puter and the microchip, and deepened the well-spring of justice by making a revolution in civil rights for African-Americans and all minorities and extending the circle of citizenship, opportunity, and dignity to women.

Now, for the third time, a new century is upon us and another time to choose. We began the 19th century with a choice: to spread our Nation from coast to coast. We began the 20th century with a choice: to harness the industrial revolution to our values of free enterprise, conservation, and human decency. Those choices made all the difference. At the dawn of the 21st century, a free people must now choose to shape the forces of the information age and the global society, to unleash the limitless potential of all our people, and yes, to form a more perfect Union.

When last we gathered, our march to this new future seemed less certain than it does today. We vowed then to set a clear course to renew our Nation. In these 4 years, we have been touched by tragedy, exhilarated by challenge, strengthened by achievement. America stands alone as the world's indispensable nation. Once again, our economy is the strongest on Earth. Once again, we are building stronger families, thriving communities, better educational opportunities, a cleaner environment. Problems that once seemed destined to deepen, now bend to our efforts. Our streets are safer, and record numbers of our fellow citizens have moved from welfare to work.

And once again, we have resolved for our time a great debate over the role of Government. Today we can declare: Government is not the problem, and Government is not the solution. We-the American people—we are the solution. Our Founders understood that well and gave us a democracy strong enough to endure for centuries, flexible enough to face our common challenges and advance our common dreams in each new day.

As times change, so Government must change. We need a new Government for a new century, humble enough not to try to solve all our problems for us but strong enough to give us the tools to solve our problems for ourselves, a government that is smaller, lives within its means, and does more with less. Yet where it can stand up

for our values and interests around the world, and where it can give Americans the power to make a real difference in their everyday lives, Government should do more, not less. The preeminent mission of our new Government is to give all Americans an opportunity, not a guarantee but a real opportunity, to build better lives.

Beyond that, my fellow citizens, the future is up to us. Our Founders taught us that the preservation of our liberty and our Union depends upon responsible citizenship. And we need a new sense of responsibility for a new century. There is work to do, work that Government alone cannot do: teaching children to read, hiring people off welfare rolls, coming out from behind locked doors and shuttered windows to help reclaim our streets from drugs and gangs and crime, taking time out of our own lives to serve others.

Each and every one of us, in our own way, must assume personal responsibility not only for ourselves and our families but for our neighbors and our Nation. Our greatest responsibility is to embrace a new spirit of community for a new century. For any one of us to succeed, we must succeed as one America. The challenge of our past remains the challenge of our future: Will we be one Nation, one people, with one common destiny, or not? Will we all come together, or come apart?

The divide of race has been America's constant curse. And each new wave of immigrants gives new targets to old prejudices. Prejudice and contempt cloaked in the pretense of religious or political conviction are no different. These forces have nearly destroyed our Nation in the past. They plague us still. They fuel the fanaticism of terror. And they torment the lives of millions in fractured nations all around the world.

These obsessions cripple both those who hate and of course those who are hated, robbing both of what they might become. We cannot, we will not, succumb to the dark impulses that lurk in the far regions of the soul everywhere. We shall overcome them. And we shall replace them with the generous spirit of a people who feel at home with one another. Our rich texture of racial, religious, and political diversity will be a godsend in the 21st century. Great rewards will come

to those who can live together, learn together, work together, forge new ties that bind together.

As this new era approaches, we can already see its broad outlines. Ten years ago, the Internet was the mystical province of physicists; today, it is a commonplace encyclopedia for millions of schoolchildren. Scientists now are decoding the blueprint of human life. Cures for our most feared illnesses seem close at hand. The world is no longer divided into two hostile camps. Instead, now we are building bonds with nations that once were our adversaries. Growing connections of commerce and culture give us a chance to lift the fortunes and spirits of people the world over. And for the very first time in all of history, more people on this planet live under democracy than dictatorship.

