[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.