pd12se94 Statement on the Cuba-United States Agreement on Migration...

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strongly as I believe today that we have to have a plan, a strategy, a 
vision of what we wish our country to be like and how we're going to get 
there.
    If we're going to keep the American dream of opportunity alive for 
everybody who's willing to work hard and play by the rules, I believe we 
must do three things: We have to have an economy that works, we have to 
empower our people to succeed and win in that economy, and we've got to 
come together again as a community and work together. We cannot afford 
in a global economy to be divided again, Government and business and 
workers fighting each other all the time, people in this country finding 
ways to get in fights with each other instead of ways to pull together 
and make this country great again.
    And our administration has fought for change against some very, very 
powerful enemies of change, against people who often don't seem to 
understand what the stakes are because that's what I want for you and 
your families and your children.
    You heard Senator Mitchell say that we began with an economic 
strategy to get this terrible deficit down. The debt of this country was 
quadrupled in 12 years. We are bringing the deficit down for 3 years in 
a row for the first time since Harry Truman was President. We are doing 
it by cutting spending, asking the wealthiest 1.5 percent to pay more 
taxes, and providing tax breaks to 15 million working families that are 
hovering just above the poverty line because we want them to keep 
working and raising their children, not going into the welfare system. 
In the State of Maine alone, almost 61,000 families got a tax cut, and 
only 3,700 got a tax increase. It was a good deal for Maine. It was a 
good deal for America. And if it hadn't been for Tom Andrews and George 
Mitchell, the plan would have failed, because we passed it by the 
narrowest of margins over the enemies of change.

[[Page 1736]]

    We have expanded trade. We have expanded educational and training 
opportunity. But maybe most important of all on this Labor Day, we have 
called for new partnerships in shipbuilding, in airplane building, in 
automobiles, in agriculture. The partnership here that you've heard 
these people detail between labor and management is the thing I came 
here to highlight. Even in the driving rain, the rest of America should 
know that if you can take a 110-year-old company and redesign the 
relationship of labor and management in a new partnership and ask the 
National Government to help you to build a commercial future as well as 
a defense future, then every manufacturing facility in America can do 
the same, and we can rebuild this economy on the strength of your 
example.
    For the first time in 10 years, manufacturing jobs in America have 
increased now for 8 months in a row. They're a part of that 4.1 million 
jobs that George Mitchell talked about. And as we look ahead from this 
Labor Day, let us leave here rededicating ourselves to meet the other 
challenges that face us, to keep this economic recovery going, to keep 
this partnership between business and labor and a partnership with 
Government going, to keep working until every American can have the 
education and training opportunities he or she needs to compete and win, 
to keep working until we turn the terrible situation we have in health 
care around where we're spending more and covering less.
    This is the only advanced country in the world that spends 40 
percent more than everybody else, and we're still losing people with 
health insurance. There are 5 million people in working families just 
like yours who had health insurance a year ago, 5 years ago, who don't 
have it today. My friends, we can do better. And until we do better, we 
will pay the price.
    And let us continue our efforts to change the way the political 
system works. We need more examples of what we had with the crime bill, 
where we broke through gridlock and a few brave Republicans stood up to 
their leadership and said, ``The American people want a solution to the 
crime problems. It's not a partisan problem. It's an American problem, 
and we're going to work on it together.'' We need that in other examples 
as well. We need the Congress to pass the laws reforming the lobbying 
practices and the campaign finance practices in Washington, to help to 
free people to make the courageous decisions that have to be made.
    And finally let me say this, and I want to close with this because I 
want you to think about this as you leave. We've got to get out of here, 
or we're going to raise health care costs by staying in the rain too 
long. [Laughter] We can create more jobs. We can empower you to seize 
those jobs. But unless we get back to good, old-fashioned American 
values of working together in partnership, we're still not going to do 
what we ought to do. Everybody is for change in general, but they can 
always find a reason to be against it in particular. Believe me, there 
will never be a bill in Congress that is perfect, because we are not 
perfect people. There is always some reason we can find to say no, to 
turn away from tomorrow, to be divided from our friends and neighbors.
    This Bath Iron Works is coming back because Stoney and Buzz and all 
the other people put aside their differences to find something they 
could say yes to. This is going to happen in America because this 
administration is working with the tools we have to rebuild the American 
economy in partnership, not sitting on the sidelines and not promising 
you miracles but promising you progress.
    And I ask you as you leave here today to reward people in public 
life who will say yes to America, who will look for ways to come 
together, not be divided, who will ask you to be courageous enough to 
face the tough decisions. That's the real way to make sure we have a 
21st century where the rain brings the sunshine.
    Thank you, and God bless you all. Thank you.

