Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents

Monday, February 10, 1997 Volume 33—Number 6 Pages 129–162

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Addresses to the Nation Communications to Federal Agencies State of the Union—136 Radio frequency spectrum reallocation, letter—135 Addresses and Remarks Interviews With the News Media Budget for fiscal year 1998, announcement— 155 Exchange with reporters in the Oval Office— Death of Pamela Harriman—145 157 Democratic Governors Association dinner— Letters and Messages 133 Georgia Federal workers, message—156 Augusta State University in Augusta—146 Meetings With Foreign Leaders Departure for Augusta—145 Russia, Prime Minister Chernomyrdin—157 Roundtable on education in Augusta—145 National Governors’ Association Proclamations Dinner—131 American Heart Month—130 Meeting—132 National Prayer Breakfast—152 Statements by the President Radio address—129 Death of Herb Caen—130 National economy and the fiscal year 1998 Communications to Congress budget—159 Cyprus, letter reporting—159 Estonia-U.S. fisheries agreement, message Supplementary Materials transmitting—135 Acts approved by the President—162 Lithuania-U.S. fisheries agreement, message Checklist of White House press releases—162 transmitting—135 Digest of other White House Radio frequency spectrum reallocation, letter announcements—160 reporting—135 Nominations submitted to the Senate—161

WEEKLY COMPILATION OF regulations prescribed by the Administrative Committee of the Federal Register, approved by the President (37 FR 23607; 1 CFR Part 10). PRESIDENTIAL DOCUMENTS Distribution is made only by the Superintendent of Docu- ments, Government Printing Office, Washington, DC 20402. Published every Monday by the Office of the Federal Reg- The Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents will be ister, National Archives and Records Administration, Washing- furnished by mail to domestic subscribers for $80.00 per year ton, DC 20408, the Weekly Compilation of Presidential Docu- ($137.00 for mailing first class) and to foreign subscribers for ments contains statements, messages, and other Presidential $93.75 per year, payable to the Superintendent of Documents, materials released by the White House during the preceding Government Printing Office, Washington, DC 20402. The week. charge for a single copy is $3.00 ($3.75 for foreign mailing). The Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents is pub- There are no restrictions on the republication of material lished pursuant to the authority contained in the Federal Reg- appearing in the Weekly Compilation of Presidential Docu- ister Act (49 Stat. 500, as amended; 44 U.S.C. Ch. 15), under ments.

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The President’s Radio Address Family leave is not only family-friendly, it’s employer-friendly as well. Also with me today February 1, 1997 is Stan Sorrell, president and CEO of the Good morning. As a parent, I know how Calvert Group, an investment firm in Be- thesda, Maryland, and two of his employees important it is to take responsibility for our who have also used family leave. The Calvert children when they need us most; when Group started a family and medical leave they’re sick, when they need to go to the doc- program 3 years before it became the law tor, or when there’s a parent-teacher con- of the land. Like almost 90 percent of the ference at school. Fortunately, Hillary and businesses covered by the law, they found I have never had to risk our jobs to be there that family leave is easy to administer and for our daughter. We’ve never had to make costs them little or nothing. So we know it’s the choice between being good parents and working for both families and businesses. good workers. After all, in these past 4 years, American Today I want to talk with you about what business has created over 11 million new we have done and what more we must do jobs, more than any other 4-year term in our as a people to give that same assurance to history. every American family. One of the things I Now we must make it even easier for par- wanted most to do when I became President ents to live up to their responsibilities to their was to help parents succeed both at home children and to their employers. Today I call and at work. That’s why I was so proud to upon Congress to expand the family leave make the Family and Medical Leave Act the law, to give parents an additional 24 hours very first bill I signed as President, exactly of unpaid leave each year to take a child or 4 years ago this Wednesday. Family and an elderly relative to a regular doctor’s ap- medical leave allows people in companies pointment or to attend parent-teacher con- with 50 or more employees to take up to 12 ferences at school. In so doing, we’ll make weeks of unpaid leave to care for a newborn our families stronger and our workers more or a newly adopted child or to be with a fam- productive, building the kind of country and ily member who is seriously ill without fear economy we all want for our children. of losing the job. We also must address the fact that too Today over half of all American workers many workers still do not know about the share this important benefit. People like family leave law. That’s why I’m pleased to Christy Sens, a first-grade teacher from Fair- announce that we’re launching a multimedia, fax, Virginia, who is here with me today. public education campaign to spread the Christy was among the first Americans to word about family leave to make sure em- make use of the new family leave law in 1993 ployers and employees have the facts and to when she and her husband were expecting make sure everyone knows how to make this their first child. She thought she would be law work for them. It’s simply not enough forced to choose between the 6 weeks her to help people have the tools to succeed; we school allowed her for new mothers or taking also have to make sure they know what those a whole year off without pay. Because of our tools are. new law, she was able to spend 12 full weeks The centerpiece of this campaign is a new at home recovering from her pregnancy and 800 number that any American can call to spending precious time with her new daugh- learn about family and medical leave. It’s 1– ter. Christy used the benefit again in 1995 800–959–FMLA. That’s 1–800–959–FMLA. for the birth of her second child. You can also get information through our 129

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Labor Department’s web site on the Proclamation 6971—American Heart Internet: www.dol.gov. That’s www.dol.gov. Month, 1997 By expanding family leave to cover chil- February 1, 1997 dren’s doctor visits and parent-teacher con- ferences and by helping more Americans to By the President of the United States learn about the opportunity of family leave, of America we can enable millions of more of our fellow A Proclamation citizens to meet their responsibilities both at home and at work. That’s how we must pre- More than 700,000 men and women die pare our people for a new century full of each year of heart disease, making it the lead- new promise and possibility. ing cause of death in our country. Annually, As parents, teachers, and business people, about 1.5 million Americans suffer heart at- as members of the work force and members tacks, one-third of which are fatal. Collec- of our communities, we all share a stake in tively, diseases of the heart and blood vessels the strength of our families. Our society can claim about 960,000 American lives annually. never be stronger than the children we raise These statistics only hint at the individual and or the families in which we raise them. That’s collective tragedy brought on by heart dis- why family leave is more than just a single ease and stroke and underscore the need for issue or accomplishment. It is at the heart us to do everything possible to combat car- diovascular diseases. of our approach to preparing America for the Research has brought dramatic improve- 21st century by ensuring that we can all meet ments to our knowledge of heart disease and our obligations and make the most of our how to combat it. We have learned much God-given gifts. in recent years and now know that the proc- Thanks for listening. esses leading to heart disease typically begin early in life and worsen over the years; symp- NOTE: The President spoke at 10:06 a.m. from toms often do not appear for decades. We the Oval Office at the White House. also better understand the effects of genetics, gender, and lifestyle. High blood cholesterol, high blood pressure, smoking, diabetes, and Statement on the Death of Herb obesity increase the risk of developing heart Caen disease; physical activity can reduce the risk of suffering from cardiovascular disease, in- February 1, 1997 cluding stroke. Additionally, research has brought im- Hillary and I were saddened to learn of proved diagnostic methods and treatments the passing of Herb Caen, the San Francisco for those afflicted with heart disease. Chronicle’s legendary columnist, and we ex- Noninvasive imaging devices can now show tend our condolences to his family, friends, the heart at work inside the body, giving doc- and most of all, the city he loved. Maybe tors more precise information about their pa- it’s not right to call an ‘‘institution’’ someone tient’s condition. And new tests and therapies who deflated many overstuffed institutions allow us to detect and treat a heart attack with a brisk three dots, but surely no one more effectively and minimize damage to the knew better the vibrancy and eccentricities heart muscle. of the city, his city, San Francisco, than did These striking developments in biomedical Herb Caen. If we listen carefully on those techniques and increased public awareness cool mornings when the fog has boiled and education have helped reduce the death through the Golden Gate, out beyond the rate from heart disease by nearly 60 percent clattering of cables underfoot and the low in the past 30 years, and deaths from stroke moan of the horn at Alcatraz, maybe we will by about 65 percent. still hear Herb Caen’s wonderful, witty, irre- The Federal Government has contributed pressible voice. Herb Caen . . . he will be to these advances by supporting research and missed ... a lot. public education programs of the National

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Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, part of the [Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, National Institutes of Health. The American 11:26 a.m., February 3, 1997] Heart Association also has played a crucial NOTE: This proclamation was published in the role in bringing about these remarkable ac- Federal Register on February 4. complishments through its research and edu- cation programs and the work of dedicated volunteers. Remarks at a National Governors’ Yet much remains to be done. The inci- Association Dinner dence of obesity has risen dramatically over February 2, 1997 the past 30 years, and renewed efforts are needed to make all Americans aware of how Ladies and gentlemen, Governor and Mrs. they can lower the risks of heart disease by Miller, Governor and Mrs. Voinovich, all the adopting a commonsense regimen of diet, ex- Governors and spouses and children and ercise, and, in some cases, medication. friends who are here, the leaders of the Na- More, too, must be done to help survivors tional Governors’ Association, welcome back of initial heart attacks live full lives. Within to the White House. six years of a heart attack, for instance, more As all of you know, this is a very special than a third of those afflicted develop severe dinner for Hillary and for me. I had to pinch and often disabling chest pain. One-fourth myself this afternoon when I was preparing or more of them will have another heart at- these notes—very elaborate—[laughter]— tack, and another fifth suffer heart failure. when I realized that this is the fifth time I The challenges posed by heart disease are have had the honor of hosting this dinner, becoming ever more pressing as America which I also attended 12 times as a Governor. ages and more of us live beyond age 65— Four years ago, when you came here, I the group most affected by this disease. told you that I would do my best to chart In the face of these daunting challenges, a new course for our country, to give you we Americans, acting individually and collec- a strong economy, a smaller and less obtru- tively, can fight heart disease and give our- sive Federal Government, still one that could selves and our families a healthy future. be very effective and innovative in dealing In recognition of these important needs in with the challenges before us and in forging the ongoing battle against cardiovascular dis- a new partnership with the Governors to de- ease, the Congress, by Joint Resolution ap- volve more decisionmaking to the State level. proved December 30, 1963 (77 Stat. 843; 36 Four years later, we can look back and see U.S.C. 169b), has requested that the Presi- that that strategy has worked, thanks to your dent issue an annual proclamation designat- efforts and what all of us here have been ing February as ‘‘American Heart Month.’’ able to do, working together. Now, Therefore, I, William J. Clinton, Our economy is the strongest it’s been in President of the United States of America, 30 years. Our Government is the smallest it’s do hereby proclaim February 1997, as Amer- been since President Kennedy was here. ican Heart Month. I invite the Governors of Today one of our major newspapers carried the States, the Commonwealth of Puerto a story chronicling the record decline in the Rico, officials of other areas subject to the welfare rolls over the last 4 years—21⁄4 mil- jurisdiction of the United States, and the lion people—and at last giving the Governors American people to join me in reaffirming and the States committed to welfare reform our commitment to combating cardiovascular a share of the credit—along with the rising disease and stroke. economy—for moving people from welfare In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set to work. So this is a good time. Crime rates my hand this first day of February, in the have dropped now for 5 years in a row, and year of our Lord nineteen hundred and nine- we know now what to do to keep them com- ty-seven, and of the Independence of the ing down. United States of America the two hundred The main thing I want to say tonight is and twenty-first. that we all, together, have an incredible op- William J. Clinton portunity, standing as we do on the edge of

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a new century, a new millennium, but also NOTE: The President spoke at 8:50 p.m. on the a profoundly different time in human affairs State Floor at the White House. In his remarks, and standing at this point not only as the he referred to Gov. Bob Miller of Nevada, chair- world’s only superpower but one that is free man, and Gov. George V. Voinovich of Ohio, vice of external threat and internal economic cri- chairman, National Governors’ Association; Gov- ernor Miller’s wife, Shirley; and Governor sis, which means we have an opportunity al- Voinovich’s wife, Janet. most unique in our history to think about not only what we need to do for our people today and tomorrow but what America needs Remarks at the National Governors’ 20 years from now, 50 years from now. Association Meeting That is the sort of thing that people who February 3, 1997 were here before us thought about at the end of World War II, and the decisions they Good morning. Governor Miller, Gov- made gave us 50 pretty good years as Ameri- ernor Voinovich; good morning to all the cans. Tuesday night, when I speak in the Governors who are here. It was wonderful State of the Union Address, I’m going to ask to see all of you last night, and I’m glad to the Congress to cross party lines with each welcome you back to the White House. other and with me and to think about how This is an unusual opportunity for our we can build the next 50 years for America, country and for every State. The Nation is how we can bring about true excellence and strong; we are at peace; we have extraor- complete opportunity in education, how we dinary prosperity. But we know we’re living can finish the job of welfare reform so that through a time of great change in the way everyone we are now requiring to work genu- we work, in the way we live, the way we re- inely has the chance to work, how we can late to each other, that there are significant meet the other challenges that are before us. challenges which if not faced will have de- Many of them involve the leadership, the ini- structive consequences for our Nation in the tiative, the strength, and steadiness of our years ahead. So as we stand on the edge of Nation’s Governors. this new century and this profoundly new And so I pledge to you to continue the era, we have a unique opportunity and a partnership we’ve had, to try to deepen it, common responsibility, which is to take ac- to try to enrich it, and beginning tomorrow, tion together to try to prepare this country to try to continue to listen to you and to your not just for the next 4 years but for the next concerns and to hear your advice. This has 50 years. been a good 4 years for America. I look for- In the State of the Union Address tomor- ward to the next 4. And I look forward to row night, I’m going to lay out the challenges our continued partnership. that I see not only for the President and the The National Governors’ Association has Congress but also for the States and local been a unique and immensely valuable insti- communities and private citizens. Because tution for the United States because it gives there will be a great deal in that speech about the Governors a chance, without regard to the States and the issues of education and their regional and political differences, to welfare reform and other issues of common reach common positions for the people of concern, I want to invite any of you who can their States and to bring those positions not stay, to stay tomorrow night and to come into only to life in their States but also to bring the Chamber of the Capitol and sit as a them to Washington, where it’s too often easy group, as many as would like to stay, and to forget about the real lives of real people be there at the State of the Union Address. out in the country. I know you will be doing I know that many of you have concerns that here, and I hope together we will be about welfare reform or Medicaid spending advancing those lives for 4 more years. or education, the environment, transpor- I now ask you to join me in a toast to our tation. I’m looking forward to addressing partnership, to the Governors, and especially those concerns, beginning today at this meet- to Governor and Mrs. Miller and to Governor ing but also every day for the next 4 years. and Mrs. Voinovich. I want every one of you to feel that you can

