[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 36, Number 41 (Monday, October 16, 2000)]
[Pages 2423-2427]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at a Reception for Representative Joseph Crowley

October 10, 2000

    Thank you. Let me say, first of all, I am delighted to be here for 
many reasons. First of all because I love Rosa, because--and Rosa does 
that sort of ``born in a log cabin'' routine better than anybody I 
know--[laughter]--what she neglected to tell you was that her mother, 
the seamstress, is the best politician I have ever met in my life to 
this day--[laughter]--and because her husband, the man who shares this 
house, Stan, had so much to do with my becoming President in 1992 and is 
now, tonight in Florida working with the Vice President as he prepares 
for this important debate, and has also helped my friends Tony Blair and 
Prime Minister Barak and other good people around the world, and because 
Rosa's been there for 8 years now with me working on many of the things 
that have helped turn our country around.
    I'm here because I really like Joe Crowley, because he's been real 
good to Hillary, which means a lot to me--[laughter]--and because--I'll 
tell you another Queens story, because I love Queens. And in early '92, 
you know, we were pretty desperate to get press in early '92. I mean, 
here I was from Arkansas; nobody in New York knew who I was.
    Harold Ickes says, ``We're going to meet with the Queens Democratic 
Committee, and Tom Manton is for you, and I think they will endorse 
you.'' I said, ``They're going to endorse me?'' I was like fifth in name 
recognition in New Hampshire at the time. And he said, ``Yes. Yes, it's 
going to happen. But we're going to take a subway out there,'' which I 
thought was great. I like to ride the subway.
    So we took a subway there, and there was this typically passive New 
York press person

[[Page 2424]]

with us with a camera, in my face, lights everywhere, and all these 
people who had been sort of uprooted on the subway watching the filming 
of this thing, thinking, ``Why are they taking that guy's picture? Who 
is this strange person they've got this camera on?''
    So then we walked down this beautiful tree-lined street, and we 
walked up some stairs. I remember--whoever--the Queens Democratic 
meeting was on the second floor of some building, and all of a sudden 
they introduced me, and I was terrified, right.
    So I'm walking down the aisle, and I passed this African-American 
guy, and he reaches out and puts his arm around me and says, ``Son, 
don't worry about it. I was born in Hope, Arkansas, too, and we're going 
to be for you.'' [Laughter] True story.
    So the rest is history, as they say. So I'm deeply indebted. I am 
grateful to all these Members of the House of Representatives who are 
here. Whatever success I've had as President would have been literally 
impossible without them, both in the majority and maybe especially in 
the minority, because virtually every good thing that's happened in 
Congress in the last 6 years would not have happened if they hadn't 
known for sure that my veto would be upheld. That was the only incentive 
to work with us to make constructive progress. So if it hadn't been for 
them, it wouldn't have happened.
    Now, I just would like to say a couple of things. First of all, I do 
feel an enormous amount of gratitude for what's happened in the last 8 
years. This last week has been an emotional roller coaster for me 
because we had that stunning election in Serbia, validating the stand 
the United States took, year-in and year-out, when it was very 
unpopular, sometimes in our country, for the freedom of the people of 
Bosnia, the freedom of the people of Kosovo, the principle of democracy 
in Serbia, the idea that Europe ought to be united and democratic and 
whole. And I was so happy.
    And we had about 30 minutes to celebrate before all hell broke loose 
in the Middle East, where I have worked as hard as I could to find a 
just and lasting peace. And Joe, we talked a lot about Ireland tonight. 
Let me just say briefly on Ireland first, I'm very pleased about how far 
we have come. We are not out of the woods yet. We have still got to get 
this police issue right. It's got to be done right, but I hope that 
people on both sides and particularly some of the people on the other 
side--for most of you--who have been talking about, well, maybe they 
would bag the Good Friday agreement, I hope they have been watching what 
is going on in the Middle East, and I hope they understand how easy it 
is to let these things get away from you.
    Keep in mind, these people are represented by teams that sat at Camp 
David, and they've been working together for 7 years. They know each 
other's children. They know how many grandchildren they have. And still, 
think about how quickly it slipped.
    So I say to all of you interested in peace in Ireland, I'll keep 
working on it, and you keep working on it, and just remind them that 
it's a fragile thing. And sometimes you're most vulnerable in life when 
you think you're least vulnerable. We cannot take our good fortune for 
granted.
    Now, on the Middle East, I don't want to say too much except we had 
a pretty good day today. And we, our whole American team, we've been 
working like crazy for the last several days trying to help do our part. 
I just have to believe they're not going to let this thing spin out of 
control.
    But there are lots of things going on there, including things that 
are not apparent, developments in other countries that are having an 
impact on this. So we're working as hard as we know how to end the 
violence and get the folks back to the negotiating table, and I hope you 
will all say a prayer for that.
    Let me just say a word about this election. No one in America 
understands as clearly as I do how important this election is, not just 
for President and Vice President but every Senate seat, every House 
seat--nobody.
    And since we're in the business of being humble here, because you 
realize how quickly things can change, it's important to recognize 
that--I'm absolutely convinced the only danger we have in this election 
is if people will think the consequences of their vote are not 
particularly significant, and our crowd may not go, and some may not 
understand what the consequences are. But I'm telling you, we have never 
had a better chance to