My fellow Americans, as we look back at this remarkable century, we may ask, can we hope not just to follow but even to surpass

the achievements of the 20th century in America and to avoid the awful bloodshed

that stained its legacy? To that question, every American here and every American in our land today must answer a resounding,

"Yes!" This is the heart of our task. With a new vision of Government, a new sense of responsibility, a new spirit of community, we will sustain America's journey.

The promise we sought in a new land, we will find again in a land of new promise. In this new land, education will be every citizen's most prized possession. Our schools will have the highest standards in the world, igniting the spark of possibility in the eyes of every girl and every boy. And the doors of higher education will be open to all. The knowledge and power of the information age will be within reach not just of the few but of every classroom, every library, every child. Parents and children will have time not only to work but to read and play together. And the plans they make at their kitchen table will be those of a better home, a better job, the certain chance to go to college.

Our streets will echo again with the laughter of our children, because no one will try to shoot them or sell them drugs anymore. Everyone who can work, will work, with today's permanent under class part of tomor

row's growing middle class. New miracles of medicine at last will reach not only those who can claim care now but the children and hard-working families too long denied.

We will stand mighty for peace and freedom and maintain a strong defense against terror and destruction. Our children will sleep free from the threat of nuclear, chemical, or biological weapons. Ports and airports, farms and factories will thrive with trade and innovation and ideas. And the world's greatest democracy will lead a whole world of de

mocracies.

Our land of new promise will be a nation that meets its obligations, a nation that balances its budget but never loses the balance of its values, a nation where our grandparents

have secure retirement and health care and

their grandchildren know we have made the reforms necessary to sustain those benefits for their time, a nation that fortifies the protects the great natural bounty of our world's most productive economy even as it water, air, and majestic land. And in this land politics so that the voice of the people will of new promise, we will have reformed our always speak louder than the din of narrow interests, regaining the participation and deserving the trust of all Americans.

Fellow citizens, let us build that America, a nation ever moving forward toward realizing the full potential of all its citizens. Prosperity and power, yes, they are important, and we must maintain them. But let us never forget, the greatest progress we have made and the greatest progress we have yet to make, is in the human heart. In the end, all the world's wealth and a thousand armies are no match for the strength and decency of the human spirit.

Thirty-four years ago, the man whose life we celebrate today spoke to us down there, at the other end of this Mall, in words that moved the conscience of a nation. Like a prophet of old, he told of his dream that one day America would rise up and treat all its citizens as equals before the law and in the heart. Martin Luther King's dream was the American dream. His quest is our quest: the ceaseless striving to live out our true creed. Our history has been built on such dreams and labors. And by our dreams and labors,

we will redeem the promise of America in the 21st century.

To that effort I pledge all my strength and every power of my office. I ask the Members of Congress here to join in that pledge. The American people returned to office a President of one party and a Congress of another. Surely they did not do this to advance the politics of petty bickering and extreme partisanship they plainly deplore. No, they call on us instead to be repairers of the breach and to move on with America's mission. America demands and deserves big things from us, and nothing big ever came from being small. Let us remember the timeless wisdom of Cardinal Bernardin, when facing the end of his own life. He said, "It is wrong to waste the precious gift of time on acrimony and division."

Fellow citizens, we must not waste the precious gift of this time. For all of us are on that same journey of our lives, and our journey, too, will come to an end. But the journey of our America must go on.

And so, my fellow Americans, we must be strong, for there is much to dare. The demands of our time are great, and they are different. Let us meet them with faith and courage, with patience and a grateful, happy heart. Let us shape the hope of this day into the noblest chapter in our history. Yes, let us build our bridge, a bridge wide enough and strong enough for every American to cross over to a blessed land of new promise.

May those generations whose faces we cannot yet see, whose names we may never know, say of us here that we led our beloved land into a new century with the American dream alive for all her children, with the American promise of a more perfect Union a reality for all her people, with America's bright flame of freedom spreading throughout all the world.