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always call this White House and that you tion. We have—crime has come down in will have someone, even if we don’t always every year. The welfare rolls have dropped agree, who understands your concerns and by 21⁄4 million, the largest amount in history. will do his best to address them. And I thank Inequality among working people has started you. back down again, after a 20-year increase, Mr. Chairman. with particular drops for single parents work- ing to support their children, the elderly, and NOTE: The President spoke at 9:50 a.m. in the African-Americans. East Room at the White House. In the last 4 years, thanks to the work that we have done together, we have, first of all, Remarks at the Democratic reversed our country’s addiction to supply- Governors Association Dinner side economics and substituted for it an eco- February 3, 1997 nomics based on investing in people, expand- ing trade, reducing the deficit, and ultimately Thank you. Thank you, Governor Dean, balancing the budget in the right way. for that wonderful introduction. And I thank We have restored the family and commu- the orchestra for playing me in. [Laughter] nity as the centerpiece of our social agenda Thank you, Governor Rossello, for your lead- with initiatives like the family and medical ership here in the DGA. And to our DNC leave law, which we celebrated the fourth an- General Chair, Governor Roy Romer, thank niversary of just this week and which I hope you for agreeing to do that. I hope it made to expand in this coming session of the Con- the Democratic Governors feel better; it sure gress, and I hope you will help me do that. made me feel better when you did it. Our When it comes to crime and welfare, we Democratic National Chairman, Steve replaced rhetoric with action, and that’s why Grossman, thank you for being here tonight. results have flowed. We have redefined the And thank you, Santita, for singing again. You role of the Government. No longer do the got me in a good humor before I had to come American people believe, and no longer are out and speak. they being told, that Government is the You all know that the Vice President is enemy. They know that the role of Govern- coming over later. I’m just the warmup act. ment is to be our partner to give us the tools [Laughter] But that’s probably as it should to solve our problems and to create the con- be. At least that’s what he asked me to say ditions in which Americans can flourish. right before I left the White House. [Laugh- And finally, we have reaffirmed the impor- ter] I thank you for understanding why I can’t tance of our national community. No longer be here all evening. As you know, the State is it commonplace in our national politics to of the Union is tomorrow night, and I hope see victory come from dividing Americans by that the Governors who are here will be stay- race, by gender, or in any other way. And ing for it. We have a place for all of you. I’m proud of that, perhaps proudest of all It’s a very different city than it was a year that we have rebuked the people who want ago. A year ago, we had a cold wave and to divide us as a nation. That’s what the a cold wave in politics so bad that it shut Democratic Party is all about. the Government down. And the American In the next 4 years—well, you have to wait people had something to say about it in the until tomorrow night to hear about that. months ahead after that and then definitively [Laughter] But let me say that in the next in November. And it’s a lot warmer outside 4 years, I will still depend upon the Demo- this year than it was last year. And I like it. cratic Governors for your ideas; two of them All of you know that I have been deeply you know I have embraced with particular indebted to my own experience as a Gov- vigor: the HOPE scholarship, pioneered by ernor and to the Democratic Governors for Governor Zell Miller in Georgia, and the idea many of the ideas that we have brought to of providing national certification to the most bear over the last 4 years. Our country has excellent teachers in America, pioneered by produced 11.2 million jobs for the first time Governor Jim Hunt in North Carolina. I in history in a 4-year Presidential administra- thank you both for that.

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What I want to leave you with is that I Democracies normally don’t do very well think in the last 4 years we’ve basically un- in times of peace and prosperity. They sort locked the potential of our country by fixing of get complacent and kind of go to the golf a lot of things that were wrong and by rede- course twice a week. [Laughter] Sounds like fining what the stakes are. In the next 4 years, a good idea to me. [Laughter] Unfortunately, we have to take initiatives to shape America we don’t have that luxury now, not if we’re for the next 50 years. And what I want you going to do what we ought to do. to think about when you go back home is So that’s what this is about tonight. In the this: It’s not very often that a country has next 2 years, we’ll be seeing 38 Governors’ a period of such enormous peace and pros- races come up for a vote of the people, af- perity and yet is still confronted by such great fecting 80 percent of the people who live in challenges. And what has brought us to this moment in history is the incredible rate and this country. And the decisions that will be scope of change of the time in which we live. made by those Governors will chart the We’re not just moving into a new century course for the next century. This is a very, and a new millennium; we’re moving into a very important time to be making these judg- whole new way of doing things. It’s changing ments. And I can tell you, having now been the way family life works. It’s changing the President for 4 years and having been a Gov- way work life works. It’s changing the way ernor for 12 years—I could tell you a lot of people relate to each other in society and things about that—[laughter]—but the point across national borders. It poses particular I want to make is there are a lot of things challenges for our educators but also chal- that a President can do and a lot of things lenges for all the rest of us. a President can’t. There are some things that We’re also learning a lot of things that im- can and will only be done by the Governors pose new responsibilities on us. I know that of this country, working with people through- the Democratic Governors heard from my out the States. It matters a great deal. You friend Rob Reiner, who is sitting out here know that. That’s why you’re here tonight. at this table, who is passionately concerned But as you think about this tonight and about what happens to children from the tomorrow night at the State of the Union and time they’re born until they’re 2 or 3 years the work that I’m going to help you do in old. We now know things about those years the next 2 years to try to make sure we elect that we never knew before. And that imposes more people from our party to the state- upon us responsibilities we never had before houses to move this country forward, just re- because we now know we can prevent prob- lems from occurring we didn’t think we member, usually democracies get lazy in could, and we can unleash potential we didn’t times of peace and prosperity. The changes know was there and that requires us to be- and the challenges of this time do not permit have in a different way. us to do this. If we do it, we will regret it So tomorrow night, I’m going to try to talk for a very long time. If we don’t, you ain’t about the next steps I think we have to take. seen nothing yet. But I want you to think in big terms about Thank you, and God bless you. this. Every time a Governor is elected who has real vision and real understanding and NOTE: The President spoke at 6:40 p.m. in the a real willingness to take prudent risks to tap Regency Ballroom at the Omni Shoreham Hotel. the potential of this moment, we have ad- In his remarks, he referred to Gov. Howard Dean vanced the cause of freedom and democracy, of Vermont, chair, Democratic Governors Asso- and we’ve given more people a chance to ciation; Gov. Pedro Rossello of Puerto Rico; Gov. light up their own lives. That’s really what Roy Romer of Colorado; singer Santita Jackson; all this is about. and movie director Rob Reiner.

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Letter to Congressional Leaders and man Reed E. Hundt of the Federal Communica- the Chairman of the Federal tions Commission. Communications Commission Reporting on Radio Frequency Message to the Congress Spectrum Reallocation Transmitting the Estonia-United February 4, 1997 States Fisheries Agreement Dear lllll: February 4, 1997 Title VI of the Omnibus Budget Reconcili- To the Congress of the United States: ation Act of 1993 directs the Secretary of In accordance with the Magnuson Fishery Commerce to prepare a report identifying at Conservation and Management Act of 1976 least 200 megahertz (MHz) of the radio fre- (16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.), I transmit herewith quency spectrum for reallocation, over a pe- an Agreement between the Government of riod of 15 years, from Federal Government the United States of America and the Gov- use to nonfederal Government use. This title ernment of the Republic of Estonia Extend- also directs the President to notify the Fed- ing the Agreement of June 1, 1992, Concern- eral Communications Commission and both ing Fisheries Off the Coasts of the United Houses of Congress as actions are taken States, with annex, as extended (‘‘the 1992 under this title. Including the reallocation of Agreement’’). The Agreement, which was ef- the 25 MHz reported in this notice, actions fected by an exchange of notes at Tallinn on have now been completed to reallocate 120 June 3 and 28, 1996, extends the 1992 Agree- MHz of spectrum for use by nonfederal Gov- ment to June 30, 1998. ernment entities. In light of the importance of our fisheries Under delegated authority, the National relationship with the Republic of Estonia, I Telecommunications and Information Ad- urge that the Congress give favorable consid- ministration (NTIA) is responsible for man- eration to this Agreement at an early date. aging the Federal Government’s use of the radio frequency spectrum. On March 22, William J. Clinton 1995, former Secretary of Commerce Ronald The White House, Brown submitted to you NTIA’s Spectrum February 4, 1997. Reallocation Final Report; this report pre- sented a schedule for reallocating specified frequency bands over the period extending Message to the Congress to January 1999. The NTIA report identified Transmitting the Lithuania-United the frequency band 4635–4660 MHz for re- allocation in January 1997. States Fisheries Agreement I am pleased to inform you that the Fed- February 4, 1997 eral Government frequency assignments in To the Congress of the United States: the 4635–4660 MHz frequency band have In accordance with the Magnuson Fishery been withdrawn by NTIA in compliance with Conservation and Management Act of 1976 section 114 of the Act. In addition, appro- (16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.), I transmit herewith priate modifications have been made to the an Agreement between the Government of United States Table of Frequency Alloca- the United States of America and the Gov- tions for Federal Government stations to re- ernment of the Republic of Lithuania Ex- flect the completed spectrum reallocation ac- tending the Agreement of November 12, tions. 1992, Concerning Fisheries Off the Coasts Sincerely, of the United States, with annex, as extended William J. Clinton (‘‘the 1992 Agreement’’). The Agreement, which was effected by an exchange of notes NOTE: Identical letters were sent to Newt Ging- at Vilnius on June 5 and October 15, 1996, rich, Speaker of the House of Representatives; Al- extends the 1992 Agreement to December bert Gore, Jr., President of the Senate; and Chair- 31, 1998.

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In light of the importance of our fisheries communities and a safer environment; action relationship with the Republic of Lithuania, to keep America the world’s strongest force I urge that the Congress give favorable con- for peace, freedom, and prosperity; and sideration to this Agreement at an early date. above all, action to build a more perfect William J. Clinton Union here at home. The spirit we bring to our work will make The White House, all the difference. We must be committed February 4, 1997. to the pursuit of opportunity for all Ameri- cans, responsibility from all Americans, in a Address Before a Joint Session of the community of all Americans. And we must Congress on the State of the Union be committed to a new kind of Government, February 4, 1997 not to solve all our problems for us but to give our people, all our people, the tools they Mr. Speaker, Mr. Vice President, Mem- need to make the most of their own lives. bers of the 105th Congress, distinguished And we must work together. The people guests, and my fellow Americans. I think I of this Nation elected us all. They want us should start by saying, thanks for inviting me to be partners, not partisans. They put us all back. I come before you tonight with a chal- right here in the same boat, they gave us all lenge as great as any in our peacetime history oars, and they told us to row. Now, here is and a plan of action to meet that challenge, the direction I believe we should take. to prepare our people for the bold new world First, we must move quickly to complete of the 21st century. the unfinished business of our country, to We have much to be thankful for. With balance the budget, renew our democracy, 4 years of growth, we have won back the and finish the job of welfare reform. basic strength of our economy. With crime Over the last 4 years, we have brought new and welfare rolls declining, we are winning economic growth by investing in our people, back our optimism, the enduring faith that expanding our exports, cutting our deficits, we can master any difficulty. With the cold creating over 11 million new jobs, a 4-year war receding and global commerce at record record. Now we must keep our economy the levels, we are helping to win an unrivaled strongest in the world. We here tonight have peace and prosperity all across the world. an historic opportunity. Let this Congress be My fellow Americans, the state of our the Congress that finally balances the budget. Union is strong. But now we must rise to [Applause] Thank you. the decisive moment, to make a nation and In 2 days, I will propose a detailed plan a world better than any we have ever known. to balance the budget by 2002. This plan will The new promise of the global economy, the balance the budget and invest in our people information age, unimagined new work, life- while protecting Medicare, Medicaid, edu- enhancing technology, all these are ours to cation, and the environment. It will balance seize. That is our honor and our challenge. the budget and build on the Vice President’s We must be shapers of events, not observers. efforts to make our Government work better, For if we do not act, the moment will pass, even as it costs less. It will balance the budget and we will lose the best possibilities of our and provide middle class tax relief to pay for future. education and health care, to help to raise We face no imminent threat, but we do a child, to buy and sell a home. have an enemy. The enemy of our time is Balancing the budget requires only your inaction. So tonight I issue a call to action: vote and my signature. It does not require action by this Congress, action by our States, us to rewrite our Constitution. I believe it by our people, to prepare America for the is both unnecessary and unwise to adopt a 21st century; action to keep our economy and balanced budget amendment that could crip- our democracy strong and working for all our ple our country in time of economic crisis people; action to strengthen education and and force unwanted results, such as judges harness the forces of technology and science; halting Social Security checks or increasing action to build stronger families and stronger taxes. Let us at least agree, we should not

