[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 151 (Friday, August 27, 2021)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E931-E933]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   TRIBUTE TO PRESIDENT WILLIAM JEFFERSON CLINTON AND THE UNRIVALED 
PROSPERITY, PROGRESS, AND PEACE AMERICA ENJOYED DURING HIS EIGHT YEARS 
                              OF GREATNESS

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. SHEILA JACKSON LEE

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                        Friday, August 27, 2021

  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Madam Speaker, I rise to give thanks and pay tribute 
to William Jefferson Clinton, the 42nd President of the United States, 
who turned 75 last Thursday, August 19, 2021. It is still hard to 
believe that the rebellious Baby Boomer Generation, of which I am a 
member and which in its youth was the hope and promise of the nation's 
future, is now just young at heart, but in Bill Clinton it produced one 
of the nation's greatest presidents.
  As President, Bill Clinton, the ``Man From Hope,'' always put our 
people first and led our Nation to unrivaled heights of shared 
prosperity for all, unmatched progress in becoming `one Nation 
unified,' and brought peace to Ireland, freedom to the people of 
Kosovo, rescued the economy of Mexico from destruction, and led America 
to the leadership position in the emerging globalized economy of the 
21st Century. Madam Speaker, if anyone wants to know the true meaning 
of ``American Exceptionalism'' all they have to do is examine the years 
1993 through 2001 when President Bill Clinton commanded the ship of 
state.
  Under President Clinton, the United States enjoyed the longest 
economic expansion in American history. The President's strategy of 
fiscal discipline, opening foreign markets, and investments in the 
American people helped create the conditions for a record 115 months of 
economic expansion and our economy grew at an average of 4 percent per 
year during the years of his presidency. More than 22 million jobs were 
created in less than eight years--the most ever under a single 
administration, and more than were created in the previous twelve 
years. We enjoyed the highest homeownership in American history because 
the strong Clinton economy and fiscal discipline kept interest rates 
low, making it possible for more families to buy homes, and the 
homeownership rate increased from 64.2 percent in 1992 to 67.7 percent, 
the highest rate ever. We had the lowest unemployment in 30 years. 
Unemployment dropped from more than 7 percent in 1993 to just 4.0 
percent in November 2000. Unemployment for African Americans and 
Hispanics fell to the lowest rates on record, and the rate for women 
was the lowest in more than 40 years.
  Between 1993 and 2001, reading and math scores increased for 4th, 
8th, and 12th graders, and math SAT scores reached a 30-year high, 49 
states put in place standards in core subjects, and federal investment 
in education and training doubled. During the Clinton Administration 
financial aid for students was nearly doubled by increasing Pell Grants 
to the largest award ever, expanding Federal Work-Study to allow 1 
million students to work their way through college, and by creating new 
tax credits and scholarships, such as Lifetime Learning tax credits and 
the HOPE scholarship. At the same time, taxpayers saved $18 billion due 
to the decline in student loan defaults, increased collections and 
savings from the direct student loan program.
  President Clinton and Vice President Gore's commitment to education 
technology, including the E-Rate and a 3,000 percent increase in 
educational technology funding, increased the percentage of schools 
connected to the Internet from 35 percent in 1994 to 95 percent in 
1999. Because of President Clinton's comprehensive anti-crime strategy 
of smart prevention, more police, as well as commonsense gun safety 
laws, the overall crime rate declined for 8 consecutive years, the 
longest continuous drop on record, and was at the lowest level since 
1973. As part of the 1994 Crime Bill, President Clinton enacted a new 
initiative to fund 100,000 community police officers in more than 
11,000 law enforcement agencies.

[[Page E932]]

