Remarks at a Federal Victory Fund Reception in Phoenix, Arizona - Transcript

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, June 26, 2000

Now, the Democrats should be for, yes, investing in education; yes, giving working people tax breaks; yes, investing in the environment and scientific research. We should be for all that. But we should also be for continuing to pay down the debt. Why? Because it will keep interest rates lower. It will stave off inflation. It will keep the stock market growing. It will keep the economy stronger. We need to do it.

You don't know any more than I do whether all this money that we now project is going to be there over the next 10 years. And if we give it away all on the front end in a tax cut, you know as well as I do, if it doesn't materialize, we'll be right back into the bad old days of deficits. Big issue. So you can't pretend that there are no consequences here. And if you want this thing to keep going, prudence, arithmetic, relying on human experience is really important.

I'll just give you a couple of other examples. We're for the minimum wage, and they're not. We're for a real Patients' Bill of Rights; a few of them are, but most of them aren't. We believe you can grow the economy and improve the environment in the information age. It is no longer necessary for a country to stay rich or grow rich by putting more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Most of them don't believe that, but I do. And I believe the evidence is clear.

Vice President Gore said the other day, "Vote for me, and I will build on and strengthen President Clinton's declaration of over 40 million roadless acres in our national forests." In the primary--something that the Republicans hope you'll develop amnesia about--[laughter]--in the primary, his opponent said, "Vote for me, and I'll get rid of that order protecting those 43 million roadless acres." There's a real difference.

So there are real differences. And what I want--what I would like to ask you to do is go out to the people who aren't here, people you talk to every day, people that might not be Democrats--independents, Republicans--people with money, middle class people that spend everything they earn paying their bills every 2 weeks, people that work in this hotel and have to struggle to pay their bills--and talk to them about it, and say, "Look, this is a gift, folks. We can have an old-fashioned American election. We don't have to be swayed by 30-second ads saying that this person's bad or that person's bad. Let's assume everybody's honorable and that they'll do what they say they're going to do." And get the differences out there, and ask people to think about what they think this is about.

I have done everything I could to leave our country in good shape. And I just want us to take advantage of this moment to build a future we dream of for the kids that are in this audience. And if we do that, then the outcome will be clear, here and throughout America.

Thank you very much.

NOTE: The President spoke at 12:30 p.m. in Salon 2/3 at the Ritz Carlton Hotel. In his remarks, he referred to reception cohost Steve Owens; Janet Napolitano, Arizona attorney general, who introduced the President; and Gov. George W. Bush of Texas.