    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1997, Book I)]
    [June 27, 1997]
    [Pages 832-836]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks and a Question-and-Answer Session With the League of United
    Latin American Citizens
    June 27, 1997

        The President. Thank you very much. Thank you, President Robles. I
    enjoyed very much our meeting with you and your board members a few days
    ago, and I know since then several members of my administration have had
    the chance to visit with you during your convention--our United Nations
    Ambassador, Bill Richardson; SBA Administrator Aida Alvarez; Ida Castro,
    the Director of Women's Bureau at the Labor Department; and my Deputy
    Assistant for Legislative Affairs, Janet Murguia. Secretary Pena would
    have been there, too, except that he has just become a new dad for the
    third time, little Ryan Federico, so he now has a namesake.
        I thank you for inviting me to join you in celebrating the
    achievements of LULAC and of Latinos across our Nation. LULAC has a
    proud history, and for more than 65 years now you've fought to advance
    the rights and the opportunities of Hispanic-Americans, and in so doing,
    your dedication has helped all of America.
        Two weeks ago I asked all Americans to join me in thinking about and
    talking about how America can use our great diversity of race and
    ethnicity as a strength to get past our divisions and closer to what
    unites us so that we can become the world's greatest multiracial,
    multiethnic democracy in the 21st century. Hispanic-Americans must be a
    big part of this initiative. Latinos represent the youngest and fastest
    growing population in our Nation, and in many ways America's success
    depends upon Hispanic success. That's why we have to all work in
    partnership to create a plan of action to allow every child to make the
    most of his or her life.
        Earlier this week, Aida Alvarez and I met with Belen and the LULAC
    executive council, as I said a moment ago. We had a very constructive
    talk about the work that still needs to be done to ensure that Hispanics
    share in the fruits of the strong economy. In the last 4 years, the
    Hispanic unemployment rate has gone down from 11.3 percent when I took
    office to about 7.4 percent in May. That's been one of the great
    dividends of more than 12 million new jobs created in our economy. And
    when we won a raise in the minimum wage, 1.6 million Hispanic workers
    benefited directly.

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        In the first 3 years of our administration, more than 220,000 new
    Hispanic-American-owned businesses were created. Our Small Business
    Administration helped even more Latino-owned businesses to get the
    management training and counseling they need to succeed. A new study
    shows that between 1987 and 1996, the number of companies owned by
    Hispanic women, in particular, has grown at three times the overall rate
    of business growth. All of this signals progress.
        But our work is far from over. That's because despite a strong work
    ethic and a strong sense of personal responsibility, Hispanic-Americans
    are the only racial or ethnic group in America that has experienced a
    decline in income during our current economic boom. One big reason is
    the high Hispanic high school dropout rate. It's far above that of
    blacks and whites. It's holding young Hispanics back. Many times these
    dropouts only want to help their families by bringing in income. But
    long, hard hours at the low-paying jobs will never amount to the earning
    potential of someone who stays in school. In the new economy, education
    is the key and responsibility means staying in school. That's the
    message we must get out to young Latinos.
        I know you share my concern that too many Latino youth are missing
    out on an education. I'm especially pleased by the interest your
    organization has shown for our America Reads initiative. Since our
    meeting on Monday, your president has spoken with Carol Rasco at our
    Department of Education, and we have committed to work with LULAC to
    ensure that LULAC volunteers are a critical part of this important
    effort.
        Latinos know about helping others; an impressive 15 percent of the
    participants in our AmeriCorps program of national service are Hispanic.
    With your help and the participation of AmeriCorps and other volunteers,
    we'll be able to mobilize a million people to make sure that all of our
    children can read independently by the third grade. America Reads will
    help our children to succeed and to stay in school.
        I want all young people to have the tools they need. That's why our
    budget agreement increases funding for bilingual education by 27
    percent. It's the bridge that some students need to achieve in English.
    [Applause] Thank you. We've also worked to widen access to college, with
    the largest increase in Pell grants in two decades, a big increase in
    work-study funds, and by proposing scholarships that would make 2 years
    at a community college affordable for every single family, because I
    believe the 13th and 14th years of school must become as universal as a
    high school diploma is today.
        We also want every family to be able to deduct up to $10,000 a year
    to help pay for the cost of any higher education after high school. All
    that is part of the biggest increase in higher education since the GI
    bill 50 years ago, and it's included in our balanced budget proposal. We
    are working with Congress to ensure that the budget agreement does not
    shortchange education. And I ask you to stand with us in that.
    [Applause] Thank you.
        I also want to tell you where we are in the budget negotiations on
    the matter of benefits for legal immigrants. As you know, when Congress
    enacted last year's welfare law, it included provisions affecting legal
    immigrants that were harsh and had nothing to do with the real goal of
    welfare reform, moving people from welfare to work. Since then, we've
    worked hard to restore SSI and Medicaid eligibility for disabled legal
    immigrants. I place a great deal of importance on this issue, and I'm
    hopeful that with the recent Senate action we will be able to restore
    benefits to both disabled and elderly nondisabled immigrants who were in
    the United States when the law was signed last August.
        We all have a role to play in making a better future for coming
    generations. Citizens and Government must work together. We've got to
    give every child a fair chance to live out his or her dreams. We have to
    give every child a safe place to grow up. We have to give all of our
    children decent health care, a world-class education, and a more united,
    stronger America--one America.
        I applaud LULAC for your commitment to improving the lives of
    Hispanic citizens, and I look forward to continuing our work and
    partnership toward the great goal of one America for the 21st century.
        Thank you, and God bless you.
        Ms. Robles. Thank you very much, Mr. President. And now, if you will
    permit us, we do have some questions from the LULAC membership. And I
    would like to introduce to you the national president of the LULAC
    youths, Alejandro Meraz, a senior at Skyline High School in Dallas,
    Texas, that will pose the first question.
        Mr. Meraz. Good morning, Mr. President.

