    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1996, Book II)]
    [September 12, 1996]
    [Pages 1556-1560]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks in Rancho Cucamonga, California
    September 12, 1996

        The President. Wow! Thank you very much. Thank you all. Thank you
    for coming. Thank you for standing out here on this hot, fine day. Thank
    you for your enthusiasm. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Thank you, Dr.
    Jerry Young, for making me feel so welcome at Chaffey College and for
    the work you do here. Thank you, Congressman George Brown. Ladies and
    gentlemen, there is not a Member of the entire Congress who knows more
    about the role of technology in your future, in California's future, in
    America's future than George Brown, and I hope you will send him back to
    the United States Congress so that he can continue to serve you.
        Thank you, Kerri Matthews, thank you for your wonderful speech.
    Thank you for bringing your wonderful children and thank you for the
    power of your example. You, in your efforts to be a good parent, a good
    learner, and a successful worker in the future, you're what this country
    is all about, and I'm proud to be on the platform with you.
        I would like to thank the folks who were here before, Lieutenant
    Governor Gray Davis, State Comptroller Kathleen Connell, Assemblyman Joe
    Baca, Mayor Bill Alexander, Art Torres, the San Bernardino County
    supervisors who were here, the other officials who were here, and I
    would like to thank the Olympians who were here, Mike Powell and Evelyn
    Ashford. Thank you. Where are they? They're over here somewhere. Thank
    you. Hi, Evelyn. Hi, Mike. Thank you.
        I'd like to thank Karen Kraft who sang the national anthem, the
    Rancho Cucamonga High School Marching Cougar Band. Thank you very much.
    Thank you. The Loveland Church Choir, thank you for singing. I'll tell
    you, I have had a good time already, and I thank you for that. Thank you
    for these great signs out here.
        You know, so many times in the last 4 years when I have come to
    California, I have come to help the people of California with a problem
    they had, whether it was an earthquake, a fire, a flood, a base closing,
    trying to protect our borders in the south--always a problem. I come
    today to tell you we've also been working hard to create opportunities
    for the people of California, and we're on the right track to the 21st
    century.
        In this election season, you have to ask first of all where are we
    now compared to where we were 4 years ago, when we had high
    unemployment, stagnant wages, rising crime, a dividing society, and
    rising cynicism. Look at where we are today. The lowest unemployment in
    7\1/2\ years, 10\1/2\ million new jobs, nearly 4\1/2\ million new
    homeowners, the deficit's gone down for 4 years in a row by 60 percent,
    the first time that's happened since before the Civil War, in the
    1840's. We're in better shape than we were 4 years ago.
        Fifteen million of the hardest pressed working Americans got a tax
    cut so they could raise their children and work and not be tempted to
    fall back into welfare. The welfare rolls are down by 1.8 million and
    child support collections are up by $3 billion, 40 percent.
        For 4 years, the crime rate has gone down, 12 million Americans got
    to take a little time off from work when a baby was born or a parent was
    sick without losing their jobs because of the family and medical leave
    law. On October 1st, the new minimum wage law will become effective and
    10 million Americans will get a raise.
        That law will also make every small business in America eligible for
    a tax cut when they buy health insurance. They'll make it easier for
    small businesses to invest in their businesses, to hire more people, and
    they will be eligible for more tax relief. And we made it easier for
    people

    [[Page 1557]]

