So we passed the bill with 100,000 police officers and with tougher punishment where appropriate, but with prevention measures and with the assault weapons ban. And 5 years later, we have had 5 years of steeply dropping crime, and the murder rate has dropped 22 percent in the last 3 years in this country. Now, you know here in Denver you have just been through it the crime rate is still too high, and there is still too much violence in this country. But we are going in the right direction. And that happened because of a political choice the American people made, and they knew how to make it in part because they heard the messages of the competing candidates. And we had a huge fight about it. In welfare, the same thing is true. I did not mind letting the States set the level of assistance to people on welfare because they had been, in effect, doing that for 25 years anyway. Before I ever signed the welfare reform law, there was a difference of more than 4 to one more than 4 to one between what a family on welfare could get in the State where the benefits were the lowest and the State where the benefits were the highest 3 1/2 to one. I do not want to overexaggerate3 1/2 to one. I just redid the math in my head. And I had no problem in requiring people who are on welfare who are able-bodied and able-minded to go to work. I thought that was important, because we were talking around our table half the welfare caseload was becoming people who were just permanently on welfare, almost, and sometimes intergenerationally. And that has nothing to do with compassion. You are not being compassionate when you leave people in a position of dependency when they do not have to be there. On the other hand, it is important, it seemed to me, when you require people who can work to work, not to ask them to hurt their children in doing it. After all, the biggest problem working families have today, many working families, is balancing the demand of taking care of their kids and taking care of their job. And I hear people even with very comfortable income levels, when they are honest, say they feel conflicts between their obligations to their children and their obligations at work. And I think that it is not an exaggeration to say the most important job that any society has, ever, is raising good, strong, ethical children.


So why should we expect people on welfare to sacrifice the most important job of society to do what is the most important job, arguably, in the short run to give them the self-respect and the independence they need to contribute to our common welfare? So I vetoed two bills because they took away medical care and nutrition for kids and they did not give enough money for child care and because I wanted more money to put people to work in high unemployment areas. Once we resolved those things, I signed that bill. We had the biggest drop in welfare rolls in history, 3.8 million fewer people on welfare than the day I became ENTITY. So we are moving in the right direction. And we proved you could grow the economy and improve the environment at the same time. Now we have to prove we can do that with greenhouse gas emissions to deal with the climate change issue. There is no question, if you just look at the evidence, that we can do it. So what I want you to know is that every time you see something like that that is good, that is a product of a choice because we had a fight about all those issues. We had an honest debate, a partisan debate about these issues. In this last year we passed a balanced budget agreement that had overwhelming bipartisan support, but there were elements that our side brought to it. We said, okay, we want to balance the budget, and we do not mind giving families the tax cut; we do not mind giving businesses the tax cut if we invest properly in giving all Americans access to college we want tax breaks for that; we want to spend some money to provide health insurance coverage to the children of working families who do not have it. We have got enough money for 5 million more kids to get health insurance in working families with low incomes. That is half the uninsured kids in the country. And we got the biggest new investment in education since 1965. That was because of choices that we made in Washington that the people who were there would not have been able to make if you had not helped us get there. There is a direct connection between your presence here and the things that are in that budget. And just this last week let me just close with this I had a week it was a killer of a week. And what you saw probably in the headlines was the work we were doing on Iraq, but let me tell you what else went on last week.

Remarks at a Democratic National Committee Luncheon in Denver


We signed a bill that we worked on for 2 years to overhaul the way the Food and Drug Administration regulates medical devices, pharmaceuticals, and the foodstuffs they regulate 2 years. It passed by voice vote everybody. And the way it came out, I believe the public interest is dramatically advanced, because if you have got a safe drug or if you have got a safe medical device, for goodness sakes, you want it on the market as quick as possible. So we had to strike all those balances. Well, the public interest side of that a lot of that work over the last 2 years came from people that you helped to elect and from attitudes that you helped to advance. I signed a bill dramatically overhauling the foster care and adoption procedures and clearing away a lot of the obstacles to quicker adoption, even for children that have serious health problems. And my wife has worked on these subjects for 25 years. And all these advocates from all over the country came in, and I met a family that had adopted 20 children, including 3 of them who were wheelchair-bound. And to see these people who care about these kids you know, just last year we put in a $5,000 tax credit for adoption. But you need to know we all talk about how we believe in family values there are hundreds of thousands of kids out there that need a home that are trapped in a foster care system. And one of my staff members after it was over came up to me with tears in his eyes the guy has nothing to do with the human services area he came up to me, and he had tears in his eyes and said, I just want you to know that I spent 9 years of my childhood in one foster home after another. And this is going to change entire lives for people. And then I went to Wichita, Kansas, to the Cessna plant and saw what that company is doing to take hardcore welfare recipients and put them through training programs and guarantee them jobs. And a lot of these women have been severely beaten by their spouses or partners, have no money, are high school dropouts. Cessna provides housing, a 3-month training program, a 3-month pre-job program, and a guaranteed job for anybody who can finish. And I saw people speaking they had two of these women speaking. If you'd been told that 6 months ago they were on welfare and had less than a high school education, you would not have believed it. You would have thought they were members of the Wichita City Council.


And I expect they both could be if they put themselves up for election now. We announced you saw yesterday, we announced that we are going to have the first permanent peace talks between North and South Korea, in the four-party context we proposed, since the end of the Korean war. We are working through a very difficult situation in Iraq and, I think, in an appropriate way. And I know those things have dominated the news. But if you think about what happened in America for Americans this week, there were a couple of times when all of us just looked at each other and said, You know, this is what we got in public life to do. And what I want you to understand is, the decisions that are made and the way they are made are made by real human beings who have real views and real convictions, in conflict with other real human beings who also have honest views. You know, I had a long talk with Senator Lott yesterday. I like Senator Lott. You know, we lived across the river from each other in our former lives, and it is nice having the Senate Majority Leader without an accent. We like each other. We understand each other. I had to give him 5 pounds of barbecue when Mississippi beat Arkansas in football. I like him. And he would tell you the same thing. We really look at the world differently. We see things differently. We have honest differences of opinion. That is what is kept this country going for 220 years. I believe history will record that at this moment in time our views were right and that we prepared the world prepared America for a totally new world. And you should never let that sort of fashionable rhetoric demeaning the whole act of contributing to your democracy so people who believe what you do can hold up their side that is there is something wrong with that. Tonight when you go home, you think about being at this lunch; you think about those adopted kids; you think about the people who are going to get drugs that will keep them alive; you think about those women that can now be going into the work force because their kids do have food and medicine and child care; you think about the doors of college being opened to everybody for the first time in the history of this country. You think about all that and be proud.


I want to thank Bill Gingrich and others at BIA for arranging on relatively short notice this wonderful meeting. I want to pay my respects to our outstanding congressional delegation -- our two Congressmen are here -- and our senior Senator Warren Rudman, here with us today. But you are well represented in Washington with these four outstanding individuals. I am very sorry if I am late -- a little trouble parking the 18-wheeler. A few things have happened since I spoke to you 2 years ago at the BIA. For one thing, I got a new job. And I am very pleased on both counts. It really is great to be back and see so many old friends. Last week I made an address to the joint session of Congress, spelling out my policies and my priorities as America moves into a new decade -- a whole new century 11 short years away. And I offered my hand to the Congress in a spirit of bipartisan cooperation and said, Together we can build a better America. And this week, I am traveling to different parts of the country to talk as directly as possible to the American people. And it is no coincidence that this very first stop is here in New Hampshire. But John Sununu, you know, the new Chief of Staff, had his way, and here we are. Some said I just wanted to come back and drink with the boys at the Alpine Club again right here. What a great evening that was, I will tell you. A year ago at about this time, I was here in New Hampshire under different circumstances -- literally a year ago. I had just been defeated in Iowa. 50 a.m. my first morning here, outside on a cold day -- a little colder, as I remember, than today even -- holding my coffee in one hand and shaking hands with some of the guys at the factory in another . And the columnists had begun to write my political obituary. And let me tell you why I say that. Governor Sununu was at my side, Judd Gregg and, of course, his dad, Hugh. And I had so many people, including many in this room, who helped me assemble a statewide organization, A - 1 in every single way. And you never can forget in American politics the importance of people being involved. Sensible ideas work; we can do the job, and we can do it without new taxes. And the foundation that we built held firm; it never cracked or crumbled.

