    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1997, Book I)]
    [January 28, 1997]
    [Pages 90-94]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks at a Democratic Business Council Dinner
    January 28, 1997

        Thank you very much. Well, thank you, Carol. Thank you, Steve. Roy,
    I won't ever make you stay in that bed again. [Laughter] I was simply
    trying to get even for all the nights he's bent my ear. [Laughter]
        I want to thank all the officers of the Democratic Party who are
    here, all the distinguished elected officials, and all the members of
    our administration who are here. And I want to thank you.
        Some of you may have noticed that I had a press conference today
    where there was one or two questions about campaign finance. [Laughter]
    And they said, ``Well, does it set a good example that you're going to
    this fundraiser tonight?'' And I said, ``Yes, I think it does, because
    there is no system which has been offered which is completely publicly
    funded from start to finish and funds the political parties. So we have
    to depend upon people to help us.''
        And this group, as Alan Solomont said earlier, has been responsible
    for dramatically increasing the number of business people and
    entrepreneurs all across America that have been a part of our party,
    broadening our base, giving us a chance to go forward. I thank you, Tom,
    for being willing to take over the leadership of it. I think it's a good
    thing if people like Tom or Steve, who had a very successful career in
    business and worked at the grassroots level, want to come in and be part
    of the Democratic Party.
        I also think it's terribly important that the President see as many
    people as possible, from as many walks of life as possible, from as many
    places in this country as possible, who actually know something about
    what's going on in the country and how people are living and what the
    challenges are.
        And as I said today, I never had anyone in 4 years who asked me to
    make a decision as President based on being a financial contributor, and
    I have never made such a decision. But I think we should listen to each
    other. I mean, you all have to listen to me all the time, and every now
    and then for me to take a little time to listen to you I think is pretty
    good because even Presidents need to learn. And almost no one learns
    when they're talking, and almost no one fails to learn when they're
    listening.
        So I think this is a good thing, and I welcome you here, and I hope
    you're glad to be here. And let me also say that--[applause]--thank you.
    Having said that, I do want to compliment the new leadership of the
    party and the old leadership of the party for taking some unilateral
    initiatives to push the campaign finance reform system along by coming
    out against things that are legal that we're not going to do anymore
    because we want to try to push the system along, saying that if you
    can't vote, you shouldn't contribute, that companies that are primarily
    foreign-owned should not contribute, and that we would limit our large
    contributions. I think that's a good thing.
        But I also would urge you to help us pass a campaign finance reform
    bill that is fair, that is bipartisan, that does not give undue
    advantage to either party, and that gives challengers as well as
    incumbents a fair chance at the ears, the minds, and the hearts of the
    voters. I think that's a very important thing to do.

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        We were talking around the table here at dinner--my impression is--
    and I ran for Congress in 1974 and got beat, by the way, but I did all
    right--but that was the first election under the old campaign finance
    reform, which was then the new campaign finance reform law. And my
    impression is that it did work to give people a greater degree of
    confidence that there were reasonable rules, regulations, and balance in
    the funding system.
        What's happened now is, the explosion of technology and the
    escalation of cost and the multiplication of the way people communicate
    with one another and the proliferation of various groups who are doing
    it and two Supreme Court decisions have basically swamped the old
    system.
        Now, there are very few of you who run enterprises who, even if
    you've been in business 20 years, could possibly be using the same
    communication system with the same budget in the same way that you were
    20 years ago. So it is unreasonable to expect that our Nation could have
    the right balance drawn between having a system that is largely
    privately financed but has adequate rules of disclosure, rules of
    conduct, and limitations, with a system that was written over 20 years
    ago, during which time we've had the biggest explosion in differences in
    the way people communicate and relate to each other politically than in
    any 20-year period certainly in the 20th century. So I hope you will
    help us get that done.
        The other point I'd like to make to you tonight is that you ought to
    be proud of what you have done. You know that the--sort of the
    superficial results. In '96 we had our first successful reelection for a
    President in 60 years. And someone, just to make sure I understood that,
    sent me the January 4, 1937 copy of Life Magazine, which I had framed
    and hung up in the White House so I don't forget that.
        We elected a Democrat the first Asian-American Governor in the
    United States, something I'm very proud of. That's another thing I want
    to say. We welcome first-generation immigrant Americans into the
    Democratic Party; we want them here. And it has been my personal
    experience--one of the richest aspects of being President and running
    for President twice has been getting to know in a personal way very
    large numbers of people who are first-generation Americans, who still
    come to our shores seeking opportunity and making opportunity. And
    virtually without exception, they give this country many times over what
    they ever ask from it. And I think that is a very good thing.
        We had the first woman Governor ever in the State of New Hampshire.
    And we carried New Hampshire for the second time, and that's only
    happened three times in the history of the State, that a Democrat's won
    there twice. And I'm very grateful to them.
        We had 100 new Democratic legislators. We picked up some seats in
    the House.
        So we're--those things were good. But what I want you to do is just
    take a minute tonight to look behind that, to understand what I believe
    20, 30 years from now when people look back on this time, what they will
    say about it. For almost 30 years, the other party has dominated
    Presidential politics, and the salient issues dividing the voters, I
    would argue, have been the power of appeals to people's differences
    based on race and religion and extreme political views, as opposed to
    appeal to community.
        In the last 16 years, the argument of what we Democrats called
    trickle-down economics and what the other fellows called supply-side
    economics--that is, that if you cut taxes enough you would generate so
    much revenue the budget would be balanced, and if it wasn't it didn't
    really matter, and we quadrupled our debt in 12 years following that
    theory--and the argument that the Government is the problem and so if we
    just chocked Washington full of people who hated their Government,
    things would be wonderful out in the country--if you go all the way back
    to '68 and watch the Presidential elections unfold, any analysis would
    say that those things were very powerful components of that.
        What has happened in just the last 4 years? Number one, we haven't
    abolished the divisive feelings Americans have about each other, but
    we've come a long way toward subordinating them to the idea that we are
    one community, and we're better off if we relate to each other across
    the lines that divide us, and it's a big part of our meal ticket to the
    21st century. That is a huge, significant step forward.
        And even in places where people didn't agree with me about specific
    issues--for example, when I stood up for the proposition that
    affirmative action should be reformed but not abolished at this point in
    time--in California the voters disagreed in the vote on the initiative,
    but they voted for the Clinton/Gore ticket for reelection. Why? Because
    I think people know deep down

