CLINTON TEXT: NATIONAL TOWN HALL MEETING (PA)

 

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Subject: CLINTON TEXT: NTNL TOWN HALL MTG (PA)

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GOVERNOR BILL CLINTON

NATIONAL TOWN HALL MEETING."AMERICA SPEAKS"

PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA

6/12/92

Thank you. First of I want to thank all of you for coming tonight.

And for being willing to participate in this National Town Hall

Meeting. I did meetings like this on television with undecided voters

in primary states from New Hampshire right on through to

Pennsylvania. But with have never done it on a national basis before.

We are doing this tonight for what I think are some very good

reasons. As I traveled across America for eight months during the

primary season I found that most people felt in all the states the way

the people in my home state feel. They feel anger and frustration and

disappointment about the way their government has let them down.

They feel genuine worry about the future.  I feel that too. I have

been out here on the firing line; on the receiving end on most of

what has happened in Washington for the last ten or eleven years.

Trying to balance budgets and put people to work and educate

children and adults. And trying to move people from welfare to

work and make this system work.  And I know it is tough and it just

seems to me that the best way for all of us as Americans to make the

right decision in this presidential race is for anybody who wants to be

president to be as open to the American people as possible. To be

direct and accessible to their questions and have worked hard on a

lot of these problems for years so I think I've got some answers but I

know you have some questions. So lets get started.Go ahead.

Q: Governor Clinton I'm very sensitive on the job issues here and

what we are seeing here is the exportation of meaningful jobs into

Mexico and other foreign countries what would you do to keep jobs

in this country?

A: I would first of all give us a national economic plan.  That would

generate good jobs.  We are the only advanced nation that doesn't

have a national economic strategy to keep good jobs here. I would

do it by saying look: Let's look at what we did wrong. What did we

do wrong in the eighties?  In the eighties we did not have a strategy,

we just cut taxes on the wealthiest people and on corporations and

said they will invest in our economy.  But they didn't. Instead the

top one percent of the people got more wealth than the bottom

ninety percent, for the first time in seventy years. But they moved

jobs off shore.  So here is what I think we ought to do:  We ought

to take every dollar by which defense is reduced and put it into

investing in American jobs.  Into high speed rail, in fiber optics, new

water, sewer, and road systems.  Into new highway systems, and new

airplane systems.  Building an economy for the 21st century.  We

ought to change the tax system.  We ought to say to business and

wealthy people: we want you to have more tax incentives but only if

you invest in this country.  So here are more incentives for new

plant and equipment, new businesses, for housing.  But we are going

to take all those ridiculous incentives out of the tax code that are

their now. That actually encourage people with your tax money to

shut plants down and move them overseas.  We are going to have a

tough trade policy that says we want to expand trade but you got to

treat us fair.  We are going to educate and train our people as well as

any country in the world.  And we are going to control health care

costs and provide health care to all our people.  So we can be

competitive.  So those are the things that will give us a national

economic strategy.  And if we don't do it the economy won't

recover.

Q: Governor Clinton I would like to know what your position is on

pushing tax credits and vouchers at the federal level and also whether

you would ever see putting any government money into private

education programs like the Edison Project?

BC: I do not favor tuition tax credits or vouchers.  I do favor public

school choice.  My state was the second state in the country to give

parents and their children more choice of the schools that they

attend at the public school level.  We do provide for vouchersfor

people to go to private child care centers before public schools. And

we provide scholarships in my state that are available for both private

and public universities. But there is a very clear reason why I don't

favor vouchers for public schools.  That is kindergarten through

twelve grade. And that is that our nation already spends less money

on kindergarten through twelve grade education than most other

countries that we are competing with for high wage jobs. And most

states are having a very hard time paying the school bill.  I know we

are. So even though I support the right of people to go to private

school.  And I think it is good for the public schools to have some

competition.  I have spent more time working trying to improve

education than anything else. And my daughter is a seven grader in

the public schools in Little Rock. I still think that private school

competition is good. But I don't think we ought to divert public

money for private schools.

Q: Governor I would like to get your feelings on the working

replacement bill?

