[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 34, Number 45 (Monday, November 9, 1998)]
[Pages 2201-2202]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Statement on Signing the Technology Administration Act of 1998

October 30, 1998

    Today I am signing into law H.R. 1274, the ``Technology 
Administration Act of 1998.'' The Act strengthens the technology 
programs of the Department of Commerce to meet the challenges of the 
21st century.
    The Act will enable the Commerce Department's National Institute of 
Standards and Technology (NIST) to better serve the

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Nation's more than 380,000 smaller manufacturers by eliminating the 6-
year sunset provision for Federal co-funding of NIST Manufacturing 
Extension Partnership centers.
    The Act also authorizes NIST to establish a program to help 
elementary and secondary school teachers to convey to their students 
important lessons in measurements, manufacturing, technology transfer, 
and other areas in which NIST researchers possess world-class expertise.
    I am especially pleased to sign this legislation because it includes 
an initiative that I have sought for the past 2 years: expansion of the 
Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award to include education and health 
care organizations. The Foundation for the Malcolm Baldrige National 
Quality Award deserves special credit for its work to endow this 
expansion, as does NIST, which manages the program in close cooperation 
with the private sector. Now the Federal Government can do its share to 
foster performance excellence in schools, health care, and business.
    The Act also officially establishes within the Department of 
Commerce an Office of Space Commercialization and the Experimental 
Program to Stimulate Competitive Technology. These programs address two 
important components of our overall competitiveness strategy: our wise 
use of commercial space capabilities, consistent with public safety and 
national security requirements, and enhancement of technological 
opportunities for the States.
    This Act furthers my Administration's commitment to ensure that 
technology remains the engine of economic growth. We have more work to 
do. My Administration will work with the 106th Congress on legislation 
to reauthorize the Commerce Department's Technology Administration and 
other NIST programs.
                                            William J. Clinton
The White House,
October 30, 1998.

Note: H.R. 1274, approved October 30, was assigned Public Law No. 105-
309. This item was not received in time for publication in the 
appropriate issue.