    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (1999, Book II)]
    [September 21, 1999]
    [Pages 1570-1572]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks at a Reception for Congressional Candidate Regina Montoya
    Coggins
    September 21, 1999

        The President. I was hoping Regina would speak, since I'm so hoarse.
    [Laughter]
        I've spent all day at the United Nations, and I'm delighted to see
    all of you--Texans, Washingtonians, Michigans--Michiganders--
    [laughter]----
        Audience member. New Hampshires. [Laughter]
        The President. ----and whoever came from New Hampshire----
        Audience member. I did.
        The President. ----we can give you one night off between now and--
    [laughter].
        Let me say, first of all, I am delighted that Lloyd and Libby have opened
    their beautiful home and let me come in through the kitchen. [Laughter]
    I'm delighted that Regina is running for Congress. Most of you know that
    she was, first, Assistant to the President for Intergovernmental
    Affairs; she's had a distinguished career in the nonprofit sector as a
    lawyer; and she did great in the White House; and she's been my friend a
    long time. Her husband has been a distinguished
    United States attorney in Texas. So she is supremely well-qualified to
    go to Congress. We are just a few seats away from being in the majority,
    and this should be one of them.
        I just want to make three brief points. I have to take care of my
    voice a little bit, but I think it's worth your saying this to people
    all over America as the election season begins.
        When we started in 1992, we made an argument to the American people.
    We said, ``Look, the country's in the worst recession since the Great
    Depression. The social divisions in this country are deepening. The
    basically antigovernment philosophy that had dominated the last 12 years
    masked a growth in the Federal Government and a profligate explosion in
    the Federal debt.'' And we were in trouble. So we said, ``Give us a
    chance, and we'll cut the deficit until we get rid of it. That'll drive
    down interest rates and bring jobs. We will expand trade, because we're
    only 4 percent of the world's people, and we've got 22 percent of the
    world's income, so we have to sell something to somebody else. And we
    will find a way to do this and continue to invest in the education of
    our children and the other things that bring us together.'' That's why
    we say it was an argument. We said, ``We believe it'll work.'' And
    enough

    [[Page 1571]]

