    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1993, Book I)]
    [March 19, 1993]
    [Page 324]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks at the Downtown Child Development Center in Atlanta, GA
    March 19, 1993

        Well, first of all, I would like to thank Cheryl and all the people
    at this wonderful center for giving me a few minutes' break out of my
    normal schedule. The Mayor and I talked about business on the way in
    from the airport, and then I got to help put a puzzle together and play
    a drum and do some things that are more fun than what I do most days.
    [Laughter]
        Let me begin by saying that last night the House of Representatives
    cast an historic set of votes. Among those in the leadership was your
    Congressman, John Lewis, who is here with me now, a longtime friend of
    mine. The House voted to do something that our country, as far as I can
    tell from my reading of history, has never done before at the same time.
    They voted to make a drastic cut in the Federal deficit and at the same
    time to invest some new money in the children of the country, through
    preschool programs and nutrition programs and education programs, and in
    new jobs for the American people. And I wanted to come here to Atlanta
    today to talk about it and to try to help to keep the American people
    informed of what the House has done and what the Senate must now do and
    what we still have to do to pass this budget. I wanted to come here to
    this child care center because the children who are here, the children
    of working parents, desperately need the kinds of opportunities that are
    provided here and that we're trying to provide there.
        Just on the way in something happened that we couldn't have
    organized, Cheryl, neither you nor I, if we tried to do this. A man was
    standing outside this center with a child in his arms saying, ``If I
    could afford to get my child in a good center like this, then I could
    take a job even at minimum wages and support my child.'' It was very
    touching. He just happened to be in the crowd outside.
        So I guess what I'd like to do is just to ask all of you to tell me
    what I, as President, can do to help to continue to support these kinds
    of projects, maybe get Federal Agencies in other cities to do the same
    thing you've done, perhaps work on enhancing the child care incentives
    in the Federal program. But I'd like to know what you think I can do to
    help to deal with this problem. Because as I go around the country, next
    to the cost of health care and the fear of losing health insurance, the
    availability and quality and affordability of child care are the things
    that working parents most often mention to me, after health care. So I
    just wanted to come here and listen for a while.

    Note: The President spoke at 1:05 p.m. at the center. In his remarks, he
    referred to Cheryl Smith, director of the center, and Maynard Jackson,
    Mayor of Atlanta.