when I signed into law H.R. 2202, the Preventive Health Amendments of 1993. The primary purpose of this new law is to extend the early detection and disease prevention activities of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), especially by strengthening our efforts for the early detection of breast cancer. While it contains a number of excellent provisions, I am especially pleased to advance the Nation's agenda as it relates to women's health concerns. Among the provisions of H.R. 2202 are new funds authorized for appropriations in the form of grants by the CDC to States for the detection and treatment of women's reproductive and breast cancers. This program addresses an important national need. Over 2.5 million women in the United States have breast cancer, and about 182,000 additional cancers are expected to have been detected this year. Once every 12 minutes, a woman dies from breast cancer in the United States, often leaving behind a grieving . husband, desolate children, and anguished friends. While mammography is by no means a cure, in many instances, it does detect cancer and leads to reductions in the death rates from the illness among women when appropriate follow-up treatment occurs. Though we don't know what causes breast cancer, how to prevent it or cure it, we do know that broader access to mammograms will make an important medical, personal, and economic difference due to increased early detection. The legislation expands our efforts not only in breast and cervical cancer prevention but also in areas such as injury control, violence prevention, tuberculosis prevention and research, and trauma care. It is an excellent example of how a bipartisan approach to improving the health care available to Americans can provide needed benefits to so many people. Much more can and must be done. Health care reform is going to change fundamentally and for the better the manner in which we deal with women's health, especially breast cancer. We know we can reduce deaths from breast cancer by insuring that all women see their health care provider on a regular basis and have access to the tests they need, including mammography when appropriate. Under my Health Security Act, no woman who needs a mammogram will ever be denied one because she cannot pay for it. William J. Clinton The White House, December 16, 1993. NOTE: H.R. 2202, approved December 14, was assigned Public Law No. 103-183. This statement was released by the Office of the Press Secretary on December 17. Remarks Announcing the Annenberg Foundation Education Challenge Grants December 17, 1993 Thank you very much, Secretary Riley and Secretary and Mrs. Bentsen, Deputy Secretary of Education Madeleine Kunin. I want to mention some of the people who are here. I'm glad to see Senator Kennedy, Senator Pell, and Congressman Reed here, and my former colleagues and friends, Governor Romer and Governor Edgar. Dr. Gregorian and David Kearns and Ted Sizer and Frank Newman and so many people that I've worked with over the years. When Walter Annenberg was giving his very brief statement, it reminded me of a comment that the President with the best developed mind, Thomas Jefferson, once said. He said, “You know, if I had more time I could write shorter letters." [Laughter] So I think he said all that needed to be said. Walter and Leonore Annenberg have done a remarkable and truly wonderful thing on this day in giving the largest private gift in American history to the future of America's children. It could not have come at a better time. In a moment all of you will repair to another place and discuss in greater detail exactly what this gift will do and how it will be done. But since I spent the better part of my life in public service laboring to improve public education, I want the press and the American people to know that there are two things that are important about this gift: its size and the way the money is going to be spent. It could not come at a better time, 10 years after the issuance of "A Nation At Risk" report and on the eve, we all earnestly hope, of the passage of our "Goals 2000 Act," which attempts to put into law a mechanism by which the United States can achieve the national education goals adopted by the Governors and by the Bush administration jointly in 1989. In our legislation, we attempt to set high academic standards, to give our country world-class schools, to give our children a way to fulfill their dreams instead of their nightmares, along with the other things we've tried to do: reforming the student loan program; opening the doors of college to everyone; trying to develop a national system of moving from school to work for those who don't go to college; pushing a safe schools act so that we don't have 160,000 kids stay home every day because they're afraid to go to school; establishing a system of lifetime learning. These things make a real difference. But if I have learned one thing in all the years, in all the countless hours that Hillary and I have spent in public schools all across this country, it is that the true magic of education in the end occurs between teachers and students and principals and parents and those who care about what happens in the classroom and outside the classroom. And one of the things that has plagued me all these years is seeing all the successes, because, I tell you, I have tried to focus the American people in the last several weeks on the crime and violence that is consuming so many millions of our young people. But what is important for America to know is that there is another reality out there. There are two realities that are at war, one with the other. There is the reality that we all see: too many guns and too much violence in schools that don't function. There is another reality: In the most difficult circumstances you can find anywhere in this country, there are children and parents who obey the law, who love their country, who believe in the future, and who are in schools working with teachers who are succeeding by any standard of international excellence against all the odds. Therefore, it is clear that the most pressing need in this country today, the most pressing need is to have a standard of excellence by which all of us can judge our collective efforts down to the smallest schoolroom in the smallest community in America, and then to have a system to somehow take what is working against all the odds and make it work everywhere. All these people who are in this room who have devoted their lives to education are constantly plagued by the fact that nearly every problem has been solved by somebody somewhere, and yet we can't seem to replicate it everywhere else. Anybody who has spent a serious