[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1994, Book II)]
[November 2, 1994]
[Pages 1954-1955]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Interview With WDIA Radio, Memphis, Tennessee
November 2, 1994

    Q. WDIA here in Memphis, Tennessee. We have President Bill Clinton 
live and on the radio with you.
    Good afternoon, Mr. President.
    The President. Good afternoon. How are you?
    Q. I'm just fine, thank you.
    Q. W.C. Brown is joining me here, and we're glad that you're joining 
us here by phone in Memphis. And we have a few questions we'd like to 
ask you, but first we'd like to give you an opportunity to make a 
statement.

Midterm Elections

    The President. Well, first, it's good to be talking with you and to 
have a chance to visit with you so close to this election. The message I 
want to get out is that with all of our challenges in America, we're in 
better shape than we were 21 months ago. We're rebuilding the economy. 
We have more jobs; we have a lower unemployment rate; we've got more 
high-wage jobs coming into the economy. We're doing things for ordinary 
American families: the Family and Medical Leave Act, tax breaks for 15 
million working families to keep them out of poverty, immunization for 
our children, more Head Start. We're doing things to support education: 
expanded college loans and apprenticeship programs for young people who 
don't go on to college. We've supported African-American educational 
programs especially strongly, and we'll continue to do that. We've 
supported the kinds of things that will move this country forward. We've 
taken steps to help communities deal with the crime problem, not just 
with more police and the Brady bill, the assault weapons ban but also 
with prevention programs for our communities so that we can help our 
young people live a more positive life. So we're moving in the right 
direction.
    The Republicans offer a contract that would take us back to the 
trickle-down Reaganomics era of the 1980's where we explode the deficit, 
move our jobs overseas, and have the risk of big cuts in programs that 
are important to all Americans, like Medicare and Social Security. We 
need to keep going forward; we don't want to go back. In order to do 
that, in a place like Tennessee where there are so many important 
elections--two Senate races, all the Congress races, a big Governor's 
race--it's important that people go out and vote next Tuesday.

Anticrime Legislation

    Q. That's very true, Mr. President. The crime bill is an issue that 
we talk here on the talk show programs and in the news all the time 
about. A lot of people are concerned about the amount of money that's 
earmarked for the Midsouth area, the Memphis Midsouth area, as well as 
whether or not the crime bill is really going to be something that can 
be effective here in the Midsouth or whether it's just another Band-Aid. 
What would you say to that?
    The President. I think it depends upon what the people at the local 
community do with it.
    Q. Okay.
    The President. It is the best crime bill, in my judgment, that has 
been passed at least in my lifetime. It gives the local communities the 
ability to increase their police forces by about 20 percent over the 
course of the next 5 years. It gives local communities the ability to 
put more serious offenders behind bars. It gives local communities the 
ability to have prevention programs, education programs, recreation 
programs, alternatives to imprisonment for young people to give them a 
better chance at a better future. But all of this depends on what local 
people do. The President, the Congress, we can't fight crime on the 
streets; all we can do is give you the tools to make the most of it. But 
if your churches, your community groups, your community police forces, 
if they make the most of this, it will lower crime and reduce violence.

[[Page 1955]]

White House Attacks

    Q. Thank you, Mr. President. Also, there have been two attacks on 
the White House itself recently.
    Q. You would bring that up.
    Q. I would have to bring that up. I haven't heard in the media you 
respond to those attacks on the White House per se. How would you 
respond to that? Would you say that that is, as Rush Limbaugh, a friend 
of yours--[laughter]--would say, is that the American people being 
expressive through those people who have enough nerve to go out and do 
something about it? Or are these just idle terrorist acts that are being 
done by people who have lost it, shall we say?
    The President. The first incident I think was not even an attack. I 
think it was a stunt that went awry. I think the man was plainly just 
trying to land his plane there. The second incident, we'll have to see 
when all the facts get in. But I believe the Secret Service do a good 
job protecting me and our family, and I feel great confidence in that. I 
just get up every morning and do my job. I think that every President 
knows there's always some chance that somebody will be out there 
thinking about something like that; but it doesn't bother me much. I 
don't think about it; I just try to work with the Secret Service. I 
think they do a good job, and I just go on with my job.

Income Taxes

    Q. Mr. President, this is W.C. Brown. Would you talk just a little 
bit about tax breaks? We hear that tax breaks are contained in a bill 
that will help to benefit the poor.
    The President. Yes, our budget contained tax cuts for 15 million 
families. And in Tennessee, there were almost 20 times as many people 
who got an income tax cut as who got an income tax rate increase. Three 
hundred and eighty-four thousand working families in Tennessee, 
including a lot of them in your listening area, got a tax cut because 
they work full time, they have children in the home, but their incomes 
are still modest. We wanted to make absolutely sure that people that 
work full-time with kids in the house would not be in poverty. So we 
expanded a program called the earned-income tax credit, which not only 
reduces taxes but can get people a refund on their taxes if their 
incomes are modest enough. It was the most significant thing done in the 
last 20 years to make the Tax Code fairer to working people. I'm very 
proud of it and I think it's not very much understood, but it's very, 
very important to emphasize. Senator Sasser, Congressman Cooper, 
Congressman Ford, in your area, these people stood up for the interest 
of working people, and now they are being pilloried in Tennessee in this 
election and accused of raising taxes on average Americans when in fact 
they cut taxes on almost 20 times as many Tennesseans as had their tax 
rates raised. And they ought to be supported for it, not criticized for 
it.

NCAA Basketball

    Q. Mr. President, on a lighter note. We here in the Midsouth area 
are also big fans of your favorite team, the Arkansas Razorbacks----
    The President. Boy, they're good, aren't they?
    Q. ----the NCAA championship team. And of course, we know you're 
good friends with Nolan Richardson. What would you have to say about the 
team this year, their chances in repeating? And we have a game coming up 
in Memphis at the Pyramid pretty soon. Would you be thinking about 
visiting Memphis and probably supporting your team?
    The President. Well, I'm looking at all the basketball schedules, 
seeing if I can make any of these games. Of course, they lost 2 of their 
12 men on the team, but all the first 5 are coming back. They had a good 
recruiting year. He's a great coach; they're great kids. I think they've 
got a good chance to repeat. But it's very, very difficult to repeat. 
There's a lot of talent out there, and when you get to the end of the 
NCAA's, one game and you're out. So it's going to be tough, but they're 
a great team. They've got a great chance, and obviously I'm pulling for 
them.
    Q. Well, thank you very much. And when you're in Tennessee, 
certainly we'd like to invite you to WDIA and be a part, because this is 
Clinton country.
    The President. Thank you.

Note: The interview began at 4:51 p.m. The President spoke by telephone 
from the Rhode Island Convention Center in Providence, RI, to 
interviewers W.C. Brown, J. Michael Davis, and Leon Gray.