[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (2000, Book II)]
[October 2, 2000]
[Pages 1998-2000]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks Prior to a Meeting With Congressional and Religious Leaders and 
an Exchange With Reporters
October 2, 2000

Debt Relief for Poor Countries

    The President. Just before you all came in, I looked around this 
table and I said, ``I imagine this is the most amazing group of 
Americans who has gathered together here in this room since Theodore 
Roosevelt inaugurated it in 1902.'' And I thank them all for coming. I 
think it shows you the depth and breadth of commitment of congressional, 
religious, and civic leaders to convince Congress to appropriate the 
entire $435 million that we pledged in debt relief to the world's 
poorest countries and to authorize the International Monetary Fund to do 
its share, as well.
    It's not often we have a chance to do something that economists tell 
us is the financial imperative and religious leaders say is a moral 
imperative. It's not often that we find an issue that puts John 
Kasich and Maxine Waters on the same side, economists and evangelicals in the 
same room. All of us feel a common obligation to do the right thing.
    In the most indebted countries, one in ten children dies before his 
or her first birthday; one in three is malnourished; the average adult 
has only 3 years of schooling. This is a terrible omen for our shared 
future on this planet, and it is wrong.
    More than a year ago, religious leaders organized a very successful 
global campaign for debt relief. It touched many of us here today and 
generated strong bipartisan support in the Congress. The United States 
developed a plan with other creditor nations to triple debt relief 
available to the world's poorest nations, provided they agreed to put 
the savings from debt payments into health and education. Here are the 
results so far.
    Last year Bolivia saved $77 million and spent it on health and 
education. Uganda used its savings to double its primary school 
enrollment.

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Honduras now intends to offer every child 9 years of schooling, instead 
of 6. Mozambique is buying much needed medicines for Government clinics, 
especially important there in light of the terrible floods they 
experienced.
    Now, other nations are watching to see if the United States will do 
its part. If we don't, it's possible that some nations will do all the 
work that we should have done to qualify, or that they needed to do to 
qualify, but they won't get any relief at all.
    Now, let me remind you, we are talking here about one-five-
thousandth of our budget to lift the burden of debt around the world for 
years to come. We're talking about giving as many as 33 nations a chance 
for a new beginning and about doing good works that our different faiths 
demand of us. This is a remarkable opportunity that we must seize now, 
and we must not let other issues divert us from it.
    Again, I'm profoundly grateful to all of you for coming and to you, 
especially, Representative Kasich, for making 
sure that this is a broad bipartisan group. So I'd like to open the 
floor to you to say a few words.

[At this point, Representative John R. Kasich, Representative Nancy Pelosi, and 
Archbishop Theodore E. McCarrick of the Archdiocese of Newark, NJ, 
made brief remarks.]

    The President. Thank you. I'd just like to make one more point that 
I think none of us made, but it's worth making. And again, I want to say 
this is an amazing group. Rabbi, we thank 
you for coming. Reverend Robertson and 
all the Members of Congress--Bono, thanks for coming 
back from Ireland.
    There is another point that should be made here. Some of the people 
who have not supported us have said, ``Well, so many countries have 
problems of their own making, they've got to solve their own problems.'' 
The unique thing about this debt-relief initiative is that the money has 
to go to meet the human needs of the people. It cannot go to pad the 
government; it cannot go to pad private pockets; it cannot go to build 
military arsenals; it can only go to meet long-term human needs.
    So that if we can do this, one of the best long-term benefits will 
be we will be providing a breathtaking incentive for good governance in 
these countries, which will enable them to do things for their own 
people that would have been unimaginable just a few years ago. So that's 
another reason that I am profoundly grateful to all of you for this.
    Now, we'll take a couple of questions and we've got to----

Middle East Peace Process

    Q. Mr. President, two questions. First, over the weekend, did you 
personally see the videotape of the 12-year-old Palestinian boy who was 
shot over the weekend, and have you got a reaction to it? And secondly, 
sir, what assurances have you received in the last 24 hours from either 
Prime Minister Barak or Chairman Arafat that they are doing all that 
they can to bring a cessation to the violence?
    The President. The answer to your first question is, I did see it.
    Q. Your reaction, sir?
    The President. The first time I saw it, I didn't know what the 
result was, and I kept wondering if there was something else that the 
father could do to shield the child. I mean, I was literally watching as 
if it were someone I knew. It was a heartbreaking thing to see a child 
like that caught in the crossfire.
    I've talked to Chairman Arafat. I've 
talked to Prime Minister Barak. We've had 
virtually constant contact with them. I am convinced that they must do 
everything in their power to stop the violence, and I think they are now 
trying. And we're going to do everything we can. We have--as you know 
from the statement I put out yesterday, we've offered some ideas, and 
we've been working on this all day. So we'll just have to see if we make 
some more progress tomorrow morning over there. I think it will be 
better tomorrow. I hope it will.

Debt Relief for Poor Countries

    Q. On the debt relief issue, the holdup seems to be Senators Gramm 
and McConnell. What can you offer them to get this moving?
    The President. Well, I don't know what else we can offer them but 
the evidence. I think if we just keep working at it, we might get there. 
We have such a good, broad bipartisan group here that I think in the end 
that we'll be able to work it out with them. And we're certainly working 
on it.

Middle East Peace Process

    Q. Mr. President, in your talks with the Israelis and Palestinians, 
do you get the impression that the recent violence is helping them

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move along towards wanting to reach an agreement? Or is it hurting 
things?
    The President. Well, in the short run, it's hurting them, because 
they can't do anything on the peace process until people stop dying and 
the violence stops. But when the smoke clears here, it might actually be 
a spur to both sides as a sober reminder to what the alternative to 
peace could be. So we have to hope and pray that will be the result.
    Thank you all very much.

Note: The President spoke at 3:40 p.m. in the Cabinet Room at the White 
House. In his remarks, he referred to Rev. M.G. (Pat) Robertson, 
president, Christian Coalition; Rabbi David Saperstein, director, 
Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism; musician Bono; Chairman 
Yasser Arafat of the Palestinian Authority; and Prime Minister Ehud 
Barak of Israel. The transcript released by the Office of the Press 
Secretary also included the remarks of Representative Kasich, 
Representative Pelosi, and Archbishop McCarrick.