[[Page 2425]]

literally imagine the future we want to build for our kids and just go 
do it. But if we're careless with it, it could get away from us.
    So you've got these huge economic differences. Rosa mentioned that. 
You know, I just got back from Jay Rockefeller's house. At least one of 
you was there with me tonight. And Jay Rockefeller, you know, he pays 
those taxes George Bush wants to cut. [Laughter] I told old Jay tonight, 
I said, ``You know,'' I said, ``I just came over here because I'm busy 
in Washington, and I felt the need to go on vacation. And I really 
wanted to see Versailles, and I couldn't, so I thought I would come to 
your house instead--next best thing.'' [Laughter]
    But I want you to think about it. I mean they want a tax cut that's 
way bigger than the one our side wants. We want to have as much as we 
think we can afford to pay for college education, long-term care if 
somebody in your family is sick, child care, retirement savings. But we 
want to save something to invest in education and health care, and we 
want to keep paying down the debt.
    Now, this is an interesting juxtaposition. The Democratic Party is 
now the fiscally conservative party in America and has been for some 
time. Why? I must say, the first person I ever heard argue this case was 
former Congressman Joe Kennedy from Boston. But it's true. If you pay 
down the debt and you keep interest rates lower, that does more to help 
lower income working people and middle-class people than anything else, 
because it grows the economy quicker; it gets labor markets tighter; it 
raises wages at the low end, creates more jobs there; and it spreads the 
benefits broadly.
    Now, if they get their way, you cannot cut taxes as much as they say 
they're going to, partially privatize Social Security, which costs 
another $1 trillion--something they never talk about. Although I was 
proud to see the Governor acknowledge that in the last debate--said--
``Well, where are you going to get the money?'' He said, ``Out of the 
surplus.''
    So if you have a $1.6 trillion to $9 trillion tax cut and a $1 
trillion Social Security privatization program and then you've got all 
these other spending programs they promise, you're back in deficit 
again.
    I believe that the Gore-Lieberman economic plan, which the Democrats 
broadly support, would keep interest rates about a percent lower over a 
decade, and I believe that's about $390 billion in lower home mortgages, 
$30 billion in lower car payments, $15 billion in lower college loan 
payments, not to mention lower credit card payments, lower business loan 
costs, and higher growth. So we've got a big choice here.
    You know, there are still neighborhoods in New York, in New York 
City and in upstate New York, in Buffalo, in Rochester, in other places 
that have not fully participated in this economic recovery yet. One of 
the good bipartisan things we're trying to do is to pass this new 
markets initiative that all the New York delegations have been so 
helpful on, that Speaker Hastert and I have worked on. But in order for 
it to work, the overall economy has to be working. In order for it to be 
attractive for us to give extra incentives to people with money to 
invest in the areas that aren't growing, the overall economy's got to be 
working.
    This is a huge deal. It may be the biggest difference. And you've 
got to make sure people know that between now and the election. David 
Bonior, he's actually--he's got a race out there in Michigan. He lives 
in a competitive district. There's no way in the world he wouldn't win 
with the biggest percentage of the vote he has ever had if the people of 
his district clearly understood the difference in what their economic 
plan would do and what ours would do for their long-term welfare.
    I could go through the education issue, the health care issue. You 
know, we're for the Patients' Bill of Rights, and they aren't. And if 
you want to know why, look at the Medicare budget they voted out today.
    We're trying to put some money back in the Medicare program. We 
actually cut it too much in the Balanced Budget Act of '97. We want to 
see it fairly distributed. We want to take care of the hospitals, the 
urban hospitals, the rural hospitals, the teaching hospitals. We want to 
take care of the nursing homes and the community providers.
    Fifty-five percent in their budget goes to the HMO's, the same 
people they killed the Patients' Bill of Rights for--big difference

