[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1994, Book I)]
[May 3, 1994]
[Pages 816-818]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks to the Community in Atlanta, Georgia
May 3, 1994

    Thank you so much. Thank you for being here and in such large 
numbers and with such enthusiasm. Thank you, Mayor, for that wonderful 
introduction. Thank you, Governor and Mrs. Miller and Secretary of State 
Cleland, Commissioner, Congressman Lewis, Congresswoman McKinney, and 
ladies and gentlemen. Thank the Wings of Faith Choir and the Morehouse 
College Glee Club and all those who sang for us, thank you.
    It is good to be back in Georgia and Atlanta again. I went running 
the other day with a number of members of the United States Olympic Team 
for the Winter Olympics. My wife and daughter represented us there in 
Lillehammer, and I could at least keep up with the winter Olympians. I 
don't think I can keep up with the summer Olympians, but I'll be here in 
1996 to cheer them on along with you.
    I want to thank all of you who came here with these ``America Back 
On Track'' signs. You know, I ran for President because I thought our 
country was not on the right track; because I was worried about my 
daughter growing up to be part of the first generation of Americans that 
did not do better than their parents; because I thought our country was 
being too divided by party, by race, by region, with arguments about 
what was right or left or liberal or conservative, obscuring the truth, 
the facts, and a way to the future.
    Frankly, there is still a lot of that in our politics and too much 
of that in Washington, where people scream at each other across the 
divide and try to confuse you folks out here in the country with 
negative images and useless rhetoric. But there are some things that do 
not change. In the end, we will all be judged on whether we have done 
what is right to bring this country together and to move this country 
forward, to make it possible for every man and woman, every boy and girl 
to live to the fullest of their God-given capacities. That is our common 
obligation and our great opportunity. And I am doing my best to seize it 
for you as President of the United States.
    I asked the United States Congress last year to pass an economic 
plan that would bring the deficit down and drive investment up, that 
would drive interest rates down, keep inflation down, create jobs, and 
move this country forward. And the Congress did it in the face of

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withering, withering hot air and rhetoric. And all the people who were 
against it said, ``Well, if you do this, all the middle class people in 
America will have their income taxes go up, and the economy will 
collapse.'' Well, what happened?
    The economic plan passed. Interest rates went down; investment went 
up. Last year, in the first 14 months of our administration, 2\1/2\ 
million new jobs were created, more than the previous 4 years. And we 
are moving this country forward.
    It is true that 1.2 percent of the American people paid more in 
income taxes, but it all went to pay down the deficit. And we cut even 
more in spending. And this year, one in six working families will get an 
income tax cut so that they will not fall into poverty and be tempted to 
choose welfare over work. We are going to choose work over welfare by 
not taxing people into welfare, but lifting them out for work.
    And I have now presented a budget to the Congress which eliminates 
100 Government programs, cuts over 200 more, has no tax increases, and 
if adopted, will give us 3 years of declining deficits for the first 
time since Harry Truman was the President of the United States of 
America.
    That is not partisan rhetoric, my fellow Americans. And that's not 
all that liberal and conservative talk in the air. That's just the 
facts. We are doing it. And what we need in America is more people to 
leave aside the hot air, roll up their sleeves, and go to work on the 
promise and the problems of this country in that way.
    They said when I took office all the Democrats were for big 
Government. Well, let me tell you something. The budget I gave to the 
Congress does provide more money for Head Start, more money for new 
technologies and job training, more money for education and training our 
people in the future. But you know what? It still reduces domestic 
spending in everything but health care for the first time since 1969. No 
other President has been able to do that. If the Congress adopts it, 
we'll do it for the first time since `69.
    This is not a partisan issue. It's a question of whether we're going 
to do what it takes to get this country going again so those little 
children will have a future. That is what is at stake.
    And now we have many challenges before us. We must keep this economy 
strong. The economy of Georgia last year--in the last year--has produced 
150,000 new jobs, the fastest growing economy east of the Mississippi 
River. You have benefited from this, and we have to keep it going.
    If you look ahead to this year--I came here today to be part of a 
remarkable thing that CNN is sponsoring, making you the 
telecommunications capital of the world. Tonight I will be talking with 
people not only all across America but with 75 million people, at least, 
in over 100 other countries, people asking questions about what this 
world is going to be like and what America's role is in it. And I want 
to say something that you know here: We cannot withdraw from the world. 
Last year, we made more progress in opening America's borders to new 
trade, new investment, and reaching out to the rest of the world, than 
had been made in a generation. This year, the Congress has got to adopt 
the new world trade agreement. This year we have got to adopt new 
systems for educating and training our people so they can compete in 
that global economy. We're going to be challenged to do that.
    Tomorrow I'm going back to the White House to sign a bill that will, 
for the first time, put in place a national system for all the young 
people in our country who don't go on to 4-year colleges but do need 
more education and training, so they can move from school to work with 
high skills and better opportunity in the future.
    And then we are going to take up a bill to totally change the 
unemployment system. You know, a lot of you here can identify with this. 
It used to be when people lost their jobs, they were just laid off for a 
while, and then they were called back to their old jobs. so the 
unemployment system gave them enough to live on while that happened. 
Now, most people who are laid off do not get called back to their old 
jobs; should not be allowed to wait month after month after month but 
instead should be able, from the day they are laid off, to immediately 
start a training program and a new set of job searches. And that's what 
we're trying to do with this reemployment system, instead of an 
unemployment program.
    We are working on a crime bill in Washington which mirrors a lot of 
what Governor Miller and the legislature have done here: to put more 
police officers on the street; to help cities like Atlanta have 
community police officers who walk the streets, know the kids, know the 
neighbors,

