, Lincoln freed America. A war to preserve the Union as it was became a struggle to redeem the promise of our Declaration of Independence, which holds that all men are created equal. Lincoln went to Gettysburg, the bloodiest battlefield on our continent, to dedicate a cemetery for the war dead. There he asked America to resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this Nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that Government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the Earth. We call Lincoln the Great Emancipator, but we might also call him the Great Conciliator because no person in our history ever did more to bring us together, this vast nation of great diversity, of many political and religious beliefs and all its ethnic backgrounds.

The President's Radio Address


As the Civil War neared its close, many of the victors approached the vanquished with pride and with punishment. But Lincoln called for humility and forgiveness. His second Inaugural Address contained none of the bitterness toward others, none of the petty partisan attacks that had grown so frequent in those days. With malice toward none; with charity for all, he said, with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up that Nation's wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan- to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves, and with all nations. At that moment, it was as if Lincoln had stretched out his long arms to gather up the people from every region and every corner of the country to make our Nation whole, to shepherd it beyond the war and move it forward. Only one month later, he was gone, his life taken on Good Friday, 1865. Lincoln's legacy has touched us all down through the ages. Few now remember that he signed the homestead law giving 160 acres of land to pioneer families in search of better lives. A son of a frontier family himself, he signed a law to create land-grant colleges, which have educated America's sons and daughters ever since. Lincoln's work allowed people from ordinary backgrounds like his own to rise in life and accomplish extraordinary things. Our job here is to build up and strengthen the great American middle class, to give opportunity to all, to help our communities rid themselves from crime and drugs, to help families protect themselves from bankruptcy due to spiraling health care costs, to move people away from lifetime welfare toward full-time work, and to allow everyone who works hard to get ahead and compete and win in the new global economy. Still the question recurs, can we do better?- just as Lincoln asked us when he said, The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. Fellow-citizens, we can not escape history, he said. We... will be remembered in spite of ourselves. No personal significance or insignificance can spare one or another of us.... We, even we here, hold the power and bear the responsibility....

The President's Radio Address


It is nice to have dinner with a group of friends. This is a very important dinner because, through your generosity, we are going to keep control of the Senate and the House, and America will be better off for it. She sends her love. Generally when I say that, people groan, and I take it to mean they wish she'd have come and not me. I understand that. I will tell you something about Laura. She is a heck of a First Lady and a great wife and mom. I love her dearly. I want to thank Senator Lamar Alexander for his leadership on this incredibly successful dinner. I appreciate Speaker Denny Hastert. He is a great Speaker of the House. And through your generosity, he is going to stay Speaker of the House. I want to thank the majority leader of the United States Senate, Bill Frist. He too is a great leader, and I appreciate calling him friend. I want to thank Senator Elizabeth Dole, who is the NRSC chairman; CongressmanTom Reynolds, the NRCC chairman. Those are initials for, like, let us raise money and get the Senate in Republican keep the Senate in Republican hands and House in Republican hands. I want to thank the Members of the Senate and Congress for working so hard. I want to thank the Members of the all the Members of the Congress who've joined us tonight. I appreciate the members of my Cabinet who are here. I want to pay special tribute to the Republican National Committee chairman, Ken Mehlman, for the fantastic job he is doing on reaching out to people from all walks of life. I want to thank the President's Dinner leadership, especially Ken Thompson and his wife, Kathylee, for the fantastic job you all have done and everybody up here has done. I want to thank the Duke Ellington School of the Arts Show Choir for being here today. I am proud to be the head of a party that has a positive and hopeful and optimistic vision for every single person who lives in this country. And I am proud to be a head of a party that is driving the debate on all the key domestic and foreign policy issues. Because of our achievements, the American people see us as the party of reform and optimism and results, the party that is moving this Nation forward. All of us in Washington have a duty to the people who sent us here. Political parties can take one of two approaches.

Remarks at the President's Dinner


One approach is to lead, to focus on the people's business, to take on the tough problems. And that is exactly what our party's done. The other approach is to simply do nothing, to delay solutions, obstruct progress, refuse to take responsibility. Members of the other party have worked with us to achieve important reforms on some issues. Yet too often, their leadership prefers to block the ideas of others. We hear no to Social Security reform. We hear no to confirming Federal judges. We hear no to a highly qualified U.N. Ambassador. We hear no to medical liability reform. On issue after issue, they stand for nothing except obstruction, and this is not leadership. It is the philosophy of the stop sign, the agenda of the roadblock, and our country and our children deserve better. Political parties that choose the path of obstruction will not gain the trust of the American people. If leaders of the other party have innovative ideas, let us hear them. But if they have no ideas or policies except obstruction, they should step aside and let others lead. Because we acted to pass the largest tax relief in a generation, our economy is growing again. We have created more than 3.5 million new jobs during the last 2 years. More Americans are working today than ever before in our Nation's history. To keep this economy growing and creating jobs, we need to make the tax relief permanent. We need to get rid of the death tax forever. And we can do something else about taxes. I have appointed a bipartisan panel to examine our incoherent, out-of-date Tax Code. When their recommendations are delivered, I am looking forward to working with the United States Congress to give this Nation a Tax Code that is progrowth, easy to understand, and fair to all. Our party is the party of economic growth, and our party is the party of spending restraint. I have submitted the first budget to actually cut nonsecurity discretionary spending since Ronald Reagan was the President. Now the Congress needs to act to hold nondiscretionary spending below last year's level. The budget we submitted adheres to an interesting principle. We need to have a fiscally responsible highway bill that modernizes our roads and bridges and improves safety and creates jobs. We are on our way to cutting this deficit in half in 5 years, and I want to thank the Members of Congress for holding the line and doing what is right for the American taxpayer.

Remarks at the President's Dinner


In order to make sure this economy grows, we need an energy bill. Four years ago, I presented Congress with a comprehensive energy strategy that encourages conservation, renewable sources of energy like ethanol and biodiesel, that says we can use nuclear energy in a clean way, that recognizes the need to spend money on clean coal technology. It is an energy plan that will make us less dependent on foreign sources of energy. For the sake of national security and for the sake of economic security, Congress needs to get a bill to my desk before the August recess. We are proudly the party of free and fair trade. During my administration and thanks to the good works of Congress, we have opened up markets for millions of consumers of U.S. products. And now we have an opportunity to continue to open up new markets with CAFTA, the Central American and Dominican Republic Free Trade act. Right now most of the goods coming from the Central American countries enter into our country duty-free. Yet our goods are not received in their countries duty-free. For the sake of free trade, for the sake of fair trade, for the sake of good jobs, for the sake of promoting young democracies in Central America, Congress must pass CAFTA. Ours is the party of the entrepreneur and small business. Ours is the party of litigation reform. We are the party that continues to free our entrepreneurs from needless regulations and protect honest job creators from junk lawsuits. I applaud the Speaker and the leader for getting bipartisan class-action reform and bankruptcy reform through the Congress. Now we need asbestos litigation reform. And to stop junk lawsuits that are running good doctors out of practice and running up the cost of medicine, we need Federal medical liability reform. Ours is the party that challenges the soft bigotry of low expectations, that worked to stop the practice of just shuffling kids through school, grade after grade, without them being able to read and write. Ours is the party that set high standards, believes in local control of schools, and insists that every child learn to read and write, so no child is left behind in America. We set a clear agenda to make health care more affordable and to give American families greater access to coverage and more control over their health decisions. In 2003, we strengthened Medicare by giving seniors more choices and adding a prescription drug benefit.

