Bill Clinton: “Thank you very much. You know, I wish there were something more I could do for all of you. I think you deserve a medal…”

“Thank you very much. You know, I wish there were something more I could do for all of you. I think you deserve a medal just for putting up with Ira's tollgates. I can't believe Ira's hiding back there. He's probably sharpening darts or something. [Laughter] I want to say a special word of thanks to Tipper Gore for her involvement and for the work that she's done to personally sensitize me to a lot of the mental health issues that I think all Americans need to know more about. I want to say, too, that the Vice President is not here tonight because he is on an errand for our administration in Florida and could not be here. But he sat in all those meetings with me, that we had, long hours trying to make sure that we understood the implications of every issue and understood all the incredible work that all of you have done. I want to say a special word of thanks to Ira. Hillary and I have known Ira a long time. Ira and I were at Oxford together back in the late sixties, and we always used to say when Ira walked into a room he doubled the IQ of whoever was in there, however many people were in there. [Laughter] I don't know how many of his brain cells he has departed forever in this endeavor, but--[laughter]--I hope that part of this endeavor will lead some of you to encourage him to take more care of his health. I don't think he's had any sleep since this whole thing started. He's really been a champ, and Hillary and I are very grateful for his efforts. I want to say, too, that there are a lot of people who said, well--I mean, I never could believe this--for years and years and years we all complained of gridlock and do-nothing and nothing ever got done. And the last 5 days, I see all these articles complaining that I'm trying to do too much. [Laughter] I plead guilty to that. But the overwhelming focus of this administration has been on the economy, jobs, deficit reduction, and investment in our people and on health care. That's what we have focused on, the things that will lift this country up again and bring this country together again and give people some measure of security, even as they go out in the highly changed and charged world that we're moving toward. I wish I could write a book. I wish I could even remember all the incredible stories I heard along this last year and a half when we were out on the campaign trail, related to health care. I'll never forget the woman I met in Columbus, Ohio who had six or seven kids and had to give up a $50,000 a year job because one of her children was so sick, and the only way she could get any care was to become Medicaid eligible; the farmers that I met along the way who couldn't get health insurance, or if they did, it took up the whole profit from the farms in the average years; the small business person I met who had only four employees and was chagrined because of the exploding cost of insurance in his small group, he had to go to a $2,500 deductible, and how badly he felt for his own employees; the big businesses that told me about their inability to compete in a global economy because they had to spot their competitors so much; the doctors that I know who wanted to be good doctors and wanted to reach out to people who were spending more and more of their time and money on paperwork and regulation, and on and on and on. The human dimension of this issue is utterly enormous. The economic dimension is also very great. We're here, struggling to really be serious about reducing the Government's deficit, and under every scenario we can cut it quite a bit in the next 5 years, and then it starts to go right up again because of health care costs. So there has rarely been a time in the history of this country when an economic issue and a social issue, when an issue that affects all the big people and all the little people and all the people in between has been so tightly joined, as this health care issue. I know there are those who say, ``Well, we shouldn't try to deal with this. It ought to be enough just to have a fundamental budget that dramatically changes the priorities of America.'' But if you want to get rid of the deficit and have any money left to invest in your children and your education, your economy and your future, we have to do both. And so I just want to reaffirm to you that all of your efforts have not been in vain, and I'm going to do my best to give us a health care reform package that can pass the Congress this year. And I'm going to do my best to fight for it, and I hope you will, too. It may be that we can only do one thing at a time in this town. That may be, but I'm not prepared to acknowledge that. Congress has worked out smaller bills, but they're all different. I mean, they've got an agreement on the family and medical leave, and now they're apparently going to send me the motor voter bill I've been working on. And today, they voted for a modified line-item veto in the House, which I thought was remarkable, the first bill we've had with real bipartisan support. I think we can do more than one thing. And I think if people understand that you have to do both of these things--have a new budget and a new direction and a new approach to health care to get control of our deficit and our financial future and to have something left to invest in our people, our economy, and our own future, I think we can do it. And I just have to ask all of you to be committed now to be agents of change. You've done all this work on this program. And you know, the final thing we come out with, none of you will agree with all of it. I won't agree with all of it. We're going to do the best we can to put something together that's good for America and that we can get through the United States Congress. And we're going to do our best to continue to reach out to both Democrats and Republicans as we have throughout this entire process, to try to make this an American effort, not a Bill Clinton effort, not a Democratic effort, not a Republican effort, but an American effort. America needs this. I'll say this: You know, when this group began to get together, I kept reading all this stuff about secrecy. And you know, shoot, I've read more about everything you've done in the press than anything else I've seen. [Laughter] If you can't keep a secret in Washington with two people, you sure can't keep a secret with 1,000. [Laughter] I think you've been great. I want to ask you to commit now to do what you can. A lot of you don't come from here. A lot of you live out in the country where a lot of these problems are being grappled with. When you go home, try to mobilize your friends to tell your Members of Congress that the time is now. The time is now to deal with this. And if you do live here and you have even more contacts on the Hill or with others that can influence this process, use your time now to pass it. Don't let all your work have been in vain. This is a magic moment in the history of this issue. People have been working for decades just to have the circumstances which exist now. And I hardly see anybody who doesn't admit that the time has come to do something, to do something bold and do something substantial, to do something we can live with from years to come that will really make our country better off, our people more secure, healthier, and happier. We're going to have enough insecurity as it is in America, and everybody is, with all the changes that are going on in this world. The least we can do is to join the mainstream of the world in taking care of our people better, providing a comprehensive, affordable, good, quality health care system. And it's good for the economy. If we can get that idea across, we can prevail. I need your help now to carry the fight to the floors of the Congress, both Chambers and both parties. And let's lift this issue up. Let's keep it high in America's mind and heart, and let's make sure that all this work you have done will be rewarded for generations to come. This is a real moment in the history of this country. You can be a part of it. Now the time has come to bring it home. Thank you very much. Bosnia”