--------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 122 WHITE HOUSE Ref: F5J00001 Date: 05/11/98 From: DAVID MOUFARREGE Time: 12:22pm \/To: ALL (Read 0 times) Subj: 1998-05-08 James Johnson Named Under Sec12:22:0005/11/98 THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Press Secretary (Dover, Delaware) ________________________________________________________________________ For Immediate Release May 8, 1998 PRESIDENT CLINTON NAMES JAMES E. JOHNSON AS UNDER SECRETARY FOR ENFORCEMENT AT THE DEPARTMENT OF TREASURY The President today announced his intent to nominate James E. Johnson to serve as Under Secretary for Enforcement at the Treasury Department. Mr. James E. Johnson, of Montclair, New Jersey, is currently the Assistant Secretary for Enforcement at the Treasury Department. He previously served as the Deputy Chief of the Criminal Division in the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, where he also served as an Assistant United States Attorney. Mr. Johnson served as Assistant Director of the White House Security Review, the most comprehensive review of White House security ever undertaken. He is the Co-Chair of the National Church Arson Task Force, which was created by the President to coordinate the federal law enforcement investigation of church fires. Mr. Johnson received his B.A. cum laude from Harvard College and his J.D. cum laude from Harvard Law School. The Treasury Under Secretary for Enforcement has line authority over the United States Customs Service, United States Secret Service, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center and the Office of Foreign Assets Control. -30-30-30- --- * Origin: Kraut Haus * Rochester, New York (USA) (1:2613/404) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 122 WHITE HOUSE Ref: F5J00002 Date: 05/11/98 From: DAVID MOUFARREGE Time: 12:45pm \/To: ALL (Read 0 times) Subj: 1998-05-08 Transmittal to Congress on Re12:45:0005/11/98 THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Press Secretary (Dover, Delaware) ________________________________________________________________________ For Immediate Release May 8, 1998 TO THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES: I am pleased to transmit today for your immediate consideration and enactment the "Class-Size Reduction and Teacher Quality Act of 1998." This legislative proposal would help States and local school districts recruit, train, and hire 100,000 additional well-prepared teachers in order to reduce the average class size to 18 in grades 1 through 3 in our Nation's public schools. It is an essential part of our overall effort to strengthen public schools throughout the Nation. As schools across the Nation struggle to accommodate a surge in enrollments, educators and parents have become increasingly concerned about the impact of class size on teaching and learning, particularly in the critically important early grades, where students learn reading and other basic skills. This concern is justified: rigorous research confirms what parents and teachers have long believed -- that students in smaller classes, especially in the early grades, make greater educational gains and maintain those gains over time. These gains occur because teachers in small classes can provide students with more individualized attention, spend more time on instruction and less time on discipline, and cover more material effectively. Moreover, the benefits of smaller classes are greatest for poor, minority, and inner-city children, the children who often face the greatest challenges in meeting high educational standards. Smaller classes will have the greatest impact on student learning if the new teachers brought into the classroom are well qualified to teach reading and to take advantage of smaller learning environments. For this reason, my proposal emphasizes not just class-size reduction but also professional development for educators, and it will give school districts adequate time to recruit and train staff while phasing in smaller classes. Furthermore, all new teachers hired under the program would be required to pass a State teacher competency test and would also have to be certified to teach or be making satisfactory progress toward full certification. We can help all of our students learn to read independently and well by the third grade, get a solid foundation in basic skills, and reach high educational standards if we start them off with small classes and well-prepared teachers in the early grades. Under my proposal, the Department of Education would provide $20.8 billion in mandatory appropriations over a 10-year period (beginning with $1.1 billion in fiscal year 1999) to States. The States would then distribute the funds to local school districts based on their relative class sizes in grades 1 through 3, as well as on their ability and effort to finance class-size reductions with their own resources. The bill would provide States with considerable flexibility in distributing these funds, while ensuring that the most needy school districts receive a fair share. Moreover, because my proposal would actually appropriate the funds needed to carry out the program, States and local communities could count on these funds without the need for separate congressional appropriations each year. This proposal is fully paid for within my Fiscal Year 1999 Budget, and therefore would not reduce the budget surplus. School districts would use these funds to reduce class sizes in grades 1 through 3. Just as importantly, these funds would also