pd23mr98 Statement on Proposed Legislation To Raise the Minimum Wage...

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


[Page i-ii]
 
Monday, March 23, 1998
 
Volume 34--Number 12
Pages 439-478
 
Contents

[[Page i]]

Weekly Compilation of

Presidential

Documents



[[Page ii]]


Addresses and Remarks

    Africa, videotaped address--466
    Democratic Business Council dinner--449
    Democratic National Committee dinner--452
    Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee dinner--469
    Maryland
        Education roundtable, opening remarks in Silver Spring--441
        Springbrook High School in Silver Spring--443
    Medicare expansion, proposed legislation--456
    Nevada, Carpenters Joint Apprenticeship Training Center in Las 
        Vegas--459
    North Atlantic Treaty Organization enlargement--472
    Radio address--439
    Safe schools initiative--464
    Saint Patrick's Day
        Reception--458
        Shamrock presentation ceremony--453

Bill Signings

    Examination Parity and Year 2000 Readiness for Financial 
        Institutions Act, statement--474

Communications to Congress

    District of Columbia Court's budget request, message transmitting--
        446
    Iran, message reporting--446

Communications to Congress--Continued

    ``National and Community Service Amendments Act of 1998,'' message 
        transmitting proposed legislation--467
    North Atlantic Treaty Organization enlargement, letter--440
    Saint Kitts/Nevis-U.S. legal assistance treaty and documentation, 
        message transmitting--476

Interviews With the News Media

    Exchange with reporters in Silver Spring, MD--441

Meetings With Foreign Leaders

    Ireland, Prime Minister Ahern--453, 458

Statements by the President

    See also Bill Signings
    Cuba--475
    Death of Dr. Benjamin Spock--446
    Internet, agreement on taxes--467
    Minimum wage, proposed legislation--467
    Tobacco, proposed legislation--446

Supplementary Materials

    Acts approved by the President--478
    Checklist of White House press releases--477
    Digest of other White House announcements--476
    Nominations submitted to the Senate--477
  

Editor's Note: The Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents is also 
available on the Internet on the GPO Access service at http://
www.gpo.gov/nara/nara003.html.




              WEEKLY COMPILATION OF
          ------------------------------
              PRESIDENTIAL DOCUMENTS

Published every Monday by the Office of the Federal Register, National 
Archives and Records Administration, Washington, DC 20408, the Weekly 
Compilation of Presidential Documents contains statements, messages, and
other Presidential materials released by the White House during the 
preceding week.

The Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents is published pursuant to
the authority contained in the Federal Register Act (49 Stat. 500, as 
amended; 44 U.S.C. Ch. 15), under regulations prescribed by the 
Administrative Committee of the Federal Register, approved by the 
President (37 FR 23607; 1 CFR Part 10).

Distribution is made only by the Superintendent of Documents, Government
Printing Office, Washington, DC 20402. The Weekly Compilation of 
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for a single copy is $3.00 ($3.75 for foreign mailing).

There are no restrictions on the republication of material appearing in 
the Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents.




[[Page 439]]




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[Page 439-440]
 
Monday, March 23, 1998
 
Volume 34--Number 12
Pages 439-478
 
Week Ending Friday, March 20, 1998
 
The President's Radio Address


March 14, 1998

    Good morning. This is a time of great promise for America, and it 
should be a time of great achievement as we work to strengthen our 
Nation for the 21st century.
    There are only 68 work days remaining in the congressional session. 
Yet, we still have a lot of work to do: maintaining fiscal discipline by 
setting aside any budget surplus until we save Social Security first, 
protecting our children with comprehensive tobacco legislation, 
strengthening families with the Patient's Bill of Rights and child care 
legislation, honoring our parents by letting more people buy into 
Medicare, improving education with higher standards and smaller classes 
and more funds to build and repair schools, preserving our environment 
with a new clean water initiative and incentives to have new 
technologies meet the challenge of global warming.
    This is a full agenda for the future of our Nation. But we must act 
now--not over the next 68 days but right now, in the next several days--
to advance our security around the world and rebuild communities hit by 
natural disasters here at home.
    I have asked Congress for an emergency bill to fund these pressing 
security and natural disaster needs. Here's what's at stake. The measure 
will pay for the deployment of America's Armed Forces in and around the 
Persian Gulf. Our Armed Forces must stand watch to make sure Saddam 
Hussein allows inspectors to detect and destroy his capacity for 
nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons. As long as Saddam Hussein 
continues to pose a threat, we must remain vigilant.
    The measure would also pay our longstanding debt to the United 
Nations at a time when that organization continues to play a critical 
role in forcing Iraq to yield and in supporting peace and progress 
throughout the world. I don't think any American believes that America 
shouldn't pay its dues to the U.N.
    The emergency measure will also support the brave men and women of 
our Armed Forces as they continue to help democracy and peace take root 
in Bosnia. It will promote our national economic security as well, 
supporting the International Monetary Fund as it reduces the harm to 
America's economy from the financial turmoil in Asia.
    Perhaps most important of all, we need emergency action to help 
millions of families whose lives have been turned upside down by the 
natural disasters in the winter of 1998. Communities in California, New 
England, Florida, and Guam have seen flooding, ice, mud slides, and the 
savage force of El Nino. I visited with many of these families; I've 
seen how hard they're struggling. Our national community must help them. 
This emergency measure will rebuild roads, repair military bases, 
prevent future flooding, help family farmers, and help families in 
distress.
    Now, these emergency measures are vital to the national interest. 
They have broad bipartisan support. But unfortunately, some in Congress 
are preparing to slip unrelated, controversial provisions into the 
bill--proposals guaranteed to produce gridlock and delay. One provision 
is a controversial issue related to family planning. Another would even 
block the Federal Communications Commission from offering candidates 
free TV air time which would cut the cost of campaigns and reduce 
special interest influence. Now, it's bad enough that Congress won't 
pass campaign financial reform; now some in Congress want to stamp it 
out anywhere it sees it.
    These unrelated issues, whatever side you have on them, absolutely 
have no place on emergency legislation. Congress shouldn't hold 
emergency aid for families hostage to controversial provisions. Congress 
shouldn't demand ransom to maintain America's world

