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Title: V.P.'s Remarks at the Washington HAMMER Awards

Author: Executive Office of the Vice President

Date: December 7, 1994

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Vice President's Remarks

Washington HAMMER Awards

December 7

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Of all the great things I get to do for President

Clinton, this is my very favorite- giving people

awards for reinventing their piece of the federal

government.

I want to thank Cokie Roberts, from the other NPR,

for being our master of ceremonies today. And thanks

to John Koskinen, the Deputy Director of OMB, for

joining in the celebration.

And a special thanks to all the members of the

President's Management Council, who will be standing

up proudly in just a minute to bask in the glow of

your successes. Several of the PMC members have gone

out of their way in the last few months to celebrate

reinvention heroes in seventy-six cities around the

country. I think Jim King did the most-any

opportunity to make a speech, eh Jim? Richard Moose

was on the HAMMER Trail from Miami clear to

Seattle. And Walter Broadnaux made so many HAMMER

presentations that he finally had to drop out for

oral surgery. Glad to see you're back off injured

reserve, Walter.

I really appreciate all of the time the PMC has

devoted to helping celebrate the success of federal

workers. There will be plenty more for you to help

celebrate next year.

Today, one of the teams here will get the 100th

HAMMER Award. We've lost the exact count, so I'm not

sure which one of you it will be. But, you are all

authorized to say it was yours.

Before we give out the HAMMER Awards that you have

earned, let me say something about the hammering the

Democrats took last month and what it means for the

future of government reinvention. The message was

loud and clear and, I think, very simple.

Making government work better and cost less, like

you all have been doing, is exactly the right idea.

But we have to be even bolder, and we have to move

even faster.

I've been meeting with the new Republican leadership

in Congress, and just as we have forged bi-partisan

cooperation on trade, I'm confident that we will be

able to form a partnership on government

reinvention. And just like our cooperation on trade

over the past fifty years, this new partnership on

reinvention will last longer than one vote; it will

last longer than the next two years. It will be an

enduring partnership.

This new, bi-partisan partnership on government

reinvention will be a little like the veterinarian

and the taxidermist who went into business together.

They hung out a sign that read: EITHER WAY YOU GET

YOUR DOG BACK.

As we work together in the coming months and years,

some things about government we will be able to make

well again. Some things will just get stuffed.

But you just saw the video, so you know how I feel:

we can't give up on our ability to solve national

problems together through government. We can't give

in to cynicism and abandon future generations to

chaos.

I know that you aren't ready to give up on

government. You're proving it can work better and

cost less. And I know that you are just itching for

more authority to clear away red tape and

bureaucracy, so that you can get even better results

for your customers.

The team from DeWitt Army Hospital is not about to

give up on government now that their neighborhood

clinics are taking care of more people, more

conveniently, at a lower cost.

The team from HUD's Fair Housing Office is not about

to give up on government now that they have figured

out how to process grant applications much, much

cheaper and three times faster.

The DOL team that reengineered the Federal Employee

Compensation System is not about to give up on

government-not now that they've cut 50 steps out of

the process. It's so simple now that a claim can be

handled by two people instead of nine.

There are just too many team victories and too

little time for me to describe them all. But, I know

that all of you heroes of reinvention here today are

eager to prove that you can change the government

even faster, do even more, and serve America even

better. That's the way with heroes: they NEVER GIVE

UP!

Now, we have a lot of these HAMMER Awards to pass

out- 22 teams made up of more than 500 federal

workers.

This is a $6 hammer, plus a little for the frame and

ribbon. It is the emblem of the hard work of federal

employees who are making government work better and

cost less. No one is more deserving of this award

than the teams assembled here today.

Cokie, please introduce the winning teams.