be available for a variety of activities to ensure that students in the early grades receive sound and effective instruction, such as making sure that teachers know how to teach reading and other subjects effectively in small classes. This proposal includes strong accountability for results. Participating school districts would produce "report cards" documenting reductions in class sizes and the achievement of their students in reading, based on rigorous assessments. Schools whose students fail to make gains in reading would be required to undertake corrective actions. In addition, the Department of Education would undertake a comprehensive national evaluation of this program and its impact on reading achievement and teaching. I urge the Congress to take prompt and favorable action on this proposal. Its enactment would help school districts reduce class sizes in the early grades and improve instruction and achievement in reading, issues that are of major importance to parents and to the Nation. WILLIAM J. CLINTON THE WHITE HOUSE, May 8, 1998. # # # --- * Origin: Kraut Haus * Rochester, New York (USA) (1:2613/404) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 122 WHITE HOUSE Ref: F5J00003 Date: 05/11/98 From: DAVID MOUFARREGE Time: 01:00pm \/To: ALL (Read 0 times) Subj: 1998-05-08 Elisabeth Bresee Named Assist13:00:0005/11/98 THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Press Secretary (Dover, Delaware) ________________________________________________________________________ For Immediate Release May 8, 1998 PRESIDENT CLINTON NAMES ELISABETH A. BRESEE AS ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR ENFORCEMENT AT THE DEPARTMENT OF TREASURY The President today announced his intent to nominate Elisabeth A. Bresee to serve as Assistant Secretary for Enforcement at the Treasury Department. Ms. Elisabeth A. Bresee, of Cooperstown, New York is currently the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Law Enforcement at the Treasury Department. She previously served as the Director of the White House Security Review and as an Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Columbia. Ms. Bresee received her B.S. magna cum laude from Ithaca College and her J.D. cum laude from Georgetown University Law Center. The Assistant Secretary for Enforcement assists in the oversight of the United States Customs Service, United States Secret Service, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, and the Office of Foreign Assets Control. -30-30-30- --- * Origin: Kraut Haus * Rochester, New York (USA) (1:2613/404) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 122 WHITE HOUSE Ref: F5J00004 Date: 05/11/98 From: DAVID MOUFARREGE Time: 01:59pm \/To: ALL (Read 0 times) Subj: 1998-05-07 Press Briefing by Jim Lyons THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Press Secretary ________________________________________________________________________ For Immediate Release May 7, 1998 PRESS BRIEFING BY JIM LYONS, SPECIAL ADVISER TO THE PRESIDENT AND THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR ECONOMIC INITIATIVES FOR IRELAND The Briefing Room 2:40 P.M. EDT MR. LYONS: Good afternoon. I'm Jim Lyons. I'm the special adviser to the President and the Secretary of State for economic initiatives in the north of Ireland. As you know, this afternoon the President has announced a series of economic initiatives which are part of the continuing commitment of the administration to peace and prosperity in the north of Ireland. The most immediate of those relates to the Springvale Campus, which I'd be happy to talk about if you'd like. In addition to that, there are a number of initiatives that are already underway, both through the State Department and the Department of Commerce, which we expect to continue. As you also know, unfortunately the President will not be visiting Ireland at least before the referendum. That does not foreclose, however, a visit sometime later in the year. Q Do you have any date for Hillary's visit? MR. LYONS: No, we don't. She's going to come in the fall -- we do not have a date yet -- to conduct a Women and Vital Voices conference, which is similar to one she has already done in Vienna last year and one which she was enjoying in South America this year as well. She was very eager and anxious to do that, and we're delighted that she would take the time to be able to conduct that conference. We hope it can be done sooner rather than later. Q On the Springvale Campus, the five million that will be required is supposed to make the expansion happen, will that come from existing IFI allocations, or will that be an extra five million you hope to secure? MR. LYONS: Well, I don't know exactly the precise answer to that yet. We feel confident that between and among those sources we can find that amount of money to complete what we understand to be the deficit and will allow the project to go forward. As you know, the IFI made the initial seed contribution, if you will, of five million pounds four years ago, which has now been used to get the project jump-started, if you will. Q There is an agency report today that the President may propose a budget of $75 million over two years for the international fund. Would you like to comment on that? Or is he likely to do that? MR. LYONS: I don't know anything about that. Q Is there likely, in any case, to be an increase asked for over the next few years, in view of the peace process, in the international fund budget? MR. LYONS: Well, as you know, our system is such that the