Note: The President spoke at 11:25 a.m. at the Bath Iron Works shipyard. 
In his remarks, he referred to Tom Donahue, secretary-treasurer, AFL-
CIO; George Kourpias, international president, International Association 
of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM); Duane (Buzz) Fitzgerald, 
president and chief executive officer, Bath Iron Works Corp.; John 
(Stoney) Dionne, president, IAM Local S6; John E. Baldacci, Maine

[[Page 1737]]

State senator; and Dennis L. Dutremble, president, Maine Senate.


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[Page 1737]
 
Monday, September 12, 1994
 
Volume 30--Number 36
Pages 1733-1748
 
Week Ending Friday, September 9, 1994
 
Statement on the Observance of Rosh Hashana, 1994

September 5, 1994

    Warm greetings to all who are celebrating Rosh Hashana in this 
promising year of renewal.
    The high holidays, the most solemn and hallowed days of the Hebrew 
calendar, mark the beginning of a new year. Jews around the world pause 
to reassess their lives and their relationships with others and with 
God. Most important, Rosh Hashana celebrates change--bidding farewell to 
an old year and welcoming the new.
    During last year's high holy days, the world rejoiced as Prime 
Minister Rabin and Chairman Arafat took the first brave steps toward 
peace in the Middle East. This year, in the same courageous spirit, we 
have seen new, bold steps in the peace process. Together, we watched the 
determined leaders of Israel and Jordan turn away from the sorrow of 
generations of hostility, blood, and tears to embrace the promises of 
hope and prosperity.
    As the shofar sounds this Rosh Hashana, let it be a summons to build 
on this long anticipated foundation--a summons to nourish the seeds of 
peace that have finally been planted on both sides of the River Jordan.
    Best wishes to all for a joyous Rosh Hashana and a peaceful new 
year.

Note: This statement is identical to a message made available by the 
White House. Rosh Hashana was observed on September 6.


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[Page 1737]
 
Monday, September 12, 1994
 
Volume 30--Number 36
Pages 1733-1748
 
Week Ending Friday, September 9, 1994
 
Statement on the Observance of Yom Kippur, 1994

September 6, 1994

    I am pleased to extend greetings to all who are observing Yom 
Kippur, the most solemn of Jewish holidays.
    The holy day of Yom Kippur recognizes that all human beings are 
capable of transgression and of atonement. Judaism teaches that every 
person, from time to time, fails to act in accordance with his or her 
highest principles. Yom Kippur offers worshippers the chance to seek 
forgiveness for sins committed during the past year and to reassess 
personal behavior. Beyond this, the Day of Atonement urges the repair of 
torn relationships and encourages treating all people with kindness. It 
is a day intended for rectifying mistakes and for recommitment in a 
journey leading from thought to deed.
    As we strive to recognize changes that must be made in our own lives 
and for our entire world, we turn to each other for the strength we 
seek. Though the challenges of our world are formidable, and ancient 
animosities are not easily overcome, the past year has shown us time and 
again that peace is within our power.
    Let this day serve as a call to make the changes in our lives and in 
our communities that peace and prosperity require. Let us rededicate 
ourselves to caring for others and to teaching our children the lessons 
of compassion. In the spirit of reconciliation and renewal that were so 
evident in the Israeli-Jordanian peace initiative, let us work toward 
building a brighter world for the generations to come.
    Best wishes to all for an observance full of meaning and hope.

Note: This advance text is identical to a message made available by the 
White House. Yom Kippur will be observed on September 15.