  Since the President signed the Brady bill in 1993, stopping more than 
600,000 felons, fugitives, and other prohibited persons from buying 
guns, gun crime declined 40 percent during his years in office.
  President Clinton signed into law the Family and Medical Leave Act in 
1993, which enabled more than 20 million Americans to take leave to 
care for a newborn child or sick family member without fear of losing 
their job. President Clinton pledged to end welfare as we know it and 
signed landmark bipartisan welfare reform legislation in 1996. As a 
result of the booming economy and welcoming job market, welfare 
caseloads were cut in half, to the lowest level since 1968, millions of 
parents joined the workforce, and ``welfare is no longer a political 
issue to be exploited by demagogues, as people on welfare today were 
five times more likely to b working in 2000 than in 1992. After falling 
by nearly $2,000 between 1988 and 1992, the median income for families 
rose by $6,338, after adjusting for inflation during the Clinton years. 
In that same time, African-American family income increased even more, 
rising by nearly $7,000 since 1993.
  After years of stagnant income growth among average and lower income 
families, all income brackets experienced double-digit growth since 
1993, with the bottom quintile enjoying the largest income growth at 
16.3 percent. Because Congress passed President Clinton's Economic Plan 
in 1993, the poverty rate declined from 15.1 percent to 11.8 percent--
the largest six-year drop in poverty in nearly 30 years. In 2000, there 
were seven million fewer people in poverty than when President Clinton 
took office in 1993. The child poverty rate declined more than 25 
percent, the poverty rates for single mothers, African Americans, and 
the elderly had dropped to their lowest levels on record, and Hispanic 
poverty dropped to its lowest level since 1979. In his 1995 State of 
the Union Address, President Clinton challenged Americans to join 
together in a national campaign against teen pregnancy, which resulted 
in the birth rate for teens aged 15-19 declining every year of the 
Clinton Presidency, from 60.7 per 1,000 teens in 1992 to a record low 
of 49.6 in 1999.
  Because the Clinton Administration expanded efforts to provide 
mothers and newborn children with healthcare, a record high 82 percent 
of all mothers were receiving prenatal care by the time he left office 
and the infant mortality rate dropped from 8.5 deaths per 1,000 in 1992 
to 7.2 deaths per 1,000 in 1998, the lowest rate ever recorded.
  The accomplishments of President Clinton were just as impressive in 
the field of national security and foreign affairs. President Clinton 
understood from the beginning of his presidency that the most pervasive 
force in our world is globalization and he understood that while 
globalization is inexorable, its benefits must be harnessed to advance 
our objectives of democracy, shared prosperity and peace.

