[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 2 (Wednesday, January 26, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: January 26, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                         THE STATE OF THE UNION

  Mr. REID. Madam President, the deficit reduction package that passed 
last year had a number of important elements in it. Those elements have 
borne fruit. We talked, when the package passed, about creating new 
jobs. That has been accomplished. Last year we created 1.6 million 
jobs. That is more jobs than were created in the total of the previous 
4 years.
  In addition to that, it has been forecast that there will be 2 
million new jobs created this year. That is important. It can be 
attributed to the deficit reduction package that passed last year.
  In addition to that, we were told that the top 1 percent of American 
taxpayers would pay more taxes; that the 99 percent of other taxpayers 
would pay less taxes or no more taxes. That is the fact. So when people 
go to pay their taxes on April 15th, there will be approximately 1 
percent of the American public, that are the wealthiest people in 
America, who will pay more taxes; 99 percent of the people in America 
will find out on April 15th that they will pay less taxes or no more 
taxes.
  In addition to that, the deficit reduction package indicated that we 
would do something significant relating to the accumulation of debt. 
That has been accomplished. It was forecast last year that we would 
have a debt, a yearly deficit, of over $300 billion. The 
prognosticators were 40 percent wrong. Conservative estimates are that 
we will be under the figure by more than $120 billion. These are some 
of the things that occurred as a result of the action that this 
Congress took last year.
  As to crime, the President's speech last night directed the American 
public's attention to crime. Not only did he direct the attention of 
the American public to crime, which is easy to do because it is on 
everybody's mind, but he talked about doing specific things. It is easy 
to talk about how bad crime is in America but it is more difficult to 
do something about it.
  It is recognized that 7 percent of the criminals commit over 75 
percent of the violent crimes. Therefore, we must do something to keep 
that 7 percent off the streets. That is the reason the President has 
called for ``three strikes and you're out''; three violent crimes and 
you are locked up for life without the possibility of parole. I think 
that is important.
  I think it is also important that the President is calling for more 
police officers to be on the streets--in fact, 100,000 police 
officers--because it has been established that the mere presence of 
police officers stops the commission of crimes.
  In addition to that, we hear a lot about punishment. But in America 
today, as the President indicated last night, punishment is not good 
because it is severe, punishment is good because it is certain. We have 
lost the certainty of punishment in our criminal justice system. 
Therefore, we need to develop certainty of punishment. When a person 
commits a crime, he must serve the time that he is given, and that is 
why, under the crime bill that has passed this body calls for doing 
something about prison sentences. If we have to build more prisons, we 
will build more prisons.
  From 1979 to 1981 in America, over 50,000 children were killed; over 
50,000 children were murdered. A child would be safer in Northern 
Ireland or in Bosnia with those statistics than in America. These are 
children who are in elementary school or in middle school. Not high 
school kids, not college kids, but young boys and girls. The latest 
records that we have show that over 50,000 were killed in a 12-year 
period. It is obvious we have to do something about violent crime. That 
is why the President is doing more than just talking. He is suggesting 
and recommending and directing Congress to do something about it.
  In America last year, over 13,000 people were killed with guns--over 
13,000. Of the industrialized nations, the country next in line, that 
is second to the United States, is Japan. About 70 people were killed 
in Japan last year with guns, and we had 13,000. Then is it a wonder 
that Jim Brady, sitting behind me last night, received a standing 
ovation for the leadership that he has given in this area? Jim Brady is 
a Republican and was a Republican press secretary for a Republican 
President. This is not some screaming liberal calling to do something 
about guns. Jim Brady is a Republican. The man that he took a bullet 
for, President Reagan, supports the Brady bill. So for all my friends 
on the other side of the aisle who are saying that the Brady bill is 
liberality at its zenith, they simply do not understand that the 
American public wants something done. Even members of the NRA support 
the Brady bill; the vast majority of the members of the NRA support the 
Brady bill. We must do something, and we have done it with the Brady 
law.
  We hear a lot about welfare, but my friends on the other side of the 
aisle should understand that President Bush vetoed a welfare reform 
bill, one sponsored by Senator Simon, Senator Boren, and myself, a bill 
that would have established pilot projects throughout the United States 
to bring about programs like the old Works Progress Administration. So 
before my friends on the other side of the aisle get too carried away, 
they should understand that President Bush vetoed that legislation.
  Of course, we need to do something about welfare, and a program has 
been laid out to do something about it. It is now in broad terms. The 
President said he will become more specific when he sends a bill to 
Congress. Yes, we have to do something about welfare, and it should be 
done in conjunction with health care reform.
  Last night, the President referred to a medical catastrophe that 
occurred to a family from Reno, NV, the Anderson family. I do not know 
the Anderson family in Reno, NV. Neither does my friend from Tennessee 
nor my friend from Illinois, who are here on the Senate floor, but in 
Illinois and in Tennessee and all through Nevada, there are many people 
with situations just like the Andersons, people who have become 
bankrupt as a result of their family becoming ill, something over which 
they had no choice or control.
  We must do something about health care because there are too many 
Andersons in this country; 81 million Americans with preexisting 
illnesses who have difficulty getting insurance or cannot get 
insurance. Why must we have insurance? Because I have had people say to 
me, ``I am 25 years old and I don't have to be insured. It's my 
business.''
  But it is not an individual's business, it is society's business. 
Why? Because when that 25-year-old man is in an automobile accident or 
needs emergency treatment, who pays for that? That individual goes to 
an emergency room, gets the most expensive care available in America, 
and we pay for it. We all pay for it in  the form of higher insurance 
premiums, higher hospital and doctor bills and, of course, we pay for 
it in the form of higher taxes for indigent care. So, it is society's 
responsibility that that 25-year-old man says, ``I don't have to be 
insured.''

