THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

PRESIDENT CLINTON HOSTS THE NATIONAL GOVERNORS' ASSOCIATION FOR A

                        ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION AT
                            THE WHITE HOUSE
                           February 28, 2000

Today, President Clinton hosts his seventh annual White House meeting with the nation's governors, who are in Washington for the annual Winter Meeting of the National Governors' Association (NGA). The President, Utah Governor Mike Leavitt, Chair of NGA, and Maryland Governor Parris Glendening, Vice-Chair of NGA, will moderate a discussion on four topics that are of particular importance to the Governors and the States.

OIL PRICES -- WORKING TO ALLEVIATE THE IMPACT OF OIL PRICE HIKES. President Clinton has worked hard to soften the impact of rapidly increasing oil prices, which have risen to more than $30 a barrel in the past year. He will discuss with the Governors the things we have done and ways we can do more.

• Addressing the Rising Price of Heating Oil With A Supplemental Appropriation Request: To help struggling families cope with energy costs, the President has already ordered the release of all remaining FY2000 LIHEAP funds, for a total release of $295 million this winter. To replenish the LIHEAP emergency fund to meet additional needs due to oil price increases and to provide for other emergencies in this fiscal year, he sent a supplemental appropriation request on Friday, February 25 to Congress for $600 million. In the supplemental appropriation request, the President also asked Congress to provide full funding of his original request for Department of Energy's Weatherization Assistance Program by adding $19 million in weatherization funds, and $1 million for SBA to support $86 million in loans for small businesses affected by rising oil prices. This will allow home heating oil dealers, for example, to extend flexible payment terms to their heating oil customers who were hit with unusually high home heating oil prices in recent weeks.
• Going to the Limits of the Law to help Low-Income Families: The President also has asked the governors to adjust their state eligibility standards to assist as many low and moderate income families as possible under federal law. He also told the Governors that Federal law permits States to use Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) funds to provide emergency heating assistance to very low income families with children, and he encouraged them to use fully their options under TANF to ensure that such families get the assistance that they need.
• Investing in Energy-Efficient Technologies: Because the ability of the economy to weather the oil price spike is in part based on our decreased reliance on oil (we now use about half of the energy per unit of GDP that we used in 1974), the President asked the Governors to support several proposals that are included in his budget that will further improve the energy efficiency of the economy. These include new research and tax credits for energy efficient homes and new research and tax credits for energy efficient cars.

THE U.S.- CHINA WTO ACCESSION DEAL: A STRONG AGREEMENT IN THE BEST INTERESTS OF AMERICA. The President will urge the governors to support his proposal to grant China permanent Normal Trade Relations (NTR) based on the strong bilateral accession agreement that the United States and China signed in November. The States will benefit enormously from this agreement.

• One-Way Concessions By China Which Create U.S. Opportunities and Strengthen Fair Trade Guarantees: China's commitments to enter the WTO will help states by opening up export opportunities for American farmers, working people, manufacturing exporters, services providers and high-tech firms. They will also strengthen our guarantees of fair trade, give us tough protections against import surges, and eliminate forced technology transfers, local content requirements and other distortive policies that draw jobs and investment from the U.S. to China. For the first time, we will be in a position to effectively export American-made products into China, and to distribute directly to Chinese consumers, rather than being forced to move manufacturing operations to China and sell through a Chinese government-sanctioned entity.
• Permanent NTR is Essential: As China enters the WTO, the U.S. makes no changes in our current market access policies, export control laws or fair trade laws. We have one obligation: we must grant China permanent NTR or risk losing the full benefits of the agreement we negotiated, including the bulk of market access rights, special import protections, and rights to enforce China's commitments through WTO dispute settlement. Were Congress not to grant permanent NTR, our Asian, Latin, Canadian and European competitors will reap these benefits and American farmers and businesses may be left behind.
• Fundamental U.S. National Security Interest: WTO entry will help promote economic reform and liberalization in China, accelerating economic changes in China that are diminishing the authority of the government over people's daily lives. The agreement will advance the rule of law and anchor China more firmly in the Pacific and world economies, strengthening China's stake in future world peace and stability. At the same time, we will continue to pursue our interests through other channels.

