    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1995, Book II)]
    [July 19, 1995]
    [Pages 1115-1121]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    [[Page 1115]]

    Teleconference Remarks and a Question-and-Answer Session With the
    National Council of La Raza
    July 19, 1995

        The President. Thank you, Irma Flores-Gonzalez, for that warm
    introduction, and thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for your warm
    welcome.
        I'm glad to see so many of my friends out there, and I want to say a
    special hello to your president, Raul Yzaguirre, and Irma's predecessor,
    Dr. Audrey Alvarado. The First Lady sends her regrets at not being able
    to be with you today. I hope you won't be too disappointed that I'm
    going to be her stand-in. I'm also sorry I can't be with you in person,
    as I was last year in Miami.
        Just a little over an hour ago, at the National Archives here in
    Washington, I announced the results of our administration's review of
    Federal affirmative action programs and my convictions about what we
    ought to do with affirmative action. I made it clear that an essential
    part of our search for common ground in the exercise of our freedom is
    an unwavering commitment to genuine equal opportunity for all Americans.
    Affirmative action is simply a tool in the pursuit of that enduring
    national interest, equal opportunity.
        Hispanics are making huge strides in ways we cannot have even
    imagined just a generation ago. I don't want any Hispanic child in
    America to feel that his or her race is an impediment to full
    achievement. Every child has a right to the American dream, and all of
    us have a responsibility to nourish that dream.
        But until this country has achieved equality of opportunity, until
    we have stamped out discrimination, we will still need the remedy of
    affirmative action. It must be done the right way: It must be flexible,
    it must be fair, and it must work. Let me be clear: Our administration
    is against quotas, we're against guaranteed results, but we do need to
    guarantee genuine equality of opportunity for all Americans.
        We want to support the programs that are working, and we want to get
    rid of the ones that aren't. If you ask me in a sentence what we need to
    do, I'd say we need to mend but not to end affirmative action. We ought
    to stay with our principles and fix whatever practices we need to fix.
        Our study showed that, indeed, affirmative action has been an
    effective tool in expanding opportunity for those who have suffered
    discrimination in the Army, in education, in small business loans, in
    employment by Federal contractors, in the set-aside programs. We have
    seen again and again that when affirmative action is done in the right
    way, it has helped more minorities and women to pursue the American
    dream, people like Paul Gutierrez in Omaha, who owns Midwest
    Maintenance; Ernest Gonzalez of West Babylon, New York, who owns a
    chemical distribution company; Santos Garza of Bethesda, Maryland, who
    owns a security company.
        After 25 years of experience, we know that these programs can work,
    but we also know that there have been some problems with them. So it is
    time to take a good look at what's working and what isn't. That's why I
    announced the series of steps that we'll take to change and to improve
    our approach to affirmative action. First, we want to crack down on
    those who take advantage of other people who deserve the program through
    their own fraud and abuse. We'll still offer new businesses a leg up,
    but we're going to make sure the set-asides go to the businesses that
    need them most.
        Second, we're going to comply with the Supreme Court's decision in
    the Adarand case last month. That means focusing set-asides to regions
    and business sectors where the serious problems of discrimination are
    clear and provable. I have directed the Attorney General and the
    agencies to move forward with this expeditiously. The Adarand decision
    did require us to improve the way in which we do affirmative action, but
    I want all of you to understand, it did not dismantle set-asides. In
    fact, a huge majority of the Supreme Court, seven of the nine Justices,
    reaffirmed the need for good affirmative action because of the
    continuing evidence of discrimination in our national life.
        The stricter standards of Adarand have been met by State and local
    governments who were ordered several years ago to adhere to these
    standards. And the best State and local set-

    [[Page 1116]]