Remarks to Members of the Business and Industry Association of New Hampshire in Manchester


And the steadfast support that I received gave me the chance to pick myself off of that canvas, and the rest, as they say, is history. Thank you, New Hampshire. But as Judd reminded us, the journey goes back longer than just a year ago today. It goes back to '79 and '80, when I first ran for ENTITY. In 1980 things were different in America. Inflation and interest rates were peaking at unprecedented highs for our country. Our workers were out of jobs. And America's respect around the world was on the decline. And since then, under the leadership of a great ENTITY, America is once again proud and prosperous. And our economy is now in its 75th month of expansion -- the longest period of uninterrupted economic growth during peacetime in our nation's history. And our people are back at work. In fact, the proportion of Americans with jobs is at a post-World War II high. And America is once again respected around the world as a resolute force for peace and freedom. And because we did strengthen this country, I am optimistic about our chances to enhance the peace worldwide. We are headed in the right direction, and I mean to keep us headed in the right direction. We have made tremendous progress, and I mean to build on that progress. Last Thursday night, I presented to the Congress a realistic plan for dealing with the Federal budget. attention to urgent priorities, investment in the future, an attack on the deficit, and no new taxes. And this budget plan represents a commitment to meet our national priorities and at the same time keep faith with our promise to the American people on the tax front of no new taxes. There are some areas in which we would all like to spend more, but we cannot until we get our fiscal house in order and bring the Federal budget deficit down. In the next fiscal year, under current law with no changes or new taxes, revenues will grow by over $80 billion -- $80 billion more revenue to the Federal Government in 1 year under existing law. And that is an increase of nearly 8 1/2 percent. And that should be enough to finance our priorities and bring the deficit down without taxes. And right here I'd like to salute Warren Rudman for his role in disciplining both the executive branch and the Congress by being a part of that historic Gramm-Rudman-Hollings bill. Yes, it requires tough choices.


Mine is a budget plan that will work, but not with business as usual. It will require a partnership with the Congress. And as I said on Thursday night, my team and I are prepared to work with the Congress; to negotiate in good faith with the leadership; to work day and night, if that is what it takes, to meet budget targets; and to produce a budget on time. I have spoken about priorities; let me just share with you briefly what those priorities are. First, let us make sure that America remains the greatest and the most productive nation on the face of the Earth. We should begin to invest now in ways that will make America more competitive in the future. more funds for basic research; a permanent tax credit for R&D, for research and development; a strengthened role for science and technology in our national policy deliberations. When I was Vice ENTITY, I chaired a task force on regulatory relief, which was intended to help survey the wilderness of government regulation to determine which rules were hurting private productive activity and which were helping. And we did a lot of good early on. We got rid of some needless regulation, and still protecting the safety in the workplace and things of that important nature. But the work of this task force will continue, and its mission expanded, however. The Vice President, Dan Quayle, will head this new task force on competitiveness to explore a range of issues, from regulatory reform to training for the work force of the future. a package of bills to improve education in America. Chance favors only the prepared mind. Our children deserve every break that we can give them because they do represent our future. And so, for America to be prepared for the future, our children must be educated for the future. And part of our education effort must be in the area of drugs. Education is still our best means of prevention. And we will fight drugs on all fronts, not only education but treatment, interdiction, and law enforcement. But for those who are already hooked on drugs, we have got to expand treatment. For those who are dealing drugs, I want them to know how serious we are about stopping them. And I have asked for and will insist on tougher penalties. And, yes, that does include the death penalty for those drug kingpins. I believe it will inhibit the continued flow of drugs into this country. And I think the dealers who prey on our kids should know what is coming when they get caught.


The kids of America will not become the broken debris of a failed war on drugs -- period. We simply cannot have that. And a drug-free America has to be the foundation of a healthy, stronger America. the air we breathe, the water we drink, the beautiful land we live on. And we do need a new attitude, a new commitment to preserving our planet. the infants; the pregnant women; children living in poverty; and, yes, the elderly. And we must protect the homeless. Greater support is needed for emergency food and shelter, for health service, and for clinics for the mentally ill. And I have asked for those funds to confront the problems of the homeless, recognizing that most of the work in this field, as in education, will be done at the local and the State and the neighborhood level. We must never let the Federal Government preempt and push aside the activities of our citizens at the family and neighborhood level. The Government, as I said the other night, cannot stand on the sidelines -- not in the face of the national shame of the homeless or the depressed stage of our education. What I also want to say is that government is not the only answer, though. Government has a role. Government's got to do its part, but it cannot do everything. And without the will of the people, it really cannot do anything. The essence of our government is that it is a democracy of, for, and by the people. To be successful in the years ahead, our mission must also be of, for, and by the people. I do not think there is ever anything wrong in life for saying, Thank you very much. say thank you; but more importantly, now that I am the 41st ENTITY of the United States, to look ahead, to thank you for what you can do in the future, and encourage you to give it your all. Join me with a spirit that I know is the spirit of not only this BIA but also the people of New Hampshire, generally, and together we will keep America moving forward, always forward, on a journey that leads to a better America of absolutely limitless opportunities. Thank you all, and God bless you.


First, let me say to all of you that when we came in here tonight, I think it is fair to say that Hillary and Al and Tipper and I were literally overwhelmed by this reception. I knew there was a lot of enthusiasm, but it did not all quite add up until I realized that we had caused your exams to be delayed. And I want you to know that we are having such a good time, we'd be delighted to come back about this time next term if you want. I want to thank Dr. Williams for his magnificent invocation. I thank Dr. Woodall for the remarks he made, for making us welcome here, and for the example that he and Mr. Spencer, the principal here, all the teachers here, and all the students and teachers from this school and the other schools here represented. I thank you for what you are doing and for the example you are setting for America. I'd like to thank all of our musicians and the choir for playing and singing for us. And I want to thank Melissa for speaking so well. Were not you proud of her? Did she do a great job, or what? I am glad I never had to run against her for anything. I also want to thank all these wonderful people from Pennsylvania who have come here, all the officials and citizens from this area and from Philadelphia and nearby areas. Let me say, there was a lot of talk tonight keying off Reverend Williams' invocation about vision. I'd like to say something else, if I might, out of respect to others. It is a good thing to have a vision, because otherwise you never know where you are going. So you have to have one. I ran for ENTITY, beginning in 1991, because I thought our country was drifting and because I believed that if you look at these young people here one elementary school in this area has kids from 50 countries speaking 13 languages and if you look at all these young people and their parents and everybody in this room, and you imagine what the world is going to be like, and you know it is going to get smaller and smaller, and we are going to have more and more relationships, and the borders will become more and more open, it is hard to imagine any country in the world that is remotely as well positioned as America to give people the chance to make the most of their own lives. But we had to have a vision. My vision for the 21st century was pretty simple.

Remarks to the Montgomery County Community in Norristown, Pennsylvania


I wanted us to have a country for the children of the Gores and the Clintons and all the other kids in our country where every person who was a responsible citizen would have a genuine opportunity to live out their dreams. I wanted us to have a country where over all the differences between us we would relish those differences, our racial, our religious, our cultural differences; our serious differences we would debate seriously. But we would honor our common humanity and our shared values as Americans enough to say, what unites us is so much more important than what divides us; we will build one America in the 21st century. And I wanted us to continue to be the country, as we grew more diverse and, therefore, had deeper and deeper ties with more and more other people around the world. I wanted America to recognize that because of our wealth and position, we have not only the opportunity but a responsibility to continue to be the world's leading force for peace and freedom and prosperity for others. It is good for ourselves to do the right thing in trying to build the rest of the world and build closer ties. Now, it is a good thing to have a vision; you cannot get started without it. The Vice President talked about Tommy Lasorda and Mike Piazza. My favorite baseball player of all time, because he was such a wonderful speaker, was Yogi Berra. You know, Yogi Berra said, We do not know where we are going, but we are making good time. So you have to have a vision. But you have to have something else, too. You have to have people who are willing to act on it. I hope you could see with the four of us up here, we like being together. We see ourselves as a family, and we see our allies as a family. When I came to Washington, I wanted to do something about homelessness, but Tipper Gore helped me do it. I wanted to raise the consciousness of America about all kinds of things that we sort of kept hidden under the rug but were hurting people. Mental health was one of the most important. Tipper Gore helped me do it. I wanted to prove that we could have a smaller Government we now have the smallest Federal Government since 1962 but I wanted to do it in a way that would not just throw good Federal employees in the street and that would enable us to do more. The Vice President made it possible for us to do that; he led that effort.


I wanted to prove that we could grow the economy and improve the environment by doing things like building new cars that would triple gas mileage. The Vice President has led our efforts there, and in dealing with all the promise of new technology in trying to hook up all our schools and libraries to the Internet, and in managing a big portion of our relations with Russia, South Africa, and other countries. I can say without qualification that no Vice President in history has had so much responsibility or done so much good. So the vision requires an action. And if it had not been for Hillary, for all the good intentions in the world, we would not have done nearly as much to advance the cause of health care or child care or education or to observe the millennium. We would not have been able to do it. When I see Joe Hoeffel standing up here talking and I know he is going to be a strong force on the committees that he is gotten; I see another new Congressman out there, my longtime friend Bob Brady from Philadelphia. I know that they will be implementers of a vision. Or Chaka Fattah, who got you all worked up, up there, when he stood up; do you know what he did? He passed a bill in the Congress last year that I was for, but I could not have passed it. I could not have done it. But he went around to Republicans and Democrats alike and said, You know, I come from Philadelphia. There are a lot of poor kids there that have never had a real chance. They come from poor families. They live in tough neighborhoods, but they have got good minds. Will you help me pass a bill that will provide the necessary financial support for college students to come in and mentor these kids in middle schools so they will go on to college? And we did it because of that. Now, I will give you one other example. Last time I came here as ENTITY was in 1993, to a conference on entitlement reform. Entitlement reform is a fancy way of saying with everybody living longer and the baby boomers about to retire, all the rest of you are not going to be able to afford to pay our medical and retirement bills unless we do something. That is what entitlement reform means. And I said, You know, I have got this economic plan, and it is not going to be very popular with a lot of people because it has a lot of tough decisions.


