    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1995, Book II)]
    [December 10, 1995]
    [Pages 1870-1875]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Teleconference Remarks to the Florida State Democratic Convention
    December 10, 1995

        The President. Thank you. Thank you for that warm and rousing
    welcome. I've enjoyed listening through my earphone here to what's going
    on down there. I see that Senator Dodd has almost lost his voice in the
    enthusiasm and so has your State party chair, Terry Brady. But I want to
    thank both of them for their leadership and for what they have done and
    for stirring everybody up and getting you excited over the election
    we're about to have and the stakes there.
        I want to say hello to attorney general Bob Butterworth. I'd also
    like to send kind greetings to all of my friends down there, especially
    to Governor Chiles, Lieutenant Governor MacKay, Senator Bob Graham.
        I am very pleased to be able to speak with you today at this very
    important convention. As we move into the Presidential campaign season,
    you know, I can't help but recall that it was almost 4 years ago to the
    day that Florida and the Florida Democrats, at this meeting, put our
    campaign on the map when you helped me to win a decisive straw poll
    victory on December 15th, 1991. I remember that day so well, for that
    victory convinced me that the American people were serious about wanting
    new leadership in Washington and a new direction for our country.
        You know, I have many things I want to say, but the most important
    thing I can do is to say a simple thank you. Thank you for helping me
    and Al Gore to the White House, to give us a chance to advance the
    economy and to honor the values that are critical to moving our country
    forward into the 21st century. So, even though we have to talk a lot
    today about the future, let me say one more time: Thank you for your
    faith in me and in Vice President Gore; thank you for your support for
    these past 3 years.
        Today, my fellow Americans, I come to you with a simple and
    straightforward message. We live in a great country in a time of very
    great change. We are moving forward from the industrial age to an age of
    technology. We are moving away from the cold-war era into the era of the
    global village. We know that. I ran for President to change things in
    this country, to take advantage of this time of absolutely enormous,
    enormous possibility so that we could make the most of the lives of
    every American and give all Americans back their future and so that we
    would make sure that our country would still be able to lead the world
    toward peace and freedom and prosperity. We have done that.
        Our country is in better shape today than it was 3 years ago. Our
    economy is stronger, we are coming back to our basic values, and we are
    leading the world toward peace. But to continue to be true to those
    values, we have to have a clear vision of the future, and we have to
    stick with it. You know that.
        When I ran for President in 1992, I was committed to restoring the
    American dream for all our people and to make absolutely sure that
    America would go into the next century still the most powerful country
    in the world, the

    [[Page 1871]]