administration can submit a request, but the final appropriation decision is made by the Congress. We have been fortunate in the last several years to have good support and receptivity in the Congress from both Democrats and Republicans. It's certainly something we'd be most eager to sit down and discuss with them, but it is not a decision the administration can make by itself. Q I'm sorry, just to follow this. You have said that the administration could make the suggestion. Is the administration going to do that? MR. LYONS: It's under evaluation; I do know that. But we're now still in the sort of throes of the current budget cycle, and I don't think the administration has yet sat down and focused on the next budget cycle, of which this would obviously be a part. Q Where does the IFI funding stand today? MR. LYONS: The administration has requested $19.6 million, and the request is pending before the Congress for fiscal year 1999, which for us would begin in September of this year. Q Have you heard anything that it may be lighter than that, the initial proposal -- MR. LYONS: No, I haven't. No I have not. I have heard largely favorable and receptive comments from both sides, and we've provided as much information about the IFI and its work as we can to this point. Q With the Irish economy in the south doing so well, will it get harder and harder to make the case that the American government should put forward some of its foreign aid when you've got the Celtic tiger roaring to the south? MR. LYONS: Well, keep in mind that the money that goes through the IFI to the north of Ireland goes to the six counties of Northern Ireland and the six border counties of the Republic. By treaty we are required -- the IFI, that is -- to spend 75 percent of that in that area, and virtually all of the jobs, the money, the economic impact that the IFI has had so far since 1986 has been concentrated in that area, which is, as you know, not part of the Republic of Ireland. What the Republic of Ireland chooses to do to continue to support the work of the IFI is obviously up to them, but they have been very supportive and I don't have any reason to believe that their support will be any less for the work of the fund, particularly during what is an obviously critical period for us. Q As of today, do you know what the status of the possibility of the Taoiseach going and joining Prime Minister Blair and President Clinton when they meet next week? MR. LYONS: No, I'm sorry, I don't. Q In terms of the half a million dollars that they're working towards for helping the Assembly after the elections, can you tell us any more about that? It says, helping to build new institutions created by the April 10th accord. MR. LYONS: Well, to a large extent that will be money and resources that will be provided as requested. It certainly is available. It is a mechanism within the government, our government, that we have used and offered in other reconstructing democracies, if you will, and it's difficult to say precisely how that would be used since we're not even past the referendum, let alone elections yet. But we wanted to make it clear that we were certainly able and willing to provide as much support in that specific area as we can. We think we've got some reasonable experience around the world that may very well be profitable to Northern Ireland as it, as I say, reconstructs these governmental apparatuses. Q As I understand, in other similar examples where the U.S. has been involved, they have taken members of assemblies and deputies to the United States to provide them with some orientation. Is that a possibility, do you think, for new assembly members in Northern Ireland? MR. LYONS: I would think it would be possible, if that would be -- again, as I say, what would be the most meaningful and what would be requested, certainly we would be in a position to offer that, I should think. Q Mr. Blair today has announced additional money to help victims of violence in Northern Ireland. And the President, of course, met some victims here today, I think. Is there any possibility of the U.S. administration contributing to this fund for the victims? MR. LYONS: I don't know. I'm not familiar with the specifics of the fund. I'd have to see it, and I haven't. This is the first I've heard of it. Q It couldn't, I presume, come under the IFI. It wouldn't be part of its -- MR. LYONS: Well, as you know, the IFI has some pretty well-defined and discrete programs, and while I can't think of one necessarily that this would readily fit in, and that's not to say that it couldn't be examined by the IFI's -- as far as I know, we've not been asked to look at it. It's a relatively new fund and a new idea, obviously with a worthy purpose. If we can help, I'm sure we'd like to find a way to do that. Q As you know, George Mitchell had your role before he went on to chair the talks. Do you ever see yourself -- your role in Northern Ireland evolving as they got to a new place in the peace process to take on more than just economic initiatives? MR. LYONS: No. (Laughter.) Q Could you elaborate? MR. LYONS: I've got my hands full right now, thank you. Q The West Belfast, Springvale campus, and the $5 million dollars -- what's that about? MR. LYONS: The complex itself is a 70 million pound complex to be built in a series of phases, as you may or may not know, on the Springvale site, which is an abandoned industrial site just adjacent to the Mackey's (phonetic) facility, if you know west Belfast. The site, first of all, needs to be made environmentally