From the height of this place and the summit of this century, let us go forth. May God strengthen our hands for the good work ahead, and always, always bless our America.

NOTE: The President spoke at 12:05 p.m. at the West Front of the Capitol. Prior to the address, Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist administered the oath of office.

Remarks at the Inaugural Luncheon January 20, 1997

Thank you very much. First let me thank Senator Warner and Senator Ford, Speaker Gingrich, Leader Gephardt, Senator Lott, Senator Daschle, the inaugural committee for the wonderful job they did with the morning ceremony. I thank all the participants. My good friend Jessye Norman, thank you. You were magnificent. And I thank Santita Jackson and all the choirs who sang today. They were wonderful. And I thank my friend of nearly 25 years, Miller Williams, for that wonderful poem. I will take it as an admonition and keep it close to my heart. Thank you.

Hillary and Chelsea and I have had a wonderful day. We got up early and went to a church service, and it ran a little late-Reverend Jackson was speaking. [Laughter] It wasn't his fault; we all were carried away. And it put us all in the right frame of mind for this happy moment.

I feel a great deal of gratitude for many things, but Senator, when I heard you telling that fascinating story of the fight between President Roosevelt and Harry Byrd, Sr., I felt an enormous amount of gratitude that at least so far you have not released the letter you made we write you to make sure we could hold this ceremony today. [Laughter] And I thank you for that.

We've been doing this a long time, our country has, and I just want to say to all of you that I worked for a long time on what exactly I would say today, and I believe it very much. I believe we're at a unique moment in history. I believe that the only problems we've never solved in America are the

problems of the heart, particularly relating to race. We get better at them, but we've never quite gotten over it.

I believe that it is more possible to imagine our future and shape it now than at any time in the history of the country, with the exception of our entry into the industrial age, when we also had peace and prosperity, and our entry into the 19th century, when Thomas Jefferson decided to buy Louisiana, a decision that Senator Lott and I especially appreciate-[laughter]—and a lot of others.

So this is a unique moment. And because it is, to some extent, without precedent and because it is different, we have to imagine the future before we can create it. And when you do something like that, it requires you to make alliances and get outside of barriers that normally govern your lives. So I meant very much what I said about the bipartisan nature of our common task. And tomorrow

we will start to work on it.

For today, I think we should all, as the previous speakers have said, enjoy being Americans, enjoy the parade, enjoy the balls, but most of all, enjoy the great gift of our citizenship.

Thank you, and God bless you all.

NOTE: The President spoke at 2:25 p.m. in Statuary Hall at the Capitol. In his remarks, he referred to vocalists Jessye Norman and Santita Jackson; and poet Miller Williams of Arkansas. Prior to the President's remarks, Senator John Warner, chairman, Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, introduced the President, and Sen

ator Wendell H. Ford, committee vice-chairman, presented him with an engraved crystal bowl.

Proclamation 6968-National Day of
Hope and Renewal, 1997
January 20, 1997

By the President of the United States
of America

A Proclamation

Today as we celebrate the last Presidential Inauguration of the 20th century and raise our sights with hope and humility toward the challenges of a new age, let us together ask God's guidance and blessing.

This day marks not a personal or political victory but the triumph of a free people who have freely chosen the course our country will take as we prepare for the 21st century.

During the past 4 years, we have grown together as a people and as a Nation. Touched by tragedy, strengthened by achievement, exhilarated by the challenges and opportunities ahead, we have come a long way on our journey to change America's course for the better. We have always been a people of hope—hope that we can make

tomorrow brighter than today, hope that we can fulfill our Nation's enduring promise of freedom and opportunity. And we have always known that, by the grace of God and our mutual labor, we can make our hopes reality.

