Home > 2000 Presidential Documents > pd10ap00 Contents...pd10ap00 Contents...
improving teacher quality, in our efforts to turn around schools or shut
them down or reopen them under new management.
Even though they claim to be for accountability, the one proven
strategy we've gotten that I've seen over and over and over work--from
small rural schools in Kentucky to urban schools in California and New
York and Ohio--a strategy to identify the schools, turn them around,
shut them down, or put them under new management, they failed to support
this strategy.
It underfunds our GEAR UP program to get disadvantaged students
focused on and prepared for college. It fails to give hard-pressed
middle class families a $10,000 tax deduction for college tuition, which
they desperately need.
Now, we've got a $230 billion surplus, folks. This Congress voted to
get rid of the estate tax, to give a $6.5 million tax break to some
Americans. They voted for a marriage penalty relief that didn't just
relieve the marriage penalty but gave other upper income Americans huge
tax breaks. The least we can do is adequately invest in education. More
Americans will make more money, including already wealthy Americans, by
having an educated work force in this country, than by anything we can
do in giving specialized tax cuts. And we ought to do it and do it now.
We have evidence that, if you invest more and demand more, you can
turn the schools around, improve student achievement, get more of our
young people going to college, and, as we've seen today in stunning
fashion, make the student loan program work better for more students and
for the American taxpayers as well.
This is worth fighting for. We now have lots and lots of evidence
that if we invest more, and do it in an intelligent way, we can produce
real results for the American people. There is no more powerful example
than what Secretary Riley and the Department of Education, along with
people that have worked with them throughout the country, in college and
university after college and university, and more responsible, active
students, have done to turn this student loan program around.
Now, it will be available for more and more and more students, and
it will do more good, for more and more and more students. We need more
stories like Raquel Talley's.
[[Page 2281]]
We need more young people like her, who want to give their lives to the
education of our children. And we ought to do whatever is necessary to
make sure, number one, they can go to college, get out, and succeed, and
number two, when someone like her goes in the classroom, the rest of us
do whatever we can to make sure she succeeds in the classroom, as well.
Thank you very much.
Note: The President spoke at 11:05 a.m. in Presidential Hall in the
Dwight D. Eisenhower Executive Office Building. In his remarks, he
referred to Raquel Talley, student loan recipient who introduced the
President; and NAGB, the National Assessment Governing Board.
<DOC>
[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents]
[frwais.access.gpo.gov]
[Page 2281-2282]
Monday, October 9, 2000
Volume 36--Number 40
Pages 2269-2347
Week Ending Friday, October 6, 2000
Remarks Prior to a Meeting With Congressional and Religious Leaders and
an Exchange With Reporters
October 2, 2000
Debt Relief for Poor Countries
The President. Just before you all came in, I looked around this
table and I said, ``I imagine this is the most amazing group of
Americans who has gathered together here in this room since Theodore
Roosevelt inaugurated it in 1902.'' And I thank them all for coming. I
think it shows you the depth and breadth of commitment of congressional,
religious, and civic leaders to convince Congress to appropriate the
entire $435 million that we pledged in debt relief to the world's
poorest countries and to authorize the International Monetary Fund to do
its share as well.
It's not often we have a chance to do something that economists tell
us is the financial imperative and religious leaders say is a moral
imperative. It's not often that we find an issue that puts John Kasich
and Maxine Waters on the same side, economists and evangelicals in the
same room. All of us feel a common obligation to do the right thing.
In the most indebted countries, one in ten children dies before his
or her first birthday; one in three is malnourished; the average adult
has only 3 years of schooling. This is a terrible omen for our shared
future on this planet, and it is wrong.
More than a year ago, religious leaders organized a very successful
global campaign for debt relief. It touched many of us here today and
generated strong bipartisan support in the Congress. The United States
developed a plan with other creditor nations to triple debt relief
available to the world's poorest nations, provided they agreed to put
the savings from debt payments into health and education. Here are the
results so far.
Last year Bolivia saved $77 million and spent it on health and
education. Uganda used its savings to double its primary school
enrollment. Honduras now intends to offer every child 9 years of
schooling, instead of 6. Mozambique is buying much needed medicines for
Government clinics, especially important there in light of the terrible
floods they experienced.
Now, other nations are watching to see if the United States will do
its part. If we don't, it's possible that some nations will do all the
work that we should have done to qualify, or that they needed to do to
qualify, but they won't get any relief at all.
Now, let me remind you, we are talking here about one-five-
thousandth of our budget to lift the burden of debt around the world for
years to come. We're talking about giving as many as 33 nations a chance
for a new beginning and about doing good works that our different faiths
demand of us. This is a remarkable opportunity that we must seize now,
and we must not let other issues divert us from it.
Again, I'm profoundly grateful to all of you for coming and to you,
especially, Representative Kasich, for making sure that this is a broad
bipartisan group. So I'd like to open the floor to you to say a few
words.
[At this point, Representative John Kasich, Representative Nancy Pelosi,
and Archbishop Theodore McCarrick, U.S. Catholic Conference, made brief
remarks.]
The President. Thank you. I'd just like to make one more point that
I think none of us made, but it's worth making. And again, I want to say
this is an amazing group. Rabbi, we thank you for coming. Reverend
Robertson and all the Members of Congress. Bono, thanks for coming back
from Ireland.
[[Page 2282]]
There is another point that should be made here. Some of the people
who have not supported us have said, ``Well, so many countries have
problems of their own making, they've got to solve their own problems.''
The unique thing about this debt-relief initiative is that the money has
to go to meet the human needs of the people. It cannot go to pad the
government; it cannot go to pad private pockets; it cannot go to build
military arsenals. It can only go to meet long-term human needs.
