[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 36, Number 26 (Monday, July 3, 2000)]
[Pages 1531-1533]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at a Reception for Senatorial Candidate Brian Schweitzer

June 28, 2000

    Thank you. I'll tell you what, I'm glad he clarified that. 
[Laughter] He got into that next husband deal--I thought there were 
going to be three surprised people here--[laughter]--me, Hillary, and 
what's-her-name. [Laughter]
    Anyway, let me say, first of all, I want to thank all of you for 
coming, and thank Beth again for her incredible generosity. She and Ron 
have been so wonderful to open their homes to people who share our 
causes. Unlike maybe most of the people in this room, I've actually been 
to Montana several times. In 1985 we had one of our best family 
vacations ever, there. And I think it may be the most beautiful place on 
the Earth. It is certainly one of the most magnificent. And it deserves 
to have a magnificent, big, strong Senator, and we're about to get one 
here.

[[Page 1532]]

    I loved the place. I felt immediately at home. It's so much like the 
place I grew up and the people I grew up with. But I have to tell you, 
this thing that Brian did with the prescription drugs and taking the 
people to Canada and then to Mexico, it really painted a picture of what 
we're up against.
    And what I'd like to say is something you all know, but this is a 
very important election. And maybe I can say it with greater authority 
since I'm not on the ballot. There are profound differences between the 
two parties, starting with our candidates for President, our candidates 
for the Senate, our candidates for the House.
    And the most important thing that most voters need to know about who 
is probably right, is that only the Democrats want you to know what the 
real differences are. There was a great article in the newspaper the 
other day. You can't believe everything you read in the press, I know, 
but since our Republican friends didn't deny this, we can assume it's 
true. They have actually hired pollsters. They're so afraid of this 
prescription drug issue, they have hired pollsters to tell them what 
words and phrases they should use to convince you that they're for 
giving affordable prescription drugs to our seniors, even though they're 
not.
    That's what was so bizarre about this. They didn't hire pollsters to 
convince them how to talk about something they're for; they hired 
pollsters to try to tell them how to talk about something they're not 
for. I never saw anything like it in my life.
    Now, just last week, or a couple of days ago, anyway, the United 
States Senate voted on this issue. And on a party line vote, they voted 
against the position that he and I hold. If we change Senate seats in 
Montana, that will be a switch of two. They'll lose one, and we'll gain 
one. And I could give you example after example after example.
    But let me say, all over America and rural parts of the country, 
over half of our elderly senior citizens don't have any kind of medical 
coverage for medicine. If we were creating a Medicare program today, of 
course we'd have a prescription drug coverage. If I asked you to go in 
that room with a pencil and piece of paper and design a medical program 
to ensure all the seniors in America what would it cover, every one of 
you would put prescription drugs down on it.
    The only reason there is no prescription drug coverage in Medicare 
is, in 1965 health care was about doctors and hospitals. There had not 
been the pharmacological revolution we had seen. Prescription drugs were 
not used basically to keep people out of the hospital--which saves money 
over the long run, I might add--and to lengthen and enhance the quality 
of life. And the only reason it hasn't happened since then is every year 
but one, until this administration, the Government was in debt, and we 
couldn't afford to take on new programs.
    Well, now we're looking at a $1.5 trillion surplus over the next 10 
years, after we save all of your Social Security and Medicare taxes to 
pay the debt down and stabilize Social Security and Medicare. And for 
roughly 12\1/2\ percent of that--15 percent, something like that--we can 
provide prescription drugs at an affordable rate on a voluntary basis to 
all the seniors in this country. And we ought to do it.
    And you know, this has been a great week for America. We announced a 
$211 billion surplus in the budget this year, the biggest one we ever 
had. I will now have had the privilege of paying off about $400 billion 
of the national debt when I leave office. And even more profoundly 
important, we announced the sequencing of the human genome. But this is 
just the beginning, mapping these 3 billion genes, looking at all the 
different patterns. It's just the beginning.
    And what will happen is, we will discover the genetic flaws that 
give people Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, diabetes, every different kind of 
cancer, the things that make some people more prone to heart disease and 
others more prone to strokes. And the more we discover, the more 
important medicine is going to be, and the more we're going to be able 
to lengthen life and increase the quality of life.
    Anybody that lives to be 65 in America today has got a life 
expectancy of 82. That's stunning. I predict to you that children born 
within a decade will be born with a life expectancy of 85 to 90. This is 
stunning. Within 20 years, children will be born with a life expectancy 
of 100. Your body is built to last

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about 120 years. All of us that don't, like me--[laughter]--do things 
like, too much stress, or we don't eat right, or whatever--this is going 
to change everything.
    And it is, I think, a stern test of our judgment and our character 
what we do with this prosperity we've got. And I think one of the things 
that we have to do is take care of the aging of America, the baby boom 
generation is getting older. And we can't do it unless we do the 
prescription drug program.
    You know my first love is education. I've worked hard on it. There 
is plenty of money left to do education. Should we give some of the 
money back to the people in a tax cut? Absolutely, there is plenty of 
money left to do that. But we have no higher priority, in my judgment, 
than making sure that we have done right by the seniors in this country 
and that we have paved the way with the prescription drug program. This 
man symbolizes that. There are a thousand other issues that we'll be 
voting on.
    But you just remember this. When you talk to people about the 
elections, say, ``Well, you know, I went to this party for this fellow, 
Schweitzer. He's from Montana, and he's doing these crazy things for 
these people to prove to them we're getting the shaft on prescription 
drugs for seniors. But what it says is, he wants to do something with 
our prosperity. He wants to do something for people who need help, not 
just for those of us who can afford to come to an event like this. And 
he wants to do something to make America a better, stronger, more united 
place.''
    If he wins, it will go like a rifle shot across America. And if we 
don't succeed in getting this done between now and November, because 
they think their phrases that the pollster gives them will substitute 
for deeds, you can be sure if he gets elected, it will happen, and it 
will be a much better country.
    Thank you very much.

Note: The President spoke at 8:08 p.m. at a private residence. In his 
remarks, he referred to reception hosts Beth and Ron Dozoretz. Mr. 
Schweitzer is a candidate for U.S Senate from Montana.