We are asking people who are the wealthiest people in America to pay a little more in income taxes, sometimes a lot more if they were really well off. We are asking people who are used to getting Government programs to do without a few hundred of them until we get this budget in balance. But if we do it, we will lower interest rates, cutting home mortgages and the interest rates on car payments and credit cards, and we will get investment back in the country. We will have jobs coming back in the country. And the money you will save on the stock market going up and the interest rates going down will be far greater than the money those of us who are well off had to pay in a little more taxes. It was very controversial, and people said, Oh, it will bring an end to the economy. It will end the American economy as we know it. It will drive us into recession. Well, you heard what the Vice President said about the country with the longest peacetime expansion in history, the lowest peacetime unemployment since 1957, and all of that. What you should know is that this county, this county has had, since that economic program passed and the interest rates started going down, 1,800 new businesses and 44,000 new jobs, the highest growth in the State of Pennsylvania. The decisive vote that made all that possible was cast in Congress by Marjorie Margolies-Mezvinsky. We won by one vote in the House, and it was tied in the Senate. The decisive vote in the Senate was cast by Al Gore. Now, the point I am trying to make is we had a good vision, but somebody has got to carry the water; somebody has to make the decisions; somebody has to push the rocks up the hill; somebody has to take that step and jump off the diving board; someone has to move. People have to act on their vision. That is why I said last night and that is why that sign says, Let us get to work. We have a good vision, but we must act. And for all of you, I thank you. I wanted to come here to this school because this school district represents what I think America ought to do. I know not every school district has the resources. So if we want everybody to end social promotion but have summer school and afterschool programs, we have to provide the funds from Washington to help the school districts do it.


If we want to turn around schools that are not working, we have to provide help from Washington. And we are doing that. But I want people to see this school district all over America, on the news tonight, in the articles tomorrow. I want people to know we came here to a place that has done important things, to give kids who need it extra help, to have high standards, to do things that will create a vision that people will want to act on. I think to have a motto like learn and live to serve is a stunning thing, and I hope you will live by it all your lives. Every high school graduate in this school district gets a license, a driver's license-sized copy of the diploma, and on the back it has the computer skills the graduate has mastered. That is a driver's license to the future. I would like to see that modeled in other places all across America, as well. So you have already heard what we have to say, but it is plain that America is working again. But every one of you knows if we had time to do it, I'd give everybody a piece of paper, and I'd ask you to write down you might do this when you go home tonight. I'd ask you to write down somewhere between three and six things no more than six that you believe are the long-term challenges that will face you young people in the 21st century and what is it that we could do now that would pave the way to a better future for you. I can tell you that I did my best in the State of the Union last night to say, Okay, we have got America working again, but what are the long-term challenges? And you have heard them talked about tonight, and I will not belabor them. But let me say, we have to build strong communities in the 21st century that gives everyone a chance at opportunity. That means we have to do more to have the kind of economic opportunity in places where unemployment is high and people make low wages that you have here. That means putting more money in there. It means teaching adults better skills. It means teaching those who are first-generation Americans to read better, if that is what it takes. It means continuing to drive the crime rate down.


It means making all communities livable communities, to set aside the land that we need to set aside, to have the green space, to manage the traffic, to do the things that will make people free and happy if they live anywhere in America. These are the kinds of things we have to do. It means reconciling work and family. One of the best things that the Gores have done is, for the last 7 years, they have had a conference in Tennessee every year on the challenges modern families face. And most all of them relate somehow or other to the need to balance work and family, a challenge that faces Americans in all income groups. I will bet there is not a family here that has not at some point in the last couple of years faced some sort of challenge of balancing your responsibilities to your children to your responsibilities to your work. That is why we want a child care plan that includes help for stay-at-home parents when the children are very young, but real help for working people that cannot afford quality child care on their own. Because in America, when I look at all of you, I want you to be free and confident, when you start your families, that you can do what you want in your work life, but you know that your first responsibility is to raise your children, and you are going to be able to succeed at that responsibility. The Vice President told you that rather gripping story about the HMO's. The truth is we have to manage the health care system; it is like any other system. We have to keep the costs as low as possible. But the quality of our people's health counts most. That is why we say you ought to be able to see a specialist if you need one. You ought to be able to go to the nearest emergency room. You ought to be able to have your medical records private and all of the other things in our Patients' Bill of Rights, because we have got to balance the need to save money with the fundamental necessity of providing quality health care to all Americans. And I'd just like to say one other thing. We have said a lot about education tonight, but I would like to say something about the very first subject I talked about last night in the State of the Union, and that is the aging of America.


And again I want to say, this is an issue that should be of primary importance not to today's retirees but to tomorrow's retirees, their children, and their grandchildren yet unborn. Because when the baby boomers retire and that includes the parents of just about all of the students here; people between the ages of 34 and 52 were the people born in the generation after World War II, the largest group of people in history in America, young people, until the present class of students which numbers over 53 million. Now, when we retire, we are going to double the number of seniors by the year 2030. And what we have got and the average life expectancy is already 76 years old plus; for the young people here, it is probably about 83 years. But we do not want to get into a position where our retirement is a financial burden to our children and undermines our children's ability to raise our grandchildren. So when I tell you that we ought to set aside roughly 75 percent of this surplus we have got for the next 15 years to save Social Security and to save Medicare, and in the process, since we will be saving the money, we will be paying down the national debt, giving us the lowest level of debt we have had as a nation since before World War I in 1917, keeping interest rates down, investment high, jobs creation going, and incomes rising I say that not just for those of us who will be older but for our kids and our grandkids. And I hope you will see it that way. This is a big test for us. We have not had this kind of situation in a long, long time. And very rarely do societies have the luxury of being financially strong enough, militarily secure enough, and having enough information about the future to make the kind of decisions that I asked the American people to make last night. Yes, we ought to give some tax cuts, but they ought to be the right kind. They ought to be for child care. They ought to be for helping us to deal with our environmental challenges. They ought to be for people saving for their own retirement, because Social Security will never be enough for that. They ought to be for raising children. But we can save this money now and lift a burden from the young people here.


Do you really want to run the risk of squandering this surplus that we have worked so hard for until we know for sure that our retirement will not compromise the integrity of their lives and their ability to raise their children as we have tried to raise them? Now, the young people here are going to have a fascinating time. The Internet is already growing by, you know, millions and millions of new pages every week. It is the fastest growing communication mechanism in human history. People are able to move around as never before, and even if you cannot leave town now, you have got people from all over the world right next door. We are learning things that we have never imagined before. We are on the verge of not only unlocking the mysteries of the human gene but actually finding medical treatments to cure or even prevent things from Alzheimer's to arthritis to all kinds of cancers. I went to the auto show in Detroit the other day, and one thing I am looking forward to I love this job, and I am not looking forward to 2 years from now being barred from being ENTITY by the Constitution's two-term limit. But one thing I am looking forward to, now that I have been to the Detroit auto show, is getting back in those cars, because the cars of the future are going to be environmentally sound and hilariously fun to drive and safer. But we have to do our best in this time to, first of all, make it safe, dealing with the challenges of nuclear and chemical and biological weapons, to give you the strongest communities possible, to build one America across our lines of diversity, and to think about the future. When I ran for ENTITY in 1992, before I ever made the decision to run, a young man who is now not quite so young, he is a graduate student, named Sean Landris was driving me around Los Angeles. I was an anonymous, virtually anonymous Governor of Arkansas. But Sean Landris knew something about me and the speeches I had made and the things I was interested in, and he said, Are you going to run for ENTITY? And he had a little tape deck in his car, and he put this tape deck in and this old Fleetwood Mac song, Do not Stop Thinking About Tomorrow, which was made before he was born. And I believe that those of us in positions of responsibility have no higher responsibility than to think about your tomorrows.


