Bill Clinton: “Thank you very much. I want to thank the Vice President for his strong leadership in the Community Enterprise Board…”

“Thank you very much. I want to thank the Vice President for his strong leadership in the Community Enterprise Board, Secretary Espy, Secretary Cisneros, Secretary Shalala, Attorney General Reno, the other members of the Cabinet and the administration who are here. And I congratulate all the communities who have won here today. This is an especially happy day for me because this announcement completes a commitment that was rooted in the campaign I waged for President but far more in my personal history as a public servant. There are many people here in this room to whom I owe a great deal of gratitude. But I want to say a special word of thanks to all those who worked with me for years and years and years, before I ever thought of even running for President, on the complex job of developing poor and distressed areas. Secretary Espy and I were partners a long time before we ever thought he'd ever be the Agriculture Secretary or I would be the President. I thank my friend, Bob Nash, from Arkansas for the work he's done in rural development. Henry Cisneros and I were having the conversations that we celebrate today for years before we were ever in the positions that we now hold. And there are others here, too numerous to mention, who were an inspiration to me because of what they did at the community level.…”