    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1998, Book I)]
    [January 9, 1998]
    [Pages 24-26]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks at a Reception for Representative Ruben Hinojosa in McAllen,
    Texas
    January 9, 1998

        Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you, Ruben. Thank you very
    much to the Cantus, to Alonzo and Yoli, for having us in their
    modest little home here. [Laughter] Is this a beautiful place,
    or what? It's really wonderful. I'm so glad to be here.
        I want to thank the Congressman and Marty
    and their entire family for making me feel so welcome down here. I thank
    Congressman Solomon Ortiz and Congressman
    Ciro Rodriguez who are also here and have
    been good friends of our administration and good for this country. I'm
    glad to be joined here today by the Secretary of Education in my
    administration, Dick Riley; our land
    commissioner, Garry Mauro; our State Democratic
    chair, Bill White; the county Democratic
    chair, Ramon Garcia; McAllen's mayor, Leo
    Montalvo, and all the other local elected
    officials.
        I'd also like to thank Alfonso Hinostroza who created those beautiful wooden chairs inside. I
    don't know if you've seen them, but they commemorate my visit. And I
    said when I sat down in one that it actually made me feel like a real
    President. I felt--actually, I almost felt like a monarch sitting in
    that chair. It's a little too highfalutin for me on a daily basis.
    [Laughter]
        Hector Reyna, Sr., I thank you for
    creating the stained-glass Arkansas State bird and flower. And I'd also
    like to welcome State Representative Richard Raymond, who is a candidate for land commissioner. Thank you
    all for being here, and I'm very glad to see you.
        Let me say that I'm honored to be here to help this Congressman
    mobilize his district, to sit down this morning, early, with a lot of
    community leaders and talk about the economic challenges still facing
    the valley: what should be done to generate more jobs, more investment,
    to rebuild the transportation system and improve the quality and supply
    of water--all the issues we discussed this morning.
        I loved going over to the school and seeing the children and telling
    them that starting this January we could honestly say we had opened the
    doors of college to all Americans. We've made community college
    virtually free to nearly everybody in this country now with tax credits
    called the HOPE scholarship. We've given a $1,000 tax credit for the
    junior and senior year

