Bill Clinton: “The second thing we have to do is to keep this economy growing. That means we do have to continue to bring the deficit…”

“The second thing we have to do is to keep this economy growing. That means we do have to continue to bring the deficit down and balance the budget, because that means low interest rates, lower car payments, mortgage payments, lower payments for businesses who have to borrow money to create jobs, lower home payments. But we have to do it in a way that honors our obligations to each other and to our future. We don't have to wreck Medicare, turn our backs on Medicaid's responsibility to poor children, pregnant women, the elderly, families with members with disabilities. We do not have to gut the environment or reduce our investments in education and medical research and other research in technology areas. Let me tell you, folks, Washington State has led the way in reaching out to the rest of the world with exports and in developing a diversified, high-tech economy. I'm very proud of the fact that, in this administration, we've concluded 200 trade agreements that's helped the people in Washington export everything from computer software, to airplanes, to Washington apples. I am proud of that. But we have to continue. The University of Washington is the number one receiver of Federal research money of any public university in the United States. We have to continue to invest there. And we also have to continue to invest in other forms of research and technology. And today let me just say a special word about our space program. I expect most of you, like me, were thrilled to see the stunning pictures from space that came out early this morning as our Space Shuttle Atlantis linked up with the Russian Space Station Mir. Our American hero, Shannon Lucid, greeted her American colleagues. What a wonderful person she seems to be. It's so impressive, the life that she's lived. We need to support that space exploration. And I want to tell you that today our administration will announce the results of a complete review of our space policy, the first new space policy since the end of the cold war. Let me tell you what we're going to do. First, we're going to continue to expand our knowledge of the universe. In December we're going to launch a long-planned robotic mission to the surface of Mars. And believe it or not, if you've seen the movie, it lands on Independence Day, 1997. We thought we would go visit them first and try to get around that blowing up the Capitol and the White House business. [Laughter] This will help us to determine whether and how and when we should send human missions there. The second thing we're going to do, which is very important to the high-tech industries of the Pacific Northwest, is to tear down the bar- riers that block the development of our space industry. Boeing recently announced an innovative proposal to work with Russia, Ukraine, and Norway to launch satellites at sea. We're going to continue to move forward. We want to have free and fair trade among economies in space, and we can do that. The third thing we're going to do is to make sure we use space to protect our national security, to maintain our freedom of movement, to monitor threats in compliance with our arms control treaties. All of this is very important, and I want to say a special word of thanks to the Vice President for his leadership in space and for the environment, in technology, and for reinventing Government; but especially today, to continue our leading role in space. Now, folks, there is this huge debate going on in the country today, and I have to say that we need to be sensitive to the real issues here. If you look at the budget, if you look at the education issue, if you look at the space issue, there's a huge debate: Are we going to build a bridge to the future or a bridge to the past? Do we believe we have to work together to give each other the tools to make the most of our own lives, to build strong careers, strong families, strong communities, and a strong country? Or should we say, ``You're on your own''? I think I know what you believe. I think you believe the First Lady was right: It does take a village to raise a child, to build a community, to move a country forward. Let me say again, I want you to help Governor-to-be Locke, and support us in building a bridge to the 21st century where we say to people who are going to be moved from welfare to work, we want to help you and support you to raise your children and to succeed at work, because that is what we want for all American families. And I have a plan to create a million new jobs to help move people from welfare to work. I want you to help me build that bridge to the 21st century. I want you to support--the mayor mentioned it earlier--the other big factor in the '94 elections that helped our friends in the opposition win so many seats here in Washington and throughout the country was their relentless assault on our anticrime legislation. They said it was just designed to take your guns away. They said that we had threatened the rights of hunters in Washington, and sports men and women in Washington State and in my home State of Arkansas, to hunt and to engage in other activities, and we weren't going to do anything to fight crime. And they scared a lot of people into voting for them in Washington and other places. But they have a big problem in 1996. We've had two hunting seasons come and go since the last election, and there's not a single hunter in Washington State who is not still hunting with the same weapon he had in 1994. They didn't tell them the truth. But we did take 19 deadly assault weapons off the street, and there were some people who couldn't get guns. Sixty thousand felons, fugitives, and stalkers could not get handguns because of the Brady bill. We were right; they were wrong. Send them a message in these races. Send them a message. And by the way, I believe we ought to extend the Brady bill. I don't believe people who beat up their spouses or their children should be able to get handguns either. I want to build a bridge to the 21st century that we can all walk across together. We ought to be supporting our families. Hillary and Tipper and the Vice President and I, in our different ways, we've tried hard to help families raise their kids and succeed at work. We've worked hard to protect our children from the dangers of advertising, distribution, and sales of tobacco. We've worked hard to increase safe and drug-free schools programs, to support people at the community level who are doing everything they can to keep our young people out of trouble. We've worked hard with the entertainment industry to put the V-chip in televisions and to get TV programs rated, and to bring more educational programming back to primetime television. We are working hard for the family and medical leave law, which has now given 12 million American families the chance to take a little time off from work for the birth of a baby or a parent's illness without losing their jobs. These are important. And if you give us 4 more years we want to expand family and medical leave to say you can have a little time off to go to a regular parent-teacher appointment or a regular doctor's appointment with your children and still keep your job. It's been good for the economy. We have record numbers of new businesses, over 10 million jobs. It's good for America when people can succeed in taking care of their family members and succeed at work. And finally, let me say, we have to continue our work to preserve our environment. There are still 10 million American children who live within 4 miles of a toxic waste dump. If you give us 4 more years we'll close 500 more so our kids will be growing up next to parks, not poison. Will you help us build that bridge to the 21st century? Will you ignore the rain for 6 more weeks and 5 more days and ask your friends and neighbors to support us and to build a bridge to the future? Audience members. Yes!”