Remarks at the President's Dinner


We have kept our commitment to our Nation's seniors, and now we must move forward with more community health centers to help the poor, improved health information technology, expanded health savings accounts and association health plans, so that small businesses can pool risk and buy insurance at the same discount that big companies are able to do. Ours is the party that set the goal to encourage ownership in America. We want more people owning their own business. I am proud to report more people own a home than ever before in our Nation's history, and more minority families are owning a home today than ever before. We need to expand ownership to our retirement system. Recently, I have been spending time talking about an important issue, and that is Social Security reform. And the reason I have is because I believe the job of the President is to confront problems and not pass them on to future Presidents and future generations. We have got a problem when it comes to Social Security. No, you do not have a problem if you are getting your check now or if you were born prior to 1950. You will get your check. The problem is for a younger generation of Americans who are paying payroll taxes or getting ready to pay payroll taxes into a system that is going broke. Let me give you the math right quick, let you know why I am talking about it all across the country. As a matter of fact, my retirement age is 2008 quite convenient. And we are living longer, and we have been promised greater benefits by Congress. And the real problem is there is fewer people paying into the system. In 2017, the system goes into the red. In 2027, it is $200 billion short. In 2041, it is bankrupt. It is not right to sit here in Washington, DC, knowing the system is going bankrupt for younger Americans and not do anything about it. So I am going to keep talking about it and keep putting ideas out. I have laid out some plans that would nearly fix all of the Social Security problem.

Remarks at the President's Dinner


I will tell you another idea we need to do is we need to give workers the option that Congress has given itself, and that is to be able to take some of their own money, some of their own payroll taxes and set it aside in a personal savings account they call their own, a personal savings account that will let them earn a better rate of return on their money, a personal savings account they can leave to whomever they want, a personal savings account the Government cannot take away or spend on special programs. Ours is the party that believes in ownership. We want to extend the so-called investor class to all walks of life. We believe everybody should have an asset they can call their own. And we have a fantastic opportunity to strengthen and save Social Security for a generation of Americans to come and to give more Americans the great pride of owning something they call their own. Congress needs to act on this issue. Strengthening Social Security requires honesty and courage, and the party I am proud to lead will do our duty. Our children's retirement security is more important than partisan politics. Our party will continue to support the faith-based and community groups that bring hope to harsh places. We will continue to promote a culture of life in which every person is valued and every life has meaning. And we will defend the institution of marriage from being redefined forever by activist judges. And speaking about judges, the American people made it clear they want judges who faithfully interpret the law, not legislate from the bench. I applaud Senator Frist and Senator Specter and Senator Hatch and other Members of the United States Senate in confirming some outstanding nominees who have waited a long time for a vote, Priscilla Owen and Janice Rogers Brown and Bill Pryor. I will continue to urge the Senate to fulfill its constitutional responsibility by giving every judicial nominee an up-or-down vote on the Senate floor. And speaking of confirmations, the Senate must promptly confirm John Bolton, my nominee to be our Ambassador to the United Nations, so we can get on with the business of reforming that institution. My most solemn duty and the most solemn duty of those of us in Government here in Washington is to protect the American people. We will be relentless; we will never tire in chasing down the terrorists; we will confront them abroad so we do not have to face them here at home. We carried out the largest reorganization of Government in a half-century to form a single Department with a single mission, protecting America from attack.

Remarks at the President's Dinner


The tireless efforts of the men and women of the Department of Homeland Security and Federal and State and local first-responders protecting our Nation and making this country more secure. And as they do so, they need to have all the tools to be able to help defend this country. And that is why I call upon the United States Congress to renew all the provisions of the PATRIOT Act. The PATRIOT Act is an important piece of legislation. It gives those folks who are on the frontline of fighting terror the same tools, many of the same tools that are used to track down drug kingpins or tax cheats. If those tools are good enough to track down drug kingpins, they ought to be good enough in this war on terror to give to our law enforcement so we can better defend this country. And we are making progress. Since September the 11th, 2001, we have closed down terrorist networks. We brought to justice many of the key leaders of Al Qaida. We are disrupting their finances. There is no place they can hide from the United States of America and our allies and friends. The best way to secure this country in the long run, though, is to spread democracy and freedom. We believe everybody has a deep desire in their heart to live in a free society. We believe mothers all around the world want to raise their children in a free and peaceful world. And the people of Afghanistan showed clearly the desire of those who have lived under tyranny to take the risks necessary to live in a free society. Think about how far that country has come in a brief period of time. We enforced doctrine that said, If you harbor a terrorist, you are just as guilty as the terrorist. And by removing the Taliban, America and the free world are safer. But at the same time, we gave the Afghan people a chance to live in a free and democratic society. And for the first time in the history of that country, for the first time in thousands of years, millions of people went to the polls to vote. And the first voter was a 19-year-old girl in Afghanistan. Freedom is on the march from the Ukraine to Afghanistan to the Palestinian Territory to Lebanon and to Iraq. By removing Saddam Hussein from power, America and the free world are safer. By removing Saddam Hussein from power, the people of Iraq have a chance to live in a free society.

Remarks at the President's Dinner


President, the American people welcome you to the White House on this, the occasion of your first state visit to the United States. You have been an inspiration to the American people. You have been a genuine inspiration to the American people and to freedomloving people around the world, people who still marvel at the price you paid for your conviction, a conviction that our country embraces but still struggles to live up to, the conviction that all men and women are created equal and therefore ought to have a chance to live up to the fullest of their God-given potential and to have an equal say in the affairs of their land. Your captivity symbolized the larger captivity of your nation, shackled to the chains of prejudice, bigotry, and hatred. And your release also freed your nation and all its people to reach their full potential, a quest too long and so cruelly denied. But your story, thankfully, for all South Africans and for the rest of us as well, does not end with your freedom; it continues into what you have sought to do with your freedom. South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black and white. Now, instead of focusing on the past 342 years, when South Africa did not belong to all who lived in it, you are building a future of trust and tolerance. White South Africans might have fled in fear of retribution, but instead, they have had the courage to stay and to join you in building a new future for all the people of your land. Watch South Africa as it comes together, and follow South Africa's example. As an American, and as a child of the southern part of our country who grew up in a segregated environment and saw firsthand its horror and its debasement of all of us who lived in it, I must add that, as you well know, Mr. President, your presence here has special significance for Americans. We have been especially drawn to the problems and the promise of South Africa. We have struggled, and continue to struggle, with our own racial challenges. So we rejoice, especially, in what you have accomplished, and we hold it out. And as we hold it out as an example to others, so we also hold it out as an example to ourselves. President, I know how proud you are to have your daughter, Zinzi, with you on this trip, and I am proud to have her as my dinner partner tonight.

Remarks at a State Dinner for President Nelson Mandela of South Africa


I want to add my congratulations to Nancy Maynard and to say hello to my friend Wilma Mankiller and to all of you in Atlanta at the Unity '94 Convention. I want to say a special word of congratulations, too, to the four minority journalist associations meeting together for the first time at this groundbreaking occasion. I must say that all of us have heard a lot about your meeting and have been following it with great interest. We are living in an extraordinary time when people in America and all across the world are searching for common ground and new solutions in a time of change. This has been a great week for America. The King of Jordan and the Prime Minister of Israel shared the stage on the White House lawn, opened a new era of dialog and cooperation between their people. At the same time, halfway around the world, the President of Russia made an announcement that by the end of August, for the first time since the end of World War II, all Russian troops would be gone from Germany and Central and Eastern Europe, a significant goal of our policy with Russia over the last year and a half. Over and over, we have learned from experiences like these that people can transcend great historical, political, and cultural obstacles in the name of progress of humanity. And we have also learned that here at home, the American people are our greatest asset as we try to meet the challenges of the coming century. All of us can take pride that we have helped Arabs and Israelis and other former enemies to bridge their own differences. But their examples must also inspire us to strengthen our own sense of community and to celebrate the rich diversity of the American culture. The job of your associations is to see that more Americans of diverse backgrounds, races and ethnic heritage have an equal chance in journalism. It is also to make sure that the Nation sees the faces and hears the voices of nonwhite Americans whose ideas and achievements too often are ignored. And my job here in Washington is to ensure that every citizen has an equal chance at the American dream. I have said it many times, and I firmly believe that we do not have a single person to waste, that every person, no matter what his or her background, has an idea, a vision, an opinion to share that can enrich our Nation. That is why I have been fighting to create new opportunities for people who work hard, take responsibility, try to make something of their lives.