    greatest force for peace and freedom and prosperity the world had ever
    known. I said we would do it by having an economic policy that produced
    jobs and growth, that expanded the middle class and shrinks the under
    class by giving us a modern Government that is smaller and less
    bureaucratic and more entrepreneurial, and most important of all, by
    being true to old-fashioned American values at a new time:
    responsibility from all and opportunity for all; the value of work; the
    understanding that we have to help families stay strong and stick
    together; and a sense of community that we're all stronger when we work
    together and we're all in this fight to the future together; also, the
    strong sense that we do have obligations to our parents, to our
    children, to one another, and to those who, through no fault of their
    own, need some help to make the most of their own lives. Let me say
    again: This country is in better shape than it was 3 years ago. We still
    have challenges, and we have to keep going in the right direction. But
    America is on the move.
        We've reduced the deficit in 3 consecutive years of this
    administration. It's now been cut in half. Over 7 years, that works out
    to about $15,000 of reduced Federal debt for every family of four in
    Florida. In the past 3 years, we've also seen more than 7\1/2\ million
    new jobs created, more than 590,000 of them right there in Florida.
    We've got a record number of new businesses, 2\1/2\ million more
    homeowners. Homebuilding in the State of Florida has increased 6 percent
    a year after dropping 4 percent a year during the previous 12 years.
        And America is safer and stronger today than we were 3 years ago.
    For the very first time since the dawn of the nuclear age, there is not
    a single Russian missile pointed at an American child. And American
    leadership is opening the door to peace and reconciliation all over the
    world, from Northern Ireland to the Middle East to Haiti and to Bosnia.
        The United States is leading the world toward a more peaceful
    future. We've got a chance to end the misery in Bosnia for good. It was
    our diplomacy, backed by NATO's resolve, that brought the leaders of the
    Balkans to the peace table in Dayton, OH. And now they have made a
    commitment to peace.
        Our responsibility truly begins now. If we walk away from their
    request to us to help them preserve their peace, our allies will do the
    same, and the peace will fail. The slaughter will begin again, and that
    conflict could spread like poison throughout the region, drawing us in,
    in much greater risk to our own soldiers. NATO, the alliance of
    democracies that has preserved our security for half a century by
    working with our strong European allies, would be shaken to its core if
    we walked away from their request to help preserve the peace in Bosnia.
    And American leadership, not only in Europe but all around this world,
    will pay a terrible, terrible price. For all of those reasons, we must
    help to preserve the peace.
        This Bosnian peace mission is clearly defined. It has realistic
    goals to be reached in a definite period of time. Our force will be
    strong, and they will have strong rules of engagement so that they can
    protect themselves and pursue the mission. I am convinced that the risks
    to our troops have been minimized to the maximum extent possible. After
    all, we're not going to fight a war but to wage a peace. We do it for
    the people of Bosnia, for the stability of Europe, for American
    leadership, and for the values we hold dear.
         We also have a special interest in promoting peace and democracy in
    two nations just off your shore, in Haiti and in Cuba. Just over one
    year ago, our diplomacy, backed by military muscle, forced a brutal
    military regime in Haiti to surrender its power. We gave democracy there
    another chance. You know better than people in any other State that this
    has been good for America and good for Haiti. The tide of refugees from
    Haiti, which stood at about 16,000 in the months prior to the
    intervention, has been dramatically reduced. The people of Haiti, with
    help from the international community, are slowly building a democracy
    and a working economy. And President Aristide, as he said he would, has
    been a force for reconciliation.
        Now, all of this takes time, and there may be setbacks along the
    way. But just a week from now, Haiti will hold Presidential elections
    which will freely transfer power from one democratically elected
    President to another for the very first time in the nation's history.
    This is an extraordinary achievement. America, and particularly
    Floridians, where so many Haitians live, should be proud that we helped
    to restore democracy to Haiti.
        Cuba, of course, is still a different story. It's now the only
    country in our hemisphere which

    [[Page 1872]]