    people agreed with us that the Vice President and I were elected.
        None of what has happened in the last 6\1/2\ years-plus would have
    been possible without the support of the Democrats in the Congress,
    because we have lived through the most partisan era in my lifetime, even
    more, I think, if you go back and look at the division of votes and the
    rhetoric, than the McCarthy era, probably.
        But now it's not an argument anymore. We don't have to argue with
    anybody. It is an established fact that the policies we implemented have
    given us the longest peacetime expansion in history: millions more jobs
    than were created during the Reagan boom, which was fueled by massive
    deficit spending; the biggest surplus we've ever had; lowest minority
    unemployment in history; the lowest unemployment in 29 years; the lowest
    welfare rolls in 32 years; and the lowest crime rates in 26 years.
        We had some other arguments. We said, ``We believed that we ought to
    do more to help balance work and family. So unlike the previous
    President, I won't veto the family and medical leave law. I will sign
    it.'' And they said, ``Oh, if you do that, you will raise the cost of
    employing people. Small business will go under. It'll cut jobs.'' Well,
    we've got 19.4 million jobs, and for 6 years in a row we've set records
    every year for new small businesses getting started. It's not an
    argument now; it's a fact.
        We said, ``We ought to--unlike the previous administration, I would
    sign, not veto, the Brady bill.'' And I thought we ought to ban assault
    weapons. They told all the hunters and sportsmen they'd lose their guns,
    and everything would be miserable. And nobody who shouldn't have a gun
    would have any difficulty getting one. Now we know 400,000 people didn't
    get guns because of the Brady bill. We know that nobody's hunting or
    sport shooting has been interrupted. And we know we've got the lowest
    crime rate in 26 years. So it's not an argument anymore; it's an
    established fact.
        I say that because every election is always about change, and it
    should be. This country should never stand pat, even when it's working.
    The question will be not whether the election is about change, whether
    it's a Presidential election, a Senate election, or an election for the
    House of Representatives. The question will be: What kind of change are
    we for, and are we going to build on what works, or take it down?
        That is the issue. Therefore, every single race for the House of
    Representatives is a race that matters enormously to the people who live
    in that district and also will have huge implications for the United
    States as a whole.
        So now we're having a new debate, where we say, ``Look, before we
    squander this surplus it took us 30 years to get back--last one we had
    was 30 years ago, and we never had one this big--shouldn't we take
    account of the fact that the number of people over 65 is going to double
    in the next 30 years, that there'll only be two people working for every
    one person drawing Social Security and Medicare? Shouldn't we take
    account of the fact that Social Security is supposed to go broke in a
    little over 30 years and Medicare in 15 years? Shouldn't we fix Social
    Security and Medicare? Shouldn't we give the elderly people of this
    country access to prescription drugs, since if we were starting Medicare
    today, we'd certainly cover drugs, because it substitutes for so many
    medical procedures? Before we give all this surplus away, shouldn't we
    figure out what we've got to invest in education and health care and the
    environment and medical research and science and technology, the things
    that will keep us strong in hope? And shouldn't we--since we know lower
    debt leads to lower interest rates, higher growth, and higher incomes--
    shouldn't we get this country out of debt over the next 15 years for the
    first time since Andrew Jackson was President?''
        Now, in the Fifth Congressional District in Texas, if what we're
    fighting for comes to pass, the elderly will be better off; the children
    will be better off; the poor will be better off; the middle class will
    be better off. And the Republicans will have more money to give to their
    candidates in the 2002 election. [Laughter] You know, when I see how
    much money they're raising, it's just testimony to how successful our
    economic policy is. [Laughter]
        And so I say that, because this is--it's something that's very
    important for people to realize. And we haven't done all this work, to
    get the country up to the point where it's working, to go into reverse.
    We need to continue to change, but we need to change from the base of
    what is working.
        There's still a lot of poor people in this country. There's still
    too many poor children in this country. There's still places, from the
    Indian reservations to the Mississippi Delta to the inner

    [[Page 1572]]

    cities to the rural farming communities and the little towns that have
    lost their industries, that haven't felt this recovery. There are still
    too many working people who don't have any insurance for their children.
    There are still significant environmental challenges. There are still
    enormous opportunities out there. We're trying to get funding for the
    next generation of the Internet, because it's becoming so clogged. The
    fastest growing instrument of human communication in history. Everyone
    knows we need a next generation; everyone knows we need some Government
    money to fund the basic investment. Their party's against funding it;
    our party's for it. We want to rehabilitate 6,000 schools. They want to
    rehabilitate 600 schools. We want to put 100,000 teachers out there to
    make classes smaller so our children will learn more. They don't want to
    do that.
        There are significant differences. They are huge. And they will
    affect the lives of every family in America.
        So what I want you to say is that every race is important. This
    one's really important, and she is superbly qualified. That we now are
    not making an argument to the American people; we are taking the
    evidence to them. And we have to remind them of what it was like before,
    so they can remember the difference.
        It really matters who's in the Congress, and what decisions are made
    on any given issue. And as someone who--probably I'm the only person in
    this room that can't run for office again, or for the first time--
    [laughter]--my interest is seeing my country do well. That's what I
    want.
        Yes, I think the world of Regina, and yes, I feel very loyal to my
    party. But we have delivered for this country, and there is so much more
    to do. There are still vulnerable people. There are still unseized
    opportunities. And there's still a lot of change to make, but it needs
    to be the right kind. And if you want it made, you need to send her to
    Congress.
        Thank you very much.

    Note: The President spoke at 8:14 p.m. at a private residence. In his
    remarks, he referred to reception hosts Representative Lloyd Doggett and
    his wife, Elizabeth; and Mrs. Coggins' husband, Paul Coggins, U.S.
    Attorney for the Northern District of Texas. Mrs. Coggins is a candidate
    for Congress in Texas' Fifth Congressional District. The transcript was
    released by the Office of the Press Secretary on September 22.