    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1993, Book I)]
    [July 19, 1993]
    [Pages 1104-1109]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    [[Page 1104]]

    Teleconference Remarks to the National Association of County Officials
    July 19, 1993

        The President. Good morning. I'm honored to address the National
    Association of County Officials today and very, very grateful for the
    strong support you've given to our economic plan. It's good for the
    counties of this country; it's good for America; it's good for the
    working people of this country.
        I very much appreciate that nice introduction by your president and
    my long-time friend, John Stroger. He's been a valuable part of our team
    and a very effective advocate for county government. As Cook County
    Commissioner, he also represents one of the legendary counties in
    America. That was true even before my wife was born there. [Laughter]
        Let me say just a few words about the terrible flooding throughout
    the Midwest. There's been extraordinary damage done to crops and homes
    and businesses, but not to the spirit of our people or to our commitment
    to join them as neighbors to help them to rebuild each of those
    communities.
        As county leaders, you know more than most about the hopes and
    problems of families. For many, the efforts of local government
    represent the best ideals of America. But for too many years, since
    Washington has spent too much and invested too little and refused to
    make the tough decisions necessary to keep our economy healthy, the only
    clear message local leaders got from Washington was, ``You're on your
    own. And by the way, here are a few more burdens.'' Washington gave you
    make-believe budgets and mandates with no money. They drove up the debt
    from $1 trillion to $4 trillion and still invested less in the things
    that make our communities stronger.
        Well, you've been at the forefront of trying to change this. You
    know that we must create high-wage, high-skill jobs again so there will
    be less crime, fewer transfer payments, and more revenues to support
    businesses and institutions that are the foundation of all stable
    communities.
        I wish I could be with you in person today, and I'm looking forward
    to doing so when you have future meetings. But as you know, my first
    obligation to you and to our Nation is to keep fighting for change right
    here in Washington and for an economic plan that creates jobs and raises
    incomes, that invests in a stronger tomorrow and brings this terrible
    deficit down.
        This economic plan is good for the country and the economy and good
    for the forgotten middle class. It contains the largest Federal
    reduction of the deficit in history, with over $250 billion of dramatic
    cuts in spending. It finally begins paying down the deficit and shifting
    the budget away from waste and toward sound investments in job creation
    and entrepreneurship, in new technologies, and in the health and
    education of our people. There couldn't be a more profound change from
    the old ways and the failed policies of the past to a new direction that
    will make our economy work again.
        For starters, we make more than 200 specific cuts that slash over
    $250 billion from this budget. For the first time, we secure the savings
    from both tax increases and spending cuts in a trust fund so they can't
    be touched. While the old ways favor those at the very top income
    brackets, our plan asks the most from those who are most able to give.
    At least 70 percent of the new taxes in this plan will fall on those
    making over $200,000 a year, while millions of families earning below
    $30,000 will actually get a tax break. And those who work full-time and
    have children at home will be lifted out of poverty. Over 90 percent of
    the small business who are unincorporated will have the opportunity for
    a reduction in their taxes through increasing their expensing
    provisions. So working families and the middle class, after 12 long
    years of being ignored, win in our program.
        The old ways ignored the business incentives and the investments in
    technology and infrastructure that will allow our economy to create
    growth in a tough global economy. And while my plan does cut the deficit
    dramatically, it also empowers families and businesses to build better
    lives and stronger communities.
        This plan reforms the student loan program, saving billions of
    dollars and making it easier for millions of our young people to pay for
    college. It creates a program of national service to allow young people
    to pay for college by serving their Nation in communities like yours.
    And for the majority who don't attend college,

    [[Page 1105]]

