THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

STATEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT

Today, I signed H.R. 2490, "Treasury and General Government Appropriations Act, FY 2000", a bill that contains several important improvements in family planning and child care. This bipartisan bill will give people who work for the federal government access to more affordable child care and flexibility in family planning. It will require health plans participating in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) that provide prescription drug coverage to provide prescription contraceptive coverage as well, while providing an exception for plans that object to this requirement on religious grounds. The bill also gives government agencies new flexibility that will allow them to make child care more affordable for lower-income Federal employees. While this bill is not perfect, it does show that we can make progress when we work in a bipartisan fashion.

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