CLINTON: President's Radio Address 3.27.93

[Clinton/Gore '92]

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

_____________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release March 27, 1993

RADIO ADDRESS BY THE PRESIDENT TO THE NATION

The Oval Office

10:06 A.M. EST

THE PRESIDENT: Last November you demanded a new spirit
of action and an end to gridlock in Washington. Well, what you
demanded is finally taking hold. The House and the Senate are now
completing work on the heart of our bold economic plan for new
directions -- to create jobs, to increase incomes, to bring down our
terrible national debt.

The actions taking place in Congress are a welcome
departure from the status quo of the past. For 12 years, our
government was paralyzed by partisan gridlock -- our economy caught
in the grip of powerful special interests who bent the system so that
they could win at our expense. Our deficits went up, and the
creation of high-paying jobs went down. And good families found
themselves working harder, paying more in taxes and bringing less
money home.

When you sent me and our administration here, you wanted
a plan of action, and we've provided it. Our plan is based on this
simple principle: The best social program is a good job; and the
best way to reduce the deficit is by cutting spending and making
smart investments to grow the economy.

Last week, the House of Representatives endorsed this
plan. And this week, the Senate did the same -- approving our budget
resolution in record time, just 36 days after we took it to you, the
American people.

I salute our supporters on Capitol Hill for their
outstanding work. And also I want to thank Vice President Gore,
who's worked tirelessly to enlist lawmakers in the cause of change.
We should all be pleased that we're on our way toward putting this
plan in motion.

Before the Congress goes home for Easter recess, I'm
counting on them to complete their work on the plan -- to finish the
budget and pass our proposals to create good jobs in the short-term.
The progress we've made shows we're beating the status quo. And you
have given us the clout to do it.

We've come a long way in nine-a-half weeks. Interest
rates are down; the power of investment is returning to the economy;
confidence is strong. But I won't rest until we right the economy
and guarantee for future generations the prosperity that should be
the birthright of every American.

We can begin with this program, because the best way to
build the economy and lay the foundation for the future is to create
eight million jobs in the next four years, and by adopting the
immediate investments that will create a half a million jobs in the
near-term. That's what this plan does.


To create jobs and to make our economy more productive,
we're planning to build and repair new roads and transit systems. We
want to place hundreds of thousands of Americans in productive summer
jobs, and get young people the education they need while they're
working. And we're challenging the private sector to create more and
giving them the incentives to do it.

We want to fund future-oriented research and equip our
nation's young scientists and engineers with the skills to excel in
high-technology fields. We want to convert military technology for
peaceful uses that will benefit all of us and help communities hard
hit by base closings and cutbacks on defense contracts. We want to
retrain the defense workers put out of work by the end of the Cold
War. These people are patriots, and they deserve nothing less than a
chance to work in civilian jobs that will earn them the kind of money
they earned protecting our national defense.

Some people say these investments are unnecessary and
costly. Their only alternative is to do nothing; accept things just
the way they are; and hope with no government action in partnership
with the private sector, somehow things will get better.

These friends of the status quo have tried everything in
recent days to show that we don't need new investments. But they've
forgotten -- we tried cutting investments for years. We forgot about
the human equation -- the necessity to train and educate people. And
guess what? We didn't get jobs.

We still have a jobless economic recovery. If this were
even an average recovery, we'd have three million more Americans
working today. Many of the jobs that were created last month were
part-time jobs. And the unemployment rate is still higher today than
it was at the bottom of the recession.

This job drought has put individuals and families under
great stress. Americans don't want handouts, they just want a hand
up -- a chance to work and to provide for their own. And our plan
does just that. In doing so, we'll be on our way to a real job-
creating recovery that gets the incomes of American workers growing
again.

We have to raise the living standards of our people now
and in the long run. To keep our preeminence in the world economy,
we have to create a smarter work force, with lifelong learning that
trains all our people for better, higher-paying jobs. And we need to
develop the new technologies that are farsighted, that will create
the high-wage jobs of today and tomorrow. If we're shortsighted
today, we'll be blindsided tomorrow.

That's why I'm working hard, not just on this economic
plan -- although it is the centerpiece of our efforts -- but on other
fronts to: from controlling health care costs and providing the
security of health care to all Americans; to moving people from
welfare into jobs; to correcting the way we finance campaigns -- to
bring the people in and move the special interests out.

Each step of the way, I'm trying to listen to you. What
happens on the short stretch of road between 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
and Capitol Hill is only meaningful if we're acting for you and with
you. This is the promise of our new plan for new directions.

Thanks for listening.

END10:12 A.M. EST