pd05jn00 United States-European Union Summit Statement on a New World Trade...

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ensure that our food supply remains the safest in the world.

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appropriate issue.


<DOC>
[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents]
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[Page 1242-1243]
 
Monday, June 5, 2000
 
Volume 36--Number 22
Pages 1241-1269
 
Week Ending Friday, June 2, 2000
 
The President's Radio Address

May 27, 2000

    Good morning. Memorial Day weekend is a special time to honor those 
who have fought for our freedom but also to gather with our family and 
friends at picnics and backyard barbecues. Where we take pride in 
serving up plenty of good food, we should also take pains that the food 
we serve is good for us. Today I want to talk about new steps we're 
taking to empower Americans with the latest and best information on food 
and nutrition.
    For 20 years now, the Federal Government has been setting guidelines 
for good nutrition based on the best scientific evidence. And for over 6 
years, the Government has required nutrition labeling on most foods. 
With better information, Americans are making better choices. We're 
eating less fat as a percentage of our diet, more fruits, vegetables, 
and whole grains, and average blood cholesterol levels are going down.

[[Page 1243]]

    Yet despite this progress, the vast majority of Americans still 
don't have healthy diets. And some changes in our lifestyles are making 
matters worse. We're eating more fast food because of our hectic 
schedules, and we're less physically active because of our growing 
reliance on modern conveniences, from cars to computers to remote 
controls. As a result, more and more Americans are overweight or obese, 
including 1 in 10 children. This is an alarming trend, because obesity 
and bad eating habits contribute to four of the leading causes of death: 
heart disease, stroke, cancer, and diabetes.
    To address these challenges, experts from around our Nation will 
meet next week in Washington for a summit on nutrition sponsored by the 
Departments of Agriculture and Health and Human Services. It will be the 
first national nutrition summit in 31 years. To kick off the summit, 
today I am releasing the Federal Government's new Dietary Guidelines 
2000. They're updated every 5 years. These guidelines serve as the gold 
standard of nutritional information. They determine, among other things, 
the nutritional content of the lunches served to 26 million of our 
children every day in school.
    These new guidelines strengthen the message that doctors and 
scientists have been telling us for some time now: We should choose more 
whole-grain foods and a variety of fruits and vegetables every day, and 
we should moderate the saturated fat, cholesterol, sugar, salt, and 
alcohol in our diets.
    There are two new guidelines this year as well. One emphasizes the 
importance of handling and storing food safely. The other makes clear 
the enormous benefits of building physical activity into our daily 
lives. Just a brisk 30-minute walk five times a week, for instance, can 
cut the chance of developing or dying from heart disease in half.
    I'm also pleased to announce today that this summer the Federal 
Government will propose that packaged meat and poultry sold in stores 
must come with nutrition labels. This is just plain common sense. 
Shoppers value the fact that when they pick up a box of cereal or a 
frozen meal, they can check the nutrition labels and see how many 
calories or grams of saturated fat these foods contain. That's the same 
kind of information that ought to be put on every package of ground 
beef. Currently, fewer than 60 percent of retailers do so, because 
nutrition labeling for meat is voluntary. It's time we made it 
mandatory.
    Providing citizens with accurate information that affects their 
lives is one of Government's most vital responsibilities. But citizens 
have a responsibility to use that information wisely, as well, 
especially when it comes to the food they provide their children and the 
habits they encourage in them. So this weekend, have a good time. Let's 
all eat well and eat right. Let's enjoy the outdoors and get some 
physical activity and be thankful for the bounteous times in which we 
live and the country that makes us so proud.
    Thanks for listening.

Note: The address was recorded at 4:39 p.m. on May 26 in the Oval Office 
at the White House for broadcast at 10:06 a.m. on May 27. The transcript 
was made available by the Office of the Press Secretary on May 26 but 
was embargoed for release until the broadcast.


<DOC>
[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents]
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[Page 1243]
 
Monday, June 5, 2000
 
Volume 36--Number 22
Pages 1241-1269
 
Week Ending Friday, June 2, 2000
 
Statement on the Ulster Unionist Council Vote in Northern Ireland

May 27, 2000

    I am delighted that, with today's historic developments, the 
Northern Ireland peace process is back on track. I congratulate David 
Trimble and the Ulster Unionist Council on their decision to return to 
self-government in Northern Ireland. This is a giant step toward 
fulfillment of the historic promise of the Good Friday accord to provide 
self-government to all the people on the basis of equality, consent, and 
the use of exclusively peaceful means. The parties are now ready to 
reenter the Executive and Legislative Assembly in the coming days. It is 
now possible for the politics of conflict to be transformed into the 
politics of consensus. I applaud the leadership of Tony Blair, Bertie 
Ahern, and all the parties. The wind is back in the sails of peace in 
Northern Ireland.