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[Page 1737-1739]
 
Monday, September 12, 1994
 
Volume 30--Number 36
Pages 1733-1748
 
Week Ending Friday, September 9, 1994
 
Remarks Honoring the All-American Cities Award Winners

September 8, 1994

    The President. Thank you very much, and welcome to the Rose Garden 
on this beautiful day. I want to acknowledge the presence of Secretary 
Cisneros, who was once director of the National Civic League and whose 
city, San Antonio, a few years ago was an All-American City under his 
leadership. Congresswoman Johnson, Congressman Borski, Congressman 
Blackwell, Congressman Thomas, and Congressman Sharp are here.
    I also want to say a word of special appreciation for the National 
Civic League because this is its centennial year. When the league was 
founded, Theodore Roosevelt said, ``There are many ways in which a man 
or a woman can work for the higher life of

[[Page 1738]]

American cities.'' Well, judging by what the mayors here and their 
citizens have shown us, that is just as true if not more true today than 
it was 100 years ago. We know, given the complex challenges that our 
cities face, we need that kind of commitment now even more than we 
needed it 100 years ago.
    We are here to celebrate success on many fronts. Some of the cities 
are being honored for designing programs to get our children off the 
streets and into better lives. Others have expanded downtown business 
areas, opened free health clinics for the poor, smoothed the economic 
impact of a base closure. These 10 cities represent regions all over 
America, and they're of different sizes, with different problems and 
different challenges and different opportunities. They do teach us, 
however, one thing in common: when our citizens work in partnership, 
when they work business and labor and government, when they find ways to 
come together instead of being divided, they can do miraculous things.
    The partnerships we celebrate here are a reminder that government 
can and must help, that businesses and volunteer organizations working 
with citizens themselves must do the hard work of restoring America's 
communities. Each and every one of us must be personally responsible for 
working in our communities and making a difference. No one else will 
ever care about a community half as much as those who live there and 
raise their children there, who look forward to growing old there and 
being remembered there. And who knows how to solve the problems of a 
place better than those who call it home?
    That's not to say that you should do all the work on your own. Our 
Federal Government must and will continue to help. Everything we do, 
even here, should ultimately be about empowering people at the 
grassroots to assume responsibility for their own lives, their own 
communities, their own families; to be able to compete and win, to 
succeed in the complicated but exhilarating world toward which we are 
moving in the next century.
    We've worked hard over the last 19 months to create that kind of 
framework, in strengthening our economy, in reforming our education 
system, in following some of the initiatives Secretary Cisneros has set 
out for cities and for communities within cities all across America.
    We have another great opportunity for partnership now that the crime 
bill has at last passed. If ever there was an example of the Federal 
Government reaching out to empower people at the grassroots level, the 
crime bill is it. It's paid for by reducing the size of the National 
Government by 270,000 over the next 6 years, giving all the money back 
to local communities to hire police, to build prisons, to build 
prevention programs, to reach out to young people, to give people 
something to say yes to, to put people to work and put people in 
responsible play as well.
    These things can work in miraculous ways, but we're going to depend 
upon you to make them work. Getting the crime bill through Congress was 
difficult, all right. It took 6 years. But you don't have 6 years to 
make it work at the grassroots. The money is flowing in this fiscal 
year, and we have to depend upon all of you to reduce crime and violence 
and to increase the number of young people who have a better future.
    The partnerships that we celebrate today and the ones our 
administration is committed to creating tomorrow, all of them are the 
backbone of our future. The cities are leading the way, and those of you 
who are being honored today are truly outstanding. I can't wait to 
present the awards. I have already read the reasons why all of you are 
being acknowledged. It reminded me of a lot of the things that I did as 
a Governor. It reminds me, too, here in Washington that very often the 
most important things we do receive the least publicity, especially if 
we do them hand in hand instead of fist against fist. But you keep on 
doing it, because in the end the results will be the ultimate reward.
    Now I'd like to introduce a person that it's my great honor to 
present, one of our country's most distinguished citizens, the chairman 
of the National Civic League, John Gardner.

[At this point, Mr. Gardner and Wayne Hedien, chief executive officer, 
Allstate Insurance Co., sponsor of the awards, each made brief remarks. 
The awards were then presented.]

[[Page 1739]]

    The President. Thank you very much. Let me just say a word of thanks 
to Allstate and to its chairman for their leadership. And thanks again 
to John Gardner. Thanks to all the Members of Congress for coming here. 
And thanks to all of you.
    The most important thing I think we can take away from here is what 
John Gardner said: This is a can-do country. This is fundamentally an 

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