suitable for construction and use -- cleaned up, if you will. And then the concept is to build this campus, including in its very early phases a community outreach center, over a period of years. The last numbers I saw I think were that it was a six- or seven-year build-out period. So it's a 70 million pound commitment over that period of time. The British government has in its current budget been able to allocate an commit about 40 million of that -- as we understand it. The university itself -- the University of Ulster -- is prepared to undertake the fundraising necessary and commit its own resources to make up another 20 of that. That leaves a deficit of about 10 that we're trying to help bridge with this additional commitment. When the idea for this campus was first advanced to us at the IFI four years ago, we saw its immediate impact and benefit, and pledged initially five million pounds toward the construct of the facility. That five million pounds probably is included in that first 40 I described. Q So it would be an annex of the University of Ulster? MR. LYONS: Yes. Q As you see it, how do you think things are going as we head toward the referendum? MR. LYONS: Well, I was there week before last; I --- * Origin: Kraut Haus * Rochester, New York (USA) (1:2613/404) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 122 WHITE HOUSE Ref: F5J00005 Date: 05/11/98 From: DAVID MOUFARREGE Time: 01:59pm \/To: ALL (Read 0 times) Subj: 02:1998-05-07 Press Briefing by Jim Lyon13:59:0005/11/98 thought they were going reasonably well. I mean, I am anxious, as we all are, that the people who are going to vote have all the facts and make the best decision that they can. It certainly appears to me that they do. Q Have you briefed the President on the status of the referendum and the situation on the ground there? MR. LYONS: Well, there's a variety of people who give him information, and as you probably know, he is always anxious for more information. So I'm happy to share that with him when he asks. Q Did you see him today? MR. LYONS: I did. Q How long did you talk? MR. LYONS: Well, we talked for a bit. Q Did he have any interesting questions, or is it just an update on where things stand? MR. LYONS: Well, it largely was a private conversation, as I hope you can understand. But he is optimistic, we are optimistic, we are very hopeful that we can get to the next step in this process and do whatever we can, again, to support and promote as much peace and prosperity as the United States can in a foreign country. Q Do you think the fact that the President isn't going to go before the referendum -- will that in fact have an adverse affect on the voting numbers in the referendum? MR. LYONS: Oh, I shouldn't think so. I mean, I would hope not. Q But I mean, the point of him going was to scare up the vote, wasn't it? MR. LYONS: It certainly doesn't indicate any lack of interest on his part; I can assure you of that. Q But the idea of going was to increase the support for the agreement. Now he's not able to go, so the support that he might have been able to garner, now he won't be able to do so. MR. LYONS: Well, I think that's probably right. I mean, to the extent that having the President personally on the ground would provide an additional impetus, that impetus will not now be available. That's certainly not to say that he has any less interest in it. It is a question of political judgments and a question of timing and scheduling, like it is everywhere else. And if I have anything to do with it, I'd like to take him tomorrow. But we can't probably do it that way. I'm very confident and hopeful he'll be there before the year is out. Q To the cynic who might say, well, because of timing there needs to be -- MR. LYONS: There are cynics in Ireland? I'm astounded. (Laughter.) Q Begrudgers, as well. But to those who might say this is merely a semblance of action, needs to be done by the White House, and they're putting together initiatives that are not really that new, what would you say? MR. LYONS: I would say this administration and this Congress has put its money where its mouth is. Since 1993, we have put over $100 million into the International Fund for Ireland. What is announced today is a continuation of that level of commitment and that level of interest on the part of the United States toward peace and prosperity in Ireland. That's what I'd say. Q Thank you. MR. LYONS: Thank you. END 2:50 P.M. EDT --- * Origin: Kraut Haus * Rochester, New York (USA) (1:2613/404) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 122 WHITE HOUSE Ref: F5J00006 Date: 05/11/98 From: DAVID MOUFARREGE Time: 03:53pm \/To: ALL (Read 0 times) Subj: 1998-05-07 Mothers Day Proclamation THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Press Secretary ________________________________________________________________________ For Immediate Release May 7, 1998 MOTHER'S DAY, 1998 - - - - - - - BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA A PROCLAMATION Mothers are the heart of our families and the soul of our society. They are the nurturers of life, our teachers, confidants, counselors, and lifelong friends. They believe in our dreams and help us to achieve them. They help us develop the values, self-esteem, strength of character, and generosity of spirit we need to embrace the wider world beyond the family. Above all, mothers provide us with the blessing of their love. While this special love between mother and child is unchanging, the challenges of motherhood are not. The role of women in