[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 36 (Wednesday, March 19, 1997)]
[House]
[Pages H1156-H1157]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 TWENTY-FIFTH ANNUAL REPORT ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY--MESSAGE FROM THE 
                     PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore laid before the House the following message 
from the President of the United States; which was read and, together 
with the accompanying papers, without objection, referred to the 
Committee on Resources:

To the Congress of the United States:
  I am pleased to transmit to the Congress the Twenty-fifth Annual 
Report on Environmental Quality.
  As a nation, the most important thing we can do as we move into the 
21st century is to give all our children the chance to live up to their 
God-given potential and live out their dreams. In order to do that, we 
must offer more opportunity and demand more responsibility from all our 
citizens. We must help young people get the education and training they 
need, make our streets safer from crime, help Americans succeed at home 
and at work, protect our environment for generations to come, and 
ensure that America remains the strongest force for peace and freedom 
in the world. Most of all, we must come together as one community to 
meet our challenges.
  Our Nation's leaders understood this a quarter-century ago when they 
launched the modern era of environmental protection with the National 
Environmental Policy Act. NEPA's authors understood that environmental 
protection, economic opportunity, and social responsibility are 
interrelated. NEPA determined that the Federal Government should work 
in concert with State and local governments and citizens ``to create 
and maintain conditions under which man and nature can exist in 
productive harmony, and fulfill the social, economic, and other 
requirements of present and future generations of Americans.''
  We've made great progress in 25 years as we've sought to live up to 
that challenge. As we look forward to the next 25 years of 
environmental progress, we do so with a renewed determination. 
Maintaining and enhancing our environment, passing on a clean world to 
future generations, is a sacred obligation of citizenship. We all have 
an interest in clean air, pure water, safe

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food, and protected national treasures. Our environment is, literally, 
our common ground.
                                                  William J. Clinton.  
  The White House, March 19, 1997.

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