    asides that have been challenged have met the standards and survived the
    challenge.
        The third thing we need to do is to help disadvantaged people and
    distressed communities wherever they are and regardless of their race or
    gender. That's what we tried to do in the empowerment zone program. And
    that's why I've asked Vice President Gore to develop a proposal to use
    our contracting in the Government to support businesses that locate
    themselves in truly distressed areas or that hire many of their workers
    from these areas.
        The truth is that there are whole pockets of America that have been
    left behind in the free enterprise system. And we need to give people
    incentives to invest in those areas and those people, not as a
    substitute for affirmative action but as a supplement to it. We need to
    do this. Most of these areas will be disproportionately minority, but
    not all of them will be. I am convinced we have got to focus on getting
    people who are in these isolated areas, whether they're in rural or
    urban areas, the benefits of the American dream. We cannot grow the
    American economy in the 21st century if we continue to have pockets of
    abject poverty where people are dying to go to work.
        I have also directed all our agencies to apply four standards of
    fairness to all our affirmative action programs: first, no quotas or any
    inflexible numerical straitjackets in theory or in practice; second, no
    illegal discrimination of any kind, including reverse discrimination;
    third, no preferential treatment for people who are not qualified; and
    finally, when a program has met its goal it must be retired. Any program
    that doesn't meet these four principles must be eliminated or reformed.
        Affirmative action has been good for America. That doesn't mean it's
    always been perfect. It doesn't mean it should go on forever. It should
    be retired when its job is done, and I am resolved that that day will
    come. But you and I know that job is not done yet, and we do not need to
    abandon affirmative action.
        It is my firm belief that our diversity can be America's greatest
    strength in the 21st century. We're going into an information age. We
    have to be prepared to compete and win in the global economy, with all
    of its different cultures. And we are so well positioned in this
    country, with well over 150 different racial and ethnic groups, with
    opening opportunities to women as well as men. But we have to say to
    ourselves honestly, we are not where we need to be. And we're going to
    need everyone pulling together if our country is going to move into the
    21st century in good shape. So we can't back away from our commitment to
    expand equal opportunity and to require responsibility from every single
    American.
        You know, I ran for President to do two things: first, to restore
    the American dream of opportunity and the American value of
    responsibility and, second, to bring the American people together again,
    so that we could move into the next century together. I have learned in
    the past 2\1/2\ years that we can't do one without the other. We can't
    solve our economic problems or our social problems unless we do them
    together and unless we come together. We all have to bring the American
    people together.
        That's really the bottom line of this debate about affirmative
    action. You and I and all Americans have to sit down and find a way to
    bridge the great divides in our society. We have to find a way to honor
    our diversity in the context of our shared values, our shared interests,
    and our shared commitments to both equal opportunity and to high
    standards of qualification and performance. If we do this, we'll be
    stronger; we'll be better prepared as a nation to meet the challenges
    that lie ahead.
        By the year 2010, Latinos will be the largest minority group in our
    country. Your voices and your talents are absolutely critical to lead us
    into the new century. You're already doing that in many ways, in daily
    life and in public service.
        We should all be grateful for the work that all of you do, but I
    want to mention one of your number in particular, New Mexico Congressman
    Bill Richardson. He did a great job in Haiti. He did a great job in
    North Korea. And I know how proud all of you are--and I can hear by your
    applause--at the work he did, the brilliant work he did to help to bring
    home the two Americans who were wrongfully imprisoned in Iraq. He is a
    great American, and every American should be grateful to him for what he
    did.
        Just last week at the Southwest Voter Registration and Education
    Dinner, Vice President Gore announced my intention to honor another
    great American, Willie Velasquez, with the Presidential Medal of
    Freedom. I am honored to honor the memory of a man who gave all of us so
    much. For too long, Latinos were deprived of the chance to serve in the
    highest levels

    [[Page 1117]]

