pd07no94 in Des Moines, Iowa...

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    The President. I can hear you fine. Can you hear me?
    Mr. Lancer. Can you hear me, Mr. Clinton?
    The President. Yes, I can hear you. Can you hear me?

Midterm Elections

    Mr. Lancer. Yes. Good afternoon. You're in the State, ostensibly, to 
help Harris Wofford win election to a full term. He replaced John Heinz 
in a special election a couple of years ago, and he went to Washington 
on the matter of national health care, which we all know did not make it 
through the Congress this year. Polls have shown overall that the 
Democrats are not going to do that well in the election, come one week 
from tomorrow on the 8th. What's the reason for that? Why is it voters 
look so poorly on your party and its candidates right now?
    The President. Well, first let me say I think the surveys all show 
that our prospects are looking up. But I think what happened was two 
things. There is a lag time between when you accomplish something in 
Washington and when people feel it in their own lives. There are still a 
lot of voters who have jobs, but they're worried about whether they'll 
lose them or they'll lose their health care or will they ever get a 
raise. It's a tough, fast-changing global economy, and a lot of people 
feel personally insecure. There are also a lot of people who are worried 
about crime and social breakdown. The other big problem is, when 
Congress is meeting and the Republicans are trying to kill everything, 
delay everything, talk everything to death, all of the focus is on 
conflict, process, failure. The American people don't know what's 
happened.
    Now when the Congress has gone home for the last 2 or 3 weeks, you 
can sense a real movement out there. People sense that they've got a 
real fundamental choice here. If you look at Pennsylvania--you heard the 
quote there--we've had 86,000 new jobs in Pennsylvania. The economy is 
growing; the deficit is down. We've done things that the Congress had 
refused to address for years and years. We passed the family leave law 
to protect working people who have to take time off. We passed a law to 
expand Head Start, one to immunize children, one to give tax cuts for 
working families on modest incomes that have children in the home so 
they'll never be in poverty. We're making the Government work for 
ordinary people again. And we've expanded trade and promoted peace and 
security around the world. Russian missiles aren't pointing at Americans 
for the first time since the beginning of the nuclear age.
    So when you look at that record and then you look at this Republican 
contract which promises to take us back to the eighties and would 
promise everybody a tax cut, especially for wealthy people, spend more 
money on defense and Star Wars, balance the budget--they'll have to cut 
Social Security and Medicare and do it steeply to pay for it. I just 
don't think the American people want that,

[[Page 2206]]

and I don't think the people of Pennsylvania do.
    Mr. Lancer. That is just my point, though. In recent polls--you keep 
talking about the recovery that's occurring, and I have no doubt that 
there is a recovery in certain parts of the country if they just bear 
that out. Here in the Northeast, however, there is no recovery; at least 
the perception is there is no recovery. There was a recent poll out by 
the Tarrence group that shows that only a third of Americans believe the 
claims of a recovery. My whole point to you, or my question to you is, 
why is it that this is the perception? It can't simply be because 
Republicans are trying to stonewall things in the Congress so there is 
gridlock?
    The President. No, I think--well, I do believe that people have not 
gotten a lot of the information; I think that is true. But I think--keep 
in mind what I said first. I think a lot of people may hear that there 
are more jobs, but they may feel that their personal situation is not 
more secure. That is, they may think, ``Well, I'm still not going to get 
a raise,'' or ``I might lose my job,'' or ``I might lose my health 
benefits.'' Another million Americans lost their health care last year. 
That's why Harris Wofford and I worked so hard to protect the health 
care benefits of working people and to try to change the law so that 
they wouldn't lose their health care.
    So there is a lot of personal insecurity out there. But the point 
I'm trying to make to the American people is that we're making them more 
secure--that's what the family leave law was all about, that's what 
these efforts to improve the health of our children are all about, 
that's what the crime bill is all about--that our economic policy is 
working. So the issue is, do you want to keep working for something that 
is plainly taking us in the right direction, or do you want to buy this 
Republican snake oil, you know, ``We're going to give everybody a tax 
cut and balance the budget and increase everybody's spending, and we'll 
tell you how we're going to pay for that after the election.''
    Mr. Lancer. Okay, let's assume we're headed in the right direction. 
What we in the Northeast would like to know is, how long is it going to 
take us to get there?
    The President. Well, your unemployment rate in Pennsylvania is above 
the national average, but it's a point lower than it was when I took 
office. You lost 8,300 jobs in the previous administration; you got 
86,800 more under our administration. They had 12 years; we've had 21 
months. You want to turn around and give the guys that put you in the 
hole in the first place 2 more years, 4 more years, 6 more years? You 
gave them 12 years. We've been given 21 months, and we've turned it 
around.
    Now, just because everybody hasn't felt it, that's not a good reason 
to stay home or vote Republican. They had 12 years, and we were in a big 
hole. We also had 20 years, through both parties, of stagnant wages and 
less secure jobs and losing benefits. And we have had 30 years of rising 
crime and family breakdown. We are at least addressing all these things 
for the first time. And it's pretty refreshing, I think, to have a 
Government that has taken on the tough problems instead of running away 
from them and that can at least show we're making some progress. And the 
worst thing in the world you can do is to say, ``Okay, we gave you these 
problems--we had 12 years of the other party's politics and economics, 
we've got 20 years of economic problems and 30 years of social 
problems--and we haven't felt anything in 21 months. So we're going to 
go back to the people that got us in the hole in the first place.'' 
That's not good thinking. If everybody will just relax and look at the 
record, they'll vote for Harris Wofford, they'll vote for Mark Singel, 
and they'll vote to keep this country moving in the right direction so 
that all of Pennsylvania can feel the results of these efforts.
    Mr. Lancer. All right, sir. But there have been changes in the way 
that those figures are tallied. Anyway----
    The President. That's right, there have been changes. If we were 
living under the same figures the Republicans had, the unemployment rate 
would have gone down over 1\1/2\ percent. That's right, you're 
absolutely right. The changes in the way the unemployment is tallied 
work against us, not for us.
    Mr. Lancer. All right. We appreciate your taking time out from a 
very busy schedule

