pd09no98 Statement on Signing the Torture Victims Relief Act of 1998...

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another 2 years of partisanship; they need 2 years of progress, of 
putting people over politics. And we need a Congress that doesn't 
retreat from our commitment to hire 100,000 teachers; a Congress that 
makes a commitment to modern schools so those teachers can teach in 
classrooms, not in trailers; a Congress that puts aside partisanship and 
puts our children's future first.
    The American people have the power to elect that kind of Congress. 
Our children are counting on us to do it. So this Tuesday let me urge 
all of you, without regard to your party, please, go out and vote for a 
Congress that will strengthen education and strengthen our Nation for 
the 21st century.
    Thanks for listening.

Note: The President spoke at 10:06 a.m. from Glen Forest Elementary 
School, Falls Church, VA.


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[Page 2205-2207]
 
Monday, November 9, 1998
 
Volume 34--Number 45
Pages 2197-2274
 
Week Ending Friday, November 6, 1998
 
Remarks to the Community at Glen Forest Elementary School in Falls 
Church, Virginia

October 31, 1998

    Thank you. Good morning. First, I would like to thank Susan Fitz, 
Fran Jackson; teachers, Lori Kuzniewski--I was in her class; Ms. Kristen 
Mullen's class; Alan Leis; Paula Johnson, your superintendent; John 
Butterfield, from the education association; Jim and Molly Cameron, from 
the PTA--all the people who made me feel so welcome at this school 
today.
    This is the best of our country's future. I look around this crowd 
today, and I see people whose roots are all over the world, whose 
languages are very different, whose cultures are different, whose 
religions are different, who have come together on this school ground in 
a common endeavor of learning with a promise that our country opens to 
all people who are willing to work hard and be good citizens and do 
their part. It is thrilling for me to be here and look at you. I have a 
much better view than you do today.
    And I loved being with the children in the classroom. The best part 
of this morning so far, for me, has been answering the children's 
questions. They ask very good questions; some of them I didn't want to 
answer even, they were so good. [Laughter] And it gave me a great deal 
of hope for the future.
    You just heard my weekly radio address, so you know that I am very 
concerned about the overcrowding in our Nation's classrooms. We have, 
almost suddenly, the largest group of schoolchildren in our Nation's 
history. I was part of the last large group, the baby boom generation; 
all of us are now between the ages of 34 and 52. This group in school 
today is the first group that is larger.
    We have two huge problems: One is represented here, all the house 
trailers; the other is represented by the dilemma in our largest cities, 
where we have huge numbers of students and wonderful old school 
buildings that were unoccupied for many years. They deteriorated. Many 
of them now can't even be hooked up to the Internet. And we must, as a 
nation, face this challenge.
    In the last Congress, we were able to get a big downpayment on my 
plan for 100,000 more teachers in the early grades to take the average 
size of the classes down to 18 across America in the first 3 grades. But 
we have to have the school buildings, as well. And I did present a plan 
to the Congress, that I will present again early next year, that would 
enable us to build or modernize 5,000 schools. If you want the smaller 
classes, the

[[Page 2206]]

