    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1994, Book II)]
    [August 27, 1994]
    [Pages 1510-1512]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    The President's Radio Address
    August 27, 1994

        Good morning. This has been an historic week for the American
    people. After 6 years of talking about crime, Members of Congress in
    both Houses from both parties overcame their partisan divisions and the
    false choices of the past to pass the toughest attack on crime in
    history. With a little good faith and an awful lot of hard work, both
    Democrats and Republicans took a stand against crime as the American
    people had demanded they do for years.
        For all those Americans who want Washington to work for them,
    passing the crime bill shows we can break the stranglehold of politics-
    as-usual and solve the problems you sent us all here to solve.

    [[Page 1511]]

        Crime and violence have been increasing for a long time. Too many
    law-abiding citizens have been killed on their streets and in their
    homes. Too many of our children have been terrified on their streets and
    in their schools. Too many police officers have been killed in the line
    of duty, too many families torn apart. But for 6 years, Washington just
    talked about the crime problem and failed to act. But this week,
    Congress acted. The special interests lost. The public interest won.
    Democrats and Republicans came together without regard to party to make
    America safer, and every American can take heart.
        This is how Washington should work. It's how I wanted a Washington
    to work when I came here as President, and how I hope it will work in
    the future. All the elements of an anticrime program I talked about in
    my campaign for President are present in this bill and a lot more good
    things as well.
        This crime bill will put 100,000 more police on our streets in
    community policing, walking the beat, preventing crime, as well as
    catching criminals. That's a 20 percent increase in the number of police
    officers in America. It will provide more prisons and longer sentences
    for violent criminals. It will lock up the most dangerous criminals for
    good by making ``three strikes and you're out'' the law of the land. It
    will provide greater protection to women and children by imposing
    tougher penalties on those who prey on them. It will say to anyone who
    kills a police officer, ``You, too, can pay with your life.''
        The crime bill answers the call of police officers everywhere to do
    more to prevent crime from happening in the first place. It will help to
    steer young people away from gangs and drugs by helping them learn right
    from wrong and giving them something to say yes to as well as something
    to say no to.
        This bill does make it clear that some things are very wrong and
    young people must say no to them. That's why it prohibits juveniles from
    owning handguns and prohibits them from using them except under the
    supervision of a qualified adult. And this bill does something else that
    police officers have wanted us to do for a very long time. It bans
    assault weapons that were designed for soldiers to use in war but that
    have been used instead by gang members and gangsters to make war on
    police and innocent citizens.
        And in another dramatic departure from politics as usual, this
    entire crime bill will be paid for not with new taxes, not by increasing
    the deficit but by reducing the Federal work force by over a quarter of
    a million people to its lowest level in 30 years and taking all that
    money to empower people to make their lives safer. More police on the
    street, less Government in Washington, that's a good deal for the
    American people.

        Let's remember why this bill finally passed. It passed because half
    a million police officers who risk their lives every day stood up and
    made their voices heard. It passed because the families of innocent
    victims like Polly Klaas stood up and made their voices heard. It passed
    because parents and teachers and senior citizens who want their streets
    back stood up and made their voices heard, the ordinary voices of
    ordinary Americans that Washington so often ignored. This week, they
    weren't ignored. This week they were heard, and they made all the
    difference.

        We know many challenges remain. We waited 6 years for a crime bill.
    Now we have to implement that bill and make it work in the lives of the
    American people. But the American people have waited 60 years for
    Washington to do something comprehensive about health care. It's a
    difficult challenge; there are even more interest groups irate against
    making real change. But we have to meet it because it affects our
    children, our families, and our future, our human quality of life and
    our ability to pay for the basic things in life as well as to run the
    Federal Government without increasing the deficit.

        Already we've made more progress on health care than ever before.
    Members of both parties are trying hard to work out their differences.
    And health care will be the first order of business when Congress
    returns. We have to continue this fight; we have to win it.

        The crime bill shows we can. It shows that when we put aside the
    rhetoric and the partisanship, we can solve any issue and meet any
    challenge. Its narrow victory also shows the damage, the danger that
    partisanship can bring to our deliberation. But we can get past the
    partisan static that drowns out the voices of ordinary Americans. We can
    put cooperation over confrontation. We can move America forward. We can
    put the American people first, and we proved it this week.

    [[Page 1512]]

        Thanks for listening.

    Note: The address was recorded at 5:35 p.m. on August 26 in the
    Roosevelt Room at the White House for broadcast at 10:06 a.m. on August
    27.