    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (1999, Book II)]
    [November 11, 1999]
    [Pages 2074-2076]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks on Education Appropriations and an Exchange With Reporters
    November 11, 1999

        The President. Well, good afternoon. I am delighted to be joined by
    Secretary Riley and by Bruce Reed, my Domestic Policy Adviser, and by these teachers
    from our area, some of whom have actually been hired through our class
    size initiative.
        All of you know today is Veterans Day. I've just returned from
    Arlington Cemetery. We always discussed how best to honor the
    contributions of our veterans on this day. One good way is by reaching
    agreement on a budget that honors our values, the values for which they
    served, that enhances opportunity, reinforces responsibility,
    strengthens our community and the future of our children. We have made
    important progress toward that end.
        Last night, after many days and hours of discussion, Congress agreed
    to continue supporting our efforts to hire 100,000 new, highly qualified
    teachers to reduce class size in the early grades. That is truly good
    news for our children and for their future.
        We know that school enrollments are exploding, record numbers of
    teachers are retiring. Research is clear that students do learn more in
    smaller classes with quality teachers. Every parent and teacher in
    America knows that a child in a second-grade class with 25 students

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    will not get as much attention as he or she needs and deserves.
        Just this week, we learned that our class size initiative, which
    Congress agreed to last year, is working. Communities are using the
    funds from last year's agreement to hire more than 29,000 teachers and
    reduce average class size for 1.7 million children to 18 students a
    class. That's why I've made honoring our commitment to reducing class
    size such a high priority in these budget negotiations. The agreement we
    have reached has bipartisan support, and it keeps us on track to hiring
    100,000 teachers by 2005.
        As I said in my State of the Union Address, we don't just need more
    teachers, but better ones. This agreement furthers that goal as well.
    All teachers hired under this program must be fully qualified. The
    program gives school districts the flexibility to use 25 percent of the
    funds from this program to train and test new teachers. It also
    increases flexibility, with the involvement of the Secretary of
    Education, to get extra funds for school districts that have a high
    percentage of their teachers that are not certified to teach the
    subjects they have been hired to teach, so that they can become fully
    qualified in those subjects.
        Through this plan, taxpayer dollars will go for reducing class size
    in public schools. And I want to thank Members of Congress from both
    parties. I'd like to particularly mention Chairman Goodling, the chairman of the House committee, for working with
    us on this, and Senator Patty Murray, who has
    been such a strong advocate for the class size reduction initiative. But
    there are many others, as well, who came together in this agreement.
    This is a victory for America's children.
        In addition to reducing class size, we've made progress on other
    vital education initiatives, as well, more than doubling funds for
    after-school programs and increasing funding for computers in our
    schools, for mentoring to prepare our children for college, for the
    Hispanic education programs. We're also making progress on other vital
    budget priorities, from hiring up to 50,000 new community police
    officers, to setting aside funds to preserve natural resources and
    protect our environment for future generations.
        I am committed to continuing this work with Congress to reach
    agreement on the issues still outstanding, including ensuring assistance
    for those who have suffered from the devastating impact of Hurricane
    Floyd, to paying our dues to the United Nations. And if we can just
    continue in this bipartisan spirit, very soon, we will complete work on
    a budget that honors our values, lives within our means, and looks to
    our future.
        Thank you all for being here today, for symbolizing what we've been
    working for.

    World Trade Organization Talks in China

        Q. Mr. President, Ambassador Barshefsky--[inaudible]--stay in China
    for a third day--[inaudible]--WTO negotiations. Are they getting close
    to a deal? How much progress have they made?
        The President. I think the best thing I can say at the present is
    what I said yesterday: They are working, and when I know whether we've
    got an agreement or whether we haven't, I'll let you know. But I think
    the less we say now, the better. These are difficult negotiations, and
    they're working on them.

