Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Monday, April 28, 1997 Volume 33ÐNumber 17 Pages 551±585 1 VerDate 05-AUG-97 09:21 Aug 14, 1997 Jkt 173998 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 1249 Sfmt 1249 E:\TEMP\P17AP4.000 p17ap4 Contents Addresses and Remarks Interviews With the News MediaÐContinued Chemical Weapons ConventionÐ575, 578 Oval OfficeÐ580 Earth Day and community right-to-know Roosevelt RoomÐ575 lawÐ566 South LawnÐ566 NetDay, teleconference with studentsÐ553 Letters and Messages North Dakota DepartureÐ566 Oklahoma City Memorial Foundation, letterÐ Grand Forks 551 CommunityÐ572 Passover, messageÐ566 Flood damage, roundtable discussionÐ Take Our Daughters to Work Day, messageÐ 569 577 Radio addressÐ552 Meetings With Foreign Leaders United Auto Workers spring conferenceÐ558 Japan, Prime Minister HashimotoÐ580 Communications to Congress Proclamations Chemical Weapons Convention, messagesÐ 582 Law Day, U.S.A.Ð574 National Organ and Tissue Donor Awareness Communications to Federal Agencies WeekÐ555 Delegation of responsibilities to the Secretary National Park WeekÐ557 of State, memorandumÐ579 National Wildlife WeekÐ556 Expanding access to Internet-based Statements by the President educational resources for children, teachers, and parents, memorandumÐ551 Burma, investment sanctionsÐ573 ``Employment Non-Discrimination Act,'' Executive Orders proposed legislationÐ577 Amending Executive Order 12752, Line item veto, decision to expedite reviewÐ Implementation of the Agricultural Trade 577 Development and Assistance Act of 1954, Tobacco regulations, appeal of the District as Amended, and the Food for Progress Act Court decisionÐ581 of 1985, as AmendedÐ563 Supplementary Materials Protection of Children From Environmental Health Risks and Safety RisksÐ563 Acts approved by the PresidentÐ585 Checklist of White House press releasesÐ585 Interviews With the News Media Digest of other White House Exchanges with reporters announcementsÐ584 Briefing RoomÐ578 Nominations submitted to the SenateÐ585 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. 2 VerDate 05-AUG-97 09:21 Aug 14, 1997 Jkt 173998 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 1249 Sfmt 1249 E:\TEMP\P17AP4.000 p17ap4 Week Ending Friday, April 25, 1997 Letter to the Oklahoma City Memorandum on Expanding Access Memorial Foundation to Internet-based Educational Resources for Children, Teachers, April 14, 1997 and Parents Dear Friends: April 18, 1997 Our nation will never forget that tragic Memorandum for the Heads of Executive day, almost two years ago, when we first Departments and Agencies learned of the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Subject: Expanding Access to Internet-based and we will always remember the courage Educational Resources for Children, shown by the citizens of your strong and unit- Teachers, and Parents ed city during that dark time. All Americans My number one priority for the next 4 continue to support your recovery efforts, years is to make sure that all Americans have and our prayers are with you. the best education in the world. With the destruction of the Murrah Fed- One of the goals of my Call to Action for eral Building, we learned once again that American Education is to bring the power America is a family, and that such a brutal of the Information Age into all of our schools. attack on any American is an attack on us This will require connecting every classroom all. In uniting around the citizens of Okla- and library to the Internet by the year 2000; homa City, our nation proved once again that making sure that every child has access to no force of hatred or terrorism can ever de- modern, multimedia computers; giving feat the American spirit. teachers the training they need to be as com- I want to express my support for your ef- fortable with the computer as they are with forts to establish a memorial on the site of the chalkboard; and increasing the availabil- the bombing. This memorial will be a fitting ity of high-quality educational content. When tribute not only to those who died, but also America meets the challenge of making every to those whose lives were changed forever child technologically literate, children in on April 19, 1995. I know that, by honoring rural towns, the suburbs, and inner city our fellow Americans in this way, we can help schools will have the same access to the same universe of knowledge. to further the healing and restore hope for I believe that Federal agencies can make a brighter, more secure future. a significant contribution to expanding this Hillary and I will always remember the universe of knowledge. Some agencies have time we spent with the families and survivors. already launched a number of exciting Please know that we are keeping them, and projects in this area. The White House has all the people of Oklahoma City, in our a special ``White House for Kids'' home page thoughts and prayers. with information on the history of the White Sincerely, House. NASA's K±12 initiative allows stu- dents to interact with astronauts and to share William J. Clinton in the excitement of scientific pursuits such as the exploration of Mars and Jupiter and NOTE: This letter was released by the Office of with experiments conducted on the Space the Press Secretary on April 19. An original was Shuttle. The AskERIC service (Education not available for verification of the content of this Resources Information Center), supported letter. by the Department of Education, has a vir- 551 VerDate 05-AUG-97 09:35 Aug 14, 1997 Jkt 173998 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 1244 Sfmt 1244 E:\TEMP\P17AP4.022 p17ap4 552 Apr. 19 / Administration of William J. Clinton, 1997 tual library of more than 900 lesson plans · Focus on the identification and devel- for K±12 teachers, and provides answers to opment of high-quality educational re- questions from educators within 48 hoursÐ sources that promote high standards of using a nationwide network of experts and teaching and learning in core subjects. databases of the latest research. Students Of particular importance are resources participating in the Vice President's GLOBE that will help students read well and project (Global Learning and Observation for independently by 4th grade, and master a Better Environment) collect actual atmos- challenging mathematics, including al- pheric, aquatic, and biological data and use gebra and geometry, by 8th grade. the Internet to share, analyze, and discuss · Make sure the material you develop is the data with scientists and students all over accessible to people with disabilities. the world. With support from the National Earlier this month, I announced my Science Foundation, the Department of En- support for the Web Accessibility Initia- tive, a public-private partnership that ergy, and the Department of Defense's will make it easier for people with dis- CAETI program (Computer-Aided Edu- abilities to use the World Wide Web. cation and Training Initiative), the Lawrence I am also directing the Department of Berkeley Laboratory has developed a pro- Education to develop a ``Parents Guide to gram that allows high school students to re- the Internet,'' that will explain the edu- quest and download their own observations cational benefits of this exciting resource, as of the universe from professional telescopes. well as steps that parents can take to mini- We can and should do more, however. mize the risks associated with the Internet, Over the next 3 months, you should deter- such as access to material that is inappropri- mine what resources you can make available ate for children. that would enrich the Internet as a tool for The Department of Education will also be teaching and learning, and produce and responsible for chairing an interagency work- make available a new or expanded version ing group to coordinate this initiative to en- of your service within 6 months. sure that the agency-created material is of You should use the following guidelines to high quality, is easily accessible, and pro- support this initiative: motes awareness of Internet-based edu- · Consider a broad range of educational cational resources among teachers, parents, resources, including multimedia publi- and students. cations, archives of primary documents, William J. Clinton networked scientific instruments such as telescopes and supercomputers, and NOTE: This memorandum was released by the Of-