[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 144 (Tuesday, July 28, 1998)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 40355-40356]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-20355]


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  Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 144 / Tuesday, July 28, 1998 / 
Presidential Documents  

[[Page 40355]]


                Proclamation 7111 of July 24, 1998

                
Parents' Day, 1998

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                Parents play a central role in the life of our society 
                and our Nation. They are a link with the past, teaching 
                our children the history and values of our individual 
                families and of our national community. They are the 
                stewards of the future, shaping the hearts and minds of 
                the next generation of leaders, thinkers, and workers.

                Being a good parent means much more than protecting our 
                children from harm. It means teaching our children how 
                to love and how to learn; it means working to give them 
                the opportunities they need to make the most of their 
                lives; it means fostering their self-esteem and 
                independent spirit so they can make their own 
                contributions to our world. Being a parent is a 
                challenge, a privilege, and a lifelong commitment.

                My Administration has worked hard to help parents raise 
                happy, healthy children. With the Family and Medical 
                Leave Act, we gave working parents up to 12 weeks of 
                leave to care for a family member in need. We protected 
                family incomes through an increase in the minimum wage, 
                expansion of the Earned Income Tax Credit, and the new 
                Child Tax Credit. We stood up for reliable health 
                insurance with the Kennedy-Kassebaum law and improved 
                childhood immunization, with our new Children's Health 
                Insurance Program. We opened the doors of higher 
                education to more families by making student loans less 
                expensive and easier to repay and by providing new tax 
                credits and larger Pell Grant scholarships. We have 
                proposed an historic initiative to ensure that parents 
                have access to quality, affordable child care for their 
                children. I pledge to continue supporting these types 
                of effective programs and legislation so that America's 
                parents have the tools they need to give their children 
                a strong start in life.

                Too often in the rush of daily existence, we fail to 
                remember or acknowledge the many blessings we enjoy 
                because of the love of our parents. On Parents' Day, we 
                have an opportunity to express our profound 
                appreciation to our own parents, to remember with love 
                and gratitude those who are no longer with us, and to 
                pay tribute to the millions of men and women across our 
                Nation whose devotion as parents strengthens our 
                society and forms the foundation of a bright future for 
                America.

                NOW, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM J. CLINTON, President of the 
                United States of America, by virtue of the authority 
                vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United 
                States and consistent with Public Law 103-362, do 
                hereby proclaim Sunday, July 26, 1998, as Parents' Day. 
                I invite the States, communities, and the people of the 
                United States to join together in observing this day 
                with appropriate ceremonies and activities to honor our 
                Nation's parents.

[[Page 40356]]

                IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this 
                twenty-fourth day of July, 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-third.

                    (Presidential Sig.)

[FR Doc. 98-20355
Filed 7-27-98; 10:51 am]
Billing code 3195-01-P