[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 32, Number 3 (Monday, January 22, 1996)]
[Pages 57-58]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks in a Teleconference With Ohio Democratic Caucuses

January 11, 1996

    I want to say hello to all of you in Ohio, and especially--
[applause]--can you hear me? [Applause] That's great.
    I want to thank your party chair, David Leland, and Senator John 
Glenn and your former party chair, Jim Ruvolo, for all of your hard work 
in organizing tonight's caucuses. And I want to thank all of you for 
signing on to help us tonight.
    We've got people there, I know, from all across Ohio: in Cleveland 
and Greenville; in Columbus and New Philadelphia; Cincinnati and 
Waverly; in Dayton, where the Bosnian peace agreement was made; in 
Marion; Toledo and Milan; in Youngstown and Springfield; in Canton and 
Mentor; and Akron and Lorain. To all of you, thank you very much.
    You all know that Ohio is very special to me. The Ohio primaries put 
me over the top on the road to the Democratic nomination. And Ohio's 
delegates put me over the top for the nomination at the convention in 
New York City in 1992. And of course, on November 4th, 1992, it was the 
electoral votes of the State of Ohio that put me over the top in the 
electoral college. So I know how much I owe to the State of Ohio and to 
all of you in particular. And I thank you for everything you have done 
and for your commitment to help us in the months ahead.
    Every American knows that we are living in a time of great change. 
We're moving toward a new century. We're moving from the industrial to 
the information and technology age. We're moving from the cold war to 
the global village. This is a time of immense possibility and great 
challenge for our country.
    I think all of you know that when I ran for President it was to 
address these challenges and to take advantage of these possibilities; 
to restore the American dream, to make the American people a stronger 
community, and to preserve our leadership as a great force for peace and 
freedom around the world. And we've done that with a simple strategy: 
grow the economy; give the American people a smaller, better Government; 
and restore mainstream values in our national life.
    If you look at the Ohio economy, if you look at the national 
economy, we've cut the deficit in half. We've expanded trade to record 
levels. We've invested in the education of the American people and their 
technological future. And look what we've got: almost 8 million jobs, a 
15-year high in home ownership, a 27-year low in the combined rates of 
unemployment and inflation. Unemployment is down in Ohio from 7 percent 
to under 5 percent. In Ohio, you've got almost 300,000 new private 
sector jobs. And the debt has been cut over $15,000 for every family of 
four in Ohio.
    We changed the way this Government works. Do you know there are more 
than 200,000 fewer people working for the Federal Government than there 
were when I became President, thanks to the work the Democrats did to 
make Government more effective and fairer?
    And most important of all, we're being more true to our values. We 
passed a tough crime bill, and that helped people all across America to 
bring the crime rate down. We've given States all over America the 
freedom to move people from welfare to work. And the welfare rolls are 
down. The food stamp rolls are down. The poverty rolls are down. The 
teen pregnancy rolls are down. These are things the American people did, 
but our policies, the crime bill, the welfare reform, they have helped.
    You know we have challenges ahead, but the only way we can meet them 
is to keep moving in the direction that we're going. And I know that 
everyone in Ohio must be so proud that Ohio was the place with the eyes 
of the world watching where the peace in

[[Page 58]]

Bosnia was made, to go with the progress that our country has made in 
the Middle East, in Northern Ireland, and reducing the nuclear threat. 
That's a record we can all be proud of, a record we can all be proud to 
run on and run with, and embrace and bring people to the Democratic 
Party with.
    Now, if you look at this budget fight we're having in Congress 
today, it's another example of what I've been working for since 1993 
when I became your President. I want to balance the budget. If it 
weren't for the debt run up in the 12 years before I became President, 
the interest payments on that, we'd have a balanced budget today. I have 
worked hard, in good faith to reach an agreement with the Congress. But 
you know, this is not about numbers. We have already identified more 
than enough cuts to balance the budget and give a modest tax cut. This 
is about whether we're going to protect Medicare, Medicaid, our 
investments in education, our environment, whether we're going to 
protect working families from having their taxes increased while others 
get a tax cut. That's what I'm fighting for, for an America in the 
future that you can be proud of, that will be worthy of the support that 
I received from the people of Ohio.
    I want every child in the State of Ohio and in the United States to 
be able to look forward to a brighter future. That's what I'm working 
for. I think you can go out in the State and say, look at where we were 
in 1992; look at where we are today; look at where we have to go.
    If you'll do that, we'll work together, we'll win a victory, but 
more importantly, the people of our country will win a victory.
    Thank you, and God bless you all.

Note: The President spoke at 7:52 p.m. from the Oval Office at the White 
House. This item was not received in time for publication in the 
appropriate issue.