[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 33, Number 25 (Monday, June 23, 1997)]
[Pages 894-896]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks on Signing a Memorandum Strengthening Enforcement of  Title IX

June 17, 1997

    The President. Thank you very much. As you might imagine, Hillary 
and I have looked forward to this day with great anticipation, and we 
have discussed these issues together for more than 25 years now. 
Actually, we met before Title IX--that's one thing I managed to do 
without the benefit of Federal law. [Laughter]
    I thank Secretary Riley for his wonderful leadership. And thank you, 
Anne, for your introduction. You did so well, if you ever get tired of 
science I think public affairs would treat you well. Thank you, Jackie, 
for being a wonderful role model and a great person. Thank you, Verelett 
Allen and Captain Robin Forster, Dr. Nelba Chavez. And I'd like to say a 
special thank you to Sally Ride and tell you that tomorrow is the 14th 
anniversary of her famous ride.
    There are so many distinguished people in the audience I hesitate to 
start, but I would be remiss if I did not thank former Senator Birch 
Bayh for his leadership in this endeavor. Thank you, sir. You're a good 
man.
    And I'd like to thank the eighth graders from the Thomas Edison 
Center for Technology who are here, and I hope are being inspired about 
the future. And I would like to ask the members of the Congressional 
Women's Caucus who are here to stand and be recognized. All the Members 
of Congress who are here, please stand. Thank you.
    We are here to celebrate Title IX, but even more, we're here to 
celebrate the God-given talent of every woman and girl who has been 
benefited by it. Title IX did not create their successes, but it did 
give them the chance to make the most of their abilities. We have heard 
about the difference it has made in the lives of millions of young girls 
and young women. We know about the confidence that it has built, the 
expectations it has helped to set, the achievements it has helped to 
inspire.
    Today I also want to say that in my view Title IX has had a 
beneficial impact on every American citizen. If we've learned anything 
in the last 25 years since Title IX became law, it is that expanding 
benefits and opportunities for any American helps the rest of us. Wasted 
opportunity diminishes all of us.
    As we prepare for the 21st century, it would be sheer folly for us 
not to take advantage of every ounce of energy and talent and creativity 
every American has to offer. As a nation, that would be our great 
concern. Think what we would be like if there were no Sally Rides or 
Jackie Joyner-Kersees or any one of the countless women whose 
contributions have helped to make our Nation a better place, including, 
I might add, the eight women which now serve in the President's Cabinet, 
a record number.
    Every girl growing up in America today should have the chance to 
become an astronaut or an Olympic athlete, a Cabinet Secretary or a 
Supreme Court Justice, a Nobel Prize winning scientist or President of 
the United States. For 25 years, Title IX has

[[Page 895]]