    who work for small businesses to take out retirement plans and to keep
    them when they change jobs, and so many people change jobs today that's
    very important.
        And finally, that bill gave parents who adopt children a $5,000 tax
    credit to promote adoptive families. There's a lot of children out there
    who need it, and I hope it helps.
        We passed the health care reform bill that made 25 million Americans
    eligible to get or keep health insurance by saying simply, you cannot
    lose your health insurance or be denied it now just because somebody in
    your family has been sick, or you moved from job to job. It can
    revolutionize health care security for millions of Americans.
        And you may have noticed that at the Democratic Convention, I said
    that I thought we ought to do more in health care, and two things I
    mentioned: One, I don't think it's right to throw a new mother and her
    newborn child out of the hospital before at least 48 hours go by; and I
    believe we ought to make a beginning at providing some insurance for
    people. There are millions and millions and millions of families who
    need some health care in the mental health area, and I think we ought to
    make a beginning of that, and I'm here to tell you that this week, the
    Congress in both Houses has voted to do both those things. We are moving
    in the right direction, we are on the right track to the 21st century.
        Now folks, I have tried in the last 4 years to move our country
    toward the America I want for the 21st century, a country in which every
    person, without regard to color, gender, or any other difference can
    live out their dreams and live up to their God-given capacity, a country
    where--look out at this sea of people--where all of us with all of our
    diversity will be able to come together and not be divided, a country
    that will still be the world's strongest force for peace and freedom and
    prosperity. And our formula is simple: We have to meet our challenges;
    we have to protect our values--opportunity for all, responsibility from
    all, and a community in which every single person who works hard and
    plays by the rules, no matter whatever else you want to say about them,
    has got a role to play, a place at the table--and we'll be walking
    across that bridge to the 21st century together. I want you to help me
    build that bridge. Will you do it? [Applause]
        So now, we have to ask ourselves: Are we going to build a bridge to
    the future, or a bridge to the past? Are we going to build a bridge
    where everybody can walk across because we recognize our obligations to
    help each other make the most of our own lives, or are we going to say,
    ``You're on your own.''
        Frankly, folks, I think Americans ought to work the way our
    community colleges work. Look at this place. It is democratic--small
    ``d''--that is, it's open to all; it's flexible; it's oriented toward
    results; the programs have to be good and relevant, otherwise people
    don't profit from them when they leave; they're changing all the time;
    and they represent partnerships between people in business and people in
    education; and no one asks you what your political party is or what your
    position on this, that, or the other issue is. You're just given a
    chance to make the most of your own life. Nobody gives you a guarantee,
    but everybody gets a chance. That's the kind of America I want to build
    for everybody all the time.
        Since I became President, I've worked as hard as I could to change
    the way politics works in Washington, to get away from the old who are
    we going to blame politics, and instead say, What are we going to do
    about it? How are we going to make America better? No more who to blame;
    let's ask what to do. No more insults; let's have a campaign and a life
    in America of ideas and change, positive change toward a better future.
        We still have a lot to do if we're going to build the right kind of
    bridge to the 21st century. We have to provide the best educational
    opportunity in the world to everybody. And let me just mention two or
    three things. Number one, I have proposed a program to mobilize 30,000
    mentors, including college students on work-study, AmeriCorps
    volunteers, other trained teachers to mobilize a million volunteers to
    go into all of our schools where there are reading problems so that
    every 8-year-old in America will be able to read on his or her own by
    the year 2000.
        I want to have a country where every classroom in America, every
    single classroom and library in America is hooked up to the information
    superhighway, with good computers, good teachers, and the Internet and
    the World Wide Web for everybody. What that means is, if we do that, for
    the first time in history, every student in every classroom in the
    poorest urban

    [[Page 1558]]

