    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (1999, Book II)]
    [September 4, 1999]
    [Pages 1487-1488]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    The President's Radio Address
    September 4, 1999

        Good morning. I'm speaking to you today from Waterman Elementary
    School in Skaneateles, New York, where children, like those all across
    America, are now getting back to the basics of reading, writing, and
    arithmetic.
        When we took office in 1993, Vice President Gore and I charted a new
    economic course for America that took Washington back to basics: budget
    discipline, expanded trade, investment in our people. Today we received
    more good news that this strategy is working. The latest economic report
    shows that unemployment has now dropped to 4.2 percent, the lowest rate
    since January of 1970. In the last 6\1/2\ years, we've created 19.4
    million new jobs, the longest peacetime expansion and the largest budget
    surplus in history. With this good news, it is more clear than ever that
    the course we've charted for the economy is right for America. Now we
    must use this moment of great promise to meet our large, long-term
    challenges: to increase opportunity and responsibility for our citizens
    and to strengthen our national community.
        Making the most of this moment requires us to meet the challenges of
    the aging of America by saving Social Security and strengthening and
    modernizing Medicare with a prescription drug coverage. It requires us
    to secure America's long-term prosperity by paying down our debt and
    getting new investment to areas still untouched by our recovery, and it
    requires us to continue to pursue an ambitious course to give

    [[Page 1488]]

    all our children a world-class education; more and better prepared
    teachers; modernized schools connected to the Internet; a new commitment
    to higher standards, to ending social promotion, to more after-school
    and summer school programs, to ending Federal subsidies for failure, and
    for supporting proven strategies for turning around schools that aren't
    working. That, too, is the right course for America.
        The risky tax plan passed by the majority in Congress is not the
    right course for America, and it would make it impossible to pursue
    these other objectives. I don't believe we should squander our surplus
    after being in debt for 30 years and quadrupling our national debt in
    just 12. I don't think we should do something that would imperil our
    prosperity or jeopardize our children's future--by forcing crippling
    cuts in education, by failing to add a single day to the life of Social
    Security and Medicare, by failing to seize this opportunity to get
    America out of debt for the first time since 1835--or to give more
    investment to those communities that need it so much: the cities, the
    small towns, the rural areas left behind.
        Instead, we can meet our most pressing national priorities and still
    have sensible tax cuts and extend our prosperity into the places it has
    yet to reach. That's the plan I have proposed. I believe that's what the
    American people want, and that's what I'll work with Congress, with
    members of both parties, to achieve.
        So as America goes back to school and Congress returns from its
    summer recess, our elected representatives have this big assignment and
    other important ones, as well. First, we must show we have learned the
    lessons of Littleton. To protect our children, Congress must pass
    commonsense measures to prevent youth violence and keep guns out of the
    wrong hands.
        Now, a full month has passed since House and Senate conferees met to
    work on this legislation; nearly 5 months since the shootings at
    Columbine. I'm still waiting, and America is still waiting for Congress
    to act. It shouldn't take another tragedy to shake them from the summer
    slumber.
        Today I'm sending a letter to the Republican leadership urging
    Congress to take immediate action to send me a balanced bipartisan
    juvenile crime bill that closes the gun show loophole, requires child
    safety locks for guns, and bans the importation of large-capacity
    ammunition clips. If Congress passes it, I'll sign it.
        To protect the 160 million Americans who rely on managed care,
    Congress should pass a strong, enforceable Patients' Bill of Rights.
    There's a bipartisan bill ready for action. The American Medical
    Association has endorsed it. So have more than 200 other medical and
    consumer organizations. It's high time for Congress to act, and if
    Congress passes it, I'll sign it.
        With the number of students at historic levels, Congress should make
    the investments in education our children deserve. Here again
    legislation is ready. As part of my balanced budget, I've proposed to
    build new schools and fix old ones across our land. Congress should pass
    the proposal and fulfill the commitment it made last year to hire
    100,000 well-prepared teachers to reduce class size in the early grades.
    Congress should also pass my proposal to stop social promotion and
    provide more funds for after-school and summer school programs and to
    turn around failing schools. If Congress passes these important
    educational measures, I'll sign them.
        Maintaining our prosperity, paying down the debt, saving Social
    Security and Medicare, protecting our children, protecting patients'
    rights, bringing success to struggling communities and to all our
    children--these are big assignments. But in every one of these areas,
    there is legislation ready for approval, ready for my signature, as soon
    as Congress proves it's ready to act.
        If we work together in the weeks and months ahead, we can make this
    season not only one of action but of real achievement for the American
    people.
        Thanks for listening.

    Note: The address was recorded at noon on September 3 at Belle H.
    Waterman Elementary School in Skaneateles, NY, for broadcast at 10:06
    a.m. on September 4. The transcript was made available by the Office of
    the Press Secretary on September 3 but was embargoed for release until
    the broadcast.