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pass any measure—no measure should be sponsibility of moving from welfare to work. passed that threatens Social Security. What- Now each and every one of us has to fulfill ever your view on that, we all must concede: our responsibility, indeed, our moral obliga- We don’t need a constitutional amendment; tion, to make sure that people who now must we need action. work, can work. Whatever our differences, we should bal- Now we must act to meet a new goal: 2 ance the budget now. And then, for the long- million more people off the welfare rolls by term health of our society, we must agree the year 2000. Here is my plan: Tax credits to a bipartisan process to preserve Social Se- and other incentives for businesses that hire curity and reform Medicare for the long run, people off welfare; incentives for job place- so that these fundamental programs will be ment firms and States to create more jobs as strong for our children as they are for our for welfare recipients; training, transpor- parents. tation, and child care to help people go to And let me say something that’s not in my work. script tonight. I know this is not going to be Now I challenge every State: Turn those easy. But I really believe one of the reasons welfare checks into private sector paychecks. the American people gave me a second term I challenge every religious congregation, was to take the tough decisions in the next every community nonprofit, every business 4 years that will carry our country through to hire someone off welfare. And I’d like to the next 50 years. I know it is easier for me say especially to every employer in our coun- than for you to say or do. But another reason try who ever criticized the old welfare sys- I was elected is to support all of you, without tem, you can’t blame that old system any- regard to party, to give you what is necessary more. We have torn it down. Now do your to join in these decisions. We owe it to our part. Give someone on welfare the chance country and to our future. to go to work. Our second piece of unfinished business Tonight I am pleased to announce that five requires us to commit ourselves tonight, be- major corporations, Sprint, Monsanto, UPS, fore the eyes of America, to finally enacting Burger King, and United Airlines, will be the bipartisan campaign finance reform. Now, first to join in a new national effort to marshal Senators McCain and Feingold, Representa- America’s businesses, large and small, to cre- tives Shays and Meehan, have reached across ate jobs so that people can move from wel- party lines here to craft tough and fair re- fare to work. form. Their proposal would curb spending, We passed welfare reform. All of you know reduce the role of special interests, create I believe we were right to do it. But no one a level playing field between challengers and can walk out of this Chamber with a clear incumbents, and ban contributions from conscience unless you are prepared to finish noncitizens, all corporate sources, and the the job. other large soft money contributions that And we must join together to do some- both parties receive. thing else, too, something both Republican You know and I know that this can be de- and Democratic Governors have asked us to layed. And you know and I know the delay do, to restore basic health and disability ben- will mean the death of reform. So let’s set efits when misfortune strikes immigrants our own deadline. Let’s work together to who came to this country legally, who work write bipartisan campaign finance reform hard, pay taxes, and obey the law. To do oth- into law and pass McCain-Feingold by the erwise is simply unworthy of a great nation day we celebrate the birth of our democracy, of immigrants. July the Fourth. Now, looking ahead, the greatest step of There is a third piece of unfinished busi- all, the high threshold of the future we must ness. Over the last 4 years, we moved a now cross, and my number one priority for record 21⁄4 million people off the welfare the next 4 years is to ensure that all Ameri- rolls. Then last year, Congress enacted land- cans have the best education in the world. mark welfare reform legislation, demanding Let’s work together to meet these three that all able-bodied recipients assume the re- goals: Every 8-year-old must be able to read;

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every 12-year-old must be able to log on to lenge our students, they will be the best in the Internet; every 18-year-old must be able the world. Let’s give them a hand. Stand up, to go to college; and every adult American please. [Applause] must be able to keep on learning for a life- Second, to have the best schools, we must time. have the best teachers. Most of us in this My balanced budget makes an unprece- Chamber would not be here tonight without dented commitment to these goals, $51 bil- the help of those teachers. I know that I lion next year. But far more than money is wouldn’t be here. For years, many of our required. I have a plan, a call to action for educators, led by North Carolina’s Governor American education, based on these 10 prin- Jim Hunt and the National Board for Profes- ciples: sional Teaching Standards, have worked very First, a national crusade for education hard to establish nationally accepted creden- standards, not Federal Government stand- tials for excellence in teaching. Just 500 of ards but national standards, representing these teachers have been certified since what all our students must know to succeed 1995. My budget will enable 100,000 more in the knowledge economy of the 21st cen- to seek national certification as master teach- tury. Every State and school must shape the ers. We should reward and recognize our curriculum to reflect these standards and best teachers. And as we reward them, we train teachers to lift students up to them. To should quickly and fairly remove those few help schools meet the standards and measure who don’t measure up, and we should chal- their progress, we will lead an effort over the lenge more of our finest young people to con- next 2 years to develop national tests of stu- sider teaching as a career. dent achievement in reading and math. To- Third, we must do more to help all our night I issue a challenge to the Nation: Every children read. Forty percent—40 percent— State should adopt high national standards, of our 8-year-olds cannot read on their own. and by 1999, every State should test every That’s why we have just launched the Amer- fourth grader in reading and every eighth ica Reads initiative, to build a citizen army grader in math to make sure these standards of one million volunteer tutors to make sure are met. every child can read independently by the Raising standards will not be easy, and end of the third grade. We will use thousands some of our children will not be able to meet of AmeriCorps volunteers to mobilize this them at first. The point is not to put our citizen army. We want at least 100,000 col- children down but to lift them up. Good tests lege students to help. And tonight I am will show us who needs help, what changes pleased that 60 college presidents have an- in teaching to make, and which schools need swered my call, pledging that thousands of to improve. They can help us end social pro- their work-study students will serve for one motions, for no child should move from year as reading tutors. This is also a challenge grade school to junior high or junior high to every teacher and every principal. You to high school until he or she is ready. must use these tutors to help students read. Last month, our Secretary of Education And it is especially a challenge to our parents. Dick Riley and I visited Northern Illinois, You must read with your children every where eighth grade students from 20 school night. districts, in a project aptly called First in the This leads to the fourth principle: Learn- World, took the Third International Math ing begins in the first days of life. Scientists and Science Study. That’s a test that reflects are now discovering how young children de- the world-class standards our children must velop emotionally and intellectually from meet for the new era. And those students their very first days and how important it is in Illinois tied for first in the world in science for parents to begin immediately talking, and came in second in math. Two of them, singing, even reading to their infants. The Kristen Tanner and Chris Getsler, are here First Lady has spent years writing about this tonight, along with their teacher Sue Winski. issue, studying it. And she and I are going They’re up there with the First Lady. And to convene a White House conference on they prove that when we aim high and chal- early learning and the brain this spring, to

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explore how parents and educators can best just as universal in America by the 21st cen- use these startling new findings. tury as a high school education is today, and We already know we should start teaching we must open the doors of college to all children before they start school. That’s why Americans. To do that, I propose America’s this balanced budget expands Head Start to HOPE scholarship, based on Georgia’s pio- one million children by 2002. And that is why neering program: 2 years of a $1,500 tax the Vice President and Mrs. Gore will host credit for college tuition, enough to pay for their annual family conference this June on the typical community college. I also propose what we can do to make sure that parents a tax deduction of up to $10,000 a year for are an active part of their children’s learning all tuition after high school, an expanded IRA all the way through school. you can withdraw from tax free for education, They’ve done a great deal to highlight the and the largest increase in Pell grant scholar- importance of family in our life, and now ships in 20 years. Now, this plan will give they’re turning their attention to getting most families the ability to pay no taxes on more parents involved in their children’s money they save for college tuition. I ask you learning all the way through school. And I to pass it and give every American who works thank you, Mr. Vice President, and I thank hard the chance to go to college. you especially, Tipper, for what you do. Ninth, in the 21st century, we must expand Fifth, every State should give parents the the frontiers of learning across a lifetime. All power to choose the right public school for our people, of whatever age, must have the their children. Their right to choose will fos- chance to learn new skills. Most Americans ter competition and innovation that can make live near a community college. The roads that public schools better. We should also make take them there can be paths to a better fu- it possible for more parents and teachers to ture. My ‘‘GI bill’’ for America’s workers will start charter schools, schools that set and transform the confusing tangle of Federal meet the highest standards and exist only as training programs into a simple skill grant long as they do. Our plan will help America to go directly into eligible workers’ hands. to create 3,000 of these charter schools by For too long, this bill has been sitting on that the next century, nearly 7 times as there are desk there without action. I ask you to pass in the country today, so that parents will have it now. Let’s give more of our workers the even more choices in sending their children ability to learn and to earn for a lifetime. to the best schools. Tenth, we must bring the power of the Sixth, character education must be taught information age into all our schools. Last in our schools. We must teach our children year, I challenged America to connect every to be good citizens. And we must continue classroom and library to the Internet by the to promote order and discipline, supporting year 2000, so that, for the first time in our communities that introduce school uniforms, history, children in the most isolated rural impose curfews, enforce truancy laws, re- towns, the most comfortable suburbs, the move disruptive students from the classroom, poorest inner-city schools, will have the same and have zero tolerance for guns and drugs access to the same universe of knowledge. in school. That is my plan, a call to action for Amer- Seventh, we cannot expect our children to ican education. Some may say that it is un- raise themselves up in schools that are lit- usual for a President to pay this kind of atten- erally falling down. With the student popu- tion to education. Some may say it is simply lation at an all-time high and record numbers because the President and his wonderful wife of school buildings falling into disrepair, this have been obsessed with this subject for has now become a serious national concern. more years than they can recall. That is not Therefore, my budget includes a new initia- what is driving these proposals. tive, $5 billion to help communities finance We must understand the significance of $20 billion in school construction over the this endeavor: One of the greatest sources next 4 years. of our strength throughout the cold war was Eighth, we must make the 13th and 14th a bipartisan foreign policy; because our fu- years of education, at least 2 years of college, ture was at stake, politics stopped at the wa-

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ter’s edge. Now I ask you and I ask all our Since I took office, funding for AIDS re- Nation’s Governors; I ask parents, teachers, search at the National Institutes of Health and citizens all across America for a new non- has increased dramatically to $1.5 billion. partisan commitment to education because With new resources, NIH will now become education is a critical national security issue the most powerful discovery engine for an for our future, and politics must stop at the AIDS vaccine, working with other scientists schoolhouse door. to finally end the threat of AIDS. Remember To prepare America for the 21st century, that every year—every year we move up the we must harness the powerful forces of discovery of an AIDS vaccine will save mil- science and technology to benefit all Ameri- lions of lives around the world. We must re- cans. This is the first State of the Union car- inforce our commitment to medical science. ried live in video over the Internet. But we’ve To prepare America for the 21st century, only begun to spread the benefits of a tech- we must build stronger families. Over the nology revolution that should become the past 4 years, the family and medical leave modern birthright of every citizen. law has helped millions of Americans to take Our effort to connect every classroom is time off to be with their families. With new just the beginning. Now we should connect pressures on people in the way they work every hospital to the Internet, so that doctors and live, I believe we must expand family can instantly share data about their patients leave so that workers can take time off for with the best specialists in the field. And I teacher conferences and a child’s medical checkup. We should pass flex-time, so work- challenge the private sector tonight to start ers can choose to be paid for overtime in by connecting every children’s hospital as income or trade it in for time off to be with soon as possible, so that a child in bed can their families. stay in touch with school, family, and friends. We must continue, step by step, to give A sick child need no longer be a child alone. more families access to affordable, quality We must build the second generation of health care. Forty million Americans still lack the Internet so that our leading universities health insurance. Ten million children still and national laboratories can communicate lack health insurance; 80 percent of them in speeds 1,000 times faster than today, to have working parents who pay taxes. That is develop new medical treatments, new wrong. My balanced budget will extend sources of energy, new ways of working to- health coverage to up to 5 million of those gether. children. Since nearly half of all children who But we cannot stop there. As the Internet lose their insurance do so because their par- becomes our new town square, a computer ents lose or change a job, my budget will in every home, a teacher of all subjects, a also ensure that people who temporarily lose connection to all cultures, this will no longer their jobs can still afford to keep their health be a dream but a necessity. And over the insurance. No child should be without a doc- next decade, that must be our goal. tor just because a parent is without a job. We must continue to explore the heavens, My Medicare plan modernizes Medicare, pressing on with the Mars probes and the increases the life of the Trust Fund to 10 international space station, both of which will years, provides support for respite care for have practical applications for our everyday the many families with loved ones afflicted living. with Alzheimer’s, and for the first time, it We must speed the remarkable advances would fully pay for annual mammograms. in medical science. The human genome Just as we ended drive-through deliveries project is now decoding the genetic mysteries of babies last year, we must now end the dan- of life. American scientists have discovered gerous and demeaning practice of forcing genes linked to breast cancer and ovarian women home from the hospital only hours cancer and medication that stops a stroke in after a mastectomy. I ask your support for progress and begins to reverse its effects and bipartisan legislation to guarantee that a treatments that dramatically lengthen the woman can stay in the hospital for 48 hours lives of people with HIV and AIDS. after a mastectomy. With us tonight is Dr.