BC: I support the bill which would make it illegal to fire to

permanently replace workings that legally strike.  And I hope

something can be worked out on that.  I think that we shouldn't

build an economy by making people work harder for lower wages

and fewer benefits.  That's what we have been doing for the last

twelve years and it hasn't worked very well.  Let me say one of the

things we have to do on the national level what I worked hard to do

on the local level.  Is to say we don't have to chose between worker

and business.  You can be pro-business and pro-worker.  If you are

determined to build a high wage, high growth country.  You know,

if we are all working together on the same team-look at these

countries Germany, let's just take Germany.  The average working

person, people like most of you in Germany, makes 20 percent more

than the average American for a shorter work week with health care

and a four week vacation and Imight add family leave if there is a

baby is born or a sick parent.  None of the things we have.  Why?

One reason is, business, labor, education, government, they work

together. It works.  That is what we need to do.  We cannot get any

where by breaking the back of the people who are working hard.

We ought to lift their wages.  Two-thirds of our fellow Americans

are working harder for less money than they were making ten years

ago.  Including a lot of people in this room tonight.  And we ought

to turn that around.Q: I want to talk about gridlock in government.

We can't get a crime bill passed.  More than 90 percent of the

people support the Brady Bill but we can't get it passed because the

Republicans are filibustering and you can't get it to the floor.  How

could you make a difference in that?

BC: Be President and be for the Brady Bill. I am. And I am the only

one of the three people running for President who will say, "I AM

FOR THE BRADY BILL."  No ifs, ands, or buts.  For those you

don't know what the Brady Bill would require any one who want's

to buy a hand gun to go through a waiting period so we could check

for criminal history, mental health history, for appropriate age.  That

is one of the things we need to do.  This is a real big issue to me.  I

am tired of going to schools-I was in a town the other day were

there were eleven grade schools with metal detectors take the guns

and knives off the eight and nine year olds. I know what it's like to

feel a victim of crime.  Twenty years ago I was robbed twice within a

two year period.  And I lost every thing I owned.  I was really mad

about it.  This world is a lot more violent now then it was than.

We got more and more young people, more and more people with

guns in their hands.  There is a lot more to be done on crime.  But

we ought to start with the Brady Bill. And the reason there is

gridlock-the President doesn't believe in it.  So he uses it as an

excuse not to sign the crime bill. There are a lot other good things in

that crime bill too. More money so that cities like Pittsburgh can

hire more police to go on the street for community based policing.

Believe me we can clean up our neighborhoods. Across the state in

Philadelphia, I walked down a street that used to be dominated by

crack houses, and gangs.  Where people walked safely now because of

a partnership between the federal law enforcement authorities, the

state and local people. And people watching their own

neighborhoods.  We need to do more of that.  But we got to pass

the Brady Bill.  That is a big deal.

Q: Governor Clinton I would like to ask what you plan on doing

about urban plight of the cities, particularly the homeless?

BC: There is a lot of things we can talk about with the urban plight.

And maybe while we are all here other questions will be asked to.

But let's talk about the homeless for a moment.  And think back

ten, eleven years ago when we didn't have much of a homeless

problem.  It was really unusual wasn't it see someone sleeping on

the street? Now you see it in all cities of all sizes. That is because

we've gone more than a decade without a national housing policy.

Housing is not much different than highways.  You have some sort

of investment policy.  Except in America we have both public and

private dollars going into housing. I favor a homeless strategy that

would give more funds to cities to design their own homeless

programs, and would emphasize the lowest possible costs in solving

the problem. Which is to take these buildings that the government

owns-we foreclosed on all these savings and loans properties.  HUD

has foreclosed on alot of buildings. Other federal agencies-we own

houses-those houses ought to be rehabilitated and made available for

homeless shelters. We ought to take people who are out of work and

let them work in return for public assistance.  Have them rehabilitate

thesehouses and then open them for the homeless.  But it is a crying

shame to have all these boarded up houses in America and people

sleeping in on streets. We need to put them together.

Q: Yes, Governor Clinton, I'd like to know what you would do

about getting some form of national health-care plan passed in this

country, with almost 47,000 working families being without any

kind of health care?

BC: Million. Do you have health insurance?

Q: Yes. I do--yes.  I do currently, but I'm currently involved

innegotiations, contract negotiations, that may see those taken away.

BC: How many of you have had to pay more for your health

insurance in the last two years? (Many audience members raise their

hands)

BC: Anybody lost their health insurance in the last three years?

