    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (2000, Book I)]
    [June 16, 2000]
    [Pages 1154-1157]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Interview With Matt Lauer of NBC's ``Today'' Show
    in New York City
    June 16, 2000

    ``VH1 Save The Music Today'' Campaign

        Mr. Lauer.  Mr. President, good morning; nice to have you here.
        The President.  Good morning, Matt. Thank you.
        Mr. Lauer.  I don't think I'm betraying any confidence when I say
    that I checked with the VH1 people and I said, ``How did you get the
    President involved in this campaign?'' And they threw their arms up and
    they said, ``He kind of volunteered''----
        The President.  That's true.
        Mr. Lauer.  ----``I mean, he's called many times and said, `What can
    I do?''' Why is this so important to you?
        The President.  Well, Hillary and I both spent a lot of time on
    this, and it's important for two reasons. One is, I was in music when I
    was the age of these children, and I know what it can do. And secondly,
    I've been very disturbed over the years--over the last 20 years, more
    and more, as schools have come under financial pressure, they have
    tended to drop their music programs. You know, the principals have a lot
    of problems. They have a lot of challenges they have to meet, and many
    times the money is not there. And the school districts have cut a lot of
    these music programs out all over the country.

    [[Page 1155]]

        And when I heard what VH1 was doing, I did kind of volunteer to get
    involved. I wrote John Sykes a letter and said,
    ``Look, I'm for this, and I think we've got to get music back into these
    schools.'' A lot of young children--we know that a lot of our young
    children learn better if they have access to music education. Not
    everyone learns in the same way. Not everyone's brain is stimulated in
    the same way. And the schools that have vigorous music programs tend to
    have higher academic performance.
        Mr. Lauer.  What do you say, though--I mean, let's say, devil's-
    advocate it for a second--I'm a member of the local school board, and I
    sit down, and I look at the budget, and it's shrinking. And I say,
    ``I've got choices. I have to make cuts. I've got school lunches over
    here. I have books for the library here. I have music education over
    here.'' How do you stop me from cutting music education?
        The President.  It depends on what your options are. But very often
    there are some options. And that's what that wonderful movie about music
    education here in New York City, ``Music of the Heart,'' was about. But
    what this program tries to do is to encourage the schools to put some
    money into music education by giving them extra help with instruments
    and sometimes with other support.
        And what we've tried to do at the national level, with the National
    Endowment for the Arts and the President's Commission on the Arts and
    Humanities that Hillary's the
    honorary chair of, is to constantly support music education, to
    emphasize that the schools that have good music education programs see
    positive other academic advancements as a result of it, and of course,
    try to get some more funds for the lower income schools out there.
        Mr. Lauer.  But is the message getting out? I mean, you had music
    education as a kid; so did I. We took it for granted. We're now in a
    time of unprecedented economic prosperity, and still today, only 25
    percent of schools across this country offer music education as a basic
    part of the curriculum.
        The President.  See, what a lot of people don't know is, over the
    last 20 years and particularly in the last decade or so, while our
    school populations have been growing again, a smaller percentage of
    property-tax payers have kids in the schools. And an awful lot of our
    schools are funded primarily through the property tax. So the schools
    have had all kinds of financial problems. Their energy bills go up. A
    lot of them have substandard physical facilities. They have the need to
    hire more teachers to teach various academic requirements that may have
    come in. And they don't want to stop any of their competitive athletic
    proposals. So the two things that have suffered most in the schools are
    the music programs and the art programs, on the one hand, and the
    physical education programs for people who aren't in competitive team
    sports.
        Mr. Lauer.  But is this the way it's going to be? I mean, when
    people like VH1 come in and they donate money like this, it's great, but
    it's private and public partnership. Why can't we find a way, even
    through the Federal Government's assistance, to make sure that this is a
    basic part of education?
        The President.  I think we should do that. But the main thing we
    have to do is to build broader public support for doing it. Let me say,
    interestingly enough, you asked me the budget question. That's the first
    question: Well, what would you do if you had all these tough budget
    decisions? Our research indicates that the number one factor in whether
    music education programs stay or come back to schools is strong
    community involvement pushing for it. In other words, where people at
    the grassroots want it, the people who make the budget decisions tend to
    find a way to provide it.
        And so, what we can best do, I think, is to point out consistently
    what the overall educational benefits are, number one, and number two,
    to try to get more Federal assistance out there to the schools to help
    deal with their big problems. That's why I'm trying to get the Federal
    Government to help with school construction and school repair, to help
    the school districts hire teachers to lower class sizes so they don't
    have to cut out music to hire that extra teacher when the population
    goes up, and to get the overall aid to low income schools up. So if we
    do those things and we get the kind of grassroots support we need, then
    what VH1 will be doing is supplementing a growing trend, instead of
    trying to fill a huge hole.
        Mr. Lauer.  Is it possible to take it a step further? From what I
    understand now, the Federal Government supplies about 9 percent of
    funding for schools; local and States provide the rest. Can you offer
    States incentives? Can you say to them, ``Look, we'll provide more
    funding if you take it upon yourselves to make music education part of
    your basic curriculum?''

