Remarks at an Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies Dinner - Transcript

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, May 29, 2000

May 25, 2000

Thank you very much. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. We had a wonderful day today at the White House. For all of you who were there, I thank you for coming. I thank my good friend Norm Mineta. He thought he had retired from public life when he left the Congress, and he found that there is life after politics, but there's no life without politics. [Laughter] I got him back in, and I thank him for that.

I also want to thank the Members of the United States House who are here. I have no glasses and this list--[laughter]--so I'm going to show my age here. But the chair of the APA Caucus, Bob Underwood; Lane Evans, Shelley Berkley, Julian Dixon, Donna Christensen Green, and Phil Crane, thank you all for being here. I'd also like to acknowledge one Member of Congress who is not here, who led our efforts on China PNTR, Bob Matsui. I thank him as well for what he did. Thank you all.

I want to thank our Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, Bill Lann Lee, who is here. I had a lot of fun today with Dolly Gee. I think she's still here; she's not on her honeymoon yet. Thank you very much for being here. And I want to thank all the people at the White House, but especially Laura Efurd, in my Office of Public Liaison. The Director of our office, Mary Beth Cahill, came over here with me tonight, and we were laughing that--you may know, I had to go to a memorial service for a young friend of mine today in Rhode Island. That's why I'm a little late. And when I leave you, I'm going to the Sons of Italy dinner. [Laughter] So I said to Mary Beth, "Here we are, two Irish going to the Asian-Pacific dinner and the Sons of Italy dinner. Is this a great country or what?" [Laughter]

Let me begin by just saying a heartfelt thank you to the members of the Asian American Pacific Institute for the support you have given to the efforts that Vice President Gore and I have made over these last 71/2 years. It's meant more than you can possible know. I was here 5 years ago, as Norm said, when you launched the institute. You've come a long way since then. You have embodied the wisdom of the Chinese proverb that a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. And you have taken a lot of steps in the last 5 years.

You've gotten more Asian-Pacific Americans interested, informed, and involved in the political process. You've had an impact on a lot of vital issues. You've helped to form more unity among the great diversity of the Asian-Pacific community in the United States.

When I was here in '95, I said, if we only understand what an incredible resource our people are, we can have more opportunities than any other country. I still believe that. I think no nation is so well positioned for this new century, for a global economy, and an increasingly globalized society, as the United States, if we are prepared to make the most of our diverse talents, our heritage, our contacts, what we know, what we feel, what we understand.

The first Japanese immigrants came here in 1843. Their spirit helped to build this country. The people who came to build the transcontinental railroad, over 130 years ago, and are still throughout the Mississippi Delta and my home region, helped to build this country. The people who helped to put the first Asian-American in Congress in 1957 helped to build this country. And so have all of you.

Now there are more than 9 million Americans who trace their roots to Asia and the islands of the Pacific, more than 25 nationalities, more than 75 languages, hundreds of different ethnic groups, all with a long, rich legacy of working hard and overcoming obstacles to pursue the American dream. You have greatly enriched the quality and the character of the United States, and for that I am profoundly grateful.

You have strengthened our common values of family, faith, and work, and our common vision of a better future for our children. For 71/2 years, I have tried to reinforce those values and advance that future. I am grateful that we are in the longest economic expansion in history, with the lowest unemployment rate in 30 years--32 years now--with the lowest female unemployment rate in 40 years, the lowest African-American and Hispanic unemployment rates ever recorded, a 20-year low in poverty, over a 10 percent drop in poverty among Asian-Pacific Americans alone.

Last year the SBA approved loans to the Asian-Pacific community in America exceeding $2 billion, more than 31/2 times the amount approved in the year before I took office. I have tried to make sure that we would go forward together.

I'm grateful that our social fabric is on the mend, something of immense concern to all of you--crime at a 25-year low; teen births down 7 years in a row; adoptions up 30 percent; welfare rolls cut in half, to their lowest level since 1968; expanded Head Start; 90 percent of our kids immunized against serious diseases for the first time in our history; 21 million people took advantage of the family and medical leave law; 5 million families benefited by the HOPE scholarships to send their kids to college; 150,000 young Americans, many of them Asian-Pacific Americans, have served their communities in AmeriCorps. I am grateful for all of that.