(Several audience members raise their hands)

BC: Let me tell you this-this may be the biggest personal problem

most Americans face.  Most Americans still have jobs.  Most

Americans have access to some kind of education.  But almost every

American family is terrified of losing their health insurance, notbeing

able to pay the bill.  How many of you are in a family where you

couldn't change jobs because somebody in your family's got what's

called a pre-existing health condition so you might not be able to get

new health insurance if you changed jobs? (Several audience members

raise their hands)  Another problem for millions of Americans.  Now

we have to solve this problem.  You need to know-this is like

something else we're talking about.  Like you and I were talking

about this other issue.  Your country is the only advanced nation in

the world that permits this to go on.  This is not rocket science.  It's

not like we can't do this.  You are the only-we are in the only

country in the world that doesn't provide affordable health care to

all Americans.  Why?  Because the special interests in Washington

have a collusion and they don't want it to happen.  They all say it's

going to cost too much money.  Here's my idea.  Every American

ought to have a comprehensive package of affordable health care.

You ought to be able to get it either through your job, or if-for the

self-employed, the poor, and for small businesses who can't buy

insurance, the government ought to offer an affordable insurance

package.  And every Americans ought to be guaranteed a

comprehensive package.  Then the payment ought to be the same,

state by state, whether the government provides it or whether the

employer provides it.  And everybody ought to be involved in the

system.  There ought to be some incentives for cost controls, but the

main thing we have to do is to take on the big insurance companies

and the health-care bureaucracies, drug companies that are raising

drugs three times the rate of inflation.  These things are unforgivable.

You need to know that you country spends conservatively $70 to

$80 billion a year on health care totally unrelated-unrelated to

providing new health care because we don't have a system.  And let

me say, I'm very suspicious of government.  I know that there are

things government can't do, but no nation has solved this problem

without the government taking the lead in controlling costs and

guaranteeing health care.  I will do that if I'm elected president. We

have to do that.  I will do that. It's a big deal.

Q: One of the reasons why our problems are not being resolved is

because too many of our lawmakers spend to much time promoting

themselves and they're relaxed rather than working for government.

What would you do to discourage this and reverse the trend?

BC: I'd do the following things.  One, reform the campaign finance

system.  A lot of those people work hard, but they have to spend

too much time catering to vested interest groups because of the cost

of campaigns and because political action committees can give more

money than people can.  So don't let a PAC give a cent more than a

person can.  Two, lower the cost of the congressional campaigns.

Three, open up the airwaves.  Say if somebody's got a license to turn

a television station or radio station say you've got to give these

people time for debates.  So you can do what we're doing here, so

TV can be an instrument of education, not a weapon of

assassination.  In other words, free up the political process. Secondly,

say to the Congress and the president we ought to live under the

laws we make.  We pass the minimum wage law, we ought to live

under it.  If we pass a benefit law, we ought to live under it.  If we

make something a crime for somebody else to do it ought to be a

crime for us to do it, for people in public life.Those are important.

And the third thing we need to do is to restrict lobbying activities

when they're inappropriate.  Stop the revolving door from

government to lobby from government to lobby, especially for

foreign lobbyists but for domestic too.  Have restrictions on the

impact that lobbyists can have on the system.  Those things, Ithink,

would make a big difference,  We shouldn't have a government

dominated by perks and privilege.  It ought to be dominated by

people, and people ought to be put first again.

Q:  I would like to know what are you going to do about open drug

traffic and stuff because I see it every day.  My neighborhood is

infested with it.  Seems like nobody cares.  It's like we're in a corner

where nobody can see.  It's like they say, out of sight out of mind.

I want to know what's going to be done about that.

BC:  First thing I want you to believe is that something can be done

about it.  This drug business is a cancer that's eating America alive.

And I want you to believe, in spite of everything else I say, that I

care a lot about it.  I have a brother who is a recovering drug addict,

nearly died by getting caught up in this. And I know there are things

that can be done.  You live in a neighborhood where people ignore

it-let me tell you why.  Thirty years ago there were three policemen

for every crime reported.  You know how many there are today?

