Remarks at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, Nov 4, 1996

So will we balance the budget while we protect our investments in education, research, the environment, and our obligations to poor children, to our families in nursing homes, to people with disabilities through Medicare and Medicaid, or will we adopt a risky tax scheme that will blow a hole in the deficit and require bigger cuts than those I vetoed last year when they shut the Government down? I think I know the answer to that. I think you want to balance the budget, keep the economy growing, and have targeted tax cuts for education and childrearing and health care and buying a first home. Will you help me build that bridge? [Applause]

We have made a beginning on health care reform, but our balanced budget plan will go further. It will help families keep their insurance when they're between jobs for 6 months. It will add another million children to the ranks of insured. It will give free mammograms to women on Medicare. And for the nearly 2 million families struggling to care with a family member with Alzheimer's, we're going to give them some respite care because they're trying to keep their families together. That's what we ought to do. Will you help us build that bridge? [Applause]

We passed the family and medical leave law, which has given 12 million families a chance to take a little time off from work when a baby is born or a family member is sick. Our friends on the other side led the fight against family and medical leave. They said it would hurt the economy. We have 10 1/2 million more jobs and the fastest small business growth in American history; it does not hurt the economy when you help people succeed at home and at work. Parenting is our most important work, and we're better off.

I want to expand family and medical leave to say you can have a little time off without losing your job to go see your children's teacher twice a year and when someone in your family needs to go to the doctor, to take them. And I think when people earn overtime, they ought to have the right to decide whether to take the overtime in cash or time with their family if they're needed at home. Will you help us build that kind of future? [Applause]

The crime rate has gone down for 4 years in a row because we listen to the police in this country and to community activists, because we passed a crime bill that had tougher punishment but also had prevention programs to give our children something to say yes to, is putting 100,000 police on the street and taking guns and drugs and gangs off the street. The Brady bill cost no Pennsylvania hunter a weapon, not a single one. But 60,000 felons, fugitives, and stalkers didn't get handguns to terrorize the people here in Philadelphia as a result of it.

And now we have to go further and finish the job of putting those police on the street. You know, our friends on the other side, they still are trying to undermine our commitment to 100,000 police. It is bringing the crime rate down. I want to keep going until we have 8 years of declining crime and everybody in this country feels safe walking on the street outside their house with their children playing in the park down the street, feels safe in their schools, safe in their homes, safe in their neighborhoods. From the Violence Against Women Act, to the domestic violence prevention program, to the 100,000 police, we are moving in the right direction. Will you help us build that bridge to the 21st century? [Applause]