[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 49 (Monday, December 13, 1999)]
[Pages 2532-2534]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at a Reception for Senator Tim Johnson

December 7, 1999

    Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen, I'm honored to be here. I 
was trying to think of some one thing I could say that would illustrate 
the esteem in which I hold Tim Johnson and Barbara, and how valuable 
they are to the United States Senate. And I think that the best example 
is that Pat Moynihan and I are here, and we're not running for anything. 
[Laughter] We're here because we like and admire Tim Johnson, and we 
think he should be reelected, and we appreciate what he's done.
    I enjoyed meeting all of you when you went through the line and we 
had a chance to visit. A lot of you expressed various concerns, which I 
appreciate. I want to thank Vic Fazio and Jim Slattery for coming. They 
served in the House with Tim; they were there when I became President. 
And I want to thank all of you for being here.
    I just want to say a couple of serious words in this holiday season. 
First, our country is greatly blessed. We have been very fortunate. Last 
week I announced that we went over 20 million jobs since January of 
1993, the most rapid job growth we've ever had and the longest peacetime 
economic expansion in our history.
    It is now commonly agreed that the strength and the duration of this 
expansion

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was propelled by the 1993 vote that Congress took on a strict party line 
vote, much to my regret, in favor of the economic package I presented, 
which reduced the deficit dramatically, put us in a position to pass the 
Balanced Budget Act of '97, and has now given us the first back-to-back 
surpluses we've had in 42 years, low interest rates, high investment, 
and an amazing run of economic growth.
    Tim Johnson was in the House. He knew he wanted to run for the 
Senate. It was an immensely controversial vote. Everybody that took it 
was told by our Republican friends that it would bring the economy 
crashing down and be the end of civilization as we knew it. And they 
were wrong, and he was right. But he couldn't have known at the time, 
when he put his political life on the line, that it would all come out 
the way it has. And I wouldn't be here, if for no other reason than 
that. If it hadn't been for his vote--we passed it by one vote in the 
House and the Senate--if it hadn't been for his vote, we wouldn't be 
here tonight. And if we were here, we wouldn't be nearly so well off as 
most of you are. So thank you, Senator, for what you did.
    I also want to thank Tim for his devotion to using this moment, 
which is truly remarkable. At least in my lifetime, our country has 
never had these conditions where we've had as much economic prosperity 
and as much social progress. In addition to the economic statistics, 
which you all know, we have a 25-year low in crime, a 30-year low in 
welfare rolls, a 20-year low in poverty; the lowest African-American and 
Hispanic unemployment rates ever recorded; the lowest female 
unemployment rate in America in 40 years; the lowest poverty rate 
among--single-parent households poverty rate in 40 years. We are moving 
forward. And this is the first time we've ever had these conditions with 
the absence of internal crisis and external threat.
    And I think it imposes a great challenge on us, because very often 
individuals, families, businesses, and nations are most likely to mess 
up at times of great prosperity and high comfort, because it's easy to 
be distracted, it's easy to be divided, it's easy to take your eye off 
the ball.
    You know, Samuel Johnson said that nothing concentrates the mind so 
much as the prospect of your own destruction. The flip side of that is 
also true: It's easy to lose your concentration when things are going 
very well. And I just want to say to all of you, I think it's very 
important that we look at the big challenges facing this country: that 
we save Social Security beyond the life of the baby boom generation; 
that we extend the life of Medicare and add a prescription drug benefit 
to the 75 percent of our seniors that don't have adequate prescription 
drug coverage; that we do something to give economic opportunity to the 
people and places that have been left behind in this country, like the 
Native Americans in Senator Johnson's home State that he has shown such 
remarkable concern for; that we deal with the long-term challenges of 
the environment in a way that continues to grow this economy--a lot of 
you are involved in that; I talked to some of you about ethanol 
production tonight; we're about to get the science worked out--we get 
the technology worked out to reduce the number of gallons of gasoline it 
takes to make more gallons of ethanol--you're going to see an explosion 
there that will change the whole economic and environmental future of 
the United States--that we continue to press for peace and 
reconciliation and the reduction of the threats of weapons of mass 
destruction around the world.
    Many people here tonight are Pakistani-Americans. I told somebody 
about 4 months ago that we were making progress on peace in Ireland, 
progress on peace in the Middle East, progress on peace in the Balkans. 
But the two places that I have been stymied, since I became President, 
were in relationships between Greece and Turkey and relationships 
between India and Pakistan. And just a couple of weeks ago the Greeks 
and the Turks announced they were going to have talks on Cyprus, and in 
a few days they're going  to  meet  and  discuss  whether  they will 
accept Turkey as a candidate for the European Union. So that leaves 
Kashmir. [Laughter]
    And let me say to all of you, and to my good friend Senator 
Moynihan, who, in one

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of his many former lives, was our Ambassador to India--I have told many 
people this--of all the hundreds--we literally have in America now 
representatives of well over 150 different ethnic groups, I think 
something like 185--in education and income, Pakistanis and Indians rank 
in the top five. They often meet together, work together, do things 
together in the United States. The Indian subcontinent would have a 
limitless potential for the 21st century if the differences between the 
two nations could be reconciled. There would be less need to spend vast 
amounts of money on military expenditures and more funds available for 
education, for social development, for all kinds of challenges that are 
out there facing people. So I look forward to making a real stab at that 
next year, and I see some hopeful signs there. But many of you can help, 
and we need your help.
    The last thing I want to say is that in this coming election season, 
which is already well underway, I think it's very important that we not 
forget that we all still have to do the people's business. We all get 
paid; we're expected to show up for work every day. And I expect to 
accomplish a great deal next year, with the help of Senator Johnson and 
Senator Moynihan. And I am comforted by the thought that when term 
limits take me away, he'll still be here, thanks to you.
    Thank you very much.

Note: The President spoke at 7:55 p.m. at the Westin Fairfax Hotel. In 
his remarks, he referred to Senator Johnson's wife, Barbara, and former 
Representatives Vic Fazio and Jim Slattery.