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and can reduce crime as well as catch criminals; one that has tougher 
penalties but also alternative punishments, like boot camps for first-
time offenders; one that will give us a chance to have drug treatment as 
well as tougher punishment. These are the kinds of things that we need 
to do to make this country safe again. And we're going to do it this 
year in Washington, just as you've been trying to do it in Georgia.
    Soon I will present to the Congress a welfare reform program 
designed to begin the process of ending the whole welfare system as we 
know it. And a lot of that welfare reform program is like what you are 
doing here in Georgia. People want to be independent, not dependent. 
People want to succeed as parents and workers. And we have to give them 
the tools, the incentives, and, if necessary, the requirements to do 
just that. And I believe we can. And I think the American people want us 
to do it.
    Finally, let me say that when you look at all this, it all brings 
you back to the beginning. We are moving into a new and different and 
very exciting time in which the young people here will be able to grow 
up, if we complete our work at dismantling the nuclear arsenals of other 
countries, unafraid of nuclear war. I was so proud to be able to go to 
Russia and sign an agreement where we agreed that for the first time in 
decades we would no longer even point our missiles at each other. That 
is a good thing.
    But if you look all over the world, with the end of the cold war and 
the opening up of new technologies and the increasing entrepreneurialism 
and the more rapid pace of change, there are dangers there, too. Because 
now countries instead of invading each other are fighting from within, 
from Bosnia to Rwanda. And even countries that are trying to promote 
democracy are made more vulnerable by high technology and organized 
criminal activity, from organized crime in Russia to the drug kingpins 
in Mexico and South America to the gangs that terrorize the streets of 
the United States of America.
    We have great tests and challenges before us, each of us within our 
borders and across our borders. But the next century can be the best 
time America has ever known. And the young people in this audience can 
have the best life any group of Americans has ever known if we have the 
courage and the vision and the wisdom to cool down the traditional 
politics-as-usual, to reduce the gridlock, to reduce the hot air, to 
reduce the name-calling, and instead think about the people that live in 
this country and do something to bring them together and move them 
forward. That is my promise to you.
    Thank you, and God bless you all.

Note: The President spoke at 1:12 p.m. in the CNN Center Atrium. In his 
remarks, he referred to Mayor Bill Campbell of Atlanta; Gov. Zell Miller 
of Georgia; Max Cleland, Georgia secretary of state; and Thomas T. 
Irvin, Georgia agriculture commissioner.