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Kristen Zarfos, a Connecticut surgeon whose expand the network of community develop- outrage at this practice spurred a national ment banks. And together we must pledge movement and inspired this legislation. I’d tonight that we will use this empowerment like her to stand so we can thank her for approach, including private-sector tax incen- her efforts. Dr. Zarfos, thank you. [Applause] tives, to renew our Capital City, so that In the last 4 years, we have increased child Washington is a great place to work and live support collections by 50 percent. Now we and once again the proud face America should go further and do better by making shows the world. it a felony for any parent to cross a State We must protect our environment in every line in an attempt to flee from this, his or community. In the last 4 years, we cleaned her most sacred obligation. up 250 toxic waste sites, as many as in the Finally, we must also protect our children previous 12. Now we should clean up 500 by standing firm in our determination to ban more, so that our children grow up next to the advertising and marketing of cigarettes parks, not poison. I urge you to pass my pro- that endanger their lives. posal to make big polluters live by a simple To prepare America for the 21st century, rule: If you pollute our environment, you we must build stronger communities. We should pay to clean it up. should start with safe streets. Serious crime In the last 4 years, we strengthened our has dropped 5 years in a row. The key has Nation’s safe food and clean drinking water been community policing. We must finish laws; we protected some of America’s rarest, the job of putting 100,000 community police most beautiful land in Utah’s Red Rocks re- on the streets of the United States. We gion, created three new national parks in the should pass the victims’ rights amendment California desert, and began to restore the to the Constitution. And I ask you to mount Florida Everglades. Now we must be as vigi- a full-scale assault on juvenile crime, with lant with our rivers as we are with our lands. legislation that declares war on gangs, with Tonight, I announce that this year I will des- new prosecutors and tougher penalties; ex- ignate 10 American Heritage Rivers, to help tends the Brady bill so violent teen criminals communities alongside them revitalize their will not be able to buy handguns; requires waterfronts and clean up pollution in the riv- child safety locks on handguns to prevent un- ers, proving once again that we can grow the authorized use; and helps to keep our schools economy as we protect the environment. open after hours, on weekends, and in the We must also protect our global environ- summer, so our young people will have ment, working to ban the worst toxic chemi- someplace to go and something to say yes cals and to reduce the greenhouse gases that to. challenge our health even as they change our This balanced budget includes the largest climate. antidrug effort ever, to stop drugs at their Now, we all know that in all of our commu- source, punish those who push them, and nities, some of our children simply don’t have teach our young people that drugs are wrong, what they need to grow and learn in their drugs are illegal, and drugs will kill them. own homes or schools or neighborhoods. And I hope you will support it. that means the rest of us must do more, for Our growing economy has helped to revive they are our children, too. That’s why Presi- poor urban and rural neighborhoods. But we dent Bush, General Colin Powell, former must do more to empower them to create Housing Secretary Henry Cisneros will join the conditions in which all families can flour- the Vice President and me to lead the Presi- ish and to create jobs through investment by dent’s summit of service in Philadelphia in business and loans by banks. We should dou- April. ble the number of empowerment zones. Our national service program, They’ve already brought so much hope to AmeriCorps, has already helped 70,000 communities like Detroit, where the unem- young people to work their way through col- ployment rate has been cut in half in 4 years. lege as they serve America. Now we intend We should restore contaminated urban land to mobilize millions of Americans to serve and buildings to productive use. We should in thousands of ways. Citizen service is an

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American responsibility which all Americans we must build a stable partnership between should embrace, and I ask your support for NATO and a democratic Russia. An ex- that endeavor. panded NATO is good for America; and a I’d like to make just one last point about Europe in which all democracies define their our national community. Our economy is future not in terms of what they can do to measured in numbers and statistics, and it’s each other but in terms of what they can do very important. But the enduring worth of together for the good of all—that kind of Eu- our Nation lies in our shared values and our rope is good for America. soaring spirit. So instead of cutting back on Second, America must look to the East no our modest efforts to support the arts and less than to the West. Our security demands humanities, I believe we should stand by it. Americans fought three wars in Asia in them and challenge our artists, musicians, this century. Our prosperity requires it. More and writers, challenge our museums, librar- than 2 million American jobs depend upon ies, and theaters. We should challenge all trade with Asia. Americans in the arts and humanities to join There, too, we are helping to shape an with our fellow citizens to make the year Asia-Pacific community of cooperation, not 2000 a national celebration of the American conflict. Let our progress there not mask the spirit in every community, a celebration of peril that remains. Together with South our common culture in the century that has Korea, we must advance peace talks with passed and in the new one to come in the North Korea and bridge the cold war’s last new millennium, so that we can remain in divide. And I call on Congress to fund our the world’s beacon not only of liberty but share of the agreement under which North of creativity, long after the fireworks have Korea must continue to freeze and then dis- faded. mantle its nuclear weapons program. To prepare America for the 21st century, We must pursue a deeper dialog with we must master the forces of change in the China for the sake of our interests and our world and keep American leadership strong ideals. An isolated China is not good for and sure for an uncharted time. America; a China playing its proper role in Fifty years ago, a farsighted America led the world is. I will go to China, and I have in creating the institutions that secured vic- invited China’s President to come here, not tory in the cold war and built a growing world because we agree on everything but because economy. As a result, today more people than engaging China is the best way to work on ever embrace our ideals and share our inter- our common challenges like ending nuclear ests. Already we have dismantled many of testing and to deal frankly with our fun- the blocs and barriers that divided our par- damental differences like human rights. ents’ world. For the first time, more people The American people must prosper in the live under democracy than dictatorship, in- global economy. We’ve worked hard to tear cluding every nation in our own hemisphere down trade barriers abroad so that we can but one, and its day, too, will come. create good jobs at home. I am proud to say Now, we stand at another moment of that today America is once again the most change and choice and another time to be competitive nation and the number one ex- farsighted, to bring America 50 more years porter in the world. of security and prosperity. In this endeavor, Now we must act to expand our exports, our first task is to help to build, for the very especially to Asia and Latin America, two of first time, an undivided, democratic Europe. the fastest growing regions on Earth, or be When Europe is stable, prosperous, and at left behind as these emerging economies peace, America is more secure. To that end, forge new ties with other nations. That is why we must expand NATO by 1999, so that we need the authority now to conclude new countries that were once our adversaries can trade agreements that open markets to our become our allies. At the special NATO sum- goods and services even as we preserve our mit this summer, that is what we will begin values. to do. We must strengthen NATO’s Partner- We need not shrink from the challenge of ship For Peace with non-member allies. And the global economy. After all, we have the

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best workers and the best products. In a truly lican and Democratic administrations and open market, we can out-compete anyone, Republican and Democratic Members of anywhere on Earth. Congress and already approved by 68 na- But this is about more than economics. By tions. expanding trade, we can advance the cause But if we do not act by April 29th, when of freedom and democracy around the world. this convention goes into force with or with- There is no better example of this truth than out us, we will lose the chance to have Ameri- Latin America where democracy and open cans leading and enforcing this effort. To- markets are on the march together. That is gether we must make the Chemical Weapons why I will visit there in the spring to reinforce Convention law, so that at last we can begin our important tie. to outlaw poison gas from the Earth. We should all be proud that America led Finally, we must have the tools to meet the effort to rescue our neighbor Mexico all these challenges. We must maintain a from its economic crises. And we should all strong and ready military. We must increase be proud that last month Mexico repaid the funding for weapons modernization by the United States, 3 full years ahead of schedule, year 2000, and we must take good care of with half a billion dollar profit to us. our men and women in uniform. They are America must continue to be an unrelent- the world’s finest. ing force for peace from the Middle East to We must also renew our commitment to Haiti, from Northern Ireland to Africa. Tak- America’s diplomacy and pay our debts and ing reasonable risks for peace keeps us from dues to international financial institutions being drawn into far more costly conflicts like the World Bank and to a reforming Unit- later. ed Nations. Every dollar we devote to pre- With American leadership, the killing has venting conflicts, to promoting democracy, to stopped in Bosnia. Now the habits of peace stopping the spread of disease and starvation, must take hold. The new NATO force will brings a sure return in security and savings. allow reconstruction and reconciliation to ac- Yet international-affairs spending today is celerate. Tonight I ask Congress to continue just one percent of the Federal budget, a its strong support of our troops. They are small fraction of what America invested in doing a remarkable job there for America, diplomacy to choose leadership over escap- and America must do right by them. ism at the start of the cold war. If America Fifth, we must move strongly against new is to continue to lead the world, we here who threats to our security. In the past 4 years, lead America simply must find the will to we agreed to ban—we led the way to a world- pay our way. wide agreement to ban nuclear testing. With A farsighted America moved the world to Russia, we dramatically cut nuclear arsenals, a better place over these last 50 years. And and we stopped targeting each others citi- so it can be for another 50 years. But a short- zens. We are acting to prevent nuclear mate- sighted America will soon find its words fall- rials from falling into the wrong hands and ing on deaf ears all around the world. to rid the world of landmines. We are work- Almost exactly 50 years ago, in the first ing with other nations with renewed intensity winter of the cold war, President Truman to fight drug traffickers and to stop terrorists stood before a Republican Congress and before they act and hold them fully account- called upon our country to meet its respon- able if they do. sibilities of leadership. This was his warning; Now we must rise to a new test of leader- he said, ‘‘If we falter, we may endanger the ship, ratifying the Chemical Weapons Con- peace of the world, and we shall surely en- vention. Make no mistake about it, it will danger the welfare of this Nation.’’ That Con- make our troops safer from chemical attack; gress, led by Republicans like Senator Arthur it will help us to fight terrorism. We have Vandenberg, answered President Truman’s no more important obligations, especially in call. Together, they made the commitments the wake of what we now know about the that strengthened our country for 50 years. Gulf war. This treaty has been bipartisan Now let us do the same. Let us do what it from the beginning, supported by Repub- takes to remain the indispensable nation, to

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keep America strong, secure, and prosperous He was only 51 years old. He was awarded for another 50 years. the Silver Star, the Bronze Star, and the Pur- In the end, more than anything else, our ple Heart fighting for his country in Vietnam. world leadership grows out of the power of And he went on to serve Texas and America our example here at home, out of our ability fighting for our future here in this Chamber. to remain strong as one America. We are grateful for his service and honored All over the world, people are being torn that his mother, Lillie Tejeda, and his sister, asunder by racial, ethnic, and religious con- Mary Alice, have come from Texas to be with flicts that fuel fanaticism and terror. We are us here tonight. And we welcome you. the world’s most diverse democracy, and the Gary Locke, the newly elected Governor world looks to us to show that it is possible of Washington State, is the first Chinese- to live and advance together across those American Governor in the history of our kinds of differences. country. He’s the proud son of two of the America has always been a nation of immi- millions of Asian-American immigrants who grants. From the start, a steady stream of have strengthened America with their hard people in search of freedom and opportunity work, family values, and good citizenship. He have left their own lands to make this land represents the future we can all achieve. their home. We started as an experiment in Thank you, Governor, for being here. Please democracy fueled by Europeans. We have stand up. [Applause] grown into an experiment in democratic di- Reverend Schuller, Congressman Tejeda, versity fueled by openness and promise. Governor Locke, along with Kristen Tanner My fellow Americans, we must never, ever and Chris Getsler, Sue Winski and Dr. believe that our diversity is a weakness. It Kristen Zarfos, they’re all Americans from is our greatest strength. Americans speak different roots whose lives reflect the best every language, know every country. People on every continent can look to us and see of what we can become when we are one the reflection of their own great potential, America. We may not share a common past, and they always will, as long as we strive to but we surely do share a common future. give all of our citizens, whatever their back- Building one America is our most important ground, an opportunity to achieve their own mission, the foundation for many generations greatness. of every other strength we must build for We’re not there yet. We still see evidence this new century. Money cannot buy it. of abiding bigotry and intolerance in ugly Power cannot compel it. Technology cannot words and awful violence, in burned church- create it. It can only come from the human es and bombed buildings. We must fight spirit. against this, in our country and in our hearts. America is far more than a place. It is an Just a few days before my second Inau- idea, the most powerful idea in the history guration, one of our country’s best known of nations. And all of us in this Chamber, pastors, Reverend Robert Schuller, sug- we are now the bearers of that idea, leading gested that I read Isaiah 58:12. Here’s what a great people into a new world. A child born it says: ‘‘Thou shalt raise up the foundations tonight will have almost no memory of the of many generations, and thou shalt be called 20th century. Everything that child will know the repairer of the breach, the restorer of about America will be because of what we paths to dwell in.’’ I placed my hand on that do now to build a new century. verse when I took the oath of office, on be- We don’t have a moment to waste. Tomor- half of all Americans, for no matter what our row there will be just over 1,000 days until differences in our faiths, our backgrounds, the year 2000; 1,000 days to prepare our peo- our politics, we must all be repairers of the ple; 1,000 days to work together; 1,000 days breach. to build a bridge to a land of new promise. I want to say a word about two other My fellow Americans, we have work to do. Americans who show us how. Congressman Let us seize those days and the century. Frank Tejeda was buried yesterday, a proud Thank you, God bless you, and God bless American whose family came from Mexico. America.

