THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Vice President

                    STATEMENT OF THE VICE PRESIDENT 
                      ON PROTECTING OUR CHILDREN 
              FROM INAPPROPRIATE MATERIAL ON THE INTERNET

As we connect every school and classroom to the Internet, we must protect our children from the red-light districts of cyberspace.

That is why the President and I are encouraging Congress to pass legislation that would require every school and library using the e-rate to develop a plan to protect their schoolchildren from inappropriate content. The e-rate is a new federal program that provides as much as $2.25 billion a year to connect schools and libraries to the Internet.

This legislation is not a one-size-fits-all-approach that mandates government values in our schools. Instead, our plan will empower schools to make decisions based on local values--protecting children from inappropriate material while also protecting the first amendment values we all hold dear.

We must bring the combined power of parents, teachers, and technology together if we are going to protect our students in a way that will work in every community and reflect the values of each community.

I call on Congress to pass this legislation which protects our children from inappropriate material on the Internet and will do more than ever before to make cyberspace a safe space for our children.