[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 34, Number 42 (Monday, October 19, 1998)]
[Pages 2035-2038]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at a Reception Honoring Senatorial Candidate Charles Schumer in 
New York City

October 12, 1998

    Thank you very much. What a gift. Thank you. Now you all have us in 
the right frame of mind. Let me say to all of you, I thank you for the 
warm welcome. I thank Iris and Jessica and Alison and all of Chuck's and 
Iris' family for being here. And I thank you for being part of Chuck's 
family at this important time.
    I'm delighted to have the chance to be here with a number of 
distinguished New Yorkers, and I just want to mention a few. First I'd 
like to thank Gerry Ferraro and Mark Green for being here and showing 
their support. It means a great deal to me to see them put the 
profoundly important issue of this Senate seat first and their concern 
for the people of New York first. I'll never forget it, and I hope none 
of you do as well.
    I'd like to welcome City Councilman Tony Weiner, the successor to 
Chuck Schumer in the United States Congress, for being here. And I don't 
want any of you to forget how terribly important it is to reelect our 
wonderful State comptroller, Carl McCall, who is also here. Thank you 
very much, Carl. Our candidate for attorney general, Eliot Spitzer, 
who's here; thank you, Eliot, for being here.
    I told Eliot earlier tonight that's the best job I ever had. 
[Laughter] When I was attorney general, I didn't have to hire people or 
fire them, appoint people or disappoint them, raise taxes or cut 
spending, and if I did the first thing unpopular, I could always blame 
it on the Constitution. [Laughter] But it really matters who has the 
job, and I hope you'll help him. Thank you for being here, Eliot.
    I'd like to welcome Manhattan Borough President Virginia Fields, 
Assemblyman Robert Ramirez, and City Councilmen Walter McCaffrey and Ken 
Fisher--all of them. Thank you all for being here. And I know our State 
party chair, Judith Hope, is here, and I want to thank her for the 
wonderful job she's done for New York.
    Now, I told Chuck Schumer when he decided to take on this Herculean 
task that if he ever needed anybody to fill in for him, just to call me, 
and I'd try to do it. [Laughter] So here I am.
    I want to say I've been a little bit amused by some of the things 
that have been said in this Senate race, including, apparently, the 
contention that Mr. Schumer doesn't have a good voting record in the 
Congress. And I don't see how any Republican could criticize any 
Democrat for not voting in Congress this year. I mean, this Congress has 
worked fewer days than any Congress I can remember. It's the first 
Congress in 24 years not to pass a budget resolution. And the reason 
they're still there so close to the election is they blew the 9 months 
before. So nobody in the Republican party should be blaming any of the 
Democrats for what they didn't do. And I hope you'll remember that when 
you see that ad.
    Let me just say, they're showing some real progress now, and we're 
working with them in good faith. But if it weren't for these 
negotiations, now 11 days after the beginning of the new budget year, if 
it weren't for the fact that we're still there, finally looking at 
education and some of the other serious issues before us, this Congress 
would be known as the one that killed campaign finance reform, that 
killed the tobacco legislation designed to protect our children from the 
dangers of tobacco, that killed the Patients' Bill of Rights, that 
killed the minimum wage, that continued the assault on the environment, 
that attempted to divert the surplus before we could save Social 
Security first, and had taken no action to date on either education or 
the imperative nature of investing in the International Monetary Fund so 
that our country can continue to lead the world in this time of 
financial turmoil.
    Now, if I were a part of their caucus, I don't believe I would be 
criticizing someone like Chuck Schumer for not showing up for duty. Let 
me tell you some of the things he did vote for. In 1993, when a single 
vote would have turned the tide the other way, Chuck Schumer voted for 
my economic plan that reduced the deficit 92 percent, before

[[Page 2036]]

