[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 7 (Thursday, January 12, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S895-S898]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SENATOR KENNEDY'S SPEECH TO THE NATIONAL PRESS CLUB
Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, yesterday, one of our colleagues made a
speech at the National Press Club that deserves the attention of all
Senators.
Senator Kennedy spoke of the timeless values and enduring ideals that
Democrats share with the American people. He eloquently described the
[[Page S896]] successful fights Democrats led in past years to enact
Social Security and Medicare; the fight for civil rights; the fight for
an equal opportunity for all America's children, rich and poor alike;
the great opening of opportunity through higher education; all the
efforts to preserve what's finest about our national community.
And he set forth the challenges Americans face today, and the
Democratic response to those challenges, for the working middle-class
families of this country.
I addressed the same concerns last week, on the first day of the
104th Congress, when I introduced five bills that are directed at the
goals of increasing the economic and personal security of working
families, strengthening of economic foundations on which American
prosperity rests, and reforming the Congress to reduce the influence of
money in politics.
Senator Kennedy spoke with the special passion that only he brings to
politics, a passion that throws into sharp relief Democratic goals and
the principles by which Democrats have sought those goals throughout
this century.
I believe his words deserve a wider audience, so I ask unanimous
consent that following my remarks, the full text of Senator Kennedy's
statement be reproduced in the Congressional Record.
There being no objection, the speech was ordered to be printed in the
Record, as follows:
Address of Senator Edward M. Kennedy: ``What Democrats Should Fight
for--Principles is the Best Politics''
I want to thank Gil Klein for that generous introduction,
and I am grateful to the Press Club for the opportunity to
address you today.
I come here as a Democrat. I reject such qualifiers as New
Democrat or Old Democrat or Neo-Democrat. I am committed to
the enduring principles of the Democratic Party, and I am
proud of its great tradition of service to the people who are
the heart and strength of this nation--working families and
the middle class.
I would have lost in Massachusetts if I had done what
Democrats who were defeated in other parts of the country too
often tried to do.
I was behind in mid-September. But I believe I won because
I ran for health reform, not away from it. I ran for a
minimum wage increase, not against it. I continued to talk
about issues like jobs, aid to education, and job training.
And I attacked Republican proposals to tilt the tax code to
the most privileged of our people.
I stood against limiting welfare benefits if a mother has
another child, and I will stand against any other harsh
proposals that aim at the mother but hit and hurt innocent
children. I spoke out for gun control, and against
reactionary Republican proposals to abandon crime prevention
as a weapon in the war on crime. I rejected the Republican
double standard that welcomes government as benign when it
subsidizes the affluent, but condemns government as the enemy
when it helps the poor.
I ran as a Democrat in belief as well as name. This turned
out to be not only right in principle--it was also the best
politics.
I talked about the issues that mattered to working
families, and about what I had tried to do to address their
needs and concerns. I take some sense of pride and
satisfaction that exit polling showed 89 percent of
Massachusetts voters--by far the highest percentage in the
country--said they had learned enough about the candidates
and the issues in the Senate race to make an informed choice.
Our issues, if we defend them, are popular. The working
families in New Bedford, Fall River, Lowell, Lawrence,
Springfield and Worcester in my
state voted for me, and they have the same concerns as
working families throughout the country.
The caricatures of us by the other side will be
ineffective--as long as we vigorously oppose them and expose
them, instead of sheepishly acquiescing in them. If Democrats
run for cover, if we become pale carbon copies of the
opposition and try to act like Republicans, we will lose--and
deserve to lose. As I have said on other occasions, Democrats
must be more than warmed-over Republicans. The last thing
this country needs is two Republican parties.
If we fall for our opponents' tactics, if we listen to
those who tell us to abandon health reform, or slash student
loans and children's programs, or engage in a bidding war to
see who can be the most anti-government or the most laissez-
faire, we will have only ourselves to blame. As Democrats, we
can win, but only if we stand for something.
The election last November was not a ratification of
Republican solutions. By the narrowest of margins, they
gained control of Congress. But less than 40 percent of
eligible voters turned out on election day, and only slightly
more than half of those--about 20 percent--cast ballots for
Republicans. Some mandate!
As the current controversy over the motor voter law
demonstrates, Republicans thrive by depressing voter turnout.
Intensity matters for Democrats. Turnout will certainly be
higher in 1996--fifty or sixty percent higher. We must stand
our Democratic ground. We must fight for the ideals that are
the very reason for our party's being. We must prove to
working families and average citizens that we are on their
side, fighting hard for them. If we do, then Democrats will
turn out and come home in 1996. The defeat of 1994 will be
history, and we will be back, stronger than ever--not stale
from the past, but renewed for the future.
