[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.