Teleconference Remarks and a Question-and-Answer Session With the Unity '94 Convention in Atlanta, Georgia


I believe everybody has something to give, and we have to make it possible for everyone to give his or her best. One of my proudest accomplishments as President is the people I have appointed to serve in this administration. If you look at the top positions in the White House and the Cabinet today, you will see the most able, talented group ever assembled. These appointees also happen to make up the most diverse administration in the history of our Republic. If you look at our nominations to the Federal bench, you will see that a higher percentage of them have been rated well qualified by the American Bar Association than in any previous administration since these rankings have been made. A majority of those appointees are people of color and women, not a minority but a majority for the first time ever. None of these people were chosen because they were African-American or Hispanic or Asian-American or American Indian or because they were women. They were selected because they were the best qualified for the job. And they are proof that the American dream is still alive and within reach of those who choose to pursue it. Still, we cannot ignore the burdens and barriers that prevent too many of our people from moving forward in their lives still today. It is our job to renew the American dream. I sought the Presidency because I was worried that our country was going in the wrong direction. The deficit was going up; the economy was on the decline. Washington was placing heavier and heavier burdens on the backs of middle class Americans, and we were coming apart when we ought to be coming together. I believed then and I believe now that our job in this time is to restore the economy, rebuild our sense of community, empower individuals to take responsibility for their own lives, and put Government on the side of ordinary Americans. In just 18 months we have begun to renew that American dream. Our economic strategy will produce the smallest Federal bureaucracy in 30 years and 3 years in a row of deficit reduction for the first time since Harry Truman was President, while providing tax cuts for 15 million working American families and millions of small businesses. What is been the result of this economic strategy? Well, the economy has created 3.8 million new jobs; inflation is the lowest in two decades. Just today we have seen more evidence that this strategy is working. Today's report shows that the gross domestic product of the United States grew at a very impressive rate of 3.7 percent in the last quarter while inflation remained low.


And more important, we are reaching out with greater energy and compassion to responsible working families who too often have to struggle to make ends meet. Already in just a year and a half, through the increase of the earned-income tax credit, 15 million working parents have been able to get lower income taxes to encourage them to stay in the work force and to be good parents without having to go on welfare. We have made it easier for millions and millions of young people to get college loans by making those loans available with lower interest rates and more flexible repayment schedules. We have established more job training and school-to-work apprenticeships to help young people who are not going to college find and keep good jobs. We have sought tax incentives and grant money to stimulate economies in needy areas, through things like our empowerment zones and enterprise communities and new community development banks, the reform of the Community Reinvestment Act and making low income housing credits permanent. Some of these achievements, to be sure, have come easier than others. But I knew when I asked for this job that progress would not always be easy and that we'd have to fight for the kind of change that we need. Very often it takes years to get things done the Brady bill, 7 years; the family leave law, 7 years; years for motor voter. But these things all work because these things together and the efforts we are making have brought us to a pivotal, exciting moment in our history. on the verge of an historic victory in the toughest, largest, smartest Federal attack on crime in the history of the United States; not only making peace in the Middle East but trying to bring more peace to the families and children of America. Just think for a minute about what this crime bill means for all of us as citizens, for us as mothers and fathers, husbands and wives and children. Look at the cost of crime to our sense of community and to the idea that we are an American family, to our sense of personal freedom; the cost of crime to our efforts to empower every individual, including too many young people who are growing up in terribly difficult circumstances. Crime is holding too many of us back from reaching the American dream, splintering families, making people afraid of their neighbors, interfering with our children's education, robbing us of our literal sense of personal freedom.


No matter what other goals we seek for ourselves and our families and our children and for our country, we simply have to be able to live together with a shared respect for law and order and civility. The most important thing about this crime bill is that it creates a whole new way of thinking about how to deal with crime, one that does not pit one group of Americans against another. It does not ask us to make a false choice between tough punishment and strong prevention. It calls for a sensible balance between the two. It does not ask us to make a false choice between going after criminals and going after guns. It recognizes that those sorts of debates divided us for too long while more and more children were dying on our streets. The crime bill strengthens the police, our system of punishment, and our means of prevention. It will put 100,000 more police on our streets, a 20-percent increase in the number of police officers patrolling our neighborhoods. More police trained and properly deployed means lower crime and prevention. The bill includes a ban on assault-style weapons, something few people ever dreamed would be accomplished. It includes a ban on ownership of handguns by minors. It will send a strong message to criminals that behavior that is criminal and repeated will not be tolerated and that punishment will be tough and swift. And it will invest $9 billion in crime prevention over the next 6 years, something that law enforcement officers in every State and city asked us to do so that we could give young people more safe places to go, more positive role models, more opportunities to fulfill themselves in healthy constructive ways. And we have a program to make our schools safe so that our children can learn again in the absence of fear. For 6 years, this crime bill was debated over and over again. Because after intense argument and disagreement, a majority of people were able to find common ground. They were able to put people over politics. Now, I want Congress to put this bill on my desk within 2 weeks so that I can sign it before our children go back to school. Now, if you think 6 years was long enough to wait for a crime bill, then surely we can all agree that 60 years is far too long to wait before all American are guaranteed health security that can never be taken away. And health security, after all, is another crucial piece of the American dream. Many people across our country know what it is like to dig and scrape all their lives to have the opportunities that you have been given and that you have earned.


If you are like me, you actually know somebody without health insurance or somebody at risk of losing their health insurance. You know somebody whose coverage is so meager, they avoid the doctor because it costs too much. You know people who are eager to work but are trapped in the welfare system because it is the only way they can be assured of health care coverage for their children. We know these people because there are millions and millions of them out there, people who struggle all their lives and play by the rules so that they can move forward, make progress, build security for their families only to be knocked off the ladder because of the pink slip, the catastrophic illness, or a simple change in jobs. Indeed, we are moving in the wrong direction in our health care system. We are moving in the wrong direction when 5 million hardworking people, people with jobs, have lost their insurance in the last 5 years. Ever since I began pushing for reform, I have made it clear that I was open to suggestions about how to achieve it. I have listened to concerns about the approach we originally proposed. And in response to what all kinds of Americans told us, I have agreed that we should modify that approach to make it simpler, less bureaucratic, more flexible, to do more for small business. But I remain committed, and I hope all of you will be committed to giving every American health security, health that is guaranteed in law. We must have a system, I believe, where everyone shares responsibility, a private system that works. That is certainly what the vast majority of Americans want, because today the hardworking middle class Americans have that kind of coverage. Today we have moved a step closer to health care security. The House Speaker, Tom Foley, and the majority leader, Dick Gephardt, said they would put forward a bill that achieves universal coverage and controls costs. They have met their goal and the goal of the American people in doing that. The House bill tells the American people that they have been heard. It is simpler, more flexible, more sensitive to small business. Protections for small businesses have been strengthened. The bill is being phased in over a longer period of time. All Americans can keep their health plan and their doctor, and everybody will have coverage. We know from experiences across the country that this will work.


We have seen in State after State that if you have insurance reforms that sound very good without expanding to universal coverage, what is usually going to happen is that the cost of insurance goes up and then people's options for health care or even the number of people with health insurance, go down. But we also know from looking at the example of Hawaii that a private system of universal coverage in which employers and employees share responsibility for paying for private insurance premiums will not only control costs but will also lead to greater coverage and a healthier population. After all, in Hawaii, nearly everything is more expensive than any place else in the United States, but health care premiums for small business are 30 percent cheaper. Now, after 60 years of waiting, after 14 years in which costs have been going up dramatically, after a decade in which more and more Americans are losing coverage instead of getting coverage and most of those who lose their insurance are working people it is time to say to every American, if you change jobs, if you get sick, if you are laid off, if your child has a serious illness, you will always be able to afford health care as a citizen of the richest nation on Earth. Tomorrow I am going to Independence, Missouri, to Harry Truman's hometown, to talk about health care. Harry Truman was a man of great decency, common sense, and courage who believed that America would be much stronger if every American had health security. And he fought hard for it, though he did not succeed. And because he was right, President after President, Presidents of both parties have fought for that goal. Well, now it is up to us to fulfill their vision and once again to renew the American dream. It is time to build on our economic progress, build on the success of the crime bill, build on the progress we are making toward world peace, and take this next critical step by passing real, substantive health care reform. Well, I am not familiar with all the details of the gaming law. Let me say this. I have worked hard with Secretary Babbitt to work with the Native American tribes throughout the country I said I am not familiar with the details of the legislation.


