[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 31, Number 30 (Monday, July 31, 1995)]
[Pages 1299-1300]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks to the Americans with Disabilities Act Roundtable

July 26, 1995

    Thank you very much. Secretary Rubin, Attorney General Reno, to the 
distinguished members of this panel, Senator Harkin and Congressman 
Hoyer, Chairman Coelho, Dr. Hitt, Gil Casellas, Marca Bristo, the 
members of the administration who are here--I see Reed Hundt and Patsy 
Fleming out there--I thank all of you for being here to celebrate this 
fifth anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

[[Page 1300]]

    Five years ago, when the ADA became law, we became the first nation 
in the world to commit ourselves to equal rights and equal opportunities 
for all citizens with disabilities. Because of the ADA, our country is 
stronger today. Our fellow citizens are being judged by their ability to 
contribute, not by their disabilities. Now all of you and millions of 
others all across this country have an opportunity they never had before 
to make the most of their own lives.
    That opportunity is critical to what we have to do as a nation to 
meet the great challenges we face and to move forward into the next 
century. In many ways, the ADA is the perfect example of what I mean 
when I talk about our job is to create more opportunity and demand more 
responsibility from all of our citizens.
    The ADA has meant more opportunity for 49 million Americans with 
disabilities to do their part to make us a stronger and better country. 
It has meant that more people can go to work and participate in 
community life and do things that most Americans take for granted, like 
helping to take care of their families or getting a good education or 
registering and voting. It's also a perfect example of what I have meant 
in recent weeks when I have urged the American people to come together 
to find common ground in order to move forward together as a nation.
    That was true across party lines. Members of both parties, including 
three who are here today, Senator Harkin, Representative Hoyer, and 
former Congressman Tony Coelho, fought for the ADA in the Congress. And 
President Bush signed it into law. The ADA became law because Americans, 
like so many of you, worked together in the best interest of everyone, 
putting party behind country. There was a realization that the best way 
to keep our country moving forward was to allow every American, 
regardless of whether he or she used a wheelchair, was blind, had a 
mental disability, or was HIV-positive, to live up to his or her God-
given potential.
    And today, even as we celebrate the rights gained under the ADA, the 
budget cuts proposed by the congressional majority would sharply reduce 
the services and the supports that enable people to effectively exercise 
the rights granted by the ADA. Under the proposed cuts, States would be 
forced to drop 1.4 million people with disabilities from Medicaid rolls, 
and 4 million disabled Americans on Medicare would have to pay more 
every year for the same health care. They also have proposed eliminating 
funds for training special education teachers.
    Now, we have to join together to maintain our commitment and our 
common ground. I will vigorously implement and enforce the ADA through 
the Cabinet and the administration. We will not allow Americans with 
disabilities to be kept from realizing their dreams by closed doors or 
narrowed minds.
    We should also celebrate, all of us, this fifth anniversary of the 
Americans with Disabilities Act in the best way possible: By all, each 
of us, rededicating ourselves to creating a society of equal access and 
equal rights for all. That is the best kind of affirmative action for 
all the American people.
    Thank you very much.

Note: The President spoke at 10:22 a.m. in the Cash Room at the Treasury 
Department. In his remarks, he referred to Tony Coelho, Chair, 
President's Committee on Employment of People With Disabilities; R. 
Scott Hitt, Chair, Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS; Gilbert F. 
Casellas, Chairman, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission; Marca 
Bristo, Chair, National Council on Disability; Reed F. Hundt, Chair, 
Federal Communications Commission; and Patricia S. Fleming, Director of 
National AIDS Policy.