    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1997, Book II)]
    [October 21, 1997]
    [Pages 1403-1405]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks to the Congressional Caucus for Women's Issues
    October 21, 1997

        Thank you, Eleanor, for that introduction. We've been friends a long
    time and, frankly, I had forgotten that I had done some of those things.
    [Laughter] Thank you, Nancy Johnson, Madam Secretary. Thank you, First
    Lady, for now spending more than half your life at least acquainted with
    me in some form or fashion--[laughter]--almost half of it married.
        I congratulate the members of the caucus on 20 years of leadership.
    I thank Women's Policy Inc. for hosting this event, and I am delighted
    to be here, not only with the Secretary of State but also with Audrey
    Haynes, the Director of the White House Office for Women's Initiatives
    and Outreach, and several other outstanding senior officials of the
    White House.
        I, too, want to pay tribute to Margaret Heckler and Elizabeth
    Holtzman for their vision in creating this office, for the leadership
    that--[applause]--thank you--for the past leadership of Olympia Snowe
    and Pat Schroeder, Connie Morella and Nita Lowey. And of course, to
    Nancy Johnson and Eleanor Holmes Norton, who show no lack of energy in
    pressing your cause with the President.
        When Nancy mentioned there are now 52 members of this caucus in the
    House of Representatives, I was sitting next to Hillary, and I knew what
    she was thinking: That's about 52 too few. [Laughter] And I was thinking
    it, too, based on your record.

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        I think the thing that has been overlooked in this whole endeavor of
    trying to give more sensitivity to issues of special concern to women
    and trying to give women more opportunities to serve is that we live in
    an age where every public figure says, as if it were just a cliche, that
    the most important resource in any human endeavor in the private sector
    or the public sector is our people. And yet we cavalierly go on, in
    example after example after example, not giving all our people the
    chance to live up to the fullest of their God-given capacities and make
    the greatest service they can to the rest of us to promote the general
    welfare. I've done what I could to correct that, partly based on the
    example of my wife, my mother, and my grandmother, and partly because I
    have known so many of you personally, and partly because it is manifest
    that we have to find a way to reach across all the lines in our society
    and lift up everyone to the position of his or her highest and best use
    and potential.
        In that connection, I would like to thank the newly confirmed
    Ambassador to the Vatican, Lindy Boggs, for her willingness to serve.
        I've been proud to work with you on a lot of issues. Most of them
    have been mentioned tonight--the family and medical leave law, which has
    changed more lives than almost any bill that we've passed around here in
    a long time. Everywhere I go around the country now, people still come
    up to me and tell me personal stories of how that law changed their
    lives. The Kassebaum-Kennedy bill, the minimum wage, the child care, the
    adoption tax credit, increased child support enforcement, the family
    violence initiatives--all these things have made a difference. The hand
    of this caucus was felt heavily in the recent balanced budget, with the
    single biggest aid to education increase since '65, the biggest increase
    in aid to children's health since Medicaid in '65, and the children's
    tax credit. So, the country is in your debt.
        And I do believe that the bipartisan nature of this caucus has made
    a profound difference. I know that we're joined tonight by the
    Democratic leader, Dick Gephardt, and I believe Speaker Gingrich wanted
    to be here and had to be in Georgia tonight. I know Mr. Gephardt would
    agree with me that all of us have been impressed by how you are able to
    stay together, work together, and, in Eleanor's terms, get down to
    business no matter how crazy things get in this occasionally loony town.
    And for that, too, we are all in your debt, for you set an example that
    everyone else should follow.
        I'd like to talk just a moment about health issues. Hillary
    mentioned them and has worked on them so hard, and others have mentioned
    them. The budget not only provided for $24 billion to extend health
    coverage to 5 million children who don't have it, thus giving greater
    peace of mind to the parents who are raising them, both as parents and
    also when they're away at work, it did a lot more for the health of
    women. It expanded Medicare to cover bone mass measurement for women at
    risk of osteoporosis. Funding for osteoporosis research has now reached
    more than $100 million at NIH. It expanded Medicare to cover annual
    mammograms for all women over the age of 49 and eliminated the
    copayments to make these examinations more affordable. These were
    important things, and we have more to do.
        We have to continue our focus on women's health. Since I took
    office, funding for breast cancer research, prevention, and treatment
    has almost doubled, and we've discovered two breast cancer genes,
    holding great promise for the development of new prevention strategies,
    something that's profoundly important to all of us who have ever dealt
    with this in our families.
        We're unlocking the mysteries of the genetic code and continuing to
    discover new ways to diagnose and treat genetic disorders. But we know
    that these breakthroughs also bring with them the need for new
    protections. Studies show the leading reason women do not take advantage
    of new genetic breast cancer tests is because they fear they will be
    discriminated in health plans if the tests come out the wrong way. This
    is wrong, and it ought to be illegal.
        So I want to work with you to get Congress to pass bipartisan
    legislation that will ban all health plans, group and individual, from
    denying coverage or raising premiums on the basis of genetic tests.
    After all, if we can get everybody to take the tests, if they know what
    they're up against, in the end we will prevent more severe illness, we
    will reduce cost to the health care system. And we shouldn't punish
    individuals for doing something that we know is not only in their own
    interest but is in the interest of society.
        Also, legislation should prohibit all health plans from disclosing
    genetic information that could be misused by other insurers. It ought to
    protect researchers' ability to make the best

