    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1997, Book I)]
    [February 2, 1997]
    [Pages 104-105]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks at the National Governors' Association Dinner
    February 2, 1997

        Ladies and gentlemen, Governor and Mrs. Miller, Governor and Mrs.
    Voinovich, all the Governors and spouses and children and friends who
    are here, the leaders of the National Governors' Association, welcome
    back to the White House.
        As all of you know, this is a very special dinner for Hillary and
    for me. I had to pinch myself this afternoon when I was preparing these
    notes--very elaborate--[laughter]--when I realized that this is the
    fifth time I have had the honor of hosting this dinner, which I also
    attended 12 times as a Governor.
        Four years ago when you came here, I told you that I would do my
    best to chart a new course for our country, to give you a strong
    economy, a smaller and less obtrusive Federal Government, still one that
    could be very effective and innovative in dealing with the challenges
    before us and in forging a new partnership with the Governors to devolve
    more decisionmaking to the State level. Four years later, we can look
    back and see that that strategy has worked, thanks to your efforts and
    what all of us here have been able to do, working together.
        Our economy is the strongest it's been in 30 years. Our Government
    is the smallest it's been since President Kennedy was here. Today one of
    our major newspapers carried a story chronicling the record decline in
    the welfare rolls over the last 4 years--2\1/4\ million people--and at
    last giving the Governors and the States committed to welfare reform a
    share of the credit, along with the rising economy, for moving people
    from welfare to work. So this is a good time. Crime rates have dropped
    now for 5 years in a row, and we know now what to do to keep them coming
    down.
        The main thing I want to say tonight is that we all, together, have
    an incredible opportunity, standing as we do on the edge of a new
    century, a new millennium, but also a profoundly different time in human
    affairs and standing at this point not only as the world's only
    superpower but one that is free of external threat and internal economic
    crisis, which means we have an opportunity almost unique in our history
    to think about not only what we need to do for our people today and
    tomorrow but what America needs 20 years from now, 50 years from now.
        That is the sort of thing that people who were here before us
    thought about at the end of World War II, and the decisions they made
    gave us 50 pretty good years as Americans. Tuesday night, when I speak
    in the State of the Union Address, I'm going to ask the Congress to
    cross party lines with each other and with me and to think about how we
    can build the next 50 years for America, how we can bring about true
    excellence and complete opportunity in education, how we can finish the
    job of welfare reform so that everyone we are now requiring to work
    genuinely has the chance to work, how we can meet the other challenges
    that are before us. Many of them involve the leadership, the initiative,
    the strength and steadiness of our Nation's Governors.
        And so I pledge to you to continue the partnership we've had, to try
    to deepen it, to try to enrich it, and beginning tomorrow, to try to
    continue to listen to you and to your concerns and to hear your advice.
    This has been a good 4 years for America. I look forward to the next 4.
    And I look forward to our continued partnership.
        The National Governors' Association has been a unique and immensely
    valuable institution for

    [[Page 105]]

    the United States because it gives the Governors a chance, without
    regard to their regional and political differences, to reach common
    positions for the people of their States and to bring those positions
    not only to life in their States but also to bring them to Washington,
    where it's too often easy to forget about the real lives of real people
    out in the country. I know you will be doing that here, and I hope
    together we will be advancing those lives for 4 more years.
        I now ask you to join me in a toast to our partnership, to the
    Governors, and especially to Governor and Mrs. Miller and to Governor
    and Mrs. Voinovich.

    Note: The President spoke at 8:50 p.m. in the State Dining Room at the
    White House. In his remarks, he referred to Gov. Bob Miller of Nevada,
    National Governors' Association chairman, and his wife, Sandy; and Gov.
    George V. Voinovich of Ohio, NGA vice chairman, and his wife, Janet.