pd10au98 Memorandum on Economic Development in American Indian and Alaska Native...

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raising standards and challenging our students to meet them and helping 
school districts with a lot of poor children to do just that, their plan 
would prohibit the development of national tests for our schools. At at 
time when more children enter school now than anytime since my 
generation--the baby boomers were in school--I have proposed to expand 
Head Start. Their plan would deny 25,000 children the opportunity to 
participate in that important early learning program when compared with 
my budget.
    My America Reads initiative--which already involves volunteer 
students from 1,000 colleges and universities around America, and many 
churches and other organizations, going into the schools, working with 
children one-on-one to make sure they can read independently by the time 
they finish the third grade--it would give thousands more students a 
chance to have a tutor and to help them learn. Their plan would cut that 
program off without a penny.
    At a time when we should be helping young people learn the skills 
they need to succeed in the jobs of tomorrow, their plan would make it 
harder for 400 of our school districts across America to buy computers. 
It would cut $140 million from my proposal to expand after-school 
programs that keep young people learning in the classroom, not lost on 
the streets, in the hours of prime activity for juvenile crime. And 
believe it or not, the House Republican budget plan would even kill 
summer jobs programs like this one next year.
    I'm sure when you started this program some of you didn't know how 
rewarding it would be. I was quite amused to hear what Terence said 
about his experience and the dress code. [Laughter] But now that you 
know how rewarding these programs can be, now that you know that there 
is no limit to what you can achieve if you continue to work hard and be 
responsible citizens, you must surely know that other young people like 
you deserve the same chance next year and that you may need this chance 
next year.
    Today, because of the budget we passed last year, there are half a 
million young people just like you in summer jobs programs. And if my 
budget passes this year, there will be half a million next year. But if 
the House Republican budget passes, most of those children would not 
have a job next year.
    And that's not all the Republicans plan to do away with. At a time 
when more families have both parents working, their plan would cut 
nearly $180 million from my proposal to make child care centers better, 
safer places for our children. At a time when we are struggling so hard 
around the world to protect children from being abused in other 
countries--to send cheap products here--it undercuts our ability to 
fight the exploitative practice of child labor. At a time when our 
Nation is experiencing extremely severe weather, from crippling cold in 
the winter to record heat waves that have killed more than 100 people 
already this summer, the House Republicans want to eliminate the program 
called LIHEAP that today helps millions and millions of families--
millions of families with low incomes--a lot of them very vulnerable 
older people--pay for home heating and this summer for cooling cost.
    If this budget were to pass, those folks would be on their own. This 
is a time when we ought to be putting progress ahead of partisanship. 
We've got all the evidence in the world that when we do that, it works. 
Look

[[Page 1563]]

at how America is doing. The House Republican plan puts politics ahead 
of people and puts your future in the backseat. That is wrong. And if a 
bill like the one that is proposed by the House Republicans passes, I 
will veto it.
    I have sent Congress a balanced budget that proves we can maintain 
our budget responsibility and still invest in our people. So far, 
Congress hasn't passed that budget or one of its own. Within less than 2 
months, they'll have to act because our new budget year will start. 
Because of the delay they may decide to send me a barebones budget that 
fails to expand the critical investments we need to make, from education 
to summer jobs to school modernization to child care. But the last 
budget of the 20th century should be preparing our Nation for the 
challenges of the next. I will not accept a budget that fails to do 
this.
    There are those in both parties who understand this. It was 
mentioned earlier that the Congress, just last Friday night, passed the 
Senate bid, the GI bill for America's workers, that consolidates scores 
and scores of disparate training programs into one program that will 
give skills grants to people in their working years, to adults who have 
to go back to school and learn new skills. It was one of the major 
commitments I made when I ran for President in '92. I have worked for 4 
years on this. So there is the capacity there to forge this kind of 
bipartisan relationship. We have to do it for summer jobs and for 
education.
    Let me just close with this--it's not in my notes, but I was looking 
at Terence up there talking and I thought you might like to know that 
over 30 years ago I was involved in two Federally-funded summer jobs 
programs. I didn't get to wear a shirt and tie to work; I was working at 
our National Park in my hometown doing basic maintenance and clearing 
work. And then I worked in a summer camp for disadvantaged young people 
where I was a counselor, after my first year in college. I loved that 
work, and I loved those kids. And I was very grateful that my country 
gave me an opportunity to do something productive, to learn something, 
and to make a little money.
    I hope when the history books are written, it will look like a 
pretty good investment that was made in a young man from a modest family 
in a small town a long time ago.
    You, too, will do great things. And, in part, it will be because 
your country has believed in you and invested in you. And I don't want 
us to stop. I want us to do more.
    Thank you, and God bless you.

