Remarks at the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees convention in Chicago, Illinois

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, June 24, 1996

There are other ways that this strategy has helped real Americans. We've got 3.7 million new home owners - new home owners. We are moving toward our goal, led by Secretary Cisneros, of having more than two-thirds of the American people in their own homes by the end of this decade for the first time in the history of the United States of America.

We have an all-time high in the exports of American products and services. We've got an all-time high 3 years in a row of people starting new businesses in our country. We are moving this country in the right direction. The rates of unemployment and inflation combined are the lowest in 28 years. This country is on the move again. We've got a lot of problems out there, but we are moving in the right direction.

Maybe most important of all to me - because I think the test of the economy must always be, does it work for average Americans, does it help people build strong families, do all these numbers mean something in the lives of our people - the most important statistic of all to me, therefore, is that last year average hourly earnings for American working people started to go up again for the first time in 10 years, and it's high time.

So when it came to the economy, with all respect, I think the evidence shows that they were wrong and AFSCME, the administration, and our friends in the Congress were right.

Then came the elections in '94, and they won the Congress. And they gave us their Contract With America. Their idea was under the guise of balancing the budget, to fundamentally alter the Medicare program to create two classes of care, turn Medicaid into a block grant and make sure that it couldn't cover the populations that it had protected for three decades, dramatically reverse education funding at a time when it's more important to educate more people for their future than at any time in the history of the United States of America, gut enforcement of the environmental laws, weaken enforcement of the occupational safety and health laws, allow employee pension funds to be raided, and raise taxes on 8 million of the most vulnerable working families in the country. That was their plan. They passed it; I vetoed it. They were wrong about that, too.

But we have more to do. It is high time we began the move on the future and forgot about the divisive and self-destructive elements in the contract. Let's do something positive to help build on the good work that's been done. Let's raise the minimum wage and not let it fall to a 40-year low and lift the American people. Let's pass the Kennedy-Kassebaum health care reform bill and guarantee that you don't lose your health insurance if you change jobs or if someone in your family gets sick. Let's do it now.

Senator Kennedy's bill passed the United States Senate 100 to 0. Why has it not passed the Senate and the House and been sent to my desk? Because we are debating matters that have nothing to do with Senator Kennedy's bill being put on that bill that would undermine our ability to improve health care for all Americans. Let's stop all the controversy. Let's make an agreement. Let's get off the dime and stop depriving the American people of something 100 Senators have already said they're entitled to. Pass the Kennedy-Kassebaum bill now, and send it to my desk.