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

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, June 24, 1996

Let's give pension security to all those people out there working in small businesses, people that maybe have to change jobs four or five times in their lifetime. I have sent to the Congress a package of initiatives designed to make it easier for people who are self-employed or who work in small business to take out a pension plan, to keep it when they lose their jobs, to take it with them when they change their jobs. Every American who works hard ought to have pension security in this country, even in the global economy.

And let's continue to make education available to all Americans. I said the other day, and I want to reiterate, if you look at the future of America in the global economy, if you want all working people to have a chance to raise their incomes, all people have to have a chance to get more education. I have asked the Congress to do two things, and I will reiterate them here today. Number one, give every family a tax deduction for the cost of tuition up to $10,000 a year for college. And number two, number two, make 2 more years of education after high school just as universal as high school by giving a tax credit of $1,500 a year for the next 2 years of education so that everybody can have it - everybody. [Applause] Thank you. Thank you.

That is what this is about. But it's about more than economics. We also need other things to keep our country strong. We need strong families, strong communities, safe streets, and a clean environment. When I became President, I had literally talked to hundreds of Americans who despaired about the crime problem. They really didn't believe anything could ever be done to lower the crime rate. But I did, because I had seen the crime rate go down in communities where community policing had been adopted, where the police were back on the street again working in the neighborhoods, working with people to try to prevent crime and catch criminals and making things work. I have seen that happen.

And so I asked the Congress in 1994 to pass the crime bill and earlier, to pass the Brady bill. And the leadership of the other party, they fought us on it all the way. They fought us on the 100,000 police; they fought us on the assault weapons ban; they fought us on the Brady bill. They convinced a lot of good God-fearing Americans, including some members of this union, I'll bet, that if those bills passed they were going to be weakened in their ability to pursue their hunting and sporting interests, somebody was going to come get their gun. Well now it's been 2 years later, and guess what? Every AFSCME member in America that wants to go deer hunting is still hunting with the same rifle. Nobody lost their gun. It wasn't true. They didn't tell you the truth.

In my home State in the fall, in a good year the ducks are so thick you can hardly see the sky. Every Arkansas AFSCME member who wants to go duck hunting is still hunting with the same rifle, if that's what they want to do. They did not tell them truth. But I'll tell you who is not having a gun. There are 60,000 people who have criminal records who are stalkers, who had no business buying guns who couldn't get them because of the Brady bill. We were right, and they were wrong. It was the right thing to do.