[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 33, Number 2 (Monday, January 13, 1997)]
[Pages 7-8]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]
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The President's Radio Address
January 4, 1997
Good morning, and Happy New Year. I look forward to 1997 with great
optimism. As we enter this new year, I'm preparing to enter my second
term as your President, committed to continuing our mission of preparing
our people for the 21st century, meeting our new challenges, and
strengthening our oldest values. We will work to give our people the
tools they need to make the most of their own lives, to build strong
families and strong communities. And as we work to expand opportunity,
we will also seek responsibility from every American.
This approach is working. In just 4 years we have replaced trickle-
down economics with invest-and-grow economics, responsibility, and
opportunity. We've cut the deficit by 60 percent, increased our trade to
record levels. We have over 11 million new jobs.
In just 4 years, working with citizens and communities all over
America to solve our social problems, we have replaced political
rhetoric with a strategy of giving people the tools to solve their
problems and demanding responsibility from all of our citizens. It's
working, too. Crime has dropped for the last 4 years as we work to put
100,000 police on our streets and take gangs and guns away from our
children. The welfare rolls have dropped by 2.1 million--that's a record
reduction--as we work to help people find work but to require them to
pursue work and education and to be responsible parents.
But there's still a lot more to do if we're going to make sure the
American dream is a reality for all of our citizens in the 21st century.
And we still have some pretty big problems in our society. None stands
in our way of achieving our goals for America more than the epidemic of
teen pregnancy. Today I want to talk to you about the progress we've
made in preventing it and to tell you about the new steps we're taking
to see to it that our progress carries into the new year and beyond.
We know many of our social problems have their roots in the
breakdown of our families. We know children who are born to teen parents
are more likely to drop out of school, get involved in crime and drugs,
and end up in poverty; more likely to suffer ill health, even to die as
infants. And teen parents often find their own lives are changed
forever. Too many don't finish school, not ever, and therefore, they
never learn the skills they need to succeed as workers and parents in
our new economy.
That's why our administration has worked so hard to reduce teen
pregnancies, to increase responsibility among teen parents, and to
prepare young people to be good parents at the right time. Last year I
took executive action to require young mothers to stay in school or lose
their welfare payments. We challenged members of the private sector to
take action, and they did, with a national campaign to prevent teen
pregnancy and community initiatives all over our Nation.
We're mounting an unprecedented crackdown on child support
enforcement. Now child support collections are up over 50 percent,
compared to 4 years ago. And we've worked with community-based groups in
the character education movement in our schools to help parents teach
young people right from wrong. Today we have new evidence that this
approach is starting to work.
Last year we learned that the teen birth rate has dropped for the
4th year in a row, and that out-of-wedlock birth rates dropped for the
first time in 19 years. According to a new report by the Department of
Health and Human Services, the teen birth rates dropped more than 10
percent over 3 years in Wisconsin, Washington, and 8 other States. And
altogether, from 1991 to 1995, the teen birth rate in America has
dropped by 8 percent.
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The progress we're making on teen pregnancy shows that we can
overcome even our most stubborn and serious problems. Because of the
energy and the effort of the American people, as I said, the crime rate
is dropping, the welfare rolls have dropped dramatically, and poverty is
down. We can meet our challenges if we'll meet them together, in our
homes, our communities, and as a nation. But let me be clear: The teen
pregnancy rate is still intolerably high in America. Too many children
are still having children. So we must do more.
As I enter my second term, I want to tell you the new and
comprehensive steps my administration will take to further reduce the
number of out-of-wedlock births:
First, we'll step up support for programs at the local level at
work, providing $7\1/2\ million for pioneering programs like the one at
Emory University in Atlanta, where young people teach their peers about
abstinence and responsibility.
Second, we'll spread the word about these programs so that what
works in one community can be tried quickly in more communities.
Third, we'll forge even stronger partnerships with businesses,
clergy, and community groups who are committed to dealing with this
issue.
And fourth, we'll see to it that we use the most up-to-date research
methods to track teen pregnancy trends. We have to make sure our efforts
are actually paying off.
Finally, we'll carry out the strong provisions of the welfare reform
law I signed last year, which requires teen mothers who receive welfare
not only to stay in school but to live at home or in an adult-supervised
setting. It sets up second-chance homes where young mothers who can't go
home still have a safe place to raise a child and turn their lives
around. And it institutes the toughest ever child support measures.
We've made some significant progress in the effort against teen
pregnancy in the last few years. With the new steps I'm announcing
today, we'll continue our fight against children having children. All of
you need to help us send the strongest possible message: It's wrong to
be pregnant or father a child unless you are married and ready to take
on the responsibilities of parenthood.
What we're doing to prevent teen pregnancy as a nation is an example
of how we can master many of the challenges of our time. The National
Government cannot solve all our problems, but it can help by giving
individuals, families, and communities the tools they need to take
responsibility and solve those problems for themselves.
As President, I'm committed to marshaling all the forces in our
society to mobilizing our citizens, our communities, our businesses, our
schools to meet our challenges. That is the way we will keep the promise
of America alive for all our citizens as we move into the 21st century.
Thanks for listening, and Happy New Year.
Note: The President spoke at 10:06 a.m. from the Mahogany Run Golf
Course in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands.