    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1993, Book I)]
    [April 24, 1993]
    [Pages 495-496]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    [[Page 495]]

    The President's Radio Address
    April 24, 1993

        Good morning. It's been said that to learn about democracy you can
    take a break from Plato and take the bus. I know firsthand that's good
    advice. It was on our bus tour last year that I met so many of the
    Americans who helped to chart our course toward tomorrow: fathers and
    mothers and children, citizens whose concerns are everyday concerns, the
    kind that unfortunately have been ignored for too long in this Capital
    City.
        I heard worry in some of those voices and hope everywhere that new
    leadership could change our country for the better. That strengthened my
    resolve to beat back the status quo, to fight against special interest
    and politics as usual, to fight for the people who work hard and play by
    the rules. You put your faith in us so that we could put you, the
    American people, first. And that's what I try to do every day. In every
    battle I fight, I just try to keep you and your needs and the future of
    our great Nation in mind.
        Even today I'm reminded of the work still to be done here. For many
    Americans the weekend is a time to unwind a bit, see friends, catch up
    with the family, do the shopping and other chores. Maybe some of you are
    out in the yard gardening or washing a car or tossing a softball or a
    frisbee.
        I know there's been some good news lately. After about 100 days as
    President we've begun to change the direction of America. Our economic
    program has been adopted in its broad outlines by Congress. That's
    brought an end to trickle-down economics. The stock market is at an all-
    time high, and interest rates are very, very low, mortgages at a 20-year
    low. Many of you have already saved a lot of money just since the
    November election on these lower interest rates, with refinancing your
    home mortgages or getting car loans or consumer credit or perhaps
    business loans at lower rates. That's going to put billions and billions
    of dollars back into this economy, which will create jobs and
    opportunities for people for years to come. I'm excited about that.
    We're also lowering the deficit with over 200 specific cuts in
    Government spending and tax increases, almost all of which are coming on
    people with incomes above $100,000.
        We're doing some other things, like taking steps to make more credit
    available to businesses and farms, supporting working families with
    children, developing a proposal to clean up our environment in a way
    that creates jobs rather than costs jobs, and working to invest for new
    jobs for those people who have been laid off by defense cuts.
        These developments will all help to turn our country around and move
    us in the right direction. But still, for many Americans, this is just
    another day without a job and a cruel reminder that without gainful
    employment even the basics in life, including self-esteem, are hard to
    come by.
        For those Americans I'll never stop fighting, because for all
    Americans the stakes go up whenever unemployment refuses to go down.
    Think about this: For 16 straight months the national unemployment rate
    has been 7 percent or higher. Just this week we saw the latest figures
    for unemployment claims, and it still wasn't good. There were 359,000
    claims, an increase of 26,000.
        And some say we're in a recovery. Well, the majority of the
    officials you elected to represent you in Washington know this is a
    serious situation. They know that every industrial nation in the world
    is having a big problem creating jobs. Most people understand we need
    action and bold changes to ensure that we get out of this cycle of job
    loss. How can anybody with a lick of sense think that we don't need more
    jobs?
        Yet, still, this past week, a minority of the United States Senate,
    43 Senators, played parliamentary games with our people's lives. They
    blocked an attempt to even vote on our plan to put Americans back to
    work. Instead of giving the majority the chance they wanted to pass the
    jobs bill, which would have put hundreds of thousands of Americans to
    work, they decided we should spend your tax dollars only to extend
    unemployment benefits.
        I could think they don't understand. The 16 million Americans who
    want full-time jobs don't just want more handouts to get from week to
    week. They want work so they can support themselves and be independent
    and pay taxes instead of spending tax dollars.

    [[Page 496]]

        The bill I proposed didn't create Democratic jobs or Republican
    jobs. And it certainly didn't create make-work jobs. It was a bill to
    create jobs building the fundamentals for long-term economic growth. It
    funded highway and mass transit constructions. It would have enabled
    inner-city and rural kids to get off the streets and go to work. It
    would have permitted hard-pressed communities to rehire as many as
    10,000 police officers to enlist them in the fight against street crime.
    And these investments were paid for by more than 200 real spending cuts
    contained in the budget that Congress has already passed.
        Of course, the best program is one that will help to generate jobs.
    That's the social program we really need. Think of it: If everybody in
    America who wanted a job had one, we wouldn't just be a more productive
    nation; we'd be a freer people, free of many of the problems in our
    society.
        That's why I went the extra mile on this jobs program. I offered a
    compromise. I offered another compromise that met our opponents more
    than halfway, and why I still want to work with Congress, both Democrats
    and Republicans, to pass the details of our economic program and to
    create jobs.
        Look what happened in the Senate. When the economy is looking weak,
    when the recovery isn't producing jobs, when you, the American people,
    are asking lawmakers to cut out the gridlock, the opponents of our
    program filibustered and literally prevented even a vote so that the
    majority could have worked its will. Well, a lot of those people think
    they've scored a victory by killing a chance to put nearly a half
    million Americans to work. I don't think that's much of a victory. I
    think that's letting the American people down. And I'm going to do my
    best not to let you down.
        I've just been here in Washington a short time. We've made some big
    strides. Our budget blueprint has been approved by Congress in record
    time, and that's led to a record reduction in interest rates. As I said
    earlier, a lot of you have already benefited from that, and that's going
    to release tens of billions of dollars to invest in this economy.
        We're not going to play business as usual here. We're going to shift
    the course of this economy from consumption and waste to investment and
    growth. We're taking on some of the hardest problems facing America,
    such as changing the health care system to make it work for you and
    trying to drive special interest out of politics through campaign
    finance and lobbying reform. We're asking everyone to take more
    responsibility by reforming welfare so it's a second chance, not a way
    of life, by making our education system live up to strong national
    standards, by offering students a chance to go to college in exchange
    for community service, by forcing Federal Agencies to do more with a lot
    less of your money.
        These are big changes. We all know they won't happen overnight. But
    we're on our way, thanks to the support you've given us. I want our
    debate on key issues like creating jobs to rise above politics, to rise
    above party and up to the level of the American people. Our only agenda
    should be your needs, the kind of needs you've been telling us about for
    a long time.
        I'm still listening to you. And I'll keep on doing it. But all the
    people here in Washington are going to have to get on the bus. We can't
    miss the bus this time. We've got to be out there working for you to
    make this country what it ought to be.
        Thank you.

    Note: The address was recorded at 7:30 p.m. on April 23 in Room 453 of
    the Old Executive Office Building for broadcast at 10:06 a.m. on April
    24.