[[Page 2426]]

here. The American people need to know that.
    The prescription drug plan--Joe's been active in this, and Rosa 
talked about it. I'm so glad about this. This business of being able to 
go to Canada and buy the drugs, they tried to water that down. They have 
fooled with it a little bit--considerably.
    But do you ever wonder what this prescription drug deal is all 
about? Do you really know why we're fighting with them? Here's the deal. 
Here's the real deal on prescriptions. The drug companies aren't for a 
Medicare prescription drug program that all seniors can voluntarily buy 
into.
    Now, that doesn't make any sense, does it? Did you ever see anybody 
that's in business that didn't want more customers? Did you ever meet a 
politician that didn't want more votes? Right? Did you ever meet a car 
salesman that didn't want to sell more cars? Did you ever see anybody 
running a media empire that didn't want their audience share to go up?
    Here's why. Here's the deal. You need to know. Why are drugs cheaper 
in Canada than they are in America, even though they're made in America? 
Why are they cheaper in Europe, even though they're made in America? 
Because it costs a lot of money to develop these drugs, then they spend 
a lot of money advertising them, but America is the only country in the 
world that doesn't have price controls.
    So if they develop some great new drug, they've got to get us to 
pay, all of us, all the money they put in, in development and 
advertising. Once they do that, it doesn't cost anything to make another 
pill. Once you get your embedded cost back, another pill is cheap. Then 
they can afford to sell them under price controls throughout Europe, 
Canada, and elsewhere.
    So when--I'm saying this so you don't have to demonize the drug 
companies, so you'll understand. So they've got a real problem. What is 
their problem? They think, if Medicare can buy drugs for millions and 
millions of seniors who need them, Medicare will acquire so much market 
power--they know this is not price fixing; this ain't close to price 
fixing--but we'll have a big buyer. And they know Medicare will acquire 
so much market power that maybe they will be able to get American 
seniors drugs made in America almost as cheap as they can get them in 
Canada. And they're afraid that their profit margins will go down so 
much that then they won't have the money they would like to have either 
for profits or research or advertising.
    Now, that is a real problem for them. But can the answer to their 
problem be to keep seniors who need it from getting the medicine they 
need? That's my problem. The Republican plan only covers half of the 
seniors who need the coverage. And this idea that you can have a private 
health insurance policy that people can afford to buy that's worth a 
flip is just not true. The insurance companies--I just jumped on the 
health insurance companies. Let me brag on them. They have been 
perfectly honest. They say there is not an insurance market out there 
for prescription drugs that people can afford. That's what they said.
    So I'm just telling you this because this is the kind of thing--I 
get frustrated because I don't think most people really understand what 
the nature of the fight is. You don't have to demonize the drug 
companies. Lord knows, I'm glad they're here. They do wonderful work. 
They employ tens of thousands of people. I'm proud they're American, and 
I would help them solve their problem.
    But the answer to their problem cannot be to keep seniors away from 
the medicine they need. Now, that's what this is about. And he's out 
there, trying to do the right thing. [Laughter] Oh, come on, you're time 
and a half my size; don't whine. [Laughter]
    Now, wait a minute. This is a big deal. You all have got friends all 
over America. You've got people living in these battleground States. I'm 
telling you, if people know what the differences are, Senator Lieberman 
and Vice President Gore win. We win the House. We pick up at least four, 
maybe six, Senate seats if they know.
    We are for hate crimes legislation; they're not. They gave us a vote 
in the Senate. It turned out it wasn't real. Some of their guys got well 
on the vote. It's 57-42 for the hate crimes legislation. But when it 
comes time to leave it in the bill, poof! It vanishes. Now, we've got to 
find some bill to put it on, and

