pd06mr95 The President's News Conference...

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Cross chapter in Albany, Georgia. When the floods struck last summer 
there, her home was literally buried by water. But she and her husband, 
Joe, went to work right away, and the very next morning after the floods 
struck, they had already opened the first shelter in their area, even 
though they couldn't get to their own home. When I went down to Georgia 
a few days later, I met a lot of people, but I didn't meet her because 
she was too busy working on relief work. I'm happy to report that she 
and her husband moved back into their home just 4 days before Christmas.
    Time and again I have seen the work of the Red Cross, as I said, all 
across the country. I remember what I saw in the flood-devastated areas 
in California recently. I saw the Red Cross there feeding families from 
mobile kitchens, passing out blankets and emergency clothes, running 
shelters for displaced families.
    As awful as they are, these natural disasters have a funny way of 
bringing out the best in us, neighbors helping neighbors to rebuild 
their communities and restore hope. If you go back to the beginning of 
our country or back to the wonderful writings of Alexis de Tocqueville, 
you see that the keenest observers of America have always said that our 
ability to associate with people different from ourselves to work for 
common purpose is the great strength of this country. For more than a 
century, the Red Cross has led the way in that endeavor. I only wish 
that we could find a way to do on a daily basis what the Red Cross helps 
us to do when disaster strikes.
    For service men and women the world over, the Red Cross means a 
helping hand or a word from home. For hospital patients, it means the 
world's safest blood supply. For people in need, it means a hot meal, a 
warm bed, a hope for a better future. So for many others, the Red Cross 
is terribly important not just in times of disaster but when problems 
strike them or needs plague them day-in and day-out.
    I want to take a moment, if I might, to recognize two young people 
who are here

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today who represent the strong partnership in disaster response between 
the Red Cross and AmeriCorps, our national service program. Johnny Jones 
and Beverly Beyer were trained by you, the Red Cross. They've worked 
side by side with the Red Cross when disaster struck in Idaho during 
fires and Houston after the flood. I'm proud of them and the spirit of 
voluntarism they represent. I'd like them to raise their hands and be 
recognized. There they are. Thank you very much. [Applause]
    Now I have to do what Elizabeth sent me here to do, the sales pitch. 
[Laughter] Because the truth is that for all the work the Red Cross 
does, none of it can happen without the generous support of the American 
people, without the million and a half volunteers, the millions of 
financial contributors, and yes, the blood donors.
    So I urge all Americans to keep up your support, to give your time, 
to give your money, to give your blood, because, as the saying is this 
year, ``Help Can't Wait.'' I hope the Americ an people will continue to 
live out the ideals of the Red Cross and be good neighbors every day.
    Thank you very much, and God bless you.

Note: The President spoke at 11:26 a.m. on the lawn at Red Cross 
headquarters. Following his remarks and a tour of displays, he signed 
the American Red Cross Month proclamation.


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[Page 325-326]
 
Monday, March 6, 1995
 
Volume 31--Number 9
Pages 315-359
 
Week Ending Friday, March 3, 1995
 
Proclamation 6772--American Red Cross Month, 1995

February 27, 1995

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

    Every day, thousands of people in need look to the American Red 
Cross as a banner of hope. For disaster victims here and abroad, for 
service men and women seeking assistance, and for everyone depending on 
a safe and ready supply of blood--the Red Cross stands prepared to 
respond. But the scope of its service extends well beyond the provision 
of emergency care. Its broader mission is clear: to promote compassion, 
to foster a spirit of generosity, and to improve the human condition 
everywhere.
    Since Clara Barton--``The Angel of the Battlefield''--founded the 
American Association of the Red Cross in 1881, its members have been 
called upon to serve in war and in peace. Today, with more than 1 
million dedicated and experienced volunteers, the American Red Cross 
plays a vital role in bringing physical and emotional comfort to those 
who need it most. Whether they are responding to an emergency or 
addressing the daily necessities of the homeless and elderly, Red Cross 
workers have always been models of community spirit.
    Dangers to the health and safety of our people have changed 
radically during the past hundred years, and the Red Cross has adapted 
to meet these needs. Its commitment to caring for others enables us to 
restore hope in the lives of injured citizens, and its example 
challenges us to revitalize the covenant of American citizenship. The 
long-term strength of our Nation depends upon our willingness to live 
out the ideals long embodied by the American Red Cross. To celebrate our 
past and to safeguard our future, I am proud to commend the countless 
individuals whose courage and selflessness have sustained this 
organization for more than a century.
    Now, Therefore, I, William J. Clinton, President of the United 
States of America and Honorary Chairman of the American Red Cross, by 
virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the 
United States, do hereby proclaim March 1995 as ``American Red Cross 
Month.'' I urge all Americans to show support for the more than 2,000 
Red Cross chapters nationwide, and I challenge each of you to become 
active participants in advancing the noble mission of the Red Cross.
    In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-seventh 
day of February, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-
five, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two 
hundred and nineteenth.
                                     William Jefferson Clinton

