Archive
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
August 7, 1998
Remarks by the President at
Signing Ceremony for the Work Force
Investment Act of 1998
Rose Garden
11:04 A.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much, and good morning. Thank
you
very much. Mr. Antosy, to Benny Hernandez -- examples of what we come
here to celebrate and enhance today. Thank you, Secretary Herman, for
your leadership on this bill which was so essential to its passage.
Chairman Goodling, Senator DeWine, Congressman Clay, Congressman
McKeon,
Congressman Kildee, many other members of the House of Representatives
who are here. To Senator Jeffords and others who are not here who,
along with Senator DeWine, worked on the passage in the Senate.
I'd also like to thank the representatives of the National
Association of Counties and other local groups who are here. And I
will
say more about all of you in a moment.
I hope you will understand why I feel the need to comment on the
fact that early this morning bombs exploded outside two of our
American
embassies in Africa. An explosion in Nairobi, Kenya killed and
wounded
scores of people. We have reports that several Americans are among
the
dead. Another explosion in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania also caused many
casualties. At this time there are no reports that any Americans were
killed in that attack, although our embassy appears to have been the
target.
Both explosions caused large-scale damage to our embassies and
to
surrounding buildings, as you may have already seen from the pictures
coming in. Though the attacks appear to have been coordinated, no one
has yet claimed responsibility for them.
As I speak, we have dispatched Defense Department and State
Department-led emergency response teams to the region. The teams
include medical personnel, disaster relief experts, criminal
investigators, counterterrorism specialists. We have taken
appropriate
security measures at our embassies and military facilities throughout
the region and around the world.
These acts of terrorist violence are abhorrent; they are
inhuman.
We will use all the means at our disposal to bring those responsible
to
justice, no matter what or how long it takes. Let me say to the
thousands and thousands of hard-working men and women from the State
Department and from our other government agencies who service abroad
in
these embassies, the work you do every day is vital to our security
and
prosperity. Your well-being is, therefore, vital to us and we will do
everything we can to assure that you can serve in safety.
To the families and loved ones of the American and African
victims
of these cowardly attacks, you are in our thoughts and prayers. Out
of
respect for those who lost their lives, I have ordered that the
American
flag be flown at half staff at all government buildings here at home
and
around the world. We are determined to get answers and justice.
Thank you very much.
Now, we are here to do something very important for America's
long-term future today. I mentioned the Congressmen and Senators who
played a leading role who are here. I'd like to also acknowledge
those
who are out there whose names I have, and if I make a mistake, stand
up
and be recognized. (Laughter.) If I say you're here and you're not,
just let it go. (Laughter.)
In addition to Senator DeWine and Chairman Goodling and Mr. Clay
and Mr. McKeon, Mr. Kildee, we have here Congressman Barrett,
Congressman Chakah Fattah, Representative Sheila Jackson Lee,
Representative Dennis Kucinich, Representative Carrie Meek,
Representative Dan Miller, Representative Patsy Mink, Representative
Louis Stokes, Representative Steve LaTourette, Representative George
Brown, Representative Paul Kanjorski , Congressmen Bruce Vento,
Congressman Donald Payne; and Congressman Tim Roemer with a his own
version of America's future in his lap. (Laughter.)
I'd also like to thank, again, Alexis Herman and Erskine Bowles
and all the people on my staff for their role in this. But one person
above all who has been with me since 1991 and who shared my dream of
consolidating this blizzard of government programs into one grant that
we could give a person who was unemployed or under-employed so that
they
could decide, as Mr. Antosy did, what to do with the help we were
giving
them on the theory that they would know their own best interest and be
able to pursue it -- and that is Gene Sperling, who has worked on this
for years and years, This is -- his heart is in this bill. And I want
to thank him as well as all the staff people in Congress. (Applause.)
As Secretary Herman said, this bill fulfills principles for
reform
of our work force training program that I outlined in my first
campaign
for President over six years ago, and that the Vice President set out
in
our National Performance Review. It is a model of what we should be
doing, and also the way we did it is a model of how our government
ought
to work. It was a truly bipartisan, American effort.
This morning, we received some more good news about our economy.
Even though the latest economic reports shows the effects of the
now-settled GM strike, we still see that over the past year wages have
risen at more than twice the rate of inflation -- the fastest real
wage
growth for ordinary Americans in 20 years. This past month our
unemployment rate held firm, in spite of the GM strike, at 4.5
percent.
For nearly a quarter century, not once had our nation's unemployment
rate gone below 5 percent; it's now been below 5 percent for 13 months
in a row. We have low unemployment, low inflation, strong growth and
higher wages.
But to maintain this momentum we must continue to change and
move
forward. Over the long run, in the face of daily new challenges in
the
global marketplace, we simply must press forward with the economic
strategy outlined five and a half years ago: fiscal discipline,
expanded trade, investment in our people and communities. To maintain
fiscal discipline we must save every penny of our surplus until we
save
the Social Security system. To maintain exports we must immediately
support the international efforts to stabilize our customers in Asia
to
reform and lift their economies.