Three crimes for every policeman. This is not a big mystery, I mean

one of the things we need to do is put more police back on the

street so that your neighborhood has guaranteed policeman and

they're the same people everyday so they know you and you know

them and you can call them at home at night and say there's a drug

dealer on the corner come get it done.  Neighborhood policing. The

second thing you've got to do is to have something for these kids to

do.  If you're going to keep them out of gangs and off drugs have

something for them to do.  First time they get in trouble, instead of

sending them to the penitentiary or ignoring it, which is what

usually happens now, put them in a community-based boot camp.

Discipline, education, drug treatment, and require them to do some

community service work.  Let people get to know a successful adult

in the community.  So more police, more community service and

community-based boot camps. The third thing we got to have is real

close cooperation between the national and the local law

enforcement officials so you know that everybody that the Justice

Department can get off the street as quickly as we can get them off

will be done.  I'll give you that. I'll give you an Attorney General

that believes that every neighborhood is entitled to the same

protection from drugs as the best neighborhoods in this country.  I

think that's important.

Q:  Governor Clinton, the United States is still the most powerful

country in the world economically and militarily and we have a spate

of domestic problems but, as the largest country, we still have

international responsibilities.  How would go about balancing the

two, our international and our domestic responsibilities?

BC:  I'm glad you care about it.  Good for you.  Because we can't

withdraw from the world.  One in five of our jobs is tied directly or

indirectly to trade.  We can't just hunker down.  The first point I

want to make is that you can't be strong abroad if you're not strong

at home.  Remember when President Bush went to Japan on that

trade mission recently?  The whole thing ends in humiliation for us

when Japanese Prime Minister gets up and says, "I feel sympathy for

the United States".  God, that made me so mad.  But he thinks

we're weak at home.  So the first thing we've got to do isto-it's

good for our foreign strength to invest in our own people and our

own economy again.     The second thing we need to do is to say,

"Okay, the Cold War is over so we don't have to spend a hundred

billion dollars a year any more defending Europe".  A lot of those

countries are richer than we are.  What we are going to do is to

promote freedom and democracy and free market economics.  So for

example, I'd be for freedom for Haiti.  I wouldn't send those people

back until we put democracy back in Haiti.  I'd be for democracy in

China.  I wouldn't have done what Mr. Bush did and give all those

trade preferences to China while they're locking their people up.  I'd

be for expanded trade with Mexico and all these other countries but

only, only, if they lifted their wage rates and their labor standards

and they cleaned up their environment so we could both go up

together instead of being dragged down.  We have an incredible

opportunity.  Because you know we used to have to make deals with

people based on whether they were for or against Russia, whether we

liked them or not.  That's not there anymore.  We can just stand up

for what we believe in.  Same thing in the Middle East.  You know I

don't agree with everything the Israeli government does but it's still

the only democracy in the Middle East and I wouldn't do what Mr.

Bush does which is just hit on them to give over to the Arab

position.  I'd say let's make peace, you all make peace, but I want to

see less militarism, no nuclear weapons, and more democracy and

freedom in the Middle East. That's what I would say.

Q:  My question is about social security.  Being far away from

retiring, when I'm sixty-five, will there be a fund for me?

BC:  There will if we get this economy going again.  Right now the

social security system is in fact over funded.  That is, every year the

taxes you pay are producing about seventy billion dollars a year more

than the benefits the retirees take out.  Now let me tell you the bad

news.  The bad news is that money's applied against the deficit,

which means everybody who makes fifty-one thousand dollars a year

or less is making a bigger contribution to paying down the debt than

everybody who makes more than fifty one thousand dollars a year.

Because that's where social security cuts off.  It's justas wrong as it

can be.  But anyway, the good news is the fund is now stable and it

will continue to be stable if we don't loot it and if we get this

economy going again.  The only thing that can really break social

security, if we continue to honor it's compact, that is people payin,

get out, the only thing that can break it is if this economy collapses.

Q: The first question of the night, you explained where the money

would come from to put people back to work. Where would the

money come from for a national health plan and to support our

schools andcolleges?