teachers have to have some place to meet with the students.
    And I ask all of you, based on your personal experience here and 
without regard to any political differences you may otherwise have, to 
please, please help me convince the Congress that it is the right thing 
for America's children to have the smaller classes, to have more 
teachers, and to have modern schools. Every single child in America 
deserves them, and the United States ought to be in the forefront of 
helping achieve that. And I thank you for that.
    Let me also say to all of you, I learned when I came here today, 
because I received a little card from one of the students, that next 
week is the week you have student elections at the school here. Now, all 
the students are going to vote. And what I'd like to say is, I hope that 
all the parents will be just as good citizens as the students are. 
Because Tuesday is election day in America, as well.
    For nearly 6 years I have worked hard to bring our country together 
across all the lines that divide us, so that America would work the way 
this school works, so that we could all feel the way I think all of you 
feel today, coming from your different walks of life to this common 
ground. America ought to be a place of common ground, where we move 
forward together.
    I am grateful for the fact that after 6 years we have nearly 17 
million new jobs and the lowest unemployment in 28 years; the highest 
homeownership in history, over two-thirds of Americans in their own 
homes for the first time ever; the smallest percentage of our people on 
public assistance, welfare, in 29 years; lowest crime rate in 25 years. 
I am proud of that. I am also determined that we take this moment of 
prosperity, which has given us the first balanced budget since 1969 and 
a surplus, to meet the long-term challenges of America.
    We talked about education today. There are other long-term 
challenges. Those of you who come from the rest of the world and have 
come here as immigrants, who have relatives in other countries, know 
that there is a lot of financial turmoil in the rest of the world. I 
have done my best to try to help stabilize the global economy because 
America depends upon the success of other people in other countries and 
their being able to have good jobs and raise their children and do 
better.
    I have done my best to see America stand on the forefront of world 
peace. A week ago yesterday we announced the latest agreement between 
the Palestinians and the Israelis, and we hope it will be fully and 
faithfully implemented. And we will continue the work toward peace in 
the Middle East.
    We have to look ahead to what happens when this huge generation of 
baby boomers retires, which is why I have said we should not spend this 
surplus on anything until we have reformed the Social Security system 
and reformed the Medicare system, to make sure that it can be preserved 
for the people who need it, especially when all the baby boomers retire.
    We have to continue to work on the fact that many of our people, 
literally over half of our people, are in HMO's or other managed care 
plans. And this can be a good thing, because we have to save all the 
money we can. But it is wrong if a person is in a health care plan and 
the doctor says, ``You need to see a specialist,'' and the plan says, 
no. It is wrong if someone is in a car accident and they have to pass 
three hospitals that are closer on the way to an emergency room that 
happens to be covered by the plan. It is wrong if someone is pregnant 
and during the pregnancy, or someone is sick with cancer and has had 
chemotherapy and during that treatment an employer changes health care 
providers and the person has to change doctors.
    All of that is wrong. That's why we want a Patients' Bill of Rights 
basically to say: Okay, let's manage the system, but let's put the 
health care of our people first and let medical decisions be made by 
medical professionals, not accountants. I think that is very important. 
All these issues are out there, issues that will affect the long-term 
stability and strength of the United States and our ability to do what 
should be done in the world.
    So let me say that I've been very concerned periodically over the 
last 6 years, and I was especially concerned last year that in 
Washington, DC, in National Government,

[[Page 2207]]

there are not only different parties with different philosophies and 
different views--that is a good thing; we should have different parties, 
different philosophies, different views, different opinions--but there 
is a great deal of difference in constructive debate and extreme 
partisanship which keeps thing from being done.
    In the last year, for 8 months we had extreme partisanship, which 
kept things from being done. And what we need to do is to put the 
progress of all of our people over the partisanship; we need to put 
people over politics; we need to celebrate our differences, but work 
together. That is what I am hoping will come out of this coming 
election. I hope that a Congress will be elected on Tuesday that will 
put the education of our children first and build or modernize these 
5,000 schools.
    I hope the election will produce a Congress that will not spend that 
surplus until we fix Social Security first, to stabilize our country, to 
stabilize our economy and to avoid a situation where when we retire we 
will have to either lower our standard of living or lower the standard 
of living of our children because we refused to take this moment to fix 
the Social Security system. I hope the next Congress will provide the 
American people with a Patients' Bill of Rights. I hope the next 
Congress will provide the American people with a bill to protect our 
children from the dangers of tobacco, the number one public health 
problem in America today. It is wrong that 3,000 children start smoking 
every day; 1,000 will die sooner because of this.
    I hope the next Congress will reach across partisan lines and raise 
the minimum wage for 12 million Americans. The unemployment rate is low; 
the inflation rate is low. You cannot support a family on $5.15 an hour. 
We can afford to do it, and we should do it, and we ought to do it as 
Americans, across partisan lines.
    I hope the next Congress will produce a genuine and bipartisan 
system of campaign finance reform, so that honest debate, instead of big 
money, controls elections.
    All of these things are within your hands. So I say to all the 
adults who are here: Look at these children; look at how fortunate we 
are that they can come together and learn from each other and have the 
right kind of disagreements and go have an election next week in which 
they campaign and make their case and everybody votes. We should set a 
good example. This country is still around after 220 years, having 
undergone unbelievable changes in the makeup of our citizenry because 
more than half the time, more than half the people have been right on 
the big issues.
    This is no ordinary time. The world is changing very fast. It is, 
therefore, no ordinary election. The future of these children, the 
future of our country in the 21st century, is riding on it. So I implore 
all of you, if the education of our children is important to you, if the 
stability of our country and the stability and cause of peace in the 
world is important to you, please set a good example, show up on 
Tuesday, vote, make your voice heard, and go home and talk to your 
children about what you did and how it is at the core of everything that 
makes our country worth living and fighting for.
    Thank you, and God bless you all.