Note: The President spoke at 11:36 a.m. in the Deitz Memorial Auditorium 
at Prince Georges Hospital Center. In his remarks, he referred to 
Terence Newton, who introduced the President; Prince Georges County 
Executive Wayne K. Curry; and Gov. Parris N. Glendening of Maryland. The 
President also referred to the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program 
(LIHEAP).


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[Page 1563]
 
Monday, August 10, 1998
 
Volume 34--Number 32
Pages 1553-1589
 
Week Ending Friday, August 7, 1998
 
Statement on Congressional Action on Campaign Finance Reform Legislation

August 3, 1998

    Tonight's vote for the Shays-Meehan bill is a breakthrough in the 
fight for bipartisan campaign finance reform. The breadth of its 
support, from Members of both parties, showed that reform is an idea 
whose time has come, even in the face of persistent obstruction by the 
Republican leaders of Congress. It is time to ban soft money, improve 
disclosure, and curb backdoor campaign spending. Now a majority of both 
the House and the Senate have gone on record for this legislation. I 
urge the House to move this legislation to final passage before they 
adjourn for the August recess. And I urge the Republican leaders of the 
Senate, who are using procedural tactics to block this measure, to 
listen to the will of the majority and the loud voice of the American 
people. I congratulate Representatives Chris Shays, Martin Meehan, and 
their colleagues for their courage and their persistence.


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[Page 1563-1566]
 
Monday, August 10, 1998
 
Volume 34--Number 32
Pages 1553-1589
 
Week Ending Friday, August 7, 1998
 
Remarks on the Anniversary of the Personal Responsibility and Work 
Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996

August 4, 1998

    Thank you. Thank you very much, Vesta Kimble, for that fine 
statement and for the

[[Page 1564]]

good work you do. And I welcome your colleagues and co-workers from 
Maryland here. I thank Congressman Levin and Congressman Roemer for 
coming. There was a vote in the House of Representatives which was 
concluded literally 2 minutes before we started this ceremony, and they 
got here as quick as they could. We welcome you and thank you for your 
role in welfare reform.
    I'd like to thank Secretary Herman and Secretary Shalala for the 
terrific job they have done and welcome all of you in the audience, 
including my good friend, Eli Segal, who founded our partnership with 
the business community, about which I'll say more later. The First Lady 
was recently--just a few moments ago meeting with members and, I think, 
maybe some former members of the DC control board. I know that some of 
them are here, and I welcome them as well.
    Two years ago I stood with many of you in the Rose Garden and made 
the following statement: ``From now on, our Nation's answer to the 
problems of poverty will no longer be a never-ending cycle of welfare; 
it will be the dignity, the power, and the ethic of work. . . . We are 
taking an historic chance to make welfare what it was meant to be: a 
second chance, not a way of life.''
    As those of us who have been working for years and years to change 
the system know all too well, welfare had in too many ways failed our 
society and, more important, failed the millions of families it was 
designed to help. So in the Rose Garden we came together 2 years ago to 
restore our basic bargain of providing opportunity to all those willing 
to exercise responsibility in turn. We ended welfare as we knew it and 
made way for a system based on the dignity of independence and the value 
of work.
    But I would also like to reiterate something Secretary Shalala said. 
We did not want to put poor people moving from welfare to work in the 
exact same position too many people who've always been in the work force 
find themselves, of having to choose between being a good worker and a 
good parent. So we said, ``Okay, we will require people who have to move 
from welfare to work, if they're able-bodied, to go to work. But we will 
leave their children with food assistance and guaranteed medical 
coverage, and we will invest more in child care and other family 
supports.''
    Today we come here not only to observe this anniversary but to lay 
to rest the last vestige of the old system, an anti-work, anti-family 
provision that has deprived some two-parent families of their Medicaid 
coverage when a parent secures a full-time job.
    But first, on this important anniversary, I think it's important to 
recognize that this new strategy, this great new experiment that we 
launched 2 years ago, has already shown remarkable signs of success. Two 
years ago we said welfare reform would spark a race to independence, not 
a race to the bottom, and this prediction is coming true.
    According to the National Governors' Association, State investments 
in helping former welfare parents succeed at work have gone up by one-
third, and spending on child care has increased by one-half. And let me 
remind you, I believe this has happened partly because the Congress in 
the balanced budget amendment appropriated $3 billion for child care, 
but partly because there was a little-noticed provision in the welfare 
reform law which lets States keep the amount of money they were 
receiving for the welfare caseload in February of '94, when it had 
reached an all-time high. So as the caseloads go down, they can keep the 
money as long as they reinvest it in the potential of the families 
involved. And I think that was a very good thing to do.
    We also said back then that work should pay more than welfare. Last 
week the Urban Institute reported that family income goes up more than 
50 percent, on average, when parents move form welfare to part-time 
entry-level jobs and significantly more when they move up to full-time 
work. And I must say, I was especially pleased to note how helpful the 
earned-income tax credit is for families making this transition. In 
several States, it accounts for almost half the income gains.
    For those of you who may not know it, the earned-income tax credit 
is a tax cut to lower income working people that is especially generous 
to working families with children. We doubled it in 1993. And because of 
that provision, today it's worth a tax cut of approximately $1,000 a 
year to a family of four with an income of under $30,000 a