I can tell you that for the last 18 months, Secretary Babbitt, on my behalf, has worked hard to try to work through the Indian gaming issue, to be supportive of the tribes, to protect and promote their legitimate rights, and also to urge that the income from gaming be used to diversify the economic activities of the tribes and to strengthen economic possibilities for Native Americans over the long run. So I am going to do my best to do that. As you know, there are a lot of thorny controversies between the States. A lot of States feel pressure to expand gaming beyond the reach of the Native American groups, and this has been a very difficult issue. But I think that our administration has worked very closely with the tribes. And I think we have shown our good faith in trying to protect these activities. I am not familiar with the specifics of the law, so I cannot comment on that. I am not sure that I can answer that question. And I am fairly sure that if I do, my answer will be blown all out of proportion to anything else I say today. But let me say that I believe that all of us in positions of responsibility with influence should strive to make our decisions through a process that involves all the American people, their insights, their understanding, their experience and it takes advantage of their talents. That is why I have worked so hard to have the most diverse administration in American history. And I believe we have proved beyond question that you can have diversity and excellence. That is another one of those false choices people are always trying to put on the American people. So if it is true for the United States Government, it ought to be true for the American press as well. I do not think I should say more than that, but I think that ought to be enough to say. Undocumented workers would not receive under our plan a health security card unless they had jobs anyway, so they got it because they were in the workplace. But under our plan we have a significant expansion in funds for public health units which are open to all people today and where a lot of the vaccinations, for example, are done today. In my State, over 80 percent of our children, including even upper middle class children, are vaccinated through the public health units.


So what we attempted to do to deal with this clear and present problem in the United States is to have a substantial increase in funding for public health and to do outreach so that we can vaccinate all the children and give basic health services to the children who are within the United States. Well first, let me say that I do not agree with the characterization there. If you look at the work that the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department has done, it is been more active than any civil rights division in a generation under the leadership of Deval Patrick. Look at a lot of the other issues in which they have been involved. If you look at the work that Henry Cisneros did in highlighting and directly confronting the problems in Vidor, Texas, in public housing, if you look at the work that we have done in trying to involve at the grassroots level community groups of minorities in things like developing the empowerment zone concepts, the community development banks, I think it is plain that this is an administration that is committed to stamping out racism, both in a negative sense by standing up to it and in a positive sense by working to bring people together to overcome it. If you can think of anything else I can and should do, I would be glad to have your recommendations and your suggestions. But the idea of stamping out racism, in my view, permeates everything I do. When I try to give kids a better life, a safer street, a better future, and I keep telling the American people we do not have anyone to waste, we have got to have everybody in here together one of the earlier questions referred to how the administration or what my opinion was about the way things were covered given the makeup of the press I have been repeatedly criticized by various sources in this town for trying to be more diverse and try to reach out and to achieve greater diversity, although no one has ever said that we could not have excellence and diversity at the same time. So I am trying to build the fight against racism into everything we do, both in a positive and negative sense. But I will say again, if anybody there not just you, Dorothy, but anybody has any other suggestions about what I can do, I would be happy to hear them, and I will do my best to respond. Well, what I have said is that we have to achieve universal coverage. The fight now is over how best to do it.


And what I have to tell you is there is a big argument about whether it can be achieved in any way other than the way I have proposed. I will not sign a bill that I think makes a false promise to the people of the United States. We have got to sign a bill that achieves full coverage for the American people. If you do not do it, you cannot contain costs, you cannot give the breaks that small business needs over the long run. You cannot achieve these things. So, yes, if Congress passes a bill that is different from the one I originally proposed, would I veto it? It depends on whether it achieves full coverage. If it is a credible attempt to do that, then I am open to it. But it must be a credible, credible bill to do that. And that is the only thing I ask all of you to focus on now. Instead of letting the political rhetoric control this debate on health care, let us ask simply what will work. The other day let me just give you this in closing because this is very important, and if I do not achieve anything else today in this conversation that I have had with you, which I have enjoyed immensely, if I can achieve agreement with you on this, it would be something profound to me. I have studied it for years and years. But the more complex it gets, the more you understand that in the end it comes down to some simple choices. In every nation that has covered everybody, quality health care can be provided at lower costs than in the United States, the only nation that does not cover everybody. Will it work? We are going in the wrong direction. We are losing coverage and exploding cost. I am not going to sign a bill that I think perpetrates these problems on the American people. If someone else can figure out how to get universal coverage in a different way than I have achieved it, I would be open to that. I have not seen it yet. That is why the American Medical Association, the National Medical Association, the American Nurses Association, other physicians' groups, and huge numbers of businesses and consumer groups have endorsed our approach. So that is what we ought to be doing. We should not be trying to get ourselves into word games now about what mechanism is appropriate. And I know my plan will work if we share responsibility and cover everybody.


This week, we received a powerful confirmation that America's economy is growing stronger. The Department of Labor reported that America added 308,000 jobs in March, the highest monthly job growth number since the spring of 2000. And since August, we have added over three-quarters of a million new jobs in America. The unemployment rate has fallen from 6.3 percent last June, to 5.7 percent last month. Over the last year, the unemployment rate has fallen in 45 of the 50 States. This is good news for American workers and good news for American families. Inflation is low, and interest rates and mortgage rates are near historic lows. Worker productivity is high, which means rising wages for American families. After-tax disposable income is up 10 percent since the end of 2000. And more Americans own their own home than at any time in history. People are finding jobs, and the Nation's future is bright. America's families and workers have reason to be optimistic. Tax relief put this economy on the path to growth. Since 2001, we have cut tax rates for everyone who pays income taxes. We have reduced the marriage penalty in our Tax Code. We raised the child credit to $1,000 per child, and we have reduced taxes on dividends and capital gains. This tax relief is critical because all workers are keeping more of what they earn, and small businesses, which create most of the new jobs in America, have the resources to expand and hire. As our economy adds more jobs, we will need to make sure all Americans are prepared to take advantage of new opportunity. We must help current workers and future workers learn the skills they need today and in the years to come. Our economy has increasing demand for workers with advanced skills, such as teachers, health care workers, and environmental engineers, but too many Americans do not have these kinds of skills. So on Monday, I will travel to North Carolina to propose reforms of our Federal job training system, to give our workers the help they need. Better job training will mean better jobs for American workers. We must also make sure our schools are preparing the next generation of workers. We have already taken action to improve our elementary schools with the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act. This good law is raising standards and hopes for all our children. But we must also address the needs of older students in high schools and colleges.

George W. Bush The President's Radio Address


This is not my normal custom, but I have been working the last 15 or 20 minutes on the Rhodesian question, and something came up at the last minute. This is an afternoon ceremony that is very significant to us. I think that my own background in environmental questions and in matters that relate to the quality of life has been one of intimate and deep concern. And when I was elected president, my major purpose in dealing with Federal Government agencies that relate to energy or to environment, to the quality of life in every way, was one of appointing people in whom I had complete confidence and, also, who had the confidence of those intensely committed environmentalists and conservationists in our country. At the same time, of course, in order for us to be effective, there must be a working relationship that cannot create insuperable barriers between those who are interested in development of jobs on the one hand, those who want to protect the quality of the outdoors, the purity of life on the other. I think that we have been successful so far, without abridging anyone's deep commitment and integrity in past statements and beliefs on the one hand, and adequate progress on the other. And I am very proud this afternoon to have a chance to introduce these men and women who will be serving in such important positions. Charles Warren is a man whom I first met when I was in Plains being briefed on the major questions concerning energy. He is a person who has been very effective in California, in the legislature, in devising and drafting and implementing major and very innovative decisions concerning the energy question, environmental questions, protection of the coastal regions, not only from a present-day point of view but as they would impact on the lives of people in years to come. And I think at some considerable sacrifice to himself, financially, but because of his interest in this subject, he is agreed to come and serve with us. And he will be the Chairman of those who will advise me on matters that relate to environmental quality. I am very glad that you have come to be with us. And I express my appreciation to you and look forward to working closely with you. Among my closest friends in the world are two people who mean a lot to me, and I think in the past and in the future will mean a lot to our country. One of them is Dr. Peter Bourne, who helped me in Georgia to set up one of the finest drug treatment programs in the Nation.

