Remarks at a Democratic National Committee dinner in Columbus, Ohio

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, April 1, 1996

The second thing we ought to do is raise the minimum wage. You know, both political parties in America and most politicians talk about family values. Well, that's a good thing to talk about, it's a good thing to be for. There's nothing more important. But there are millions of people out there, my fellow Americans, who are trying to raise children on $4.25 an hour. You can't do that; that's not a family value. We ought to raise it instead of letting it go to a 40-year low.

We ought to give these people the certainty that we are fighting for a growing economy and we're trying to open new markets. You know, we have concluded 200 trade agreements since I have been President, 20 with Japan. And in the areas where we've made new trade agreements, our exports have gone up by 80 percent with Japan. We've got to give these people a fair break and not let them be worked over in the global economy.

We ought to give these families a real tax break. And one of the things we ought to give them is a tax deduction for the cost of all education after high school - a college - [inaudible] - tax break.

We ought to say - and then there's a third group of people. You've been reading a lot about them lately. They're the people that work for these big corporations that are downsizing. What about them? Some of them are average income working people, some of them look like me - they're 50-year-old, white, gray-headed men who worked for these big companies for 25 or 30 years, and all of a sudden - says, "We don't need you anymore. I know you've got two kids about ready to go to college, I know you've got problems, but we're sorry, you have to go." What about them?

Well, you know what? There are several things that we can do. For one thing, we ought to say there are a lot of companies that don't do that to their employees; let's look at them and find out how they do it and give other companies incentives to treat their folks in a good, positive way.

Then we ought to say if a person loses their job in America, they ought to immediately get a voucher from the Federal Government worth about $2,500 a year that they can take to the nearest community college to immediately go back and learn a new skill and start a new life. And if you lose your job or if someone in your family gets sick, we ought to change the law, we ought to do it now so that you don't lose your health insurance anymore and you can keep it when you lose your job.

And if you go to work for a small company, you still ought to be able to take out a pension plan that you don't lose even if you lose your job; people ought to be able to carry those pensions with them and keep them for a lifetime and protect themselves in their retirement.

My fellow Americans, we have to face the challenges of the future because everybody has to know that they can benefit from the new global economy. I am grateful for the 8.4 million jobs. I am grateful that we have set a new record in business formation every year I've been President. I'm glad we're number one in selling automobiles and semiconductors again. I'm glad that the World Economic Forum in Europe says that we've gone from fifth place before I became President to having the most productive economy in the world for the last 3 years; I'm glad about that. But I won't be satisfied until working together we have created the opportunity for every American who will work for it to make the most of his or her own life and to give all the kids in this country a better future, and you shouldn't be, either.