    continues to resist the powerful trend toward democracy. Our
    administration is working to encourage its peaceful transition to a free
    and open society. We will continue to do everything we can to promote
    peaceful change, protect human rights, and move Cuba into the camp of
    democracy.
        With all of the progress we've made, both here at home and abroad,
    the thing that I am most proud of, I think, is the tangible evidence
    that our country is coming back together around our core values. Because
    we not only have economic progress, we not only have the lowest rates of
    unemployment and inflation in 27 years, but in almost every State in
    America and almost every major community, the crime rate is down, the
    murder rate is down, the food stamp rolls are down, the welfare rolls
    are down. For 2 years, the teen pregnancy rate has dropped, and the
    poverty rate is down. We are coming back together, and we're moving
    forward together.
        And as you know, I believe we can only move forward if we do it
    together. We're moving in the right direction, but now we have to make
    some decisions that will keep us on that track. That really is what this
    big budget debate in Washington is all about. It isn't just about
    dollars and cents, it goes to the heart of who we are as a people, what
    we believe, what we stand for, what kind of America we want our children
    and grandchildren to inherit in the 21st century.
        Last Wednesday, using the pen that was used to sign Medicare and
    Medicaid into law in 1965, I vetoed the Republican budget. I did it to
    preserve our commitment to our parents, to protect opportunity for our
    children, to defend our public health and environment, and to stop a tax
    increase that undercuts the value of work for the hardest pressed
    working families and their children in this country. The very next day,
    I gave Congress a budget that does balance in 7 years without their
    devastating cuts in Medicare and Medicaid, in education and the
    environment, and one that does not raise taxes on working families.
        Let me tell you again why I vetoed their budget. Americans have
    always believed we owe a duty to our parents. The Republican budget that
    I vetoed would turn Medicare into a second-class system. The Medicare
    system that has served older Americans so well for 30 years would be
    over, and I'm not going to let that happen.
        My 7-year balanced budget secures the Medicare Trust Fund into the
    future without imposing new costs on hard-pressed seniors. And it
    preserves Medicaid's guarantee of quality health care for poor children,
    pregnant women, disabled Americans, and older Americans.
        There are many differences between the Republican budget that I
    vetoed and the one I presented last week. But perhaps the starkest one
    of all is the different treatment of Medicaid. As I told Governor Chiles
    in a White House meeting with Governors on Friday, the Republican budget
    would be a disaster for States like Florida that depend on Medicaid.
    Medicaid is a guarantee not only to seniors who might need nursing home
    care, it's also a guarantee to their families against having their
    financial security threatened if an older parent falls seriously ill.
    This Republican plan would change all that. Families tomorrow could find
    themselves forced to pay large sums for quality nursing home care that
    Medicaid guarantees today. It would force those working families to
    choose between quality nursing home care for their parents and quality
    education and health care for their own children. We shouldn't force our
    working families to have to make that type of choice.
        Now, I want to work with the Republican Congress. I want to work to
    get a balanced budget. But I will not--I will not permit the repeal of
    guaranteed medical coverage for senior citizens, for disabled people,
    for poor children, for pregnant women, for people with AIDS. That would
    violate our values. It would undermine our families and, therefore, even
    weaken our economy. And what's more, it's not necessary. So if they
    continue to make this a part of their budget, I'll veto it again and
    again and again.
        My fellow Democrats, we're going to win this battle; we have to.
    Nothing less than the heart and soul of our Nation are at stake. That's
    why I'm asking for your continued support now more than ever. All of us
    who share the same values, whether we're Democrats, Republicans, or
    independents, all of us who share the same vision for our country and
    our future, we have got to stand together now for the American people.
    We need to stand together on behalf of the elderly, the disabled, the
    pregnant women, and poor children to protect Medicare and Medicaid. We
    need to stand together on behalf of the millions and millions of young
    people in this country who would be denied the chance

    [[Page 1873]]

