June 5, 1997

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T H E W H I T E H O U S E

June 5, 1997

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IDEA Bill Signing

WEDNESDAY: PRESIDENT SIGNS INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES EDUCATION ACTYesterday at the White House, President Clinton signed the bipartisan IDEA bill, reaffirming America's commitment to provide all our children with the world's best education:

Since its enactment in 1975, IDEA has given children with disabilities the right to sit in the same classrooms and learn the same skills as their fellow Americans -- helping to ensure that all our children have access to the best education. Today, three times as many disabled young people are enrolled in colleges and universities, and twice as many Americans with disabilities in their twenties are in the workplace.

The expanded IDEA will ensure that children with disabilities can be in the classroom and be included in school activities like work experience, science clubs and field outings; it will ensure that children with disabilities learn the same things with the same curricula and the same assessments as all other children, and it will help teachers get the full range of skills they need to teach children with disabilities.

President Clinton said: &To the American people, we are saying that we do not intend to rest until we have conquered the ignorance and prejudice against disabilities that disables us all...In America, we recognize that what really counts is the spirit and the soul and the heart, and we honor it with this legislation.

THURSDAY: VICE PRESIDENT ANNOUNCES NEW CRIME AND DRUG PREVENTION MEASURES TO PROTECT PUBLIC HOUSING RESIDENTS

Today at the White House, Vice President Gore will announce a comprehensive enforcement and prevention package to clear crime and drugs from public housing and give communities the tools they need to make their neighborhoods safe for children:

THURSDAY: VICE PRESIDENT ANNOUNCES NEW CRIME AND DRUG PREVENTION MEASURES TO PROTECT PUBLIC HOUSING RESIDENTS

It will intensify law enforcement activities in the "worst of the worst," the 13 cities with some of the most troubled public housing authorities in America today, and include an equally aggressive prevention strategy -- supporting tailor-made, community-driven crime prevention programs.
It will provide $250 million to support local efforts to fight crime and drugs -- empowering neighbors to take responsibility for keeping their communities own safe.
It calls for $20 million to strengthen HUD's Operation Safe Home -- an innovative partnership between federal, state, and local governments to maximize crime-fighting efforts in public housing.

June 5, 1997