THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

     PRESIDENT CLINTON HIGHLIGHTS PROGRESS ON AMERICA'S PRIORITIES
               BUT PRODS CONGRESS ON UNFINISHED BUSINESS

Today, in his weekly radio address to the nation, President Clinton will discuss the progress he has made with Congress on a budget that reflects the values and priorities of the American people. The President will also point out that there remains a great deal of unfinished business on Capitol Hill, and will urge Congress to act on these issues.

PROGRESS ON AMERICA'S PRIORITIES: BETTER SCHOOLS, SAFER STREETS, AND A CLEANER ENVIRONMENT. Today President Clinton will announce some of the achievements from the final budget negotiations with Congress, on priorities ranging from education to public safety to the environment.

• More High-Quality Teachers With Smaller Class Sizes: The budget agreement will provide $1.3 billion for the President's initiative to hire 100,000 new teachers to reduce class size in the early grades to a national average of 18. This funding, a nearly 10 percent increase from last year's levels, will enable communities to keep the estimated 29,000 teachers already hired and to help hire even more high-quality teachers. This plan means more teachers and better teachers -- and for students, more individual attention and a better foundation in the basics. The agreement provides flexibility in the use of funds for teacher training, but not for block grants or vouchers.
• More Police on the Street: In 1994, President Clinton won a commitment to fund 100,000 police officers for our streets through his COPS program. In this budget, the President secured more than $900 million to help put up to 50,000 more officers on the street, provide law enforcement with the latest crime-fighting technologies, and help fund new community prosecutors.
• Protecting the Environment: The Interior bill funds most of the President's Lands Legacy Initiative, including significant increases over FY 1999 levels and over the House and Senate funding levels for land acquisition in National parks, forests, refuges, and public lands. It also includes important new funding for state and local governments to acquire and conserve parks, forests, open space, and recreational opportunities. While there has been progress in addressing anti-environmental riders, there are still several objectionable items that remain. Congress has more work to do in resolving these issues.

THE UNFINISHED BUSINESS OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE. President Clinton today will also identify important work that Congress still needs to address, from gun control and hate crimes to a minimum wage increase and strengthening Social Security and Medicare.

• Passing Common Sense Gun Legislation. While the Administration's successful strategy of keeping guns out of the wrong hands has contributed to record declines in crime, recent tragic shootings reinforce the need to protect American families from gun violence. For months, Congress has failed to enact common-sense gun legislation. Congress must pass a bipartisan juvenile crime bill that includes strong gun measures to: close the gun show loophole; require child safety locks for handguns; ban the importation of large capacity ammunition clips; and bar violent juveniles from owning guns for life.
• Passing a Strong, Enforceable Patients' Bill of Rights. For over two years, the American people have been waiting for Congress pass a strong, enforceable Patients Bill of Rights. During that time, the President has exercised his executive authority to extend critical patient protections to over 85 million Americans. But ultimately, the only way to ensure that all Americans in all plans have basic consumer protections is to enact a strong, enforceable Patients' Bill Of Rights. Although the House has passed such legislation by a wide bipartisan majority, Republican leaders have signaled their intent to delay action on a final bill until next year. Even worse, they have designed a process behind closed doors that is likely to benefit special interests rather than the public interest. Today, the President will urge Congress to adopt legislation that gives Americans the protections they need.
• Removing Disincentives that Discourage People with Disabilities From Working. Under current law, people with disabilities often become ineligible for Medicaid or Medicare if they work, forcing many to choose between health care and employment. The bipartisan Work Incentives Improvement Act helps address this problem by giving people with disabilities the ability to maintain their Medicare and Medicaid coverage when they go to work. Today, President Clinton will call on the Congress to act on this legislation this year so that one of the most significant barriers to work for people with disabilities is removed.
• Raising the Minimum Wage. The Congress has failed to pass a clean, straightforward bill to increase the minimum wage by $1 over two years -- a step that would simply restore it to the 1982 inflation-adjusted level. Instead, the Senate attached the minimum wage increase to fiscally irresponsible tax giveaways for special interests. More than 11 million workers would benefit from a $1 increase in the minimum wage. A full-time, year-round worker at the minimum wage would get a $2,000 raise -- enough for a typical family of four to buy groceries for 7 months or pay rent for 5 months. Today, the President will urge Congress to send him a straightforward bill increasing the minimum wage by $1 over 2 years.
• Strengthening Social Security. The President has put forth a specific proposal to use the benefits of fiscal discipline and debt reduction to strengthen Social Security, extending its solvency from 2034 to 2050. This would be a down payment on truly saving Social Security. The Republican so-called "lockbox" legislation would not add a single day to the life of Social Security. The President will urge Congress to work with him to strengthen Social Security.
• Modernizing and Strengthening Medicare. Although members of both parties joined the President in the effort to adjust Medicare health care provider payments, Congress otherwise failed to address the growing challenges that Medicare faces. With the number of beneficiaries expected to double over the next 30 years, Medicare needs adequate resources and the tools to be as efficient as possible. A long-overdue prescription drug benefit option is also essential for seniors and people with disabilities. The President today will call on Congress to work with him in developing and enacting these urgent Medicare reforms.
• Expanding Federal Hate Crimes Laws. At a time when our leaders should be doing all they can to bring Americans together, Congress has refused to pass legislation to punish hate crimes. The President has called for a bill that would make it easier to prosecute crimes based on race, color, religion, and national origin; and that would also include crimes based on sexual orientation, gender and disability. He will urge Congress today to take a strong stand against intolerance and hatred by enacting such legislation without further delay.

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