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        The President. Good morning, Alejandro.

    Hispanic High School Dropout Rate

        Mr. Meraz. As you are aware, the Hispanic high school dropout rate
    is extremely high. Allowed to continue, this problem would devastate the
    Hispanic community. What initiatives are you already undertaking to
    reduce the dropout rate in Hispanic communities? And what additional
    steps can be taken to alleviate this problem?
        The President. First of all, let me say that I take this problem
    very, very seriously. I have been talking about it all across America. I
    raised it at the University of California in San Diego at my race
    speech, where 45 percent of the graduates in the class were Hispanics. I
    think that we all understand what we have to do here. I have charged
    Gene Sperling, who is the head of the National Economic Council, and
    Maria Echaveste, who heads my Office of Public Liaison, to make sure
    that our educational initiatives address the specific concerns regarding
    Hispanic dropouts. They, along with the Department of Education, will
    work with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and other Hispanic leaders
    to evaluate our current programs to identify positive actions that can
    be taken right now to increase the percentage of Latinos graduating from
    high school and increase the number going on to college.
        Let me just mention two or three specific things that I think can be
    done. Number one, if we can succeed in our goal of making sure that
    every 8-year-old is proficient in reading by the third grade, that will
    increase the ability of children whose first language is not English to
    do well in school, and it will increase the chances that they will stay
    there.
        Number two, having national standards for all children will help
    Hispanic students. I spoke with the wonderful Latino superintendent of
    the San Antonio, Texas, school district the day before yesterday, and
    she said that San Antonio would become the first large city in Texas to
    participate in our national standards program, including testing fourth
    graders for reading and eighth graders for math in 1999. Why? Because
    they are learning in San Antonio that when you raise academic standards,
    you make school more interesting and more meaningful to people, and they
    are far less likely to drop out.
        So I believe raising these standards and giving children a chance to
    get a good education in high school will, in fact, lead to a substantial
    reduction in the Hispanic dropout rate, especially if we've done our job
    on reading in the early grades.
        Now, in addition to that, I think it is very, very important that we
    follow up on another one of the goals of the Presidents' Summit of
    Service. We need to make sure that all these young people who are at
    risk of dropping out have an adult mentor who is working with them,
    trying to help them and encourage them to stay in school and continue on
    their road in education.
        So I think that that is another thing that we really need to focus
    on. We know from experience in community after community after community
    that if there is at least one caring adult which is trying to tie the
    young boy or the young girl to school, to school life and help them
    succeed, that will also make a big difference.
        So those are just three things that I think we should start with.
    But we're going to work on it here at the White House; we're going to
    work with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and the Department of
    Education. And we want to do everything we can to make sure that there
    are more young people like you as we move into the 21st century.
        Ms. Robles. Thank you very much, Mr. President. And now I would like
    to introduce to you the district director of LULAC in Hollister,
    California, Ms. Micki Luna.
        Ms. Luna. Greetings from the Golden State of California, Mr.
    President.
        The President. Hello.

