[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 30 (Monday, August 2, 1999)]
[Pages 1480-1482]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
The President's Radio Address

July 24, 1999

    Good morning. At this time of great progress and hope for our 
Nation, we have the chance of a lifetime to build an even stronger 
America in the 21st century by facing our great long-term challenges 
like saving Social Security and Medicare, paying off our national debt 
and bringing economic opportunity to people and places left behind in 
our recovery, giving all our children a world-class

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education--and the challenge I want to speak with you about today: 
fighting crime and making America the world's safest big nation.
    For too many years it looked as if the crime rate would rise 
forever. In too many places, families barricaded themselves behind 
barred doors and windows; children were afraid to walk to school; and 
once thriving communities became proving grounds for lawless gangs.
    I took office determined to change this. More than 6\1/2\ years ago, 
Vice President Gore and I put in place a tough, smart anticrime strategy 
of more police, better prevention, and tougher punishments; a strategy 
that took assault weapons off our streets and kept illegal guns out of 
the hands of criminals and away from our children; above all, an 
anticrime strategy that funded local solutions to local problems, 
spearheaded by Attorney General Janet Reno, herself a former prosecutor.
    This strategy, pioneered in our communities, has been taken 
nationwide by our 1994 crime bill. It has worked beyond all 
expectations. The murder rate is down to its lowest level in 30 years; 
overall crime, its lowest level in 26 years; violent crime has dropped 
by 27 percent in the last 6 years alone. And in many smaller ways, 
reducing crimes like vandalism that undermine our quality of life, we're 
beginning to restore civility to our everyday lives. Community policing 
has been central to our success. This May I was proud to announce that 
since I signed the crime bill in 1994, we've funded 100,000 community 
police officers to work with local citizens, identify problems, track 
criminals, and help bring people and life back to our streets.
    Today I'm pleased to announce 65 new grants to help communities 
around the country hire more than 800 new police officers, including 200 
community police officers right here in the District of Columbia. We'll 
also help the District hire 40 new community prosecutors to work closely 
with police and with residents on our streets, in our neighborhoods, to 
fight and prevent crime.
    Every major law enforcement organization supports our community 
policing program. I propose to put 50,000 more officers in our 
neighborhoods, those that still have too much crime. But our ability to 
continue to do this--indeed, our ability to meet many of our vital 
national needs will be put at risk by the tax and budget plan now being 
pressed by Republican leaders in Congress. This week the Republicans in 
the House of Representatives passed a reckless plan that would cost $800 
billion in the next 10 years and a staggering $3 trillion over the next 
two decades. It is so large, and it balloons in size so dramatically in 
future years that it would make it impossible to invest our surplus to 
save Social Security, to save and strengthen Medicare with a 
prescription drug benefit, to pay off our national debt.
    Beyond that, the GOP tax cut is so large it would require dramatic 
cuts in vital areas, such as education, the environment, biomedical 
research, defense, and crime fighting. The Republican budget already 
cuts our successful community policing proposal in half. Their reckless 
tax plan would threaten law enforcement across the board, forcing 
reductions in the number of Federal agents and cutting deeply into 
support for State and local law enforcement. To make matters worse, of 
course, the House Republicans are refusing to take steps to keep guns 
out of the hands of criminals, like closing the gun show loophole. 
Indeed, they want to weaken the existing laws with a pawnshop loophole. 
To keep the crime rate falling, we need more police on the street and 
fewer guns in the hands of criminals, not the reverse.
    We have a rare and fleeting chance to use the fruits of our 
prosperity today to build America for tomorrow. We can invest now to 
save Social Security and modernize Medicare for the 21st century with 
more prevention for cancer, osteoporosis, and other conditions and with 
that prescription drug benefit; to lift our children by improving their 
education; to pay off the national debt for the first time since 1835 
and give a generation lower interest rates for businesses, for home 
mortgages, for car, credit card, and college loan payments--that means 
more jobs and higher incomes; to bring economic opportunity through 
investment to our poorest areas that are left behind; to have an 
affordable tax cut for child care, long-term care,

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retirement savings, and other things Americans need; and to give our 
families the securities they deserve by keeping the crime rate coming 
down.
    We can do all these things and have an affordable tax cut, or we can 
squander our hard-won progress on short-term thinking.
    Just remember a few years ago--many people never thought we could 
balance the budget, but we did, and now we actually have a chance to pay 
off the national debt. Many never thought we could bring down crime 
rates, but we did, dramatically. Now we have a chance to achieve 
something that not too long ago would have seemed pure fantasy. In the 
early years of the new century, we can make America the safest big 
nation on Earth. We can do this, but only if we act now in the long-term 
interest of our Nation.
    So, again, I call on the Congress and all Americans to make this a 
season of progress. Let's keep thinking about tomorrow.
    Thanks for listening.

Note: The address was recorded at 4:32 p.m. on July 23 in the Roosevelt 
Room at the White House for broadcast at 10:06 a.m. on July 24. The 
transcript was made available by the Office of the Press Secretary on 
July 23 but was embargoed for release until the broadcast.