Editorial: Clinton delivers in Las Vegas visit

Friday, March 20, 1998 | 10:24 a.m.

When a president visits a community, sometimes the hype and hoopla surrounding his appearance can overshadow the actual message he is delivering to the residents. During his visit here Wednesday -- the fifth time President Clinton's been to Las Vegas since he took office -- the president made substantive remarks about the nation's future.

As the president was taking his views directly to the people in Las Vegas, Senate Republicans in Washington were attacking his budget. In a party-line vote, the Senate Budget Committee approved a package with modest tax cuts and a promise of $147 billion in federal surpluses over the next five years. The Republican plan ignores Clinton's plan to build more classrooms, hire more teachers and let people between the ages of 55-64 buy Medicare coverage.

Clinton, in no uncertain terms, charged that the current Republican budget "shortchanges our nation's future" since it eliminates a good portion of his planned programs on education, job training and child care. "If the Republican budget says 'no' to new teachers and smaller classes, 'no' to modernizing our schools, 'no' to investing in higher education for our children, the American people should say 'no' to that budget," Clinton told an enthusiastic crowd of Southern Nevada workers and their families gathered at the Carpenters Joint Apprenticeship Training Center. "Give us a budget for the 21st century."

The president unveiled his budget during his State of the Union in January, but now is a good time to review the importance of some the programs since Senate Republicans are resisting them:

(bullet) Clinton wants to spend $12.4 billion over seven years to hire 100,000 teachers to try to reduce class sizes in the first three grades, ensuring that they are no larger than 18 students; the president also is seeking tax credits that would help build new schools.

(bullet) The president also is seeking to expand federal child-care programs. He wants to double the amount of children in low-income families who get support. He also seeks to significantly hike the federal spending on after-school programs; cut taxes for families that make less than $60,000 and who rely on child care; eliminate income taxes for low-income families with high child-care costs; and give businesses new tax credits to

The nation's economy, and that in the Las Vegas Valley, is on a roll. The president cited a number of impressive national statistics: 15 million jobs have been created in five years, unemployment is at its lowest in 24 years, the crime rate is the lowest it has been in 24 years, welfare rolls are the lowest in 27 years, and homeownership is the highest ever in our nation's history.

But now is not the time for the nation to rest on its laurels. "You don't have to be a carpenter to know that you don't fix the roof when it's raining. You fix the roof when the sun is shining. The sun is shining on America," Clinton said. "But as long as there are people who don't have jobs, as long as there are people who can't make a decent living, as long as we don't have a system which guarantees lifetime, high-quality, educational opportunities ... to all working families, the roof of America's house is not as strong as it ought to be."

Anyone perplexed by the president's high-approval ratings only had to listen Wednesday as he gave his remarks in Las Vegas. He is talking about issues the American people are concerned with and care about. It's time for Congress to seriously engage him on these issues and avoid partisan politics. To borrow a metaphor from the president, the nation's roof needs attention and the American people don't care whether it's a Republican or Democratic carpenter who gets credit, as long as it gets fixed.