[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1998, Book I)]
[January 1, 1998]
[Pages i-xiii]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]




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PUBLIC PAPERS OF THE PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES

                       PUBLIC PAPERS OF THE PRESIDENTS

                                    OF THE 

                                 UNITED STATES

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[[Photographic insert]]

photographic portfolio


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                   PUBLIC PAPERS OF THE PRESIDENTS

                                 OF THE

                             UNITED STATES
                                     


                         William J. Clinton




                                  1998

                              (IN TWO BOOKS)

                  BOOK I--JANUARY 1 to JUNE 30, 1998


                 ----------------------------------------
                 United States Government Printing Office
                             Washington : 1999



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                            Published by the
                     Office of the Federal Register
              National Archives and Records Administration

                             For sale by the
                       Superintendent of Documents
                     U.S. Government Printing Office
                          Washington, DC 20402


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                                Foreword

    During the first half of 1998, America crossed an historic 
threshold. Six years after we put in place a new economic strategy, 
America's economy continued to reach new heights. Most dramatically, the 
Federal budget deficit--a number once so incomprehensibly large that it 
had 11 zeros--became merely zero. By May, we were projecting the first 
budget surplus since Neil Armstrong walked on the moon. This seismic 
shift, from an era of deficits to an era of surpluses, was the result of 
6 years of hard work by the American people, and of tough choices made 
in Washington. The new era of budget surpluses would mean new 
opportunities and new challenges, and it would demand a new national 
debate about how best to use our hard-won prosperity. In my State of the 
Union address I sought to launch and frame this debate with four words: 
save Social Security first. I believed we had a duty to use the fruits 
of our prosperity to prepare for the challenges of the 21st century.

    In this time of great public controversy, I redoubled my efforts to 
focus on America's true priorities. I proposed a national effort to help 
reduce class size in the early grades by hiring 100,000 new teachers and 
by building or modernizing 6,000 schools. I called on the Congress to 
pass a patients' bill of rights for the 160 million Americans in managed 
health care plans. And as part of my initiative on race, we held 
conversations across the country, bringing citizens together across 
lines of race, religion, and ethnicity to build one America.

    It was a time when we moved forward to build new institutions and 
strengthen and advance America's values and leadership abroad. In 
Geneva, before the World Trade Organization, I set out a vision for a 
new international trading system. I said such a system must be more open 
and dynamic, but that it must also honor our values by ensuring that 
spirited economic competition among nations does not become a race to 
the bottom in environmental protections, consumer protections, or labor 
standards. In the first-ever tour by an American President of sub-
Saharan Africa, I met with President Mandela of South Africa and 
witnessed firsthand the workings of a new democracy in which former 
oppressed and former oppressor sit side by side in a unity government, 
and traveled to some of Africa's emerging countries, from Ghana to 
Uganda. On my trip to China, I spoke to the Chinese people about the 
meaning of freedom. I said America believes that individual rights, 
including the freedom of speech, association, and religion, are 
universal, and that the Chinese government's actions in Tiananmen Square 
in 1989 were wrong. I also emphasized the interests both our nations 
could further by engaging with one another. And in Northern Ireland, the 
people agreed to an historic peace accord, raising hopes that decades of 
violence will come to an end. Around the globe, we saw the good that can 
come when America fulfills its mission as the strongest force for peace 
and freedom.

                                          

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                                 Preface

    This book contains the papers and speeches of the 42d President of 
the United States that were issued by the Office of the Press Secretary 
during the period January 1-June 30, 1998. The material has been 
compiled and published by the Office of the Federal Register, National 
Archives and Records Administration.

    The material is presented in chronological order, and the dates 
shown in the headings are the dates of the documents or events. In 
instances when the release date differs from the date of the document 
itself, that fact is shown in the textnote. Every effort has been made 
to ensure accuracy: Remarks are checked against a tape recording, and 
signed documents are checked against the original. Textnotes and cross 
references have been provided by the editors for purposes of 
identification or clarity. Speeches were delivered in Washington, DC, 
unless indicated. The times noted are local times. All materials that 
are printed full-text in the book have been indexed in the subject and 
name indexes, and listed in the document categories list.

