[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 46 (Monday, November 22, 1999)]
[Pages 2374-2375]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
The President's Radio Address

November 13, 1999

    Good morning. In recent weeks, Congress and our administration have 
been engaged in final budget negotiations that will set the direction 
our Nation takes as we enter the new millennium. This week we made good 
progress. Today I want to talk to you about

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what we achieved, why I fought hard for priorities like better schools 
and safer streets, and what we still must do to finish a budget that 
prepares for the future, continues to pay down the debt, and honors our 
values.
    I wanted to make sure the very first budget of the 21st century puts 
education first. That's why I stood firm on our commitment to hire 
100,000 quality teachers to reduce class size in the early grades. We 
made this promise with Congress last year, and schools around the 
country already are hiring more than 29,000 teachers to give 1.7 million 
children the chance to learn in smaller classes.
    The research is clear on this. Students learn more in smaller 
classes where they get more attention. And as I said in the State of the 
Union Address, we not only need more teachers; we need better teachers. 
Under the plan we worked out with Congress this week, every teacher 
hired with these funds must be fully qualified and know the subjects he 
or she is hired to teach. School districts can also use some funds to 
better prepare their existing teachers to meet the needs of 21st century 
students. We need to stay on this path of hiring 100,000 quality 
teachers to reduce class size.
    The budget agreement also more than doubles our investment for 
after-school programs and increases funding for our efforts to connect 
all our schools to the Internet, for our GEAR UP program which provides 
mentors to prepare at-risk children for college, and for our Hispanic 
education initiatives. I am pleased Congress has put politics aside and 
put education first in this budget.
    We're making progress in other areas as well. We know America is 
safer. The crime rate is at a 25-year low. But it's not nearly as safe 
as it can and should be. We must keep the crime rate coming down. The 
budget agreement invests in the success of our COPS program which has 
already funded 100,000 community police officers, by providing the 
resources to hire up to 50,000 more of them over the next 5 years in 
neighborhoods where crime rates are still too high.
    We've made progress on the efforts that Vice President Gore and I 
have developed to set aside funds to preserve natural areas and to 
protect our environment for future generations. However, we've still got 
some work to do on this and we must oppose anti-environmental provisions 
that put special interest ahead of the public interest.
    With all this progress, our budget work isn't complete yet. And I'm 
committed to working with Congress to reach agreement before they recess 
this year on the issues that are still outstanding, from passing 
meaningful hate crimes legislation to providing relief for families 
suffering under the impact of Hurricane Floyd, to paying our U.N. dues, 
to passing the ``Work Incentives Improvement Act'' so that people with 
disabilities can gain a job without losing their health care.
    In addition to the budget, I urge Congress to keep working on other 
critical issues--commonsense gun safety legislation to keep guns out of 
the wrong hands; a real Patients' Bill of Rights families have been 
waiting for for too long; a raise in the minimum wage, which shouldn't 
be held hostage to special interest tax cuts that aren't paid for and 
don't address national needs; and finally, measures to save Social 
Security and Medicare for the 21st century and modernize Medicare to 
include a voluntary prescription drug benefit. I urge Congress to work 
with me in meeting all these goals.
    This has been a good week for America. We're staying on the path 
that has brought us the longest peacetime expansion in history, the 
highest homeownership in history, nearly 20 million new jobs, a 30-year 
low in unemployment, a 20-year low in poverty rates, and the first back-
to-back budget surpluses in 42 years. Now we've got the chance of a 
lifetime to shape the future of our dreams for our children. Let's 
finish the job.
    Thanks for listening.

Note: The address was recorded at 3:15 p.m. on November 12 in the Oval 
Office at the White House for broadcast at 10:06 a.m. on November 13. 
The transcript was made available by the Office of the Press Secretary 
on November 12 but was embargoed for release until the broadcast.