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Radio Address 6/1 - Medicaid and Children
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26415732
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Radio Address 6/1 - Medicaid and Children
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Jennifer Klein's Files
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President William J. Clinton
Prepared Remarks
Radio Address to the Nation
June 1, 1996
Good morning. This week, the people of Israel gave the world a powerful example
of democracy in action -- and set an example for all those who cherish the right to choose
their leaders with their voices and their votes.
Yesterday, I called Prime-Minister-elect Netanyahu to congratulate him on his
victory. I want to tell you what I told him: the United States is more determined than ever
to stand with the people of Israel and all the peacemakers in the region to reach the goal we
share: a comprehensive settlement to the Arab-Israeli conflict and a secure peace for all the
people of the Middle East.
These past few years, we have come so far toward that goal: peace between Israel
and its Palestinian and Jordanian neighbors
Israel's growing acceptance throughout the
Middle East. But with every step toward peace, its enemies grow more desperate -- with
bullets and bombs. As Israel continues to take risks for peace, the United States will work
with Prime Minister-elect Netanyahu to minimize those risks -- and to help Israel achieve the
secure peace its people want.
I also spoke to outgoing Prime Minister Shimon Peres. I told him to take comfort in
history's judgment. Decades from now, people will look back and see in Shimon Peres one
of the great peacemakers of our time. His vision of peace is becoming a reality. Now, the
strength of the partnership between Israel and the United States can allow us to keep moving
forward -- and to make sure that the fears the enemies of peace cause us today never
overwhelm our hope for tomorrow.
Now I'd like to turn to our home front and some of our most important citizens, our
children. Some of them have joined me with their parents here in the Oval Office, and later
today, they'll join tens of thousands of people to show their support for America's young
people at the Stand for Children at the Lincoln Memorial.
This is an important time for America's children. They're growing up in a world that
is changing rapidly. They need our help more than any generation before them. My wife,
Hillary, says that children are not rugged individualists; they depend on us -- their parents
and communities -- to love them, guide them, provide for them, defend them. That's as it
should be. Their future, and ours, depends on how well we do our job.
If society sends our children the wrong signals, we should work together to change
that. That's why I have proposed strict limits on tobacco advertising. That's why we're
giving parents the V-chip and persuaded the TV networks to develop a ratings system, so
parents can control the shows children watch. That's why I support parents and communities
who want to cut crime and improve discipline by adopting school uniforms and community
curfews.
We are immunizing our children, and now we have the highest number of
immunizations ever. We enacted the Family and Medical Leave law, so parents can now
take time away from their jobs to be with a newborn or an ill child. We increased Head
Start funding. And we're making sure that teenage mothers stay in school and turn their
lives around.
All of this makes a difference. But none of it matters as much as the most basic of
all protection for young people -- their health. Without medical care, a child cannot live a
full life.
That is why I deeply oppose the Republican plan to repeal the guarantee of quality
health care for children. For three decades, Medicaid has been our national commitment that
poor children, pregnant women, people with disabilities, older Americans will never be
denied health care because they can't afford it. Today, middle class parents know that in the
awful event their child is disabled in an accident and their savings are gone, they will get
help to keep their child at home. Under the Republican plan, hundreds of thousands of
disabled children could lose help for home care.
This plan says to millions of children -- if you can't afford care, too bad. It says to
people with disabilities -- if you don't have insurance, sorry, come back tomorrow. It would
amount to child neglect for a whole generation. I vetoed it last year when the Republican
Congress shut down the government in an effort to force me to sign it. And if they send it
to me again, I will veto it again.
The Republicans are threatening to attach this proposal to welfare reform. For two
decades, I've worked to end welfare as we know it. I want to require work, to impose strict
time limits, and to crack down on child support enforcement. We can reach agreement on
sweeping, bipartisan welfare reform. But I will never accept the repeal of guaranteed health
care for poor children or disabled people or older Americans or pregnant women. And I
don't care what bill they attach it to.
I ask the Congress to put politics aside. Where our children are concerned, we
should stand together, and we should not be small. Our children are counting on us.
Thanks for listening.