[[Page 440]]

leadership and meet America's responsibility to our own national 
security.
    Last year, when Congress tried to attach partisan measures to 
similar disaster legislation, I said, no. Congress would be unwise to 
head down that same road again. Instead, let's work together to enact a 
straightforward emergency measure. No unacceptable provisions, no 
political gimmicks. Let's work together to meet the long-term needs of 
our families, our economy, our Nation. If we will once again put aside 
partisanship, reject narrow agendas, and focus on the national interest, 
the remaining 68 days of this congressional session can be a time of 
real achievement for our people and our future.
    Thanks for listening.

Note: The address was recorded at 3:38 p.m. on March 13 in the Roosevelt 
Room at the White House for broadcast at 10:06 a.m. on March 14.


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[Page 440-441]
 
Monday, March 23, 1998
 
Volume 34--Number 12
Pages 439-478
 
Week Ending Friday, March 20, 1998
 
Letter to Congressional Leaders on the Enlargement of the North Atlantic 
Treaty Organization

March 14, 1998

Dear Mr. Leader:

    The Senate will soon act on the proposed accession of Poland, 
Hungary, and the Czech Republic to the North Atlantic Treaty 
Organization. I want to thank you for the energetic and bipartisan 
leadership that you, Democratic Leader Daschle and many others have 
demonstrated on this historic initiative. The enlargement of NATO 
directly will benefit America's security, and I urge all members of the 
Senate to support its ratification.
    The addition of these countries to NATO is an essential part of our 
effort to consolidate the stability and security that resulted from the 
end of the Cold War. The Alliance's enlargement will make America safer 
by making NATO stronger, adding new forces and new allies that can share 
our security burdens. NATO's core mission will remain the collective 
defense of the territory of its members, and neither the addition of new 
members nor NATO's other adaptations to Europe's new security 
environment will change that.
    The accession of these three countries also will help make Europe 
more stable; already the prospect of membership has encouraged states 
throughout the region to accelerate reforms, resolve disputes, and 
improve cooperation. In addition, adding these states to NATO--combined 
with other efforts to reach out to all of the region's new democracies--
will help to erase the Cold War dividing line and contribute to our 
strategic goal of building an undivided, democratic, and peaceful 
Europe.
    The addition of these states to NATO, which will yield tremendous 
benefits to our own security, is also affordable. After extensive review 
of this proposal by NATO, our Administration, and the Congress, we now 
have strong basis to believe that the costs to the U.S. will be about 
$400 million for the United States over the next ten years, and that the 
total costs will be equitably shared with our current and new allies.
    There are other steps we will need to take together in order to help 
ensure the security of the transatlantic area. We are moving ahead with 
efforts to increase cooperation with the Russian Federation and to build 
on the openings for constructive dialogue created by the NATO-Russia 
Founding Act. I am committed to continue efforts with Russia and other 
countries to reduce our nuclear stockpiles, combat the dangers of 
proliferation, and stabilize arms levels across Europe. We must continue 
working together to create the opportunity for a lasting peace in Bosnia 
and the Balkans. We will continue working with the European Union, which 
also is adding members, and which makes its own important contribution 
to Europe's stability.
    NATO is the cornerstone of our transatlantic security efforts, 
however, and the Alliance is proving its value--through the Partnership 
for Peace program and many other efforts--in projecting stability 
throughout Europe. For that same reason, we must leave the door open to 
the addition of other qualified new members in the future. The ``open 
door'' commitment made by all the allies has played a vital role in 
ensuring that the process of enlargement benefits the security of the 
entire region, not just these first three new members.

[[Page 441]]

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