[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 31, Number 16 (Monday, April 24, 1995)]
[Pages 632-633]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks on Signing the District of Columbia Financial Responsibility and 
Management Assistance Act of 1995

April 17, 1995

    Thank you very much. Thank you, Alice Rivlin, for your hard work on 
this issue and for being such a devoted resident of the District of 
Columbia. I told somebody in the Oval Office before we came out here 
that, unlike a lot of us who are transients, Alice Rivlin's not going 
anywhere. [Laughter] And she desperately wanted this to be done well.

[[Page 633]]

    Congressman Davis, Congressman Clinger, Congresswoman Morella, 
Congresswoman Norton, Mayor Barry, President Clarke, members of the City 
Council, and other friends of the District of Columbia, this is a very 
important day and a very important piece of legislation for all of us 
who care about our country's Capital and for all of us who love 
Washington as a city. I have lived here not only as President but also 
as a college student. I know this to be a city not only of our national 
monuments and political centers but also a city of neighborhoods, of 
Shaw and Anacostia and Cleveland Park and Adams Morgan and so many 
others.
    So this is a very important day for a city--a city and thousands and 
thousands of people who live in it, who love it, who care about it, who 
have lives, many of them who have nothing to do with the politics of the 
Nation's Capital, but who deserve to live in a city that works, that 
functions, and that also can symbolize the very best in America.
    The health of the city and the security of its citizens have been 
threatened by the financial crisis. And I applaud all those who have 
come together to work together to begin the road back.
    The purpose of the bill I am signing today is just that; it is a 
road back. The Financial Responsibility and Management Assistance Act 
will speed the District's recovery and return to fiscal health and will 
help over the long run to improve the delivery of services to its 
citizens.
    For the past 2 years, I've worked hard to turn the economy of our 
country around. And we've seen dramatic improvements in the deficit, in 
the ability of this country to create jobs, and having a Government that 
is both smaller and more efficient.
    But none of that means very much to people whose own lives are 
troubled with insecurity. And the citizens of the District of Columbia 
need to know that security, stability, growth, and opportunity will be 
the hallmarks of their living in our Nation's Capital.
    This effort, as Alice Rivlin has said, is proof of what we can 
accomplish when we work together, when we put the interests of real 
people first, when we ignore partisan politics, and when we get on with 
the job at hand.
    I want to thank Alice Rivlin, as I said, for all the work that she 
has been doing. I want to thank the Members of the Congress here 
present. Congressman Davis, I think when he came to the Congress, never 
could have imagined that this would be his first big assignment. 
[Laughter] He is now, I guess, an honorary citizen of Washington, DC. 
Eleanor Holmes Norton, when she ran for Congress, probably never 
imagined that this would be one of the most important pieces of 
legislation which she would have to undertake. But they have worked 
together in good spirit, in good faith. And I thank them, along with the 
other Members who are present, and Congressman Walsh, and others, and 
also the Members of the Senate who worked so expeditiously on this 
legislation.
    The legislation calls for the creation of the Financial 
Responsibility and Management Assistance Authority to monitor and 
certify District budgets and borrowing, to get the city back on solid 
financial footing.
    I expect to appoint the five members of this Authority very soon. 
All of them will have a commitment to this city, and all of them will 
either live or work here.
    Our goals are clear. There are tough choices in the short term, but 
I am confident that this legislation will lead to better services, a 
more responsive government, to safer streets, and to a stronger city for 
the citizens of this District. All of them deserve that, and America 
needs that.
    Thank you very much.

Note: The President spoke at 12:35 p.m. in the Roosevelt Room at the 
White House. In his remarks, he referred to Mayor Marion Barry of the 
District of Columbia and David Clarke, District of Columbia Council 
president.