Remarks announcing grants for after-school programs

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, Nov 16, 1998

Now, since those initiatives, we have focused on two other major priorities: First, the after-school programs; and second, child care for lower income, working families who may not have been on welfare and, therefore, are not eligible for the funds that were provided in welfare reform.

Last month, the bipartisan balanced budget bill, to which Senator Specter and others have referred, expanded Head Start and made new investments in improving the quality of child care. Thanks to that bill, and especially to the extra child care put in under the welfare reform law, I can tell you that there are nearly one and a quarter million low-income children now receiving child care under the child care block grant program. That is up from one million the year before. That's a 25-percent increase in one year. And to all these Members of Congress who are here who supported this across party lines, I want to say a special thank you for doing that.

Now, that is the good news. But if a child asks you, "are we there yet?" here is the rest of the story. We've gone from a million to one and a quarter million in one year, a 25-percent increase - by income, under the law, another 8.75 million children in low-income working families are eligible for child care assistance, but cannot receive it because we have not put sufficient funds into the program.

So this should continue to be a priority in the next Congress. Even though we were successful - and I appreciate what Senator Specter said about the nature of the budget process; Congress was very generous in the end in investing more money in education - we did not pass the child care proposal. I hope we can do better next time because of the large number of people out there.

Now I'd like to say just a little word about the after-school programs because I, too, think they're so important. The budget I signed last month included a fivefold increase in the number of children who will receive after-school programs. This program, this increase, was funded under the 21st century community learning center initiative initially sponsored by Senator Jeffords of Vermont. It was strongly supported by Senator Boxer, Senator Kennedy, Congresswoman Lowey, and others.

I want to tell you how fast and how far Congress has moved on this after-school program, again, in a bipartisan fashion. In 1996 there was one million dollars in this program. In 1997 there was $40 million in the program. In 1998, in this Congress - thank you, Mr. Appropriator - there was $200 million in the program. That's why 183 communities in 44 States and the District of Columbia today can receive $60 million to set up these academically enriched after-school programs. Roughly 75,000 more children will now have someplace to go other than the streets when school lets out. That's good news for America.

One of these recipients is Chicago's Lighthouse program, which the First Lady and I have both visited. Every day Lighthouse - listen to this - keeps 112,000 children in 248 Chicago schools off the street and out of trouble, while drilling them in math and reading, providing everything from computer instruction to supervised sports to a hot evening meal. Over 40,000 children in that school system now get 3 meals a day.