Remarks at the Faces of Hope reunion luncheon

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, June 12, 1995

We have other debates like that. Is it more important to balance the budget or to invest money in the education of our people so they raise their incomes and generate more tax revenues because we've got more people in higher efforts? My answer is, we have to find a way to do both. And what you do in your private lives is you balance--a lot of your balance all these conflicts all the time, these kinds of conflicts, and you go on and live your life. That's what we have to do here. And that's what you inspire me to do.

You know, I was so moved, for example, after the horrible tragedy in Oklahoma City by how much work the private charities were also doing there, and how they did things that we could not have done, but we did things that they needed us to do.

A lot of you, I have seen you in your literacy centers or your work to help kids, older kids. And you get funds from the private sector, but you also need us to do our part.

And you know, when we showed up here, we really tried to shrink the size of Government, to reduce bureaucracy, to bring the deficit down, and we've done that. But we also tried to invest more in helping people make the most of their own lives. And it seems to me, that is the fundamental responsibility of we have, and that is what we're trying to do here.

There are 90 million Americans who volunteer. And some of you are some of them, and God bless them. We need more of it. But the main thing we need to do is to make practical decisions here that work right, not have a lot of theoretical debates that drive a stake through the heart of America's citizenry.

And you know, a lot of things are going on here I don't really understand. But I'm doing my best to remember you. And every time I come up to one of these decisions to say, what is best for the American people? What is best for the American people?

And it's sometimes very hard and very frustrating because we just came from an event where the Vice President had a John Deere dealer from West Texas talking about what we were going to do to reduce reporting requirements on the income tax system and how we'd reinvented Government. And the John Deere dealer whispered to me, he said, "You know, Mr. President, this all sounds real good, but you need to reinvent what you're saying to the people because it ain't getting out out there." It was funny.

The reason is, the way we talk up here doesn't really often square with the way you live out there. But let me just give you an example on what's going on. We have people here in Washington in important positions who say that we should drastically cut the amount of money we're investing in poor folks because we're just corrupting them and making them dependent. I haven't noticed anybody who really likes poverty very much, but that's what they're saying.

My belief is we have had some programs that made people dependent, and I want to change them. I want to change the welfare system and support people who are putting people to work. I don't think anybody wants to be on welfare, and if they do, they shouldn't. So I have no problem with tough requirements to get people into training programs, require them to work. I think that's good. But to say you can do it for free, I think, is wrong.