[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 32, Number 19 (Monday, May 13, 1996)]
[Pages 797-798]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Letter to Congressional Leaders on the ``Adoption Promotion and 
Stability Act of 1996''

May 6, 1996

Dear __________:

    I am writing to express my strong support for The Adoption Promotion 
and Stability Act of 1996. Today, families seeking to adopt children 
face significant barriers, including high adoption costs, complex 
regulations, and outdated assumptions. I am committed to breaking down 
these barriers and making adoption easier. Promoting adoption is one of 
the most important things we can do to strengthen American families and 
give more children what every child in America deserves--loving parents 
and a healthy home. This legislation will help children in need of 
adoptive homes to be united with devoted parents.
    My Administration has worked hard to promote adoption in general, 
and adoption of children with special needs in particular. We championed 
the Family and Medical Leave Act which enables parents to take time off 
to adopt a child without losing their jobs or their health insurance. We 
strongly supported the Multi-Ethnic Placement Act to help increase the 
number of adoptions by prohibiting discrimination based on race or 
ethnicity, and we remain committed to enforcing that law vigorously. As 
part of our 1993 deficit reduction package, I signed into law a 
provision that requires ERISA plans to provide the same health coverage 
for adopted children as for biological children of plan participants. We 
have worked to preserve Federal support for adoption of children with 
special needs, and increased by 60 percent the number of children with 
special needs who have been adopted with Federal adoption assistance.
    But together we can and must do more. I strongly support the 
adoption tax credit in this bill. It will alleviate a significant 
barrier to adoption and allow middle class families, for whom adoption 
may be prohibitively expensive, to adopt children to love and nurture. 
It will encourage adoption of children with special needs. It will put 
parents seeking to build a family through adoption on a more equal 
footing with other families.
    I believe that the bill is consistent with the Administration's 
policy and my longstanding goal to end the historical bias against 
interracial adoptions, which too often has meant interminable waits for 
children to be matched with parents of the same race. The Administration 
also has some concerns regarding some of the provisions used to offset 
the cost of the bill and would like to work with the Congress on these 
provisions. In addition, we need to ensure that unnecessary provisions 
are not included in the legislation.
    The Adoption Promotion and Stability Act is an important first step 
toward meeting the challenge of removing barriers to adoption. I look 
forward to working with you so that the dreams of the waiting children 
in this country to have permanent homes and loving families can become a 
reality.
    Sincerely,
                                                  Bill Clinton

      

Note: Identical letters were sent to Newt Gingrich, Speaker of the House 
of Representatives; Richard K. Armey, House majority leader; Richard A. 
Gephardt, House minority leader; and Bill Archer, chairman, and Sam 
Gibbons, ranking member, House Committee on Ways and Means. This letter 
was made available by the Office of the Press Secretary on May 6 but was 
not issued as a White House press release.

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