[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (2000, Book II)]
[June 28, 2000]
[Pages 1334-1335]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks at a Ceremony Honoring Presidential Scholars
June 28, 2000

    The President.  Thank you very much. Please be seated. Welcome to 
the White House. I'm sorry it's a little rainy, but it's a nice place to 
hide from the rain.
    We're delighted to be joined today by Representatives Jack 
Kingston, Carlos Romero-Barcelo, John Isakson, 
and Ken Bentsen. And I want to thank Deputy Education Secretary Frank 
Holleman for being here, as well as Chairman 
Tom Britton and all the members of the 
Commission on Presidential Scholars, and the members of the Presidential 
Scholars Foundation who are with us here today.
    I have had the privilege of meeting with the Presidential scholars 
every year since I've been in office. I always enjoy meeting you and 
your parents, your teachers, your loved ones. I want to congratulate 
each of you for working hard, for believing in yourselves, for achieving 
something very special, and for being in a position to play such a large 
role in our country's future.
    I am especially glad that all you young people are here this week, 
because this is a week which has had a very large impact on the future 
that you will live. Just 2 days ago some of our Nation's leading 
scientists came to the White House to announce they had completed 
mapping the entire human genome, the very book of life. It's one of the 
most important scientific discoveries of all time. It will launch a new 
era of discovery that will revolutionize the diagnosis, prevention, and 
treatment of most, if not all, human diseases, from Alzheimer's to 
Parkinson's to diabetes to cancer.
    Then, we also announced this week that according to the latest 
budget projections, our budget surplus this year will be the largest in 
the entire history of the United States, $211 billion. When I leave 
office, we will have paid down the national debt by nearly $400 
billion--[applause]--thank you; locked away the taxes the American 
people pay for Social Security and, I hope, for Medicare, for debt 
reduction over the next decade, and still leave the American people a 
projected surplus to be invested in the future of about $1.5 trillion.
    If Congress works with me, we can map a course to place our Nation 
in a position we haven't been in since 1835, an America entirely debt-
free. We can do that by 2012. And it will change your future forever.
    One thing that I've worked hard to achieve over the last 7\1/2\ 
years--and we've had a surprising amount of bipartisan consensus on 
this--is to extend the ability to go to college to more young Americans. 
We've established the HOPE scholarship; the $1,500 tax credit for the 
first 2 years of college, which effectively makes community college free 
to most Americans; a lifetime learning tax credit, which has been very, 
very important for the last 2 years of college, for graduate school, for 
adult education. We've allowed families to save in education IRA's. We 
changed the nature of the student loan program to lower the cost and to 
provide more repayment options in a way that has saved our students $8 
billion over the last 7 years. And now I'm asking Congress to allow 
families to deduct the costs of up to $10,000 of college tuition at a 28 
percent rate, which could be worth $2,800 to virtually every family in 
America sending a young person to college.
    So this, I think, may be one of the most important things we've done 
in the last 7 years. College-going is higher than ever before. Two-
thirds of our high school graduates are immediately going on to college. 
It's something for which we can all be very, very grateful.
    Thirty-five years ago this month, President Johnson welcomed the 
second class of Presidential scholars here to the White House. And 
believe it or not, he talked about this very moment. Here's what he 
said: ``In the year 2000, most of you scholars will be no older than I 
am today. Intricate and subtle problems will confront you along the way. 
It is your responsibility to bring to the solution of these problems a 
set of values drawn from the long wisdom of the democratic process.''
    Now, when he said that, President Johnson didn't know we would map 
the human genome. He didn't know we'd be talking about a $1.5 trillion 
surplus. Before we started running these surpluses, the last time we had 
a surplus was in 1969, and it was just a few million dollars, and they 
hardly knew what to do with it.
    So he didn't know about the genome; he didn't know about the 
surplus. But he did know

[[Page 1335]]

something Americans have always known: If we stay focused on the future 
and if we stay true to our values, there is no stopping the power and 
potential of the spirit of our people.
    Now, 35 years from now, you Presidential scholars will be about my 
age. In this audience, we have students who may one day help us find a 
cure for AIDS, who may design cars that get hundreds of miles to the 
gallon, who help us unlock the mysteries of our deepest ocean depths and 
the dark reaches of outer space.
    I think it very likely that your children will be born with a life 
expectancy of somewhere around 100 years. And I think it possible that 
you will be able to unite with others across the world, across all the 
lines--the racial, the ethnic, the religious lines--that divide us, not 
only because of the way technology and the Internet are bringing us 
together but because of one of the great lessons we have actually 
learned from the study of the human genome. Scientists have found 
already, in mapping the genes of people, that in genetic terms, all 
human beings, regardless of race, are more than 99.9 percent the same. 
Even more surprising, the genetic differences within people of the same 
race are greater than the differences of the genetic profile from group 
to group of people of different races.
    Therefore, what we have learned, perhaps most important, from this 
stunning breakthrough of modern science, is something that ancient 
faiths have already taught us: The most important fact of life on this 
Earth is our common humanity. I hope that understanding continues to 
guide all of you as you go out into the best days our country and, I 
hope, our world have ever known. I am very proud of you for your 
achievements. I congratulate you and your families. I wish you well.
    I only hope that you will always remember this day and the fact that 
you came to the Nation's Capital and to the people's house at a time of 
great progress and prosperity. But that progress and prosperity imposes 
upon you, because of your gifts, a special responsibility to make the 
most of it.
    Congratulations.
    Now we're going to bring the Presidential scholars up.
    Thank you.

[At this point, the Presidential scholars were introduced.]

    The President.  Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes our program, 
but if they don't make you feel better about the future of America, 
nothing will. Let's give them another hand. [Applause]
    Thank you very much.

 Note:  The President spoke at 3 p.m. in a pavilion on the South Lawn at 
the White House. In his remarks, he referred to Thomas E. Britton, 
Chairman, Commission on Presidential Scholars.