[[Page 1565]]

year. Obviously, for people working for more modest wages than that, it 
means a very great deal.
    Today we have more good news. In a few moments, I will release our 
first annual report to Congress on welfare reform, precisely the kind of 
report we had hoped for 2 years ago. It shows that the number of welfare 
recipients entering the work force rose by nearly 30 percent in a single 
year. It reports that States are spending more per person on welfare-to-
work efforts than they did 2 years ago, including health care, job 
training, job placement, child care, and job retention.
    Come in, Congressman Shaw, you're welcome. [Laughter] Thank you for 
the role you've played in welfare reform legislation. We're glad to see 
you.
    It shows that more single parents are moving into the work force, a 
very significant statistic. And it confirms that the percentage of 
Americans now on welfare is at its lowest level since 1969--29 years. 
There are other, more powerful signs of success that of course a report 
can't show. Too often we take for granted what it really means for a 
family to reconnect to the world of work. Work is more than a punchcard, 
more than a paycheck. It provides structure to a day, link to a society, 
dignity for a family. It can build self-confidence and self-esteem. 
There is nothing like the pride in a child's eyes when he or she goes to 
school and can answer, often for the first time, what their parents do 
for a living.
    One of the most important ways we can now build on these everyday 
triumphs is to make absolutely sure that parents who do enter the work 
force can go to bed at night without worrying that they will lose health 
coverage for their families. That is why I'm proud to announce that the 
Department of Health and Human Services will revise its regulations to 
allow all States to continue to provide Medicaid coverage to two-parent 
families after a parent takes a full-time job. Believe it or not, under 
the old rules, adults in two-parent families who worked more than 100 
hours per month could actually be cut off Medicaid in many States.
    Perhaps no aspect of the old welfare system did more to defy common 
sense and insult our common values than this so-called 100-hour rule. 
Just think of the message it sent. It took away health care from people 
who secured a full-time job just as we were imploring everybody to move 
from welfare to work. Instead of rewarding stable families, it actually 
punished couples that work and work hard to stay together. Instead of 
demanding responsibility, it basically said a father could do more for 
his children's health by sitting at home or walking away than earning a 
living.
    The 100-hour rule was wrong. Now, it and every other strand of the 
old welfare system are history. The remaining challenges are ones we all 
have to accept. All of us, the public, private, religious, nonprofit 
sectors, have an obligation to continue helping all former welfare 
recipients not only find but stay in those jobs.
    First, we must continue to offer States and communities the tools 
they need to promote work. Today we will release $60 million more in 
welfare-to-work grants to States to help mothers and fathers facing the 
most significant employment hurdles. And I also want to call on Congress 
to fully fund my plan to provide housing vouchers for welfare recipients 
who need to move closer to their place of work.
    Some recent studies, including some coming out of New York, show 
that the effects of welfare reform in terms of people being able to move 
into the workplace have been quite uneven, depending upon the level of 
preparation of the people on welfare for the work force and their level 
of isolation from available jobs. So these are important next steps.
    Second, the private sector, the true engine of job creation in our 
country, must continue to do its part. Listen to this: Last year our 
welfare-to-work partners, who were mobilized by Eli Segal, as I said 
earlier, hired more than 135,000 former welfare recipients. I have asked 
them to hire another 270,000 by the end of this year. Thank you, Eli, 
but you have to do more. [Laughter]
    Third, we must continue to welcome former welfare recipients into 
the Federal family work force. Today we released new data showing that 
the Federal Government has hired more than 5,700 former welfare 

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