[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.