    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (1999, Book II)]
    [December 9, 1999]
    [Pages 2240-2241]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks on the Digital Divide and an Exchange With Reporters
    December 9, 1999

        The President. Good morning. I just thought we ought to come out
    here in the brisk morning sunshine and wake up together. [Laughter] I
    want to thank the representatives here from all parts of the
    communications industry, from the foundation world, from various civil
    rights and other civic groups for being here, and coming in and giving
    me a chance to make this statement, because I had intended to go to
    Secretary Daley's conference today on
    bridging the digital divide, and because I'm going to Worcester, I
    couldn't do that. So they came in this morning, and we had a visit. I
    want to thank them for being here and for their commitment and for all
    those who aren't here but who are at the conference.
        This conference is about closing the digital divide. And we have
    worked hard on that for the last several years in very specific
    contexts. Under the Vice President's
    leadership, we have worked to make sure that eventually a digital divide
    will not deprive business of the technology-savvy workers they need and
    will not hurt our educational systems today.
        We started with the first NetDay in California, back in 1994, when
    only 3 percent of our classrooms were wired and only 14 percent of our
    schools were. And we've been working ever since. Now we know that,
    through the public-private partnerships that have been established all
    over America, through the Telecommunications Act and the E-rate, which
    the FCC set to make sure our poorest schools could afford to be
    connected, we're now up over 50 percent of the schools, from 3 percent,
    and over 80 percent of the classrooms, from 14 percent, since 1994. And
    I think that's pretty good.
        I'm very pleased by that, and we're on our way to meeting our goal
    sometime next year of having all of our schools wired and, soon after
    that, all of our classrooms wired. I want to thank the Vice
    President and all the people in various
    industries who have supported us and helped us in this regard.
        But as Secretary Daley's most recent
    ``Falling Through the Net'' report shows, there is still a lot more to
    do. We must connect all of our citizens to the Internet not just in
    schools and libraries but in homes, small businesses, and community
    centers. And we must help all Americans gain the skills they need to
    make the most of the connection. So this morning, as they go back to
    their meeting, I want to announce a series of new plans and partnerships
    that will expand on both these efforts to use the combined forces of
    public, private, and nonprofit sectors, finally to slam shut the digital
    divide.
        First, I have decided to lead a prominent delegation, including top
    CEO's, on a new markets tour this spring to focus specifically on the
    digital divide out in America. As we've done on our previous tours, we
    will visit communities that have not fully participated in our Nation's
    economic growth. And yet, in the communities we'll also see how
    partnerships between the public and private sectors can unleash the
    power of the Internet to link children and adults to a lifetime of
    learning, to provide access to distant medical care, to empower parents,
    to assist job seekers, to enhance safety, and foster economic
    development.
        Second, I am signing an executive memorandum to ensure that closing
    the digital divide will be a vital goal not just for Secretary
    Daley and for us here in the White House
    but throughout the Federal Government. For example, I'm directing
    Secretary Daley to work with the private sector to develop a national
    strategy for connecting all Americans to the Internet and directing
    Secretaries Daley, Riley, Herman, Cuomo, and
    Shalala to expand our growing network of
    community technology centers.
        I just ask you all to think about this one thing. What do you
    believe the economic impact would be if Internet access and usage were
    as dense in America as telephone access and usage? I think it's clear
    that we need to keep working until we achieve this goal.

    [[Page 2241]]

        Third, with the help of many other groups, the Leadership Conference
    on Civil Rights is launching an initiative to empower the entire civil
    rights community through an expanding civilrights.org website, through
    leadership forums and even modern-day freedom riders who will bring
    high-tech training to the doorsteps of nonprofit organizations.
        As the Congress of National Black Churches has said, the digital
    divide is a key civil rights issue of the 21st century. That's why our
    civil rights organizations must be ready, wired, and able to lead the
    change.
        Fourth, the Benton Foundation is bringing together companies from
    across the computing, telecommunications, software, and Internet
    industries, as well as the Urban League and several other large private
    foundations, to create the Digital Divide Network, an enormous
    clearinghouse of information for information on public and private
    efforts to bring technology to underserved communities. For the first
    time, we'll have one-stop shop for tracking our progress in every
    community and for learning exactly what's worked and what hasn't.
        Now, these are the steps we'll take immediately. I want to thank all
    the leaders who are here today who are making these initiatives possible
    and all of those who are going to announce specific things that they and
    their companies and organizations are doing at the conference. I thank
    them for the other major commitments they will make, because there is no
    single, big silver bullet here, but we know we have to have a national
    commitment to closing the digital divide.
        I also want to send out an invitation to all of your counterparts
    around the country who are not able to be with us today but who should
    join with us in this great national endeavor. Together we have the power
    to determine exactly what we want the Internet to become. And what we
    want it to do is to be an instrument of empowerment, education,
    enlightenment, and economic advance and community building all across
    America, regardless of the race, the income, the geography of our
    citizens. And thanks to these people, we're going to be closer to
    achieving that goal.
        Thank you very much.

    Russia and the Situation in Chechnya

        Q. Mr. President, there seems to be a divide with President Yeltsin
    this morning. He has given you something of a long-distance tongue
    lashing, saying that you've forgotten that Russia is a great power and
    has a nuclear arsenal. And he accuses you of taking an anti-Russian
    position.
        The President. Well, I'll say again what I said yesterday. I don't
    think what they're doing will help them to achieve their goal. Their
    goal, their legitimate goal, is to defeat the Chechen rebels and to stop
    their terrorism within Russia, to stop their invasion of neighboring
    provinces like Dagestan. And I don't think displacing hundreds of
    thousands of civilians will achieve that goal. I don't know what else to
    say.
        I haven't forgotten that. You know, I didn't think he'd forgotten that America was a great power when he
    disagreed with what I did in Kosovo. I mean, we can't get too serious
    about all the--let's not talk about what the leaders are saying and all
    these words of criticism. Let's focus on what the country is doing. Is
    it right or wrong? Will it work or not? What are the consequences?
        I think--I don't agree with what's going on there. And I think I
    have an obligation to say so.
        Thank you. I've got to go.

    Note: The President spoke at 8:12 a.m. in the Rose Garden at the White
    House prior to departure for Worcester, MA. In his remarks, he referred
    to President Boris Yeltsin of Russia.