Remarks at a Democratic National Committee dinner in Columbus, Ohio

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, April 1, 1996

It has been at least 100 years since we have dealt with changes of this scope. And as with every period of great change, there are vast new opportunities created for people, but there is also uprooting and uncertainty. And our great challenge today is to take the positive things that have happened, that Senator Glenn talked about, and build on them to achieve our mission to provide security to every working family in this country that is willing to work for it, so that everyone will be rewarded for what they do, and to help our people in the great struggles of daily life, to strengthen our families and give all of our kids a childhood, to make all of our streets safe and our environment clean. That is our struggle. And to do it we have to be willing to change the way the Government works, to earn the trust and the confidence of the American people and to make it work again for all. That is what I have been working on.

And for all those who would argue against your political preferences and these people in Congress, let me just remind you, think back to where we were 4 or 5 years ago when the deficit was more than twice as high as it is; when your unemployment rate was 2 points higher; when it seemed like the only new jobs that were coming into the economy were low-wage jobs. No, I don't pretend that we solved all the problems, but we do have over 8 million new jobs, just like I said; we have cut the deficit, just like I said; and wages are going up again in America for the first time in a decade. And that's something to run on.

The first argument, obviously, is the argument Senator Glenn made. The other side, they said if our economic plan passed it would bring a disaster to America. They were wrong. We don't need to go back to their strategies. They gave us the disaster for America the last time they had the economy. On the other hand, we don't need to stand pat, either, as they tried to do in 1992. This is a record to build on, not to stand on.

We have to meet the challenges of all those Americans out there who do not feel strong and certain about the future. They are basically three groups of Americans: They're the people that live in those inner-city neighborhoods and those isolated rural areas where nobody has invested money yet. We need to give people incentives, tax incentives to put their money there to create private sector jobs to grow the economy there. We need to put in banks to loan money to people there. If we can provide incentives to invest in foreign countries, we ought to provide incentives to invest in the heartland of America's neighborhood.

The second group of Americans are the Americans who are working harder and harder and harder at hourly wages and never seem to get a raise. And there are a lot of them. And what do we have to do with them? For one thing, we should do no harm; we should reject the other side's budget proposal that would actually reduce the family tax credit that is now providing tax relief to families with incomes under $28,000.