    we've funded the boldest national apprenticeship program ever. Educating
    and training young people is the best investment we can make, and it's
    time we committed ourselves to doing that.
        We empower communities to protect themselves by providing more funds
    for police officers. It empowers creditworthy small businesses to a new
    network of community development banks and creates empowerment zones to
    bring to bear the full power of free enterprise on our poorest large and
    small areas. And because I believe new environmental technologies and
    improved water systems and better roads and incentives for the private
    sector will mean more jobs and more growth, our plan creates a greater
    commitment to each.
        I'm excited about our future. I know this plan will work. It's
    already beginning to work. In the last 5 months, as we have moved to
    reduce this deficit and to increase business incentives, interest rates
    have hit record lows. That will add billions to our economy as millions
    of Americans, including many in your audience, I bet, refinance their
    homes or their business loans or buy cars or borrow for college or
    consumer loans at much lower rates. In the last 5 months, the economy
    has been creating private sector jobs at 7 times the rate of the last 4
    years. And inflation is flat.
        Now, make no mistake about it, we still have a lot to do. Economic
    growth is still way too slow and too uneven. But putting our economic
    house in order is beginning to bring prosperity here at home and helping
    America to gain a new competitive edge in the global economy, as I
    learned at the Tokyo talks among the large seven industrial powers last
    week.
        Because the American people are having the courage to change and
    because Congress is really moving to reduce the deficit and to invest in
    jobs, my hand was greatly strengthened at that meeting in Tokyo.
    Negotiations that had gone extremely slowly for years suddenly opened
    up, and we struck a new agreement to dramatically lower and in some
    cases to completely eliminate tariffs on a variety of manufactured
    products. That can mean hundreds of thousands more jobs for American
    workers in manufacturing areas with high wages and more growth for
    American companies, if we can now move to get that agreement accepted by
    all the other countries in a general agreement before the end of the
    year. I'm very excited about the prospect.
        Our commitment to a balanced plan of deficit reduction and economic
    growth simply has raised our stature among the community of nations.
    This, combined with a pledge to fundamentally reform health care, which
    will be extremely significant for our counties in reducing our deficit
    and in helping our economy to recover, gave us the right to demand that
    the world's major trading countries take new steps themselves to create
    jobs and growth and to open their markets to our products.
        After the meeting in Tokyo I am more confident than ever that we can
    make the world's new economy work for us. But we can only enjoy the
    opportunities created in Tokyo if we follow through on our own
    responsibilities to bring our deficit down, to invest in our people, to
    be more competitive. There is still a lot of work ahead of us. This
    economy has been in the doldrums for years. We have been following the
    wrong policies for more than a decade. We have to have the patience and
    discipline and conviction it takes, all of us, to do our fair share to
    move this thing forward.
        If you haven't said anything to your Member of Congress to let them
    know how you feel, now is the time. Without regard to party, I ask for
    your help and your active involvement. There are some who are standing
    on the sidelines who must be convinced to join with us. This is bigger
    than party or politics. Bringing down America's deficit, investing in
    America's future, helping us to open new trade opportunities and new
    investment opportunities and new job-creating opportunities at home and
    abroad, these things should be beyond politics.
        So please pick up the phone and lend your voice to the call for
    change and jobs and growth that is beginning to make life better in
    America. Together we can build prosperity and hope again. Let's capture
    the spirit of our mighty Midwesterners, who for 2 weeks have refused to
    relinquish their dreams in the face of this terrible flooding and who
    have proven that nothing is impossible when we all pull together. In a
    few weeks, let's give ourselves a vote we can look back on with pride
    because together we helped to create a new era of American greatness.
        Thank you very much.

    Asia-U.S. Trade

        Q. Good morning, Mr. President.
        The President. Good morning.

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        Q. We're really glad that you could join us today. I'm from Florida,
    and we recently opened a trade office in Singapore, so I was
    particularly interested in your remarks relating to opportunities to
    participate aggressively in the global economy. What types of changes do
    you think we should have in our international policy so that we as a
    nation can expand our opportunities in all the countries in the Pacific
    Rim?
        The President. Let me, first of all, say to all of you present that
    your county has done a smart thing, and I think that other counties
    should consider following suit. Forty percent of American trade is now
    with the Pacific region. It's the fastest-growing part of the economy in
    the world. About 2.5 million American jobs now depend upon trade with
    the Pacific. It's very, very important.
        I would say there are three things that we should be doing at the
    national level. First, we need to complete an agreement before the end
    of the year on the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, the new world
    trade agreement. The meeting of the G-7 in Tokyo made that much more
    possible by having the big countries agree to reduce tariffs and to
    eliminate them entirely. A good study here in this country says that we
    could add $6 trillion to the world economy by the next decade if we
    would simply conclude this agreement. That will open a lot of new jobs
    for Americans in manufacturing and in agriculture and in services.
        The second thing we need to do is to build stronger ties to these
    countries. I'm very proud that in the fall of this year I will host a
    meeting in Seattle, Washington, for the Organization of Asian Pacific
    Economic Cooperation. All these nations are coming here, and after the
    ministers meet, the next day many heads of state will meet with me.
        The third thing we need to do is to redefine our trading
    relationship with Japan. And as I'm sure you know, at the very end of
    the G-7 meeting, the Prime Minister of Japan and I agreed to and
    announced a framework for a new trade relationship in which Japan
    pledged for the first time to substantially reduce its trade surplus
    with the United States and to have measurable objective measures of
    progress in several important areas of our trading relationship.
        Now, even if we do all that, we still need more local governmental
    units and especially more American business men and women who are
    willing to aggressively exploit opportunities in the Pacific area.
    Americans have got to be better traders and more interested in selling
    their products and their services around the world. Even small
    businesses have to do a better job of that.
        So we're going to do those big three things, but we need more folks
    like you who are interested in taking advantage of the global economy.
    Over half of our jobs in the last 5 years have been related in some way
    to trade and a lot of them to the Pacific. So that's what I think we
    should do in the Pacific region.