amount of time thinking and looking about this knows that that is the central challenge of this age in education. That's why Ted Sizer has devoted his career to establishing a system which can be recreated and adapted to the facts of every school. That's why David Kearns left a brilliantly successful career in business and wrote a book about what works in reinventing schools. That's why my friend Frank Newman stopped being a university president and went to the Education Commission of the States and every year hounded Governors like me to help him because we knew that there are examples that work, and nobody has unraveled this mystery. That's why people often run for Governor and stay Governors of States, believing that we can somehow have the alternative reality that is out there prevail in the end. And the way this money is going to be allocated is just as important as how much money is being offered, because Walter Annenberg has challenged the rest of us to match his efforts today and in a way is challenging America to realize that there are millions of good kids and good teachers and good efforts being made out there. And the time has come for us to say, here are the national standards, here is a way of measuring whether we're meeting them, and here's a way of recognizing that in reality all these things have to happen school by school, neighborhood by neighborhood, student by student. And what is our excuse, when we can give you a hundred examples of where it's working, for not having thousands and with the three men who helped apprehend the Long Island Railroad gunman on December 7. He then returned to Washington, DC, in the late evening. December 14 The President announced that he intends to nominate David Birenbaum to be Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations for Management and U.N. Reform, with the rank of Ambassador. December 16 The President announced he has made the following appointments: -LaVarne Addison Burton, Senior Analyst/Adviser, Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services for Management and Budget; -Mary Lou Crane, Regional Administrator, Region I, Department of Housing and Urban Development; -Vonya Beatrice McCann, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, Telecommunications; -Donald M. Itzkoff, Deputy Administrator, Federal Railroad Administration; -Wushow (Bill) Chou, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, Information Systems; -Michael J. Armstrong, Regional Direc tor, Region VIII, Federal Emergency Management Agency; -Rita A. Calvan, Regional Director, Region III, Federal Emergency Management Agency; -Karen R. Adler, Regional Administrator, Region II, General Services Administration; -Leslie R. Jin, General Counsel, U.S. Information Agency. December 17 In the afternoon, the President hosted a Christmas celebration for children in the State Dining Room. The President announced that he is designating Gael McDonald, who has been serving as Acting Chair of the Interstate Commerce Commission, to be Chair of the ICC, and that he intends to nominate Linda J. Morgan as a Commission member. Nominations Submitted to the Senate NOTE: No nominations were submitted to the Senate during the period covered by this issue. Checklist of White House Press Releases The following list contains releases of the Office of the Press Secretary that are neither printed as items nor covered by entries in the Digest of Other White House Announcements. Released December 12 Statement by Press Secretary Dee Dee Myers on the President's telephone conversations with Prime Minister Edouard Balladur of France, Prime Minister John Major of Great Britain, and Chancellor Helmut Kohl of Germany on GATT Released December 13 Statement by Press Secretary Dee Dee Myers on the elections in Russia Released December 14 Transcript of a press briefing by Press Secretary Dee Dee Myers Transcript of a press briefing by Assistant to the President for Economic Policy Robert Rubin, Council of Economic Advisers Chair Laura D'Andrea Tyson, Deputy National Security Adviser Sandy Berger, Deputy Assistant to the President for Economic Policy Bowman Cutter, and Special Assistant to the President for Economic Policy Robert Kyle Transcript of a press briefing by the Council of Economic Advisers Released December 16 Statement by Press Secretary Dee Dee Myers on legislation signed by the President Biography of Bobby Ray Inman Text of a letter from Senior Adviser to the President for Policy Development Ira Magaziner to the American Medical Association Released December 17 Transcript of a press briefing by Education Secretary Dick Riley, New American Schools Development Corporation President David Kearns, Coalition for Essential Schools Chairman Ted Sizer, Illinois Governor Jim Edgar, and Colorado Governor Roy Romer Statement by Press Secretary Dee Dee Myers on legislation signed by the President Statement by Press Secretary Dee Dee Myers on Emergency Board proposed framework to settle contract impasse on the Long Island Rail Road Acts Approved by the President Approved December 14 H.R. 2202 / Public Law 103-183 Preventive Health Amendments of 1993 H.R. 486 Public Law 103-184 To provide for the addition of the Truman Farm Home to the Harry S Truman National Historic Site in the State of Missouri H.R. 3321 / Public Law 103-185 H.R. 3616 / Public Law 103-186 To require the Secretary of the Treasury to mint coins in commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the birth of Thomas Jefferson, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on the occaAmericans who have been prisoners of war, sion of the 10th anniversary of the Memorial, and the Women in Military Service for America Memorial, and for other purposes H.J. Res. 272 / Public Law 103-187 Designating December 15, 1993, as "National Firefighters Day" S. 717 / Public Law 103-188 Egg Research and Consumer Information. Act Amendments of 1993 S. 778/ Public Law 103-189 Watermelon Research and Promotion Improvement Act of 1993 S. 994 / Public Law 103-190 Fresh Cut Flowers and Fresh Cut Greens Promotion and Information Act of 1993 S. 1716 Public Law 103-191 To amend the Thomas Jefferson Commemoration Commission Act to extend the deadlines for reports S. 1732 / Public Law 103-192 To extend arbitration under the provisions of chapter 44 of title 28, United States Code, and for other purposes S. 1764 Public Law 103-193 To provide for the extension of certain authority for the Marshal of the Supreme Court and the Supreme Court Police S. 1766 / Public Law 103-194 S. 1769 / Public Law 103–195 To make a technical amendment, and for other purposes S.J. Res. 154 / Public Law 103-196 Designating January 16, 1994, as "Religious Freedom Day" |