[[Page 1244]]


<DOC>
[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents]
 [frwais.access.gpo.gov]
                         

[Page 1244-1246]
 
Monday, June 5, 2000
 
Volume 36--Number 22
Pages 1241-1269
 
Week Ending Friday, June 2, 2000
 
Remarks at a Memorial Day Ceremony in Arlington, Virginia

May 29, 2000

    Thank you very much. Secretary Cohen, thank you for your kind 
remarks and for your leadership. General Ivany, Superintendent Metzler, 
Colonel Durham, Secretary West, Secretary Slater, General Shelton and 
the Joint Chiefs, General McCaffrey, Members of Congress and the 
diplomatic corps, veterans and family members, members of the Armed 
Services, members of the Armed Services who gave their lives for our 
country, my fellow Americans.
    We are blessed again today, together again in this magnificent 
amphitheater in our National Cemetery, to remember our fallen heroes. We 
honor, as well, all the proud veterans who would have made the same 
sacrifice if God had but called His heroes home in a different order.
    As you entered the grounds this morning, you saw every gravestone 
decorated with an American flag. Indeed, this day of remembrance was 
first known as Decoration Day, launched in 1868 by the Commander in 
Chief of the Grand Army of the Republic who designated this day for 
decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country. 
Some still mark this holiday in the same way.
    On Thursday before Memorial Day, this year and every year for more 
than 40 years now, the entire regiment of 1,200 soldiers of the 3d U.S. 
Infantry has honored America's fallen heroes by placing American flags 
before every single one of the more than 260,000 gravestones here at 
Arlington; then remaining on patrol 24 hours a day all weekend long to 
make sure each flag remains standing.
    All across our country in small towns and large cities, veterans 
groups represented here today perform the same sacred ritual. I want to 
recognize and thank the members of the Old Guard and the veterans all 
across America for their patriotism, devotion, and commitment to 
honoring the original meaning of Memorial Day. I thank them very, very 
much.
    Arlington's hallowed earth embraces the bodies of service men and 
women from every one of our Nation's wars. Every generation has borne a 
share of the burden of defending the Republic and giving to each 
succeeding generation the chance for freedom. Presidents Kennedy and 
Taft are buried here. Generals Pershing and Bradley are buried here. 
Admirals Halsey and Rickover are buried here, as are John Foster Dulles 
and Oliver Wendell Holmes, George Marshall and Audie Murphy.
    Three of the Marines we remember forever for raising our flag on Iwo 
Jima--they are buried here. And of course, all the unknown, unsung 
heroes of more than two centuries of fighting tyranny are buried here. 
This is sacred soil and the heart and the history of America.
    Our hearts go out today especially to those our departed veterans 
left behind, the young women who had to cancel a wedding, young mothers 
who raised their children alone, mothers and fathers who faced perhaps 
life's greatest heartbreak. To all the families who have placed a gold 
star in their window, I renew our Nation's enduring pledge: The United 
States will always honor and never forsake its fallen heroes. We will 
not abandon their families. And wherever it takes, as long as it takes, 
we will keep our commitment to seek the fullest possible accounting.
    This morning we were honored to receive at the White House the sons 
and daughters and spouses of servicemen still missing in action. There 
is no more compelling way to understand how important our continuous 
efforts are to the hearts and minds of Americans than to hear it from 
family members themselves. And that is why I am pleased to announce to 
you today that the United States and North Korea have agreed to resume 
the talks the first week of June in Kuala Lumpur in hopes of resuming 
recovery operations in North Korea this year.
    As we prepare to observe the 50th anniversary of the beginning of 
the Korean war, on June 25th, we reaffirm our commitment to the more 
than 1.7 million Americans who served in Korea, the more than 36,000 who 
lost their lives there, and the more than 8,100 still missing.
    I also want to tell you today about the latest American soldier to 
come home. Just last week our team of specialists identified finally

