[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1994, Book II)]
[October 31, 1994]
[Pages 1910-1913]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks at a Rally for Democratic Candidates in Philadelphia, 
Pennsylvania
October 31, 1994

    The President. Thank you. It is good to be home, and it's good to be 
back in Philadelphia. Thank you.
    Let's give a big hand to the George Washington High School Band. 
[Applause] Weren't they great? Thank you. Thank you.

[[Page 1911]]

    Senator Wofford, Lieutenant Governor Singel, Members of Congress, 
Mayor Rendell, City Council President Street, Democratic Chair Bob 
Brady, District Attorney Lynn Abraham, our State senator and nominee for 
Congress, Chakha Fattah, and my fellow Americans. It is wonderful to be 
here on behalf of these fine people.
    You know, Harris Wofford doesn't always vote with me, but he always 
votes for you, and you ought to keep him there. I read the endorsement 
in your distinguished local newspaper, which said, ``Harris Wofford has 
been America's conscience when we need it. He has the record, the heart, 
the vision that has done Pennsylvania proud, and he deserves 
reelection.'' I couldn't say it better than the Philadelphia Inquirer 
did.
    And I read the endorsement of Mark Singel, which said that he has 
the better vision, a better program, mentioned his positions on 
education and welfare reform, two things I like to think I know 
something about, that are absolutely critical for any Governor. And it 
said, and I quote, ``His blueprint for Pennsylvania is so much stronger, 
he deserves the chance to put it into action.'' And I hope you'll give 
it to him.
    Just before I left for the Middle East, I challenged the American 
people to think hard about this election, to look at the record, to look 
at the future, to shine some light on a debate that had been pretty 
muddied up until a couple of weeks ago. Well folks, the Sun has begun to 
shine in this election.
    Every day more Americans are beginning to know that the real issue 
here is, who will fight for ordinary Americans, for their future, for 
their families, for their jobs, their children's education, their 
parents' Social Security, their security? Who is going to be in this on 
your side for tomorrow? The answer is, we are. And you need to help us 
win on November 8th.
    This election represents a simple choice between going forward and 
going back. Twenty-one months ago, with the enormous help of the people 
of Pennsylvania and a terrific mandate from the city of Philadelphia, I 
moved to Washington to try to change this country, to try to make our 
country and our Government work for ordinary citizens, to try to get 
this economy going again, to try to make sure that every American was 
prepared to compete and win in this tough global economy.
    Remember the challenges we faced when I went there? We'd had 4 years 
of the slowest economic growth since the Great Depression; 4 years in 
which Pennsylvania had lost 8,300 jobs--no gain, a loss. We were dealing 
with 12 years of trickle-down Reaganomics, which exploded our deficits 
and sent our jobs overseas, divided our people. We were dealing with 20 
years of stagnant wages as people struggled just to hold on to their 
jobs with more and more uncertainty in a rapidly changing economy. We 
were dealing with 30 years of developing social problems in the family 
and on the streets with crime and violence and drugs and gangs. No one 
thought this could be turned around overnight. But I can tell you, my 
friends, after 21 months, we're beginning to make a difference, and we 
need to keep going.
    Look at the record. We passed the family and medical leave law, 
which enables over 2 million Pennsylvania workers to be able to take 
some time off when there's a baby born or a sick parent. Senator Wofford 
voted for it; his opponent voted against it.
    We passed the student loan reform law which enabled 20 million 
Americans, including 1.7 million in Pennsylvania, middle-class folks, to 
borrow money to go to college on better, more affordable terms. Senator 
Wofford led the fight; his opponent voted against it.
    We passed the national service bill, a domestic Peace Corps, to say 
to the American people, look, if you'll go back to Philadelphia and 
you'll go to work on those streets and you'll help kids one-on-one in 
trouble, if you'll do something to help solve the problems of America 
and give some of your time to building our country from the grassroots, 
we'll give you some money to go to college. Senator Wofford led the 
fight; his opponent voted against it.
    We cut income tax rates for 15 million working families, including 
over 500,000 families in Pennsylvania, people who work full time, have 
children in their homes, but have very modest wages. Why? Because we 
don't think anybody who works full time and has kids in the home should 
live in poverty. That is our policy. Senator Wofford supported it; his 
opponent voted against it.
    We passed a budget that cuts spending by $255 billion, that cut the 
Federal bureaucracy by 272,000 positions. We changed the way Government 
buys things to make it more competitive, so you won't have to read about 
a system that produces those $500 hammers and $50 ashtrays anymore. 
Senator Wofford led the way on that.

