    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1998, Book I)]
    [June 9, 1998]
    [Pages 923-924]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    [[Page 923]]

    Remarks on Signing the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century
    June 9, 1998

        Thank you, Robin. You're a pretty hard act
    to follow. [Laughter] And thank you, Secretary Slater, for doing such a good job and for giving such a good
    sermon today. I thought he was going to pass the plate. [Laughter] Then
    I realized that you had already given him all the money; he didn't need
    to pass the plate. [Laughter]
        I, too, want to thank the Members of Congress who are here. There
    are 40 or 41 here. But I would like to specifically acknowledge and
    thank Senator Lott, Senator Chafee, and Senator Baucus, Congressman
    Shuster and Congressman Oberstar, Senators Byrd,
    D'Amato, and Sarbanes, all the others who are here who have worked for this. I
    thank you so much.
        Thank you, Governor Schafer, for
    coming, and all the mayors who are here from all over our great country.
    Governor Voinovich wanted to come and be
    with us today, but he's back in Ohio with his mother who is ill. And our
    thoughts and prayers are with them.
        Forty-two years ago this month, President Eisenhower signed the
    Federal Aid Highway Act into law. The bill was sponsored in the Senate
    by Albert Gore, Sr. It gave rise to the
    most efficient network of roads in the history of this country,
    connecting millions of Americans to the economic mainstream, ushering in
    two decades of unparalleled growth.
        In 1992, when I got on that bus and rode across America, I was still
    the beneficiary of that farsighted action over 40 years ago. But I also
    saw that the concrete foundations built in the Eisenhower era were
    crumbling in some places, that more needed to be done in our cities, in
    our rural areas, and in all places in between.
        It was clear to me then that if America were to roll into the 21st
    century at full speed, we had to be willing once again to make historic
    and long-term investments in our roads, our bridges, our transportation
    systems. We've worked hard to do that for 5 years with enormous
    bipartisan support in the Congress, even as we were cutting the deficit
    and reducing the size of the Federal Government to its smallest in 35
    years.
        Today I am proud to sign this bill, the Transportation Equity Act
    for the 21st Century. It meets the challenge of building the pathways of
    the future, while maintaining the fiscal discipline that allowed us to
    achieve the first balanced budget in 29 years and an accompanying very
    high rate of economic growth. The act will strengthen America by
    modernizing and building roads, bridges, transit systems, and railways
    to link our people and our country together and to permit a freer flow
    of goods. It supports, as you just saw, hundreds of thousands of jobs
    and a lot of good training.
        The act will save lives by allowing us to develop advanced airbag
    technologies, to offer incentives for increased seatbelt use, to make
    our roads safer, to get bad drivers and vehicles off the road. The act
    will protect the environment. It expands recreational trails and bike
    paths, promotes mass transit, and helps communities to meet national
    standards for healthy air. The act will expand opportunity. It offers
    transportation assistance to enable more Americans to move from welfare
    to work. If you can't get to work, you can't go to work. It protects the
    Disadvantaged Business Enterprise program so that minority and women
    owned businesses have an opportunity to compete for transportation
    projects.
        That act will allow us to reserve our budget surpluses until we have
    saved Social Security for the 21st century. The bill is paid for, line
    by line and dime by dime, without squeezing other critical investments
    in education, health care, research and development, and the
    environment.
        I have to say that I am disappointed that the bill does not go far
    enough to ensure a national standard of .08 blood alcohol standard in
    every State. I'll continue to fight for it and I hope we can pass it,
    because I believe it will save hundreds of lives.
        I also would note for the record that, working with these Members of
    Congress, we were successful in removing several extraneous
    environmental riders from the legislation. But I hope that that process
    can be abandoned so that all environmental issues can be voted on in the
    clear light of day, up or down.

    [[Page 924]]

        Let me finally say that now that we are honoring our commitment to
    build a 21st century transportation infrastructure, I hope that the
    bipartisan support I have already seen for a 21st century education
    infrastructure will result in a broad bipartisan bill there as well. For
    less than one-tenth of the cost of this bill and without spending a cent
    of the surplus, we can help to ensure that our children will be able to
    learn in safe, modern, well-equipped schools.
        Now again, for all of you, just look at this array of Members of
    Congress who are here from both parties and both Houses. This shows what
    we can do when we bring honorable differences and an honest
    determination to solve a problem together in open and respectful dialog
    with an absolute commitment to getting to the end of the road. This kind
    of constructive bipartisan approach can do anything it sets its mind to
    do.
        I talked to Senator Lott today, and I want to
    thank him and, in his absence, Senator Daschle, for the agreements which have been made today to allow
    votes to proceed on the tobacco legislation. I thank you, sir. We have
    another chance to save a million lives, reduce youth smoking, and make a
    massive contribution to the public health of America. The public expects
    us to work out our differences on this legislation and on other
    important bills. The public expects us to act as parents, not
    politicians. The public really expects us to bring the kind of
    bipartisan spirit that was brought to bear on this transportation bill
    to all our important work here.
        And I must say again, the country owes a deep debt of gratitude to
    the United States Congress for the way they have done this work. Thank
    you. And I would like to ask all the Members of Congress to come up here
    and gather around, and I'll sign the bill.

    [At this point, the President signed the bill.]

        Thank you all very much. We're adjourned.

    Note: The President spoke at 5:45 p.m. in Room 450 of the Old Executive
    Office Building. In his remarks, he referred to Robin McNab, member,
    Operating Engineers Local 77, Suitland, MD, who introduced the
    President; Gov. Edward T. Schafer of North Dakota; and Gov. George V.
    Voinovich of Ohio. H.R. 2400, approved June 9, was assigned Public Law
    No. 105-178.