the Balanced Budget Act--the bipartisan Balanced Budget Act of 1997 
passed--92 percent of the work done. If he had not voted that way, the 
whole thing would have failed because we didn't have a vote to spare. 
That's just one of the many issues on which he differed from his 
opponent, and I think Chuck Schumer was right. And I think you do, too.
    We now have the first balanced budget and surplus in 29 years as a 
direct result of that courageous vote. Then, in 1994 Chuck Schumer 
authored the Brady bill, now the Brady law. Now a quarter of a million 
felons and fugitives have been denied the ability to buy handguns--a 
quarter of a million--saving goodness only knows how many lives. He 
voted yes; his opponent voted no. So when there really was a vote that 
mattered, I believe Chuck Schumer was right, and I think the people of 
New York do, too.
    When the vote in 1994 on the crime bill came up, and in the United 
States Senate there was this incredible effort--that I never shall 
forget as long as I live--by the leadership of the other party, then in 
the minority in the Senate, to prevent us from getting a vote to put 
100,000 police officers on the street, to put the Violence Against Women 
Act into motion, to ban 19 kinds of assault weapons designed only to 
kill people, and in the Senate they were doing everything they could to 
keep it from even coming to a vote--the assault weapons ban, the 100,000 
police, the programs to keep our children out of trouble in the first 
place, the Violence Against Women Act--Chuck Schumer was where he always 
is, out there leading the fight for public safety and civility and 
decency on our streets and in our neighborhoods and in our schools. And 
his opponent was on the other side.
    So, if I had that kind of record, I don't believe I'd be criticizing 
Chuck Schumer for his voting record. Every time it counts, just like 
today, Chuck Schumer is there to vote for you, for New York, for your 
children, and for the future. And I hope you'll give him a bigger vote 
in the United States Senate.
    You know, I have been increasingly concerned in the last few weeks 
about what the American people were going to say in this election about 
our future, about what they would say by not only how they voted but 
whether they vote--because, normally, when times are good--and to be 
sure, compared to 6 years ago, times are good, and I'm grateful for that 
and very grateful that the people of New York twice voted to give Al 
Gore and me a chance to serve our country and to implement our ideas and 
to work for you. But if you think about this, the lowest crime rate in 
25 years--no person in America, I might add, more responsible, no 
Congressman in the country more responsible than Chuck Schumer--the 
lowest crime rate in 25 years, the lowest unemployment rate in 28 years, 
the smallest percentage of people on welfare in 29 years, the first 
balanced budget and surplus in 29 years, the highest homeownership in 
history, the lowest African-American poverty rate recorded, the biggest 
drop in Hispanic poverty in 30 years, the biggest rise in wages among 
average citizens in over 20 years--these are good things. But what are 
we going to do with them? What are we going to do with them?
    I believe, notwithstanding the arguments that are being made in the 
television wars here that don't really have any underlying merit about 
the voting record of a Congressman, or even the contrast in their voting 
record that I just gave you, which is meaningful, the most important 
thing is who's going to do the most to make the most of this moment for 
our tomorrows. That overshadows everything else, because the thing that 
concerns me is so often when times are good, people say, ``Well, things 
are going fine and, therefore, we don't want to rock the boat, and maybe 
we don't even need to vote.'' But here in New York, the financial 
capital of our country and indeed the world, I think you know enough 
from seeing what all is going around in the world in terms of financial 
turmoil to know that in a dynamic world, the fact that things are good 
does not mean you can sit still. And I would argue that New York needs a 
visionary, an activist, a doer, someone who understands what needs to be 
done and has the courage to do it. And I would argue that our people--
every one of them, without regard to party across this country--need to 
consider this a profoundly important election in which they want their 
voices to be heard, so that we send a clear message that we don't think 
this is just a time when

[[Page 2037]]

we can fiddle around and not pay attention to the big issues.
    And what are they? Number one, if we want to keep America's economic 
growth going, America must have the tools to lead the world away from 
the financial instability that has gripped so many other countries. That 
means funding the International Monetary Fund instead of running away 
from our obligations there.
    Number two, if we want to be a symbol of stability in the world, it 
means not squandering this surplus until we have fixed Social Security 
for the 21st century. That is profoundly important.
    Number three, it means not stopping until we know we have done 
everything we can to give all our kids, without regard to their income, 
their race, their background, access to a world-class education. The 
education program I sent to Congress in January that only now they are 
beginning to debate is a very simple, straightforward, but profoundly 
important one: 100,000 teachers to lower class size to an average of 18 
in the early grades; funds to build or rehabilitate 5,000 schools; 
hooking up all the classrooms in the country to the Internet by the year 
2000; after-school and summer school programs for children so that we 
can end social promotion, but we don't dub the kids a failure if the 
system fails them; mentors for kids in their middle school years so that 
they can know they can go on to college if they stay in school and study 
and do well.
    It is a good program. It is a matter of urgent national concern. And 
it should be beyond partisan politics, for every American--every 
American--has a vested interest in the success of our children.
    Now, these are the big issues before us. To be sure, there are 
others. We should stay on the path of improving the environment as we 
grow the economy and not abandon that. We should, next year, pass this 
HMO Patients' Bill of Rights to guarantee people the right to see a 
specialist, the right to keep their medical records private, the right 
to keep a doctor during the course of treatment even if the employer 
changes plans, the right to go to the nearest emergency room, not one 
halfway across town just because the nearest one is not covered by your 
plan. That's what this bill of rights does. These things are important 
to America's future.
    And I'd like to say just one other thing. I know a lot of you were 
profoundly moved and saddened, as I was, with the news this morning that 
that young man from Wyoming, who was so badly beaten, passed away. It is 
inappropriate to speculate about the specifics of the case, but it does 
seem clear that he was beaten horribly because he was gay.
    Now, New York is a place where we have gotten a lot of advantages as 
a country out of our remarkable diversity--our racial, our ethnic, our 
cultural diversity, our diverse skills, our language skills, our 
different connections with the rest of the world--and the idea that if 
you come here, no matter where you come from, if you're good at whatever 
it is you want to do, you'll have a chance to live out your dreams. All 
over the world, I see people held back because they can't find a way to 
look beyond the differences in people to what they share in common.
    Today my Special Envoy for Kosovo, Dick Holbrooke, was working with 
our NATO allies in a feverish attempt to try to bring peace there 
without further violence. Today I talked to the Prime Minister of Israel 
and to Chairman Arafat about their coming to the United States in a few 
days in a determined effort to resolve this next big step on the road to 
peace in the Middle East. All over the world, I see people held back and 
heartbroken and lives crushed because there are those who are so 
animated by fear and their compulsive need to look down on others that 
whole nations are kept from becoming what they ought to be. And I say to 
you, in memory of that young man and his family, America cannot do good 
in the world unless America is good at home.
    And another reason I would like to see a person like Chuck Schumer 
elevated to the Senate is that I believe that he and our party in this 
time have taken clear and unambiguous stands for the proposition that 
everybody who is a law-abiding citizen ought to have a home in America, 
ought to be treated with dignity and honor, that we do not countenance 
hate and discrimination and bigotry.
    If you think about the way the world is changing, you could 
seriously argue that, as you look ahead, in terms of building a global

