    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1994, Book II)]
    [August 15, 1994]
    [Pages 1470-1471]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks on Signing the Social Security Independence and Program
    Improvements Act of 1994
    August 15, 1994

        Thank you very much. Thank you, Senator Moynihan, Chairman Gibbons,
    Secretary Shalala. To all the distinguished Members of Congress who are
    here, especially Senators Mitchell and Dole and the Speaker and to one
    who is not here, Andy Jacobs, who worked so hard on this endeavor, let
    me thank you all. Let me especially thank Senator Moynihan, who
    identified the need to reestablish the Social Security Administration as
    an independent agency 11 years ago. I was sitting here thinking, when I
    saw him up here so full of pride that this day had finally come to pass,
    of two things. First of all, about 8 months ago, Senator Moynihan said
    to me, ``We have a lot of important business to do this year. And we'll
    have to fight like crazy on all of it. But if you will just come out and
    say you're for an independent Social Security agency, I think we can do
    this unanimously. And that would be a very good thing for Congress to
    do.'' [Laughter] And then I was wondering whether, if we waited 11 years
    we could be unanimous about every issue that comes before us. [Laughter]
    I want to thank Senator Moynihan for his persistence and guidance and
    all the others who have worked so hard on this legislation.

        When Franklin Roosevelt made a speech to the New York legislature in
    1931, he said this: ``The success or failure of any government must be
    measured by the well-being of its citizens.'' That was the goal that
    moved him 59 years ago yesterday. On that day, in a ceremony in the
    Cabinet Room, just behind us, he signed the Social Security Act into
    law. And that is what guides us today.

        With an independent Social Security Administration, we are
    reinventing our Government to streamline our operations so that we can
    serve the American people better. We are strengthening those things
    which Social Security ought to do and taking precautions to make sure it
    does not do things which it ought not to do. It is proving that
    Government can still work to improve people's lives. And now Social
    Security, we know, will work even better.

        For millions of Americans, that signature 59 years ago transformed
    old age from a time of fear and want to a period of rest and reward. It
    empowered many American families as well, freeing them to put their
    children through college to enrich their own lives, knowing that their
    parents would not grow old in poverty. Nine years ago, thanks to that
    effort, for the first time in the history of the United States, the
    elderly had a lower poverty rate than the rest of the population.

        In fighting for Social Security and for so much else, President
    Roosevelt knew that the Amer-

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    ican people always would have a personal stake in overcoming the status
    quo when the need was great enough. That is something we should all
    remember as we go into the next few weeks, as we delay the August
    recess, as we struggle to come to grips with the challenges of this age,
    the challenge of crime, the challenge of health care.

        These kinds of changes are difficult, but they always have been. In
    1935, even Social Security as we know it nearly died in a congressional
    committee, as Senators considered stripping away the old-age pension.
    Congress almost left town with this and other critical work unfinished.
    But they found the grit to work on through the summer of 1935, when they
    didn't have as much air-conditioning as we have today. And they
    accomplished so much in that period now known as the Second Hundred
    Days. President Roosevelt said then that that session of Congress would
    be regarded as historic for all time.

        What we do here today maintains that historic commitment. If we keep
    focus on the work we are sent here to do, what we do here today can be
    but the precursor of things that we also can do to benefit the American
    people that will be historic for all time.

        Now I'd like to ask the folks here to join me as I sign this bill.
    In the beginning, I will for a letter or two at least, use the pen that
    President Roosevelt used 59 years ago yesterday.

        Thank you very much.

    Note: The President spoke at 10:40 a.m. in the Rose Garden at the White
    House. H.R. 4277, approved August 15, was assigned Public Law No. 103-
    296.