And may I thank Congressman Kildee for being with us. Of course, single out for special recognition Ann Lynch, the president of the National PTA. And, of course, Ted Sanders, who is our Under Secretary at Education and who really is a man of commitment and has done an outstanding job all across the board for education . I want to welcome Mr. Stair, the president of ServiceMaster, this year's -- right here -- this year's sponsor of the National Parents and Teachers Association Week. And we are grateful to you, sir. And a special welcome to the teachers and the parents, and, of course, the students you are outnumbered, but you are here - from communities in and around our Washington area, representing the many millions who, together, make up the real strength of the PTA. And I want to begin today by sharing with you the results of a recent poll of the Nation's fourth graders. These days we all live by instant polling. Bart Simpson, George Bush, Paula Abdul, Bo Jackson, or E, none of the above. And they did not pick A, C, or D, or sad to say, B. Children picked parents as their heroes by a landslide. And Bo Jackson was third and they did not dare give me the rest of the results. But the fact of the matter is that parents are our children's first teachers. And I guess Barbara, in her reading to kids, exemplifies this pretty darn well; now it is grandkids for us. But it is more than a matter of helping our kids do their homework, teaching them how to read, or showing them through our own interests that learning is a lifelong pursuit. Our kids look to us for the moral values that guide and shape our lives. And we know children look to us, and it is up to us to give our kids something to look up to. Ann Lynch is right on the mark when she says that the difference between a good school and a great school is the parents. And those of us in government, at the Federal level and in the statehouses and right down to the local school boards, have a responsibility to ensure that parents are at the center of educational reform. Together, let us work to meet a common challenge; let us find a way to help children who lack the advantages that come from a loving home and caring parents. I am convinced that our efforts to improve our schools are at a critical turning point now.

Remarks on Signing the National Parents and Teachers Association Week Proclamation


Twenty years ago tonight, on distant shores, America's sons were engaged in a great battle in mankind's greatest war. One hundred years ago tonight on these shores America's sons were engaged in bitter battles of our own cruel civil war. How we are observing this historic day says much about America. In Europe, America's sons meet tonight in peace with yesterday's allies--and adversaries alike--to plan the works of future unity instead of worrying about the wounds of past conflict. Here in Washington tonight we gather to honor an institution of higher learning which was established as an act of compassion in those times of callous strife 100 years ago. The character of our Nation is comprised of many traits. We honor courage. We value commonsense. But, across our 188 years, the great cementing influence has always been compassion. In our purposes abroad and at home we have always heeded the injunction of the Apostle, who told us long ago, Be ye of one mind, showing compassion one of another. Yet, our wealthy society is tolerating a worrisome burden of wasted human lives. Tonight, too many of our people are unschooled, untrained, and underemployed. Too many are mentally handicapped, too many more are handicapped for life by the environments and the experiences of their childhoods. America needs these talents. We must not and we cannot let them go to waste. education, charity, and piety. education, compassion, and morality. In the next 24 hours the research that comes forth around the world would fill seven sets of the Encyclopedia Brittanica. In the next year the output of such research would require a man to read around the clock--day and night--for the next 460 years. In the next 10 years the sum of human knowledge will multiply twofold. When knowledge is advancing at this pace, a compassionate nation cannot afford to leave any segments of our society behind to form, and to perpetuate, a human slag heap. We must express our compassion in a greater commitment to education. Here at Gallaudet we have a proud example of what education and compassion have achieved. This was the first--and is still the only--college in the world for the deaf. But since President Lincoln signed Gallaudet's charter, no boy or girl has been turned away because of the poverty of their parents. Universal education has brought our society to its present high level of success.

Remarks at the Gallaudet College Centennial Banquet


I have just had word of the first attack against the soft underbelly of Europe. I am going to ask you not to say anything about it after you leave here, until midnight ends. American and British forces, and some French observers, have attacked and landed in Sicily. The operations have just begun, and we will not get definite news until later in the day, but the news will be coming in all the time from now on. This is a good illustration of the fact of planning, not the desire for planning but the fact of planning, which we have had since the administration began over a year ago in Washington. With the commencing of the expedition in North Africa with complete cooperation between the British and ourselves, that was followed by complete cooperation with the French in North Africa. The result, after landing, was the Battle of Tunis; and we all know the number of prisoners we took. From that time on we have been working in complete harmony, which in effect was the invasion of Europe, which is under way tonight. There are a great many objectives, and of course the major objective is the elimination of Germany that goes without saying the elimination of Germany out of the war. And as a result of this step which is in progress at this moment, we hope it is the beginning of the end. Last autumn, the Prime Minister of England called it the end of the beginning. I think you can almost say that this action tonight is the beginning of the end. We are going to be ashore in a naval sense- air sense- military. Once there, we have the opportunity of going in different directions, and I want to tell General Giraud that we have not forgotten France as one of the directions. One of our prime aims, of course, is the restoration of the people of France, and the sovereignty of France. Even if a move is not directed at this moment to France itself, General Giraud can rest assured that the ultimate objective- we will do it, and in the best way is to liberate the people of France, not merely the southern part of France, just for a while, but the people of northern France Paris. And in this whole operation, I should say rightly that in the enormous planning we have had the complete cooperation of the French military and naval forces in North Africa. We have seen what has happened, or is happening at the present moment in Martinique and Guadeloupe, and becoming worse. Well, that is a very major part toward the big objective.

Informal Announcement of the Attack on Sicily at a State Dinner in Honor of General Giraud


But he is doing a heck of a job. I am so proud of my friend. It is become clear to all the hard-working FEMA employees that I did not pick Joe Allbaugh because of his haircut. But I picked him because he is a good man who knows how to run a very important organization. And I am proud of my friend. I am proud of the job he is doing. And I am proud of the work that the FEMA employees all across the country are doing on behalf of America. I am here to thank you all. I was up in the operations room, thanking the folks who are working 12 to 13, 14, 15 hours a day, still, to this day. I had the honor of going to New York City; I saw what they call dirty boot operations, from Sacramento and Puerto Rico all FEMA employees, all people who love their fellow Americans, all who want to join in to say loud and clear to the evildoers, Your actions will not stand in America. Joe said it best. After all, yours was an organization that was used to dealing with, generally, acts of nature, hurricanes or tornadoes and fires or floods. And then all of a sudden, some evil people came and they declared war on America. And your agency and the good working people, true Americans, had to rise to the occasion. And for that, the people of New York and Connecticut and New Jersey and Pennsylvania and every other State in the Union are proud of the job you are doing. So on behalf of the American people, I say thanks from the bottom of our hearts for the FEMA employees. I also want to talk about the battle we face, the campaign to protect freedom; the willingness of the American people to not only repair the damage done but the willingness of our Nation to stand united, to say loud and clear that freedom will stand, that you can tear down our buildings but you cannot tear down our spirit, that we are strong and united in the cause of freedom not only here in America but all around the world. This will be a different kind of campaign than Americans are used to. It is a campaign that must be fought on many fronts. And I am proud to report that we are making progress on many fronts. Not only have the FEMA employees showed the world what it is like to stand up and help a neighbor in need; we are also beginning to make progress on the financial front.

Remarks to Federal Emergency Management Agency Employees


As you may remember, I made it clear that part of winning the war against terror would be to cut off these evil people's money; it would be to trace their assets and freeze them, cut off their cash flows, hold people accountable who fund them, who allow the funds to go through their institutions, and not only do that at home but to convince others around the world to join us in doing so. Thus far, we have frozen $6 million in bank accounts linked to terrorist activity. We have frozen 30 Al Qaida accounts in the United States and 20 overseas. Also, on the military front, we are making progress. We have deployed 29,000 military personnel and 2 carrier battle groups, as well as an amphibious-ready group and several hundred military aircraft. We have called about 17,000 members of the reserve to active duty, as well as several thousand National Guard operating under State authority. As I said, this is a different kind of war. It is hard to fight a guerrilla war with conventional forces. And as I said to the Congress, they will make us proud. In this new kind of war, one that requires a coalition, we are making good progress on the diplomatic front. At our request, the United Nations unanimously enacted a binding resolution requiring all its members to deny financing support or safe harbor to terrorists. We have had 46 declarations of support from organizations including NATO, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the Organization of the Islamic Conference, and the Organization of American States. And slowly but surely, we are going to make sure they have no place to hide. Slowly but surely, we are going to move them out of their holes and what they think is safe havens and get them on the move. We are a nation who has got a long-term view, a nation that is come to realize that in order to make freedom prevail, the evildoers will be forced to run and will eventually be brought to justice. Now, along those lines, we are taking any threat seriously here at home. The FBI has conducted hundreds of interviews and searches, issued hundreds of subpoenas, and arrested or detained more than 400 people as it investigates the attacks. About 150 terrorists and their supporters, as well, have been arrested or detained in 25 different countries. In my speech to the Congress, I said, sometimes the American people are not going to see exactly what is taking place on their TV screens.