[[Page 1245]]

and officially the remains of a soldier of the 1st Calvary Regiment of 
the Americal division, whose Huey helicopter was flying in the weeds at 
25 feet over Laos in the summer of 1970 when it lost power and crashed. 
The young soldier died immediately. When others rushed to the scene to 
bring his body out, they were forced back by enemy fire. When they tried 
again a short time later, they were again forced back. But finally, 
America returned to recover its own.
    Years later, with the help of several governments, extensive 
interviews, excavations, and DNA testing, a positive identification was 
made. Army Specialist 4 John E. Crowley, of Williamson, New York, 
forever 20 years old, was laid to rest here in Arlington Cemetery on 
Friday in a simple ceremony attended by his mother, brother, cousins, 
nieces, and nephews. For the life and service of Specialist Crowley, for 
the sacrifice of his family and every family that has suffered such 
loss, America is eternally grateful.
    We are also grateful for the many groups like Rolling Thunder, who 
come to Washington to advocate for our POW/MIA families. We hear you. We 
certainly hear Rolling Thunder when they're here. [Laughter] We welcome 
you, and we are honored to work with you.
    To preserve the peace, we must never forget the sacrifices that have 
paved the way to peace. Four years ago, Carmella LaSpada, a longtime 
advocate for families who have lost a loved one in conflict, asked a 
group of school children what Memorial Day means. And the children said, 
that's the day the pool opens. [Laughter] Well, that's not their fault 
that that was their answer. We adults must do more to teach them.
    That's why Carmella worked with Lieutenant Colonel Jeff Douglass and 
so many of you here today to launch a new national commitment to put 
``memorial'' back in Memorial Day. So today, for the third straight 
year, I ask all Americans, in a profoundly symbolic and important act of 
national unity, to pause, wherever they are at 3 p.m. local time, to 
observe a national moment of remembrance for America's fallen heroes.
    At that time, the somber tones of ``Taps,'' our national requiem, 
will be played all across America and beyond, in the U.S. Capitol, in 
the Vietnam Memorial, at Ellis Island and the Liberty Bell, in VA 
hospitals and national parks, on Voice of America and Armed Forces 
Network, and in hundreds of places we Americans will be gathering today. 
When little boys and girls turn to their parents and whisper, ``Mommy, 
Daddy, what's happening?'' a new generation of Americans will have a 
chance to hear about the defenders of freedom.
    As we remember their sacrifice, as Secretary Cohen so eloquently 
pointed out, we must also resolve to fulfill the obligation the rest of 
us incurred with their sacrifice, to keep America free and strong. If 
those who fought and died for us could talk to us on this Memorial Day, 
they might well ask, ``America, have you made our sacrifice matter?'' At 
the dawn of a new century, Americans can answer that question with 
solemn pride. Today, we are fortunate to be the most powerful and 
prosperous nation on Earth, with a military respected around the world. 
We could say, ``Yes, America has made your sacrifice matter.''
    America is at peace. And the risk of war that would scar the lives 
of a whole generation has been vastly reduced. Yes, America has made 
your sacrifice matter. You fought for freedom in foreign lands, knowing 
it would protect our freedom at home. Today, freedom advances all around 
the world, and for the first time in all human history, more than half 
the world's people choose their own leaders. Yes, America has made your 
sacrifice matter.
    You fought to conquer tyranny and bring unity to Europe, where more 
than 100,000 American heroes are now buried. You gave your lives in 
places like Flanders Field and Normandy. But today, Europe is more 
united, more free, more peaceful than anytime in history. We have three 
new allies in NATO and many new partners across Europe's old cold war 
divide. Central Europe is free and flourishing. Soldiers from almost 
every European country, the most bitter former adversaries among them, 
now serve under a single command, keeping the peace in Bosnia, in 
Kosovo. Yes, America is making your sacrifice matter.
    We have more to do. Later today I will leave for Europe to meet with 
our partners

[[Page 1246]]

in the European Union in Portugal and to make the first visit of an 
American President to Berlin as the capital of a free and undivided 
Germany. We will continue our work with our European allies for peace 
and freedom--to make their sacrifice matter.
    I will visit Russia, the former adversary with whom we are trying so 
hard to build a new partnership and a safer world. Russia has just seen 
its first transition from one democratically elected government to 
another in 1,000 years of history. For the first time an American 
President will speak to a democratically elected Russian Parliament. As 
we support those changes, we will continue to push for greater and 
deeper ones--to make their sacrifice matter.
    I will go to Ukraine, a large country with over 60 million people, 
struggling to cast off the bitter legacy of communism; located in a 
strategic place that will determine much of the future of the 21st 
century; to support those who favor freedom and prosperity and 
stability--to make their sacrifice matter.
    The world of today would not be recognized by those who lived at the 
beginning of the cold war. Old adversaries have become allies; 
dictatorships have become democracies; Europe is more peaceful and 
united; the communism we fought to contain has collapsed, reformed, or 

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