    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1993, Book I)]
    [May 20, 1993]
    [Pages 709-710]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    [[Page 709]]

    Remarks on Cuban Independence Day
    May 20, 1993

        Before I say anything else, I want to acknowledge the presence here
    of some very special friends of mine, Jorge Perez, Jorge Bolano, and
    Willie Braceras, who helped me in Miami last year when I hardly knew
    anyone who lived in south Florida and when I needed to learn a lot about
    the issues affecting Cuban-Americans. I want to say a special word of
    thanks, too, to Simon Ferro who helped me to organize this event.
        We join all Cubans today in celebrating this, the 91st anniversary
    of Cuban independence. Just as Cubans struggled for independence nearly
    a century ago today, a new generation of Cubans in our country and our
    time are struggling for freedom and democracy. And the American people
    stand by them and their brothers and sisters in Cuba as they struggle
    for freedom and democracy.
        The people of Cuba deserve to be free and to determine their own
    future through free elections. They deserve to be free of political
    abuse and dictatorship. Our administration seeks a rapid and peaceful
    transition to democracy so that all Cubans can enjoy the fruits of
    freedom as Cuban-Americans do today. That is why, last year, I was proud
    to join in supporting the Cuban Democracy Act and why as President I
    still support it.
        I also want to recognize the accomplishments here in the United
    States of more than one million Cuban-Americans for all they have done
    not only to rebuild their lives and the lives of their families but to
    make America a richer, stronger country through what they have done. As
    I look out on you and I see the great community you represent, I see a
    real mirror of the American dream. Like others from all over the world
    you came to our country, or you or your grandparents or parents did,
    fleeing from oppression, looking for a better life. America offered, in
    some way, all of us or our ancestors the gift of freedom and opportunity
    if we would but seize it and exercise it responsibly.
        When you came to America, you rolled up your sleeves; you went to
    work. Many of you work from dawn to dusk, or some of you had to work
    from dusk to dawn. You were resourceful and talented. You started
    businesses, entered the ranks of our legal and medical and other
    professionals. You sent people to Congress and others became artists and
    athletes and entertainers. You helped to transform the economy of
    southern Florida so that it now produces more than all of Cuba does
    under Castro's communism. You've produced musicians like Gloria Estefan,
    Arturo Sandoval, Celia Cruz, Paquito Rivero; writers, like Herberto
    Padilla, Liz Balmaseda, Christiana Garcia; prominent citizens like Ramon
    and Polita Grau, Bishop Augustin Roman, Josefina Carbonell, Orestes
    Lorenzo; political leaders--and we have in Congress now three Cuban-
    Americans--Bob Menendez, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, and Lincoln Diaz-Balart;
    business leaders, like the distinguished leader of Coca Cola, Roberto
    Guizueta, and Marcelino Miyares; and educators, like Eduardo Padron. I
    know you have never forgotten Cuba, any of you, but you have made
    America a much better place in which to live. And as President of this
    country, I thank you on this Cuban Independence Day not only for your
    continuing dreams for the independence of your homeland but your
    continuing additions to the vitality of the independence and freedom of
    the United States.
        I'd also like to make one final remark. Freedom carries with it not
    only liberties but responsibilities. And when we neglect our
    responsibilities as a people, our freedoms erode. That has happened to
    us in significant measure here in the United States as we have seen,
    over the last 12 years, our national debt go from $1 to $4 trillion,
    while our investment in the future and our ability to compete in many
    areas has declined. I believe I was elected to try to turn that around.
    I'm doing the best I can to achieve those goals. I hope that all of you
    will support the efforts that this administration is making to bring our
    deficit down, to invest in education and technology in the future, and
    to gain control of our economic destiny again. It can no longer be in
    the hands of others because we don't have the discipline to control our
    own direction. I'm very concerned that in the days and weeks ahead the
    easy path may once again be taken.
        Today I heard people talking about an alternative budget that
    sounded so good. It said less

    [[Page 710]]

    taxes and more spending cuts. Who in the world could be against that? No
    one. Except when you strip it away there are two things that ought to
    concern you as Americans first, and second, many of you as business
    people who have your own health insurance. I'd like to point out what
    happens when you get into this. Point number one, this so-called
    alternative proposal today takes $40 billion in tax breaks that it gives
    to people with incomes above $135,000 and imposes $40 billion in extra
    burdens on the elderly and working people just above the poverty line.
    It sounds great to call one a tax cut and the other to call a budget
    cut, but when you strip all the rhetoric away there's $40 billion worth
    of burdens on people just above the poverty line and $40 billion less on
    those of us like me who can afford to do a little more for our country.
        The other thing that this alternative budget today presented was a
    so-called cap on entitlements. Well, in American terms that means one
    thing: We're going to try to control health care costs. Who could be
    against that? The problem is that in this proposal we would only control
    the Government's health care costs. What happens if that happens? If you
    have private insurance, you know what's happened, you've been paying
    more than your fair share because if you have health insurance you have
    to pay for the people who don't have any insurance when they show up and
    get health care, and they're not paid for, and you have to pay because
    your Government does not reimburse Medicare and Medicaid at appropriate
    levels. So if we control the costs of Medicare and Medicaid but we don't
    reform the health insurance system, that will force the doctors and the
    hospitals and the health care providers of this country to explode your
    health insurance premiums even more in the years ahead than you've
    experienced in the last 12 years. And that's wrong.
        I say let's do it right. Let's control health care costs by doing it
    for the whole system, reforming the American health care system and
    reforming the American budget and moving this country forward in a fair
    and balanced way.
        Thank you, and God bless you all.
        Now wait a minute, I want to introduce the First Lady for a moment,
    and let her introduce our wonderful Cuban-American sister-in-law and my
    brother-in-law, her brother.

    [At this point, Hillary Clinton welcomed participants and introduced
    Hugh and Maria Rodham.]

        I want to close by acknowledging, in general, the presence in the
    audience of several members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus who are
    not Cuban-Americans but who are here, and other Members of Congress who
    are here. Could we have all the Members of Congress raise your hand.
    Senator Connie Mack over there from Florida, thank you for coming. Come
    on up, Robert. Here's a guy who came from the farthest away. Come up,
    Bill. Okay, all the Members of Congress come up here. We'll give you a
    little publicity here.

    Note: The President spoke at 5:05 p.m. in the Rose Garden at the White
    House. In his remarks, he referred to Jorge Perez, president and CEO,
    Related Group; Jorge L. Bolanos, president, Nova Home Health Corp.;
    Wilfrido Braceras, president, Med-Care Home Health Agency; and Simon
    Ferro, attorney, Beckers & Poliakoffa, and former Chair of the Florida
    Democratic Party.