    Unfunded Federal Mandates

        Q. [Inaudible]--Texas, one of the poorest counties in the Nation. I
    also am a member of NACO board of directors and serve as--[inaudible].
    We need your help, Mr. President. Every year Congress passes new laws
    that require us to provide new services or to meet new standards. But
    rarely does Congress appropriate the dollars to meet this mandate. We
    have to raise our county local taxes to meet these costs and these new
    mandates. What can your administration do to help us?
        The President. Well, first of all, you've asked a great question. As
    a Governor for 12 years in one of the poorer States in America, I
    understood the burden of unfunded mandates very well. And I'm familiar
    with your county in Texas, and I hear your message loud and clear.
        The first thing we can do is to do no harm. The first thing we can
    do is to be the first administration in a long time not to load any more
    unfunded mandates on you. And that is a commitment I will do my best to
    keep. The second thing we can do is to review the present pattern of
    Federal regulation and requirements as it affects local government. Vice
    President Gore, at my request, is heading a commission on reinventing
    the role of the Federal Government and we are examining everything we do
    from top to bottom to see how we can better serve the American people,
    either with greater efficiency or with lower costs or both.
        And if there are some things that NACO specifically feels ought to
    be changed in terms of giving the counties greater flexibility in the
    way certain rules and regulations are applied, I want to invite you as
    an organization to make those recommendations known to the Vice
    President. I know you've been consulted on this. But those are the two
    things I think you can do and I

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    hope that we can do, and we're going to do our best to do them.

    Health Care Reform

        Q. Mr. President, counties spend over $30 billion a year on health
    care. We own and operate more than 4,500 health facilities. We, in
    essence, take care of the uninsured in this country. What role do you
    see for county officials in your proposed health reform plan?
        The President. I think the counties that are providing health care
    services may well continue to do so and will do so much more happily
    than they do now if our health reform plan passes, for a couple of
    reasons. First of all, we are looking for ways now, and I think we've
    found some, to provide basic health insurance to the uninsured,
    unemployed. If we do that, then as you provide those health services to
    those folks, you'll get a more reliable stream of income. And the only
    monies that will have to be matched at the State and local level are
    those that are now matched under the Medicaid program.
        Secondly, the proposal that we will make will cut out a lot of the
    redtape, a lot of the regulation coming from the Government, coming from
    the way the insurance markets are now organized. And local public health
    units will be able to do much more with the money that they've got to
    serve people in ways that are more flexible and more creative.
        So I would think that you will like this very much. People will be
    able to do this. If any of the counties want to get out of the business
    because there won't be anybody without basic insurance and think they
    can be handled in some other way, the counties will also have that
    option. But the counties that want to stay in the business will be able
    to do it with a much more reliable funding stream, in more innovative
    and comprehensive ways.

    Welfare Reform

        Q. Now Mr. President, when you've discussed the Nation's welfare
    system, you have pledged to end welfare as we know it. And as you know,
    many county governments contribute to AFDC programs, and many also
    administer their own general assistance programs. We have supported the
    welfare reform for years and actively supported the creation of the 1988
    Family Support Act. My question is, Mr. President, what guiding
    principles will your working group operate under to ensure the end to
    welfare as we know it, that reform will in fact achieve the desired
    results?
        The President. Thank you very much, Mr. Williams, and thank you,
    too, for the special leadership role that San Diego County has played
    for years in the whole area of welfare reform. As you know, San Diego is
    repeatedly cited in every study as one of the places that's proved that
    we can move people from welfare to work. So you have a lot of
    credentials to ask that question. And I also appreciate the support you
    gave to the Family Support Act of 1988, which I as a Governor had a big
    hand in trying to fashion.
        Let me tell you what the principles that animate us are and what
    we're doing about them. Number one, we need to make work pay. We need to
    make work pay. That means that as a starting point we should adopt the
    provision in the economic plan I presented to Congress which will use
    the earned-income tax credit to lift the working poor out of poverty if
    they have children in the home. Eighteen percent of America's workers
    today are working and still living below the Federal poverty line. An
    enormous number of working parents go home at night to children, having
    worked a full day and a full week, and still live below the poverty
    line. I believe we should change the tax system so that anybody who
    works 40 hours a week and has children in the home is lifted out of
    poverty. That rewards work and not welfare. It removes a dramatic
    incentive to stay on welfare and gives people an incentive to go to work
    and stay there.
        Second, we need to have tougher child support enforcement. We are
    losing billions of dollars a year because people who can afford to pay
    something for their children do not do it. And we need to have a much
    stronger system. We have proposed that, and some of that program is now
    working its way through Congress.
        Third, we need to fully implement the education and training aspects
    of the Family Support Act of 1988. As you know, that act has never been
    adequately funded in its education and training provisions so that we
    empower people to move off welfare.
        Fourth, we need to pass a health care reform bill so that people are
    not without health insurance when they lose their jobs, or if they take
    jobs where the employer presently doesn't provide health insurance. The
    welfare check itself

