Bill Clinton: “Kentucky April 6, 1994 To the family of our friend Bill Natcher; Mr. Speaker; Governor; distinguished Members of…”

“Kentucky April 6, 1994 To the family of our friend Bill Natcher; Mr. Speaker; Governor; distinguished Members of Congress; all those who have preceded me on the program: Reverend Welch; Reverend Bridges, thank you for that wonderful sermon; Mr. Orendorf, thank you for making us laugh and for being so wise. Mr. Speaker, thank you for proving that Reverend Bridges was right, there are still noble and good people in public life in America. Thank you all for making my role almost completely irrelevant. There is hardly anything else left to say. I think I would like to tell you two things about Bill Natcher from my point of view. The country doesn't work very well in tough times, when difficult decisions have to be made, if the President cannot work with the Congress. We faced an enormously difficult position, Bill Natcher and I did, when I became President and he took the reins of the Appropriations Committee. Our country was drowning in debt, our deficit had been going up, our national debt had tripled in 12 years, and yet every person who studied the issue knew that there were some things we needed to invest even more money in. You heard people talk already today about the National Institute of Health, the need we had to make the changes so that our country could go into the next century and more Bill Natchers would have a chance to make their way in life.…”