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NOTE: The President spoke at 9:15 p.m. in the Remarks Prior to a Roundtable House Chamber of the Capitol. Discussion on Education in Augusta February 5, 1997 Remarks on Departure for Augusta, The President. First of all, I want to thank Georgia all of you for agreeing to be part of this. And I’ll be very brief because I want to hear from February 5, 1997 you. I very much appreciate the fact that Sen- Death of Ambassador Pamela Harriman ator Coverdell and Senator Cleland and Con- Hillary and I were very sad to learn that gressman Norwood came down with me our good friend and America’s outstanding today, along with Governor and Mrs. Miller. Ambassador to France, Pamela Harriman, And I wanted to, after the State of the Union passed away just a few moments ago in Paris. last night—which I believe was the most ex- She was an extraordinary United States tensive treatment a President has ever given Ambassador, representing our country, as to the question of education in the State of well as our Government, to the people of the Union—I wanted to come here because France and to the Government, earning the I know a lot about what you’ve done here trust of the leaders and the admiration of and what you’re trying to do, and I think it’s people. very important that the American people re- spond to the challenge that I laid out last She was one of the most unusual and gift- night to make American education the best ed people I ever met, with an extraordinary in the world, to understand that it won’t be life, from her years growing up in Great Brit- done overnight, and not to be afraid of trying ain to being a part of what the British went to reach higher standards. through in World War II as the Prime Min- I went over—and I won’t belabor it now, ister’s daughter-in-law and then her remark- but this is a little booklet that I had done able life in America with Averell Harriman, that Secretary of Education Riley, who is with all the work she did as a force for politi- here with us today, put together for us, incor- cal activism for the Democratic Party and porating the 10 points that I made in the with the friends she had in both parties, in State of the Union last night. But in virtually business, in labor, and in politics. every one of these areas, the State of Georgia Our country will miss her. We are deeply is trying to move forward, and that’s the im- indebted to the work she did in France in portant thing, whether it’s opening the doors maintaining our relationships with one of our of college education with a HOPE scholar- oldest and closest allies. She was a source ship or the pre-kindergarten program or the of judgment, an inspiration to me, a source remarkable thing you’re trying to do on the of constant good humor and charm and real Internet, which will have a huge impact friendship, and we will miss her very, very around the country if you do it, because then much. a lot of other States will get in here and help I had a good talk this morning with her us. The Vice President and I have been trying son, Winston Churchill, and our prayers are to get all the schools hooked up by the year with him and the rest of her family and her 2000, but we might get there ahead of time legion of friends. She will be brought home if every State would take the kind of action to America later this week, and we’ll have that you’re taking here. more announcements about her funeral later. Then the thing that I really want to focus America has lost a great public servant and on is how we can achieve the objectives that another immigrant who became a great were set out way back in 1989 by the Gov- American. ernors and then President Bush. How can Thank you. we achieve those national education goals? The only way we can ever do it is if we main- NOTE: The President spoke at 10:28 a.m. on the tain the right blend of local control of our South Lawn at the White House. schools, State leadership, but adherence to

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high national standards so everybody under- Remarks at Augusta State University stands what the bar is we’re trying to reach. in Augusta And what we’re going to try to do is to get the States and the school districts of the February 5, 1997 country and all the teachers organizations, Thank you so much, Tanya. She did a great the other educators and the parents espe- job, didn’t she? Let’s give her a hand. I cially, to accept the notion that there ought thought she was terrific. [Applause] to be high standards and we ought to meas- Dr. Bloodworth, thank you for making me ure to see how our kids are doing, not to feel so welcome here at Augusta State today. put them down but to lift them up and to I must say, when I came in, Dr. Bloodworth support the whole educational process and had his whole family there, and you can’t say make a specific effort to mobilize a lot of that he’s not trying to practice what he people to make sure our children are literate preaches. His son, Paul, has a Georgia HOPE and that they can read independently at the scholarship, and his daughter, Nicole, was an appropriate level, at least by the time they AmeriCorps volunteer last year. If we could get out of the third grade. get everybody to follow that lead, we’d have So that’s what we’re going to do. And I no problems at all in America within no time. think—what I hope will come out of this That’s great. today is that by our being here people will I thank Mayor Sconyers for coming to see what you’re trying to do in Georgia; meet me at the airport and for being here. they’ll be interested in it; it will spark similar He made a politician’s promise. He promised activities around the country, and we’ll see that I would get some good barbecue before a kind of a cascading effect. You know, when I left town, and I’m going to see if he keeps the American people make up their mind to it. do something, they can get out ahead of the I thank the many members of the Georgia leaders in a hurry, and that’s a good thing. Legislature who are here, and I know they When we started this hooking up the have a pivotal role in education. My good Internet, for example, we went to California, friend Commissioner Tommy Irvin, I thank which is our biggest State, and had a NetDay him for being here. I thank Secretary Riley and hooked up 20 percent of the schools in for being willing to serve as Education Sec- California. And we had this organized effort retary. He has established a remarkable to get everybody else to do it. And within record already, and we just got started. And no time, the amount of activity outstripped I thank him. the organization; people just went on and did I thank Senator Coverdell and Congress- it, just like you’re doing. And that’s what you man Norwood for coming down here with want to happen. me on Air Force One today, along with Sen- ator Cleland. I have to tell you this: I’ve So I’m very hopeful, I’m very excited, and known Max Cleland for a long time. I admire I hope that now we can just hear from you. him for many things. When we go back home And Mr. Swearingen, I think you’re going on Air Force One today, he will be landing to run this show, so—— at Andrews Air Force base for the first time Carl Swearingen. We’ll try, sir. since he landed there as a terribly wounded The President. ——the floor is yours. veteran from the Vietnam war. He has come a long way, and we are proud of him. NOTE: The President spoke at 1:17 p.m. in the I’d like to thank the other students who Physical Education Athletic Complex at Augusta are here from the Augusta Technical Insti- State University. In his remarks, the President re- tute and its president, Terry Elam; Dr. ferred to Gov. Zell Miller of Georgia and Carl Francis Tedesco and the students of the Swearingen, chairman, Georgia’s Partnership for Medical College of Georgia; Dr. Shirley Excellence in Education. A portion of these re- Lewis and the students of Payne College; and marks could not be verified because the tape was of course, the students and faculty of Augusta incomplete. State. Thank you for being here.

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When I arrived today, to read the local I came here today for some good reasons. paper, I was wondering if any of you would Senator Cleland mentioned that President come because the local paper had a history Roosevelt used to come to Georgia a lot, to of Presidents coming to Augusta and there Warm Springs. When Roosevelt came here were so many and they came so often, I and saw the plight of so many Georgians liv- thought this might just be another day at the ing in abject poverty, he got the inspiration office. [Laughter] I read that my very first to electrify rural America. For us it’s hard predecessor, George Washington, visited a to imagine today. Most families are wonder- precursor of your school, the Richmond ing whether they can afford a computer in School, in 1791—Richmond Academy. And their home. When Roosevelt came to Geor- he, George Washington, apparently did not gia, a lot of families couldn’t turn on a light. give a speech. Instead, he sat through oral And he had this inspiration that electricity exams. [Laughter] I’m glad you’re letting me ought to be given to something besides peo- talk today. [Laughter] After the State of the ple who lived in the cities. And the rural elec- Union last night, I’m so tired I couldn’t pass trification effort was born, out of the inspira- any exam, written or oral. But it’s certainly tion he saw in Georgia. good to be at a place where no one I hear And now, as we prepare for the new cen- speaking has an accent. [Laughter] tury, we have to give people another way to In my State of the Union Address last turn the lights on. We have to give everybody night, I sought to challenge all of you to rise the tools to make the most of their own lives. to the moment of preparing America for the And the most important thing we can do is 21st century. What I want all of you to under- to give people a good education, not just in stand is two things. Number one, we really terms of what they know but to put all of our people in a position that they can keep are moving into a time where more people on learning for a lifetime. And that’s why I from more walks of life will have a chance came to Georgia, because Governor Miller, to rise higher and to live out more of their with the HOPE scholarship, with the pre- dreams than at any time in history. You must kindergarten program, with the commitment believe that. That is true, not a guarantee to hook up all your schools to the Internet, but a chance. with all the other initiatives, has turned the Number two, we all tend to think that the lights on, and America is seeing the light. times we live in are normal. If you look at It is no secret that I am a great admirer the whole sweep of human history, if you of your Governor. He spoke for me in New look at the whole sweep of American history, York in 1992 and talked about the house his this is a highly unusual time. Why? Because mother built with her own hands. And with we now enjoy both prosperity and peace, but his thick Georgia accent, he pierced the we’re living in a time of such change we can’t deafest ears of people who never heard any- afford to just sit back and enjoy it. Because body talk like that before. [Laughter] And the speed at which we’re changing the way no one who heard that speech will ever forget we work and live and relate to each other the vivid image of his mother crossing the and the rest of the world is so great and its creek with the rocks in her hand. scope is so profound that we have lots of Governor Miller is the son of a teacher. work to do. He became a teacher himself. He’s given his But this is a blessing, not a curse. Very life to bringing education to every child here. rarely have our people in this country ever But he has something else that’s very impor- had the freedom just to come together and tant and embodied in that Marine Corps pin totally shape our own future, unforced by a he wears on his lapel every day. Whatever war, unforced by domestic turmoil, unforced he decides to do, he does with the same con- by depression. We can sit here and construct viction and intensity and doggedness that he a future for the children of America that is showed when he was a member of the Unit- better than any time in all of human history, ed States Marines. And I’m glad he’s fighting and we had better get at the work of doing for you and your future. And I’m grateful it. that he’s fought for me.

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I also want to say to you something else. But I ask you to remember, too, that last In the world in which we are living, we can night I said there were 10 principles to this do things together that will create the oppor- program. Secretary Riley, in no time at all tunities for people to make a great deal of given the miracles of modern technology, has their lives. But you will have to work harder got them written up for us here. We’ll be to make more of it than the people did when glad to send you a copy if you want one. But rural electrification came in. We could come there are 10 things we have to do. Even together and set up an authority and run though we’re balancing the budget and cut- those powerlines out and then all people had ting spending, I recommended $51 billion for to do was flip a switch and the lights came education, by far the biggest amount of on. Now we can come together and create money the National Government has ever the greatest structure of education in the committed to education. world, but you can’t just flip a switch. You But it is not enough. And briefly, let me have to go to work. You have to make the say to you that there are other things we must most of those opportunities. do, the most important of which is to make No one can force-feed an education. Peo- up our minds that we are finally going to ple have to want it badly, deeply, in a way achieve international excellence in education that makes learning not only important but and that we do believe that all our children fun. But it is work, and it is work that every can learn. A lot of people don’t believe that. American citizen must be prepared to do for I believe people perform according to their himself or herself and with all of our chil- expectations, their support, and how we treat dren, every single one of them. them and what we offer them. We should begin with the proposition that Last year I had the opportunity to speak every 8-year-old should be able to read, every at Princeton University in New Jersey. It was 12-year-old should be able to get on to the a great honor for me because they only ask Internet, every 18-year-old should be able to the President to speak every 50 years, when go on to college, every adult should keep on they celebrate a 50th anniversary. And I just learning for a lifetime. We must start with sort of fell into it. But I talked to them about the elemental principle that there should be how important it was for people not to be- national standards of excellence in edu- lieve that America’s future rested solely on cation—not Federal Government standards, the young people who would graduate from not something that takes away local control, our most elite institutions of higher edu- not something that undermines the State’s cation, that America’s future rested on our role in leading the way in education—but al- ability to give everybody a higher education. gebra is the same in Georgia as it is in Utah. And I asked Governor Miller to go up We have to set up national standards for what there with me, and there we were, two south- every student must learn. ern boys sort of ogling the Ivy League. And Teachers should be trained to help stu- I asked the people of Princeton to support dents meet these standards. There should be taking Georgia’s HOPE scholarship national, national tests reflecting the standards. All the to give hope to all of America with a HOPE teachers will understand this when I say it: scholarship in every State, in every commu- There are lots of standardized tests; what we nity. That’s what I asked the Congress to ap- need are tests that reflect standards. And prove last night: $1,500 tax credit to make they’re two very different things. a typical community college or other 2-year Every State, by 1999, should agree not program available to virtually everyone in the only to have high standards but to have all United States and a $10,000 tax deduction their fourth graders take a national test, the for the cost of any tuition after high school same one, in reading, and all their eighth at any program, undergraduate or graduate, graders take a national test, the same one, and an expanded IRA you can withdraw from in mathematics. tax-free for education, and the biggest in- If you saw last night, if you watched the crease in Pell grants in 20 years. We can edu- State of the Union, you know that there were cate America with that program. 20 school districts that did something a lot

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of school districts wouldn’t dare do, in North- in America where the children in the school ern Illinois. They agreed to go together to districts speak as their native tongue over 100 try to achieve international excellence in different languages. You want me to say that math and science for their eighth graders. again? That’s unbelievable, isn’t it? Four. At- And they agreed to take, with students from lanta—I don’t know how many tongues there all over the world, the Third International are, but Atlanta is the headquarters to more Math and Science Survey. It is truly an inter- international companies than any other city national test reflecting what students should in the country. They must have 50 or 60 know worldwide at that point in their careers. there. And the kids from those 20 school districts Now, one consequence of this, along with who took the test—a representative sample increasing poverty over the last 20 years of of them—of all their students—they tied for young children, is that 40 percent of our 8- first in science and tied for second in math. year-olds can’t read at grade level. And that But what I told them after the speech was simply means they can’t read a third grade over is I’d have been proud of them if they book by themselves, 4 out of 10. How many had finished dead last because they had the are capable of doing it with the brain they’ve courage to say, ‘‘We want to know how we got up there? Nearly all of them. You must stand against what we have to know.’’ And believe this; otherwise we’re just up here I want you to support everybody in America talking to ourselves. Nearly all of them are doing that. capable of doing this. A lot of this intellectual work is like every So we have a lot of work to do. And our other kind of work. We have to set the stand- schools cannot do it all alone. We need more ards high and then train to meet the stand- help from the parents, but we also need more ards. People who work out can’t do 100 push- help from the rest of us. I am committed ups the first time they try. Not every student, not every school district, not every State will to mobilizing a citizen army of a million peo- do all that well on these examinations the ple to be trained as tutors and to be willing first time they’re given. That is not the point. to tutor children in every community in this The point is to find out what we know and country so that by the year 2000 every 8- what we need to learn. We’re not trying to year-old can pick up a book and say, ‘‘I can put anybody down. We’ve got a whole coun- read this book all by myself.’’ And I want try to lift up to a new century where learning you to help us do it. will determine our future. We’re going to use a lot of our AmeriCorps The second thing we have to do is to value volunteers to mobilize the system, but we our teachers more, to train them better and need a million people. I have asked that at support them more. Many of our finest edu- least 100,000 of the 200,000 new work-study cators have worked hard to establish a system slots that we created in last year’s budget be of national credentials for excellence in devoted to college students who are willing teaching. Five hundred master teachers have to work as tutors. And last night I said 60 been certified by the national board since presidents have already pledged thousands of 1995. I offered a budget to the Congress last their work-study students to do that. I hope night that would permit 100,000 more teach- some of you in this room today will say, ‘‘I’d ers to be certified, so we could have at least be honored to try to teach a child to read one teacher in every school in America who so that child can have the same opportunity had been through a rigorous training pro- I have today to be a student in a university.’’ gram that that teacher could then share with I hope you will do that. Your country needs every other teacher in the school, to support you to do that. the teachers who are going to determine the The fourth point I want to make is that quality of education of our children. we have to start teaching children very early. The third thing I want to do is to do more Georgia has what I believe is the most exten- to help our children read. There was a story sive pre-kindergarten program in the United in the press a couple of days ago which point- States. Good for you. Good for you. We have ed out that we now have four school districts extended Head Start coverage to 3-year-olds