    for a better education if the Republicans are successful in slashing
    Head Start, slashing the college loan options, slashing the college
    scholarships.
        We need to stand together to reward hard-working families by
    providing the child care mothers need to move from welfare to work and
    by refusing to raise taxes on 8 million working families. We have to
    build on the successes of the last 3 years. But we must not turn back
    the clock.
        Some Republicans in Congress have made clear their strategy of
    trying to force through harmful health care, education, and
    environmental cuts, that would be very damaging to Florida, by
    threatening to shut our Government down once again. They did it a month
    ago, but the threat failed.
        Now, as the holidays approach, I sincerely hope that there will be a
    spirit in the Congress that will make it possible for us to bring good
    faith to our negotiations. We are now engaged in negotiations on how
    best to balance the budget consistent with our values. And I proposed
    the 7-year balanced budget and even proposed a specific compromise so
    that we could finish our work on this year's budget and keep the
    Government open.
        We have serious differences on Medicare, Medicaid, education, and
    the environment, on tax fairness and also on research and technology
    that I know are critical to our future. But we ought to be able to agree
    on this: Nobody, nobody, should threaten to shut the Government down
    right before Christmas.
        Let me close by reminding all of you how far we've come and what I
    hope you will do in the year ahead. Remind your fellow citizens in
    Florida that America is in better shape than we were 3 years ago and
    Florida is in better shape than it was 3 years ago. We do have a 27-year
    low in the combined rates of unemployment and inflation. We do have
    progress in crime and welfare reform, in reducing many of the social
    problems that still continue to plague us. We do have progress in making
    the world a more peaceful place.
        And Florida has received the attention it deserved from our
    administration. The Southern Command is moving to Florida. The Summit of
    the Americas was held in Florida. The defense budgets of the country
    have been kept strong in a way that has preserved the military presence
    in Florida that will help us to be secure in the future. Our trade
    policies, our technology policies have helped Florida.
        But if you look to the future and you think of America and what you
    want it to be like 10, 20, 30 years from now, you know we still have a
    long way to go. The answer is to redouble our efforts in the direction
    we are heading, not to derail this train of America's progress. We have
    to have a vision, and we have to have policies that prepare our children
    for the vast challenges and opportunities of the 21st century; vision
    and policy that promote lifelong learning so our workers can meet the
    demands of change; a vision and a policy that empowers communities to
    solve their own problems, that ensures the safety of our citizens on our
    streets, in our schools, and in our homes, that helps us to come
    together as a country and as one big American community. That's the
    vision we all share for America.
        America is now in the best position to lead the world into the 21st
    century as well. And you know, with our common security threats, of the
    proliferation of dangerous nuclear, chemical and biological weapons,
    with the problems we have with terrorism and drug-trafficking and
    organized crime, you know we have to put our values into action around
    the world and come together in that same spirit.
        I want you to promise yourself that when you walk out of this room
    today and for the next year, you are going to walk up to your fellow
    Americans in every possible venue, and talk about these fundamental
    values, these fundamental issues, this shared vision that you and I have
    for our future and for our children. If we will do that, if we will
    bring the same enthusiasm I heard from you today into our daily lives,
    into our daily contacts with the kind of people who never have the
    opportunity to be in a convention hall, we will prevail. But far, far
    more important, America will have the future that our children deserve.
        Thank you, and God bless you all.
        Audience members. Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!

    [At this point, the moderator thanked the President and introduced a
    convention participant who asked how proposed budget cuts would affect
    Medicare and Medicaid.]

        The President. Well, first of all, I thank you for the way you asked
    the question, because I do think a lot of Americans think that it's

    [[Page 1874]]