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    Now, when we implemented this economic strategy last year, do you 
remember what they said, the other guys, the people that are opposing 
Harris Wofford and Mark Singel? Every one of them voted against the 
economic strategy. They said, ``Oh, if you do this, you will ruin the 
economy. You will explode the deficit. You will lose jobs. America will 
be in terrible shape.'' Well, they were wrong. They have launched the 
most vicious attacks, often misrepresenting what was in that program, on 
every Member of Congress who stood up and gave America a chance to go 
into the future. But they were wrong.
    What are they going to say? The deficit's going down 3 years in a 
row for the first time since Truman was President. We have a budget that 
is reducing the Federal Government to its smallest size since John 
Kennedy was President. There has been a new study, as it comes out 
annually, of international economists, saying that for the first time in 
9 years, America has the most productive economy in the world.
    You know, believe me, I know we've still got a lot to do. I read the 
story of the Philadelphia worker who said he was a part-timer in '92, 
and he wanted a full-time job. He's still got a part-time job; he 
doesn't know whether he should vote or not. Well, I have a message. 
Between '89 and January of '93, your State lost 8,300 jobs. In the last 
21 months, your State has gained over 86,000 jobs. We're going in the 
right direction. Let's don't turn back now.
    Imagine this folks, imagine if Harris Wofford were a Republican 
Senator running for reelection. No, don't boo. Keep in mind, we're all 
preaching to the saved today. You've got to go reach somebody else 
between now and election day. So, think of this. If Harris Wofford were 
a Republican Senator running for reelection, if these Members of 
Congress were Republican Members running for reelection, and they had 
voted to reduce the deficit, to shrink the size of the Federal 
Government, for the toughest crime bill in American history, to explode 
the economy after years of stagnation, the Republicans would be building 
statues to them and saying we were unpatriotic for opposing them. And 
they ought to be building statues to them anyway and reelecting them 
here today.
    And instead, what are they doing? Now, they're trying to say no to 
the progress we have made. Three hundred and fifty of them went to 
Washington the other day and signed a Contract With America. It's a 
trillion dollars' worth of promises.
    Now, listen to this: big tax breaks, mostly for the wealthy, 
billions more on defense, revive Star Wars, balance the budget. Does 
that sound familiar to you? We've heard that before, haven't we? And you 
know what will happen. If they get control of the Congress and that's 
their program, you'll explode the deficit, ship jobs overseas again. 
You'll have cuts in Medicare, cuts in student loans, cuts in veterans' 
benefits. We will never fund that crime bill that Ed Rendell talked 
about.
    The worst news is that the Republican contract could devastate 
Social Security and senior citizens. The House Budget Committee says to 
meet their program, the contract they signed, they'd have to cut Social 
Security about $2,000 a person a year and Medicare about $1,800 a person 
a year. That's $3,600 a year out of the most vulnerable people in this 
country, people who have worked hard all their lives, people who have 
paid their taxes, people who have paid their dues. That is wrong. That 
is wrong, and we must not allow it to be done.
    I know. You know, you hear something like this, it's just 
incredible. You can hardly believe that they did it. But don't forget, 
President Reagan tried to do it in '81. The House leader proposed it in 
'86. Mr. North, the Senate candidate of the Republicans in Virginia----
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. ----he just proposed making it voluntary Social 
Security, which means killing it. And now Senator Wofford's opponent 
says that he wants to raise the retirement age to 70, and I quote, 
``further if I could.'' Well, he can't do that if you don't let him.
    So I say to you, say no to this radical attack on Social Security. 
Say no to billions more in tax breaks that explode the deficit and send 
our jobs overseas. It all sounds so good, their pretty promises, a 
trillion dollars' worth of promises. You know, it's a week from the 
election, folks. We'd all like to stand up and make you a trillion 
dollars' worth of promises. That's real money. We could all have a good 
time on a trillion dollars' worth of hot checks. [Laughter] But it would 
be wrong.
    We need men and women in the Congress who will keep their promises 
to middle-class America, their promises to our future. They need people 
up there in Washington who understand that when you work all your life, 
you

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deserve the peace of mind that Social Security and Medicare give you 
because you have earned it, not a Government handout but a contract for 
people who say, ``We've done our part,'' and the rest of us say, ``A job 
well done.''
    So, my fellow Americans, that's it. That's your choice a week from 
today. This country's in better shape than it was 21 months ago. We've 
got more jobs, a lower deficit, a Government doing things for ordinary 
people in a world that is safer and more secure and more prosperous. We 
have a long way to go until everybody who wants a job has one, people 
who work hard get a raise, people who don't have health care get it, and 
people who have it don't lose it. We've got a lot to do, but the way to 
do it is to keep going forward, not to turn back.
    You know, I just want to close with this thought. You know I just 
got back from a pretty arduous trip, and I hope I'm doing all right 
today. I'm still a little jet-lagged. I want to tell you something. 
Brave people in every part of this world are struggling and fighting for 
freedom, for democracy, for prosperity, for security, whether it's 
Israel and her Arab neighbors, the people in the Persian Gulf where our 
brave soldiers are, the people in Korea who want to make Korea all a 
nonnuclear peninsula, the people in Northern Ireland trying to bury 
hundreds of years of hatred, the people in South Africa trying to build 
their democracy, the people in Haiti welcoming home President Aristide. 
These people all over the world are trying to do this, and everywhere 
they wish to have America's support for their courage because they 
admire our values and they admire the strength of our system and they 
admire our willingness to change. They believe in us. And we need to 
believe in ourselves, just as much.
    Folks, this country is not still here so many long years after the 
Founders first came here to Philadelphia because we took the easy way 
out, we listened to the easy promises, we let people divide us and play 
on our fears. We are here because we voted our hopes, because we voted 
for unity, because we voted for the future, because we had the courage 
to change, we looked to the future with hope and optimism. Others look 
at us that way. If we will look at ourselves that way on November 8th, 
you will elect Harris Wofford. You will elect Mark Singel. You will 
elect these Members of Congress who are here.
    Thank you, and God bless you all.

Note: The President spoke at 12:43 p.m. in the Courtyard at City Hall. 
In his remarks, he referred to Lt. Gov. Mark Singel of Pennsylvania, 
Mayor Edward Rendell of Philadelphia, and Philadelphia City Council 
president John Street.