    The Public Papers of the Presidents series was begun in 1957 in 
response to a recommendation of the National Historical Publications 
Commission. An extensive compilation of messages and papers of the 
Presidents covering the period 1789 to 1897 was assembled by James D. 
Richardson and published under congressional authority between 1896 and 
1899. Since then, various private compilations have been issued, but 
there was no uniform publication comparable to the Congressional Record 
or the United States Supreme Court Reports. Many Presidential papers 
could be found only in the form of mimeographed White House releases or 
as reported in the press. The Commission therefore recommended the 
establishment of an official series in which Presidential writings, 
addresses, and remarks of a public nature could be made available.

    The Commission's recommendation was incorporated in regulations of 
the Administrative Committee of the Federal Register, issued under 
section 6 of the Federal Register Act (44 U.S.C. 1506), which may be 
found in title 1, part 10, of the Code of Federal Regulations.

    A companion publication to the Public Papers series, the Weekly 
Compilation of Presidential Documents, was begun in 1965 to provide a 
broader range of Presidential materials on a more timely basis to meet 
the needs of the contemporary reader. Beginning with the administration 
of Jimmy Carter, the Public Papers series expanded its coverage to 
include additional material as printed in the Weekly Compilation. That 
coverage provides a listing of the President's daily schedule and 
meetings, when announced, and other items of general interest issued by 
the Office of the Press Secretary. Also included are lists of the 
President's nominations submitted to the Senate, materials released by 
the Office of the Press Secretary that are not printed full-text in the 
book, and proclamations, Executive orders, and other Presidential 
documents released by the Office of the Press Secretary and published in 
the Federal Register. This information appears in the appendixes at the 
end of the book.

    Volumes covering the administrations of Presidents Hoover, Truman, 
Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, and Bush are 
also included in the Public Papers series.

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    The Public Papers of the Presidents publication program is under the 
direction of Frances D. McDonald, Managing Editor, Office of the Federal 
Register. The series is produced by the Presidential and Legislative 
Publications Unit, Gwen H. Estep, Chief. The Chief Editor of this book 
was Karen Howard Ashlin, assisted by Brad Brooks, Anna Glover, Margaret 
A. Hemmig, Maxine Hill, Michael Hoover, Alfred Jones, Jennifer S. 
Mangum, Michael J. Sullivan, and Karen A. Thornton.

    The frontispiece and photographs used in the portfolio were supplied 
by the White House Photo Office. The typography and design of the book 
were developed by the Government Printing Office under the direction of 
Michael F. DiMario, Public Printer.

Raymond A. Mosley
Director of the Federal Register

John W. Carlin
Archivist of the United States


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                                Contents

Foreword . . . v

Preface . . . vii

Cabinet . . . xi

Public Papers of William J. Clinton,
January 1-June 30, 1998 . . . 1

Appendix A
Digest of Other White House Announcements . . . 1107

Appendix B
Nominations Submitted to the Senate . . . 1123

Appendix C
Checklist of White House Press Releases . . . 1133

Appendix D
Presidential Documents Published in the Federal 
Register . . . 1145

Subject Index . . . a-1

Name Index . . . b-1

Document Categories List . . . c-1


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                                Cabinet

Secretary of State                    Madeleine K. Albright...

Secretary of the Treasury             Robert E. Rubin.........

Secretary of Defense                  William S. Cohen........

Attorney General                      Janet Reno..............

Secretary of the Interior              Bruce Babbitt...........

Secretary of Agriculture               Dan Glickman............

Secretary of Commerce                  William M. Daley........

Secretary of Labor                     Alexis M. Herman........

Secretary of Health and Human          Donna E. Shalala........
Services

Secretary of Housing and Urban          Andrew M. Cuomo.........
Development

Secretary of Transportation             Rodney E. Slater........

Secretary of Energy                     Federico Pena...........

Secretary of Education                  Richard W. Riley........

Secretary of Veterans Affairs           Togo D. West, Jr........

United States Representative to         Bill Richardson.........
the United Nations

Administrator of the Environmental      Carol M. Browner........
Protection Agency

United States Trade Representative      Charlene Barshefsky.....



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Director of the Office of                 Franklin D. Raines......
Management and Budget                     Jacob J. Lew............
                                          (acting, effective May 
                                          20).....................

Chief of Staff                            Erskine B. Bowles.......

Counselor to the President                Thomas F. McLarty III...

Chair of the Council of Economic          Janet Yellen............
Advisers

Director of National Drug Control         Barry R. McCaffrey......
Policy

Administrator of the Small                Aida Alvarez............
Business Administration

Director of Central Intelligence          George J. Tenet.........

Director of the Federal Emergency         James Lee Witt..........
Management Agency


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                  Administration of William J. Clinton

                                  1998