[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 34, Number 42 (Monday, October 19, 1998)]
[Pages 2031-2032]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks on Departure for New York City

October 12, 1998

Budget Negotiations

    Good afternoon. While Columbus Day is a day off for many Americans, 
here at the White House we have been working hard

[[Page 2032]]

with the leaders of both parties on Capitol Hill to write a budget to 
strengthen our Nation for the 21st Century.
    I have just spoken with my Chief of Staff, Erskine Bowles. He and 
our budget team report that they are making progress on important 
issues, but there are still quite a number of issues still to be 
resolved; the most critical one, perhaps, is education. Eight months 
ago, in my State of the Union Address, I asked the Congress to help 
local communities reduce class size in the early grades by hiring 
100,000 new teachers. I also asked Congress to help local communities to 
build or repair thousands of schools so we would have the classrooms for 
the teachers to teach in.
    A recent study from Congress' own General Accounting Office 
concluded that as many as one-third of our classrooms are in need of 
serious modernization and repair. With a third of our children in 
substandard classrooms, our future is at risk. I believe we can reach 
across the political divisions here in Washington to take the steps we 
must to reduce class size, to hire more teachers, to modernize our 
classrooms. Smaller classes, more teachers, modern classrooms can do for 
our public schools what 100,000 new police officers are doing to keep 
our communities safer. This should not be a partisan issue.
    I know there's an election coming, but Members of Congress can 
return home to campaign knowing that they put progress ahead of 
partisanship on the important issue of education. We need 21st century 
schools where teachers can teach and students can learn.

Death of Matthew Shepard

    Let me also take a moment here to offer my prayers and my 
condolences to the family of Matthew Shepard, as well as to the 
community of Laramie, Wyoming, and the university. While it wouldn't be 
proper for me to comment on the specifics of this case, I do want to say 
again, crimes of hate and crimes of violence cannot be tolerated in our 
country. In our shock and grief, one thing must remain clear: Hate and 
prejudice are not American values. The public outrage in Laramie and all 
across America today echoes what we heard at the White House Conference 
on Hate Crimes last year. There is something we can do about this. 
Congress needs to pass our tough hate crimes legislation. It can do so 
even before it adjourns, and it should do so.
    I hope that in the grief of this moment for Matthew Shepard's 
family, and in the shared outrage across America, Americans will once 
again search their hearts and do what they can to reduce their own fear 
and anxiety and anger at people who are different. And I hope that 
Congress will pass the hate crimes legislation.
    Thank you.

Note: The President spoke at 3:02 p.m. on the South Lawn at the White 
House.