But to achieve that victory, we must not repeat the
mistakes of the past. We must make explicit to the American
people our core values and beliefs which form the basis of
our political philosophy and underlie our legislative
proposals--specifically and most important, that we as
Americans, with all our diversity, share a common purpose, a
common sense of family, neighborhood, community and country,
of fairness, responsibility, and decency.
Unfortunately, we have failed in the past to make these
vital and important points as clearly as we should. We
Democrats have always considered family, community, faith and
love of country to be core values--the foundation upon which
all of our proposals are based. But we allowed Republicans to
take these values as their own. We assumed too quickly that
our commitment to such values was self-evident in the
proposals we made and the legislation we passed. We were
wrong, and we paid a price because of it.
So let me set the record straight. Family, community, love
of country, fairness, responsibility--all of these values
underlie the philosophy of the Democratic Party. And these
are the values that underlie and must underlie all of our
legislative proposals.
This is not to say, however, that I believe these core
values should be used as a superficial rationale for bumper
sticker solutions to the complex problems we face. No, these
core values require us to reject simple, easy answers which
may make us feel good today, but do absolutely nothing to
solve these problems. Our values oblige us to address these
problems in a thoughtful and productive way.
We are, without apology, the party that believes in
assisting the poor and the disabled and the disadvantaged--
but not to the detriment of the hard-working middle class,
which is justifiably frustrated and angry. The feel left out
and left behind, because they know they are losing ground.
They see the wealthiest Americans becoming wealthier. They
see the poorest Americans being taken care of by society's
safety net--which their tax dollars have put in place.
Americans are angry, and rightly so. Rapid economic change
and surging global competition have made many jobs and people
less secure. The vast majority of Americans are working
harder and making less. Yet fair reward for work has always
been essential to their hope of creating better lives for
their families and their children.
As Democrats, we must address that anger and frustration.
But the answer is not to create larger problems by
dismantling the safety net, leaving the poor to fend for
themselves. Such a result is not only inhumane, it is wrong
and destructive to our country, our communities, and our
values.
Nor is the solution to give more tax breaks to the
wealthiest Americans, in hope that something will trickle
down to the middle class. This country was founded on equal
opportunity for all, not unequal opportunity for some.
Instead, we must be more responsive and give a greater
helping hand to working families and the middle class. In
this central battle for their minds and hearts, heritage and
history are on our side. Recall the great victorious battles
of the past--for Social Security and Medicare, for the
minimum wage and the rights of workers, for civil rights and
equal rights, for protection of the environment, for a Head
Start for every child and the education of all children
regardless of their parents' income, for family and medical
leave, for opportunity for women and a woman's right to
choose. By any standard, these were extraordinary
achievements. And all of them were won because they were
sought and fought for by members of the Democratic Party.
Let us not forget that many of these measures, which the
American people now accept as part of our way of life, were
opposed at the time by the majority of Republicans in
Congress. Democrats bled--and suffered lasting battle scars
for these victories. But there are few if any Republicans who
would refight them or repeal them now.
These historic victories strengthened families,
strengthened communities, and brought Americans together.
They reflect the fundamental dedication of the Democratic
Party to a sense of progress that embraces all Americans. Our
achievements remind us of our roots, inspire us to fight
harder now, and give us a credibility and a vision that
history denies Republicans in fighting for the future.
Surely, the challenges we face in the 1990's are no greater
than those we faced in other years. People want government to
be more responsive to their problems and more effective in
resolving them. I'm talking about basic things that make a
difference in people's lives. A strong growing economy. A
clear commitment to keep the current recovery going, and to
keep the deficit heading down.Good jobs and decent wages
where hard
[[Page S897]] work pays off in rising standards of living,
not falling farther behind. Safe streets and neighborhoods.
Schools that give students a good education. Child care and
health care that are accessible and affordable to all.
Rekindling the sense of community and patriotism, of shared
values and individual responsibility, of service to others--
to neighborhoods and the nation alike.
These ideals are, have always been, and must continue to be
our Democratic priorities. And we made more progress on them
in the last two years than most voters ever knew on election
day.
But there is no profit in endlessly regretting the denial
of credit to President Clinton and the Democratic Party for a
remarkable record of achievement.
One reason for the lack of credit is that the President and
the Democratic Congress took on a almost unprecedented array
of tough challenges, and did not win every battle. Another
reason is that we live in a period of vast economic and
social transformation, in which the politics of fear is
easily marshaled to overrun the politics of hope.