  Under the visionary leadership of President Clinton, America 
exercised its influence by building with its democratic partners an 
international system of strong alliances and institutions attuned to 
the challenges of a globalized world, by ensuring this system is 
genuinely open to all who adhere to clearly defined standards, and by 
being ready to stand up for those standards when they are threatened. 
After the absence of such leadership the last four years, is it not 
wonderful that the Administration of President Biden also understands 
that the power of America's example carries more influence than 
examples of America's power. But let us get back to the story of 
spectacular leadership and spectacular results.
  The Clinton-Gore Administration led the international effort to 
dismantle more than 1,700 nuclear warheads, 300 launchers and 425 land 
and submarine-based missiles from the former Soviet Union.
  President Clinton led the revitalization, adaptation, and expansion 
of NATO from a static Cold War alliance to a magnet for new 
democracies, with new partners, members and missions; adapted its 
command structure; admitted Hungary; Poland and the Czech Republic; and 
created the Partnership for Peace. President Clinton led NATO in its 
first military engagement and stopped the killing in Bosnia, brokered 
the peace in the Dayton Accords, leading to a sustained civil society 
complete with active opposition parties an non-governmental 
organizations and national and local elections taking place throughout 
the country.
  As Commander in Chief, President Clinton took military action in 
Kosovo to stop genocide, ethnic cleansing, and regional instability, 
forcing the withdrawal of Serb forces, disbanding the Kosovo Liberation 
Army, and deploying an international presence in Kosovo--with a 47,000 
strong NATO-led force providing security for the province, resulting in 
the safe and unconditional return of over 900,000 refugees. Under 
President Clinton, nuclear weapons and their delivery vehicles were 
permanently eliminated from Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan and the 
Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty was signed; in addition, the 
indefinite extension of the Non-Proliferation Treaty and ratification 
of the Chemical Weapons Convention was achieved.
  Under President Clinton, the perpetrators of the 1993 World Trade 
Center bombing and CIA killings were brought to justice and the planned 
terrorist attacks against Millennium celebrations were foiled. 
President Clinton developed a national counter-terrorism strategy, led 
by a national coordinator, and the Nation's first national strategy to 
protect critical infrastructure, and increased funding on critical 
infrastructure Protection by over 40 percent since 1998. An admirer of 
Nelson Mandela, a student of his teachings, and a true friend of Africa 
and the Caribbean, President Clinton was the second American President 
to visit sub-Sahara Africa, following President Jimmy Carter's visit to 
Lagos, Nigeria in 1978.
  As President, Bill Clinton launched and won approval for the African 
Growth and Opportunity Act to support increased trade and investment 
between the United States and Africa, strengthen African economies and 
democratic governments, increase partnerships to counter terrorism, 
crime, environmental degradation and disease, and for the Caribbean 
Basin Initiative enhancement legislation to promote economic prosperity 
in Central America and the Caribbean.
  Madam Speaker, between 1998 and 2000, the national debt was reduced 
by $363 billion--the largest three-year debt pay-down in American 
history and we were on track to pay off the entire debt by 2009 until 
the fiscal mismanagement of the succeeding administration. President 
Clinton converted the largest budget deficit in American history to the 
largest surplus in history; the deficit was $290 billion in 1993 and 
was expected to grow to $455 billion by 1998 but instead, thanks to the 
leadership of President Clinton, the United States had a surplus of 
$237 billion.
  In the area of the great outdoors and the environment, it should be 
noted that President Clinton protected more land in the lower 48 states 
than any other president, protecting 5 new national parks, designating 
11 new national monuments, and expanding two others and proposing 
protections for 60 million acres of roadless areas in America's 
national forests.
  During the Clinton years, federal government spending as a share of 
the economy had decreased from 22.2 percent in 1992 to a projected 18.5 
percent in 2000, the lowest since 1966. On a related note, Americans 
enjoyed the lowest federal income tax burden in 35 years under 
President Clinton, who enacted targeted tax cuts such as the Earned 
Income Tax Credit expansion, $500 child tax credit, and the HOPE 
Scholarship and Lifetime Learning Tax Credits.
  As a candidate, President Clinton pledged that he would have a 
government ``that looks like the American people,'' and he made true on 
that commitment and then some. President Clinton appointed more African 
Americans, women and Hispanics to the Cabinet than any other President 
in history; he appointed the first female Attorney General, the first 
female Secretary of State and the first Asian-American cabinet 
secretary ever.
  Under his Administration, the outright ban on gays serving in the 
military was ended and the military's policy of ``Don't Ask, Don't 
Tell'' worked so well in allowing LGBTQ service personnel to 
demonstrate their talents and skills that the policy would later be 
found to be unnecessary and discarded altogether.
  Madam Speaker, I have laid out the major reasons why Americans are so 
appreciative that Bill Clinton served as the 42nd President of the 
United States, especially for his healing words and actions during the 
time of the tragic and horrific April 1995 Oklahoma City bombing at the 
Alfred R. Murrah Federal Building that killed 168 persons, including 19 
children, and wounded more than 800 others. And as he pledged to the 
Nation he would, the terrorists who perpetrated this heinous act were 
brought to justice and punished in accordance with the law.
  We Democrats thank President Clinton for all that but for much more. 
Bill Clinton was the unparalleled visionary Democratic political leader 
of the latter half of the 20th Century. In the presidential election 
preceding his, the Democratic candidate was beaten in the Electoral 
College 426-112, losing 40 states, and trailing in the popular vote by 
7.8 percentage points and 7 million votes. In the presidential election 
before that, 1984, the Democratic candidate lost 49 of 50 states, lost 
the Electoral College 525-13, and lost the popular vote by 18.2 
percentage points and 16.8 million votes. The electoral map and 
political outlook were bleak for the Governor of the ``small southern 
state of Arkansas'' but he would not be deterred and would not be 
outworked and did not waver in his conviction that his progressive 
policies promising shared prosperity and his inclusive vision in which 
the United States ``did not have a person to waste'' would attract 
majority support.
  Madam Speaker, because of the remarkable leadership and success role-
modeled by

[[Page E933]]

President William Jefferson Clinton, Democrats in Congress and across 
the Nation know who they are, what they believe, and what is important 
to fight to achieve or preserve; maybe one day our friends across the 
aisle will be so lucky.
  Happy Birthday, President Clinton, and thank you for all you did as 
the Nation's 42nd President and captain of the ship of state to make 
our Nation the most prosperous on earth and at peace in the world.

                          ____________________