You see, we have said to people around the world, This could have happened to you. This could have easily have taken place on your soil. So you need to take threats seriously as well. We are beginning to share intelligence amongst our nations. We are finding out members of the Al Qaida organization, who they are, where they think they can hide. And we are slowly but surely bringing them to justice. We are slowly but surely calling their hand and reining them in. And along these lines, this weekend, through the collaborative efforts of intelligence and law enforcement, we have arrested a known terrorist who was responsible for the deaths of two U.S. citizens during a hijacking in 1986, a terrorist by the name of Zayd Hassan Safarini. He is not affiliated with Al Qaida, yet he is an example of the wider war on terrorism and what we intend to do. Here is a man who killed two of our own citizens when he hijacked a plane in Pakistan. By the way, obviously, there is only two Americans that is two too many but there was a lot of people from other countries, as well, involved. And he was convicted and sentenced to death, yet he only served 14 years. Well, we arrested him; we got him; we brought him into Alaska. And today the United States of America will charge him with murder. Sometimes we will have success in the near term; sometimes we have to be patient. Sometimes we will be able to round somebody up who threatens us today; sometimes it may take us awhile to catch him. But the lesson of this case, and every case, is that this mighty Nation will not rest until we protect ourselves, our citizens, and freedom-loving people around the world. freedom to worship, freedom to govern, freedom to speak, freedom to assemble. We will not be cowed by a few. Together, we are going to bring these people to justice. And that is exactly what we are going to do. I want to thank you all so very much for your hard work and for your love for America. May God bless you all. May God continue to bless America.


Thanksgiving is a week from today, and Christmas will quickly follow. This is really a time of joy for our families. Unfortunately, this is also a season of dread for too many Americans. Holiday travelers faced with the prospect of long-delayed and canceled flights and lost baggage and other problems have become all too often an occurrence. In other words, there is a lot of people that are worried about traveling because they have had unpleasant experiences when they have been flying around the country. And so this is a topic that I have just discussed with Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters and the Acting Administrator of the FAA, Bobby Sturgell. It is one thing to analyze the problem, but the American people expect us to come up with some solutions. And that is what we have been talking about. And one of the reasons we have a sense of urgency about this issue is that these problems that we have been discussing are clear to anybody who has been traveling. Airports are very crowded; travelers are being stranded; and flights are delayed, sometimes with a full load of passengers sitting on the runway for hours. These failures carry some real costs for the country, not just in the inconvenience they cause, but in the business they obstruct and family gatherings they cause people to miss. We can have an aviation system that is improved. And that is what we are talking about. Secretary Peters and Acting Administrator Sturgell have been working with the airline industry on practical improvements. I want to announce a series of preliminary actions to help address the epidemic of aviation delays. First, the military will make available some of its airspace over the east coast for use by civilian airliners this Thanksgiving. These new routes will help relieve air congestion from Maine to Florida for nearly 5 full days surrounding the holiday. Second, the FAA is taking new measures to head off delays. Bobby Sturgell will impose a holiday moratorium on all nonessential projects so that the FAA can focus its personnel and equipment exclusively on keeping flights on time. The FAA is also partnering with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to reduce bottlenecks in the New York metro area, which is the source of most chronic delays. Third, the Department of Transportation and the FAA are encouraging airlines to take their own measures to prevent delays. I am pleased to get the report from Secretary Peters and Acting Administrator Sturgell.

Remarks Following a Meeting With Secretary of Transportation Mary E. Peters and Federal Aviation Administration Acting Administrator Robert A. Sturgell


Airlines have agreed to make more staff available to expedite check-in and boarding, to set aside extra seats and even extra planes to help accommodate passengers affected by cancellations and delays. They agreed to bring in additional ticket kiosks and baggage handling gear as well as rolling staircases. Fourth, the Federal Government is using the Internet to provide real-time updates on flight delays. People in America have got to know there is a web site called fly.faa.gov; that is where the FAA transmits information on airport backups directly to passengers and their families. If you are interested in making sure that your plans can-are not going to be disrupted, you can get on the web site of fly.faa.gov. As well, if you want to, you can sign up to receive delay notices on your mobile phones. In other words, part of making sure people are not inconvenienced is there to be good transmission of sound, real-time information. Fifth, we are proposing new regulations to help ensure that airline passengers are treated fairly. We are proposing to double the amount of compensation passengers receive when they are forced off overbooked flights. For example, a passenger forced to wait more than 2 hours for another flight would receive a minimum of $800 under our idea, instead of the current $400. We want people who are responsible for moving passengers to understand that there will be consequences for these delays, all aiming to get the system to work better. We are proposing a requirement that airlines collect better data on flight delays and provide that data to the Department of Transportation. We are evaluating a number of other recommendations for the airlines, including mandatory contingency plans to aid stranded passengers and penalties for chronically delayed flights. Finally, the Department of Transportation and the FAA are working on innovative ways to reduce congestion in the long run. While short-term improvements in flight operations and passenger treatment can help, they do not cure the underlying problem. In certain parts of our country, the demand for air service exceeds the available supply. As a result, airlines are scheduling more arrivals and departures than airports can possibly handle, and passengers are paying the price in backups and delays. The key to solving this problem is managing the demand for flights at overloaded airports, and there are a variety of tools to do this in a fair and efficient way. For example, fees could be higher at peak hours and at crowded airports, or takeoff and landing rights could be auctioned to the highest value flights.


Market-based incentives like these would encourage airlines to spread out their flights more evenly during the day, to make better use of neighboring airports, and to move the maximum number of passengers as quickly and efficiently as possible. It has shown results in other areas of our economy; in other words, other parts of our economy use congestion pricing. Some States offer discounts to drivers who use E-ZPass, which reduces long waits at the toll plaza. Phone and electricity companies balance supply and demand by adjusting their rates during peak usage hours. Applying congestion pricing to the aviation industry has the potential to make today's system more predictable, more reliable, and more convenient for the travelers. Over the past 7 weeks, Federal officials have raised this idea with airlines and airport representatives in the New York area. And I have asked Secretary Peters and Acting Administrator Sturgell to report back to me about those discussions next month. My administration will work swiftly to carry out the measures I have announced today. But to reform our aviation system in a way American consumers deserve, we need action from the United States Congress. In February, my administration sent Congress an FAA modernization bill that would improve the aviation system for all involved. The bill would upgrade aviation technology by adopting a safer and more automated air travel control system based on GPS technology, instead of the radar and radio-based systems designed during World War II. In other words, if we really want to solve this problem, it is time for Congress to modernize the FAA, and we have given them a blueprint to do so. The bill would employ market pricing to reduce congestion and ensure that airports manage their schedules efficiently. The bill would establish a new financing mechanism and governing structure to ensure that these reforms are carried out in wise and cost-effective ways. There are people in Congress who understand the need to act, starting with Senators Trent Lott and Senator Jay Rockefeller. They are leaders in this area of modernization of our-of the FAA. They understand that business as usual is not good enough for American travelers. I look forward to working with them to get a good bill passed as soon as possible. By working together, we can restore the confidence of America's consumers, improve the efficiency of America's airports, and bring order to America's skies.


Let me begin by thanking Ash Carter, our Secretary of Defense; General Joe Dunford, Vice Chair Paul Selva, and all of our commanders here. The purpose of this meeting, something I do on a regular basis, is to allow me to hear directly from those who are charged with the most solemn responsibility of maintaining the finest fighting force that the world has ever known and keeping the American people safe. It is in these meetings that we have been able to set broad strategy, identify areas where we have to improve, address the health of the force. And I can say to the American people that they are extraordinarily lucky and I am extraordinarily lucky to be served by such extraordinary patriots. This will be my last meeting with them. And so part of my goal here is just to say thank you to them and let them know how much I appreciate the counsel, the advice, the leadership that they have consistently shown throughout my time in office. But in addition to saying thank you, I will get their views on the fact that we still have a lot of active threats around the world and we still have men and women in harm's way around the world who are busy protecting our homeland and our vital interests and our allies. And we have got to make sure that during this transition period that there is a seamless passing of the baton, that there is continuity, and that any issues that still remain and obviously, we still have major fights against ISIS in Mosul and in Syria; Afghanistan is still active that in all of these areas we are doing everything we can to make sure that the next President will benefit from the same kinds of outstanding advice and service that these people around the table have provided me. So it has been, as I have said repeatedly, one of the greatest honors and privileges of being President is serving as Commander in Chief to such outstanding people. And I could not have done it without all of you. And I know that my optimism about America going forward is in part because we have such an amazing military, not only one that knows how to fight, but also knows how to uphold the values of rule of law and professionalism and integrity and recognizes our constitutional structure and maintains strict adherence and respect for civilian authority and democratic practices in determining how we use the awesome force of the American military. So I just want to say thank you to all of you. And with that, we have got to do some work. I appreciate it.

