[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.