And another reason, I am convinced, is a Republican
strategy of obstruction, distortion, and massive personal
attack on the President and the First Lady. In the wake of
this election, Democrats need to fight back for our beliefs,
not turn our back on the Clinton Administration.
Blaming Bill Clinton by some in our party comes with ill
grace from those who abandoned him on critical votes in the
last Congress, then ran from him in the campaign--and then
lost, often by wide margins. Now they come forward to
advocate a strategy discredited by their own defeats.
My fundamental recommendation to the President is that he
stay the course of change and do what he thinks is right. My
advice to my fellow Democrats is that we work with the
President for change--instead of seeking to change our
principles, or distance ourselves from him.
No one wants a repeat of the Republican tactic in 1994 that
made the ``G'' in G.O.P. stand for gridlock. We must try to
reach across party lines--and build bipartisan coalitions to
do the things the nation needs and deserves. This is an
obligation on both sides, Republicans as well as Democrats.
We must never forget that it takes two parties to be
bipartisan.
I believe in free enterprise--but I believe in active
government too. A practical way to blend them both and make
government more effective is through what I have called
public enterprise--using market forces wherever possible, not
asking taxpayers to blindly pay for programs, but insisting
that programs be genuine investments in a brighter future,
and produce results commensurate with their cost.
There is no doubt that many programs are not successful. A
federal program is not the solution to every problem. But
there continues to be an important federal role in solving
the problems of our society by investing in people and the
infrastructure needed for our country to succeed and our
citizens to thrive. To believe otherwise is hostile to the
basic values of our country and to the historic concept of
``We the People'' in our Constitution. We must not rob the
people of the resource of government. It is their government,
and we must make it work for them.
We do need to streamline government and make it more
responsible to average Americans. But as President Clinton
said last month, people want government to be lean, not mean.
There is a large difference between reinventing government
and rejecting it--and an even larger difference between using
government to promote the general welfare and misusing it to
pander to the powerful and punish the powerless.
If we keep these truths in mind, we can find real solutions
that work for health care, schools, and jobs, and achieve a
rising standard of living for all. We can deal effectively
with crime, welfare, race, and immigration--instead of
allowing our opponents to keep on welding grievances, anger,
suspicion, and even outright bigotry into weapons of mass
destruction of their next campaigns.
Democrats can win the current debate on the budget and on
tax relief for the middle class. Republicans can disguise
their intentions all they want. But at the heart of the
Republican plan are deep reductions in Medicare and Medicaid,
and lavish tax cuts that favor the wealthy--especially their
capital gains tax cut, the classic Republican tax break for
the rich--trickle down economics at its worst. That is not
what the 1994 elections were about, and the Republicans and
the voters know it.
We must also resist our opponents's mindless anti-
government vendetta against regulation--a rhetoric leading to
an across-the-board assault on government that hides a
multitude of injustices and indifferences.
Republicans wanted to get government out of the savings and
loan industry in the worst way in 1980s--and they did.
Deregulation ran amuck. The S & L mess became one of the most
serious scandals in our history, costing taxpayers more than
a hundred and fifty billion dollars.
So my advice to Republicans is to make sure there is water
in the pool before they leap off their pro-business anti-
regulation diving board. Government is there for a reason--to
help people, including the middle class.
There are mounting needs and frustrations in this land. But
it will only make things worse, not better, to shred the
safety net, or deregulate health and safety. Nostalgia for a
past that never was is not a policy for the future.
Where do we go from here? Let me outline some key
priorities that should be part of our Democratic agenda for
1995, because they are part of our strategy to strengthen and
invest in the community we call America.
No issue better represents the commitment of the Democratic
Party to strengthen families and communities than the drive
for comprehensive health reform. It is a total misreading of
the election--and a deliberate misreading of the public
will--to include this issue is no longer important or urgent.
For some in Congress, with their blue chip coverage under
the federal government plan, health reform may be only a
political game, where points are won or lost. But to the
majority of Americans, it is a continuing worsening problem,
where their health, their children and their family, their
financial security, and often their best lives are at stake.
The real value of the average working family paycheck has
been stagnant for many years, but the share that goes for
health has soared. Excessive inflation in health costs means
less and less of the paycheck is available for everything
else. Millions of working men and women risk losing the
insurance they have, if they change or lose their job. And
for too many senior citizens and persons with disabilities,
the high cost of prescription drugs and long term care has
broken the promise of Social Security and Medicare.
Democrats fought for health reform in the last Congress,
but we did not fight well. We made serious mistakes that
contributed to our failure. But I am certain that in large
part we were defeated because of the cynical Republican
calculation that successful health reform would benefit
Democrats at the polls and thwart Republican election goals.