In recent weeks we have clearly seen that the crisis in Asia is
having an impact on our economy. You can talk to any American grain
farmer who will tell you that. For our economy to remain strong,
therefore, we must pay our dues to the International Monetary Fund.
To
invest in our people we have to give all our people access to
world-class education and training, beginning with our children before
their school years and ending with people who have access to education
throughout a lifetime.
The story Mr. Antosy told is a moving and heartening story.
There
are a lot of people in his position. In a dynamic global economy more
and more people, even if they stay with the same employer, will have
to
change the nature of their work several times over the course of a
lifetime. It is, therefore, very important that every person who is
willing to work hard to make the most of his or her own life should be
able to become the success stories we celebrate with Benny Hernandez
and
James Antosy.
Therefore, we have to do more than we have been doing, even
though
we have been making progress. The vast majority of corporate managers
say the number one prerequisite for continued prosperity is finding a
way to fill all our high-skill jobs.
I'm telling you today, there are -- even with the unemployment
rate as low as it is, there are hundreds of thousands of jobs which
are
going begging that are high-wage, high-skill jobs, undermining the
ability of our free enterprise economy to maximize its benefits to all
our people, to reach into all the urban neighborhoods and the rural
communities and the places that it has not yet reached. Therefore,
giving all Americans the tools they need to learn for a lifetime is
critical to our ability to continue to grow.
We are making progress in building an America where every
8-year-old can read, every 12-year-old can log on to the Internet,
every
18-year-old can go on to college. And today we celebrate a big step
forward in making sure that every adult can keep on learning for a
lifetime; where no disadvantaged child, no displaced worker, no
welfare
parent, no one willing to learn and work is left behind.
This is the crowning jewel of a lifetime learning agenda -- the
Work Force Investment Act to give all our workers opportunities for
growth and advancement. It, as Mr. Goodling said and Mr. Clay said in
specifying what was in the bill, has many things that will help
millions
of workers enhance our nation's competitive age.
Let me just mention some of the things that are most important
to
me. It empowers workers, not government programs, by offering
training
grants directly to them, so they can choose for themselves what kind
of
training they want and where they want to get it. There was a time,
decades ago, when Congress actually needed to pass specified training
programs with specific purposes and mechanisms to implement them. But
that time has long since passed. Almost every American is within
driving distance of a community college or some other mechanism of
advanced training. And almost every American has more than enough
sense
to decide what is in his or her best interest, given a little good
helpful advice on the available alternatives.
The law streamlines and consolidates a tangle of training
programs, therefore, into a single, common sense system. And it also
expands our successful model of one-stop career centers so people
don't
have to trot around to one -- different agency after another when they
find themselves in the position that Mr. Antosy found himself in. It
enhances accountability for tough performance standards for states and
communities and training providers, even as it gives more flexibility
to
the states to develop innovative ways to serve our working people
better.
It helps to create opportunities for disadvantaged youth. And I
think that is terribly important. Everybody is concerned about the
juvenile crime rate; we need to be concerned, therefore, about the
number of juveniles that are out here on the street, out of school,
not
doing what could be done to give them a more constructive future.
And, finally, it does two more things that I think are quite
important. It has a real emphasis on helping people with disabilities
prepare for employment and it gives adults who need it literacy
support
to move ahead. You cannot train for a lot of these programs if you
cannot read at an adequate level. And I think that is terribly
important.
What all this amounts to is that we get to celebrate Labor Day a
month early this year. At long last, we're giving our workers the
tools
they need to move quickly to 21st century jobs, higher incomes, and
brighter futures. I thank all those on this stage, all those in this
audience, and those who could not be here who have worked and waited
for
this day.
Let me also say that just a couple of minutes ago I had the
chance
to sign another bill that helps all Americans share in our prosperity
--
the Credit Union Membership Access Act. Credit unions serve a vital
and
unique purpose; they make sure financial services and credit are
available to people of modest means. The law I signed strengthens
them,
helps them to withstand hard economic times, clarifies who can join
and
ensures that those who are in credit unions now won't ever get locked
out. It will help extend greater credit to those who need it most.
It
is also good for the economy.
Both these bills are bipartisan bills. They passed with
overwhelming bipartisan majorities. They show what can happen when we
can put our differences aside and put progress ahead of partisanship
and
people ahead of politics. That's a good thing because our plate is
still full. In the few days remaining in this legislative session, we
must still work together to save Social Security first, secure funding
for the International Monetary Fund to stabilize our own economic
growth, to pass a strong patients' bill of rights, a very crowded
education agenda built on excellence and opportunity, and an important
element of our environmental agenda to preserve our environment and
grow
the economy.
We can do all these things. And, as we see today on this very
happy occasion, when we do it, we strengthen our country and the
future
of the children over there with Congressman Roemer and all the others
like them throughout America.
Thank you very much. (Applause.)
END 11:18 A.M. EDT
|