    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1995, Book I)]
    [March 9, 1995]
    [Pages 325-327]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks at Patrick Henry Elementary School and an Exchange With
    Reporters in Alexandria, Virginia
    March 9, 1995

        The President. First of all, I want to thank all the people here at
    Patrick Henry for making us feel so welcome. I thank Principal Leila
    Engman for making me feel right at home here, and these five young
    students who have been terrific. They took me to lunch today and
    introduced me to some of their classmates. We played ``Where's Waldo?''
    and had a great lunch. And I thank them for that.
        I want to thank Senator Robb and Congressman Moran for coming with
    me and, of course, our distinguished Secretary of Education, Dick Riley,
    and Ellen Haas, the Under Secretary of Agriculture for Food, Nutrition
    and Consumer Services. Mayor Ticer, we're glad to be here in your
    community; thank you. And I'm glad that Dr. Jim Moller is here, head of
    the American Heart Association and a strong supporter of the effort for
    healthy meals in our public schools throughout the country. I thank
    Maxine Wood, the superintendent of schools, and Bernadette Johnson-
    Green, the vice chair of the school board, and the other representatives
    of this school system who are here.
        I'm glad to be here today to participate for the first time in quite
    a few years in a school

    [[Page 326]]

    lunch program. I ate at my school cafeteria for most of my years in
    grade school and junior high and high school, but it's been quite a few
    years since I've had a chance to do this, except with Chelsea on
    occasion over the years.
        Over 25 million young schoolchildren in this country eat school
    lunches daily. And for many of them it's their only nutritious meal in
    the day. This program has been around since the year I was born, 1946,
    when President Truman signed it into law as a matter of national
    security, to ensure that our children are properly fed.
        For 50 years, this program has had strong bipartisan support. In
    1969, President Nixon said, ``A child ill-fed is dulled in curiosity,
    lower in stamina, distracted from learning.'' I received a letter from a
    woman from California who said, and I quote, ``I'm glad there were free
    and reduced lunches for children; otherwise my kids would have
    starved.'' And she was working full-time as a nurse's aide while her
    children were in school.
        This week's newspapers, of course, are full of similar stories.
    Yesterday, I read about a cafeteria worker who said she sees kids every
    day who are so hungry they practically eat the food from other
    children's plates.
        School lunches have always been seen by both Democrats and
    Republicans as an essential part of student education. Last year, with
    the leadership of Ellen Haas, we took some further steps to make meals
    more nutritious, to increase their vitamin and mineral content and
    reduce their fat and sodium content, and the Congress ratified that in a
    piece of legislation passed last year. Unfortunately, this year, some
    Members of the new Congress have decided that cutting this program would
    be a good way of cutting Government spending and financing tax cuts for
    upper income Americans. This is penny-wise and pound-foolish. While
    saving some money now, these nutrition programs for schoolchildren and
    for women and for infants save several dollars in social costs for every
    dollar we spend on them. The American people want a Government that
    works better and costs less, not a Government that works worse and costs
    more.
        These Republican proposals will cost us dearly in the health of our
    children, the quality of our schools, and the safety of our streets. I
    have done everything I could for the last 2 years to fight for the
    economic interests of middle class Americans, to help poor people to
    work their way into the middle class, and to support the values of
    responsibility, family, work, and community. This proposal undermines
    that. We have to give our children more support so they can make the
    most of their own lives.
        This school lunch proposal, of course, is not the only thing in the
    Republican rescission proposal that is penny-wise and pound-foolish,
    that sacrifices enormous future prosperity and health for America for
    present, short-term gains. The rescissions would deprive 15,000 people
    of the opportunity to serve in AmeriCorps; 100,000 educationally
    disadvantaged students would lose their special services. Drug
    prevention programs that will now go to 94 percent of our schools would
    be eliminated. Drug prevention funds that go for security measures, for
    police officers, and for education and prevention efforts would be
    eliminated. And of course, 1.2 million summer job opportunities for
    young people would be eliminated.
        This is hardly what I call ``putting people first.'' This will
    advance not the economic interests of the middle class. It will not
    restore the American dream. It will not help the poor to work their way
    into prosperity. It will simply achieve some short-term gains in order
    to finance either spending cuts or tax cuts to upper income Americans.
        I know we have to reduce the deficit. Last year, with the help of
    Senator Robb and Congressman Moran--in 1993, excuse me--we cut the
    deficit by $600 billion. I've given Congress $144 billion in further
    budget cuts. I will work with them to find more, but not in the area of
    education or health or nutrition for our children and our future.
        We ought to be here expanding opportunity, not restricting it. But
    let me say, again, to Patrick Henry, to the school, to the school
    leaders, and most of all to these fine students, you have given me and
    Senator Robb and Congressman Moran and Dr. Moller a wonderful
    experience, and you have also helped once again to tell the American
    people that the School Lunch Program should not be put on the chopping
    block. Let's go out there, let's defend it, let's keep it, let's invest
    more in education and find other ways to cut the deficit.
        Thank you very much.

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    Budget Priorities

        Q. Mr. President, are there any rescissions that the Republicans
    have been proposing in the House that you would support?
        The President. We're going through them. There may well be. But they
    know which ones I don't support. And let me just say, we're about to
    move into the debate on the line-item veto, which gives us a permanent
    mechanism to get rescissions, if you will, every year. And if they will
    pass the line-item veto, I'll work with them. We'll cut spending, and
    we'll continue to reduce this deficit.
        But we don't need to reduce our investment in education, in child
    health, in medical research and technology, and in efforts to keep
    people off drugs and protect our children and our schools from the drug
    problem.
        I am more than--I have proved that I will cut spending and I will
    cut some more. But look at the Agriculture Department. They want to cut
    the School Lunch Program; we closed 1,200 Agriculture Department offices
    instead. That's the kind of decisions we need to make, and we'll make
    the right decisions if we'll work together. And I think I speak for all
    of us here in saying there is a way to restore our country's fiscal
    health and still support our children and our future. That's what we're
    committed to.
        Thank you.

    Note: The President spoke at 12:22 p.m. in the cafeteria. In his
    remarks, he referred to Mayor Patricia S. Ticer of Alexandria.