    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1997, Book II)]
    [August 7, 1997]
    [Pages 1077-1079]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks at a Democratic National Committee Dinner
    August 7, 1997

        Thank you very much. Thank you, Governor. Thank you, Alan. Thank
    you, ladies and gentlemen, for being here. Mostly what I want to do is
    have a conversation tonight, but I would like to just briefly comment on
    the events of the last couple of days, in the context of what's happened
    for the last 4\1/2\ years.
        When I came to Washington after our campaign in '92, I had a very
    clear idea of what I was trying to do. It seemed to me that the country
    had to make a number of changes if we were going to go into the next
    century with the American dream alive for everyone, leading the world in
    all the ways that are so important, and giving our children the future
    they deserve. And I felt, among other things, that our party, which has
    historically been the progressive party, had to advocate changes that
    would move beyond the old divisions between growing the economy,
    preserving the environment, helping business, helping labor, being tough
    on crime, being compassionate and smart--all those what I have always
    thought were kind of false choices. And that we ought to have a simple
    strategy that asks, will this create opportunity for people who are
    responsible enough to work for it? Will this bring us together, rather
    than drive us apart? Will this preserve our leadership for peace and
    freedom and prosperity? That's what we've tried to do.
        Before I signed the new budget law, we had reduced the deficit by 80
    percent, we had a historic drop in welfare rolls, we have the smallest
    percentage of people on welfare we've had since 1970 now. We had
    dramatic drops in crime--last year, the biggest drop in crime in 35
    years and a number of other very positive things happening.

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        Now, this budget I believe will be very good for the economy because
    it will continue the downward trend of the deficit. It will bring us
    into balance. It will produce a surplus. And it will also sustain itself
    over the years ahead. There are tax cuts in the budget. We've been
    criticized in many quarters for them, but I would like to make a couple
    of points.
        Number one, the capital gains and the estate tax relief, which the
    Republicans wanted, have gotten a lot of publicity. But it's important
    to note that 80 percent of the tax relief went to the children's tax
    credit for middle income people, to the education tax credits to open
    the doors of college education to all who are willing to work for it,
    and to the initiatives primarily directed at urban America, to the areas
    which have not participated in our recovery--80 percent.
        Number two, perhaps even more importantly in the larger economic
    sense, in the aggregate, these tax cuts are about one-eighth the size of
    the tax cuts in 1981 that led to the permanent structural deficits. And
    it's very important that the American people understand that. We did not
    just--this Congress did not just sort of take the lid off the Treasury
    in a kind of a political orgy. This was a very disciplined, limited
    thing.
        Of course, the budget also has the biggest increase in investment
    for education in over 30 years, the biggest increase in investment for
    children's health since Medicaid was established in 1965. It is an
    historic, positive, progressive budget that will be pro-economic growth
    and good for the people of this country. So I feel good about that.
        I feel good about a lot of the things that have happened in foreign
    policy, our expansion of NATO, our working with Russia in that regard. I
    feel good about the Presidents' Summit of Service we had in
    Philadelphia. I'm very committed to this initiative on examining and
    improving race relations, which I think is absolutely critical to our
    future. All these things have been started this year.
        Perhaps most important over the long run, I'm committed to seeing
    this effort to establish national educational standards of excellence in
    our schools for the first time in history. We cannot back up on that,
    and I hope you will help me get all the people in your respective States
    on that bandwagon.
        We're coming into the fall. There are a lot of other exciting issues
    that we'll have to deal with, and I'll just mention them very quickly
    and then sit down and we'll have a conversation. But in the remaining
    months of this year, I am hoping that we can secure fast-track authority
    from Congress so I can continue to expand trade for America. Our
    economic analyses are that one full fourth, 25 percent of the economic
    growth this country has had in the last 4\1/2\ years, which is now 13
    million new jobs, a fourth came directly from the efforts to open
    markets to American products and services. So I think that's important.
        I think it's important that we pass the McCain-Feingold campaign
    finance reform bill. It's finally coming to a vote in the Senate. For
    some of you, it will save you a lot of money if it passes. It will be a
    good thing. But it would be a good thing for both parties because we'll
    have to go out and find more contributors and more people to participate
    and distribute the responsibility, and that will be a very good thing.
        But, finally, let me say this whole campaign finance reform effort
    will never succeed unless we reduce the cost of campaigns, which will
    only happen if we get free air time or drastically reduced air time for
    the candidates. That is an absolutely critical thing. Unless we change
    the cost environment, no matter how you work with, manipulate, or change
    the contribution rules, there will still be the costs out there and they
    will flow somehow, because people will have to communicate with the
    voters and will have to be able to reach the voters with a message.
        The third thing I want to mention is coming up, that I hope all of
    you will take an interest in, is the climate change debate. In December
    in Japan, the advanced nations of the world--and we hope all the
    others--will be called upon to make commitments to reduce the greenhouse
    gas emissions of our economy so that we can reduce the rate at which the
    planet is warming up. This is a big deal. If we have just a few degrees
    of warming of the planet over the next hundred years, it could lead to
    rises in the sea levels which could, for example, flood the entire
    Florida Everglades. It could change the whole economic structure of
    American agriculture. So we have to find a way to grow the economy and
    improve the environment.
        We are going to begin dealing this fall and over the next year and a
    few months with the whole question of entitlement reform, which, simply
    put, is what is the best way to preserve

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    the integrity of Social Security and Medicare in the 21st century when
    the baby boomers retire. That's really the issue. Social Security right
    now is secure through 2029. We just added 10 more years to the Medicare
    Trust Fund. The issue is, how can we preserve the integrity of these
    programs and the benefits they bring in a century when people are going
    to be living longer and when the baby boomers will retire and there will
    be just barely more than two people working for every person retired.
    We've never dealt with an issue like this without a crisis before, but
    the bottom line is, if we make modest changes now, we can avoid imposing
    drastic changes that our children will have to make later. I think the
    responsible thing to do is to deal with the modest changes now. So I
    hope we will do that.
        And finally, in October the First Lady and I are going to have a big
    conference on child care. I am still--I think ``obsessed'' is not too
    strong a word--with the challenges so many Americans face succeeding in
    raising their children and succeeding at work. And there is still not a
    systematic network of child care out there. We have gotten a lot of help
    from the Congress in establishing child care networks for people who
    will be moving from welfare to work, and that's good. But there are a
    lot of people who have never been on welfare who work for modest wages,
    whose children simply do not have access to quality, affordable child
    care. And I think that's one of the next big frontiers in our efforts to
    bring America together.
        So I hope you will help us with that, and I hope you will follow it.
    And I hope you will be proud of the fact that you have supported us and
    you have made possible the best economy we've had in a generation and
    progress on all these social issues and progress abroad as well as at
    home. That's what the political process is supposed to do. And if we can
    keep going and do this flatout for 3 more years, I think we can watch
    our country move into a new century and a new millennium, confident that
    the best days of America are still ahead. And that is our obligation as
    citizens and as human beings.
        Thank you very much.

    Note: The President spoke at 9:09 p.m. in the East Room at the Mayflower
    Hotel. In his remarks, he referred to Gov. Roy Romer of Colorado,
    general chair, and Alan D. Solomont, national finance chair, Democratic
    National Committee.