Today, we live in an age of possibility— a moment of rich opportunity that brings with it a deep responsibility for the future and the generations to come. We must seize this special moment with a commitment to do right by those who will follow us in this blessed land.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., whose life and vision we honor today, recognized that the destiny of each American is bound to the destiny of all Americans; that if we are to go forward, we must go forward together. So, let us pledge today to continue our national journey together. Let us reaffirm our commitment to our shared values of family and faith, work and opportunity. And let us reGod, to build a bridge of hope and renewal solve to work together, one Nation under to a new American century.

Now, Therefore, I, William J. Clinton, President of the United States of America, by the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim January 20, 1997, a National Day of Hope and Renewal, and I call upon the citizens of this great Nation to observe this day by reflecting on their obligations to one another and to our beloved country and by facing the future with a spirit of hope and renewal.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this twentieth day of January, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-seven, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and twenty-first.

William J. Clinton

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 8:45 a.m., January 22, 1997]

NOTE: This proclamation was published in the Federal Register on January 23.

Remarks Prior to a Meeting With the
Economic Team and an Exchange
With Reporters
January 21, 1997

Budget Proposal

The President. Are we all here? Are we all awake. [Laughter] Are we all cogent? Q. How about you?

The President. Yes, I'm fine. I got a good night's sleep last night.

Yesterday was a great day of celebration for us, but it's time to get down to work. I told everyone at all the balls yesterday that I felt better at the second Inauguration than the first because the country was better but that I wanted us to see it not as a reward for the first 4 years but a mandate for the next 4. And that's what I want to be working on today.

I wanted to begin this second term by meeting first with our economic team to discuss finishing the job of balancing the budget. I said yesterday that we need a new Government for the new century ahead and that means a Government that lives within its means, that our parties must work together, and that we have to be repairers of the breach that has developed in our partisan system over the last 4 years and too often among our people.

To that end, on February 6th I will submit a balanced budget. As I said yesterday, we have to do what I will do-maintain our commitment to a balanced budget and the balance of our values. That's why we will also expand education, research and technology, protect the environment, and preserve health care for our parents and our children.

The only way we can actually balance the budget is if we seize this moment to work together. And I'm going to do my best to reach out to the Republicans. So today I want to announce that our balanced budget will contain Medicare reforms that will make the program work better and will meet my goal of securing the Medicare trust fund for 10 years. It will save $138 billion over 6 years. And it should bring us much closer to bipartisan agreement, because based on the scoring of the Congressional Budget Office last year, this means that we're meeting the Republicans halfway. I want to meet them halfway

on this and on many other issues. And I hope they'll meet me halfway.

I'm determined that if we'll do that we can resolve our remaining differences and reach agreement to balance the budget and do a lot of other good things for the American people as well. I'm looking forward to it, and hope this first gesture is one that will be treated in good faith and responded to in kind.

Reprimand of Speaker Gingrich

Q. Mr. President, what effect do you think today's House vote on Mr. Gingrich will have on your stated effort yesterday and today to repair the breach?

The President. Well, of course, it depends on how everyone reacts to it. But I believe I said what I needed to say in the Inaugural: I think the House should do its business, and then we should get back to the people's busi

ness.

Budget Negotiations

Q. Mr. President, on the $138 billion, what does that come to over 5 years, since you're going to be submitting a 5-year balanced budget proposal, not a 6-year balanced budget proposal?

The President. It's about a hundred. But the point is that the Republicans will be, too. In other words, the ratio will be about the

same.

Q. And do you expect them to simply accept that or to see that as an opening bargaining position, going forward in the negotiations to try to find some sort of common ground, given the history of the so-called Mediscare tactics that were used against them during the campaign?

The President. Well, first of all, as you know, I dispute that. I vetoed a budget that had $270 billion in Medicare cuts. Throughout the campaign and in the debates, I pointed out that the Republicans and I had moved closer together at the end, but that if we adopted a 15-percent across-the-board tax cut it would push the Medicare number back to a number I vetoed. I don't think that's Mediscare. So I just dispute that.

But the main thing is we've got to get up today and do the work of the country. There are lots of elements to this budget; Medicare