[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1994, Book II)]
[October 11, 1994]
[Pages 1727-1731]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks to Ford Motor Company Employees in Dearborn, Michigan
October 11, 1994

    Thank you very much, Alex, for your introduction and for your work. 
And especially, thank you for not giving up on the Mustang.
    I'm delighted to be here with Alex Trotman and Owen Bieber. And I 
want to thank all the people from Ford and from the UAW who made it 
possible for me to be the first President ever to visit this plant and 
to take the tour and to see the new Mustangs and to sort of regret I 
couldn't drive out of here with one. [Laughter]
    Mayor Archer, it's good to see you. Mr. McNamara, ladies and 
gentlemen, thank you all so much for coming here today.
    I guess it's not much of a secret to you that I own a 1967 Mustang, 
so I have been out of the market for a while. When I left Arkansas 20 
months ago, I think it was the thing I most regretted leaving behind. Of 
course, all the drivers in my State were elated, but I miss it anyway. 
[Laughter]
    I want to tell you how very proud I am of Ford, of the UAW, the 
American auto industry generally for what you have done to put America 
on the move again, to rebuild our position globally in auto 
manufacturing, to strengthen manufacturing in America, and to give us a 
better chance to move into the 21st century. Ten years ago, a lot of 
people were willing to throw in the towel on the auto industry. But you 
fought back, labor and management, together. And now for the first time 
in a good long while, you are number one again, not only here but in the 
entire world, and you ought to be proud of yourselves.
    I want to say to you that the fight you have fought is the fight I 
am fighting for America. I want us to be number one again. I want us to 
be able to compete and win in the 21st century. I don't want our 
children to be the first generation of Americans to do worse than their 
parents. And I believe the future can be the best time America has ever 
had if we have the discipline and the courage and the vision to stick 
with it and go forward and do what we know we ought to do.
    I've been in a lot of tough fights in my life and none so tough as 
the one I've been in in Washington for the last 20 months. But it's been 
a good fight. It's a fight to give Americans the power to compete and 
win and to empower all Americans to live up to their God-given 
potential, and we have made a good start.
    No one would want to go back to the days when we exported jobs, not 
products. No one would want us to go back to the days when our deficit 
was exploding and our economy was going downhill. That is exactly the 
decision that all of you are going to have to make on November 8th, 
whether we keep going in the right direction or go back to the 1980's 
trickle-down economics.
    You remember the folks in the other party; they talked a good game. 
But trickle-down eco-


[[Page 1728]]

nomics gave us an economy stuck in reverse: tax breaks for the 
wealthiest Americans, higher taxes on the middle class, a quadrupled 
deficit, jobs going overseas. Most manufacturing jobs that were ever 
lost in this country were lost in that period. And in their last 4 
years, we had the worst job growth since the Great Depression. Michigan 
alone lost almost 70,000 manufacturing jobs during that time. Well, I 
don't think we want to go back to that, where families struggle longer 
and harder for less, where we come apart when we ought to be coming 
together.
    The American people really hired me to try to change all that. It 
wasn't easy, and I knew it wouldn't be. But I ask you to remember this: 
We've had 30 years in which we've been developing serious social 
problems with our families, our communities, the crime problem, the gang 
problem, the drug problem. We've had 20 years when most working people 
have worked harder for stagnant wages. And we tried 12 years of trickle-
down economics. After 20 months, I think it's plain that we've made a 
beginning in turning this country around. And I hope you'll say it's 
plain that you don't want to go back, you want to go forward into the 
21st century.
    I ask every American in the next 4 weeks not just to think of their 
discontents with the political system, although there's plenty of good 
reason to be discontented, but remember the problems we found 20 months 
ago. Remember the progress we're making. Remember how many of them 
fought us every step of the way. And remember now what they want to do 
to take us back, when we have so much to do to keep going forward.
    We cannot turn back again. We're headed in a new direction, with a 
new idea about what our National Government ought to do: not a 
Government that ignores our problems but not one that promises to solve 
all the problems for us either, but instead, a Government that empowers 
citizens to build good lives of their own; not more Government but less 
Government that works better for ordinary Americans. Look at the start 
that's been made:
    The family leave law, which in Michigan alone provides extra 
protection for 1.5 million working people so they can succeed as parents 
and workers; it's a very important thing. Nobody should lose their job 
when a baby is born or a parent's sick.
    Immunization for all American children under the age of 2 by 1996, 2 
million kids that are going to have a better chance at a better life. 
That's something that ordinary American families ought to be able to 
expect of their Government.
    Apprenticeships for young people who don't go to college but want 
good jobs. Every young American ought to have a chance to train for a 
good job in a 21st century economy.
    College loans affordable for 20 million people, almost 600,000 right 
here in Michigan, eligible for lower interest, longer term, better 
repayment college loans so that now no young person should ever decline 
to go to college because of the cost of a college education, the burden 
on the student, the burden on the parents. It's the most important thing 
that's been done for middle class Americans in a very long time by the 
National Government, and we ought to stick with it.
    We sent a welfare reform plan to Congress to end welfare as we know 
it, to move people from welfare to work. And while it hasn't passed yet, 
it will. And we've already given 17 States permission to get rid of all 
Federal regulations that undermine their ability to move people from 
welfare to work.
    For the first time in a generation, we've also begun a serious 
assault on crime, passing the Brady bill and the crime bill with ``three 
strikes and you're out,'' a 20 percent increase in the number of police 
officers on the beat in America--already in Taylor, nearby here, they're 
getting more police officers, and you will see it in every community in 
this country--100,000 more prison cells to hold serious offenders, and 
prevention programs to give young people a chance to avoid a life of 
crime.
    We've begun, finally, to put our economic house in order. When I 
took office, we had had 12 years of exploding deficits and declining 
incomes; we had quadrupled the national debt. Before I could do anything 
else, folks, I had to get our economic house in order, and we had to do 
something about this terrible deficit. It was choking the economy and 
robbing our children of their future. So we fought for historic deficit 
reductions, $255 billion in Federal spending cuts. We did raise tax 
rates on the top 1.2 percent of Americans, but we cut taxes for 15 
million working Americans. In Michigan alone, that means 41,000 families 
had higher income tax rates and 390,000 families had lower