Swearing-In Ceremony Remarks at the Swearing In of the Chairman of the Council on Environmental Quality, the Deputy Director of ACTION, and the Administrator and Deputy Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.


He is recognized as the foremost expert on alcoholism, drugs, their impact, and the way to control them properly. His wife, Mary King, is also one who has been very close to me. When I was campaigning for ENTITY, whenever I came to Washington, not having enough support or finances to afford a hotel room, I always slept on their folding bed and they always took me in. And I am very excited to know that Mary King, who is an expert on health care in all its forms, on the proper utilization of volunteer Americans, who has a sensitivity and a courage that is absolutely superlative, is willing to serve in an agency that will spread this kind of knowledge throughout the world. The ACTION program is one that is involved with the Peace Corps, with VISTA, and with the recruitment and use of Americans--sometimes outside Government itself--who are willing to serve this country and other nations who are friends of ours. I am very grateful that Mary King is going to be the Deputy Director of ACTION. And when I asked her to serve, she said that she would do it if I would be present at her swearing-in ceremony. Nothing could have kept me away. Mary, I am very proud of you. And I know this is going to be a great experience for you and for me both. This is one that, in a practical way, administers the laws evolved by the Congress and the President to make sure that the agencies of Government and business world, as well, are oriented toward the protection of the quality of life. And this requires men and women in administrative positions who are knowledgeable about law, who are thoroughly familiar with the rules that have been laid down in an administrative way, and who can deal with forcefulness and understanding with the State and local governments and with private industry to make sure that in the face of progress, which is inevitable, that we do not destroy what is precious to us. Doug Costle has had broad experience in this field and will be the Director of this agency, and another very close friend of mine, Barbara Blum, who helped me get many of the Georgia laws passed against formidable opposition because of her courage and tenacity and because of her knowledge of environmental questions while I was Governor of Georgia. And I am very grateful that they are willing to serve as the two top leaders in this important agency, the Environmental Protection Agency.


It is my honor to welcome your family here to the Roosevelt Room. And I am proud to welcome Bill Donaldson as the Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Bill will be a strong leader of the SEC and a forceful advocate for the interests of investors. He is the right man at the right time. We are so honored you have agreed to accept this challenge, really appreciate it. Bill Donaldson spent a career preparing for this challenge. He has served as a founder of a leading investment banking firm, chairman of the New York Stock Exchange, the founding dean of the Yale School of Management. He has set high standards throughout his entire career. He will lead an active and energetic agency. They have last year filed a record number of actions for financial reporting and disclosure violations, sought the removal of more than 100 corporate officers and directors on the grounds of misconduct, and ordered corporations and executives to return to investors hundreds of million dollars in improper gains. This administration is committed to the enforcement of the security laws. We are committed to creating a climate of confidence in our markets. In the 2004 budget, I am asking Congress to increase SEC funding by 73 percent over the year 2002. We want to make sure the SEC has the tools necessary to pursue its important mission. This Nation is increasingly a nation of stockholders, who invest for their families and for their futures. Americans should be confident in the information they use in order to make investment decisions. All investors deserve to be treated fairly in the Tax Code as well. Investors should not be punished for saving and investing in America's future. Investors should not be- should be rewarded for taking risk in the marketplace. The Tax Code ought to treat these people fairly, and so that is why I have proposed that Congress end the unfair and unwise double taxation of dividends. This measure could improve corporate governance in America as well. Companies across America attract investors in a number of ways. One such way is to promise rapid growth, is to say, Even though we may not have cashflow, the future of our company is magnificent. Another way, of course, is to promise a steady source of income in the form of dividends. With dividends serving as a stronger foundation for long-term value, companies that pay them will have less motive to artificially inflate profits just to cause temporary increases in stocks. Our law should not discriminate against those companies that focus on stable, long-term growth.

Remarks at the Swearing-In Ceremony for William Donaldson as Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission and an Exchange With Reporters


Throughout our history and particularly in recent years, America's taken on an ever-increasing role as peacemaker taking the initiative time after time to try to help countries settle their differences peacefully. I do not need to recite the list of diplomatic efforts spanning all administrations in which we have been instrumental in ending war and restoring peace. Well, let us ask them, which country has nearly 100,000 troops trying to occupy the once nonaligned nation of Afghanistan? Which country has tried to crush a spontaneous workers' movement in Poland? And what country has engaged in the most massive arms buildup in history? Or, let us put the question another way. What country helped its World War II enemies back on their feet? What country is employing trade aid and technology to help the developing peoples of the world and actively seeking to bring peace to the Middle East, the South Atlantic, and to southern Africa? The answer is clear, and it should give us both pride and hope in America. Today, I know there are a great many people who are pointing to the unimaginable horror of nuclear war. I welcome that concern. Those who've governed America throughout the nuclear age and we who govern it today have had to recognize that a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought. So, to those who protest against nuclear war, I can only say, I am with you. Like my predecessors, it is now my responsibility to do my utmost to prevent such a war. No one feels more than I the need for peace. Throughout the first half of my lifetime, the entire world was engaged in war, or in recovering from war, or in preparing for war. This stretch of 37 years since World War II has been the result of our maintaining a balance of power between the United States and the Soviet Union and between the strategic nuclear capabilities of either side. As long as this balance has been maintained, both sides have been given an overwhelming incentive for peace. In the 1970's, the United States altered that balance by, in effect, unilaterally restraining our own military defenses while the Soviet Union engaged in an unprecedented buildup of both its conventional and nuclear forces. As a result, the military balance which permitted us to maintain the peace is now threatened. If steps are not taken to modernize our defense, the United States will progressively lose the ability to deter the Soviet Union from employing force or threats of force against us and against our allies.

Radio Address to the Nation on Nuclear Weapons


It would be wonderful if we could restore our balance with the Soviet Union without increasing our own military power. And ideally, it would be a long step in ensuring peace if we could have significant and verifiable reductions of arms on both sides. But let us not fool ourselves. The Soviet Union will not come to any conference table bearing gifts. Soviet negotiators will not make unilateral concessions. To achieve parity, we must make it plain that we have the will to achieve parity by our own effort. Many have been attracted to the idea of a nuclear freeze. Now, that would be fine if we were equal in strategic capability. We cannot accept an agreement which perpetuates current disparities. The current level of nuclear forces is too high on both sides. It must be the objective of any negotiations on arms control to reduce the numbers of nuclear weapons. Since World War II, the United States has attempted to get Soviet agreement to such reductions countless times. We began back when we alone had such weapons. We were never able to persuade the Soviet Union to join in such an understanding, even when we proposed turning all nuclear material and information over to an international body and when we were the only nation that had nuclear weapons. We are preparing a new arms reduction effort with regard to strategic nuclear forces and are already in negotiations in Geneva on intermediate-range missiles threatening Europe. Our objective in these talks is for the elimination of such missiles on the strategic nuclear forces. We will aim on those at substantial reductions on both sides leading to equal and verifiable limits. We will make every effort to reach an agreement that will reduce the possibility of nuclear war. If we can do this, perhaps one day we can achieve a relationship with the Soviet Union which does not depend upon nuclear deterrents to secure Soviet restraint. I invite the Soviet Union to take such a step with us. And I ask you, the American people, to support our efforts at negotiating an end to this threat of doomsday which hangs over the world. Thank you, and God bless you.


