[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 42 (Monday, October 25, 1999)]
[Pages 2065-2067]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
The President's Radio Address

October 16, 1999

    Good morning. Today I want to talk about what we must do to make 
sure people with disabilities who are ready, willing, and able to work 
can be part of our Nation's prosperity.
    Work is an awfully important part of who we are as Americans. It 
connects us with our communities and provides dignity for our families. 
Today, more Americans are working than ever before. Since 1993, in 
January, when I took office, we've had the largest

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peacetime expansion in our history and created more than 19 million new 
jobs. Unemployment is at a 29-year low; welfare rates, a 30-year low; 
poverty, a 20-year low, with the first back-to-back budget surpluses in 
42 years.
    But in spite of the good economic news, there are people in places 
still not touched by our prosperity. Among them are almost three out of 
four Americans with severe disabilities who want to work, but aren't 
working. This is not just a missed opportunity for them; it's a missed 
opportunity for all the rest of us, too.
    If we want to keep our economy growing with continued low inflation 
and low unemployment, we must draw on the untapped potential of our 
people. That's why I launched our enterprise zone and enterprise 
community initiative 6\1/2\ years ago, under the leadership of Vice 
President Gore, to bring investment and jobs to rural and urban areas 
with high unemployment.
    That's why I'm working now to pass our new markets initiative in 
Congress, to give Americans the same incentive to invest in poor 
communities in America we now give them to invest in poor communities in 
Latin America, Asia, Africa, and central Europe. And that's why I 
established a Presidential task force on the employment of adults with 
disabilities last year, to help remove the barriers that prevent people 
with disabilities from going to work.
    In December Vice President Gore received the first set of 
recommendations by the task force, and I'm proud to say we've taken 
action on every one. The budget I proposed last January would invest 
more than $2 billion in health care, tax credits, and new technologies 
for people with disabilities. I also signed an Executive order to 
eliminate unfair barriers to Federal employment for people with 
psychiatric disabilities.
    Today I announce new steps we're taking to ensure that when it comes 
to the employment of people with disabilities, the Federal Government 
leads by example. And today I'm releasing the first-ever Government plan 
to ensure positive career paths for people with disabilities in our 
Federal work force. I'm directing every Federal agency and department to 
take concrete action to expand opportunities for people with 
disabilities in all levels of the work force, from entry to senior 
ranks.
    And I'm calling on all agencies to recruit and promote people with 
disabilities, to reach out to students with disabilities, to provide 
reasonable accommodations for applicants and employees with 
disabilities. I'm also calling on our Federal human resources agency, 
the Office of Personnel Management, to ensure that every agency gets the 
help it needs to fulfill these commitments. We are the Nation's largest 
employer. I want it to be a model for private industry, and this plan 
will help to do just that.
    But there's more to do. One of the biggest barriers facing people 
with disabilities is the fear of losing their health insurance when they 
get a job. Under current law, many people with disabilities cannot keep 
their Medicaid or Medicare coverage if they work. This creates a 
tremendous disincentive to work, because they have to have health care, 
and neither they nor their employer can afford, or often even find, 
health insurance.
    There's a commonsense, bipartisan bill to change that. It's called 
the ``Work Incentives Improvement Act;'' it was sponsored by Republican 
Senators Jeffords and Roth and Democratic Senators Kennedy and Moynihan. 
Simply put, it will make sure that people with disabilities don't lose 
their health care when they gain a job. This bill passed the Senate 99-
0. A bipartisan majority in the House has already cosponsored it. So I 
say to Congress, don't water the bill down, guarantee its financing, and 
go ahead and send it to me so we can sign it without delay.
    It will make money for America. It will make more taxpayers. And 
we'll be spending the Medicaid money regardless. Americans with 
disabilities who want to work shouldn't have to wait one more day.
    After years of delay, last week the House of Representatives finally 
heard the voice of the American people and passed a strong, enforceable 
Patients' Bill of Rights. By choosing progress over partisanship again, 
we can also pass the ``Work Incentives Improvement Act'' and keep 
American working and growing.
    I urge the leadership to seize this opportunity. Make this a season 
of progress, not

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a winter of partisan politics. Let's finish the job the American people 
sent us here to do.
    Thanks for listening.

Note: The address was recorded at 2:39 p.m. on October 15 in the Oval 
Office at the White House for broadcast at 10:06 a.m. on October 16. The 
transcript was made available by the Office of the Press Secretary on 
September 15 but was embargoed for release until the broadcast.