Politics

Clinton: Focus On Education

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

June 25, 1999 / 10:16 AM EDT / CBS

President Clinton Saturday said it's time America learned a lesson about education, reports CBS News Correspondent Sam Litzinger.

In his weekly radio address, Mr. Clinton called on schools to reduce class size in the early grades. Mr. Clinton said too many kids aren't getting the individual attention they need.

The president urged Congress to follow through on hiring more teachers.

"This isn't a partisan issue anywhere in America - it shouldn't be in Washington," Mr. Clinton said. "School children get the summer off, but we should make the summer a season of progress."

The president is also telling the Education Department to spend more than a billion dollars to hire 30,000 new primary school teachers.

The address is part of Mr. Clinton's effort to recapture the initiative for his domestic agenda after the spring focus on Kosovo.

In his first news conference since March, the president Friday indicated he's willing to work with Republicans on tax cuts. But he says such cuts can't come at the expense of education or other priorities like saving Social Security and reforming Medicare.

He brushed off impeachment related questions about what history will say of him, "I'll be remembered when I'm gone. Right now I'm not gone, I've got lots to do."

Mr. Clinton challenged what he cast as a do-nothing Republican Congress to approve his proposals for Medicare, Medicaid, gun control, Social Security, education, child care and campaign finance. He fielded questions ranging from agriculture policy to race relations, to violence in Northern Ireland.

The president saved his most emotional outburst for a question about reconstruction aid for Serbia, reports CBS News Correspondent Scott Pelley. He warned that the Serbian people must "come to grips" with the leadership of President Slobodan Milosevic.

At the same time, he said, ethnic Albanians must stop acts of retribution against Serbs.

He twice praised Hillary Rodham Clinton for her efforts on domestic policy, a nod to her all-but-official campaign for the Senate.

His toughest comments were reserved for Republicans on gun control. "We can't expect young people to stand up to violence when Congress won't stand up to the gun lobby." Calling it a moral issue, Mr. Clinton promised to veto any weak gun legislation.

He pressed his case for extending prescription drug coverage to elderly Americans, even though expanding Medicare would be "a lot more expensive than rosy scenarios suggest." He promised a specific proposal next week, reports CBS News Correspondent Diana Olick.

Mr. Clinton offered a strong vote of confidence to Energy Secretary Bill Richardson, despite a congressional finding that security has been lax at the nation's nuclear labs.

With the 2000 presidential campaign well under way, Mr. Clinton wants to stave off suggestions that he is a lame-duck president. "I expect to be working right uto the very end," he said. Yet he acknowledged: "The closer you get to the election the more difficult it will be to pass anything."