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in the last couple of years. And that’s a very Last night I asked the Congress to give good thing. me enough funds to support 3,000 of those But we have to begin even earlier. We now schools. That’s 7 times as many as there are know that children’s brains develop more in the United States today. But that, again, than half of their capacity—not what they is an important part of innovation. Eventu- know but their capacity to learn—within the ally, we need to get to the point where every first 4 years. We now know that a child with school is just like these charter schools— parents who have confidence that they can every school is just like these magnet schools. help that child and understand what they’re They all have their own personality; they only supposed to do will get as many as 700,000 have their own culture; they have their own positive contacts from the parents in the first standards; and they work. But the best way 4 years of life. A child with a parent who to do it is to create models in every school feels ill-equipped for the job, who has no idea district of the United States, and that’s what what to do, who desperately loves her child the charter school movement will do. And but just doesn’t know, may have given that that’s another reason I’m very proud of the child as few as 150,000 positive contacts in State of Georgia for trying to lead the way. the first 4 years. You tell me which child is The next point I want to make is, some- going to be better when they’re 18, given body has got a sign up there to say they have what we know now from these scientists. a middle school, and they wear school uni- So we have got to support—all of us—ev- forms. Hold that sign up there. ‘‘Mr. Presi- dent, Glen Hills Middle School Wears Uni- erything we can do to help get out there and forms.’’ Thank you very much. Stand up— convince parents, even if they don’t have a without the sign. Stand up. There you go, good education, they can do something very good for you. [Applause] Thank you. Now, important for their children from the day I promise we did not organize this. I didn’t they are born. That is my wife’s strong com- even know they were going to be there. mitment and mine. We’re going to bring to- [Laughter] gether scientists and educators from all over Last night I said our schools need to teach America this spring at a conference on early character education; we need to teach young childhood development and the brain. And people to be good citizens. And we need to we’re going to try to take all these new dis- support these schools when they try to find coveries, so that when our children do get their own way to do that. Schools that require to school, the teachers will be able to do what school uniforms, that’s one way to do that. they want to do with them, because they have I’ve been in school districts where the been given the opportunity to develop in a crime rate dropped, the violence in the wholesome, positive way in the first 3 or 4 school dropped, the dropout rate dropped, years of their lives. And I hope you will sup- and the wealthier kids as well as the poorer port everything that is being done here to kids liked it better when they adopted their that end. own uniform of their own choosing in a way Next we want to support more innovation that helped them preserve order in the in our public schools. And I want to com- schools. That’s one way of creating school pliment Georgia for its magnet schools and identity. It normally works in grade school for the charter school program you’ve just and junior high better than high school, for started. It’s unfamiliar to most Americans, obvious reasons. But it can have a positive but basically charter schools are public impact. schools that are free from some of the rules The point is that we need to recognize that and regulations that other schools have to fol- our schools are molding the character of our low, created by teachers, parents, and others young people. And we should not discourage with a certain mission. But they can exist only them. One of the best things Secretary Riley as long as they fulfill the mission. If they has done, of all the wonderful things he’s don’t produce educational excellence, they done, is to get out here and push the teaching don’t keep their charter. And Georgia is lead- of character education and to try to make ing the way there, too. it clear that we do not have to have a value-

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free environment in schools. That is can- ing about the ‘‘GI bill’’—what I call a ‘‘GI cerous. We should have a valued environ- bill’’ for America’s workers. ment in the schools. And I thank him for We’ve got 70 different training programs that, and I know you believe that. the Federal Government has put up for peo- The seventh thing we’re trying to do is ple who are unemployed or underemployed help the school districts that are absolutely over time. Every one of them had a good overwhelmed with growth, with a lot of justification. Today, we don’t need that any- buildings that are falling down, get out of more. Nearly every American is within driv- the hole they’re in. The National Govern- ing distance of a community college or an- ment’s never done this before, and I wouldn’t other community-based educational institu- be doing it now, but we have 52 million pub- tion like this one—nearly every American. lic school students, the largest number in his- So, I say, get rid of that, put the money in tory, with more buildings falling down than a pot, send a skill grant to every adult who’s any time in history. I’ve been in school dis- eligible for it, and let that man or woman tricts where half the kids were going to class figure out where to get the best education. in trailers outside the regular building. They’ll figure it out in no time. And it will And we need to do what we can to support be a place like Augusta State. That’s what local efforts. So if people at the local level will happen. And I hope you will ask your are willing to put up their funds to try to Members of Congress to support that. build the buildings and repair the buildings Last thing I want to say is this: We have that the schools need, we want to be in a got to do what Governor Miller plans to do position to support what they’re doing. And here; we have got to harness the full force we think with a modest expenditure we can of technology to every school in the United help to spark $20 billion more in school con- States. Now, I have this argument all the struction and repair over the next 4 years. time with people my age who aren’t very And that’s what we intend to do. And I hope good on a computer—that includes me; I’m you’ll support that. not saying they aren’t and I am—but a lot Just two other points very quickly. Learn- of people come up to me and they say, ‘‘Now, ing has got to become a lifetime endeavor. Mr. President, I like your education program, Ask someone who works in a bank whether but I think you’re overdoing this Internet it’s different being a bank teller today than deal. I mean, you know, what good is the it was 10 years ago. Go into any working envi- Internet if people can’t read and write?’’ ronment and see how different it is now from The point is that a lot of these kids will the way it was just a few years ago. I spent be more interested in learning to read and a lot of time working with law enforcement. write if they have access to technology. And Do you want to know one reason that the if we hook up all of our schools to the crime rate’s dropped in America for 5 years Internet, it will mean that for the very first in a row for the first time in years and year time in the entire history of the Untied States and years—is that our law enforcement offi- of America, the kids in the poorest schools, cers in a lot of our bigger cities where the the kids in the most isolated rural schools, crime rate’s very high have become basically and the kids in the wealthiest schools will high-tech managers of criminal justice re- all have access to the same universe of knowl- sources to support local neighborhoods. edge, in the same way at the same time. In New York, they had a precipitous drop That’s never happened in the history of in the crime rate when they realized that they the country before. It will revolutionize what could have computer reports every single day it means to be a student. And it will also of every offense in that vast city, put it up say to all these kids that now feel like nobody on a map, study the patterns of crime, and cares about them, ‘‘You’re just as important put the police into the neighborhood working as anybody else. You matter. You can learn with the people—changing it on a daily basis. whatever you want. You can be whatever you Every kind of work is different. That’s why want to be.’’ I have asked the Congress to pass what I This is not about technology. This is about call a ‘‘GI bill’’—you heard Max Cleland talk- unleashing the power of the human mind

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that resides in every single one of our young Thank you, and God bless you. And God people. So I say, what Zell Miller is doing bless America. here in Georgia will put you ahead of the pack, but the most important thing is, it may NOTE: The President spoke at 3 p.m. in the Phys- make everyone in America want to do this ical Education Athletic Complex. In his remarks, he referred to Tanya Davis, chair, student senate, even faster than I thought we could do it. who introduced the President, and William Every class—every class, every school, even- Bloodworth, Jr., president, Augusta State Univer- tually every home will have a connection to sity; Mayor Larry Sconyers of Augusta; Tommy every school through a computer. Irvin, Georgia commissioner of agriculture; Terry And let me just give you one example. I Elam, president, Augusta Technical Institute; visited a school district in New Jersey that Francis J. Tedesco, president, Medical College of was doing so poorly the State was literally Georgia; and Shirley Lewis, president, Payne Col- going to shut it down and take it over. Most lege. A portion of these remarks could not be veri- of the students were lower income. Many of fied because the tape was incomplete. them were from first-generation immigrant families whose parents did not speak English. Remarks at the National Prayer And I saw the Bell Atlantic phone company, Breakfast along with some other companies, go in February 6, 1997 there, put computers in all the classrooms, give them to all the kids, and to a lot of the Thank you very much, Congressman children who were having trouble actually Barrett. I want to thank you for making it put personal computers in the homes and possible for me to follow Dr. Carson. teach the parents, the immigrant parents, [Laughter] And that business about worrying how to E-mail the teachers and the prin- about whether the Secret Service would take cipals. you away if you talked too long—if that were And you say, why are they doing all that? true I wouldn’t be here today. I’d be long These people need to learn to read, write, gone. [Laughter] That biochemical descrip- count, speak basic English. All I know is, 3 tion of—I got a real problem; I can’t remem- years later this school district that was going ber my home phone number anymore. to be shut down had a lower dropout rate, [Laughter] a higher graduation rate, and higher test Senator Akaka, Mr. Speaker, Congressman scores than the average in the State of New Gephardt; to all the Members of Congress Jersey, which has the second highest per cap- and the Governors who are here and our ita income in the United States of America. leaders and visitors from other lands and Don’t tell me all of our kids can’t learn. They ministers and citizens from the United can learn if we do it right and we help them States. I’ve had a wonderful day today. I and we support them. would like not to pour cold water on the day, But again I say, we have a limited amount but just as you go through the day I would of time. You don’t know how long America like to ask all of you to remember the heart- can go in a state of prosperity and peace breaking loss that our friends in Israel have where everything looks rosy to the country. sustained in the last couple of days with 73 You don know how long we can go still toler- of their finest young soldiers dying in that ating in a passive way the loss of as many horrible accident in the air. kids as we’re losing to crime, to drugs, to I would like to also say that, like all of you, all the problems we have. We don’t have a I was very elevated by this experience, as I lot of time. There really are just a few days always am. I thought Dr. Carson was won- over 1,000 days until the year 2000. But very derful. I thought the Scriptures were well few societies in all human history have had chosen. I appreciate Doug Coe and all the the opportunity we have to have peace, pros- people who work on the prayer breakfast so perity, opportunity, and the chance to forge much. I would like to just say a couple of our own future. things very briefly. This is a call to action. I am committed In my Inaugural Address and again in my to doing my part. You must do yours. State of the Union, I quoted Isaiah 58:12,

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which Reverend Robert Schuller sent to me no longer a national guarantee that you can a few days before I started my second term, always get a check from the Government just to remind us that we should all be repairers because you’re poor and you’ve got little ba- of the breach. And it’s a very moving thing. bies in your home. Now the kids can have And basically the political press here read it health care and we’ll give them food, but you in the proper way; they said Clinton wants don’t get an income check every month. And the Republicans and Democrats to make nice you’ve got to go to work if you’re able to.’’ to each other and do constructive things. So the people that are in the breach are But then I got to thinking about who is the people that we say have to go to work, it that’s in the breach. Who has fallen be- who want to go to work, who can’t go to work. tween the cracks? What is—if we repaired And you have to help us repair the breach. the breach, who would we be lifting out of Two and a quarter million people moved off the hole? And very briefly, I’d like to just the welfare rolls in the last 4 years. A million mention three things and to ask you not only of them, more or less, were adults who went to pray for these three groups of people but to work; the others were their children—a also to do something about it. I don’t know million out of 11 million new jobs created. about you, but whenever I hear somebody In the next 4 years, there’s about, more like Dr. Carson speak, I can clap better than or less, 10 million more people left on wel- anybody in the audience. Then the next day, fare, about 3.5 million adults, maybe 4, most when I get up and try to live by what he of them able-bodied. And all of them are sup- said I was supposed to do, it turned out to posed to lose their benefits if they’re able- be harder than it was to clap. So I would bodied after 2 years unless they go to work. like to ask you to think about who is in the Where are they going to get the jobs? You’re breach, if we’re supposed to be repairers of going to have to give them, private employ- the breach. ers, churches, community nonprofits. The first group of people that are in the I see the Governor of Michigan, the Gov- breach are the poor in America, and they’re ernor of North Dakota here; they can actually different than they used to be. When I was take the welfare check and give it to you now a boy, most poor people were old. In 1995, as an employment or a training subsidy or we learned last year, we had the lowest rate to help you deal with transportation or child of poverty among older Americans in the his- care or whatever. But you better hire them. tory of the country. We have succeeded in And if you don’t, this whole thing will be taking them out of poverty, virtually all of a fraud, and we will not have repaired the them. We should be proud of that and grate- breach. And all that we dreamed of doing, ful. which is to create more Dr. Carsons out of Today almost all the poor are young, very those children of welfare recipients, will go young people without much education, a lot down the drain because we come to places of mothers like Dr. Carson’s mother, strug- like this and clap for people like him and gling, doing the best they can to raise their then we get up tomorrow morning and we kids. We just passed this welfare reform bill don’t repair the breach and do what we’re which I signed and voted for because I be- supposed to do. And I need you to help. lieved it. And we did it because we believed The second people who have fallen be- that the welfare system had gone from being tween the cracks are people around the a system that helped the poor to help them- world who are in trouble that we could help selves to move off welfare, to a system that without troubling ourselves very much. I’m trapped people because the family unit has proud of what our country has done in Bosnia changed. And there are so many single par- and the Balkans—you should be, too—in the ents out there having children, and there isn’t Middle East, in Haiti, to help our neighbors the stigma on it there used to be. And a lot in Mexico. Impulses—the American people of people now seem to be stuck on that sys- are generous. I want to thank the Speaker tem from generation to generation. So we for supporting me when only 15 percent of changed it—we didn’t change it; we tore it the American people thought we were right down. We threw it away. We said, ‘‘There’s when we tried to help our friends in Mexico.