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    is no longer an incentive to stay on welfare. The real value of a
    welfare check in almost every place in America is far lower than it was
    20 years ago. What keeps people on welfare is the cost of health care
    and child care for their kids and the inability to get a good job
    because of a lack of education and training. So we've got to have health
    care reform.
        Finally, having put all that in place, I think we should move to a
    system in which if there's no incentive not to work, if people get
    education and training, if the children are covered with health
    insurance, if you have tough child support enforcement system, you
    shouldn't be able to stay on welfare without working for more than a
    couple of years. After that, you should have to work and earn income
    just like everybody else. And if you put the building blocks in, you can
    have a 2-year limit on welfare as we know it. You would end the system
    as it now exists. It would be temporary for everybody who is able-
    bodied.

    Improved FEMA Performance

        Q. First, on behalf of Iowans everywhere, I'd like to thank you for
    your efforts and your encouragement during the devastating floods that
    are occurring across Iowa and other midwestern States. The outpouring of
    help and support from our county colleagues and people throughout the
    U.S. is deeply appreciated, and we really do thank you.
        My question relates to one of prevention. In the past, NACO has
    called for increased professionalism at FEMA, making it comparable to
    other Federal public safety agencies such as the FAA and the Centers for
    Disease Control. Your new Director, Lee Witt, has acted quickly in this
    crisis. But I'm wondering if you are going to propose any statutory
    changes that would allow FEMA to become more proactive and to increase
    that level of service.
        The President. First, let me thank you for what you said about the
    work done by Mr. Witt and FEMA. And let me also say again how very sorry
    I am about what's happened and pledge our best efforts to stay in touch
    and keep working with you in the aftermath. As you know, Iowa's got a
    big clean-up job to do now. We still don't have--we don't have water
    back in Des Moines; we've got a lot of continuing problems.
        With regard to the specific question you asked, we're going to
    review FEMA's operations to see what needs to be done to strengthen
    them. From the point of view of the Governors and the people at the
    local level, one of the biggest criticisms has been that FEMA has to go
    through this long approval process with the Governor asking for
    emergency aid. And we're looking at what can be done to maybe pre-
    position people and move this whole process faster.
        With regard to the question of the professionalization of the
    Agency, Senator Mikulski has a bill now in the Senate that she's been
    working on. We are discussing it with her, we are working with her, and
    I want to evaluate it as we go along, as I'm sure you do.
        This is very important to me. I live in a State, or I did before I
    became President, lived in a State that had the highest tornado
    occurrences per capita in America, that regularly had floods and ice
    storms and drought. I've been through a lot of experience with FEMA. And
    I think the American people are entitled to an emergency management
    agency that is as good and quick and competent and professional as
    possible.
        Let me just mention one other issue that we have to really think
    through, and that is that FEMA is essentially set up to act quickly with
    problems that are immediate. But these disasters often leave a long
    rebuilding period in their wake. You can't just turn these things around
    overnight. Now, one of the things that we've tried to do is to set up a
    set of de facto solutions to this. For example, when I became President,
    I asked Henry Cisneros, the HUD Secretary, to take over coordinating the
    long-term response to Hurricane Andrew in Florida. I have asked
    Secretary Espy, the Agriculture Secretary now, to take over the long-
    term management of our commitment in the Midwest in the aftermath of the
    flood. But that also needs to be thought through because a lot of these
    problems we're going to be dealing with in the fall and the winter and
    next year as well. Senator Mikulski came to St. Louis with me last
    Saturday when we met with the Governors and other emergency personnel
    from all the States affected by the flood. And we're going to be talking
    about what else we need to do legally.
        Thank you.
        John Stroger. Thank you, Mr. President. And frankly, as a fellow
    Arkansan, I can't think of a better time to be president of the National
    Association of Counties and have this oppor-

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    tunity to work with you. And I know that you're very sensitive,
    concerned. You're imbued with a sense of fairness for all Americans. And
    working with us here at NACO and with other groups of Americans like us,
    you're going to help us make America really, really great. So we stand
    here with you ready to face the challenges together and build on
    America's already greatness. Thank you very much, and God bless you. And
    I hope he continues to allow you to be strong to carry forth your
    charge.
        The President. Thank you, John. God bless you. Thank you, ladies and
    gentlemen.

    Note: The President spoke at 11:34 a.m. via satellite from Room 459 of
    the Old Executive Office Building. A tape was not available for
    verification of the content of these remarks.