We also saw the resilience and the goodness of decency of the American people. They are not looking for a handout, they just want a fair shot. My dad used to have an expression when he lost his job up in Scranton. When I was in grade school, my dad would say, and we had to move in with my grandparents. When he went down south from Scranton to Wilmington, Delaware looking for a job. And he used to always say that, The fact is Joey, I am not looking for government to solve my problems but I hope like hell they can at least understand my problems. He finally got a job, we could afford to buy a small home. He worked hard to build a decent middle class life. It was not easy for him, but he had an expression. As I said, a job joy about a lot more than a paycheck. It is about your dignity. It is about respect. It is about your place in the community. It is being uable to look your kidney eye and say, Honey, it is going to be okay. You deserve a president who understands what you are going through. Who sees you where you are and where you want to be. The last thing you need is a president who ignores you, looks down upon you, who just does not understand who in God's name we are. The destabilizing effect it is having on our government is unconscionable. He did not take the necessary precautions to protect himself or others. How can we trust him to protect this country? Governor, you have seen how he picks fights with states and pits them against one another. We lose anywhere from 700 to a thousand people every single day in America, worse than any country in the world. 80% of those deaths have been seniors over 60 years of age. Nationally, the infection rate among Latinos is almost three times higher than that of white non-Latinos and the death rate as well as three times higher. More than 40,000 Latinos have died from ENTITY. My heart goes out to all those families who got up this morning and there was an empty chair around the kitchen table. Or go to dinner tonight and the person that should be there is gone. They have lost part of their soul. They have lost part of their life. It is all about family. With you and I it is all about family.

Joe Biden Las Vegas Speech Transcript October 9


My heart goes out to everyone struggling with the economic crisis caused by the neglect, the simple neglect of this President. Nearly 11 million jobs lost since the beginning of this crisis. And they still have not come back, including 136,000 jobs here in Nevada. Temporary layoffs have turned to permanent layoffs. And the problem of long-term unemployment, once you get beyond a certain point, history shows us that they never get a job again. All told, there are now 30 million workers who either lost hours, lost paychecks, or lost their jobs entirely. Roughly 700,000 people have dropped out of the labor force last month. We are still down 647,000 manufacturing jobs nationwide since the crisis has started. And our balance of payments deficit is going up. And here in Nevada, the unemployment rate is 13.2%, the highest in the nation because of President Trump's negligence. The culinary union, has recently said publicly that 50% of their members are still out of work. Tourism in June was down 70% from a year ago. President Trump will be the first president in modern history since Hoover to leave office with fewer jobs than he had when he came into office. Here in Nevada, after seeing over 200,000 jobs created in the last seven years of the Obama-Biden administration, Nevada has actually seen jobs go down under the Trump presidency. He is leaving us with what he calls, he says is a V-shape recession. It is a K-shaped recession where those at the top keep going up and the middle-class and everyone else keeps going down, getting worse. Means essential workers who sacrificed to keep us going through this pandemic are being left behind by the most unequal recovery in modern history. You get this, the top 100 billionaires in America have done pretty well. Just in the pandemic, the top 100 billionaires have made an additional $300 billion, top 100. But you get the bottom half of that K and it is a downward slide. You are left to figure out how you are going to pay your bills, put food on the table. How to balance doing your job with being a teacher for your kids because of the negligence of the President, they cannot go back to school because they have not provided the wherewithal for schools to open. You are asked to risk your neck because you cannot work from home where the risk of ENTITY are kept outside.


That is because you are a police officer, a firefighter, a nurse, or you are working on an assembly line in customer service or a checkout counter, or here in Vegas in hospitality. If you are a housekeeper, a casino worker, the ones who built this very stage. Governor Sisolak, your members of Congress are doing everything they possibly can to help turn things around. You followed science and put public health and safety. You made tough calls that saved lives. Working around the clock so we can reopen schools and the economy safely. Your members of Congress, have done the same. And the House passed what they call the HEROES Act months ago. Would have provided billions of dollars to help states keep first responders on the job. The safety measures needed, the PPP needed to open our schools and businesses but Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell, Republican leader did nothing to move the legislation. Nothing in June, nothing in July, nothing in August, nothing in September, things getting worse and worse and worse. And as people struggled and suffered, what did they focus on? If this was not so serious, you'd think I am making it up. What they focused on is more tax cuts for the wealthy, not a joke. They are proposal adds another $30 billion tax cut for millionaires and billionaires. Cutting the means by which we fund the Social Security system, leading the actuary of Social Security to say if they do it, by 2023, mid-2023, there'll be no money for Social Security. And a relentless effort to eliminate, as Alejandro said, the Affordable Care Act, which provides healthcare coverage for 22 million people, over 100 million with pre-existing conditions. This is going on at the same time he is already cost 10 million people their health insurance because their companies have gone bankrupt. Instead of focusing on our needs, your needs, he is trying to take your healthcare away. He is literally before the Supreme Court as I speak to strike down the entire Affordable Care Act, take away that healthcare for 20 million Americans. And complications from ENTITY like lung scarring and heart damage could well become the next pre-existing condition. Striking down the Affordable Care Act would toss out the rule that allows our children to be covered on their parents' insurance policy until age 26. Take us backward when insurance companies could change a woman more for healthcare than a man for the same procedure, just because she is a woman.


And just as he vowed to terminate as I said earlier the funding for Social Security. The idea that in just a few years could put at risk 410,000 Nevadans that rely on a dignified retirement because of Social Security. And during all this, not once did President Trump call a high-level meeting of Democrats and Republicans to the White House to resolve these issues. I have served with a lot of presidents, never, no matter how good or bad you thought they were did they fail to try to bring parties together in the White House to reach a settlement. He spent so much time hiding in the bunker in the White House or on the bunker of his golf course, playing hundreds of rounds of golf. And then this Tuesday, what'd he do? He said, End the discussions. He was not even starting them. One thing for sure, Donald Trump shows no urgency to deliver hardworking Americans, like the family I grew up in. What they need now desperately. For exactly two months since the emergency small business program that your congresspeople voted, for has closed down two months of small business owners in Nevada and across the country, waiting, hoping, for just a little extra help to be able to stay open. By the way, the largest employers in America are small businesses. How many more dreams will be extinguished because of the selfishness of this President and the Republican leaders in Congress? Make no mistake, if you are out of work, if your business is closed, if your child's school was shut down, if you are facing eviction, as millions are, over 20 million Americans worry about whether they are going to be able to pay their mortgage next month. None of that seems to matter to Donald Trump. You are a firefighter, police officer, who depends on state and local budgets. He is turned his back on you as well, because they have got to balance their budgets. They are being laid off all over America. When Barack and I were elected, we inherited the worst recession short of the Great Depression in history. He put me in charge of what is called the Recovery Act. We passed and needed to get out into the economy within 18 months to prevent a depression. We did it with less than two tenths percent of waste or fraud. And I was able to see to it that the states in order to keep moving, keep teachers, firefighters, first responders, all employed. I was able to get $140 billion in aid out to the states.


Right here in Clark County, I was able to bring to $1.2 billion to keep your economy going. We have that ability now. The House has already passed a similar piece of legislation. And we started the longest sustained recovery in American history. But you know what Mitch McConnell said about help with the states. I am not making this up. What in the hell is he talking about? Folks, we are so much better than this. We can turn this crisis into progress. We contain this virus and fully reopen our economy. We make up 4% of the world's population and we have 20% of the world's deaths. If we just follow the science, expand testing and tracing, social distance, washing our hands, implementing nationwide mask mandates. On the economy, bring the Congress back together to pass real relief to help people who've lost their unemployment checks as well. And then implement a comprehensive agenda that I have laid out to make bold investments so we can build back better. He keeps talking about the Republicans. Some Republicans, a lot of them are acknowledging and supporting me, but a lot of them also are talking about, Well, Biden's going to spend all this money. The independent analysis put out by Moody's, a Wall Street firm did a detailed analysis of my recovery plan and the President's. And here is what they said, it is off of Wall Street, that my plan will create 18.6 million jobs in four years. It is not going to raise a penny in tax for anyone making less than $400,000 a year. And how am I going to pay for all this? I am going to ask the big corporations and the wealthy to start paying their fair share. You realize that the Fortune 500 companies, 92 of them making billions of dollars, do not pay a single penny in taxes. Donald Trump paying $720 in taxes? The money we raise by eliminating the $1.3 trillion of his $2 trillion tax cut that affects the super wealthy and corporations, we are going to invest in working people. We are going to grow the middle class to make sure everyone's included on the deal. The kinds of investment that will stimulate the economy, including industries like tourism and hospitality. It means the analysis shows creating millions of good paying union jobs. Making sure our future is made in America. We and the President in the White House gives out $600 billion in contracts per year.