helped girls to realize their dreams and to achieve them--a lot of 
people, believe it or not, still don't know this--to achieve them not 
only in athletics but in academics as well.
    In addition to the remarkable athletic statistics, Secretary Riley 
told me today that--and Jackie--in 1972, there were 300,000 girls in 
high school athletics. Today, there are 2.3 million. But in addition to 
the athletics, listen to this, in 1972, 9 percent of the medical degrees 
and 7 percent of the law degrees were awarded to women. In 1996, 38 
percent of the medical degrees and 43 percent of the law degrees were 
awarded to women.
    So today, we celebrate how far we've come. But we must also recommit 
ourselves to Title IX's goal of equality in education. For too many 
schools and education programs still drag their feet and lag behind in 
their responsibility to our young women and girls.
    Today, I'm directing every agency and executive department of our 
Government to strengthen their enforcement of Title IX within the next 
90 days, by reviewing current procedures, consulting with the Attorney 
General on the best way to improve them, and delivering to me a new and 
vigorous enforcement plan. Every school and every education program that 
receives Federal assistance in the entire country must understand that 
complying with Title IX is not optional. It is the law, and the law must 
be enforced.
    There is no question that we're better off because of Title IX, but 
we can go even further to provide all people with the opportunity they 
deserve to make the most of their own lives. A lot of people don't know 
this, either, but currently Title IX only applies to educational 
programs and activities that receive funding from the National 
Government. Ironically, it does not apply to the programs that the 
National Government runs itself. These include schools run by the 
Department of Defense, educational research conducted by the Federal 
Government, and educational fellowships awarded directly to students.
    I believe and I surely hope that every American would agree that the 
National Government must hold itself to the same high standards it 
expects from everyone else, especially when it comes to discrimination 
in education. Therefore, today I have sent an executive memorandum to 
all the relevant Federal departments to conduct a review of their 
programs over the next 60 days, report the review to the Attorney 
General. And then after I receive her recommendation, I expect to sign 
an Executive order to prohibit educational discrimination on the basis 
of sex, race, or national origin in federally conducted education 
programs, thereby extending the principles of Title IX to Federal 
programs themselves. [Applause] Thank you.
    On the desk outside the Oval Office, there is a little sign with a 
quote from a woman who lives here in Washington. Here's what it says: 
``I rejoice in others' success, knowing there is plenty for us all.'' 
Today, we are celebrating, resolving, and moving forward to make sure 
that all of our people, and especially every one of our girls and young 
women have the opportunities they deserve to make the most of their own 
lives. After all, there is plenty for us all. Indeed, I think you could 
make a compelling case that when other people succeed in a constructive 
manner it creates more opportunities for success for the rest of us.
    Finally, let me just add one more item. There is something happening 
today that, like Title IX, marks a significant step forward toward 
helping all our young people achieve their full potential. When I 
reached a bipartisan budget agreement with the leaders of Congress last 
month, one of my top goals was to extend health care coverage to 
millions more of our young children. Believe it or not, 10 million 
children in this country still don't have health insurance, and more and 
more, a lot of employer-based health policies are not covering the whole 
family. It is no secret that this is something that Hillary and I have 
worked on for many years and care a great deal about.
    I fought very hard to ensure that $16 billion would be set aside in 
the budget agreement for this purpose. But we did not prescribe in the 
agreement how this money would be spent. The important thing is to use 
it wisely and carefully so that it provides meaningful coverage to as 
many children as possible. I am very pleased that a bipartisan group of 
Senators in the United States Senate and on the Finance Committee have

[[Page 896]]

come up with some children's legislation that I believe offers that 
promise.
    So today I am proud to say that I will endorse the legislation 
sponsored by Senators Chafee, Rockefeller, Jeffords, and Hatch. The 
Senate Finance Committee is voting on it today, and it will help to give 
a lot of our young children a healthy start in life, without which a lot 
of those young girls might not ever be in a position to take advantage 
of Title IX.
    This legislation will be the biggest investment in children's health 
care since Medicaid passed in 1965. It will be the most significant 
thing that we could do, I think, by committing us to providing health 
insurance coverage to up to 5 million uninsured children in providing 
health insurance today that they didn't have yesterday.
    So, we've got a chance once again to prove that if we'll put 
politics aside and work together as we did so many years ago in the 
cause of civil rights, as we celebrate today with Title IX, we can make 
America a better place.
    Thank you for being here today. Thank you for the examples you set 
every day, and resolve tomorrow that you will give another young woman 
or girl a chance to make the most of her God-given abilities. Thank you 
very much.

[At this point, the President signed the memorandum to the heads of 
executive departments and agencies.]

    The President. Thank you. Thanks for coming.

Note. The President spoke at 11:24 a.m. in Room 450 of the Old Executive 
Office Building. In his remarks, he referred to scientist Anne Jarvis 
Jefferson, who introduced the President; athlete Jackie Joyner-Kersee; 
Verelett Allen, coordinator, YWCA/HCCE Non-Traditional Employment for 
Women Program; Robin Forster, fire captain, Station 10, Parkville, MD; 
Dr. Nelba Chavez, Administrator, Substance Abuse and Mental Health 
Services Administration; former astronaut Sally K. Ride; and to Title 
IX--Prohibition of Sex Discrimination, part of Public Law 92-318, the 
Education Amendments of 1972.