our society has changed dramatically during the past century. Millions of American women today pursue full-time careers in addition to carrying out their duties as parents, balancing family, job, and community responsibilities. Whether they stay home with their children or become working mothers, mothers today care for their families and meet the new demands of our complex society with strength, courage, and quiet selflessness. On Mother's Day, let us honor all mothers -- biological or adoptive, foster or stepmother -- whose unconditional love has strengthened us and whose many gifts have graced our lives. The Congress, by a joint resolution approved May 8, 1914 (38 Stat. 770), has designated the second Sunday in May each year as "Mother's Day" and requested the President to call for its appropriate observance. NOW, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM J. CLINTON, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim May 10, 1998, as Mother's Day. I urge all Americans to express their love, respect, and appreciation for the contributions mothers have made to all of us, and I call upon all citizens to observe this day with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this seventh day of May, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-eight, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and twenty-second. WILLIAM J. CLINTON # # # --- * Origin: Kraut Haus * Rochester, New York (USA) (1:2613/404) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 122 WHITE HOUSE Ref: F5J00007 Date: 05/11/98 From: DAVID MOUFARREGE Time: 04:18pm \/To: ALL (Read 0 times) Subj: 1998-05-11 American Heritage Rivers Init16:18:0005/11/98 THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Press Secretary ________________________________________________________________________ For Immediate Release May 11, 1998 PRESIDENT NAMES MICHAEL HOOG AND DOUGLAS A. WILSON AS MEMBERS OF THE AMERICAN HERITAGE RIVERS INITIATIVE ADVISORY COMMITTEE The President today announced his intent to appoint Michael Hoog and Douglas A. Wilson as Members of the American Heritage Rivers Initiative Advisory Committee. Mr. Hoog, of Denver, Colorado, is currently an Associate at Patton Boggs, L.L.P. where he practices in corporate and environmental litigation and manages government and public policy matters. He is the former Press Secretary for the National Institute for Dispute Resolution. Mr. Hoog received his B.A. in political science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a J.D. from the University of Colorado School of Law. Mr. Wilson, of Gridley, Illinois, is currently the Vice President of the Illinois Corn Growers Association, where he has served as Public Relations Chairman, Market Development Chairman and Legislative Chairman. From 1995 to 1997, he was the Director of the National Corn Growers Associations. Previous to serving in that position, he participated in the Farming Operation and was Chairman of the Loan Review Committee at the Farmers Home Administration. Mr. Wilson is the Chairman of the Vermillion River Watershed Task Force, the Co-Chair of the Upper Mississippi River Summit Watershed Committee, and a Member of the Machinaw River Partnership Biological Diversification Team. Mr. Wilson is a graduate of Illinois Agricultural Leaders of Tomorrow. The American Heritage Rivers Initiative supports community-led efforts related to rivers that spur economic revitalization, protects natural resources and the environment, and preserves historic and cultural heritage. The American Heritage Rivers Initiative Advisory Committee will review nominations from communities and recommend to the President up to 20 rivers, of which the President will designate ten to be "American Heritage Rivers." According to the needs identified, the respective communities along these rivers will receive special assistance under an umbrella initiative designed to more effectively use the federal government's many resources. Environmental, economic and social concerns will be addressed through a plan designed by each local community. The Advisory Committee consists of members appointed by the President, from both the public and private sectors. It represents natural, cultural and historic resources, scenic and recreation interests and economic development and industrial interests. -30-30-30- --- * Origin: Kraut Haus * Rochester, New York (USA) (1:2613/404) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 122 WHITE HOUSE Ref: F5J00008 Date: 05/11/98 From: DAVID MOUFARREGE Time: 04:52pm \/To: ALL (Read 0 times) Subj: 1998-05-09 Press Paper for the Radio Add16:52:0005/11/98 THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Press Secretary ________________________________________________________________________ For Immediate Release May 9, 1998 PRESIDENT CLINTON ANNOUNCES NEW EFFORTS TO IMPROVE CHILD CARE AND GIVE PARENTS PEACE OF MIND This weekend, millions of Americans will celebrate Mother's Day and take time to recognize the critically important role that mothers play in the lives of their children. To give our nation's mothers the peace of mind they deserve, President Clinton today announced new steps to help parents choose safe, appropriate child care and again urges Congress to take action on child care legislation this year. The President Announces A New Justice Department Report to Help Protect Children in Child Care. The Justice Department report is designed to help protect children, the elderly and the disabled from abuse and neglect in care. Although the vast majority of child care providers are dedicated to the teaching and nurturing of children, one tragedy in child care is too many. Background checks are an important way to ensure that the people watching our children are fit for this responsibility. Guidelines for the Screening of Persons Working with Children, the Elderly and Individuals with Disabilities in Need of Support offers practical guidance for screening potential caregivers and makes recommendations for developing statewide screening and background check policies. The new report underscores the need for the National Crime Prevention and Privacy Compact, which the President transmitted to Congress last fall, and has strong bipartisan support, and currently awaits congressional action. The Compact will facilitate effective background checks on child care providers by eliminating state law barriers to the sharing of criminal history information for non-criminal purposes. The President Announces New HHS Efforts To Help Parents Choose Child Care. Studies confirm that consumer education is a key ingredient to child care quality. Today, HHS releases two documents to help parents get the information they need to choose child care that is right for their children: New guide will help parents select high quality child care. The guide recommends four simple steps for parents in choosing child care: (1) interview the potential caregivers; (2) check references; (3) evaluate how the caregiver meets your child's needs; and (4) stay involved. The guide will be available to parents through the Internet. New report highlights model consumer education efforts in the states and urges greater action. The new report, Reaching Parents with Child Care Consumer Education, will help states improve parental education. It highlights successful state approaches and makes recommendations to states and child care administrators on ways to provide information to parents on how to assess their child care needs, locate services, obtain subsidies for income-eligible families, evaluate quality, and choose the best, appropriate care for their children. The President Urges Congress to Protect Child Support Collection. The President called on Congress to join him in opposing a provision in proposed bankruptcy reform legislation that may undermine the ability of single parents to collect child support and alimony. The Administration supports responsible bankruptcy reform, but under one bill in the House of Representatives, some parents who try to collect child support from former spouses who file for bankruptcy could find themselves in competition with large credit card companies. Since 1992, child support collection has increased by 68 percent, and the President is committed to safeguarding that important progress. The President Calls for Congressional Action on Child Care. Millions of Americans, struggling to be both good parents and good workers, rely on child care and after-school programs each day. As part of his balanced budget request, the President called for significant new investments in child care -- to help working families pay for child care, build a good supply of after-school programs, improve the safety and quality of care, and promote early learning. Today, the President renewed his call on Congress to put aside partisan differences and take action on child care this year. PRESIDENT CLINTON'S PROPOSAL: CHILD CARE THAT STRENGTHENS AMERICAN FAMILIES "Not a single American family should ever have to choose between the job they need and the child they love." President Bill Clinton State of the Union Address, January 27, 1998 Included in President Clinton's balanced budget request is an historic initiative to improve child care for America's working families. The initiative proposes over $20 billion over five years for child care -- to help working families pay for child care, build a good supply of after-school programs, improve the safety and quality of care, and promote early learning. Ensuring affordable, accessible, safe child care. The President's child care initiative responds to the struggles our nation's working parents face in finding child care they can afford, trust and rely on. The new initiative: Makes child care more affordable for working families. To help working families struggling to meet the costs of child care, the initiative invests $7.5 billion over five years to double the number of children receiving child care subsidies to more than two million by the year 2003. The initiative also invests $4.8 billion over five years to increase tax credits for child care for three million families and provides a new tax credit for businesses that offer child care services to their employees at a cost of $500 million over five years. Increases access to and promotes early learning and healthy child development. To improve early learning, the initiative includes $3 billion over five years to establish an Early Learning Fund that helps local communities improve the quality and safety of child care for children ages up to age five. The initiative also increases investment in Head Start and doubles the number of children served by Early Head Start to 80,000. Improves the safety and quality of child care. To help ensure safe, quality child care, the initiative: steps up enforcement of state health and safety standards in child care settings, facilitates background checks on child care providers, increases scholarships and training for child care providers, and invests in child care research and evaluation. Expands access to safe after-school care. To help create safe, positive learning environments for American school-age children who lack adult supervision during a typical week, the initiative increases the 21st Century Learning Center Program by $800 million over five years to provide after-school care for up to half a million children a year. --- * Origin: Kraut Haus * Rochester, New York (USA) (1:2613/404) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 122 WHITE HOUSE Ref: F5J00009 Date: 05/12/98 From: DAVID MOUFARREGE Time: 09:06am \/To: ALL (Read 0 times) Subj: 1998-05-11 Statement by the President on09:06:0005/12/98 THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Press Secretary ________________________________________________________________________ For Immediate Release May 11, 1998 STATEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT Secretary Herman has served me and this Administration with distinction. She is a person of integrity, a dedicated public servant, and an asset to working families all over America. I know her well and I am confident she will not be distracted from the important work she is doing. It is unfortunate that, despite no findings of wrong-doing by the Secretary, the Independent Counsel Act compels the Attorney General to recommend the appointment of an independent counsel in these circumstances. I look forward to the speedy resolution of this investigation. I am confident that in the end, investigators will also conclude that Ms. Herman did nothing wrong. -30-30-30- --- * Origin: Kraut Haus * Rochester, New York (USA) (1:2613/404) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 122 WHITE HOUSE Ref: F5J00010 Date: 05/12/98 From: DAVID MOUFARREGE Time: 09:42am \/To: ALL (Read 0 times) Subj: 1998-05-06 Press Conference with Prime M09:42:0005/12/98 THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Press Secretary ________________________________________________________________________ For Immediate Release May 6, 1998 PRESS CONFERENCE OF THE PRESIDENT AND PRIME MINISTER PRODI OF ITALY Room 450 Old Executive Office Building 1:50 P.M. EDT THE PRESIDENT: Good afternoon. Please be seated. I have very much enjoyed having this opportunity to welcome the Prime Minister to Washington again. For more than 50 years Italy has been among our closest allies. Today we charted a course to strengthen our cooperation for the next 50 years. We discussed our common efforts to build an undivided Europe at peace. We welcomed the Senate's recent vote on NATO enlargement and hope the Italian Parliament will also act favorably soon. I thanked the Prime Minister for Italy's contributions in Bosnia, and more recently in Albania, where Italian troops played a critical role in bringing an end to violent unrest. We also discussed our deep concern over the situation in Kosovo. The absence of genuine dialogue there is fueling a conflict that could threaten regional stability. We're working urgently to establish unconditional talks that can avert escalating violence. But we must and will be ready to substantially turn up the pressure on Belgrade should it keep blocking the search for a political solution, or revert to indiscriminate force. I congratulated Prime Minister Prodi on the historic step Italy and other EU members took this past weekend on the European Monetary Union. I admire the way he has led Italy on a path of fiscal responsibility and genuine recovery. I'm confident that a strong Europe with open markets and healthy growth is good for America and good for the world. We discussed new ideas to reduce the remaining barriers to trade and boost prosperity on both sides of the Atlantic. I'm pleased that we've agreed to begin the next round of talks on an open skies agreement, with the goal of concluding an agreement as soon as possible to bring greater choice and better service to our tourist and business travelers alike. We're also looking forward to the G-8 Summit in Birmingham, where we'll take the next steps in preparing our nations for both the opportunities and the challenges of the future. As for the challenges, from terrorism to drug trafficking, from international crime to environmental damage, threats that disregard national borders demand international responses. Italy has been at the forefront of international efforts to fight crime. It has led in getting the G-8 to join forces in combatting crime rings that smuggled illegal immigrants for sweatshop labor and for prostitution. This will build on the work America and Italy have begun together to fight the horrendous international crime of trafficking in women and children. Victims are lured with promises of jobs, opportunity, and hope, too often to find themselves instead in conditions of virtual slavery and actual physical danger. In Birmingham we'll announce a new joint action plan to crack down on crime rings that smuggle immigrants, bring the perpetrators to justice, and protect the lives of innocent victims. This is not only about public safety, it is about basic human rights. The partnership between our two nations is far-reaching. Our extensive collaboration in science, technology, and space exploration makes that clear. But the friendship is anchored in basic values at the core of both our societies -- liberty, tolerance, love of family, devotion to community and country. In closing, let me note that this is the 50th year of the Fulbright Program between the United States and Italy, a program that has given generations of our young people the chance to live with and learn from one another. As