While I am President, it is going to go to no outfit that does not make it in America, the whole thing, and sell it in America. I mean it. Making the climate safer, saving hundreds of millions of barrels of oil. We will deal with climate change by creating millions of union jobs that build a climate resilience of our cities and our towns fighting back stronger, more frequent wildfires. By the way, did you hear what the President said about hurricanes this summer? He was told about how they are coming across the warm water in the Atlantic and the closer they get to the shore, the worse they get. You know what he said, Alejandro? He said, Maybe we should drop an atomic weapon on them and blow them up. As we say in my religion, Bless me father for I have sinned. Under my plan, small business come out the other side of this crisis with access to capital and the ability to deal with their debts. We are going to get $50 billion in new capital, especially for minority owned businesses and small businesses. We are going to make another hundred billion dollars in low-interest loans available to these businesses, creating jobs, increasing economic growth and increasing incomes. We are not just going to praise you, we are going to pay you with a good wage. Ensure you have strong benefits. We will ease the burden of the major cost in your life. We will build the Affordable Care Act, writing knew health insurance options, not for-profit public options, which give private insurers a real competitor. We are going to increase subsidies for premiums and lower your costs. Increase plans that will lower deductibles and lower out of pocket expenses. And we are going to take on the pharmaceutical industry with a plan that will slash costs of prescription drugs by 50%. The reason I am not going to more detail, you have been out here a long time, let us give me one example. If in fact Medicare is able to negotiate for all the drugs they buy and say you are not going to be able to sell them to them unless you pay the price we are suggesting, that would drop by 60% the cost the cost of drugs. We will work with the states to ensure that every three, four year old will get access to free, high quality preschool. We are going to make sure low and middle income families never have to spend more than 7% of their income to care for young children.


Because if we truly want to reward work in this country, we have to ease the financial burdens that created the care for families that are caring for raising a child and an aging loved one. Look at the professional caregivers out there, home health care workers, childcare workers, who are more often women. Women of color immigrants, are too often underpaid, under seen and undervalued. That is why my Build Back Better plan will elevate the compensation, benefits and dignity of caregiving workers and early childhood educators. We are also going to triple the funding for Title I schools like the one behind me here, which served high number of children from low-income families. We are going to make four years of public college and universities tuition free for any family that makes less than $125,000 a year. We are going to make community college and job training programs free for all hardworking Americans that qualify. And if you are buying your first home, we are going to provide a $15,000 tax credit to help you get there. We are going to protect Social Security. Look, I am not going to lay it out, but go to joebiden.com. We pay for all this and we grow the economy at the same time. The fact is, President of the United States can only see the world from Park Avenue. He thinks Wall Street built this country and CEOs. I see the world from where I grew up in Scranton, Pennsylvania and Claymont. Communities like some that you live in. I know the middle-class working people built this country. The measure of economic success has been what our families are talking about around the kitchen table. Are you able to look your kid in the eye and say, Honey, it is going to be okay? How many times do you know somebody This morning I had to say, look, I know those tires are bald, but you got to ride on them for another 20,000 miles. We just do not have the money. We just cannot do it now. Who is going to tell her she cannot go back to school because we cannot continue to borrow the money to keep her in that community college? There was a discussion that took place around my table and I am sure yours as well. I made a speech I worked really, really hard on and thought really hard about before I made it in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, on the battlefield last week.


First of all, I'd like to say that we are delighted to have you here. This is our first dinner, or supper, in the Rose Garden, and it is worked out very well. This is kind of a test of NATO's influence with the weather. I would like to say, too, before anyone gets the wrong impression about our military commitment and our strength, although these representatives of our military bands can play the violin very beautifully, they also know how to fight. I have enjoyed very much being with our President this evening, Prime Minister Ecevit. I have learned a lot about politics from him. We have several very distinguished Members of the Congress here, and I called one over to meet him tonight, Senator Bob Morgan from North Carolina. And when he came over, Prime Minister Ecevit told him that he used to live in North Carolina and worked for the Winston-Salem newspaper, and he said, I have even got Tar Heel cuff links on. So he is taught me a great deal. This is a wonderful occasion for us. Very seldom in the history of our Nation and very seldom in the history of the White House, which has been here since 1801-except for a brief interlude when some of Jim Callaghan's 1 people got here in 1812- -have we had such a delightful and distinguished group of guests. As a matter of fact, you are not exactly guests, because you are partners of ours in one of the finest and most noble endeavors in the history of the United States of America. We are proud of our relationship. Yesterday was Memorial Day, and throughout our country we paused to recognize the tremendous contribution in past years of men and women who have given their lives and offered their lives in the defense of our Nation, what it stands for, our principles, our ideals. And it is a great reminder of what NATO has meant to us, too. We know what can be the price of preserving precious ideals. We know the value of a partnership formed in a time of danger, a time of war. We know the value of strong and able and deeply committed allies. And this is what NATO means to us. For 30 years now, almost 30 years, the strength of NATO has permitted democracy and freedom to flourish. And it is with a great gratitude and a sense of common commitment and common purpose that we have gathered here for these 2 days of deliberations.

Toasts of the President and Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit at a Dinner Honoring the Heads of Delegation at the North Atlantic Alliance Summit


This Alliance has guaranteed our own security here in the United States, and it is been of great value to us. It is one of the things that we cherish most highly. For us, therefore, it has been a matter of necessity to be a partner with you in the North American 2 Alliance, and it is also been a fulfillment of what to us has been in the past, and still is, a moral obligation. that through strength can come peace, and that in awareness of a common resolution among free men and women there can be a conviction of potential adversaries that is better for mutual respect and the preservation of peace. We want a strong defense. We have assured that. We want a general commitment to peace and mutual disarmament. And both those elements of our desires can be guaranteed only through the accurate image of a capable and deep commitment to mutual strength. I think the United States is particularly well qualified to be the host of NATO, the members of the North American Alliance. Throughout our country there are tens of millions of people who look upon your countries as their second homeland. And it would be impressive to you if you could have shared the 2 years of campaign experience that I enjoyed around this Nation or rather that I experienced around this Nation to witness the deep sense of pride and a desire to protect the heritage that Americans share with their relatives in your own home countries. So, that, I think, qualifies us to be the host for this notable occasion. In a few minutes we will leave here and go down on the front lawn to witness again one of the great ballet performances available throughout the world. And the heritage of common beliefs, common ideals, and also common culture and enjoyment, is what we enjoy from the older countries in the European area. We feel that we share a common commitment to democracy, we share a common commitment to liberty, we share a common commitment to the rule of law. So, I would like to propose a toast on behalf of the people of the United States of America to the people whom you represent as our allies in Canada and in the European area, to the North American Alliance, the guardian of safety, the servant of freedom, and the instrument of peace.