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    inside, we've got to go forward together. That's a big thing. It's a
    significant change.
        Number two, the theory of trickle-down economics was tested and
    abolished in 1993 with our budget, our much maligned budget passed only
    by members of our party. Four years later, we know who was right and who
    was wrong. We have had--[applause]--the deficit went down by almost two-
    thirds. Inequality decreased among working families for the first time
    in 20 years. We increased our investment in education and technology.
    And the economy produced 11 million jobs plus for the first time in a 4-
    year term in history. So we replaced trickle-down economics with invest-
    and-grow economics--and trade and reach out to the rest of the world.
    It's working. That is a significant thing.
        And the third thing we did, I talked about in the Inaugural. We said
    Government is not the problem--that's wrong--but Government is not the
    solution. We have to be the solution. Democratic Government is simply
    the gift our Founders gave us to meet our challenges and to pursue our
    dreams that must be met and pursued in common. And the primary function
    of Government today is to give people the tools they need to make the
    most of their own lives, to build strong careers, strong families, and
    strong communities, and then to keep us the world's strongest force for
    peace and freedom and democracy. And we have done that. And you should
    be very proud of that. That is what you helped to create.
        There are other things. Social problems used to be rhetorical
    instruments of political campaigns which no one really expected to
    change very much. So whether you were tough on crime or not was largely
    a function of who could talk tougher in campaigns. We went out and wrote
    a crime bill based on what the police officers, the community patrol
    people, the community leaders in this country said would work to bring
    the crime rate down and to contribute to what people were doing in some
    communities already in America to bring the crime rate down. And we know
    that community policing, we know that tougher punishment for repeat
    offenders, and we know that giving young kids something to say yes to as
    well as something to say no to all work. And we've had now 4 years of
    declining crime. That is a very significant thing. Nobody has to believe
    that crime is inevitable anymore.
        We had--long before this welfare bill passed, we were out there
    giving States and communities permission to try new things that would
    move people from welfare to work, and 2.1 million people now have moved
    in only 4 years from welfare to work, the biggest decline in American
    history.
        And let me just say--I want to say some more about that in a minute,
    but my decision to sign the welfare reform bill was based in large
    measure on my unshakable conviction that we can go the rest of the way
    and that we have to build a community-based system where able-bodied
    people are not segregated, the unemployed, from those on welfare. We
    need a family- and work-oriented, community-based system of full
    employment for people who are capable of working.
        And of course, when the economy is down, there will be more people
    out of work. And when the economy is working, there will be more people
    in work. But you have to play a role in that, and I'll say something
    about that in a minute.
        This was a huge deal. Nobody believes that the welfare rolls have to
    grow forever now--2.1 million fewer people on welfare. So social
    problems are something more than the rhetoric of campaigns now, they're
    about how people live.
        We've also put what I think of as the right kind of family values
    back at the center of our policymaking. What is it we can do to help
    families cope with the challenges of family and work and family and
    culture? That's what the Family and Medical Leave Act was all about.
    That's what the V-chip and the television rating systems were all about.
    That's what all that was about. How are people going to juggle all these
    balls and still do the most important thing in life, which is to do a
    good job raising their children? It's the number one job any person ever
    has. How can we do that?
        Well, we're moving in the right direction on that. All these changes
    have been made in just the last 4 years. It's a good basis from which we
    have to go forward. And I'm going to give the State of the Union Address
    in a few days, and I will focus on what I hope we can do together,
    working with the Republicans to balance the budget, to put education
    front and center on our national agenda so we have national standards
    and we open the doors of college to all, to build on this families first
    agenda,

