    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1994, Book II)]
    [August 6, 1994]
    [Pages 1440-1442]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    The President's Radio Address
    August 6, 1994

        Good morning. This week we celebrated the creation of 4 million new
    jobs in America since I became President on a platform to renew the
    American dream by restoring our economy, empowering individual Americans
    to compete and win in it, making Government work for ordinary citizens,
    and rebuilding our communities. Since we started our national economic
    strategy, our private sector is creating jobs nearly 8 times faster than
    it was 4 years ago.
        It hasn't been easy to make these changes. We had to make some tough
    decisions to put our economic house in order. We had to break the bad
    habits that led to mismanagement of our economy and the explosion of our
    deficit for more than a decade. And we had to break through all of the
    partisan barriers and political

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    rhetoric that too often keeps us from doing the right thing for the
    American people here in Washington, DC.
        Today I want to talk with you about two other historic decisions
    that call on us to break through partisan barriers and political
    rhetoric again. For very soon, Congress will vote on both health care
    reform and the crime bill, two issues crucial to our mission of renewing
    the American dream.
        I want to talk to you about two young Americans whose stories are
    the best arguments I've heard for why we have to fix what's wrong with
    our health care system and make our country safer again for all
    Americans.
        One of those young people is Amanda Stewart from Keyes, Oklahoma.
    This week, I gave awards to four young people who have done heroic deeds
    or performed remarkable public service. Amanda was one of them. She was
    injured in a car wreck in 1990 and paralyzed from the chest down. This
    wonderful young lady could have given up on life. Instead of becoming
    bitter or defeated, she's devoted herself to educating other young
    people not to drink and drive, not to ride with people who do, and to
    always use seat belts. She's helping others to avoid what happened to
    her.
        I met Amanda's family. Her father is a hard-working farmer in
    western Oklahoma. She has a lovely mother and a wonderful younger
    sister. She hasn't had any significant medical costs since just after
    her accident 4 years ago. The Stewarts have been paying $3,400 a year
    for a limited health insurance policy with a high deductible. But
    recently they were told that this month their insurance premiums were
    going to be raised to $9,600 a year.
        Now, Amanda's father happens to be not only a farmer but a
    Republican. He's in a different party from me, and he made it clear to
    me that he doesn't want the National Government to give him anything.
    But he's got a family to raise, and he has no idea how he's going to
    keep paying for their health insurance. He said to me that if he
    couldn't take care of his family, as hard as he was working, something
    was wrong in this country.
        People like Amanda and her family are the reason we have to
    guarantee private, not Government, health insurance for every American,
    insurance that's always there. It's time to do what's right by those
    people. We're going in the wrong direction now. There are 5 million
    Americans just like Amanda's family who had insurance 5 years ago who
    don't have it today. Almost every one of them are working people and
    their children. We can do better, and we must.
        It's also time we do what's right for young people like James Darby,
    the 9-year-old boy from New Orleans who wrote me last April. He asked me
    to do something about the crime rate. He asked me to stop the killing,
    because he was afraid that someone might kill him. And just 9 days
    later, walking home from a Mother's Day picnic, little James Darby was
    shot in the head and killed.
        Well, 9 days ago, after 6 years of delay, a bipartisan committee of
    the Senate and the House of Representatives reconciled their differences
    on the smartest, toughest crime bill in the history of this country and
    sent the bill back to be voted on for final passage in both Houses of
    Congress. It took a lot of work. It's a bipartisan effort and has been
    every step of the way. Both Democrats and Republicans have voted for
    every part of it: ``three strikes and you're out'' and tougher
    punishments for other tough criminals; 100,000 new police officers on
    our streets--that's a 20 percent increase all across America; a ban on
    deadly assault weapons; a law that makes it illegal for minors to own
    and possess handguns; new prisons to keep hardened criminals in; and
    billions for new, effective prevention programs to give our young people
    something to say yes to, not just something to say no to.
        Nine days ago when the bill was sent to both Houses for final
    passage, I thought it would pass quickly and be sent to my desk for
    signing. But it still hasn't happened. Here's the one last hurdle: You
    see, before the House of Representatives can vote on a bill, it must
    agree on the rules for debate about the bill. There are 435 Members of
    the House, and they have to have some rules to limit debate. In
    shorthand, this is called ``the rule.'' The rule is purely a procedural
    matter, but it must be voted on before the final bill can pass.
        Unfortunately, the National Rifle Association, which is opposed to
    the assault weapons ban in the bill, and some other interests are trying
    to keep the crime bill from passing by defeating the rule. They're
    putting pressure on Members of Congress to kill the crime bill in a
    trick maneuver, because they know that once the bill itself gets to a
    vote, it will surely pass.

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        You know, we had a tough fight with the NRA over the ban on assault
    weapons. And those of us who think they should be banned won by only two
    votes. But we won fair and square. No parliamentary trick should reverse
    that result and put the rest of that important crime bill in peril.
        Now, some Members of Congress honestly oppose the crime bill.
    They're against the assault weapons ban or they're against the capital
    punishment provisions of the bill or they're against spending money on
    prevention programs to give our kids a better future. Well, let them
    vote against the bill. Let them vote their conscience. But the NRA and
    the others should come out of the shadows. They ought to fight this bill
    on the merits. If they really want a shootout, we really ought to have
    it at broad daylight and high noon, not in the shadows of parliamentary
    maneuvering. No one should play any more political games with our
    Nation's safety.
        Nine days after 9-year-old James Darby wrote me saying he was
    worrying about his safety and pleading with his President to help, he
    was shot dead. Nine days ago, the House and the Senate got the crime
    bill. There are lots of other little James Darbys out there, and they've
    waited long enough.
        For Amanda Stewart and her fine family, for James Darby, for every
    American child and for all of their families and their futures, let's
    stop playing games with these two important issues. Let's get the job
    done.
        Thanks for listening.

    Note: The address was recorded at 4:05 p.m. on August 5 in the Roosevelt
    Room at the White House for broadcast at 10:06 a.m. on August 6.