    of government. This was a loss for your community and a loss for our
    Nation. We are a rich country but not so rich that we can afford to
    waste the talents of so many of our best people. Willie Velasquez knew
    this. His memory and legacy are alive in every corner of our
    administration.
        And as we continue to move forward together, you know that we have
    more to do. But there are already more than 2 times as many Hispanic
    appointees in our administration than in the previous two
    administrations. In addition to Henry Cisneros at HUD and Federico Pena
    at the Department of Transportation, there are so many others who are
    contributing to our country and our future.
        Let me just make one other point in closing, and then I know you
    have a question or two. You have to help us as a country make sure that
    this affirmative action program is not used as one more way to divide
    middle class and working poor Americans.
        The real problem that is driving this new debate on affirmative
    action is a problem you know well. The ground is moving under America.
    Look at the last 2\1/2\ years. I have instituted a new economic strategy
    that has helped to bring us 7 million jobs. We have an enormous increase
    in the number of new businesses, the highest on record. We have more new
    millionaires than ever before. The stock market is at an all time high.
    Corporate profits are high. But you know what? More than half the
    American people are working harder today for the same or lower wages
    they were making 2\1/2\ years ago. More than half of our people still
    feel insecure about their jobs, their health care, their retirements,
    their ability to educate their children. Now, these are things that we
    have to face.
        I know Secretary Dick Riley has already talked with you about the
    need to strengthen our commitment to education. But before I go on that,
    I want you to focus on this. A lot of this heat on affirmative action is
    being generated by people who want to blame minorities, who want to
    blame women's groups, and who want to blame the Federal Government and
    this administration for the economic distress of the middle class. It's
    been building for decades, and we have a strategy to do something about
    it. Affirmative action--it did not cause the economic problems of middle
    class America. And affirmative action alone will not solve all the
    economic problems of women and racial minorities in this country.
        So what we have to do is to say, let's look at affirmative action on
    its own merits. Let's realize we're all stronger when we grow together.
    But let's also recognize that we have to have a strategy to lift this
    country up. Don't let the people who are pursuing policies that will
    drive us down and drive us apart prevail by preying on the legitimate
    anxieties of middle class Americans to get this country moving for them
    again.
        That all begins with a commitment, a renewed commitment to
    education. This issue is so important to all of us here that I just want
    to take one minute to echo and amplify what Secretary Riley said to you.
    Affirmative action without a commitment to education won't work. School
    is where young people learn the skills to pursue middle class dreams.
    It's where middle class values are taught and where parents can know
    that the teachers will reinforce things like responsibility and honesty
    and trustworthiness and hard work and caring for one another and for our
    natural environment, where good citizenship can be taught and where it
    can be modeled.
        A good education has always been key to unlocking the promise of
    tomorrow. And today, more than ever, those without it are being left
    behind. That's why under our plan we can balance the budget and increase
    educational investment by $40 billion in proven programs that work, from
    expanding Head Start to more affordable and repayable college loans.
        The plan of the Republican majority in Congress will balance the
    budget, all right, but it cuts education by $36 billion, right at the
    time when we need to be doing more to prepare our young people to take
    their productive places in the global economy. It does not make sense.
    It also doesn't make sense for them to cut funds on the fight on crime,
    cut our investments in safe and drug-free schools. There are a lot of
    things that don't make sense.
        So, as we work in the coming months to balance the budget, I hope
    you'll help me do it in the right way. If we take a little longer and we
    don't give huge tax cuts to people who don't really need it, we can
    invest in middle class Americans and in poor Americans who were
    determined to work their way into the middle class.

    [[Page 1118]]

        You and I know it would be self-defeating to cut our investments in
    education. Cutting education today would be like cutting defense budgets
    at the height of the cold war. Our national security depends upon our
    ability to educate all of our people, to give them the tools they need
    to make the most of their own lives.
        Our mission, yours and mine together, must be to build a bridge to
    the future so that every American can cross it. We have to give every
    Latino and every other American the power they all need to make the most
    of their own lives and to give their children better lives. That's
    what's behind my approach to affirmative action. That's what's behind my
    commitment to education. That's what's behind my economic strategy. I
    want our children's generation to inherit an America with as much new
    opportunity as the one into which I was brought into. If people take the
    kind of responsibility you have taken to make our country better and we
    do the right things here, we will be better.
        I thank you for your service to your community. I thank you for your
    service to your country. I ask you to stay at it, stand up for the
    proposition that all of us are going forward together.
        Thank you, and God bless you all.

    [A participant asked how the administration planned to address the
    concerns of Hispanic women in the work force.]

        The President. Thank you.
        First of all, I'd like to talk a little bit about our survey. In our
    Working Women Count Campaign, conducted by Secretary Reich at the
    Department of Labor with the able assistance of Hermalinda Pompa of the
    Women's Bureau, we circulated a questionnaire to working women. Two
    hundred and fifty thousand Hispanic women replied. They told us they
    were interested in pay and benefits, in having the ability to both work
    and to care for their children, and in making sure that women could be
    valued and treated properly and fairly in the workplace.
        We are determined to do what we can to advance this cause. First of
    all, we want to make sure Hispanic women understand the rights and
    opportunities to which they're entitled as working Americans. And we
    have translated into Spanish, for example, information on the family
    leave law, information on the sexual harassment laws, information on
    pregnancy and other employment discrimination practices. I think that is
    very important.
        But secondly, and even more important, we have to pursue an economic
    agenda that will help Hispanic women. We, first of all, have to raise
    the minimum wage. There are 300,000 Hispanic women in this country who
    would make an average of more than $1,800 a year more than they're
    making now and put another $1 billion into the American economy if we
    raised the minimum wage. And if we don't raise the minimum wage, next
    year, in terms of its real buying power, the minimum wage will fall to a
    40-year low.
        One of the real big fights we're having up here in Washington today
    is the fight between my vision of a smart-work, high-wage future and the
    alternative vision of a high-profit but hard-work and low-wage future. I
    think it's clear which one is in the best interest of the American
    people. We ought to start with raising the minimum wage.
        The second thing we need to do is to pass the ``GI bill'' of rights
    for America's workers, which includes consolidating all the various
    Government training programs into one big pool and then giving people
    who are unemployed or under-employed the right to a voucher worth $2,600
    a year for 2 years, which they can take to the local community college
    or anyplace else if they want to get retraining and education after they
    have left high school and when they're in the work force. That is a very
    important proposal we have made that has achieved--gotten too little
    attention. I think we have a chance to pass it, and we ought to do so.
        The third thing that we ought to do in my opinion is to concentrate
    tax relief on middle income families and on childrearing and education
    costs. That will help Hispanic women enormously.
        The fourth thing we need to do is to pass the welfare reform bill
    that has been proposed in the United States Senate by Senator Barbara
    Mikulski, Senator Daschle, and Senator Breaux, which focuses on giving
    people who are on welfare the child care they need so that they can be
    able to go to work, they can be required to work, and we can end welfare
    as we know it by helping people be good parents.
        So these are just some of the things that I think we ought to do,
    and I hope you'll help me implement it. We have to win this budget
    fight. All this is going to play out in the context