  This situation must be addressed, and that is what the President laid 
out in some detail last night. The President detailed the reasons that 
the administration's plan is not socialized medicine, as some people 
are saying. This is ridiculous, for lack of a better response. In fact, 
the President went out of his way to tell us that it would be a market-
driven health care reform system, and we all know that that is what we 
are working toward.
  Some have said we do not need to drastically change our health care. 
We must do it. For example, we must be concerned about prenatal care so 
that any pregnant woman in America, no matter how rich or how poor, is 
going to have the appropriate prenatal care. Throughout Nevada, women 
go to delivery and have not seen a doctor. Why? Because it is too 
expensive.
  That is what health care reform is all about. It is about providing 
the necessary care at an affordable cost. Women who have babies who 
have not had prenatal care are certainly more apt to have premature or 
unhealthy babies and the cost escalates. Women who obtain prenatal care 
are more likely to deliver healthy babies and costs are contained.
  It is no secret that the American people are unhappy. Their 
unhappiness ranges from health care to crime to the current welfare 
program, and of course to urban decay. There is no question we live in 
turbulent times. The American people are seeking solutions. Really, 
what they are seeking is leadership. The problems I outlined this 
morning about deficits, health care reform, welfare reform, and crime 
are not partisan issues. These are not problems that are Democratic or 
Republican. These are problems that the American people have to deal 
with, and they are tired of gridlock and castigation and name calling 
and finger pointing. They want solutions, and I think that is why the 
people believe in President Clinton. He may not be able to deliver a 
speech like Ronald Reagan, but he is able to take on the hard issues, 
and that is what we have to do. We have to do something about crime, 
something about welfare, something about health care. We cannot just 
talk about these problems. We must have specific solutions. The 
President has come forward with solutions and now the Congress must 
act.
  It has been said that a true leader inspires conviction in others. 
Last night President Clinton talked about leadership and he did it with 
conviction. It is time that we, as the American public, should follow 
his lead and do something about these most pervasive problems that are 
now confronting the American people.
  I yield my time.
  Ms. MOSELEY-BRAUN addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Dorgan). The Senator from Illinois.

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