Remarks During a Meeting With Department of Defense Leadership


Let me just say I am proud of Alaska's congressional delegation and grateful for their help and support and for the way they represent their State in Washington. I was interested to read one report on whether the meetings were a success or not this morning. It seems that TASS, the Russian news agency, says that I was a failure at trying to eat a pigeon egg with my chopsticks. And I got it on the second stab. But we traveled almost 20,000 miles to Hawaii, Guam, and finally, Chinato the cities of Beijing, Xi'an, and Shanghai. We saw the wonders of that country and the fine antiquities of the old civilization. Now, I had it all in mind that I was going to talk about coming through the darkness and then finally seeing the lights of the coast of Alaska down below -and the coastline there, and that we knew that we were seeing America again, and we were home. So, the lights that we saw were the lights of Fairbanks, and believe me, we knew we were home, and it was just fine. It was a poem about the American soldiers returning from the trenches in the First World War. They admired the grandeur and the oldness of Europe, but their hearts longed for the newness of their own country. So it is home again and home again, America for me. The blessed land of room enough beyond the ocean bars, Where the air is full of sunlight and the flag is full of stars. Well, it is good to be back in our blessed land. We went to China to advance the prospects for stability and peace throughout the world. And we went to illustrate, by our presence, our sincere desire for good relations. We went to meet again with the Chinese and review our concerns and our differences. And we went to China to further define our own two countries' relationshipand, by defining it, advance it. And I feel that we have progress to report. I had long and thoughtful meetings with the Chinese leadership, comprehensive meetings. We each listened carefully to what the other had to say. We discussed and agreed to cooperate more closely in the areas of trade, investment, technology, and exchanges of scientific and managerial expertise. We concluded an important agreement on the peaceful uses of nuclear energy. We agreed that in this imperfect world, peace in its most perfect form cannot always be reachedbut it must always be our goal.

Remarks Upon Returning From China


And we, the people of China and the United States, must make our best efforts to bring greater harmony between our two countries. It is a good thing for the world when those who are not allies remain open to each other. And it is good to remember that competitors sometimes have mutual interests, and those interests can make them friends. I told the Chinese leaders, as I told the students at Shanghai University yesterday, that we must continue to acknowledge our differences, for a friendship based on fiction will not long withstand the rigors of the world. But we agreed that there is much to be gained from mutual respect. I was heartened by some of the things that we saw. The Chinese have begun opening up their economy, allowing more farmers and workers to keep and sell on their own some of the fruits of their labor. The first injection of free market spirit has already enlivened the Chinese economy. I believe it has also made a contribution to human happiness in China and opened the way to a more just society. Yesterday, before we left, we sat in a Chinese home at one of the now-called townshipsthey were once called communes-the farm communes where they raise the foodstuffs for all of China, but now there is a difference. They owe a portion of what they produce to the government, but then over and above that they can produce on their own and sell in a free marketplace. And in this home, it was most interesting. This young couple, their little son, his mother and father living with them, and he was telling us all the thingsand he built that home himself, and a very fine job it wasand then told us of how they are saving and what they are saving to buy next. It could have been in any home in America, talking about the problems of making ends meet and that they were saving for this or that for their future. And I was also impressednot only by them but by all of the Chinese that we metby their curiosity about us. Many of the Chinese people still do not understand how our democracy works or what impels us as a people. So, I did something unusual. I tried to explain what America is and who we areto explain to them our faith in God and our love, our true love, for freedom. They will never understand us until they understand that. It was a breathtaking experience and in some ways, I think, a ground-breaking experience.

Remarks Upon Returning From China


I want to talk to you today about a wonderful thing that is happening in our country. But already it is changing our country, and I think it may change it forever. I am talking about the recent progress in America's schools. You may remember the day a year ago when the National Commission on Excellence in Education came out with its report on what was wrong with the Nation's schools. The Commission documented 20 solid years of decline-decline in academic standards and discipline, decline in authority and in scholastic results. The Commission said a rising tide of mediocrity was wiping out America's reputation for the best education system in the world. That report was electrifying, and its current swept the country. Parents and teachers got together, marshaled their resources, and began to turn the situation around. So now, i year later, we can report that together we have met the rising tide of mediocrity with a tidal wave of school reforms. Get back to basics, tighten standards, heighten academic requirements, and remember discipline in the classroom is vital. In short, make sure that Johnny and Mary can read and write, and make sure their school is allowed the peace without which no student can learn and no teacher can instruct. I want you to listen to some of the things that have happened since the Commission made its recommendations. Thirty-five States have raised high school graduation requirements. Twenty-one States are reviewing steps to make textbooks more challenging. Eight States have lengthened the school day; seven have lengthened the school year. And every State in the Union has put together a task force to improve its educational system. School districts across the country are moving toward requiring 4 years of English in high school and 3 solid years each of math and science. Many legislatures are currently developing workable and fair merit pay plans. Many States have increased teachers' salaries. The private sector, too, is playing a big part in the reforms. Local businesses are adopting local schools, sending in their executives and employees to work with students and teachers to make education more exciting and more pertinent to the 1980's. We are seeing a willingness to reconsider what our schools should be teaching. In the State of Maryland, a commission concluded students are not being taught enough about American traditions of freedom and liberty. A bipartisan panel came up with a plan to teach students that most basic of democratic arts, the art of citizenship.

Radio Address to the Nation on Education


I feel that I must talk to you today without mincing words about the danger of reaction that confronts this country. You are faced this coming election day with a fundamental decision that will affect you every year and every day for the rest of your lives. You are about to choose not merely between the Democratic and Republican Parties, but between two different kinds of government. Now, you have had an ample demonstration of what those two kinds of government are, and I am going to expound on them a little bit. The Democrats are for the people. The Republicans are for special interests. And that is the basis of this campaign. This Republican do-nothing 80th Congress amply demonstrated that they are a special interest Congress, and I want to urge you with everything I have to send Paul Douglas to the Senate, and Kent Keller to the House. If you do that, this special interest program of the Republican Party will have a terrible blow. We are hearing a lot of propaganda these days to the effect that there is no real difference between the Democratic and Republican Parties. That is a malicious untruth, to put it mildly. When you elected Franklin Roosevelt in 1932, you found out what a difference there is between Democratic and Republican administrations. The very course of your lives was changed. The dark Republican days of discouragement and fear gave way to new hope and revived energy, as the Democratic administration went to work for the people. The Democratic administration went to work for the people. Just as soon as these Republicans got control of this Congress, they went to work for the special interests. We, the Democrats, have been working for all the people for the past 16 years. You remember how the Democratic administration aided the farmer, until now farm income is ten times what it was in 1932. You remember how we saved millions of homeowners and farmowners from foreclosure and eviction. You remember how we rescued the banking system, brought truth into the sale of securities, and established the Federal deposit insurance law. We established social security. Respect for human rights was written into the statutes of the American Government by the Democratic Party. We wrote into law for the first time the collective bargaining principle in labor relations, which protects the entire Nation. We enacted a minimum-wage law and started a program for slum-clearance and low-rent housing. We began the great multipurpose operations in river valleys, which have brought irrigation, electric power, navigation, and flood control to vast areas of the United States.

Address at the University of Southern Illinois, Carbondale, Illinois


Under the Democratic administration, employment has risen to record-breaking heights. And the profits of business are larger than ever before. Despite the obstructionists and the isolationists, we prepared our country against danger from abroad. Under Democratic leadership, the people gained an overwhelming victory in war against the forces of tyranny abroad. And while we were making the greatest of all military efforts, at the same time, the American people maintained their liberties, their living standards, and their social gains. We also continued the fight to expand our civil liberties by new measures against discrimination. After V-J Day, a Democratic Congress and a Democratic administration, working together, set out upon the great tasks remaining before us. We accomplished swift reconversion. We avoided a postwar recession, and reached a peak of more jobs, higher civilian production, and better standards of living than ever before. That is an accomplishment that nobody can appreciate. Not very much has been said about that, but we had no riots and no bloodshed. We did not have people crying for jobs. We did not have the farmers marching on Washington. We did not have returning soldiers marching on Washington, because we took care of them in educational institutions and absorbing them back into the economy of the country without a debacle. We enacted the Employment Act of 1946, pledging all our resources and efforts to the maintenance of prosperity. We brought the United States to a position of unquestioned leadership in world affairs. Do not let anybody tell you anything different. I repeat--for 16 years the Democratic administration has been working in the interest of all the people. For 14 of the 16 years, the Democratic president was supported by a Democratic Congress. We were able to go steadily forward in fulfilling our pledges to the people. And then--and then!--in 1946, something happened--something bad and dangerous to the country. That was the year of the congressional elections, when most of the people stayed home and failed to vote. Those who did vote gave you a Republican Congress--that notorious Republican 80th do-nothing Congress. There are 531 Members in the Congress, but when we speak of a Congress, we speak of its control and its leadership. Its control and its leadership are doing their best to turn the clock back. They are trying to go back to the 1920's, or even as far back as 1898, some of them would like Congress to.