    areas and the most remote rural areas will have access to the same
    learning in the same way at the same quality in the same time as the
    people in the wealthiest institutions in America. It will revolutionize
    opportunity in education, and we have to do it.
        I want to help our public schools to meet their challenges; to stay
    open later for the kids that need a place to go, a positive place to go;
    to have more flexibility to get greater results; to be judged by their
    standards; but to be given freedom from rules that stifle them. I've
    done a lot I'm very proud of in this area because I spent a lot of time
    in public schools as well as community colleges.
        One of the things that California has led the way in is in the
    creation of new schools in public school districts, called charter
    schools, where a group of teachers gets together and says, ``Here's who
    we're going to serve. Here's what we're going to produce. Give us a
    charter and if we don't produce it, take it away from us. Hold us
    accountable. We'll educate our children better.''
        There are about 350 of these schools in America today, 90 of them in
    California. Today, we released another $1\1/4\ million to put 12 more in
    California, and if you will give me 4 more years, we'll build 3,000 more
    in America and all across this country.
        Finally, let me say that we have to make college education available
    to every single solitary person in America. Within 4 years, if we do the
    right things, we can make a degree from a community college just as
    universal in America as a high school diploma is today. Will you help me
    build that bridge to the 21st century? [Applause]
        Here's how we're going to do it. I propose to give families a tax
    credit, a dollar-for-dollar reduction in their taxes for the cost of the
    average community college tuition for 2 years so that everybody can
    afford to go to community college. We'll make it free. All you have to
    do is show up, do a good job, make your grades, learn, and go on to
    build a better life. It'll make America stronger.
        And I want to make it easier for people to go on to 4-year schools,
    to postgraduate education, for older people to go back to college. So we
    also propose a $10,000 tax deduction for the cost of any college tuition
    after high school for people of any age. We will do this. And when we
    do, America will be stronger.
        Finally, let me say that I think families ought to be able to save,
    and save more through an IRA, an individual retirement account, and then
    withdraw from it without any tax penalty for education or buying a first
    home or taking care of their health care needs. Now, we can
    revolutionize educational opportunity. If we do those things and you
    keep doing your job here, we will be able to say in 4 years, ``We've
    opened the doors of college to every person in America and a college
    education at least at a community college is just as universal in the
    year 2000 as a high school diploma was 4 years ago.'' Will you help me
    build that bridge to the 21st century? [Applause]
        We have to keep working to keep this economy growing. California's
    suffered too much and too long, and there are still people here who want
    jobs who don't have them. That means we have to keep interest rates down
    and investment going. That means we have to balance the budget, yes, but
    we have to do it in a way that continues to invest in the technologies
    of the future and the education of our people, in the protection of the
    environment, and providing the protection that Medicare and Medicaid
    give to children, to families with disabilities, and to the elderly. We
    don't want to divide this country, and we don't have to, to balance the
    budget. Will you help me do it in the right way? [Applause] That's an
    important part of our bridge to the 21st century.
        We have to build a bridge to the 21st century that keeps the crime
    rate coming down. We've got 4 years of declining crime. The leaders of
    our friends in the other party, they fought us on the crime bill.
    They're still against putting 100,000 police on the street, although for
    the life of me I can't figure out why. They were against the Brady bill,
    they were against the assault weapons ban. They told people they would
    lose their weapons. Well, it's 4 years later. Not a single hunter, not a
    single sportsman has lost a single weapon. But 60,000 felons, fugitives,
    and stalkers did not get handguns to terrorize the American people
    because of the Brady bill, and we are safer because of it.
        We ought to go further. We ought to ban the cop-killer bullets and
    we ought to extend the Brady bill and say, ``If you have brutalized your
    spouse or your child, you ought not to be eligible to get a handgun
    either.'' Will you help me build that bridge to the 21st century?
    [Applause]

    [[Page 1559]]

        We passed welfare reform, but all it does is give us a chance to
    reform welfare. It says, now people on welfare will still get health
    care for their kids and nutrition and child care, if they take a job,
    more than ever before. But the income must now be used to move people to
    work. So I have a plan to create a million jobs. I don't want to see
    children and their parents in the street. I want everybody working and
    succeeding at home and at work. Will you help me create those million
    jobs to put people to work who have never had it before? [Applause]
        I want us to build a stronger American community and a stronger and
    safer world. That means we have to build strong families. I'm proud of
    the fact that the first bill I signed was the family and medical leave
    law, and I'd like to see it expanded a little to say you can also keep
    your job and still have a little time off to take your child to the
    doctor or to that parent-teacher conference at the school. It'll make
    America stronger.
        We've had 10\1/2\ million new jobs since I signed the family leave
    law; it's been good for business because when families are happy, when
    they're succeeding at raising their children, they're more productive at
    work and they make America stronger. Let it be our goal to say, success
    at home and success at work go hand in hand. Will you help me build that
    bridge to the 21st century? [Applause]
        Let me say, in California you know we have to build a bridge that
    protects our environment. I'm proud that we've destroyed more toxic
    waste dumps in 3 years than were destroyed in the 12 years before I took
    office; proud that our air is cleaner, that our food is safer; very,
    very proud that we created the country's largest national park south of
    Alaska here in California in the Mojave Desert; very proud that we saved
    Yellowstone from a gold mine and that we are moving forward on a whole
    broad range of fronts.
        But we still have problems. Ten million American children--10
    million--live within 4 miles of a toxic waste dump, and that's wrong. In
    4 more years, if you will give them to us, we'll close 500 of those
    dumps, the worst ones, because our children should grow up next to
    parks, not poison. Will you help me build that bridge to the 21st
    century? [Applause]
        Finally, let me say that we have to build a bridge to the 21st
    century that is safe for our children. I am so proud of the fact that
    just a couple of days ago, almost every country in the world--only three
    voting no--voted to ban the testing of nuclear weapons forever. We are
    making this a safer world.
        I'm proud of the fact that there are no nuclear missiles pointed at
    America's children for the first time since the dawn of the nuclear age,
    proud that your country is leading the way to peace and prosperity. But
    we have more to do. We have more to do. You saw it in Iraq. We cannot
    allow anybody anywhere to believe they are not bound by the rules of
    civilized behavior.
        So I say again, I don't want to get in a word war with Saddam
    Hussein, but we're going to do whatever it takes to keep him from
    threatening his neighbors, threatening our pilots, and we're going to
    enforce the no-fly zone.
        Let me make this last point: I believe that all of you, particularly
    those of you who are young, who have more tomorrows than yesterdays to
    look forward to--I believe you will grow up in a more peaceful world
    than any we've known in a long, long time. But we know it's not a world
    free of threats. We know we have to deal with terrorism. We know we have
    to deal with all the ethnic and racial and religious wars that still
    engulf the world. We know we have to deal with organized crime and drug
    smuggling. We know we have to deal with the proliferation of weapons of
    mass destruction.
        That's why I have worked so hard to rally the nations of the world
    to say we're going to have zero tolerance for terrorism, and why we're
    working so hard to make airline travel and airports safer in America.
    And I want you to support what we're trying to do.
        But today in the United States Senate, there's a big decision being
    made that most people have never talked about. They're debating
    something called the Chemical Weapons Convention. It is a treaty that
    will increase the safety of our soldiers and our citizens by reducing
    the dangers posed by poison gas. That seems a long way away but,
    remember, it wasn't so very long ago that a lot of innocent citizens
    were killed in Japan by a fanatic terrorist who exposed them to poison
    gas in a subway. We've got to do everything we possibly can to minimize
    the exposure of our people to this gas.
        Now, this treaty was negotiated by President Bush. Then I submitted
    it to the Senate 3 years ago for ratification. This has been a
    bipartisan