    [[Page 1119]]

    of the budget fight. Our budget fight is good for growing Americans.
    It's good for children. It's good for middle class people. It's good for
    people who want to work their way out of poverty. And we have to win it.

    [A participant explained that he was satisfied with the President's
    commitment to affirmative action but was concerned that there were not
    enough Hispanic-Americans in the administration. He then asked how the
    President planned to become more actively involved with the Hispanic-
    American community.]

        The President. Well, first of all, let's deal with the facts as they
    exist. Our administration has appointed more Hispanics than any
    administration in history, more than twice as many as either of the
    previous two, and several hundred. We also have major domestic policy
    considerations in the hands of Secretary Cisneros and Secretary Pena.
        I've also had the privilege, as you know, to have the regular
    counsel of the head of the EEOC, Gil Casellas; Norma Cantu at the
    Department of Education; Maria Echaveste at the Department of Labor;
    Nelson Diaz at HUD; George Munoz at Treasury, Aida Alvarez at HUD,
    Fernando Torres-Gil at HHS, Katherine Archuleta at Transportation and
    Joaq Otero at Labor, among others.
        And at the White House, as you know, we have lost some people, but
    we still have an awful lot of talented Latinos on our staff. In fact,
    one of them made history this afternoon. Carolyn Curiel personally
    helped me craft my affirmative action speech. She had more to do with
    drafting it than anybody else. And she is the first person of color and,
    more importantly, the first Latino in the history of our country to
    write speeches for the President. And it may be that the one she wrote
    today will go down as one of the two or three most important I have ever
    delivered. In the White House, as you know, she's joined by Rick
    Hernandez, Janet Maguida, Ray Martinez, Liz Montoya, Suzanne Ramos,
    Suzanna Valdez, Vicki Rivas-Vazquez, Araceli Ruano, and others.
        Now, I want to answer your two questions here. Number one, I am
    always looking for more good people for important appointments to boards
    and commissions and other things. But I want to point out again, if you
    look at my record on judges, I have appointed more than 3 times as many
    Hispanic judges in the first 2 years of my Presidency as Presidents
    Reagan, Bush, and Carter combined did in the first 2 years of their
    Presidency. And in only 2 years, I have appointed more judges than any
    other administration in history. So I think my record is pretty good on
    that. I do want to continue to do better. And I do believe that there is
    more we can do.
        Now, on the consultation issue, I really think that's one I really
    need to put back on you because my perception is that we have reached
    out and we have consulted and we have had a lot of good meetings that
    were more than just briefings but were really asking for input. If you
    don't believe that's true, then what I think you ought to do is make a
    proposal to me and let me see if I can accommodate it so that we can
    give you and all the people you represent and the people that you work
    so hard for and do such a wonderful job for the feeling that they do
    have an open door and a listening ear at the White House, because in the
    end that is maybe the most important thing.
        I have to keep working on these appointments because that empowers
    people who, in turn, send ripples all across the country. A lot of these
    judges, for example, will serve for 20 or 30 or more years and will make
    decisions that will together affect millions and millions of people in
    positive ways.
        But while I am here, your feeling of access and involvement and
    participation in this administration is perhaps the single most
    important thing that I can give you. So I want to say again, I would
    like to invite you to make a proposal about how you think we should do
    it, what the right way to do it is. I will do my best to accommodate it
    and, in any case, we will make sure that people feel that we are moving
    this issue forward.