The Congress that has done its best to put an end to Democratic progress is the 80th Congress. This Congress proved quickly that the Republican Party had learned nothing from experience. The Republican leadership set out to follow the same disastrous policies they had followed under Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover. The first bill that was introduced in the 80th Congress was the rich man's tax bill sponsored by the Republican leadership. It was a bill for the benefit of wealth and privilege at the expense of the people and the financial stability of this whole Nation. I vetoed it. In fact, they had to study that bill three times, because I vetoed it three times. They finally passed a modified version, which was not quite so bad, although bad enough, as the first one they sent to me. At every point, that Republican-dominated Congress has shown itself to be the legislative puppet of the most reactionary forces in American life, the puppet of big business, the puppet of the special lobbies--the real estate lobby, the power lobby, the grain speculators' lobby, and many others I could name. There have been more lobbies in Congress in the last 2 years than were altogether there in the whole history of the Congress before that time, and they spent money like water to get what they wanted. Some Republican newspapers have reproached me for speaking this out in public. They would like me to conduct this campaign so as not to hurt anybody's feelings. All I am doing is telling you the facts for your benefit and welfare. The Democratic Party led the way to give workers a voice in their own destiny. The Wagner Act of 1935 was passed for that purpose. What did this puppet Congress do? They passed the reactionary Taft-Hartley Act. Instead of improving the Wagner Act as I recommended, they cut and hacked away at the workers' newly-won rights. With the great growth of population in this country in recent years, we have begun to burst at the seams in our schools. That situation endangers the education of your children. We urgently need a national program to aid the States in meeting the present shortage of teachers and schools. But the Republican Party, as usual, cannot see the need for this forward step. In spite of the pleading of parents and teachers and school administrators all over the country, this puppet 80th Congress refused to pass the aid to education bill.


As a result, millions of American children are failing to get the good education that is their birthright here in the United States. The big business Republicans have set an economic trap for the American consumer. They have baited that trap with glib assurances that everything will be all right, if you just let nature take its course, everything will be taken care of. And when they say nature, they mean themselves. The people have been fooled before by that bait. I hope we are not nibbling at it again. We nibbled at it under Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover. You know what happened to us under that circumstance. At every point the Republicans have shown plainly that they are trying to turn back the clock to the 1920's. They do not want the Government to do anything about housing, about high prices, about social security and education and conservation. They do not want the Government to work constructively in the interest of the farmers and the workers and the small businessman. They are interested in but one thing--the profits of big business. Where is the Republican Party getting the millions of dollars it is pouring into this campaign? From big business, who know that if the Republicans win, they will get their money back many times over--until the crash comes. Today big business is rubbing its hands in the hope of having another boom-and-bust spree under a Republican administration. They are in the same greedy state of mind that brought about the crash of 1929 and the Hoover depression. Then Wall Street had the spree, and the people had the headache that lasted for several years afterwards. No one can look at the record of the past 2 years without realizing that the Republican 80th Congress has started down the same path as the Republican administrations of the 1920'S. They have sent out their best orators to make high sounding speeches and to make big promises. But the road down which they are trying to lead you is the same road that nearly led us to ruin in 1930. You cannot afford to let these reactionaries have their way. Already, the big business Republicans have begun to nail the American consumer to the wall with the spikes of greed. Are you going to let them get away with it? And that is to get out on election day and vote. This election concerns the security of your homes and your lives and your jobs next year, and the year after, and the year after that.


It is an honor to be with you again. I am really pleased to be here in Northern Ireland. The Prime Minister is a man of his word. He is a man of great ability, deep conviction, and steady courage. He has my admiration, and he has the admiration of the American people. Our two countries are joined in large tasks because we share fundamental convictions. We believe that free nations have the responsibility to confront terrorism. We believe free nations must oppose the spread of weapons of mass destruction. And we believe that free nations must advance human rights and dignity across the world. We believe that the just demands of the international community must be enforced, not ignored. We believe this so strongly that we are acting on our convictions. America and Britain have been partners in Afghanistan, where a terrorist regime has been replaced by a government committed to justice and to peace. At this moment, our military forces are fighting side by side in Iraq to defend our security and to free that nation from oppression. Our Governments are working to help bring about a settlement in the Middle East that protects the rights of Israelis and Palestinians, that promotes the peace, that promotes security, that promotes human dignity. In Northern Ireland, the Prime Minister and I are committed to helping the parties take the final steps toward a lasting peace. Later this week, Prime Minister Blair and the Taoiseach will release a plan setting out the remaining actions that must be taken to realize the promise of the Good Friday agreement. I support and my Government strongly supports their efforts. At the meeting this afternoon, I will urge Northern Ireland's political leaders to adopt this plan as their own. This is an historic moment, and I ask all the communities of Northern Ireland to seize this opportunity for peace. Prime Minister Blair and I are also reviewing the course of the battle in Iraq. We are spending a lot of time talking about that country's future beyond war and beyond tyranny. As the Prime Minister mentioned, our armed services are conducting themselves with great courage and, at the same time, great humanity. I am proud of our forces. I am proud of the British forces. We are both proud of the Australian forces. We share sacrifices. We share grief. We pray for those families who mourn the loss of life, American families, British families. And as this war has progressed, the world has witnessed the brutal desperation, the true character of the Iraqi regime.

The President's News Conference With Prime Minister Tony Blair of the United Kingdom in Hillsborough, Northern Ireland


The world is also witnessing the liberation and humanitarian aid our coalition is bringing to that country as a new day begins in Iraq. In fighting this war, we are taking every precaution to protect innocent life. We are showing respect for the Iraqi people, respect for their culture. Iraq will be free. After the current regime is removed, our coalition will work to restore electricity and water supplies, medical care, and other essential services in Iraq. We will move as quickly as possible to place governmental responsibilities under the control of an Interim Authority composed of Iraqis from both inside and outside the country. The Interim Authority will serve until a permanent government can be chosen by the Iraqi people. The rebuilding of Iraq will require the support and expertise of the international community. We are committed to working with international institutions, including the United Nations, which will have a vital role to play in this task. This work when the war is finished will not be easy, but we are going to see it through. A free Iraq will be ruled by laws, not by a dictator. A free Iraq will be peaceful and not a friend to terrorists or a menace to its neighbors. A free Iraq will give up all its weapons of mass destruction. A free Iraq will set itself on the path to democracy. The end of Saddam's regime will also remove a source of violence and instability in the Middle East. Prime Minister Blair and I are determined to move toward our vision of broader peace in that region. We are committed to implementing the roadmap toward peace, to bring closer the day when two states, Israel and Palestine, live side by side in peace and stability. Peace in the Middle East will require overcoming deep divisions of history and religion. Yet we know this is possible; it is happening in Northern Ireland. We are proving that old patterns of bitterness and violence, the habits of hatred and retribution, can be broken when one generation makes the choice to break those habits. And now this process of healing must be carried forward. The United States and the United Kingdom accept our responsibilities-accept our responsibilities for peace. We accept our responsibilities for security. Across the world, we are meeting these responsibilities together. America has no finer ally than the United Kingdom and no finer friend than the Prime Minister. And I am grateful for his leadership in these crucial days.


You know--folks, thank you. Before I begin my somewhat formal remarks, walking in here today and seeing you guys sitting on that beam-first Local ever to endorse me was a guy named Tommy Schrank in Elsmere, Delaware, Local Ironworkers. And he asked me to come out to a site. They took me up on an elevator outside. There was four of them, crazy sons of guns like you all, sitting and having their lunch on a beam, I guess, about 12 stories above the ground. And thank God you are. You have got to not only have some brains, but you got to be coordinated to be an ironworker, man. And I was told that-they said, you know, they have done a cutout of number 46, the Vice-the Presidency. And I am thinking, Well, maybe I can take it home. And you guys did that on your time. I am not going to try and take it home. And I want to thank your soon-to-be new, full-blown, full-bore ironworker. Marty is already trying to get her to Boston, but that is another thing I got to warn you about. But, folks, look, it is an honor to be here with Vice President Harris and with the Labor Secretary, Marty Walsh, a proud member and former president of the Laborers' Local Union 222-223 up in Boston. And our Secretary of Energy, Jennifer Granholm, has got a few things we are going to build. Ben Cardin, who is been a friend for a long time; and Chris Van Hollen, who is a really close friend; and an outstanding Congressman, Anthony Brown, and other elected officials that are here. Look, all of whom fight for working people, in Maryland and in every-and every other State. Because if it happens here, it happens around the world-happens around the country. It is been an honor to be with the ironworkers of Local 5. And we talk about building a future that is made in America. We are talking about you. You know, one of the press persons said to me-and I cannot remember who-about 3 months ago, that-I do not know if it is factual or not, but he said, You have used the word 'union' as President more than any other President in American history. I am not sure that it is true.

Remarks on Signing an Executive Order on the Use of Project Labor Agreements for Federal Construction Projects in Upper Marlboro, Maryland


I promised you you'd have a union President. You know, we talk about whether Wall Street built America. There are good folks on Wall Street; they are not bad folks. the middle class. And the people who built the middle class are organized labor-unions, unions. Unions did it. And the Executive order I am going to sign today is going to help ensure that we build a better America, we build it right and we build it on time and we build it cheaper than it would have been otherwise. You know, the Executive order is making sure that Federal construction projects get completed on time and under budget, saving taxpayers money, clearing construction zones quickly, and ensuring that everything the Federal Government signs to contract to build is built to last. You guys really, genuinely, are the best in the world. To do that, we are using a tool that ironworkers here know very well, called project labor agreements. I know you all know it, but folks who may be watching this may not fully understand it. Simply put, these are agreements that contractors, subcontractors, and unions put in place before a construction site gets underway, before the construction begins. They ensure that major projects are handled by well-trained, well-prepared, highly skilled workers, and they ward off problems. They resolve disputes ahead of time, ensuring safer work sites, avoiding disruptions and work stoppages that can cause expensive delays down the line. And that makes a big difference for the American taxpayer. Because when big construction projects are completed efficiently and with the highest degree of professionalism, it is good for the American taxpayer. We do not talk about it though. We do not talk about how you all save the American taxpayers money. It is good for families who live in those communities. All across the country, the Federal construction projects are being built as I speak. And it means that modernization of your local waterways will get done sooner, will not cost twice as much as expected. And when the next storm comes, the power will more likely stay on and homes and businesses will be better protected from flooding. It means new air traffic control towers at the local airports will be up and running more quickly, so flights are safer at the airports and more efficient. It means new housing will be built on our military bases; will be of the highest quality, which these servicemembers deserve. It will hold up better and make life easier for our military families.