    [[Page 1560]]

    effort all along the way; General Colin Powell supports it; President
    Bush is working for it; his National Security Adviser is working for it;
    the Joint Chiefs of Staff are working for it, but bitter partisan debate
    has broken out in the last few days and has threatened to derail this
    treaty. I want you to be protected from the dangers of poison gas
    insofar as we can humanly do it, and I ask you to join with me in asking
    the Senate to resolve the remaining questions, put partisanship aside,
    and put America on the side of a safer world without poison gas being
    exposed to our citizens or our soldiers. Will you help me build that
    bridge to the 21st century? [Applause]
        Now, before I go, let me just ask you to remember what I said about
    the community colleges. Don't you want a country in which we're coming
    together, instead of being divided?
        Audience members. Yes!
        The President. Don't you want a country in which we all roll up our
    sleeves and say, ``We're going to work together to give each other the
    chance to make the most of our lives?''
        Audience members. Yes!
        The President. Don't you think my wife was right when she said it
    takes a village to raise a child?
        Audience members. Yes!
        The President. Don't you think that we're far better off building a
    bridge to the future than a bridge to the past?
        Audience members. Yes!
        The President. I want you to think about this. Just look around this
    crowd today. Look around this crowd. When I represented the United
    States at the opening of the Olympics and I watched all the teams come
    in, it was thrilling to me that there were people from 197 different
    nations there. And then I remembered I was looking at our own team, when
    Hillary and Chelsea and I went to visit with them, and I thought, you
    know, if the people from America, if they didn't have the American
    outfits on, you wouldn't have a clue where they were from. If you herded
    the American team up, you could say, ``Well, that one's from Africa;
    that one's from Scandinavia; that one's from the Middle East; this one's
    from Asia; this one's from India.'' They were from everywhere.
        There were 197 nations represented at the Olympics. In Los Angeles
    County there are people from 150 of those 197 places. And I want you to
    think about that, not only today, not only for the next 8 weeks, but for
    the rest of your life. This is a country founded 220 years ago by people
    who said, ``We believe all people are created equal.''
        We didn't behave that way then. We don't behave that way perfectly
    today, but that's what we believe. And we have to stand up and say to
    everybody, ``If you believe in the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the
    Declaration of Independence, if you're willing to show up tomorrow and
    be a good citizen and work hard, you're our kind of American. We don't
    need to know anything else about you. You're part of our American
    community.'' Will you help me build a bridge that all Americans can walk
    across to the 21st century? [Applause]
        Keep your spirits up, keep your determination up, and keep your eye
    on the future. Thank you, and God bless you.

    Note: The President spoke at 2:10 p.m. at Chaffey Community College. In
    his remarks, he referred to Jerry Young, president, and Kerri Matthews,
    student body president, Chaffey Community College; Mayor William J.
    Alexander of Rancho Cucamonga; Art Torres, chairman, California
    Democratic Party; and President Saddam Hussein of Iraq.