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 11:17 a.m., February 28, 
1995]

[[Page 326]]

Note: This proclamation was published in the Federal Register on March 
2.


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[Page 326-329]
 
Monday, March 6, 1995
 
Volume 31--Number 9
Pages 315-359
 
Week Ending Friday, March 3, 1995
 
Remarks Commemorating the First Anniversary of the Brady Law and an 
Exchange With Reporters

February 28, 1995

    The President. Thank you very much. Mr. Vice President, Mr. 
Secretary, Madam Attorney General, Commissioner Lovitt, and my friend 
Jim, congratulations. Happy anniversary.
    You know, I'd like to begin by saying a special word about Jim 
Brady. He dedicated his life to public service. In no small measure 
because of that dedication, 14 years ago his life was in danger and his 
life changed forever. In spite of all the hardship and the pain that 
followed, he never looked back but instead decided he should fight on, 
determined to do his part to prevent the tragedy that struck him from 
striking other people. More than any other person in the United States, 
we celebrate today the courage and determination of Jim Brady, and we 
are in his debt.
    Thank you, sir.
    James Brady. Thank you, sir.
    The President. You know, Jim and Sarah Brady represent in so many 
ways the kind of citizen action I talked about in the State of the Union 
Address, the New Covenant: moral responsibility along with more 
opportunity and people sparking grassroots movements across this 
country. I am committed to this law and committed to what it represents. 
You know, our big problems here in Washington often stem from the fact 
that we don't think about what promotes responsibility and what creates 
opportunity and what enables people to make the most of their own lives. 
The Brady bill does all that.
    A crucial part of our job here in Washington is to help arm the 
American people, through our police officers, to fight crime and 
violence. The Brady law, in that sense, is one of the things that I'm 
proudest of that has happened since I have been President. We put an end 
to 7 years of politics-as-usual, of people saying one thing and doing 
another, when the Brady law passed. It's not a complex piece of 
legislation, but it took 7 years, 7 years to pass the Congress.
    And all the naysayers talked about how terrible it would be. Well, 
now we know that, as the Secretary said, over 40,000 convicted felons, 
fugitives, drug dealers, gang members, stalkers, were prevented from 
purchasing handguns in the Brady law's first 11 months. I should point 
out that the real national number is bigger than that because, as you 
know, there are some States that have companion laws that go along with 
that, and the estimates are that, nationwide in the States with Brady-
like laws and the Brady law, the total is more like 70,000.
    A recent study says that, as the Secretary said, that that's only 
3.5 percent of all the people who buy handguns. And as he said, it's 
kind of like airport metal detectors. I think 97 percent of us should be 
willing to wait a while, so that the 3 percent of us who are trying to 
buy guns for the wrong reasons can be stopped. Three percent of the 
American people buying guns for the wrong reasons can do a phenomenal 
amount of damage, and stopping them can do a phenomenal amount of good, 
can keep a lot of citizens alive, and it can keep an awful lot of law 
enforcement officials alive.
    There are thousands of examples around the country, but let me just 
cite one or two. In March of 1994, the Brady law stopped a handgun 
purchase by a man in Kansas under a restraining order for allegedly 
stalking his wife and threatening to kill her. In April, the law led to 
the arrest of a suspected drug dealer in Texas with outstanding warrants 
for possession of cocaine and heroin with intent to distribute. In 
November, it helped to catch two gang members, both convicted felons, 
who traveled all the way from California to Nevada to purchase weapons.
    These are the people the law was meant to stop. Law-abiding people 
are those the law was meant to protect. The test was simple: Will it 
save a life? Will it protect one child walking home from school, so he 
or she could feel a little safer? Will it spare one woman from abuse? If 
it could, we all thought the law would be a success. Now we know that it 
has done that thousands of times over in

