[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 46 (Monday, November 22, 1999)]
[Pages 2394-2395]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Statement on the E-Rate and Efforts To End the Digital Divide

November 17, 1999

    Today the Federal Communications Commission announced that the ``E-
rate'' will help connect over one million classrooms to the Internet. 
This is a giant step toward the goal that Vice President Gore and I set 
to connect every classroom and library to the Internet by the year 2000.
    Children all over the United States are now able to log on to the 
Library of Congress, get on-line mentoring from a scientist halfway 
around the world, and acquire the skills they need to succeed in the 
high-tech economy of the 21st century, because of the

[[Page 2395]]

E-rate. Parents also benefit by now being able to communicate more 
frequently with teachers and follow the academic performance of their 
children. Combined with investments that my administration is making in 
multimedia computers, teacher training, and high-quality educational 
software, the E-rate is putting the future at the fingertips of our 
children. It is also helping to bridge the ``digital divide'' by 
providing the deepest discounts to the schools and libraries that need 
it most.