[[Page 2207]]

today, Mr. Clinton. And thank you for joining us here on KYW News Radio 
this afternoon.
    The President. Thank you.

Note: The telephone interview began at 4:35 p.m. The President spoke 
from the David Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh, PA.


<DOC>
[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents]
 [frwais.access.gpo.gov]


[Page 2207-2210]
 
Monday, November 7, 1994
 
Volume 30--Number 44
Pages 2193-2275
 
Week Ending Friday, November 4, 1994
 
Remarks at a Rally for Democratic Candidates in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

October 31, 1994

    The President. Thank you, Senator Wofford. Thank you, ladies and 
gentlemen. Let me say, first of all, before we get into the speech, I 
want to thank the East Allegheny High School Band and the Pine-Richland 
High School Band. Let's give them a hand for playing for us tonight. 
[Applause]
    I am proud to be here with Harris Wofford, with Congressman Coyne, 
with Governor Singel, with your State treasurer Cathy Baker-Knoll, with 
Tom Flaherty and Pete Forrester, Linda Rhodes, and the congressional 
nominees. I hope you will elect them. You have a chance to replace these 
two Members of Congress that are leaving with Mike Doyle and Bill 
Leavens, and I hope you will vote for them.
    Audience members. Yes, we will! Yes, we will!
    The President. Yes, you will.
    Audience members. Yes, we will! Yes, we will!
    The President. I also want to say a word about a few other people 
who are here tonight: the chairman of the Democratic Party, David 
Wilhelm, who has worked so hard for all of us. And I want to say a 
special thanks to some of our friends from the labor movement, without 
whom so many of our candidates--[applause]. I thank especially Jerry 
McEntee, the president of AFSCME, who is here; George Becker, the 
president of the Steel Workers, who is here, and Bill George, AFL-CIO.
    You know, this election has a lot of interesting choices. I heard, 
for example, recently that Senator Wofford's opponent criticized people 
who go to the Senate to fight for locks and dams.
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. Anybody who criticizes that has never had to create a 
job or move a product to market. I think western Pennsylvania is lucky 
to have somebody who fights for improvements in the Mon River locks and 
Turtle Creek, Elizabeth and Charlie Roy and myself, and you ought to 
keep Harris Wofford if for no other reason.
    I read the endorsement of Senator Wofford in the Pittsburgh Post-
Gazette. And he said, contrary to the paid ads of his opponent, I want 
to quote: ``Senator Wofford is not an advocate of mindless big 
Government. He understands Government can't possibly solve all the 
problems in a nation, that personal responsibility and accountability 
must be engendered and demanded. He remains committed to a mission built 
on service and opportunity, hope and humanity, vision and realism. 
Harris Wofford is a direct descendant of the enlightened public 
officials who gave us Social Security and Medicare, those life-saving 
programs. His opponent is not.'' I couldn't say it better myself.
    My fellow Americans, 21 months ago I went to Washington with the 
help of an overwhelming vote from the people of Pennsylvania, with a 
commitment to make Government work for ordinary Americans, to get the 
economy moving again, to prepare our people to compete and win in the 
global economy, to make the world more secure and more prosperous for 
Americans to live and work in. I called it putting people first. Well, 
you know, we still have problems. There are still people who want jobs 
who don't have them, people who are looking for a raise that hasn't 
come, people who are worried about losing their health care. There are 
still problems with crime in our streets and social problems in our 
communities. But I'll tell you something, folks, look at what we found: 
4 years of the slowest job growth since the Depression, 12 years of 
trickle-down economics that blew up the deficit and drove our jobs 
overseas----
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. ----20 years of stagnant wages, 30 years of social 
problems. And after 21 months we are clearly moving in the right 
direction. We are in better shape than we were before.

