pd06no00 Remarks at a Reception for African-American Religious Leaders...

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research and ensure balanced support for all science and engineering 
disciplines. Increased investments will spur new discoveries in the 
fields of information technology, nanotechnology, biocomplexity, and 
other areas of fundamental science and engineering. The Act also 
adequately funds the new Scholarship for Service program at NSF, a 
component of the Federal Cyber Services, which will provide scholarships 
to students pursuing academic careers in Information Assurance. One of 
the five education and training initiatives in the National Plan for 
Information Systems Protection, this program supports the 
Administration's efforts to protect the Nation's critical 
infrastructures by increasing the number of skilled technologists 
working for the Federal Government. In exchange for up to 2 years of 
scholarship support, students will work for the Federal Government for 
an amount of time at least equal to the scholarship period.
    This Act will also help to expand our investments in space 
exploration by including a $684 million increase, to $14.3 billion, for 
NASA. The Act fully funds the Space Launch Initiative that will improve 
the economics of space transportation dramatically. The additional 
resources will help the agency meet its human space flight needs more 
safely and at lower cost through the development of a new generation of 
space launch vehicles and enable NASA to establish a sustained presence 
at key research sites in our solar system.
    I am pleased that this Act adequately funds FEMA to help cope with 
unforeseen disasters. The $1.3 billion in contingent emergency funds, 
along with the $297 million appropriated, ensures that the country is 
well-prepared to deal with unforeseen natural disasters.
    I am also pleased that the Act provides my requested $22.4 billion 
for veterans' medical care, benefits, and the National Cemetery System. 
This $1.5 billion increase over last year represents the largest 
increase ever requested by an Administration. It will allow us to treat 
more veterans in the medical care system with high-quality and timely 
care, improve the delivery of veterans' disability and education 
benefits, and ensure that our Nation's veterans are honored in 
cemeteries that are maintained as National Shrines. The bill also takes 
the long-overdue steps of improving benefits for World War II Filipino 
veterans with service-connected disabilities who live in the United 
States, by providing

[[Page 2660]]

the same disability, burial, health care, and long-term care benefits 
that other veterans receive.
    I am also pleased today to be able to sign into law the Energy and 
Water Development Appropriations Act, 2001, now that the Congress has 
dropped an unacceptable rider that would have prevented the Army Corps 
of Engineers from revising its operating manual for the Missouri River, 
which is 40 years old and needs to be updated. This action will enable 
the Army Corps to move forward to achieve a reasonable balance among the 
competing interests of the many people who seek to use this great 
American river, while addressing the needs of the fish and wildlife 
species that depend upon it. To ensure a thorough discussion and review 
of the issues raised concerning revisions to the manual, the Secretary 
of the Army and the Secretary of the Interior will consult fully with 
other Federal agencies, with State and local officials, and with 
interested stakeholders on the specific measures that the Army Corps may 
need to undertake during FY 2001. As part of this effort, the Army Corps 
will work with the parties to explore alternatives to, and modifications 
of, any proposed Federal actions on the lower Missouri River that may 
affect downstream landowners or barge traffic. Furthermore, the Army 
Corps will not make changes to its river operations under this 
legislation that will have significant adverse impacts on the downstream 
landowners or barge traffic.
    I am disappointed that the final bill does not include my request 
for the CALFED Bay-Delta program or sufficient funds to restore 
endangered salmon in the Pacific Northwest, and includes no funds for 
new construction projects for the Florida Everglades and the Challenge 
21 and recreation modernization programs, or for construction of the 
emergency flood control outlet at Devils Lake, North Dakota. These 
omissions are especially striking in light of the bill's inclusion of 
nearly 240 unrequested Corps of Engineers projects totaling over $300 
million.
    I want to acknowledge the efforts the Congress has made in 
appropriating $20 million for the establishment of the Delta Regional 
Authority, a Federal-State partnership focused on promoting economic 
growth in the Mississippi Delta region.
    Finally, I am pleased that the final bill provides $17.8 billion for 
the Department of Energy (DOE). This funding supports environmental 
restoration projects at DOE sites throughout the country and cutting-
edge scientific research such as the Spallation Neutron Source. It also 
includes essential funds for maintaining the safety and reliability of 
our nuclear weapons stockpile. Although the bill does not include my 
full request for the Climate Change Technology Initiative, it does 
provide almost $70 million more than the FY 2000 enacted level. Included 
in this Initiative is $375 million for solar and renewable energy, more 
than a 20 percent increase over the FY 2000 level for this program. The 
bill also provides $203 million in additional funding to address the 
damage caused by the Cerro Grande fire. I am concerned, however, that 
the bill contains limits on the term of office for the first person 
appointed to the position of Under Secretary for Nuclear Security at the 
Department of Energy and would restrict the President's ability to 
remove that official to cases of ``inefficiency, neglect of duty, or 
malfeasance of office.'' Particularly in light of the Under Secretary's 
significant executive authority and responsibility in nuclear security, 
I understand the phrase ``neglect of duty'' to include, among other 
things, a failure to comply with the lawful directives or policies of 
the President.
    I am proud that my Administration and the Congress were able to work 
together successfully on two bills to resolve our respective differences 
and produce an Act that effectively addresses critical needs of the 
American people.
                                            William J. Clinton
 The White House,
 October 27, 2000.

