[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (2000, Book II)]
[August 19, 2000]
[Pages 1670-1671]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



The President's Radio Address
August 19, 2000

    Good morning. During the recent political convention, we asked 
people all across our country to take stock of our Nation's progress and 
the challenges that lie ahead. One thing is clear: We live in a moment 
of unprecedented peace and prosperity, and getting there was not a 
matter of chance but of choice.
    When the Vice President and I set out to restore the American dream 
8 years ago, we faced some tough choices. But with the support of the 
American people, we made those choices together. Today I want to talk 
about how far we've come and how we can use this historic good time to 
address our outstanding challenges at home and abroad.
    We now enjoy the longest economic expansion in our history, turning 
record deficits into record surpluses, creating more than 22 million 
jobs with the lowest unemployment in 30 years, and average family income 
has jumped by more than $5,000.
    But more than just being better off, America is a better nation. We 
ended welfare as we knew it. With the benefits of job training, child 
care, and transportation, 7\1/2\ million Americans have moved from 
welfare to work. We're turning our schools around with higher standards, 
more accountability, more investment. As a result, our reading, math, 
and SAT scores are going up, and more students than ever are going to 
college. We made our communities safer by putting 100,000 new police 
officers on the streets, banning assault weapons, keeping guns away from 
a half million felons, fugitives, and stalkers, and together, we brought 
crime to a 25-year low.
    We've also extended the life of the Medicare Trust Fund by 26 years 
and passed the Family and Medical Leave Act, which over 20 million 
Americans have used to take a little time off for a newborn baby or a 
sick loved one. Our air and water are cleaner; our food is safer.
    We've also stepped up our fight against AIDS, doubling AIDS research 
and prevention efforts. We're working on the reauthorization of the Ryan 
White CARE Act to provide a lifeline to half-million Americans living 
with HIV and AIDS.
    While we're making real progress in the fight against AIDS here at 
home, we have to do more to combat this plague around the world. That's 
why today I'm pleased to sign the Global AIDS and Tuberculosis Relief 
Act. This bipartisan legislation authorizes funding for AIDS treatment 
and prevention programs worldwide and increases investment in vaccines 
for the world's children, including AIDS vaccine research. I hope 
Congress will also approve our vaccine tax

[[Page 1671]]

credit to speed development of such critical vaccines for the developing 
world.
    Fighting AIDS worldwide is not just the right thing to do; it's the 
smart thing. In our tightly connected world, infectious disease anywhere 
is a threat to public health everywhere. AIDS threatens the economies of 
the poorest countries, the stability of friendly nations, the future of 
fragile democracies. Already, HIV/AIDS is the leading cause of death in 
Africa and increasingly threatens Asia and the states of the former 
Soviet Union. In the hardest hit countries, AIDS is leaving students 
without teachers, patients without doctors, and children without 
parents. Today alone, African families will hold nearly 6,000 funerals 
for loved ones who died of AIDS.
    But we still have time to do a world of good if we act now. This 
bill is an important step in the fight against AIDS. It's also a symbol 
of the good we can accomplish when we work together in a bipartisan 
spirit. In that same spirit, Congress still has time to get important 
work done for the American people this fall. When they return in a few 
weeks, they'll still have time to put progress before partisanship to 
pass a real Patients' Bill of Rights; affordable Medicare prescription 
drug benefits for all our seniors; to set aside the Medicare surplus so 
that it can only be spent to strengthen Medicare, not raided for tax 
cuts we can't afford; to pass tax cuts that help middle class families 
send their kids to college and provide long-term care for their loved 
ones.
    We should also pass a strong hate crimes bill and commonsense gun 
legislation. We should rebuild our crumbling schools, hire the rest of 
those 100,000 teachers, and raise the minimum wage.
    These are big challenges, but if we make the tough choices together, 
we'll keep our progress and prosperity going.
    Thanks for listening.

Note: The address was recorded at 1:57 p.m. on August 18 in the Map Room 
at the White House for broadcast at 10:06 a.m. on August 19. The 
transcript was made available by the Office of the Press Secretary on 
August 18 but was embargoed for release until the broadcast.