[[Page 2208]]

    I read in one of the papers today, a voter saying, ``Oh, I'm sort of 
disillusioned. I don't know if they've done anything for ordinary 
Americans.'' Well, here is what we've done for ordinary Americans. We 
passed the family and medical leave law. Over 2 million working 
Pennsylvanians with family members can now take some time off when 
there's a child born or a sick parent without losing their job. We 
passed college loans for the middle class for lower interest, longer 
repayment terms, so that everybody can go to college. Over 1.7 million 
Pennsylvanians can take advantage of that. We passed the national 
service program, thanks to Harris Wofford's spirited leadership. Our 
economic program had tax cuts for over 500,000 working families in 
Pennsylvania with children in the home living on modest wages because 
we, the Democrats, don't believe if you work full time and you've got a 
kid in the house you should be in poverty. We want to reward work and 
parenting. We voted to expand Head Start and to immunize every child in 
this country under the age of 2 by 1996. And on all those issues, 
Wofford was yes; his opponent was no. We're making Government work for 
ordinary citizens, thanks to people like Harris Wofford.
    We made a serious assault on crime for the first time in a 
generation with tougher punishment, more prison space for serious 
offenders, more police for our streets, and prevention programs for our 
kids to keep them out of trouble in the first place. Every last 
Republican who voted against that crime bill knows that every law 
enforcement organization in the United States supported it. And a bunch 
of them voted for it the first time; then it became election year, and 
they flipped and voted no. They didn't care about lowering crime. They 
wanted a political issue. Harris Wofford voted to lower the crime rate 
in Pennsylvania, and you ought to reward him for it.
    And we voted to put our economic house in order: $255 billion in 
spending cuts, 272,000 fewer people working for the Federal Government, 
gave all of the money to you to fight crime in your local communities. 
We voted to change the rules by which we buy things; no more $500 
hammers and $50 ashtrays for us now. And when we did this, what did our 
opponents say? They said, ``If you do this, we will bankrupt the 
economy. The economy will go down. The deficit will go up.'' Well, they 
were wrong.
    Look at the results: in 21 months, 4.6 million new jobs. In 
Pennsylvania in the previous 4 years, you lost 8,300 jobs; in this 21 
months, 86,800 jobs in the State of Pennsylvania.
    Do you know that if Harris Wofford were a Republican running for 
reelection--now don't boo, listen, because you need to go out between 
now and then and talk to people who are not for him yet, who are not for 
Mark Singel yet, who haven't made up their mind how they're going to 
vote in these congressional races. And I want you to think about this. 
If Harris Wofford were a Republican running for reelection, and he got 
up and said this: ``I should be reelected, my fellow Republicans, 
because I did what you've been begging for for years. I reduced the 
deficit 3 years in a row for the first time since Truman. I am giving 
you the smallest Federal Government since John Kennedy. I have given the 
toughest crime bill to the American people in a generation, and I have 
voted for policies that are growing this economy for a change''--if he 
were a Republican, they'd be building a statue to him. And they ought to 
build one anyway. [Applause] You know it. You know it.
    What is their beef? Their beef is, they want in. And so what did 
they do? They said no to everything--no, no, no--no to middle class 
college loans, no to family leave, no to everything. They refused to 
compromise on health care. They killed lobby reform. They killed 
campaign finance reform. They even killed the Superfund bill to clean up 
toxic waste dumps.
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. It was an amazing thing, folks. We had the chemical 
companies, the labor unions, and the Sierra Club all for the bill. It 
was almost spooky. They don't agree on when the Sun's coming up in the 
morning. But they agreed that we had to get together and clean up the 
toxic waste dumps in America. No one in America was against it except a 
few more than 40 Republican Senators. And they preferred to leave the 
poison in

[[Page 2209]]

the ground so they would have a political issue, so Harris Wofford----
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. ----so Harris Wofford could not come home to 
Pennsylvania and say he helped to clean it up. Now, that is the truth. 
And now they have this contract with America.
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. Hey, this is a sweet deal. I wish I could do this a 
week before the election. But I'd turn red; I'd get embarrassed. I 
couldn't do it. [Laughter] But it's a sweet deal. It's a trillion 
dollars' worth of promises. ``I'm going to give everybody a tax cut and 
especially the wealthiest Americans; they'll get lots more. And we're 
going to spend more on defense; we're going to spend more on Star Wars. 
We're going to give everybody everything, and we're going to balance the 
budget.'' Does that sound familiar? ``Well, how are you going to pay for 
it?'' we asked. And they say, ``We'll tell you after the election.'' 
[Laughter]
    So we had the House Budget Committee look at how it would be paid 
for. Do you know what their promises would cost if they kept them all? 
They'd have to cut Social Security $2,000 for every American. They'd 
have to cut Medicare $1,800 for every American. And if they abandon it, 
they would explode the deficit and ship our jobs overseas just like they 
did the last time they had power. They had it their way for 12 years.
    I say to you, you think they're not serious about Social Security? 

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