    just bickering and may be just another political fight. But that isn't
    right.
        There is an argument in Washington over the fundamental
    responsibility of our National Government in the area of health care and
    whether we do have an obligation to preserve Medicare as it has worked
    for our seniors for the last 30 years and to preserve, through the
    Medicaid program, a guarantee of health care for the elderly, for the
    disabled, for poor children and pregnant women.
        Now, let's talk about the facts on Medicare. On Medicare, we do have
    to find a way to strengthen the Medicare Trust Fund. I've been saying
    that for sometime now. But the Republican cuts in Medicare are more than
    twice as great as are necessary to secure the Medicare Trust Fund well
    into the next century.
        What they're doing is a number of things. Let me try to be as
    specific as I can so you'll understand. They say they want to encourage
    more seniors to take their Medicare benefits in managed care plans. I'm
    all for giving people the incentive to do that. But I am against forcing
    people into managed care plans.
        If you look at their budget, what they do is, they charge elderly
    people much more, not just in premiums but in copays and deductibles, to
    stay in Medicare. And they fund the traditional Medicare program at such
    a lower level that they're going to wind up trying to force seniors to
    pay more for less medical care in managed care plans. And the way the
    plan is now drafted, it is actually toughest on the oldest, the poorest,
    and the sickest seniors in the country. It is unconscionable, and it is
    wrong.
        If you look at the Medicaid program, what they do is to cut the
    Medicaid program so much and to put the States under so much pressure,
    especially a State like Florida, that we think it is clear that millions
    of people will lose Medicaid coverage, hundreds of thousands of seniors
    who now get Medicaid help to stay in nursing homes would be denied it,
    millions of poor children will lose their coverage, and we will have, in
    a State like Florida especially, where you have a lot of poor children
    needing Medicaid coverage and a lot of seniors who are entitled to it,
    an unbearable burden placed on the States and a lot of human suffering.
    And it is unnecessary to balance the budget.
        So I guess the facts in short are, number one, we need to save the
    Medicare Trust Fund, but they're doing too much and it's going to hurt
    too much and it's going to really turn Medicare as we know it into a
    second-class system. Number two, the Medicaid program would be
    devastated. And number three, and this is the most important thing of
    all, it is not necessary to do this to balance the budget.
        I just want to remind the Democrats there that we cut the deficit in
    half in 3 years with only Democratic votes. We didn't get a single,
    solitary Republican vote in the Congress to do it. When we passed our
    program in 1993, they said it wouldn't reduce the deficit; they said it
    would bring on a recession. And they were wrong. They were wrong. The
    Republicans say they're against big Government. I want to remind you of
    something else. Since I've been in office, we're reduced the size of the
    Federal Government by 200,000. It's now the smallest it's been since
    John Kennedy was President, and as a percentage of our civilian work
    force, it's the smallest it's been since 1933. The Democrats did that.
    We did it by treating our Federal employees humanely, giving them good
    retirement and severance packages. We did it by increasing the
    productivity of the fine Federal employees that are left. We reduced the
    burden of big Government. We're eliminating 16,000 pages of Federal
    regulation. Those were Democratic reforms.
        This is not about the problems of big Government. They want to strip
    the National Government of its ability to protect and advance the
    interests of the elderly and the children and the disabled people of
    this country. That is what is going on here.

    [Another participant asked what the President had done to give children
    a better education and a brighter future.]

        The President. To answer your question in the way you posed it, the
    most important thing we have done is to give this country a
    comprehensive education policy focused not only on greater educational
    opportunities but on higher standards and higher quality education. And
    I'd like to give you some specific examples.
        We have increased the number of our young people in Head Start
    programs by tens of thousands. For the public schools, we have written
    into law the national education goals and said to every State: We will
    give you extra help if you will commit to try to reach these goals and
    if you will commit to a system which holds you accountable so that we
    can see whether you're

    [[Page 1875]]

    making progress toward reaching these goals. We will give you extra
    help, and we will give special help to districts that are poor or that
    have a lot of poor children, but we all have to have the same high
    standards and we all have to be willing to be held accountable.
        For young people who aren't going to college, we have launched a
    national school-to-work program to help every State give young people
    good training so they can get good jobs even if they don't have 4-year
    college degrees. Then, for young people who are going to college, we've
    launched a new direct student loan program that has lower cost college
    loans available to more kids with better terms of repayment.
        One of the most successful things we've done--I've talked about it a
    lot in Florida--we have dramatically increased the number of student
    loans and the possibility of earning money through college through our
    national service program, AmeriCorps. Every single one of those things
    is at risk in the Republican budget, and I am fighting for every single
    one of them.
        But we have a comprehensive education strategy based on national
    standards and grassroots reforms and more opportunity. That is what I
    think we ought to be pushing for. No company in the world and no country
    in the world would go into the 21st century by cutting its investment in
    education and technology and research. But this budget cuts our
    investment in education, technology, and research. It is a prescription
    for bad economics. That's the other thing I want to say to people: This
    Republican budget is not just bad in human terms, it's going to be bad
    for the economy. It will undermine the economic strategy that we have
    pursued that has given us the world's strongest economy again. And I
    want you to stick with us on the education issue.

    Note: The President spoke by satellite at 10:17 a.m. from the Dempsey
    Thomas Film Studio in Little Rock, AR, to the convention meeting in
    Miami Beach, FL. In his remarks, he referred to Gov. Lawton Chiles and
    Lt. Gov. Buddy MacKay of Florida, and President Jean-Bertrand Aristide
    of Haiti.