[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1996, Book II)]
[July 13, 1996]
[Pages 1116-1117]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



The President's Radio Address
July 13, 1996

    Good morning. As we prepare to meet the demands of the 21st century, 
I believe our goal must be to offer opportunity to all Americans, to 
demand responsibility from all Americans, and to come together as a 
community to strengthen our shared values and to build a better future 
together. That is how we will meet our challenges.
    This past week, those values were at work on Capitol Hill. Democrats 
and Republicans produced a bipartisan breakthrough for those Americans 
working hard to make the most of their own lives. On Tuesday, the Senate 
voted to pass a 90-cent increase in the minimum wage.
    It's about time. You can't raise a family on $4.25 an hour, and if 
we don't raise it, the minimum wage will fall to a 40-year low this year 
in terms of what it will buy. So I congratulate the Republican Members 
of Congress who joined with the Democrats to honor work and family, 
opportunity and responsibility, by voting to give minimum wage workers a 
raise. They should send me the final legislation quickly, without delay. 
That will be a victory for both parties and, more important, for all 
working Americans.
    The passage of the minimum wage shows what can happen when we're 
united, when we reach across party lines, when we work together. This 
can signify a new spirit of cooperation coming from Capitol Hill. If we 
continue this spirit, we can meet our other challenges as well.
    No challenge is more important than replacing our broken welfare 
system. Throughout my Presidency I've been determined to enact reform 
that requires welfare recipients to work, provides child care, imposes 
time limits, strengthens child support enforcement by cracking down on 
deadbeat parents, requires teen mothers to stay in school as a condition 
of welfare. When necessary, I've acted without Congress. Our 
administration has approved 67 separate welfare reform experiments in 40 
States to move people from welfare to work. Fully three-quarters of all 
welfare recipients are living under new rules right now. The New York 
Times has called it a quiet revolution in welfare. Today, 1.3 million 
fewer people are on welfare than the day I took office, and child 
support collections are up 40 percent.
    For 3\1/2\ years I've worked with Congress to craft legislation that 
replaces welfare with work. For months, the Republicans insisted that 
welfare reform be attached to a plan I strongly feel is misguided, to 
repeal Medicaid's guarantee of quality health care for elderly 
Americans, poor children, pregnant women, and people with disabilities. 
I'm determined to make welfare reform the law of the land, but I've also 
made it clear that I will not allow Medicaid to be destroyed, and I 
don't care what bill it's attached to.
    This week the Republican leaders in Congress announced that they are 
ready to work with me to pass a straightforward welfare reform bill that 
I can sign into law, instead of sending me legislation they know I'll 
veto. This can be a real breakthrough, a genuine turning point. We

[[Page 1117]]

are very close to replacing a broken welfare system with one that 
requires work, offers opportunity, and demands responsibility. If we 
work hard and work together we should now be able to pass real welfare 
reform and do it very soon.
    Already bipartisan legislation has been proposed in the Senate by 
Democrat John Breaux and Republican John Chafee and in the House by 
Republican Mike Castle and Democrat John Tanner. These are good, strong 
bills. They would end welfare as we know it. They should be the basis 
for quick agreement between the parties. And I look forward to having a 
bipartisan welfare reform bill within the next month.
    We should also extend this same spirit to our other pressing 
challenges as well. We should pass the Kassebaum-Kennedy health 
insurance reform bill which could benefit 25 million Americans by saying 
that you don't lose your health insurance when you change jobs or just 
because someone in your family has been sick. In its strongest form, 
this bill passed the Senate unanimously. But for months it slowed to a 
crawl as Republicans insisted on an untested and unlimited proposal for 
so-called medical savings accounts that have nothing to do with the 
fundamental purposes of Kennedy-Kassebaum reforms. So I urge them to 
reject the political games, and let's come to a quick agreement.
    We should also reform our illegal immigration laws. I support 
legislation that builds on our efforts to restore the rule of law to our 
borders, ensures that American jobs are reserved for legal workers, and 
boosts deportation of criminal aliens. But some insist on kicking the 
children of illegal immigrants out of school. Every major law 
enforcement organization says this could lead to more crime. So let's 
put aside this punitive measure and reform our illegal immigration laws 
now.
    It's no secret that this is a political year. And there will be 
plenty of time to discuss our differences in the months to come. But our 
Nation faces challenges that cannot wait until November: real welfare 
reform, a minimum wage increase, access to health insurance, stronger 
immigration laws. We can achieve all these things now if we work 
together.
    I look forward to working with Majority Leader Lott, Speaker 
Gingrich, and the Democratic leaders of Congress to do the people's 
business in the coming weeks. If we're willing to put our differences 
aside for the sake of the American people, we can make this a time of 
genuine achievement for our Nation. It would not only be good for both 
parties, it would be very good for America.
    Thanks for listening.

Note: The address was recorded at 6:52 p.m. on July 12 in the Roosevelt 
Room at the White House for broadcast at 10:06 a.m. on July 13.