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    use of this important tool. So, again, let me applaud those, especially
    Representative Slaughter and Senator Snowe, for their leadership.
    Genetic discrimination legislation deserves action now.
        Let me also say that many of you in this room have contributed to
    our efforts to support legislation to protect women who have had
    mastectomies. They shouldn't be forced out of the hospital before
    they're ready because of pressure from a health plan. It's unacceptable
    that Congress has not yet held a hearing on the DeLauro-Dingell-Roukema
    48-hour mastectomy patient protection bill, and we need to keep pushing
    for that.
        And finally, we need to keep breaking down the doors and breaking
    through the glass ceilings and acting to bring women the full measure of
    economic and legal equity to which they're entitled. This caucus and our
    administration, under the leadership of Aida Alvarez, continues to work
    to counter the effects of discrimination and long-developed networks
    which hinder the success of women- and minority-owned businesses. I'm
    proud of the fact that the SBA in the last 5 years has tripled the
    number of loans to women businesses, and I thank you for your support of
    the disadvantaged business enterprise program, which has successfully
    increased the percentage of women- and minority-owned construction
    firms. I'm pleased to say that this has now passed both Houses, and I
    hope you'll keep up the fight so that it actually reaches my desk.
        Twenty years after its creation, the Congressional Caucus for
    Women's Issues commands the respect that you've always deserved. You now
    have a record you can be proud of. You work in a way that you can be
    proud of. You can feel the respect here in this audience this evening of
    all the people who have come to pay tribute.
        Tonight is a night for celebration. We celebrate an initiative taken
    in 1977, a celebration of 20 years of hard work, of the many initiatives
    that you have accomplished. But most importantly, I'm here to celebrate
    the energy, the intelligence, the character, and the old-fashioned
    patriotic devotion to the task at hand that will bring you even more
    brilliant achievements in the years ahead.
        Thank you, and God bless you.

    Note: The President spoke at 7:27 p.m. in the Mellon Auditorium at the
    Department of Commerce. In his remarks, he referred to Delegate Eleanor
    Holmes Norton and Representative Nancy L. Johnson, cochairs, former
    Representatives Margaret M. Heckler and Elizabeth Holtzman, founders and
    original cochairs, and former Representative Patricia Schroeder, former
    cochair, Congressional Caucus for Women's Issues; and former
    Representative Corinne Claiborne (Lindy) Boggs.