    President's Visit to Kosovo

        Q. Sir, can you tell us why you are going to Kosovo, and is the plan
    to winterize every home in Kosovo overly optimistic, given that many
    nongovernmental organizations have reported that people are living in
    tents and don't appear that they will have a winterized area of their
    home in time for the winter season?
        The President. Well, I'm going for several reasons. I'm going to
    thank our troops and see how they're doing, to support the United
    Nations' operation there, and to see how we're doing in helping the
    peace to take hold and meeting basic human needs.
        As to the last question you asked, I can't give a definitive answer
    because I don't know what the possibilities are. I think we have to do
    what is necessary to make sure that people are not too cold this winter
    because they exercised their right to go home.
        I want to remind you that in some ways we have this problem because
    almost everybody who left Kosovo went home, because the world community
    acted more quickly here than we acted in Bosnia, where there are still
    hundreds of thousands of refugees who have not gone home because the
    Bosnian war went on for 4 years and a quarter of a million people died
    there. So I'm--it's a problem, but I think we'll deal with it, and I
    think the Kosovars know that it's a problem because they all got to go

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    home so fast. And we just have to work it through and find out whatever
    is necessary to get them through the winter.
        One more. I'll take one more. Go ahead.

    Africa and Caribbean Trade Legislation

        Q. Mr. President, in your conversation with Mr. Lott, you have
    raised the African and CBI legislation. Did you get any assurance from
    him that there would be action on that before the end of the session?
        The President. Oh, I'll tell you exactly what he said, and actually,
    I think he's basically right about this. He said,
    we've got every available resource now, all of our available resources
    thrown into resolving all the remaining budget issues. As you know, we
    stand up--Senator Lott and Senator Daschle
    and Speaker Hastert and Mr.
    Gephardt and I, we stand up and we give
    these talks, and we answer your questions. And for every question we
    answer, there are scores of people that are required to do all this work
    and hammer out the agreements to turn it into legislative language, to
    work out the mechanics of how it's going to get on the calendar and all
    that.
        So what Senator Lott said was that he
    strongly supported the legislation, as do I. Senator Daschle strongly supports it. They want to know that we
    have--put mechanically--that we have a way to resolve all the budget
    issues and deal with getting it up, getting it voted on at the
    appropriate time next week. And if we can get this resolved, then
    they're going to try to get the Africa trade/CBI bill worked out. And I
    do think this is a completely good-faith offer on their part.
        There are still some differences between the Senate and the House
    approach. The House bill doesn't have CBI in it. And there will,
    inevitably, be some disputes about some provisions of the CBI bill. I
    think we can work through them all. I do believe there is a majority in
    both Houses for this legislation. But it just takes--it's not something
    that can be done without some time and care. And right now, everyone's
    energies are focused on resolving the budget agreement.
        So I pledged to him that we would do our best to resolve the budget
    agreement as quickly as possible--to reach a budget agreement. And he
    pledged to me that if we got it done in time, if they could physically
    do it, he would try to hammer out an agreement on Africa/CBI that both
    Houses can support. And I think it's terribly important, so I hope very
    much we can do it.

    Sales to China of Radar Equipment by Israel

        Q. Sir, can you take a question on Israel? Could you tell us, sir,
    how it is that Israel got the notion that it would be prudent to sell
    radar equipment to the Chinese, and what are you doing about it?
        The President. Well, we have raised it with them because we raise--
    whenever any of our friends sell sophisticated equipment that might be
    American in origin that is inconsistent with the terms under which the
    transfer was made, then we raise that. That has not been acknowledged
    yet; the facts are in dispute. So I think before I can tell you what I'm
    going to do about it, we have to be absolutely sure what the facts are.
        Our people had questions, and they had good reason to have
    questions. But sometimes when you hear these things, it's not always
    right. So the story is accurate that we've raised the matter, but it is
    inaccurate to say that we know it's an actual fact that such a transfer
    has occurred. As soon as we do know the facts, then we will decide what
    is appropriate, and I'll be glad to tell you that. I just--but I don't
    want to say anything that I'm not sure is true. And I do not believe
    that the Israeli Government has confirmed this yet, and I think the
    matter is still in some dispute.
        Thank you.

    Note: The President spoke at 12:54 p.m. in the Oval Office at the White
    House upon returning from Arlington National Cemetery.