[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 34, Number 41 (Monday, October 12, 1998)]
[Pages 2020-2021]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 7139--National Children's Day, 1998

October 9, 1998

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

    One of the most important measures of our success as a Nation is the 
well-being of our children. As a society, we have no more important 
responsibility than to help our families raise healthy, happy, loving 
children in an environment that allows kids to reach their full 
potential. My Administration is committed to this goal, and we have made 
significant progress over the past five and a half years through 
initiatives and legislation designed to strengthen families, protect our 
children's health, and invest in their education.
    By providing a tax credit of $500 per child to 26 million families, 
increasing the minimum wage, and cutting taxes through extending the 
Earned Income Tax Credit, we have helped millions of working families. 
We have dramatically increased Federal funding for child care and 
proposed additional subsidies and tax credits to help families pay for 
such care.
    Through the Family and Medical Leave Act, we have made it easier for 
working parents to take as much as 12 weeks of unpaid leave to care for 
a new baby or a sick child without jeopardizing their jobs. And the 
landmark Adoption and Safe Families Act I signed into law last year 
helps the thousands of children in foster care by working to reunite 
them with their families, where possible, or move them more quickly into 
secure, permanent adoptive families when that is the best option.
    To meet our commitment to the health of all our children, we have 
extended health care coverage to millions of previously uninsured 
children through the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), the 
largest national investment in children's health care in

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more than 30 years. Children with health insurance get a healthier start 
in life because they receive regular checkups and routine immunizations. 
We are working with the States to ensure that every child eligible for 
CHIP is enrolled, and we are focusing on enrolling the more than 4 
million uninsured children who are currently eligible for health 
coverage under the Medicaid program.
    To empower America's children with the skills and knowledge they 
need to make the most of their lives, our Nation has also made the 
largest investment in education in more than a generation. Today, more 
than 800,000 children are enrolled in Head Start, receiving the 
attention and training they need to start school ready to learn. We are 
also working with the Congress to pass legislation that will provide 
public schools with more teachers, smaller class sizes, new or renovated 
buildings, and the latest in information technology.
    Children are our greatest blessing, and raising them well is the 
most challenging and rewarding task any of us will ever undertake. On 
National Children's Day, let us recommit ourselves--as loving parents 
and caring citizens--to ensure that all of America's children grow up in 
truly nurturing environments where their needs are met and where they 
have every opportunity to make the most of their lives.
    Now, Therefore, I, William J. Clinton, President of the United 
States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the 
Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim October 
11, 1998, as National Children's Day. I urge the American people to 
express their love and appreciation for children on this day and on 
every day throughout the year. I invite Federal officials, local 
governments, communities, and particularly all American families to join 
together in observing this day with appropriate ceremonies and 
activities that honor our Nation's children. I also urge all Americans 
to reflect upon the importance of children to our families, the 
importance of strong families to our children, and the importance of 
each to America.
    In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this ninth day of 
October, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-eight, and 
of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and 
twenty-third.
                                            William J. Clinton

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 11:43 a.m., October 13, 
1998]

Note: This proclamation will be published in the Federal Register on 
October 14.