Organization: University of Illinois at Chicago
Date: Thursday, 8 Oct 1992 20:04:37 CDT
From: <U56503@uicvm.uic.edu>
Newsgroups: alt.politics.clinton
Subject: ==> Clinton Iowa Speech

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Information in the public interest which does not imply that it
is the opinion of UIC.  Contact 75300.3115@compuserve.com for
further information.
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                     REMARKS BY BILL CLINTON
 WARREN COUNTY, IOWA                         SEPTEMBER 27, 1992


 Bill Clinton and Al Gore offer a plan to change this country, a plan
 to put people first.  We can do better.

 There's a lot to be said for rural values and the things we do in
 rural America.  We know that farmers and ranchers and small business
 people in little communities have done a lot to build this country,
 to feed America and the world.

 Unlike Mr. Bush, we want your sacrifices, your values and your
 commitments to be acknowledged by your government not just at
 election time but every day.  The president, you know, has discovered
 rural America now just in the last few weeks.  He didn't understand
 how we needed to sell pork to Russia but he was sure glad to throw a
 little pork around right here before the election.

 In my administration farm families will be able to make a profit
 again selling their abundance.

 For all of his last-minute moves, Mr. Bush can't deny what we all
 know:  most Americans on the farm and in the factory and in
 businesses are working harder today for less money than they were
 making 10 years ago.  That is a fact that he cannot deny.

 I entered the race for president because I wanted to see our country
 moving again.  I think it's time for a change away from trickle-down
 economics, not the change Bush claims we will make.  We're not the
 tax-and-spend crowd.  It's time for a new direction, to invest in our
 country again, in our jobs, in our incomes, in our farms and in our
 futures.  It's time to educate and train our people and to do that
 instead of just talking about it.

 It's time to face the deficit by cutting inessential spending,
 reducing defense where we can and asking the wealthiest Americans to
 pay their fair share because their taxes have gone down while the
 middle class people's taxes have gone up.

 It's time to say that we want the promise of America to be felt
 everywhere in America, in the rural areas and the inner cities too.
 People willing to work hard and play by the rules ought to have a
 chance to find their just reward.

 ARKANSAS, A RURAL STATE

 My own state, like most, was nearly devastated during the Reagan-Bush
 years of trickle-down.  It started on the farms and it spread to
 small towns and then to our cities.  Our farmers and bankers and
 small business people had to make some tough decisions.  I tried to
 respond to the problems people were having when their incomes were
 dropping like a rock and there was no national response.  We decided
 to do what we could together.

 We went to work to change our farm foreclosure laws, to increase farm
 loans,  and to start a new program for first-time farmers.  We are
 trying to restart small businesses and little factories in rural
 areas. We put investments into rural transportation, water and sewer
 systems.  We invested in community development and recreational
 opportunities, even in our tiny towns.  We are committed to bringing
 health care services back to people in rural areas, including through
 schools and public health networks.

 Like most rural Americans, our folks were tough and smart. They
 didn't ask for a handout, but they did want a hand up.  And I did my
 best to give it to them in Arkansas.

 Farm income in Arkansas rebounded more than the national average and
 jobs are up in rural areas.  Mr. Bush won't tell you this when he
 flies around dumping on my record.  Arkansas ranked first in the
 country last year in job growth.  We've maintained the second lowest
 tax burden in the country and we've started to move forward again.
 It wasn't a miracle.  It was  progress through hard work and
 partnerships, through a caring heart and a clear head on the part of
 a lot of people.

 Mr. Bush will not change with the times, but I will.  I want to put
 government back on the side of ordinary people, whether they work on
 farms or ranches or in businesses or factories.  Together we can
 build something to take pride in.

 FARM INCOME

 We should start with a commitment to rural America, where people have
 proved year in and year out that they will work for everything they
 get.  We can do better than falling commodity prices.  We can do
 better than declining farm incomes and better than a farm bill that
 has been mismanaged by people who never wanted to see it work.

 I believe we can make the 1990-1994 farm bill work if we have someone
 who cares enough to manage it properly and understands what its
 provisions were supposed to do.  It is supposed to promote decent
 management and reasonable incomes and a vigorous opportunity to
 export, but you're not going to get it out of the Bush
 Administration.  They didn't want this four year bill.

 We can cut the mountain of red tape and regulation and paper work and
 debt that is at the heart of the farm policies of the Bush
 Administration.  Give me a chance and I will.

 EXPORTS

 Mr. Bush drones on and on about how he believes in free markets and
 exports.  But look at his record on agricultural issues.  He promised
 to expand farm exports, but when opportunities came, he delayed.
 Farm exports are at the same level they were 12 years ago.  Our grain
 exports fell this year.

 No amount of pork barrel the President spreads around in the last 50
 days of this election can remove his responsibility to challenge
 other's trade barriers.  We have to say we'll buy more from you, but
 give us a fair shot, give us a fair break.  We're working hard and we
 expect to be treated in a way that really represents fair trade as
 well as free trade.

 We had a chance to sell 30,000 metric tons of pork to Russia, but
 George Bush sat on the deal for eight months waiting to turn it into
 politics.

 We had a chance to sell massive amounts of grain to Russia, but he
 would have had to extend credits.  That's why they're there.  He sat
 on it.  Finally, other countries got the sale and our farmers got the
 shaft.  I think we can do better, and I will.

 Trade barriers cost our oilseed producers $2 billion a year.  Now,
 there's nothing wrong with the law.  The law gives George Bush the
 weapons he needs to level the playing field, but he always puts them
 in mothballs.

 Look at the export enhancement program.  The President went to South
 Dakota to tell the wheat farmers that in all of his majesty, he's
 going to let them take advantage of the export enhancement program.

 Mr. Bush didn't use the program when it was best for the markets and
 best for the farmers.  He held it back and let the farmers suffer and
 let the markets go until it was best for him, to keep his job right
 here before the election.

 I won't give you election year farm politics.  I'll give you a farm
 policy that will be there year in and year out, day in and day out.
 One that is best for you, not what's best for me.

 You know Clayton Yeuter from the Bush campaign, who used to be the
 Secretary of Agriculture and was head of the Republican Committee.
 In a memo to wheat farmers, he said, I just can't believe all those
 farmers aren't grateful for all that money we gave them.

 Farmers are smart.  They understand markets and production cycles,
 and they know when you're opening the door for them as opposed to
 opening the door for you.  That deal in South Dakota was the
 President using a program, a program he earlier recommended
 eliminating, to open the door for his own reelection, not for the
 welfare of the farmers of this country.

 ADDING VALUE AT HOME

 There is no policy in this country to add to the value of farm
 products, and we have to do better.  We have to add to the value of
 our farm products and sell value-added farm products around the
 world, and use more here at home.

 George Bush has made the wrong choices on ethanol.  Instead of
 standing for energy security and higher corn prices and more jobs,
 he backed big oil companies and oil imports.  Once again George
 Bush's management of an issue divides, rather than unites.  He has
 damaged the traditional alliance between farm groups and other
 environmental groups.  Mr. Bush has planted the seeds of lawsuits and
 delays in a naked attempt to reap votes.

 We can find a way to deal with the environmental objections which
 have been raised to ethanol usage.  After all, there are states which
 are already consuming significant amounts of ethanol in their fuel.
 And if you'll give me a chance to serve, I'll bring the EPA and the
 Agriculture Department and all the people together.  We will do the
 research we need to hammer out the difficulties.  We'll resolve it
 and we'll use ethanol as a part of our nation's energy security
 future.

 We'll do the same with biotechnology.  Look at the things we could do
 with farm products: biodegradable plastics, soybean-based inks,
 industrial oils, lubricants, bio-fuels.  We can drive up farm incomes
 and profits for decades, and create businesses that will stay in
 smaller communities.  This can happen if we have a little vision and
 we have the kind of the research and development and technology
 dissemination we need.

 That's what a national government should to be doing. That's what our
 competitors are doing.  Give Bill Clinton and Al Gore a chance, and
 we'll do it too.

 CONSERVING RESOURCES

 We can promote the environment and promote the economy if we know
 what we're doing.  The 56 year old farmer-government partnership to
 protect natural resources is a model for grassroots citizen
 participation.  Farmers know their livelyhood depends on the soil,
 water and air.

 Farmers and I reject the Bush Administration's attempts to force a
 false choice between environmental protection and economic growth.  I
 recognize the fundamental importance of private property rights.  I
 support land use which helps our economy thrive, protects our natural
 resources and balances the need to preserve with legitimate economic
 needs.  Farmers should be able to farm prior converted wetlands.

 In my administration, farmers will be included in the national debate
 on environmental policy, because farmers pay the taxes and the bank
 notes.  I will make certain that environmental policy is based on
 sound scientific data.  In my administration, the cost of
 environmental protection will not be carried by America's farmers and
 ranchers alone.

 Health and education have long been my priorities.  I know they are
 constant concerns of rural Americans.

 HEALTH

 We must join the ranks of every other advanced country to control
 health care costs and provide basic health care to all of our
 people.  Until we do, we will never control of our government
 deficit. Nor can we restore our manufacturing sector, bring stability
 to our small business sector or security to our farmers.

 My plan reserves your right to pick your doctor, to use your hospital
 and preserves the private medical system.  But, it controls health
 care costs for all Americans, not just those who get Medicare and
 Medicaid.  My plan has a basic package of health care for everyone
 including people who don't have insurance.

 My health plan will save hundreds of billions of dollars for the
 public and the private sector by the end of the decade.  We're now
 wasting tens of billion of dollars on insurance and administration
 and government regulation.  Bringing health care costs in line with
 inflation will save more money for new jobs and new investment than
 anything you could do to the tax code.

 Under our plan farmers and small business people will have access to
 buy into big pools of health insurance so they have the same cost
 opportunities as people who work for big companies.  Also, we can
 give our elderly people the chance to have a long-term care plan that
 doesn't require them to spend themselves into poverty and to go into
 a nursing home.

 Our plan calls for expansion of existing rural health centers and
 construction of new facilities to serve rural residents.  I support
 medical school scholarships in return for service in critical
 shortage communities and emphasize primary care physician training.

 EDUCATION

 No president can promise you economic opportunity if you lack
 knowledge or skills.  It is time we had an education president who is
 worthy of that title.

 I offer the American people a plan for lifetime learning.  This means
 teaching everyone with a job to read in the next five years and
 giving every adult a chance to get a high school education.  For
 every young person who doesn't go to a four-year college, we should
 offer them two years of further apprenticeship training so they can
 get good jobs, not dead-end jobs.

 Think of this.  I propose a national trust fund from which any person
 can borrow the money to finance a college education.  They would pay
 it back as a small percentage of their income at tax time, so
 borrower can't beat the bill.  Even better, they could pay by working
 for a couple of years before or after they go to college at work we
 need done like education, health, housing, etc.  We could solve the
 problems of America and educate a whole generation of Americans --
 and I say it's time we did it.

 Read Harry Truman's words.  "You have another chance.  I'm not asking
 you to vote for me; I'm asking you to vote for yourselves, to
 exercise your God-given right to control this country."

 It's our country, folks; take it back.  We're better than this, Bill
 Clinton and Al Gore can do better than this.
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