    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1997, Book II)]
    [November 17, 1997]
    [Pages 1596-1598]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks at a Reception for Senatorial Candidate Jay Nixon in St. Louis,
    Missouri
    November 17, 1997

        Thank you very, very much. Thank you for the wonderful welcome.
    Thank you for letting me listen to Team Eleven--weren't they great?
    [Applause] I wonder if they could come to Washington tomorrow? If they
    could cheer me up once a day, I'd stay in a better frame of mind as
    President. [Laughter]
        I want to thank Mayor Harmon for the fine job he's doing and the
    leadership he's showing and for making me feel so welcome. Thank you,
    Lieutenant Governor Wilson, for being here; and Missouri Democratic
    Party Chair Joe Carmichael; St. Louis County Executive Buzz Westfall;
    all the other officials who are here. And I want to thank Jay Nixon for
    running for the United States Senate.
        I want to thank the people of Missouri for voting for Bill Clinton
    and Al Gore in 1992 and in 1996. And I want to thank Jay Nixon for
    getting such a big vote; I could kind of ride in on his coattails.
    [Laughter] I enjoyed that.
        Ladies and gentlemen, this is a very important election for you. And
    you should know it's also a very important election for the United
    States, because policies that are good for the people

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    of Missouri are also good for the people of America. And when I ran for
    President--just remember what it was like--unemployment was high; the
    country was becoming more divided; we seemed to be sort of drifting and
    stumbling into the future. And I ran to reclaim the basic American
    values of opportunity and responsibility and community and to reclaim
    the future for the young people here and throughout our country.
        And almost every step of the way, the changes that I wanted to make,
    new policies and new ideas for new times, were fought bitterly by the
    members of the opposition party. Even when we finally wound up reaching
    agreement, it was only after a fight. In 1993, I had an economic plan
    that I said would bring the deficit down and get the economy going
    again. They said it would bring a recession, and they all voted against
    it, every single one of them. And then in '94, they went out and told
    the country that we'd raised everybody's taxes unconscionably. It wasn't
    true, but a lot of people didn't know it, and a lot of people hadn't
    felt the benefits of the economy, so they got a bunch of gains in the
    Congress. But in 1997, we see that under that plan, before the balanced
    budget takes effect, the deficit is 92 percent lower than it was when I
    took office, and we've got the best economy in a generation. Our
    approach was right, and they were wrong.
        You heard Jay Nixon say that he supported us on putting 100,000
    police on the street and banning assault weapons and establishing gun-
    free school zones. Now in 1994, we had a bitter debate in the United
    States Senate--bitter--on the crime bill. And I was ridiculed by the
    Republicans because I had signed the Brady bill, because I wanted to ban
    assault weapons--they said it would do no good; because I wanted to put
    100,000 police on the street--they said it would do no good; because I
    thought we ought to have more prevention programs in our neighborhoods
    to keep more kids out of trouble in the first place--they said it would
    do no good. And we had to work and work to break a filibuster led by the
    members of the opposition party. All I did was listen to police chiefs
    and prosecutors around the country. The crime bill was a reflection of
    what people on the street in law enforcement said they wanted. That's
    all I did.
        Oh, in '94, they went all around the country telling people we were
    going to take their guns away, and they picked up a few seats in
    Congress for telling people that. We lost a Congressman in New
    Hampshire; I'll never forget it. In '96, I went back running for
    President in New Hampshire and I faced all these people. Every one of
    them, just like my folks in Arkansas, had a hunting license. And I said,
    ``You beat a guy in Congress here in '94 because they told you that we
    were going to take your guns away, and you voted against him.'' And I
    said, ``Everybody that lost their guns, I want you to vote against me,
    too. But if you didn't, you know all we did was try to keep them out of
    the hands of criminals. They didn't tell you the truth, and you ought to
    vote for us and send them a message.'' That's what you ought to do for
    Jay Nixon, too. They were wrong, and we were right.
        And you just take all the other fights. On welfare reform, I wanted
    to require people who could work to work. Missouri has been a leader in
    welfare reform. What I did not want to do is to ask people who are poor
    to go into the work force and do something I don't want you to have to
    do, which is to sacrifice being good parents. Don't forget, our first
    and most important job in this country is taking care of our kids. If we
    all did a better job of that, we wouldn't have half the problems we've
    got in America today.
        So twice I had to veto their welfare reform bill because they
    wouldn't guarantee health care and nutrition to children, wouldn't put
    enough money in to give to mayors like your mayor for the very high
    unemployment areas where there may not be jobs for people, and wouldn't
    put enough money in for child care. We finally got it right.
        Now, what is the result of all this? You now have 5 years--you don't
    have to vote for this guy blind. You know what his record is, and you
    know what he's advocating, and you know what his opponent has done. And
    you just make a simple judgment about what you think is right.
        But consider the evidence: They opposed our economic philosophy, and
    we've got the best economy and the lowest unemployment rate in 24 years.
    They opposed our crime policy; we've got the lowest crime rate in 24
    years. They opposed what we were trying to do in welfare, and I said we
    would still be able to dramatically lower welfare rolls and put people
    to work if we took care of children. We've had the biggest

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    drop in welfare rolls--3.8 million since I took office--in the history
    of the United States.
        And we had to fight to preserve the environmental protections in
    this country. The air is cleaner, the water is cleaner, the food is
    safer, and there are fewer toxic waste dumps than there were 5 years
    ago, but we have had to fight to preserve an approach that says we can
    grow the economy and improve the environment. And that's what we owe our
    children. We cannot abandon our commitment to clean up the environment.
    You have a clear choice.
        So I'm asking you to help Jay Nixon, not just tonight with your
    funds but tomorrow with your voice and for another year. I think it's a
    pretty gutsy thing for a guy to give a year to run a campaign to try to
    unseat an incumbent, when we know historically our party has been badly
    outspent in these kinds of races. You can give him your contributions.
    You can give him your voice. You can give him a year in which every time
    you walk into a coffee shop, every time you've got a break at work,
    every time you're sitting around talking with your friends, you can ask
    people: What do you want for this State? What do you want for this
    country? What are the real consequences? What difference does it make
    who the Senator is? I can tell you, it makes a big difference. He's a
    good man. I'm glad you're here for him tonight.
        Thank you very much.

    Note: The President spoke at 8 p.m. in the lobby of the Fox Theater. In
    his remarks, he referred to Mayor Clarence Harmon of St. Louis; Lt. Gov.
    Roger Wilson of Missouri; and St. Louis County Executive George (Buzz)
    Westfall.