[[Page 327]]

just one year. The Brady bill has become the Brady law with flying 
colors.
    After years of the same old politics-as-usual, the last Congress 
stood up to the special interests and stood up for the American people. 
They heard the pleas of the victims, and they thought through to the 
end, past all the rhetoric that was in their way. When they passed this 
bill and when they banned 19 deadly assault weapons and their copies, 
many of them paid a terrible price. Some of them laid down their seats 
in Congress to stand up with the law enforcement officials of this 
country and with Jim Brady. But America is safer because of their 
courage. And I think now, after one year of the Brady law's impact, the 
entire American electorate will see that those who attacked it were 
wrong and those who stood up for it were right.
    You know, today there's a lot of concern in our country and a lot of 
interest in the news media about the balanced budget. And next week 
there will be another issue, and the week after that there will be 
another issue, and 6 months after that there will be another issue. And 
people may forget what Jim Brady went through for 7 years, and people 
may forget why some of those Members of Congress lost their seats last 
November. But from now until the end of this country's existence, every 
year there will be more people alive because of Jim Brady and because of 
what the Congress did.
    And so I just want to say this: For all the other things that will 
be debated, you can mark my words, the Brady law and the assault weapons 
bill are here to stay. They will not be repealed.
    Thank you, Jim, and thank you, ladies and gentlemen.

Republican Crime Bill

    Q. Mr. President, does that mean you're reaffirming your veto threat 
for the Republican crime bill and the----
    Mr. President. I will stay with what I said all along. We ought not 
to repeal the Brady bill, we ought not to repeal the assault weapons 
ban, and we certainly ought not to back off the 100,000 police 
commitment. And I will do everything I can to protect that.
    But let me be fair to this new Congress. Remember, there are two 
Houses in this new Congress. The Senate has not yet acted on the crime 
bill or any of these other bills. And I'm confident that we have at 
least a chance of working out a better bill in the Senate and in the 
conference process.
    I have made clear my veto position on 100,000 police, and I reaffirm 
it. But I want to emphasize that I still am committed to trying to make 
good things happen in this Congress, and I have not in any way or shape 
given up on that. The bill has still got to go to the Senate, and we'll 
see what happens.
    Q. Why do you have so much faith?
    The President. I'm just a cockeyed optimist and always have been. 
[Laughter]

Balanced Budget Amendment

    Q. Mr. President, does that extend to what's coming on the balanced 
budget amendment today? Do you have anything that you'd like to say to 
the Senate as they approach that?
    The President. Well, I have two things. I made a little note here. I 
asked somebody to give me this. Obviously, I don't support it. But I 
support the impulses that are giving rise to it, that is, the American 
people understand that something went terribly wrong about 14 years ago. 
In the 12 years before I got here, we quadrupled the national debt. And 
before that, in almost 200 years as a country, we didn't have permanent 
deficits. We've raised the debt when we needed to, and we ran a surplus 
when we needed to.
    Now, I don't believe we need to change the Constitution to overcome 
the 12 years before I got here and the mistakes that were made. We've 
already lowered the deficit for 3 years in a row, and we can do more. 
But I want to say this. You know what I think is wrong with it. What I 
think is wrong with it is that it may give a little extra impetus to our 
reducing the deficit, but it also runs the risk of turning recessions 
into near depressions and of turning Federal judges into budgeteers--
they're not elected--and of giving the Federal Reserve the power, in 
effect, to wipe out all of our education programs, because when they 
raise interest rates, they'll raise the deficit. So there are a lot of 
problems with this automatic mechanism.

[[Page 328]]

    But let me say this: Whatever happens today, the real question 
should be, what are we going to do tomorrow? What are we going to do 
tomorrow? You know, I'm very proud of the fact that my budgets are the 
first budgets in 30 years which run surpluses, exclusive of interest on 
the debt. That is, no President since the Johnson years has introduced a 
budget and passed a budget through Congress which runs a surplus with 
all the operating programs of the Government, exclusive of interest on 
the debt. I'm proud of that. That shows that we've done what we could to 
bring down unnecessary spending, to reinvent Government under the Vice 
President's leadership, and to move in the right direction.
    Now, I have been here now waiting for 770 days--770 days--for the 
members of now the majority party in Congress to both propose and vote 

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