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Thank goodness they proved us right, Mr. So then, pretty soon I was behaving that Speaker, otherwise we might be out in the way. I’d wake up in the morning, and my south 40 somewhere today. heart was getting a little harder. ‘‘Now, who But still our country has this idea that can I get even with?’’ You think—this hap- somehow it demeans us to pay our dues to pens to you, doesn’t it? Who can I get even the United Nations or to participate in the with? And sometimes you can’t get even with World Bank or—there’s lots of things more the person that really did it to you, so you important than that—or just to give Secretary just go find somebody else, because you’ve Albright, who’s here, the basic tools of diplo- got to get even with somebody. Pretty soon, macy. This is an interdependent world. We everybody’s involved in this great act. can get a long way with having the finest de- You know how cynical the press is about fense in the world, but we also have to help the politicians, you know. They think we’re people become what they can be. all whatever they think. What you should So I ask you to think about that. We’re know is that the politicians have now become not talking about spending a lot of money just as cynical about the press, because cyni- here. It’s only one percent of our budget. cism breeds cynicism. But we can’t walk away from our obligations We’re in a world of hurt. We need help. to the rest of the world. We can be a model We are in the breach. We are in the hole for the rest of the world, but we also know here. This country has the most astonishing that we have to model the behavior we advo- opportunity we have ever had. We happen cate, which is to give a helping hand when to be faced with this time of great change we can. and challenge. We’re going into this enor- The third people who are in the breach mous new world. And instead of going into and are in a deep hole and need to be lifted it hobbled with economic distress or foreign up are the politicians. And we need your pressures, we are free of any threat to our help. We need your help. And some mem- existence and our economy is booming. And bers of the press, they’re in that breach with it’s like somebody said, here’s this brave new us, too, and they need your help. [Laughter] world, and I’m going to let you prepare for This is funny, but I’m serious now. And it and walk into it in the best shape you’ve tomorrow, I want you to wake—I want you ever been in. And instead of doing that, half to laugh today and wake up and be serious of us want to sit down, and the other half tomorrow. This town is gripped with people of us want to get in a fight with each other. who are self-righteous, sanctimonious, and We are in the breach. And we need you to hypocritical; all of us are that way sometimes. help us get out of it. I plead guilty, from time to time. We also The United States is better than that. We tend to get—we spend an enormous amount owe more than that to our people, to our of time here in Washington trying to get future, and to the world. We owe more than even. And it doesn’t matter who started it. that to our heritage, to everybody from I remember when I came here one time, George Washington on that made us what I got so mad at our friends in the Congress we are today. And cynicism and all this nega- and the Republican Party because they were tive stuff is just sort of a cheap excuse for real mean to me over something. I went back not doing your best with your life. And it’s to the White House, and I asked somebody not a very pleasant way to live, frankly—not who had been there a while in Washington, even any fun. and I said, ‘‘Now, why in the world did they I try to tell everybody around the White do that?’’ They said, ‘‘It’s payback time.’’ I House all the time, I have concluded a few said, ‘‘What do you mean?’’ They said, ‘‘Well, things in my life, and one of them is that they think the Democrats in Congress did you don’t ever get even. The harder you try, this to Republican Presidents.’’ I said, ‘‘I the more frustrated you’re going to be, be- didn’t even live here then; why are they pay- cause nobody ever gets even. And when you ing me back?’’ They said, ‘‘Oh, you don’t un- do, you’re not really happy. You don’t feel derstand. You’ve just got to pay back.’’ fulfilled.

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So I ask you to pray for us. I went to Federal deficit for the very first time in three church last Sunday where Hillary and I al- decades. I am proud of this budget, and I ways go, at the Foundry Methodist Church, want to thank the people here on the eco- and the pastor gave a sermon on Romans nomic team who worked with me on it. 12:16–21 and a few other verses. But I’m Thank you. going to quote the relevant chapters. ‘‘Do not For too many years, it seemed as if our be wise in your own estimation.’’ It’s hard deficit would grow forever, that there was to find anybody here that can fit that. ‘‘Never nothing we could do about it. As a result, pay back evil for evil to anyone.’’ ‘‘If possible, our economy and our people suffered. Four so far, as it depends upon you, be at peace years ago, I took office with a plan to reduce with all men.’’ ‘‘Never take your own venge- the deficit in half in 4 years, as we invested ance.’’ ‘‘If your enemy is hungry, feed him. in our people. In fact, the deficit has been If he is thirsty, give him a drink.’’ ‘‘Do not cut by nearly two-thirds, from $290 billion be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with in 1992 to $107 billion in 1996. That makes good.’’ it, as a proportion of our economy, the small- Pray for the people in public office that est of any major nation in the world. we can rid ourselves of this toxic atmosphere Our economy, therefore, has gotten of cynicism and embrace with joy and grati- stronger. It’s the strongest it’s been in a gen- tude this phenomenal opportunity and re- eration. The American people have produced sponsibility before us. Do not forget people over 11 million jobs—that’s the most ever in the rest of the world who depend upon in a single Presidential term—along with the United States for more than exhortation, record numbers of new businesses and rising and most of all, remember that in every incomes. Scripture of every faith, there are hundreds Finishing this job of balancing the budget and hundreds and hundreds of admonitions will not be easy, but it is vital for the contin- not to forget those among us who are poor. ued health of our economy. Balancing the They are no longer entitled to a handout, budget will free up billions of dollars in pri- but they surely deserve, and we are ordered vate investment. It will keep interest rates to give them, a hand up. low, allowing our people to start new busi- Thank you, and God bless you all. nesses, buy a home or a new car. It will prove NOTE: The President spoke at 9:28 a.m. at the that when we set our minds to it, we can Washington Hilton Hotel. In his remarks, he re- make our Government live within its means. ferred to Representative Bill Barrett, chairman, My plan balances the budget while main- 1997 National Prayer Breakfast; Dr. Ben Carson, taining the balance of our values. director of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hop- First, it eliminates the deficit by 2002 kins Hospital; and Doug Coe, who helped orga- through detailed, difficult cuts in hundreds nize the event. of Government programs. Second, it increases investment in edu- Remarks Announcing the Fiscal Year cation and training to $51 billion in 1998, 1998 Budget a 20 percent increase. It provides tax cuts February 6, 1997 to help families pay for college, increases Pell grant scholarships for deserving students, ad- Good morning. In my State of the Union vances the America Reads initiative to help Address, I issued a call to action to prepare every 8-year-old read independently, com- our people for the 21st century. I said that mits to helping connect every classroom to to do that we first had to finish the unfinished the Internet by the year 2000. As I said in business of America, beginning with bal- the State of the Union, education is a key ancing the budget. national security issue, and politics should Today I am submitting to Congress my stop at the schoolhouse door. plan to balance the budget by 2002. It will Third, it provides targeted tax relief for the spur economic growth, promote education middle class, to pay for education, health and our other priorities, and eliminate the care, to buy and sell a home. It provides a

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$500-per-child tax credit to help families problems we’ve had in the past, particularly raise their children. as the Baby Boomers age and move into the Fourth, it takes critical steps to extend retirement years. We do not believe that is health care to more Americans. It secures going to happen with this budget. the Medicare Trust Fund for 10 years, mak- And Secretary Rubin and Mr. Raines can ing necessary reforms to help the program explain why, and I know you’ll want to ques- meet these budget targets and also to main- tion them on that, but that is one of the most tain its fundamental purpose. It will cover important findings of the work that we have as many as 5 million presently uninsured chil- been doing. We believe we can keep this dren and help working people who are tem- budget in balance for a good long time. porarily between jobs keep their health in- Finally, let me say this. It is obvious—and surance. For the first time it would fully most of you have reported on this—that cover annual mammograms for older women there are still differences between the parties and provide some respite care support for about how we should do this, but I am con- the many families who are caring for a family vinced those differences can be bridged. I member with Alzheimer’s. have reviewed them in general, at least. I Fifth, it advances our interests as the have been very impressed by the cooperative world’s indispensable nation, reversing the attitude which has been expressed by the downward spiral in international affairs leaders of the Republican Party in Congress. spending, strengthening our ability to pro- Some of the differences we have are truly mote peace, and fighting global problems like principle differences, and we’ll have to work drug trafficking, terrorism, and nuclear pro- hard to have an honorable compromise. But liferation. And this budget meets our respon- I believe that we can do it as long as the sibilities to the community of nations by the Republicans and the Democrats agree that concrete plan to promote reform, pay our we have to achieve this goal. bills, and put the United Nations back on We’ve got the best chance in a generation sound financial footing. to do it. The lion’s share of the savings that I support a balanced budget. I am propos- we needed to make from the nightmarish ing a balanced budget. I do not support a projections we had 4 years ago have been constitutional amendment to balance the put in place already, and it remains for us budget for reasons I have already outlined. to take the last steps. I am confident we will, I think it is neither necessary or wise, and and I intend to do everything I can—every- it could have numerous unwanted con- thing I can over the next few months to see sequences. It could throw our budget into that we achieve this goal. the courts. It could force judges to make de- Now, I’d like to ask the Vice President to cisions they would normally never make and say a few words, and then we’ll follow with that they know they should not be making. Secretary Rubin, Mr. Raines, and however And all that it takes to balance the budget else they want to elucidate the budget. is discipline and action. Mr. Vice President. I’d also like to say this. We believe our balanced budget plan will keep the budget NOTE: The President spoke at 11:58 a.m. in Room more or less in balance. And I say that be- 450 of the Old Executive Office Building. cause it’s impossible to predict everything that will happen. But based on the projec- tions we now have, we believe we can main- Message to Federal Workers tain a balanced budget for more than two February 6, 1997 decades. So this is not going to be a one- time thing. And Director Raines will talk As I begin my second term as President, more about this when he goes through the I want all of you to know how proud I am details. But one of the things I think Ameri- of your hard work and accomplishments dur- cans have been afraid of is that even if we ing the past four years. I came to Washington balance the budget, it will be a one-year blip, with a high regard for civil servants, and you and then we’ll go right back to the same have only confirmed that opinion.

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And I’m not the only one who has been because of the work that the Prime Minister impressed. Four years ago, public confidence and the Vice President have done. in the federal government was at an all-time low. But you have begun to change that atti- Helsinki Summit and NATO Expansion tude. Even in a time of leaner budgets and Q. Two questions, Mr. President. Number smaller staffs, you have improved service to one, was Helsinki chosen to accommodate the public, forged effective partnerships with the health of President Yeltsin? And two, communities and private businesses, and dis- how do you convince the President and Mr. carded old-fashioned management systems. Chernomyrdin that NATO expansion is not Now, for the first time in decades, public the threat that they seem to think it is? opinion of federal agencies is markedly on The President. Well, first of all, Helsinki the rise. Congratulations—the credit for this was decided upon for a number of reasons, stunning turnaround goes to you. but it worked well for both of us, and I feel Vice President Gore and I are excited and good about it. I’m looking forward to going optimistic about the prospects for America back there. in the next four years. We are on the right Q. Was health one of the reasons? track to the twenty-first century and are pick- The President. Secondly, we just have ing up speed as we continue to work with started our meeting here, but I think you you to reinvent government. I believe that have to see this issue in the context of our— our nation will enter that new century strong- all American-Russian relations and the fact er, more confident, and more capable than that Russia has emerged as a great demo- ever before. And I believe that a large part cratic nation with such strong sense of part- of that success will be achieved because of nership with the European countries. The the energy and talent of each of you—the best evidence of that is what we’re all doing men and women of the federal government. together in Bosnia today—for our partner- Thank you for all you do on behalf of your ship there. fellow Americans. Juvenile Crime Bill Clinton Q. Mr. President, one of the global issues on the forefront today is also the CDC report Remarks Prior to Discussions With on suicide and homicide among juveniles. Prime Minister Viktor How do you react to the fact that the United Chernomyrdin of Russia and an States is leading the richest nations among Exchange With Reporters homicides and suicides among 15-year-olds February 7, 1997 and under? The President. I’m very concerned about The President. I want to welcome Prime it, and we’re working on it. That’s one of the Minister Chernomyrdin to the White House reasons that I made such a big issue of juve- and thank him for the work that he and the nile crime and violence in the State of the Vice President have done over the last couple Union. There is some indication that it is of days dealing with the issues involving the going down now, after years and years and relationships of Russia and the United States years of exploding. The last figures we have and NATO and Russia and a number of other for 1995 were somewhat encouraging. issues. And I want to thank them for the work But it is—it’s an unacceptable condition. they’ve done to prepare the way for my meet- And we have too many children out there ing with President Yeltsin in Helsinki on raising themselves on our streets, too many March 20th and 21st. children who have not been embraced by And I also want to thank President their communities, who can’t get what they Ahtisaari of Finland for hosting us at that need in their own families. And we have to— meeting. I’m looking forward to it. It will be the rest of us have to do better. And a big very important, and I feel quite optimistic part of what I hope we can work together about it because of the good relationships on with the Congress is the whole juvenile I’ve always had with President Yeltsin and justice package, which I think will be passed

