[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1993, Book I)]
[March 27, 1993]
[Pages 366-367]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



The President's Radio Address
March 27, 1993

    Good morning. Last November you demanded a new spirit of action and 
an end to gridlock in Washington. Well, what you demanded is finally 
taking hold. The House and the Senate are now completing work on the 
heart of our bold economic plan for new directions: to create jobs, to 
increase incomes, to bring down our terrible national debt.
    The actions taking place in Congress are a welcome departure from 
the status quo of the past. For 12 years, our Government was paralyzed 
by partisan gridlock, our economy caught in the grip of powerful special 
interests who bent the system so that they could win at our expense. Our 
deficits went up, and the creation of high-paying jobs went down. And 
good families found themselves working harder, paying more in taxes, and 
bringing less money home.
    When you sent me and our administration here, you wanted a plan of 
action, and we've provided it. Our plan is based on this simple 
principle: The best social program is a good job, and the best way to 
reduce the deficit is by cutting spending and making smart investments 
to grow the economy.
    Last week, the House of Representatives endorsed this plan. And this 
week, the Senate did the same, approving our budget resolution in record 
time, just 36 days after we took it to you, the American people.
    I salute our supporters on Capitol Hill for their outstanding work. 
And also I want to thank Vice President Gore, who's worked tirelessly to 
enlist lawmakers in the cause of change. We should all be pleased that 
we're on our way toward putting this plan in motion.
    Before the Congress goes home for Easter recess, I'm counting on 
them to complete their work on the plan, to finish the budget and pass 
our proposals to create good jobs in the short term. The progress we've 
made shows we're beating the status quo. And you have given us the clout 
to do it.
    We've come a long way in 9\1/2\ weeks. Interest rates are down. The 
power of investment is returning to the economy. Confidence is strong. 
But I won't rest until we right the economy and guarantee for future 
generations the prosperity that should be the birthright of every 
American.
    We can begin with this program, because the best way to build the 
economy and lay the foundation for the future is to create 8 million 
jobs in the next 4 years and by adopting the immediate investments that 
will create a half a million jobs in the near term. That's what this 
plan

[[Page 367]]

does.
    To create jobs and to make our economy more productive, we're 
planning to build and repair new roads and transit systems. We want to 
place hundreds of thousands of Americans in productive summer jobs and 
get young people the education they need while they're working. And 
we're challenging the private sector to create more and giving them the 
incentives to do it.
    We want to fund future-oriented research and equip our Nation's 
young scientists and engineers with the skills to excel in high-
technology fields. We want to convert military technology for peaceful 
uses that will benefit all of us and help communities hard hit by base 
closings and cutbacks on defense contracts. We want to retrain the 
defense workers put out of work by the end of the cold war. These people 
are patriots, and they deserve nothing less than a chance to work in 
civilian jobs that will earn them the kind of money they earned 
protecting our national defense.
    Some people say these investments are unnecessary and costly. Their 
only alternative is to do nothing, accept things just the way they are, 
and hope, with no Government action in partnership with the private 
sector, somehow things will get better. These friends of the status quo 
have tried everything in recent days to show that we don't need new 
investments. But they've forgotten: We tried cutting investments for 
years. We forgot about the human equation, the necessity to train and 
educate people. And guess what? We didn't get jobs.
    We still have a jobless economic recovery. If this were even an 
average recovery, we'd have 3 million more Americans working today. Many 
of the jobs that were created last month were part-time jobs. And the 
unemployment rate is still higher today than it was at the bottom of the 
recession.
    This job drought has put individuals and families under great 
stress. Americans don't want handouts; they just want a hand up, a 
chance to work and to provide for their own. And our plan does just 
that. In doing so, we'll be on our way to a real job-creating recovery 
that gets the incomes of American workers growing again.
    We have to raise the living standards of our people now and in the 
long run. To keep our preeminence in the world economy, we have to 
create a smarter work force, with lifelong learning that trains all our 
people for better, higher paying jobs. And we need to develop the new 
technologies that are farsighted, that will create the high-wage jobs of 
today and tomorrow. If we're shortsighted today, we'll be blindsided 
tomorrow.
    That's why I'm working hard, not just on this economic plan, 
although it is the centerpiece of our efforts, but on other fronts too: 
from controlling health care costs and providing the security of health 
care to all Americans, to moving people from welfare into jobs, to 
correcting the way we finance campaigns to bring the people in and move 
the special interests out. Each step of the way, I'm trying to listen to 
you. What happens on the short stretch of road between 1600 Pennsylvania 
Avenue and Capitol Hill is only meaningful if we're acting for you and 
with you. This is the promise of our new plan for new directions.
    Thanks for listening.

Note: The President spoke at 10:06 a.m. from the Oval Office at the 
White House.