    [[Page 1156]]

        The President.  We could do that. I hadn't thought of that, exactly
    in that way. What we tried to do--let me just say this. What we've tried
    to do for the last 7 years, since I've been President, is to say,
    ``Look, here are the Nation's education goals. They include music and
    the arts. And if you come up with a plan to meet those goals, we will
    give you some help to implement the plan, which included music and the
    arts.''
        Basically, the specific targeted dollars we have for schools go to
    schools that have greater financial need, because they've got a higher
    percentage of low income kids, or to hire more teachers, generally,
    because the school population is going up.
        I think if we will stay with the position that we're going to help
    all the schools that have these goals, which include music and the arts,
    and then we come in with the big ticket items, which are personnel and
    school building and repair, and we can build the kind of grassroots
    support we need, then these music programs will be able to survive.
        But one of the things that really happened is a lot of folks just
    took the music programs for granted. A lot of people who were making
    tough budget decisions assumed nobody would care if they were
    eliminated. And it was tragic, what happened. So I think what's going to
    happen--you'll see a big infusion of public money going back into these
    programs because of what VH1 has done and because more and more parents
    will insist on the music being there. And I'll be glad to do whatever I
    can to help.
        Mr. Lauer.  We're going to take a little break. When we come back, I
    understand we're joined by another special guest, and we'll talk more
    about music education.
        The President.  Thank you.

    [At this point, the network took a commercial break.]

    Los Alamos National Laboratory

        Mr. Lauer.  And we're back with President Bill Clinton at P.S. 96 in
    East Harlem. Let me ask for a couple of quick answers to some questions
    in the news. Los Alamos: Congress is holding hearings on security
    breaches there. Two hard drives containing nuclear secrets disappeared.
    Do you think national security was jeopardized?
        The President.  It's not clear, but I think it's very important to
    get to the bottom of it. The FBI is investigating it, and we've got
    Senator Baker and Congressman
    Hamilton, who have agreed to take an
    independent look. It's a serious issue, and I think what we ought to do
    is just see the investigation through and see where the facts lead us.
        But we need to do what we can to find out what happened, whether
    there was a security breach, and if so, how we can change it so it will
    never happen again.

    Gasoline Prices

        Mr. Lauer.  You and I were both watching the news earlier about gas
    prices.
        The President.  Yes.
        Mr. Lauer.  People in Chicago, Milwaukee, in particular, paying 40
    cents a gallon more than the rest of us.
        The President.  Than anybody else in the country. It's been very
    frustrating to me. I'm quite concerned about it.
        Let me tell you what we know. We know that the prices were affected
    by the shutdown of a refinery, which is coming back up, a leak in a
    pipeline, which is the cheapest way to transport gas, and an unusual
    increase in demand in the Chicago-Milwaukee area. And all that affected
    it. Also, they used the cleaner gasoline, which is more expensive to
    produce, but that's only about 5 or 6 cents a gallon. So we know that it
    would be more expensive for a little while until the transportation and
    the refinery problems are solved.
        What we don't know is whether there was any price gouging. So we've
    got the Federal Trade Commission looking into that, and we've also had
    the Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency looking
    into it. I'm very worried about it. But I'm hoping that we can break the
    logjam on it soon.

    ``VH1 Save The Music Today''

    [Mr. Lauer introduced musician Billy Joel, who
    offered his advice to the young musicians present.]

        The President.  The only thing I would say is, don't get discouraged
    early. If you'll stay with it long enough, until you like to hear
    yourself play, then it will be easier for you to keep practicing. But if
    you play one of these reed instruments, you'll squeak a lot. If you play
    a string

    [[Page 1157]]

    instrument, it'll hurt your ears in the beginning. Just stay with it; be
    patient. And when you reach the point where you like to hear yourself
    play, then it's all downhill from there. You just keep working.
        Mr. Lauer.  Maybe it's a good time for you to relate to them also.
    You had a music teacher in your early life who had a pretty strong
    impact on your life.
        The President.  Oh, absolutely I did. I had a--well, my high school
    band director, Virgil Spurlin, is still a
    friend of mine, still writes me to this day. My grade school band
    director was a man named George Grey, who had a big impact on me. My
    vocal--my choir teacher when I was in elementary school, I still
    remember vividly. Her name was Lillian Rutherford. All the kids I knew
    had access to choir and could be in the band if they wanted to. And I'm
    so glad that John Sykes and VH1 and all these
    people are trying to make it possible for you to do this, because it's
    something--you don't have to--I was not as good as Billy Joel, see, so I didn't get to be a professional musician. But
    I had a wonderful time. It changed my life for the better. And it still
    benefits me, and I still play.

    President's Legacy

        Mr. Lauer.  I'm sure at this point in your Presidency, you have to
    be thinking a lot about legacy. And you look at young people in the
    third and fourth grade--how do you want them to be a part of your
    legacy?
        The President.  Well, I want them to have more opportunity, more
    educational opportunity, than they had when I became President. And I
    want them to grow up in a country that is a more just and decent
    country, where there is less discrimination and where people work
    together more. And I think that that will be the case. But it's really
    important that kids are not deprived of opportunities like music, just
    because of where they happen to live and whether their parents have
    money or not. That shouldn't be what determines this.
        Mr. Lauer.  Just a suggestion: You've got some free time coming up
    in January, and Billy, you've got a little free time. I'm thinking, you
    go to the garage in Chappaqua; you get a little amplifier like you used
    to do in high school--[laughter]--aggravate the neighbors, and put
    together a little band here.
        The President.  I accept.
        Billy Joel.  How close is the next house
    over, because--[laughter].
        Mr. Lauer.  Thank you so much for coming in. Billy Joel, it's always
    good to see you. President Clinton, nice to see you, as well.
        The President.  Thank you.

     Note:  The interview began at 8:08 a.m. at the Joseph C. Lanzetta
    School in East Harlem. In his remarks, the President referred to John
    Sykes, president, VH1; and former Senator Howard H. Baker, Jr., and
    former Representative Lee H. Hamilton, appointed to lead a Presidential
    Commission to investigate possible security breaches at the Los Alamos
    National Laboratory. The transcript released by the Office of the Press
    Secretary also included the remarks of Mr. Joel.