HEALTH CARE -- WORKING WITH THE STATES TO IMPROVE COVERAGE AND ACCOUNTABILITY. When he came into office, President Clinton made a commitment to work with the States to find ways to increase flexibility and Federal support in return for greater accountability in health care programs. The Clinton-Gore Administration and the states have worked together to: repeal the Boren amendment; eliminate time-consuming Federal waivers for Medicaid managed care and long term care expansions; pass and enact the $48 billion (over 10 years) expansion in children's health insurance; and include more flexibility in both the BBA and the Work Incentives Improvement Act to provide flexibility and funding for states to give people with disabilities the opportunity to maintain their Medicaid coverage when they go to work. The joint Federal/State effort has begun to pay dividends, but more work needs to be done:

• Progress on Insuring our Children: Working together, the Clinton/Gore Administration and the States have doubled the number of children enrolled in S-CHIP (the children's health insurance program) in less than a year, to nearly 2 million children. The number of states covering children with incomes up to 200 percent of the poverty level has increased sevenfold.
• More to Do on S-CHIP: To build on that success and to reach its potential, President Clinton's FY 2001 budget invests $2.7 billion over the next five years to promote school-based outreach and simplify eligibility and enrollment processes to reach the millions of children who are eligible for S-CHIP and Medicaid but are not enrolled. The Administration also has proposed an investment of almost $100 billion over 10 years to build on existing state programs and expand health coverage to parents of children in Medicaid and S-CHIP, 19-20 year-olds, individuals moving from welfare to work, and legal immigrants.
• Providing a Medicare Drug Benefit: The President will tell the Governors that we must work together to provide a prescription drug benefit for older Americans, a long-neglected void in the Medicare program. To avoid initiatives designed to defer the administrative and financial responsibility of providing needed prescription drug coverage to the states, the President will urge the Governors to work with him to develop and support a prescription drug benefit as part of a larger reform package that makes the program more competitive and prepares it for future challenges.

GOVERNANCE IN THE NEW ECONOMY -- PROLONGING THE NATION'S ECONOMIC GROWTH, EXPANDING THE INFORMATION AGE The United States economy is in its 107th month of economic expansion -- the longest period of sustained growth in U.S. history. At the same time, America has created nearly 21 million new jobs since President Clinton and Vice President Gore came into office, enjoys the lowest unemployment rate in 30 years, the strongest economic growth in over three decades, the highest homeownership on record, and the lowest poverty rate in two decades.

President Clinton and Vice President Gore also have worked hard to keep America at the cutting-edge of the Information Revolution, and to ensure that the opportunities of the Information Age are available to all Americans. During the last seven years, they have fought to connect every classroom to the Internet, promote electronic commerce, bridge the "digital divide," and increase our investment in long-term research that will create high-tech, high-wage jobs. Today, more than 90 percent of schools have been connected to the Internet. More than 100 million Americans now have access to the Internet, and electronic commerce could reach $1.5 trillion by 2003 in the U.S. alone. During the last three years, the information technology industry has accounted for 1/3 of U.S. economic growth. President Clinton and the Governors will discuss areas where federal and state governments can work together to further the growth of information technology and ensure that all Americans have access to the Internet.

• Working to Close the "Digital Divide": One area in which the federal and state governments can work together to improve the economy is to close the "Digital Divide". In April, the President will be leading a "New Markets" trip that will focus on bridging the Digital Divide and creating digital opportunities for all Americans. Jobs in the information technology sector pay almost 80% more than the average private sector wage.
• Government and the Information Age: The President and the Governors will discuss ways in which information technology can make government more open, efficient, and user-friendly. Government web sites make information and services available at the touch of a button, helping Americans keep in touch with their government and making government work better for people. Today, Americans can compute estimated Social Security benefits through the Social Security Administration's website, or find their dream job through America's Job Bank on the Department of Labor's web page.

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