  Note:  H.R. 4635, approved October 27, was assigned Public Law No. 
106-377 This item was released by the Office of the Press Secretary on 
October 28. An original was not available for verification of the 
content of this statement.

[[Page 2661]]


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

[Page 2661-2662]
 
Monday, November 6, 2000
 
Volume 36--Number 44
Pages 2651-2760
 
Week Ending Friday, November 3, 2000
 
The President's Radio Address

October 28, 2000

    Good morning. Here in Washington, after months of partisan delay by 
the congressional majority, Congress still hasn't completed its work on 
the budget--even though the budget year ended a month ago.
    Yet, when Congress has acted in a spirit of bipartisanship, we've 
made remarkable progress. Today I want to talk to you about the most 
significant step we've ever taken to secure the health and safety of 
women at home and around the world. It's a new law I'm signing called 
the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act.
    In America today, domestic violence is the number one health risk 
for women between the ages of 15 and 44. Close to a third of all women 
murdered in this country were killed by their husbands, former husbands, 
or boyfriends. Every 12 seconds, another woman is beaten. That's nearly 
900,000 victims every year.
    And statistics tell us that in half the families where a spouse is 
beaten, the children are beaten, too. Domestic violence is a criminal 
activity. It devastates its victims and affects us all. It increases 
health costs, keeps people from showing up to work, prevents them from 
performing at their best. It destroys families, relationships, and 
lives, and it tears at the fabric of who we are as a people.
    That's why, as part of our 1994 crime bill, Al Gore and I fought 
hard to pass the landmark Violence Against Women Act--the foundation of 
the bill I will be signing. That law imposed tough new penalties for 
actions of violence against women. It helped to train police, 
prosecutors, and judges to better understand domestic violence, to 
recognize its symptoms when they see them, and to take steps to prevent 
them.
    It gave grants to shelters that are havens for victims of domestic 
violence, and it set up a 24-hour, 7-day-a-week toll-free national 
hotline to help women get the emergency assistance and counseling they 
need, to find a shelter, and to report abuse to the authorities.
    Most of all, the Violence Against Women Act worked. The hotline has 
been a tremendous help. More than half a million victims have found 
assistance by calling it. Police officers who once shied away from so-
called family squabbles are now getting involved in saving lives. Best 
of all, violence against women by an intimate partner has fallen 21 
percent since 1993.
    The bill I'm signing will keep that progress going by keeping the 
Violence Against Women Act the law of the land. It provides new 
resources for Native American communities, restores protections for 
battered immigrant women, and, for the first time, extends a law to 
cover women abused by their boyfriends.
    The new law contains another provision, too, one that will 
strengthen our fight against the insidious global practice of 
trafficking in human beings. Every year, a million or more women, 
children, and men are forced or tricked into lives of utter misery--into 
prostitution, sweatshop work, domestic or farm labor, or debt bondage. 
This is slavery, plain and simple. And it's not just something that 
happens far from our shores.
    In fact, each year as many as 50,000 people are brought to the 
United States for this cruel purpose. We must do our part to stop those 
responsible for these crimes and to help their victims. The bill I'm 
signing will help to do that.
    It establishes the first Federal law that specifically targets this 
problem, setting out harsh penalties for those who trade in human 
beings, requiring convicted traffickers to forfeit their assets and make 
restitution to those they have exploited. The law gives victims better 
access to services like shelters, counseling, and medical care. It 
enables victims to stay in the United States so they can receive those 
services and helps law enforcement agencies to prosecute the 
traffickers. It increases our assistance to other countries as well to 
help them detect and punish this pernicious practice, and it provides 
for sanctions for any countries that refuse to take steps to end 
trafficking in women and children. I worked hard for these provisions. 
They build on what we've been doing at home and abroad to address the 
problem.
    We see in the success of this landmark legislation once again that 
there is no real secret to getting things done in Washington. When

[[Page 2662]]

we put progress over partisanship, we get results. When we work 
together, we get results.
    Now, we've shown once again we can work together by passing this 
landmark legislation to fight violence against women. Let's follow the 
rule and finish all the work the American people expect of us. It's time 
for Congress to set partisanship aside on the last two unfinished bills 
and complete a budget with smaller class sizes, modern classrooms, 
family tax cuts, and a higher minimum wage--one that honors our values 
and secures a better future for our children and our great Nation.
    Thanks for listening.

