    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1997, Book II)]
    [August 9, 1997]
    [Pages 1081-1082]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    The President's Radio Address
    August 9, 1997

        The President. Good morning. Vice President Gore has joined me today
    to talk to you about what we're doing to reduce smoking, especially by
    young people, and to protect Americans from the potential threat of
    secondhand tobacco smoke.

    [[Page 1082]]

        Cigarette smoking is the most single significant public health
    problem facing our people today. Every year, more Americans die from
    smoking-related diseases than from AIDS, car accidents, murders,
    suicides, and fires combined, taking a terrible human toll and putting
    great financial burdens on our health care system and on businesses all
    across America.
        Last year we took bold action to shield our children from tobacco,
    telling the tobacco companies: Market and sell your products to adults
    if you wish, but you must draw the line at children. And we launched a
    comprehensive plan that prohibits retailers from selling tobacco to
    minors and requires clerks to check I.D.'s before selling cigarettes to
    the young people. These regulations are critical to our goal of keeping
    tobacco out of our children's lives, but they must be enforced. I
    requested $34 million for enforcement in my 1998 budget, but Congress
    has cut that funding. I urge the Congress to do the right thing and
    restore the full $34 million when they return in September. We need to
    do more to cut off our children's access to tobacco, and this is no time
    to cut corners.
        This week I signed historic legislation that balances the budget in
    a way that protects our values, invests in our people, and prepares us
    for the 21st century. Our balanced budget includes a 15-cents-a-pack
    cigarette tax to help States provide health care for up to 5 million
    uninsured children and helps to prevent many young people from taking up
    smoking in the first place.
        But we must do more to protect all Americans from the dangers of
    smoking. One of the most important things we can do is to protect those
    who don't use tobacco from the threat of secondhand smoke. And I'd like
    to ask the Vice President to say just a few words about what that threat
    means to our families and children.
    [At this point, Vice President Gore made brief remarks.]
        The President. Thank you. Today I am signing an Executive order that
    takes the next step and bans smoking in all Federal facilities under the
    control of our administration. A year from today, every Federal agency
    and office building, every visitors center at every national park, every
    facility owned or leased by the executive branch must be smoke-free.
        Now, this order does allow agencies to designate smoking areas for
    their employees who smoke, as long as these areas are ventilated to the
    outside and nonsmoking employees do not have to enter them. Our Federal
    workers and the thousands of people who visit Federal facilities will
    now be protected from the risk of secondhand smoke.
        This fall, I hope we'll begin an important national debate on
    additional measures we can enact to reduce smoking, especially by
    children. I applaud the State attorneys general and public health
    advocates for providing us an extraordinary opportunity to engage in
    this debate and to build on the progress we've already made. I'm
    particularly pleased their plan includes a proposal, based on a bill by
    Representative Henry Waxman, to protect all Americans from secondhand
    smoke. And I look forward to working together in the months ahead to
    meet this challenge.
        Americans who have made the choice not to use tobacco products
    should not be put at risk by those who choose to smoke. With this step
    we're taking today, millions of Americans will be able to breathe just a
    little easier.
        Thanks for listening.

    Note: The President spoke at 10:06 a.m. from the Oval Office at the
    White House. The Executive order is listed in Appendix D at the end of
    this volume.