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and then fully implemented, along with the to reconcile the differences between us. We community efforts that are going on in places can do this. like Boston, which is a good model, where But if you look at the differences between there hasn’t been a single juvenile homicide us and you look at how close we are to a in 18 months, I think, in a long time. balanced budget, we can do it, and I’m con- If we can learn from what’s working out vinced we will do it. And I think what I want there, we can turn this around. But we ought to do is make sure we do it in a way that’s to be sensitive about it, not only because we best for the American people and deals with don’t rank well compared to all of the nations this enormous problem we have, especially but because it means we’re losing too many of our young people—giving them the right of our children. kind of education, keeping them out of trou- Q. Were you shocked by it? ble, giving them decent health care and— The President. No. I’m shocked by—I because I don’t want to have to keep reading was shocked, but not surprised, because I years from now the kind of rankings that knew that we would have the worst record were just quoted to me from the CDC. on this. [At this point, one group of reporters left the room, and another group entered.] 1998 Budget Q. Senator Lott says he is greatly de- Prime Minister Chernomyrdin’s Visit pressed by your budget proposal. What did The President. First, let me say that we you think about that? are honored to welcome Prime Minister The President. Well, I had a good visit Chernomyrdin back to Washington. And I with him today; I’m trying to put him in a very much appreciate the work that he and better frame of mind about it. We know that the Vice President have done and will do from the last 2 years that they have different after this meeting on issues between our two priorities than I do in balancing the budget. countries. And I’m especially grateful that But the American people should remember they worked out a time for President Yeltsin this administration has a record now; we’ve and me to meet in Helsinki on March 20th cut the deficit by 63 percent. We’re serious and 21st. I thank President Ahtisaari for about balancing the budget, but we think we agreeing to host us, and I’m delighted to be have to do it in a way that protects our values going back to Helsinki and very, very anxious and invests in our future. to have my meeting with President Yeltsin. If the charge is that I have invested more in education and in the health and welfare Russia and NATO of poor children in this country, then that’s Q. Mr. President, would you agree to sign a charge I’m guilty of. I did—I presented a legal binding agreement with Russia on Eu- a budget that invested a lot more in edu- ropean security guarantees? cation and in the health and welfare of poor The President. Well, I believe that we children, and I’m guilty of that. But I think ought to work out an agreement between that’s good for America, to make it stronger, NATO and Russia—the United States, which and we’ll still balance the budget. ensures that Russia will have a leading role Q. Did you talk to Senator Lott—— in European security affairs. There are all The President. Let me just make one kinds of—the question you asked me and the more comment on that. We are just begin- way you ask it leaves a lot of landmines open ning this process, and I took no offense about there. I believe that we can work out an what he said today. I’m very encouraged by agreement that will be sufficiently satisfac- the remarks that have been made by the tory to both parties, that we can get that. House leaders and the Senate leaders in the But I don’t want to say yes to the question budget process. I think he thinks that maybe you ask because that would imply things there’s a bigger difference between us, and which might make any agreement we could we’ll have to work harder, but we always reach meaningless. We want a meaningful knew we were going to have to work hard agreement that is signed and public and that

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the parties feel bound to but that actually ter]. They’re going to do a press con- means something. ference—— Five Nation Summit [At this point, a question was asked in Rus- sian, and a translation was not provided.] Q. Mr. President, would you like to go to Paris to that summit of five nations? Looks Prime Minister Chernomyrdin. It’s a like Russia supports that, the French, the step forward—[inaudible]—express the im- Germans. portance for the meeting with the President The President. First of all, I want to have and the President of Russia. It will be one my meeting with President Yeltsin. I think of the critical stages in terms of—[inaudi- that’s the most important thing. We have to ble]—in Europe. The upcoming summit, and meet first. Chancellor Kohl has been to see the questions [inaudible]—a wide range, and President Yeltsin. President Chirac’s seen the decisions will be extremely important for him. And I haven’t seen him in several the relationship between our two countries months, and I’m anxious to see him. We’ve and for European security as well, as well talked on the phone, but I want to have a as for the arms control, for economic ques- meeting first. And before we all get together tions. we need to be very clear on what it is we’ll NOTE: The President spoke at 1:40 p.m. in the be discussing and what we expect the results Oval Office at the White House. In his remarks, to be. So I want to defer a decision on that he referred to President Boris Yeltsin of Russia. until I have a chance to have my visit with A tape was not available for verification of the President Yeltsin. content of these remarks. Helsinki Summit and NATO Expansion Statement on the National Economy Q. Mr. President, can the summit in Hel- and the Fiscal Year 1998 Budget sinki influence in any way the timetable of February 7, 1997 the NATO expansion? Today we learned that during the full 4 The President. Well, we intend to have years of my first term, the economy added our meeting in the summertime and make 11.5 million new jobs—the first time any ad- the decisions that we have agreed already to ministration has ever created more than 11 make on that. That’s a decision that’s already million jobs and well above the 8 million new been made by NATO. But what I think that jobs I had set as our goal. The combined the summit in Helsinki can do is to make rate of unemployment and inflation was it clear that no one has any intention of pro- lower than during any other administration viding any increased threat to the security since Lyndon Johnson was President. And of Russia. the deficit fell by 63 percent, from $290 bil- I have worked very hard for 4 years to ele- lion in 1992 to $107 billion in 1996. Now vate the role of Russia in the international we must continue our work of balancing the forums, in the economic forums like the G– budget while investing in people. The budget 7, in security partnerships like the remark- I released yesterday will balance the budget able partnership we have in Bosnia. I’m con- by 2002, contributing to continued strong vinced that the operation in Bosnia would growth with low inflation. I look forward to not have the credibility it does today if you working with congressional leaders to pass didn’t have Russia and the United States and a balanced budget that maintains our crucial the European parties in there. investments in education and training. My whole vision of the future is a partner- ship of all of Europe’s democracies, obviously Letter to Congressional Leaders including Russia, as I said in my State of the Reporting on Cyprus Union Address. So I think we’ll be able to talk about that and make some real progress. February 7, 1997 The Vice President. And we’re going to Dear Mr. Speaker: (Dear Mr. Chairman:) have a discussion in here in just a minute, In accordance with Public Law 95–384 (22 so you need to give them a chance. [Laugh- U.S.C. 2373(c)), I submit to you this report

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on progress toward a negotiated settlement Digest of Other of the Cyprus question. The previous submis- White House Announcements sion covered progress through September 30, 1996. The current submission covers the pe- riod October 1 through November 30, 1996. The following list includes the President’s public The tragic violence on Cyprus in August schedule and other items of general interest an- and September was detailed in my last re- nounced by the Office of the Press Secretary and not included elsewhere in this issue. port. Sadly, included in this report is an ac- count of an additional killing on October 13. Nonetheless, these senseless acts need not February 3 be repeated. The United Nations has been In the morning, the President met with working very hard to obtain agreement on President Alberto Fujimori of Peru in the a series of practical measures to reduce the White House to discuss Mr. Fujimori’s re- prospects for further violence along the Is- cent visit to Toronto and the hostage crisis land’s cease-fire lines. My Administration in Peru. fully supports the U.N. package. A U.S. inter- The President announced his intention to agency team that visited the region put the nominate Marsha Mason to the National issue on its agenda and urged the parties to Council on the Arts. The President announced his intention to implement all the steps in the U.N. package. appoint the following individuals to the Advi- Given the events of the past summer and sory Committee for Trade Policy and Nego- fall, we are disappointed that the United Na- tiations: Lester M. Alberthal, Jr.; Roger J. tions attempts to obtain this agreement have Baccigaluppi; John E. Bryson; James P. not yet succeeded. We will continue to press (Tom) Camerlo, Jr.; John T. Chambers; Wal- the issue with the parties. Cooperation on ter Y. Elisha; Donald V. Fites; Richard S. these steps, although modest, could have a Fuld, Jr.; Fred Krupp; Lenore Miller; Ber- beneficial effect on larger settlement efforts. nard Rapoport; Jerome A. Siegel; Paula Although it is properly the subject of my Stern; and John J. Sweeney. next report, I should also note my concern The President announced his intention to about the recent decision of the Government designate Michael J. Gaines as Chair of the of Cyprus to purchase SA–10 anti-aircraft U.S. Parole Commission. missile systems and the resulting threats of The White House announced that Prime a military strike from Ankara. We have force- Minister Jean Chretien of Canada and his fully made our concern known to both gov- wife have accepted the President’s invitation ernments. At the same time, we remain com- for an official visit to Washington, DC, on mitted to pursuing a comprehensive settle- April 8. ment on Cyprus. As Secretary Albright stated The White House announced that the during her confirmation hearings: ‘‘We are President has accepted an invitation to visit prepared to play a heightened role in pro- The Netherlands on May 28 to commemo- moting a resolution in Cyprus, but, for any rate the 50th anniversary of the Marshall plan initiative to bear fruit, the parties must agree and to participate in the U.S.-European to steps that will reduce tensions and make Union summit. direct negotiations possible.’’ February 4 Sincerely, The President announced his intention to nominate Theodore F. Verheggen to the William J. Clinton Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission. NOTE: Identical letters were sent to Newt Ging- The White House announced that the rich, Speaker of the House of Representatives, President sent a message to Prime Minister and Jesse Helms, chairman, Senate Committee on Binyamin Netanyahu of Israel extending con- Foreign Relations. dolences on behalf of all Americans to the

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Israeli people and the families of the victims to the Service Academies, or nominations of For- of the Israeli Defense Forces helicopter trag- eign Service officers. edy.

February 5 Submitted February 4 In the morning, the President traveled to Augusta, GA. While en route, aboard Air Jeffrey A. Frankel, Force One, he had a telephone conversation of California, to be a member of the Council with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu of of Economic Advisers, vice Martin Neil Israel to express his condolences. In the Baily, resigned. afternoon, the President returned to Wash- ington, DC. Submitted February 5 February 7 Sophia H. Hall, In the morning, the President had a tele- of Illinois, to be a member of the Board of phone conversation with Chancellor Helmut Directors of the State Justice Institute for Kohl of Germany concerning European se- a term expiring September 17, 2000 (re- curity issues and the future of NATO. appointment). The White House announced the Presi- dent will travel to Mexico from April 11–12 and to the Caribbean and Central and South Marsha Mason, America from May 6–13. of New Mexico, to be a member of the Na- The President announced his intention to tional Council on the Arts for a term expiring nominate Kathryn (Kitty) O’Leary Higgins September 3, 2002, vice Louise M. McClure, for Deputy Secretary of Labor. term expired. The President announced the following White House staff appointments: Lyle Weir Swenson, Thurgood Marshall, Jr., Assistant to the of South Dakota, to be U.S. Marshal for the President and Cabinet Secretary; District of South Dakota, vice Robert Dale Maria Echaveste, Assistant to the Presi- Ecoffey, resigned. dent and Director for Public Liaison; Craig Smith, Assistant to the President and Theodore Francis Verheggen, Director for Political Affairs; of the District of Columbia, to be a member Robert (Ben) Johnson, Deputy Assistant to of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Re- the President and Deputy Director for view Commission for a term expiring August Public Liaison; 30, 2002, vice Arlene Holen, term expired. Minyon Moore, Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy Director for Po- litical Affairs; Withdrawn February 5 Karen Skelton, Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy Director for Po- Sophia H. Hall, litical Affairs; and of Illinois, to be a member of the Board of Beverly Barnes, Senior Adviser to the Directors of the State Justice Institute for Chief of Staff. a term expiring September 17, 2002 (re- appointment).

Nominations Submitted February 6 Submitted to the Senate Ellen Seidman, of the District of Columbia, to be Director The following list does not include promotions of of the Office of Thrift Supervision for a term members of the Uniformed Services, nominations of 5 years, vice Timothy Ryan, resigned.

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Checklist Released February 6 of White House Press Releases Transcript of a press briefing by Press Sec- retary Mike McCurry Transcript of a press briefing by Treasury The following list contains releases of the Office Secretary Robert Rubin, Director of the Of- of the Press Secretary that are neither printed as fice of Management and Budget Frank items nor covered by entries in the Digest of Raines, Chairman of the Council of Eco- Other White House Announcements. nomic Advisers Joe Stiglitz, and National Economic Adviser Gene Sperling on the fis- cal year 1998 budget Released February 3 Transcript of a press briefing by Press Sec- Released February 7 retary Mike McCurry and Deputy Press Sec- Transcripts of press briefings by Press Sec- retary Dave Johnson retary Mike McCurry Statement by Press Secretary Mike McCurry Transcript of a news conference by Vice on the upcoming visit of Prime Minister Jean President Albert Gore, Jr., and Prime Min- Chretien of Canada ister Viktor Chernomyrdin of Russia Statement by Press Secretary Mike McCurry Statement by Press Secretary Mike McCurry announcing the President’s upcoming visit to announcing the President’s upcoming visit to The Netherlands Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central and Announcement on technology cooperation South America between the White House and the Nation’s Announcement of nomination for U.S. Mar- Governors shal for the District of Guam Statement by Press Secretary Mike McCurry Released February 4 on the settlement of the civil case concerning Transcript of a press briefing by Press Sec- Anthony Lake’s stocks retary Mike McCurry Transcript of a press briefing by Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles and Director of the Of- fice Management and Budget Franklin Acts Approved Raines on the State of the Union Address by the President Statement by Press Secretary Mike McCurry on the helicopter accident in Israel Approved February 3 Advance text of excerpts of the State of the H.J. Res. 25 / Public Law 105–1 Union Address Making technical corrections to the Omnibus Announcement of nomination for U.S. Mar- Consolidated Appropriations Act, 1997 (Pub- shal for the District of South Dakota lic Law 104–208), and for other purposes

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