[[Page 2427]]

their leadership doesn't want it on any bill. People need to know that.
    You know, there are lots of differences here in terms of our ideas 
of one America, in terms of our ideas of health care policy, in terms of 
our education policy. I'm just telling you the differences are clear. 
Those are just three.
    You mentioned gun safety. Did you see that ABC--did anybody see that 
ABC special Peter Jennings did on the NRA? Did you see it? Did you see 
all those people there, good Americans, going to these NRA conventions? 
They're good citizens. And Peter Jennings going around interviewing 
them, saying, ``Do you really believe that Al Gore will take your gun 
away?'' ``Absolutely; I do. Bill Clinton and Al Gore, they're a threat 
to our second amendment rights.''
    There's not one living, breathing American that missed a day in the 
deer woods because of me. But 500,000 felons, fugitives, and stalkers 
could not get handguns because of the Brady bill. So, the program says 
that when Mr. LaPierre said that I wanted those people to die in some of 
those horrible shootings so then I would have some political basis to 
take people's guns away, their membership went up 200,000 according to 
the ABC--[inaudible].
    Now, let me tell you something: The American people are smart and 
solid, and they nearly always get it right if they've got enough 
information and enough time. But you know, that's just not true. And 
it's not true that Al Gore proposed to take their guns away. What he 
said was, ``If you're going to buy a handgun, you ought to have a 
license like you have to drive a car, that proves that you don't have a 
criminal background; you've got enough sense to use a gun safely.'' 
That's the radical idea he proposed.
    Will any one of those NRA people lose their guns? Not unless they're 
crooks and shouldn't have it and present a danger to society. So I'm 
just imploring you. You came here tonight. Every one of you are 
politically active; you all show up. Every one of you know scores of 
people that will never come to a deal like this, not a time in their 
lives. But they will vote. They want to believe they are good citizens. 
They are good citizens. They're patriotic. They love their country. 
They'll vote. But if they don't hear from you, they might just be 
getting this stuff over the air waves.
    So I would just say to you, this is a profoundly important election. 
Just remember the Middle East: One day we're about to make peace; the 
next day we're trying to keep people from killing each other. You cannot 
predict the future. Life is a funny thing.
    We may not have a time like this again in our lifetime. And as a 
nation, we will not forgive ourselves if we squander this opportunity. 
The public needs to clearly understand the differences, the choices, the 
consequences. I am completely comfortable with whatever decision they 
make if they do.
    So that's the only thing I would like to ask you to do. Think of 
everybody you know, anywhere in this great country, between now and the 
election, and every single day, for the next however many weeks we've 
got--5 weeks and some odd days--take some time to make sure that they 
understand the differences, the choices, the consequences. And we'll 
have some more people like Joe Crowley in the Congress and a great 
celebration in the Presidential race on election eve.
    Thank you, and God bless you.

Note: The President spoke at 8:35 p.m. at a private residence. In his 
remarks, he referred to reception hosts Representative Rosa DeLauro and 
her husband, Stanley Greenburg; her mother, Luisa DeLauro, member, New 
Haven, CT, Board of Aldermen; Prime Minister Tony Blair of the United 
Kingdom; Prime Minister Ehud Barak of Israel; former Deputy White House 
Chief of Staff Harold Ickes; Queens County Democratic Organization Chair 
Thomas J. Manton; Republican Presidential candidate Gov. George W. Bush; 
ABC News reporter Peter Jennings; and National Rifle Association 
Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre. Representative Joseph Crowley 
is a candidate for Congress in New York's Seventh Congressional 
District.