We have been through an arduous campaign. It has been almost unique as a campaign of education in the great domestic and international problems which have arisen out of events of the last 15 years. I have endeavored to place these problems before the people as I see them from the facts and experience that have come to me in these past years. I wished the people to realize more intimately the difficulties with which their Government has been confronted, the disasters which have been averted, and the forces which have been mobilized for their support and their protection. I hope from these discussions that the people will realize the great crisis that we have successfully passed and the unprecedented measures taken which have been designed solely that we might protect and restore the system of life and of government endeared to us over 150 years--a government that has given to us protection from distress and allayed the forces which would otherwise have wrecked our homes and our firesides. But more than that, I hope I have given an understanding of these measures that have been designed for counterattack upon this crisis. These measures are now demonstrating their strength and effectiveness not only at home but abroad, evidences of which are multiplying throughout the country in the return of more than half a million men to work monthly, and that we have again resumed the road toward prosperity. I might add that the figure which I have given during the last few days of the return of 1 million men to work since the adjournment of the Congress have been added to during the day today by the estimates of the American Federation of Labor which increased the estimates, which I have given to you, by nearly 300,000 men. I wish to emphasize the greatest function of the American citizen, the one which each of us should perform tomorrow. The ballot is that most sacred individual act which preserves the great system of self-government which we have inherited and which should carry forward at any cost. It is a direct opportunity for every man and woman to express their views in terms of equality with every other citizen as to the policies and kind of a government that they wish carried out in the next 4 years. And I have a deep feeling that the choice that you make now is more than the choice for another 4 years. There is great divergence in the philosophy of government between the parties which may affect events over a generation; a mistaken choice may hazard the welfare of our children and our children's children.

Radio Address to the Nation From Elko, Nevada.


I have been fighting that the wrong course may not be adopted, not by appeal to destructive emotion, but by truth and logic. I have tried to dissolve the mirage of promises by the reality of facts. I am a believer in party government. It is only through party organization that our people can give coherent expression to their views upon public issues. There is no other way except by revolution, but we in America have ordained that the ballot shall be used for peaceful determination and not violence. We are a nation of progressives. We differ strongly as to the method to progress. I differ widely with the principles and views advocated by our opponents, but it is not my purpose to review them at this moment. I feel deeply that the Republican Party has been the party of progress in our history from the days of Abraham Lincoln. It has built the progress of the Nation upon the foundations of national principles and national ideals. We are a nation of homes from which the accomplishment of individuals is nurtured by the maximum freedom in an ordered liberty. The ultimate goal of our progress is to build for security and happiness in these homes where the inspiration of our religious faiths will implant in our children those principles of social order and idealism, and where our Government will contribute in safeguarding their future opportunity for them. The action of our Nation has been modified and benefited by the enfranchisement of women. They equally with the men bear the shocks from economic disaster. With them lies largely the guardianship of the fundamental ideals, because concentrated in their lives and their responsibilities is a solicitude for the preservation of the home and the inspiration for the future. And in these labors our Government can contribute to strengthen their accomplishment and their influence. Our women give with lavish hands, not only to childhood, but, as well, to the creation of those conserving customs upon which are builded all the blessings of our ordered Government. They thus give to government a large measure of the true strength of its foundations. It is but just that they receive back, in return, all that the Government can give them to assure them of security and the enlargement of the equal opportunity to their children and to themselves, to widen the field for the use of their own powers of mind and spirit. It is they who are mobilizing new public regard to our obligations to home and children of the future; it is they who are mobilizing the public opinion on the maintenance of peace in the world.


The men of our country carry the frontline of battle through their initiative, their enterprise, their hopes, their courage. The immediate question before our country is in whose direction shall be the measures by which we shall emerge from our present difficulties. In the longer view our problems are the questions that the world should have peace; that the prosperity of the Nation shall be diffused to all, and that we shall build more strongly the ideal of equal opportunity amongst all our people; that we shall secure that obedience to law which is essential to assurance of life in our institutions; that honesty and righteousness in business shall confirm the confidence of our people in our institutions and laws; that our Government shall contribute to leadership in these matters. It is my deep conviction that for the welfare of the United States the Republican Party should continue to administer the Government. Those men and women who have supported the party over these many years should not be led astray by false gods arrayed in the rainbow colors of promises. They have but to review the performance and the sense of responsibility, the constructive action, the maintenance of national ideals by the Republican Party, in every national crisis including the present, always in opposition to the destructive forces of sectional and group action of our opponents. Election Day is more than a day set aside for casting of our several ballots. There is a solemnity in the feeling of that day, the sense of being in the presence of a great invisible power when the united people of a great nation give their final judgment on great issues. We cannot feel that any human power alone can give us such emotions; rather we must trust that we are sensing the movements of that Ruler of the universe in whose beneficence and in whose favor we have been blessed throughout our history. As a final word, I wish to convey my deep gratitude to the many hundreds of thousands of people who have come to stations and to meetings to welcome and encourage me during this past month and to the many millions more who have responded to me over the radio.


I am speaking to you today from a ship. It is a special kind of ship, and it will perform a very special mission. This vessel will not be armed with guns, or with any instruments of destruction. But it will be a valiant fighter in the cause of freedom. It will carry a precious cargo--and that cargo is truth. It is well named, for it will be carrying a message. It will be carrying a message of hope and friendship to all those who are oppressed by tyranny; it will be carrying a message of truth and light to those who are confused by the storm of falsehood that the Communists have loosed upon the world. This vessel is a floating radio transmitter which is to broadcast the programs for the Voice of America. It will be able to move from place to place, beaming our campaign of truth to people behind the Iron Curtain whom we have thus far been unable to reach. The Courier is a small ship--it is not as big as a destroyer but it is of tremendous significance. Its significance lies in the fact that it will carry on the fight for freedom in the field where the ultimate victory has to be won--that is in the minds of men. As the world stands today, free peoples must have strong military forces to protect themselves against aggression. But the final solution for the ills that plague the world can never lie in armies and navies and air forces. The final solution cannot be reached until all nations are willing to live together in peace. The rulers of the Kremlin are trying to make the whole world knuckle under to the godless, totalitarian creed of communism. They are busy everywhere spreading propaganda to stir up fear and hate and to set nation against nation. The free nations of the world have not yielded to the onslaught of Soviet propaganda. We have undertaken to answer propaganda with the truth--for we know that the truth is the best answer. To bring the truth to peoples everywhere, we are using magazines, newspapers, motion pictures, libraries, and information centers in all parts of the world. We must use every means to combat the propaganda of slavery. This ship is an important part of that campaign. Our arguments, no matter how good, are not going to influence people who never hear them. Our' arguments, no matter how good, are not going to influence people who never hear them. The purpose of this ship is to help get our message through.

Address Broadcast from the Voice of America floating Radio Transmitter Courier.


There are so many people who are proud of you--your parents, family, faculty, friends--all who share in this achievement. To all the moms who are here today, you could not ask for a better Mother's Day gift than to see all of these folks graduate. I have to say, though, whenever I come to these things, I start thinking about Malia and Sasha graduating, and I start tearing up and----it is terrible. I do not know how you guys are holding it together. I am a Columbia College graduate. I know there can be a little bit of a sibling rivalry here. But I am honored nevertheless to be your commencement speaker today, although I have got to say, you set a pretty high bar, given the past 3 years. But I will point out Hillary is doing an extraordinary job as one of the finest Secretaries of State America has ever had. We gave Meryl the Presidential Medal of Arts and Humanities. Sheryl is not just a good friend, she is also one of our economic advisers. Keep your friends close and your Barnard commencement speakers even closer. Now, the year I graduated--this area looks familiar----the year I graduated was 1983, the first year women were admitted to Columbia. Sally Ride was the first American woman in space. Music was all about Michael and the moonwalk. We had the Walkman---- No, no moonwalking. We had the Walkman, not iPods. Some of the streets around here were not quite so inviting. Nothing worse than commencement speakers droning on about bygone days. But for all the differences, the class of 1983 actually had a lot in common with all of you. For we too were heading out into a world at a moment when our country was still recovering from a particularly severe economic recession. It was a time of change. It was a time of uncertainty. It was a time of passionate political debates. You can relate to this because just as you were starting out finding your way around this campus, an economic crisis struck that would claim more than 5 million jobs before the end of your freshman year. Since then, some of you have probably seen parents put off retirement, friends struggle to find work. And you may be looking toward the future with that same sense of concern that my generation did when we were sitting where you are now.

Barack Obama Commencement Address at Barnard College in New York City