    Affirmative Action

        Ms. Luna. We applaud your recent announcement to create a commission
    to study race relations in our country. However, we are increasingly
    concerned about the effects of California's Proposition 209, which
    eliminated affirmative action programs in our community. What actions
    are you taking to lessen or to reverse the effects of Proposition 209,
    which have already drastically lowered Hispanic enrollment in higher
    education within the university system of California?
        The President. Well, Micki, first of all, I've tried to continue to
    speak out in favor of affirmative action as I have been, as you know,
    for the last several years, to discourage anyone else

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    from doing the same thing. I think that's very important.
        Secondly, I have asked the Domestic Policy Council to coordinate a
    review by the Justice Department and the Education Department on the
    impact of Proposition 209 and the Hopwood decision in Texas. We need to
    make sure that we do everything we can to keep the doors of higher
    education open to all Americans, including all minorities. We are
    looking for specific things that we can do to ensure that higher
    education does not become segregated or that the progress we've made
    over the last 20 years is not reversed.
        Secondly, I think we need to do more in secondary schools to prepare
    young people for college. If we can really implement the standards
    movement that I'm pushing for over the country and get all the schools,
    like the San Antonio district, to participate, what we will see is that
    we will do a better job of giving our young people the tools they need
    to get into college in the first place.
        One of the things that I have noted is that so many affirmative
    action students have done very, very well in the universities of our
    country. They've also improved the quality of education there for other
    students by diversifying the student body. And because they do well it
    means that they could have done better on the entrance test, they could
    have done better in the beginning if we, their parents' generation, had
    provided them a finer elementary and secondary education. So I think
    that's a big part of this answer, too.
        But I'm not willing to give up on affirmative action in education.
    I'm not about to give up on it. And we are exploring what our legal
    options are, as well as what policies we might implement to try to stop
    public higher education in America from becoming resegregated.
        Ms. Robles. Thank you, Mr. President. And at this time may I
    introduce to you the LULAC national vice president for the Southwest
    from Dallas, Texas, Mr. Hector Flores.
        Mr. Flores. Thank you, madam chair. Good morning, Mr. President.
        The President. Good morning, Hector.
        Mr. Flores. I'm glad to see you again.
        The President. Thank you.

    Empowerment Zones Along the Border

        Mr. Flores. Mr. President, despite the general low level of
    unemployment throughout the country, our communities along the United
    States and Mexican border continue to experience high unemployment
    levels, ranging from as high as 12 to 15 percent. Will you work with
    LULAC to increase empowerment zones along the border to reduce the
    devastating high level of unemployment in these areas, sir?
        The President. The short answer to your question is, yes, I will do
    what I can to increase the availability of empowerment zones, enterprise
    communities, incentives in all the high unemployment areas of our
    country.
        Two weeks ago, the Vice President was in southwest Texas and hosted
    a townhall meeting in McAllen at the Southwest Border Conference. It was
    a gathering of over 200 people from the rural empowerment zones,
    including mayors, local elected officials, representatives from five
    States that are involved in these issues. And one of the things we
    learned is that we must have economic development along the borders to
    combat these double-digit unemployment rates.
        We're working to find additional moneys now to fund more zones to
    help people help themselves. And let me say that in my budget, I call
    for a doubling of the number of empowerment zones and enterprise
    communities. We know that these things will work. [Applause] Thank you.
        One of the continuing struggles I'm having up here in Congress to
    get the right kind of balanced budget is to get the Senate and the House
    to agree to invest funds in the empowerment zones, in the enterprise
    communities. Now, we've had one empowerment zone in south Texas. You
    know that it can work. And one of the things I'd like to ask LULAC to do
    is to write or call the Members of the House and the Senate who
    represent the border States and remind them that these empowerment zones
    are important and that they will work. We've got to get in the final
    budget coming to me--we have got to get funds for the empowerment zones
    and the enterprise communities, because we know we have to turn these
    communities that are in difficult shape, that have not participated in
    our economic revival. We know we've got to turn them around one by one
    with local leadership and private sector investment.
        I will do my part. But when you leave here I want to implore you all
    to contact the Members of Congress, especially in the border States,

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    and intensely argue for not only reauthorization of the empowerment
    zones but to expand their number. If you do, I will go in there and work
    with you to get these high unemployment areas fully participating in our
    economic recovery.
        Thank you.
        Mr. Flores. Thank you, Mr. President.
        The President. Thank you.
        Ms. Robles. Thank you, Mr. President. On behalf of all the LULAC
    membership, 110,000 grassroots members from across the United States and
    the island of Puerto Rico, I thank you. I particularly want to thank you
    also on behalf of the State director of the State of Arkansas, Mr. Ben
    Rodriguez----
        The President. My longtime friend.
        Ms. Robles. ----and the membership of your native State.
        The President. Thank you. Tell him I said hello. Bless you.
        Ms. Robles. He's here in the audience, sir. He's listening to you.
        The President. Hello, Ben.

    Note: The President spoke at 11:12 a.m. by satellite from Room 459 of
    the Old Executive Office Building to the meeting in California. In his
    remarks, he referred to Belen Robles, president, League of United Latin
    American Citizens.