    [A participant expressed concern about the anti-immigration movement in
    America and asked how the President planned to help change such feelings
    of animosity toward the Hispanic community.]

        The President. Well, first of all, let me say that I think there is
    a rising tide of--it's sort of the same--I view the immigration issue
    rather like the affirmative action issue. In the case of affirmative
    action, I think there were legitimate questions raised about the way the
    programs work and whether they need reform.

    [[Page 1120]]

    There were even some who asked honestly whether affirmative action was
    the right or wrong thing for America. And then there were a whole lot of
    people that were using affirmative action to drive a political wedge in
    this country as a false excuse for the problems of the American middle
    class and the economic anxieties broadly felt by Americans.

        I think the immigration issue has sort of flared up again, in my
    judgment, driven by two factors. One is the general economic anxiety of
    Americans and the feeling that we are at an all-time high in the number
    of immigrants we let in every year and that that may be depressing wages
    and causing economic difficulties.

        But I think the far more important problem is the sense that this
    country has been very undisciplined in its handling of illegal
    immigration in ways that have cost the taxpayers an awful lot of money
    and undermined our sense that our laws matter. And so, I think we need
    to have the same attitude about immigration that I have about
    affirmative action.

        This is a country of immigrants. The fact that we have so many
    immigrants in this country and that they come from so many different
    places, from so many different racial, ethnic, and religious backgrounds
    is a mother lode of opportunity for us. The fact that Hispanics are
    fast-moving to become our largest minority population is a godsend,
    given the fact that for the next 20 to 30 to 50 years our greatest
    opportunity for growth and trade will be in Mexico, Central and South
    America, and in the Caribbean. So I see this as a positive force.

        And I think we have to do several things. Let me just mention some
    of the things we are trying to do. I think we have to examine our
    immigration policies in a factual, calm, nonpolitical way just as we try
    to do with affirmative action. I think we need to do whatever we can to
    reduce the burden of illegal immigration without unduly hurting innocent
    children.

        As you know, I opposed Proposition 187 in California. I was
    unsuccessful, but I did my best. And I did it because I thought it was
    unfair to children and counterproductive and self-defeating. On the
    other hand, I noticed that the post-election polls showed that
    significant percentages of Hispanic-Americans voted for it, not a
    majority but a significant percentage. And I think the reason is that a
    lot of people don't like having people who deliberately violate our laws
    spend our tax money. I think that is a very--it is very hard to defend
    that practice, and I don't intend to defend it.

        So I have tried to keep America open as an immigration-friendly
    society while toughening our ability to enforce our own immigration laws
    and to deport people who are here illegally, especially those who come
    in contact with the criminal justice system. I also believe, however,
    it's very important that legal immigrants be encouraged to pursue their
    citizenship and that we do what we can to accelerate it.

        I would like to look at this note here. We naturalized in 1994 half
    a million people. That's a 50 percent increase over 1992. And we're
    trying to break that record this year. I have directed the INS to get an
    extra almost $10 million to help to process people for naturalization.
    We're trying to get volunteers. We're doing everything we can in that
    regard. And I have repeatedly spoken out against immigrant bashing and
    negative feelings.

        So I think that what we need to do is to have a sensible approach to
    immigration. It needs to be open. It needs to be nondogmatic and
    nonbigoted. We need to be firm but reasonable in the way we deal with
    the problem of illegal immigration. And we need to try to get as many of
    our immigrants who want to do so to become citizens as quickly as
    possible so that the American people will all see that this is a part of
    the process of American history which is a good one for our country.

        Q. Mr. President, we thank you very much. And you'll have our
    proposal on Monday. And we're here to help you with advice if you need
    us. Thank you very much.

        The President. I always need it. I thank you. For the members of the
    Hispanic community who gave me advice and had input on the affirmative
    action speech, let me thank you especially. This was a very important
    day for America. I hope that what I said and the way it was said will
    reach the hearts and minds of the vast majority of the American people.
    I believed it very deeply. And I thank all of you who have had any input
    on that directly or indirectly.

        Thank you very much.

    Note: The President spoke at 2:16 p.m. by satellite from Room 459 of the
    Old Executive Office

    [[Page 1121]]

    Building to the convention meeting in Dallas, TX. In his remarks, he
    referred to Irma Flores-Gonzalez, chairman of the board, National
    Council of La Raza; and the late Willie Velasquez, founder, Southwest
    Voter Registration and Education Project.