[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.