So that if we can do this, one of the best long-term benefits will
be we will be providing a breathtaking incentive for good governance in
these countries, which will enable them to do things for their own
people that would have been unimaginable just a few years ago. So that's
another reason that I am profoundly grateful to all of you for this.
Now, we'll take a couple of questions and we've got to----
Middle East Peace Process
Q. Mr. President, two questions. First, over the weekend, did you
personally see the videotape of the 12-year-old Palestinian boy who was
shot over the weekend, and have you got a reaction to it? And secondly,
sir, what assurances have you received in the last 24 hours from either
Prime Minister Barak or Chairman Arafat that they are doing all that
they can to bring a cessation to the violence?
The President. The answer to your first question is, I did see it.
Q. Your reaction, sir?
The President. The first time I saw it, I didn't know what the
result was, and I kept wondering if there was something else that the
father could do to shield the child. I mean, I was literally watching as
if it were someone I knew. It was a heartbreaking thing to see a child
like that caught in the crossfire.
I've talked to Chairman Arafat. I've talked to Prime Minister Barak.
We've had virtually constant contact with them. I am convinced that they
must do everything in their power to stop the violence, and I think they
are now trying. And we're going to do everything we can. We have--as you
know from the statement I put out yesterday, we've offered some ideas,
and we've been working on this all day. So we'll just have to see if we
make some more progress tomorrow morning over there. I think it will be
better tomorrow. I hope it will.
Debt Relief for Poor Countries
Q. On the debt relief issue, the holdup seems to be Senators Gramm
and McConnell. What can you offer them to get this moving?
The President. Well, I don't know what else we can offer them but
the evidence. I think if we just keep working at it, we might get there.
We have such a good, broad bipartisan group here that I think in the end
that we'll be able to work it out with them. And we're certainly working
on it.
Middle East Peace Process
Q. Mr. President, in your talks with the Israelis and Palestinians,
do you get the impression that the recent violence is helping them move
along towards wanting to reach an agreement? Or is it hurting things?
The President. Well, in the short run, it's hurting them, because
they can't do anything on the peace process until people stop dying and
the violence stops. But when the smoke clears here, it might actually be
a spur to both sides as a sober reminder to what the alternative to
peace could be. So we have to hope and pray that will be the result.
Thank you all very much.
Note: The President spoke at 3:40 p.m. in the Cabinet Room at the White
House. In his remarks, he referred to Rev. M.G. (Pat) Robertson,
president, Christian Coalition; musician Bono; Chairman Yasser Arafat of
the Palestinian Authority; and Prime Minister Ehud Barak of Israel. The
transcript released by the Office of the Press Secretary also included
the remarks of Representative Kasich, Representative Pelosi, and
Archbishop McCarrick.
<DOC>
[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents]
[frwais.access.gpo.gov]
[Page 2282-2283]
Monday, October 9, 2000
Volume 36--Number 40
Pages 2269-2347
Week Ending Friday, October 6, 2000
Statement on Energy and Water Development Appropriations Legislation
October 2, 2000
Today Congress passed a deeply flawed energy/water appropriations
bill that threatens major environmental harm by blocking our efforts to
modernize operations on the
[[Page 2283]]
Missouri River. An anti-environmental rider attached to the bill would
not only jeopardize the survival of three threatened and endangered
species but would also establish a dangerous precedent aimed at barring
a Federal agency from obeying one of our Nation's landmark environmental
statutes. Accordingly, I will veto this bill when it reaches my desk.
While this bill funds scores of special projects for special
interests, it fails to provide sufficient funding for priorities in the
national interest--including environmental restoration of the Florida
Everglades and the California Bay-Delta, and our strategy to restore
endangered salmon in the Pacific Northwest. It also fails to fund
efforts to research and develop nonpolluting sources of energy through
solar and renewable technologies that are vital to America's energy
security.
I urge Congress to resolve these issues in an environmentally sound
manner and to quickly produce an energy/water bill I can sign. While we
are now in the first week of the new fiscal year, Congress still has
sent me only two of the 13 appropriations bills. Congress should
complete its work without delay.
<DOC>
[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents]
[frwais.access.gpo.gov]
[Page 2283]
Monday, October 9, 2000
Volume 36--Number 40
Pages 2269-2347
Week Ending Friday, October 6, 2000
Statement on Caribbean Basin Initiative and African Growth and
Opportunity Act Beneficiary Countries
October 2, 2000
I am pleased to release today a list of countries eligible for trade
benefits under the Caribbean Basin Initiative and African Growth and
Opportunity Act legislation enacted last spring. By expanding our trade
relationship with 34 sub-Saharan African countries and 24 Caribbean
Basin countries, we will help promote economic development, alleviate
global poverty, and create new economic opportunities for American
workers and businesses. This action truly marks a new era of stronger
relations between the United States and our friends in the Caribbean,
Central America, and Africa.
<DOC>
[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents]
[frwais.access.gpo.gov]
[Page 2283-2286]
Monday, October 9, 2000
Volume 36--Number 40
Pages 2269-2347
Week Ending Friday, October 6, 2000
Proclamation 7350--To Implement the African Growth and Opportunity Act
and To Designate Eritrea as a Beneficiary Developing Country for
Purposes of the Generalized System of Preferences
October 2, 2000
By the President of the United States
of America
A Proclamation
1. Section 111(a) of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Title I
Other Popular 2000 Presidential Documents Documents:
|
| GovRecords.org presents information on various agencies of the United States Government. Even though all information is believed to be credible and accurate, no guarantees are made on the complete accuracy of our government records archive. Care should be taken to verify the information presented by responsible parties. Please see our reference page for congressional, presidential, and judicial branch contact information. GovRecords.org values visitor privacy. Please see the privacy page for more information. |
 |