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




[[Page i]]

PUBLIC PAPERS OF THE PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES

                     PUBLIC PAPERS OF THE PRESIDENTS
                                  OF THE 
                              UNITED STATES

[[Page ii]]

[[Photographic insert]]

photographic portfolio



                                     

[[Page iii]]

                     PUBLIC PAPERS OF THE PRESIDENTS
                                  OF THE 
                              UNITED STATES



                           William J. Clinton




                                   1998
                              (in two books)

               BOOK II--JULY 1 TO DECEMBER 31, 1998



                  ----------------------------------------
                  United States Government Printing Office
                             Washington  :  2000


[[Page iv]]





                            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



[[Page v]]



                                Foreword

    The last half of 1998 was a time of great challenge in Washington, 
but of even greater prosperity and progress for our Nation. Rising 
personal incomes, the lowest unemployment in 28 years, and the first 
Federal budget surplus in 29 years, all served to validate the success 
of our 6-year-old economic strategy of fiscal discipline, expanded 
trade, and greater investent in our people. In October, I signed a 
budget reaffirming that strategy with vital new investments, including a 
down payment to hire 100,000 new, highly trained teachers to bring class 
sizes down to an average of 18 in the early grades. To maintain fiscal 
discipline, I rejected proposals from the congressional majority to 
spend the surplus before we had a plan in place to save Social Security. 
To build a bipartisan consensus for such a plan, I hosted the first-ever 
White House conference on the future of Social Security. To advance my 
goal of reinventing the Federal Government to better serve the American 
people, I signed landmark bills reforming the Internal Revenue Service 
and Federal job training programs.

    During this period, challenges to peace and prosperity arose around 
the world, testing the mettle of American leadership. When terrorists 
associated with Osama bin Laden bombed U.S. embassies in Kenya and 
Tanzania, America struck back at his terrorist network. When Saddam 
Hussein refused to cooperate with U.N. weapons inspectors, American and 
British forces struck hard at Iraq's capacity to build weapons of mass 
destruction and threaten its neighbors militarily. When financial 
turmoil in Asia spread to Russia and Brazil, dampening U.S. exports and 
putting the entire global financial system at risk, America led efforts 
that stemmed the threat. We helped strengthen the International Monetary 
Fund's ability to combat financial contagion, and in October, I set out 
a six-point plan to dampen the cycle of boom and bust in world financial 
markets.

    And when the Middle East peace process was in danger of collapsing, 
I invited Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel and Chairman Arafat of the 
Palestine Liberation Organization to join me at the Wye River Plantation 
in Maryland. For 9 exhausting days we helped these two leaders make 
difficult decisions for peace, aided by the appearance of my friend, the 
late King Hussein of Jordan.

    The agreement they signed not only put this holy and tortured land 
back on a path toward peace, but also reaffirmed my belief that it is 
often at the moment of greatest challenge that we are capable of making 
the greatest progress.

                                           


[[Page vii]]



                                 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 July 1-December 31, 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.

[[Page viii]]

    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, Melanie L. Marcec, 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,
July 1-December 31, 1998 . . . 1149

Appendix A
Digest of Other White House Announcements . . . 2221

Appendix B
Nominations Submitted to the Senate . . . 2237

Appendix C
Checklist of White House Press Releases . . . 2245

Appendix D
Presidential Documents Published in the Federal Register . . . 2255

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 ..................  Elizabeth A. Moler, Acting
                                        Bill Richardson
                                        (effective September 11)

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

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

United States Representative to the ..  Bill Richardson
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 Management .. Jacob J. Lew
and Budget

Chief of Staff .......................  Erskine B. Bowles
                                        John D. Podesta
                                        (effective November 1)

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

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

Administrator of the Small Business ..  Aida Alvarez
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