[[Page 1729]]

income tax rates to encourage those people to work instead of going on 
welfare.
    Now, when I proposed this economic program, the same folks that 
exploded our deficit in the eighties said if this passes, the sky would 
fall; the deficit would go up more; the economy would collapse; it would 
be the end of the world. And so every last member of the Republican 
Party in the Congress voted against that program, every single one, 
against the deficit reduction, against the college loan program, every 
single one.
    So what happened when they said the world would come to an end? 
Well, for the first time since Harry Truman, we're bringing the deficit 
down 3 years in a row. We had more jobs created in high-wage industries 
this year than in the previous 5 years combined. We've had 9 months now 
of growth in manufacturing jobs in a row for the first time in 10 years. 
America was voted the most productive country in the world by the annual 
panel of international economists for the first time in 9 years. And we 
have 4.6 million new jobs in America in the last 20 months.
    Our exports are up around the world. We're selling all kind of 
things we never sold before, not just automobiles; we're selling rice to 
Japan for the first time, something I'm very proud of--and Mustangs to 
Japan, I might add. Exports to Mexico are up 19 percent; exports of cars 
and trucks are up 500 percent, 500 percent. If we pass the world trade 
agreement, it will enable us to get more high-wage jobs tied to exports. 
We are doing that.
    So what are we doing? Putting our economic house in order, making a 
serious assault on crime, making Government work for ordinary people 
again. The other thing we're trying to do is to do it with less 
Government, not more. Republicans talked forever about how much they 
dislike the Federal Government and how they wanted to cut bureaucracy 
and inefficiency, and they're saying it again this year. I just want to 
remind you that it was our Democratic administration that passed laws to 
reduce the size of the Federal bureaucracy by 272,000, to make it the 
smallest it's been since John Kennedy was President, and to give every 
last dollar of the savings to you in your local community to fight 
crime. That is the record that we have made in reducing the Federal 
Government.
    Now, you may say, ``Well, that's all fine, Mr. President, but my 
life is still pretty tough,'' or ``My neighbor still doesn't have a 
job,'' or ``I'm still not sure what the future holds.'' Well, no one can 
promise you to repeal the laws of change that are sweeping through the 
world today. What we have to do is to make change our friend.
    What are the problems we still have in America? Too many people 
still haven't gotten a raise in a long time. A million Americans lost 
their health insurance last year. We have too many people who are 
trapped in the cycle of welfare. We have social problems that are 
profound. These are legitimate problems. The political system needs some 
internal reforms. That's right, we have problems. What you have to say 
to yourself is, ``Who is more likely to meet these problems? Who is more 
likely to seize these challenges?''
    Look at what the strategy of our administration is. It's to create 
more high-wage American jobs, train more Americans to do those jobs, 
bring free enterprise to poor inner-city areas and rural areas that have 
been ignored for too long, continue to fight for political reforms, and 
meet the challenges of America that have not yet been faced in health 
care, in welfare, and in so many other areas. That is our strategy, 
fighting for the future.
    Now, consider instead what their strategy is. Look what they've done 
just in the last year. Whenever they were faced with an idea that 
created jobs or educated students or fight crime or reform the political 
system, no matter how good it was, no matter even if they had already 
supported it, what did they do? You remember what they did, just in the 
last couple of weeks. They tried to stop it, slow it, kill it, or just 
talk it to death.
    Congress should have passed a bipartisan health care reform bill 
with private insurance, consumer choice, cost constraints, and universal 
coverage. Instead, we watched another year go by where health care costs 
rose faster than inflation, over a million Americans lost their 
coverage, the cost of health care exploded the Federal deficit. Why? 
Because the other guys walked away from every attempt we had to 
compromise this issue.
    Congress should have passed a lobbying reform and a campaign finance 
reform bill and made all the laws that they apply to private employers 
and employees apply to themselves. And they passed both Houses. Why did 
those laws fail? Because in the end the Republican

