[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.