[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.