[[Page 2038]]

society, we have three big challenges. One is to develop a financial 
system that doesn't go through a boom/bust cycle in the world in the way 
that we experienced, and others experienced here, many years ago. That's 
the threat--or the fear some people have out there. Two is to deal with 
global environmental challenges and still keep growing the economy. But, 
three is to go to the heart in country after country after country of 
this dark compulsion people have to hate and fight and kill each other 
because of their religious, their racial, their cultural, or their other 
differences.
    And I have done my best as President to try to get the American 
people to move beyond that. Today I asked the Congress once again to 
pass my anti-hate crimes legislation. And as my staff never tires of 
telling me, I'm doing a better job of getting America to get over it 
than I am of getting the people in Washington to get over it.
    But I ask you to think about that. Say a prayer when you go home 
tonight for that young man's family in Wyoming, and think about what 
kind of Senator New York ought to have. New York has been an integral 
part of America from the beginning. It has always been central to our 
conception of who we are as a country and where we're going.
    Senator D'Amato has gotten some criticism that I never thought was 
fair, actually, for being called ``Senator Pothole'' and all that--you 
know that people make these funny little jokes. It's not funny if you've 
got a pothole in front of your house. [Laughter] It's not funny; it's 
important. It's hard to think about the higher things if you get a flat 
every morning. [Laughter]
    So what I want to say to you, though, is--now, I want you to think 
about this--there is not a person here who would dispute what I am about 
to say. If Chuck Schumer is a Senator, given his level of energy, his 
intensity, his aggressiveness, he will make Senator D'Amato look laid 
back when it comes to filling potholes. [Laughter] Or solving whatever 
other problems there are. But I don't think he should be criticized for 
that. That's an important part of this job.
    But there are two other things that are very important. One is 
voting right, voting for the future, voting for the profound, deepest 
interests of the people of New York--and not just here 3 or 4 weeks 
before the election but every year, for 6 years, the entire term. And 
the other is being able to visualize the future we are tying to build, 
being able to represent and bring together this incredible diversity of 
New York and America, and giving voice to the tomorrow that is just over 
the horizon.
    So I say to you--I started this speech by answering an ad against 
Chuck Schumer, and I think I did a pretty good job. [Laughter] I pointed 
out what I think is very important in his vote for the economic plan of 
'93 and the crime bill of '94 and his essential leadership. But the most 
important thing to me of all is New York deserves a Senator who is both 
tied to the specific, concrete needs of individuals and their 
communities, and a Senator who will vote in the interest of the State 
and the Nation over the long run and finally give voice to what makes 
America a great nation.
    This is a time when we need people who are both practical and 
visionary, a time when we have business to attend to that is right 
before our eyes and dreams to dream and realize. And I am here proudly 
tonight because I believe Chuck Schumer can be that kind of Senator.
    Thank you, and God bless you all.

Note: The President spoke at 7:40 p.m. in the Grand Ballroom at the New 
York Hilton and Towers. In his remarks, he referred to Mr. Schumer's 
wife, Iris, and daughters Jessica and Alison; Geraldine Ferraro and New 
York City Public Advocate Mark Green, who both challenged Mr. Schumer in 
the Democratic primary; New York State Assemblyman Roberto Ramirez; 
Special Envoy Richard Holbrooke, the President's nominee to be 
Ambassador to the U.N.; Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu of Israel; and 
Chairman Yasser Arafat of the Palestinian Authority.