Note: The President spoke at 10:45 a.m. on the athletic field. In his 
remarks, he referred to Susan Fitz, principal, and teachers Fran 
Jackson, Lori Kuzniewski, and Kristen Mullen, Glen Forest Elementary 
School; Alan Leis, deputy superintendent of schools, and Paula Johnson, 
area superintendent, Fairfax County, VA; John Butterfield, president, 
Fairfax Education Association; and Jim and Molly Cameron, co-presidents, 
Parent Teacher Association.


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[Page 2207-2208]
 
Monday, November 9, 1998
 
Volume 34--Number 45
Pages 2197-2274
 
Week Ending Friday, November 6, 1998
 
Statement on Signing the Utah Schools and Land Exchange Act of 1998

October 31, 1998

    Today I am very pleased to sign into law H.R. 3830, the ``Utah 
Schools and Land Exchange Act of 1998.''
    This legislation is an occasion for celebration for the people of 
Utah and, indeed, all Americans who care about environmental protection 
and public land management.
    This exchange of land, mineral rights, commercial properties, and 
natural treasures between the United States and the State of

[[Page 2208]]

Utah is the largest such land exchange in the history of the lower 48 
States. The exchange will help capitalize a long-neglected State school 
trust by putting it on solid footing and allowing it to pay rewards to 
the children of Utah for generations to come. The United States will 
obtain valuable land, thus allowing it to consolidate resources within 
the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, the Goshute and Navajo 
Indian Reservations, and national parks and forests in Utah.
    This Act brings to an end 6 decades of controversy surrounding State 
lands within Utah's national parks, forests, monuments, and 
reservations, and ushers in a new era of cooperation and progressive 
land management. We have shown that good faith, hard work, 
bipartisanship, and a commitment to protect both the environment and the 
taxpayer can result in a tremendous victory for all. I especially wish 
to thank Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt and Kathleen McGinty, 
outgoing Chair of the Council on Environmental Quality, for their 
contribution to this major achievement.
    The Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, a magnificent 
natural wonder and scientific treasure trove, was born 2 years ago. On 
that day, I made a promise to work to ensure that Utah's schoolchildren, 
the beneficiaries of the State trust holdings within the Monument, would 
in fact benefit from, and not be harmed by, the establishment of this 
national showcase.
    I am proud to say we have kept our promise. We have delivered more, 
and in a shorter time, than perhaps anyone believed possible. In these 2 
years, we have worked closely with citizens and elected officials alike 
to make America's newest National Monument a success of which we all can 
be proud.
    This bipartisan legislation shows that we can work together for the 
common good, for our environment, for education, and for our shared 
legacy as stewards of the Nation's natural public land treasures.
                                            William J. Clinton
The White House,
October 31, 1998.

Note: H.R. 3830, approved October 31, was assigned Public Law No. 105-
335.


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[Page 2208-2209]
 
Monday, November 9, 1998
 
Volume 34--Number 45
Pages 2197-2274
 
Week Ending Friday, November 6, 1998
 
Statement on Signing the William F. Goodling Child Nutrition 
Reauthorization Act of 1998

October 31, 1998

    Today I am signing into law H.R. 3874, the ``William F. Goodling 
Child Nutrition Reauthorization Act of 1998.'' This legislation extends 
the authorization of appropriations for a number of child nutrition 
programs, including the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for 
Women, Infants, and Children--more commonly known as WIC--and the Summer 
Food Service and Farmers Market Nutrition Programs. In addition, it 
makes various amendments to these programs to expand children's access 

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