And so they settled on a strategy of relentless obstruction.
No one can know for sure. But I believe voters would have
rallied to Democrats in 1994 if we had gone down fighting as
hard as we could for health reform. Instead, we engaged in a
search for a phantom compromise that our opponents never
intended to achieve. We allowed the great debate in Congress
to end without a vote--with a whimper, not a bang--and we
must not make that mistake again.
Now, Republicans have had their election--and their
victory. I ask them--and challenge them--to join us in
fashioning a health bill and enacting it into law in 1995.
Sit down with us for real. Get serious about coming to
agreement. Bring Harry and Louise if you like--but let's
expose special interest pleading for what it is. Shape a
compromise that deals realistically with the problem, rather
than treating each offer of compromise as a pretext for new
demands--which is what happened last year.
It would be nice if the Republican Contract with America
contained even a hint of this simple pledge--to give every
American the same health care that the newly-elected signers
of the Contract are receiving from the federal government. We
are now making Congress abide by the same laws we pass for
others. Why not give the American people the benefit of the
same laws that Congress passes for itself?
A second major challenge, if we are serious about
revitalizing our communities and investing in families and
the nation's future, is reform in job education.
Today, we have scores of separate job training programs
costing billions of dollars a year--and workers are not
getting their money's worth. President Clinton and the
Democratic Leadership Council are right to call for vouchers
and greater reliance on market forces, so that workers can
circumvent the bureaucracy and choose the training they want.
We must also focus more on outcomes. Too often, the path of
least resistance has been to create more and more training
programs--without the follow-through to see that they succeed
in actually preparing people for jobs and placing them in
jobs. We must reward those that are successful--and de-fund
those that fall short.
We must do more to redress the widening gap between soaring
profits and stagnant wages. We must insist that firms provide
training for their workers. I make no apology for supporting
a mandate in an area like this. Often, a mandate is the only
practical way to assure that free enterprise is fair as well
as free. Through the minimum wage, we ask business to invest
in the lowest paid workers, and the time has come to ask
business to invest in all workers by providing a minimum
level of training.
Companies make choices. Some firms train their workers
well, upgrade their skills, and offer good benefits. They
treat workers as valuable resources, and still earn good
profits. Other companies rely on a harsher strategy that
exploits workers. They downsize. They lay off good workers.
They hire part-time employees to avoid paying benefits. They
cut corners on safety.
Congress should do more, not less, to encourage companies
to do the right thing and prevent unfair competition from
those that don't. Mandates make sense in areas like job
training and health care. We must break the iron grip of a
Gresham's Law of Business, in which irresponsible firms drive
out firms attempting to be responsible.
A third major challenge to invest in our future and
strengthen our American community relates to education. With
college costs
[[Page S898]] rising--over $8,000 a year at many public
universities and over $20,000 at many private
colleges--the American dream is too often an impossible
dream for many families.
Let's hold the line against even one cent of Republican
cuts in college aid. How dare anyone offer a Contract with
America that professes allegiance to the middle class, but
that would slam college doors in the face of their children.
Basic values are at stake. Let's strengthen the Department of
Education not abolish it. Let's oppose and defeat education
cuts that would be nothing more than federal aid for
ignorance.
Finally, a top priority for this Congress is reform of the
lobbying and campaign finance laws. No change will do more to
strengthen our American community and make greater progress
possible on every other issue than breaking the stranglehold
of special interest groups and restoring government that
truly represents ``We the People.''
We must end the power of special interest money and
political action committees, and take elections off the
auction block. We must make lobbyists disclose what they're
doing in the back rooms to subvert the public interest. It is
time to end the lavish gifts, meals, entertainment and
expensive trips paid for by special interests.
A sunshine law for lobbyists will pay a dividend to you in
the press as well, because it will enable you to expose what
really happens in the ongoing battles between the special
interests and the public interest.
These are major items on a Democratic agenda for recovery
in 1995. But in a larger sense, they are at the heart of a
constructive and needed American agenda to restore the sense
of family and community, of caring for one another, and of
building a brighter future that will once again reflect this
nation at its best.
In all this, we must understand that sometimes the task of
a great political party is to face the tide--not just ride
with it--and to turn it again in the direction of our deepest
convictions. We will lose our way--and our elections--if we
abandon our principles and drift with the shifting politics
of the moment.
Let's renew our cause as Democrats. Let's hold our standard
high and advance it proudly. Let's be who we are, and not
pretend to be something else. And if we do, we will have a
strong and winning case to take to the American people in
this new Congress and in all the years ahead. The Republican
majority will be a transient one, and Democrats will be proud
to be Democrats again.
____________________