[[Page 1730]]

congressional leadership delayed them to death. It is wrong when a 
Senator of the other party can filibuster lobbying reform, which Senator 
Levin has worked so hard for for so long, and then walk off the floor of 
the United States Senate and be cheered by a crowd of lobbyists for 
killing it. But it happened. Well, the lobbyists may be cheering, but I 
don't imagine you are.
    The Republican leadership blocks change in Washington, and then they 
go home and tell you how hard they're fighting the Democrats to change 
the way things are. They say one thing in one place and another in 
another.
    Look what else they blocked that affects Michigan. In the 11th hour 
they blocked the passage of the Superfund legislation to clean up toxic 
waste dumps. You know who was for that? Every industry group, the labor 
groups, and the Sierra Club. It's the only time in history the chemical 
companies and the Sierra Club have agreed on anything. There was nobody 
in America against passing Superfund except the Republican leadership. 
Why? So we wouldn't be able to stand up here and celebrate the passage 
of Superfund.
    There's a bill you care a lot about in Michigan that was blocked 
that would give local folks some control over the interstate 
transportation of solid waste. Not very many people were against it, but 
it was blocked. Why? For political reasons. The same can be said for a 
lot of other bills.
    Well, now the same folks that blocked these bills have come forward 
with what they'll do if you give them control of Congress. They call it 
their Contract With America. Three hundred and fifty Republicans stood 
on the steps of the Nation's Capitol with the leadership and one by one 
signed this contract. I'll give them credit for at least doing that. For 
2 years, I couldn't get them to say anything they were for. [Laughter]
    But if you read this contract, it's not a contract with America, 
it's really a contract on America. It takes us back to the 1980's, to 
trickle-down economics. Look at what they do: They promise everybody a 
tax cut, although 70 percent of it goes to the wealthiest Americans; 
they promise to increase defense and to start up Star Wars; they promise 
a trillion dollars' worth of things. I wish I could come here and do 
that today, just tell you exactly what you want to hear. ``Here's a 
trillion dollars. Go spend it.'' You give me a trillion dollars, and 
I'll show you a good time, too. [Laughter]
    But since it's just a bunch of promises, what does it mean? Same 
thing it meant in the 1980's. It means exploding the deficit, shipping 
our jobs overseas, cutting Medicare and veterans benefits, not funding 
the crime bill. It means a lot of terrible things, because you simply 
cannot go around this country making idle promises to people that you 
cannot keep. We must not go back to that sort of politics.
    So I hope the American people will have a simple answer to this 
contract. We've been there. We've seen that. We've tried it. And we will 
not be fooled again. I offer you a difficult and more challenging 
contract, but the only one that can work. It's the contract that had 
always worked for America. It is fighting for the future, making the 
most of the potential of every American. It is doing whatever it takes 
to compete and win in the global economy of the 21st century. It is 
doing with our Nation what you have done here at this Mustang plant. 
That is what I offer you: more jobs, a lower deficit, more education for 
our kids, competing in the global economy, doing the things that will 
make America work again so that these fine young people in their 
musicians' uniforms will be able to grow old, when they're like me and 
they have to give up their horns, and they'll still have a life they'll 
be proud of.
    Look, I read all these stories about how angry the voters are and 
how fed up. Well, let me tell you something: I showed up in Washington 
to work 20 months ago, and since then I have been amazed and often 
angered at some of the stuff I see. I have been bewildered at the 
resistance to change from time to time. And I know that both parties 
bear some burden, and I know that even the President is not perfect. But 
remember this: When it came to change, we were on the side of the 
future.
    When we offered a plan to cut the deficit and provide college loans 
to the middle class, they all voted against it. When campaign finance 
reform and lobbying reform came up to change the way the political 
system worked, most of our party voted for it. Most of them voted 
against it. On the crime bill, which had always been a bipartisan 
effort, where over 90 percent of both parties' representatives voted for 
it last year when there were no politics, most of our folks were still 
for it, just where they were last

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year. But they changed and voted against it for politics.
    So you have a choice. We are fighting for a 21st century in which 
America goes forward, competes, wins, every American lives up to the 
fullest of his God-given potential. We refuse, even though it's 
tempting, I guess, from time to time, to take the easy way out and give 
you a trillion dollars' worth of unfunded promises. That is their 
contract.
    We have a covenant for the future. They put out a contract on the 
future. I think the choice is clear. I want to ask you to help ensure 
America, through all the frustration and anger, does not inadvertently 
vote for what you're against and against what you're for.
    Look to the future. Think of your children. Stand up for tomorrow. 
And remember, it's not so different building a country than it is 
building a car. You have to think about the tasks, you have to face the 
hard jobs as well as the easy ones, you've got to work together, and 
you've got to always be thinking about tomorrow.
    Thank you, and God bless you all.

Note. The President spoke at 11:45 a.m. at the assembly plant. In his 
remarks, he referred to Alex Trotman, chief executive officer, Ford 
Motor Co.; Owen Bieber, president, United Auto Workers; Mayor Dennis W. 
Archer of Detroit, MI; and Edward McNamara, county executive, Wayne 
County.