The Executive order I am going to sign will help defuse problems before they arise. They are going to improve coordination between contractors, subcontractors, and workers on the job site. It is going to help guarantee a consistent supply of high-quality, highly trained workers. You know, what people do not understand if they are not-do not know the industry is, you know, it is like you going to college, kid. This is not something you walk up and show up in a day and raise your hand, I need a job. You work like the devil for it. Fortunately, you get paid while you are doing it, and you are able to do it, but it is an education-full-blown education you are getting in your trade. Well, you will have a voice on the work site, full commitment to getting the job done. And it is going to raise the bar on quality for some of those vital projects we are going to be building. And we are going to make sure that Federal construction projects are staffed with good-paying union jobs. One of you actually came up to me today and said, Joe, you said you are going to do that, and you are doing it. Well, when President Obama asked me to run the Recovery Act, I made sure every single job I could get was a union job, prevailing wage. Because I have noticed when folks are getting paid a decent wage, everybody in the community does better, everything looks better. They are jobs you can raise a family on. Or as my dad would say, They are jobs you can put your head on the pillow at night and just have a little breathing room -a little security, a little breathing room. And that is good for nearly 200,000 workers on Federal construction contracts right now. It is good for everybody. I do not want to get going because I will keep you here too long, because you know all of what I am about to-what I have said, and you know what I have done, and you know what we are doing, and you know what-I know what you are doing. A week ago, I went to Pittsburgh to tour a former steel mill that is now a cutting-edge manufacturing research and development hub. Right before I left to the trip, I got word that a bridge collapsed. You saw it on television. It looked as bad in person as it did at the time.


The bridge had been rated in poor condition, like, I might add, over 3,000 bridges in Pennsylvania, 45,000 across the Nation. It had been rated that way for the last 10 years. When I got there, folks told me something close to a miracle had occurred. Because of a snowstorm that morning, school openings were late and commutes were delayed. So when that bridge collapsed-and it was well over a hundred feet off the-two-almost two-I do not -I did not -I do not know the exact, but probably from down to the creek that it went over and the ravine, probably a couple hundred feet. When it collapsed, instead of a bus with a couple people on it-being packed with school buses full of children, the people on their way to work on the bridge that is one of the busiest bridges-you know, there are more bridges in Pittsburgh than any other city in the world; with the three rivers-the bridge was empty, relatively empty. Fortunately, no one was killed, but for a snowstorm. Just imagine the challenges we face and the opportunities to build a better America, and extend it far beyond roads and bridges now that we can-know we have to do. We passed that infrastructure bill. Across the country right now there are countless buildings, ports, airports, power stations, and other Federal construction projects that need to be modernized and built for the future. We cannot count on miracles, like happened in-out in Pittsburgh, to prevent tragedies that are waiting in plain sight. the American worker, the hardest working, best trained workers in the world; American workers who, given just half a chance, have never, ever, ever, ever, ever let their country down, and gotten the job done getting the job done for the American taxpayers, getting the job done right the first time. You know, folks, there is a law that is existed for a long time that has too many exceptions like this one had, and that is that-buy American. As President of the United States, I award contracts. And I am now making it the case-and it is working; it is one of the reasons those jobs were up-is unless the product that I am purchasing for the American people was made in America and all of its component parts are made in America, we ain't buying it. We are just simply not buying it. It is not a violation of any international laws either.


I arrived a few moments ago, and I remember the first time I ever heard your president speak. I knew that she had worked for Vice President Gore, and I thought it was so interesting to hear the head of a national association who was speaking without an accent. I want to say a special word of appreciation to your first vice president, Ellen Sanders, who is participated in White House and congressional meetings on health reform, and to Diane Weaver, the president of the Association of Nurse Executives, who cosponsored this breakfast. I am very proud to share the stage today with all the fine nurses in the executive and the legislative branches whom you have honored. And I thank you for doing that. And I thank them for their service. I also want to say a special word of thanks to all of you and to the ANA for the courage and the vision you have demonstrated by fighting for health care reform, and the right kind of health care reform, long before it was a hot issue. As you know, the position paper you put out on national health reform probably more closely parallels the recommendations that our administration has made than that of any other professional health care group in the country. And I thank you for that very much. I want to thank you, too, for recognizing my mother, who worked for 30 years and then some as a nurse and was deeply proud of what she did. 30 in the morning, always telling me stories that indicated that there was literally nothing in the world more important to her than dealing with a person frightened, in pain, with a caring and effective manner. This award will help to expand the frontiers of nursing in the areas of women's health, something that she would have been very proud to be a part of. My mother, as all of you now know, completed her memoirs, which became her autobiography, shortly before she died. She went over about half of it and was able to do the final editing. And it was my privilege after she passed away to work with the author and just try to make sure all the facts were right. I got very stern instructions from her. She said, Now, if you have to do this, do not change one word I said about you -- especially the part about your manners not always being great. But I was very pleased with the two book reviews that her book got yesterday, one by the great American author Joyce Carol Oates in the New York Times and then another one here in the Washington Post.

Remarks to the American Nurses Association


But it tickled me, the one in the Washington Post said that if you read this book, you would understand why I perplexed people in Washington. I was actually brought up by real people, and occasionally I still acted like one. I did not know what that--I am trying to get over it, but it is hard even here. Anyway, here is something my mother said about her work, which would apply to all of you and those whom you represent. But it meant a lot to me. You do not do it halfway. You are the person responsible for putting another human being into a state of unconsciousness, somewhere between life and death. For 30 years, from the minute that I would walk into the operating room and start talking to the patient and begin putting him to sleep, until I got him safely back to the recovery room, nothing in the world could have crossed my mind. I do not care what problems were on the outside. I do not care what problems I might have been having at home. I never thought of my life beyond the moment. My mother used to take me to the hospital and let me meet the other nurses and the doctors and watch the emergency room and watch people go into the operating room. And the work you do has always sort of captured my imagination. My own wife had never been in a hospital before in her entire life until our daughter was born, never been in a hospital for any kind of sickness, and learned only a few moments before the happy event that she was going to have to have a C-section. And we had gone through Lamaze, and we had done all this stuff, and I was supposed to be in the operating room. And our hospital at that time had never before let a father into the delivery room if it was not a natural birth. So they did and actually changed the policy so that if fathers had been through the Lamaze course and then the mothers eventually had to have a C-section, they got to go. So I felt-that is my one contribution to medical advances. But I owe all that to my mother, who was a remarkably determined woman in the face of often excruciating adversity.


I think one of the reasons that the Nurses Association has been so forthright about this health care reform issue is that you see it from the grassroots up in human terms and you do not get so hung up as some people do on all the political rhetoric and the positioning and the characterizations that have, frankly, put a lot of Members of Congress at a severe disadvantage because they have not had the chance to spend the time and make the effort to deal with this issue that you have. It is 14.5 percent of our income, and for people who do not live in it every day, it can be a very difficult thing. But I just wanted to thank you because I believe that the personal experiences you have shared, so many of you, common to the ones that my own mother shared, really animated the Nurses Association to take the position that you have taken. I want to emphasize today that what I seek, contrary to the attacks, and what you have sought, is not a Government-run health system, it is a private insurance health system that covers everybody, where the health care professionals run it and not the insurance companies. That is what we seek. We seek private insurance that can never be taken away. It is wrong to treat seriously ill children in an emergency room who could have been treated more easily and more inexpensively if their parents had just had the coverage. With our reforms, every family will have that kind of quality insurance. We ought to reform the insurance system that today often only covers the healthiest people and even then will deny them coverage for anything they have been sick with before. When you go to a patient's bedside, you ask, Why does it hurt? If you think about all this preexisting condition business, there are 81 million Americans who live in families where there is been a child with diabetes or a mother that had cancer prematurely or a father that had an early heart attack or some other problem. I see these people everywhere. Now, we get action lickety-split up here all the time when a million people or 2 million people are adversely affected by something if they are well organized. But these 81 million people, they are professionals and blue-collar workers; they are old folks and young folks; they are all different kinds of people; and they are by definition disorganized. You think about it; if there were, and 10 million of them showed up here, we'd have health care reform so fast you could not blink.