BC:   Very good question. Money for a national health plan first

because that is where most of the money is. First, you have to

control costs. You've got to have a cost control; you've got to take

on the health insurance companies, the health care bureaucracies,

you've got to give people incentives to enroll in year-long plans

where they pay a certain fee and they get all their needs taken care of

and that they choose their doctors and providers. That's where the

big money is. Then you have to require people to pay into the fund,

based on their ability to pay. Like elderly and disabled people should

be able to buy long term care but they would be charged based on

their ability to pay, and employers would have to pay but small

business people would have a limit based on their revenues as small

businesses. So everybody could afford to buy in, it would cost some

more money, but you would save roughly, and this is amazing, just

on tax dollars alone, roughly $100 billion in the next four years if

you could just bring health care costs in line with inflation.  So if we

all paid a little more in the front to cover everybody andthen put the

lid down on cost and stop the insurance companies and the others

from ballooning the costs we'd save a lot of money. On education, I

propose to pay that by asking people who made money in the

eighties that whose tax rates went down to pay their fair share-people

over $200,000, I'd ask to pay higher income taxes, people over a

million dollars, I'd ask to pay a millionaire's surtax; they'd still be

paying less than they were in 1980, but they'd be paying their fair

share. In the eighties, we raised taxes on the middle class while their

incomes went down and we ought to reverse that; we ought to at

least ask the wealthy to pay their fair share so we can invest in

American education.

Q:  Governor Clinton, a short while ago you mentioned, or you

advocated, a strong support for police enforcement, I also advocate

that but I have to admit a while back my faith in police enforcement

and the legal system was somewhat shaken with the Rodney King

verdict. What would you do to insure that everyone in society feels

that they can receive fairness and justice?

BC:  Good for you. First, I respect you for saying that because it is

not about race is it? I mean everybody said it was about race, but it

shouldn't have been. I think, first the federal authorities should look

into that case and see if there is anything they can do to try to bring

justice. Secondly, people should be prosecuted if they break the law

no matter whether in a uniform or out and no matter what the color

of their skin. The law ought to be the law and there ought not to be

in bias in it. Thirdly, we ought to really train our law enforcement

officials to work with the people in the communities so that they feel

like they are friends again and they feel a different commonality. It is

obvious that those police saw that man as an animal and not a

person and it was wrong. We need to work harder to make sure

people that understand each other as human beings. You'd be

amazed at how many black americans tell me that they walk into a

department store, people who work 50 or 60 hours a week, and

somebody's always looking at them to see if they are going to steal

something. We need to get beyond these stereotypes. Remember,

most people in Los Angeles, didn't loot, didn't rob, didn't burn and

they played by the rules, that's what we ought to sensitize people to.

Moderator: Governor, we only have about a minute left so very

quick question, very quick answer.

Q:  Governor, you've been on the record as opposing the recently

and shamefully, I think, defeated balance budget amendment. If

president, would you submit a balanced budget and if so how would

you accomplish that?

BC:  If I were president, I would submit a balanced budget plan

over a five year period. I don't think you can go from $400 billion

to zero in a year. In this recession you'd have to raise taxes and cut

benefits, you'd make the economy worse. The reason I opposed the

balance budget amendment is that I thought it was a gimmick and a

put off so nobody would really have to make any decisions for six

years and because it did not make a distinction between investment

and consumption. That is, most of you have borrowed money for

homes, for cars, for businesses, right? If the government borrows

money to put us to work, and we'll get it back, that's ok, but we're

eating our seed corn as we say in the farming country. We're

borrowing money to go to dinner at night, that's what's wrong.

And I would support an amendment that would control that and I

will present a five year balanced budget plan if I am elected.

Moderator: Thank you Governor Clinton. Although that was the

last question of the night, people in the studio audience or in the

viewing audience who would like to ask Governor Clinton a question

or who would like more information here is a toll free number you

can call: 1-800-551-5600, toll free call for questions or information.

Governor, about one minute left for a couple of closing thoughts

from you.

BC: Let me thank all of you who watched on television tonight and

all those people who have come to share their thoughts and I am

sure they were your thoughts. I want you to know how much I

enjoyed the program, how grateful I am, how much I hope we can

do more of this. If you saw the 800 number and you have a

question, call it in, and we'll get you an answer. The people here

tonight are like most Americans-they've worked hard, they've played

by the rules and they have not been rewarded. I know that if I

hadn't been a producto f the american dream I'd never been able to

be born in a small town, to work my way through college, and wind

up running for president. Those are the opportunities I want for all

americans. We can bring America back if we will invest in our people

again.  Thank you very much.

End of Transcript