we celebrate all the ties that bind us, we are looking ahead to the next 50 years, to an even stronger and more vibrant partnership which will shape a brighter future for all our people. Mr. Prime Minister. PRIME MINISTER PRODI: Thank you. Very few comments to add to your speech. I enjoyed so much to exchange our views in what I can call the magic moment of American-Italian relations. We have no point of disagreement. We have -- our goal is only to build up a stronger relation and to bring them into the future. In a moment that is very favorable that we did in the last weekend, we concluded one of the most important achievements, never seen in world history, to put 11 different currencies together. And this will bring, I'm sure -- this is my firm opinion -- a new period of strong growth, very similar to the period that you did in your country, President. And it's very rare to see eight years of continuous growth without inflation, with decreasing unemployment, as you did in your country. And to think that the Euro may give us the same possibility for Europe. But Europe needs a renewed set of relations between Europe and the United States because the new event need a new organization of our relations. So I am very favorable to the proposal of transatlantic -- new set of economic and political relations. To this new set, we shall start to work immediately and with a realistic program and with a long-range view. Second, we analyzed our bilateral relations, and this was the easiest chapter because there are no fundamental problems of dissent. But we also analyzed the hot point of the regional difficulties in the Balkan and Mediterranean area. In this, we have not only to act together, but to have the continuous fine-tuning of our action. Kosovo is a source of worry for us. But Bosnia is still there, with all the problems, and with these long-term solutions that, briefly, you have indicated that we are executing together. But another point that we analyzed is the Mediterranean area -- not only the Middle East, that is, of course, the object of our attention, but the pivotal problem of Turkey, the Greece-Turkish relation, Cyprus and all of that. In the end, the enlargement of the European Union to the East and the consequence that this enlargement will bring in world politics. This has been the agenda. And I'm so happy that we could discuss this not only in deed, but with a strong, strong common commitment. THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Terry, would you like to go first? We will alternate -- I will call on an American journalist; the Prime Minister will call on an Italian journalist. We'll just go back and forth. Q Mr. President, while the matter remains under seal, lawyers familiar with the case say that a federal judge has denied your assertion of executive privilege in the Monica Lewinsky investigation. Do you intend to appeal that decision? And what's the difference between your case and Richard Nixon's effort to stop the Watergate investigation? THE PRESIDENT: Well, first of all, as you pointed out, the matter is still under seal. And as I've said in all these cases, at least one party in every case should follow the judge's orders, preferably -- it's better if both do. So I can't comment on it. But let me remind you, I have asked for the release of the briefs and the pleadings in the case so that you and the American people can evaluate my position and any differences that exist between that which we have asserted in previous assertions of executive privilege. I would also remind you that the facts are quite different in this case. Q How so, sir? Q Mr. President, would you consider the four European countries part of the G-7 as the more natural counterpart to the U.S., even more so now that there is a European central bank -- not a central political authority in Europe? And do you subscribe to the work of President Prodi for the launching of a new transatlantic negotiation for a new marketplace? And for Mr. Prodi, the French President was resisting a transatlantic negotiation. Will you take a leadership with that against his position? THE PRESIDENT: Well, the answer to your second question to me, would I support the launching of new negotiations to broaden our partnership, the answer to that is yes. I think the proper answer to your first question is that from the day I took office, I have supported increasing unity within Europe and any specific step that the Europeans might decide for themselves to take, including a common currency. And what I want is a strong, united Europe that is our partner in dealing with the challenges and in seizing the opportunities of the 21st century world. That's what I look forward to. I think that is one of the legacies I would like to leave when I leave office in 2001. So, for me, this is a positive step, these things which are happening now. Q I'm sorry, on the G-7, Mr. President, I mean, there is no counterpart to the central bank -- THE PRESIDENT: Well, on the G-7 we all -- in the G-7, we operate by consensus, so it's not like -- we do everything together anyway. PRIME MINISTER PRODI: On my side, it's true that the French oppose it at the present time, the negotiation. But they didn't oppose the general idea. They opposed the specific proposal and we decided to go on. We decided that we must make a very concrete, step-by-step approach. We have a lot of things that we can deal with unanimity now, but we have decided that this is one of the most --- * Origin: Kraut Haus * Rochester, New York (USA) (1:2613/404)