 Note:  The address was recorded at 6:57 p.m. on October 27 in the Oval 
Office at the White House for broadcast at 10:06 a.m. on October 28. The 
transcript was made available by the Office of the Press Secretary on 
October 27 but was embargoed for release until the broadcast. H.R. 3244, 
approved October 28, was assigned Public Law No. 106-386.


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

[Page 2662-2665]
 
Monday, November 6, 2000
 
Volume 36--Number 44
Pages 2651-2760
 
Week Ending Friday, November 3, 2000
 
Statement on Signing the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection 
Act of 2000

October 28, 2000

    Today I am pleased to sign into law H.R. 3244, the ``Victims of 
Trafficking and Violence Prevention Act of 2000'' (the ``Act''). This 
landmark legislation accomplishes a number of important objectives and 
Administration priorities. It strengthens and improves upon the Nation's 
efforts to fight violence against women. It also provides important new 
tools and resources to combat the worldwide scourge of trafficking in 
persons and provides vital assistance to victims of trafficking. And it 
helps American victims of terrorism abroad to collect court-awarded 
compensation.
    This legislation builds on the ``Violence Against Women Act of 
1994'' (VAWA), which created new Federal crimes and enhanced penalties 
to combat sexual assault and domestic violence, and established new 
grant programs for law enforcement agencies, prosecution offices, and 
victim services organizations to fight violence against women. It also 
authorized funding for education, outreach, and prevention programs, 
which have helped to create coordinated community responses to violence 
against women throughout the United States. While we can certainly take 
pride in what we have accomplished since 1994, we know we must do more. 
To that end, H.R. 3244 reauthorizes VAWA and improves on the original 
bill by establishing several new initiatives.
    I am particularly pleased that H.R. 3244 reauthorizes VAWA's grant 
programs through Fiscal Year 2005. The Act improves several current 
programs by setting aside 5 percent of VAWA grant funds for tribes and 
directing resources toward certain traditionally underserved 
populations, such as victims of dating violence, older women, and women 
with disabilities. The Act requires certain VAWA's grantees to 
facilitate the filing and service of protection orders without cost to 
the victims. The Act authorizes a civil legal assistance program for 
victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking, who 
desperately need help with legal matters related to their abuse. The Act 
authorizes appropriations through Fiscal Year 2005 for the National 
Domestic Violence Hotline, battered women's shelters, and rape 
prevention and education grants. H.R. 3244 requires national standards 
and protocols for conducting sexual assault forensic examinations, as 
well as establishes supervised visitation programs, which will help 
ensure that children are safe when visiting with their parents and that 
battered women remain safe during visitation exchanges.
    The Act also will improve the ability of Federal prosecutors to 
prosecute interstate crimes of domestic violence, stalking, and 
violations of protection orders. The Act creates an interstate 
cyberstalking offense. The Act enhances the enforcement of protection 
orders across State and tribal lines by prohibiting registration as a 
prerequisite to enforcement of out-of-state or tribal orders and by 
prohibiting notification of a batterer without the victim's consent when 
an order is registered in a new jurisdiction. Moreover, the Act amends 
the Parental Kidnaping Prevention Act to expand emergency jurisdiction 
to cover domestic violence, thus enabling victims who flee abuse to 
obtain custody orders without returning to the jurisdiction where the 
batterer resides.

[[Page 2663]]

    Of great importance, H.R. 3244 restores and expands VAWA's 
protections for battered immigrants by helping them escape abuse and by 
holding batterers accountable. The Act establishes a new nonimmigrant 
visa classification, which will offer greater protection to victims, 
while strengthening the ability of law enforcement agencies to detect, 
investigate, and prosecute cases of domestic violence, sexual assault, 
trafficking, and other violent crimes.
    I am confident that enactment of these provisions and the other 
improvements to VAWA contained in H.R. 3244 will substantially enhance 
our efforts to end violence against women in America and provide 
essential services to victims of domestic violence and sexual assault.

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