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    and to keep the crime rate coming down, and to expand health care
    coverage, and to reform the systems of Social Security and Medicare so
    they're there for the next generation and they don't bankrupt the
    budget, and to continue to reach out to the rest of the world.
        And this is the last thing I'd like to say. Because I believe we
    should talk, and I should also listen as well as talk, I always tell
    people who contribute to our efforts that you have even more
    opportunities and responsibilities to make your voice heard. And I would
    like to just say two things. There are many things I will ask for your
    help on, but I want to serve notice there are two things that I will ask
    for your help on.
        Number one relates to what Mr. Grossman used to do before he came to
    the party. I said if Steve Grossman could run AIPAC and keeps those
    folks together, he ought to be able to unify the Democrats. And all the
    members of AIPAC thought that was funny.
        But one of the things that we have to recognize is, there is no such
    thing in the 21st century as being strong at home and therefore saying
    you don't care what happens abroad. We cannot be strong at home unless
    we are also strong abroad. And that is about more than the defense
    budget. That means they're going--that means, among other things, now
    that they're reforming the United Nations, we have new leadership, we've
    got to pay the money we owe them. We can't any longer be the biggest
    debtor at the U.N. We've got to show up and pay our way. We can't expect
    to lead the world if we won't even do the minimal required of a
    responsible country.
        And number two, we have to invest some measure of our money. We
    spend less of our budget than any great country in the world on foreign
    affairs, but we have to spend enough to enable our country to lead the
    way for peace and freedom. And I hope you will help us convince the
    Congress of that, and our fellow citizens.
        Second, and closer to home, I know that this welfare reform bill can
    be made to work. I think we have to change some of the provisions
    relating to immigrants and some other things, but the substance of the
    bill simply says, if you're able-bodied, within 2 years you have to move
    from welfare to work. And if you do, as Governor Romer said, we'll give
    you more child care; we'll support you in other ways; we'll keep the
    health care guarantee for your kids; we'll help you with transportation.
    But you have to do it.
        Now, you might say that is inherently impossible because last year
    in a boom economy there were six applicants for every entry-level job
    opening in Chicago and nine for every entry-level job opening in St.
    Louis. So how can you do that? The answer is, I can't, but you can. And
    now every State in the country has the power today to take the welfare
    check and give it to an employer as a wage and training supplement for a
    year or more and, if it's a small-business employer, to keep covering
    the children with health care. Every one.
        I've asked the Congress to adopt a special tax credit that would
    give every employer who hires someone certified from welfare, up to
    $10,000 a year in salary, a 50 percent tax credit. Those two things
    together are more than enough incentive for people to marginally add to
    the work force if they've got a healthy business and they want to do
    something for their country.
        And you think about it. If small business, medium-sized and large,
    and for-profit and private institutions like churches and community
    groups, if we said--businesses saying, ``For every 25 employees I've
    got, if I have these incentives at the grassroots level, I'll hire
    somebody off welfare,'' this problem would go away tomorrow. Oh, yeah,
    there would be people who would have a hard time making it, and they'd
    fall on and off the rolls, and we'd have to work with education and
    training and preparing people. But the problem, as a big problem, would
    go away. And we would have what I have always wanted, which is a
    community-based system that treats all people who are out of work with
    dignity--dignity by giving them the support they need for their children
    and dignity by giving them the expectation that if they're able-bodied,
    they will work when they can. A good thing to do.
        But I just would say to you, we have to set an example here. And we
    are going to have to go out and find the people to do this. And all of
    you are going to have to help me do this. And I'll have an organized way
    of doing that which I will explain to you over the next several days and
    give you a better chance to participate in it.
        But that's what being a Democrat means. We can be pro-business and
    have a social conscience. We can be for very high standards in

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    school and still be compassionate for people that need a hand up. We
    need to do things that prove that you don't have to make false choices--
    you can grow the economy, protect the environment; you can balance the
    budget and invest in education; you can be strong at home and be strong
    abroad. And we can build a unifying vision that will bring this country
    together and move it forward.
        That's what I want you to be a part of. I want you to be excited. I
    want you to be happy. I want you to be proud to be a part of what we're
    trying to do. And I want you to be a part of what we're trying to do.
    You are very welcome.
        Thank you, and God bless you all.

    Note: The President spoke at 8:12 p.m. at the Sheraton Carlton Hotel. In
    his remarks, he referred to Carol Pensky, treasurer, Steve Grossman,
    national chair, Gov. Roy Romer of Colorado, general chair, and Alan
    Solomont, national finance chair, Democratic National Committee; C.
    Thomas Hendrickson, chair, Democratic Business Council; Gov. Gary Locke
    of Washington; and Gov. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire.