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Remarks on concluding a whistlestop tour in Michigan City, Indiana
Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, Sept 2, 1996
The President. Thank you. Thank you. Wow! Thank you.
Audience members. Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!
The President, Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, citizens of Indiana and Michigan and Illinois. Thank you all for being here.
You know, folks, last night I called your Governor, Evan Bayh, to tell him two things. The first thing I said is, "I loved your speech. Thank you for speaking for America and for what we did." But the second thing I said was, "You know, Evan, I was just in East Lansing, Michigan, and we had over 20,000 people there." And I knew if I said that we'd have 30,000 people in Michigan City today. And sure enough, we did.
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Mayor Brillson, thank you for your welcome to the city, and thank you for your leadership. The mayor told me on the way in here she'd only been mayor 8 months, but she is not only the mayor, she is the mother of six wonderful children who are down here. And I figure anybody who can raise six kids can do any job in America, including President. And I'm glad she's here.
You know, I was interested to hear the mayor say it's been 97 years since a President has been to Michigan City. All I can say is the rest of them didn't know what they were missing. I'm glad to be here. Thank you.
I thank your Congressman Tim Roemer for his leadership in the House of Representatives to prove that the Democratic Party can lead America into the future, that we can be responsible with your money, we can be strong for your economy, we can be tough on crime, but we can still have a heart for those who need the heart of America that are too often left behind and forgotten. Thank you, Tim Roemer.
I want to thank Lieutenant Governor Frank O'Bannon and his wife, Judy, for being here with me. And I want to tell you something, folks, each year the job of the Governor gets a little more important. If you watched our convention, you know there's a lot of discussion about the welfare reform bill that I signed. Let me tell you this: I want you to understand just how important this decision is for Governors and Indiana.
In the welfare reform bill, we said, "Look, we've reduced the welfare rolls by a million and a half by working with States to move people from welfare to work. We think we can go all the way. We can take 800,000 kids and mothers off welfare tomorrow if we just got people to pay the child support they owe." And so we changed the law to do that.
And we said - so we said, "Here is the new deal. We're going to have national protection for the medical care for poor people and their children. We're going to have national protection for the nutritional needs of poor people and their children. We're going to have a national program that guarantees child care so when people go to work, even if they're in lower-wage jobs, from welfare to work, they won't have to worry about their kids. They'll be able to pay for child care."
But we said, "We're going to take the money that used to be in the check itself - the Federal and the State money and give that money to the States, and then the States will have to design a program that will move people from welfare to work within 2 years. Now, when you make this decision for Governors, there will be no question more important than, who do you trust to really care about giving the people who have been trapped on welfare the same kind of life we want for all American families. We want people to succeed as parents and succeed as workers. Frank O'Bannon will do that, and I want you to give him the chance to do it.
Let me say, too, with some particular pride that I have two people who work for me in the White House who come from near here. My military aide, June Ryan, a Lieutenant Commander in the Coast Guard, whose parents live near South Bend, near here. That's not very far. I think they play football there, somebody told me. And one of my speechwriters, Carolyn Curiel's parents, Angela and Alex, live in Hammond. So I feel like I'm near home at least for them. Is anybody here from Hammond, Indiana? Yes, that's good.
Finally, let me say a special word of thanks to those who have participated to make me feel so welcome. There were 2,000 folks, I'll bet you, who met my train just across the river, so I'm going to count them in the mayor's crowd, or the Governor - they can fight over who got them here, but I was glad to see them. And on the way, to Michigan City ROTC High School Color Guard made me feel very welcome. I thank them.
I want to thank the Michigan City High School Band who's playing over here. What a wonderful job they did. Thank you. I want to thank a teacher who is behind me, named Stacy Reisdorf. She and her 8th grade class wrote me when I was coming. And I want to thank - look at all the students back there who made posters and who showed up - all the students from Michigan City. Thank you very much. I want to thank the National Guard for providing water. And if you need the water, take it. I don't want anybody passing out here. I want you to be just hot enough to be excited but not any more.