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    of college, for graduate schools, for adults that have to go back to
    school. We've got an education IRA now that allows people to save for
    their kids' education and then withdraw from it tax free. We have
    dramatically expanded Pell grants. We have dramatically expanded work-
    study positions.
        I love talking about all that. But when the Congressman was talking
    about the two people that I met in the handicapped section of the rally,
    it reminded me of something I've been thinking a lot about lately as I
    try to ponder how I should spend every remaining day in this term. I
    must say, when I saw that crowd out there today, Congressman, I thought
    it was a good thing we had the 22d amendment, which limited my ability
    to run again, because I'd do it again after today if I could. [Laughter]
        Here's what I want to tell you. He saw a great crowd, and he
    remembered the stories. In Washington we tend to talk of statistics.
    Today it came out that in December our economy created another 370,000
    jobs, now 14.3 million jobs in the first 5 years of our administration--
    14.3 million. Well, that's a statistic. But behind that statistic there
    are over 14 million stories. There are people who have the dignity of
    work, who can support their children, who can create a different future
    because of that statistic.
        The statistics say there are about 14 million people--maybe more
    now--who have taken advantage of the family and medical leave law so
    they could get a little time off from work when there's a sick family
    member or a new baby born. That's the statistic. The story is it
    strengthens family life. One of the great challenges in this country is,
    how do people balance the demands of being parents and the demands of
    work? There is no more important job for Americans than taking care of
    their kids and raising them well. So how are we going to balance that?
    Those are stories; they're not statistics.
        I saw the other day something over a quarter of a million--I can't
    remember--but something over a quarter million people who had criminal
    or mental health histories were not able to buy handguns because of the
    Brady law. How many people didn't get killed, didn't get wounded, didn't
    get injured because of that? We don't know, but every one of them has
    got a different story because of that.
        How many million people will now go on to college or stay in longer
    because we have opened the doors of college to everyone? That's the
    biggest, that list I just mentioned to you, the biggest increase in aid
    to college education since the GI bill was passed when our soldiers came
    home 50 years ago from World War II. That will create millions of
    different stories.
        The reason I undertook this race initiative this year, to try to get
    people together across all the racial and ethnic and religious lines
    that divide America, is because I know that when we can celebrate our
    differences and then say what binds us together as Americans is even
    more important, then there is no stopping the United States in the 21st
    century.
        But you can't take that for granted. Look at the problems we see in
    the world, from the tribal wars in Africa to the ethnic fight in Bosnia,
    from the longstanding religious conflict in Ireland to the religious and
    ethnic conflict that endures in the Middle East. You look all over the
    world, people have a hard time getting along with those that either look
    different or believe differently than they do about the nature of God
    and humanity's relationship to God. It's fascinating.
        But we in America have always said if you believe in freedom, if you
    believe in the rule of law, if you believe in our Constitution, and if
    you show up for work every day--or you show up for school if you're a
    kid--that's all you've got to do. You can be part of our America if you
    respect other people and their right to live, just as they respect you
    and your right to live. That is the fundamental lesson that if we can
    embody, we will continue to grow and prosper in the 21st century, and we
    will be able to lead the world toward greater peace and freedom.
        Finally, I want to say a special, personal word of thanks to Ruben
    for taking all the heat to stick with me on the fast-track issue and
    trying to continue to expand America's outreach to the rest of the
    world.
        I can tell you that I do not believe that there is a majority in the
    House, just like there is clearly not one--we had almost 70 percent of
    the Senate with us last year--there is not a majority of Members of the
    House of Representatives who don't want to continue to expand trade.
    What they reflect is the ambivalence, the fears people have about the

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    globalization of the world economy and the explosion of information and
    technology and science, and how it's bringing us all closer together.
    And what everybody wants to know is, is everyone going to have a chance
    to participate in this new economy, or are some people going to be left
    behind? Are we going to have a higher level of citizenship and a higher
    level of society, or are we going to be thrown to the winds of chaos and
    anarchy by having global marketplace dominate democratic institutions
    and people?
        There is a lot of anxiety about that out there, not only in our
    country but throughout the world. Our answer is to help people who are
    dislocated resume their normal lives as quickly as possible. And we have
    a plan to do more of that, to invest more in communities that have been
    left behind, invest more in people who need to upgrade their skills,
    give people tax incentives to invest in areas where the unemployment is
    too high. But don't let America run away from the rest of the world.
    America should be embracing the rest of the world and setting a standard
    of cooperation and an advance of freedom and democracy and prosperity at
    the same time. That's what your Congressman believes, and I appreciate
    that.
        Thank you all for what has been an unbelievably wonderful day. I'll
    remember this day for the rest of my life. I flew all the way down from
    New York City last night. I didn't get in until about 2 o'clock in the
    morning. And I got up this morning wondering if I would be tired, but
    all the faces I have seen and the stories I have imagined have kept me
    going.
        But you remember what I said: Politics is nothing more than people
    organized to pursue their common destiny. Our political system gives
    free people the assurance, number one, that their voice counts; number
    two, that they can make changes if they get together, and they can
    prevail; and number three, there will always be some limits on the
    Government so they can't be abused. And within that, politics gives us
    the chance to imagine what kind of life stories we want all of our
    people to have.
        I hope the people I met on that ropeline will remember it for the
    rest of their lives, but I will, too. And when I go back to Washington,
    I'll be thinking what I have to do is to create more good stories. If we
    can do that, the American people will take care of the rest.
        Thank you, and God bless you all. Thank you.

    Note: The President spoke at 11:26 a.m. at a private residence. In his
    remarks, he referred to reception hosts Alonzo and Yoli Cantu;
    Representative Hinojosa's wife, Marty; and Garry Mauro, Texas State land
    commissioner.