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PHOT()C()PV
PRESERVATION
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First rJady Hillary' Rodham Clinton '
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Parents IIMagazine Child Care Awards
September 23,1998
, New York, New York
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Thank you. Thank you very much A!nn, I am' very honored to receive this award from Parents
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magazine which does so much on behalf of parents to inform and educate us. I am very pleased
to s'hare this award with the 1998 National Child Care awardees and I hope I have a chance to
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meet and greet all of them.
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I want to thankthem personally for Jrhat they are doing in homes and centers in the Academy
and in corporations, in government, ~n the front lines everywhere around our conntry to provide
better, safer, more affordable child cke and to put it within the grasp of the working Amencan
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famIly;
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I wbt to thank Annie and John Heinz and everyone at Parents magazine for making it clear that
i{~e truly value children then we mvst help their families. And we must value people who try'
to, ~n their own ways~ assist parents in going the most important task any of us will ever face -
caring for children.
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childr~n
know how important the work they do is every single day.
People who are committed to
But all too often, that work is not gi~en the value it deserves in our society. I remember one
fridnd, who told me years ago with tears in her eyes that with the birth of her second child she
coJld no longer afford to remain in t~e profession she loved -- namely taking care of children.
Sh~ was going to go to work in an office to earn more money to;help support' her other children.
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So many child care workers face such a dilemina because they can't get the status, the respect,
thelprestige or income t~~t ~hey des~rve t~ have. Wh~n I wrote my b09k~ "ltoTakes A Vill~ge,':
there were some who cnticlzed me a,nd saId, "Oh, what could she be talkmg about? What IS thIS,
village? It only takes parents to I children."
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Well, of course it takes parents. Thcire aren't any more important people in a child's life than a
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chiM's parents. But it also takes family members. It takes neighbors and school teachers. It is
out responsibility to nurture and guide our children along with us. It even takes people who our
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chilldren and we may never meet. They are the people who keep our water safe, our air clean to
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breathe and the food that we serve our children safe to eat.
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Itoes t ak'e peopI" sOClety to support f:amI'1"les so t'hat f:amI'1' can d0 th e most Important work
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thit they are entrusted to doing. In cirder for parents to do that work they need information,
advocacy and a place to make their YOices heard. Parents magazine has done that for more than
70 'years.
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ha~~n't
r~ading
I hfdto go back 3!ld review past iss*es -- I
been
it quite that long. Back in the
1920's Parents magazine was telling! us how to feed underweight children so that they could get
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�healthier to help and prevent the spreiad of disease. In the 1950's Parents magazine explained
why segregation was wrong and desdgregation was important. In the 1960's we wondered about.
seat belts and Head Start. And in thd 1970's there were discussions of the moment about what
chdices women would make in their lives...
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And in the 1980's you were very goo~ about making it clear that a woman's choice should be
res~ected -- women who stay at hom~ full-time caring for their own children and women
woiking for a living who mayor may not have children and women like most of us who were
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tryihg to be fair to our responsibility ;in the home and fulfill our obligations at work
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Y helped shatter the myth that a w6rking mother can bring home the bacon, fry it in the pan,
ca'r6 for her children and sleep for m6re than 45 minutes a night., You really did give a little bit
. of reality test. And by doing so, m~de it clear that the choices women make should be
res~ected and that we all have a longlway to go in making it possible for each woman, each
mother to do the best job she can. :
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I wLt to thank you for in the 1990'S,l tackling what I believe is a· very important issue -- a
defining issue -- for working parents jtoday, namely child care. For years parents have whispered
aboht child care problems around water coolers and at the edge of driveways. But you helped
tr~sform these very private kitchen table conversations into formal discussions which has
reached everywhere, including the \\1hite House.
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One Parents magazine article read, "If a mother chooses to devote herself to home-making and
child-rearing, .she need not harbor any insecure feelings." What I like about this con'unent is that
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it Jas ail article which was publishe~ fifty-five years a g o . ·
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We saw that caring for children outsi~e the home while mothers worked was not harmfuJ to
children ifit was done appropriately. I Now of course we know in today's economy; the
per6entage of married working moth~rs with children under six has already doubled in the past
thrde decades. We know that low-in60me families spend up to 25% of their earnings on 'child
car6. We also know that nearly 5 million school aged children are latch key children, going
h00e alone after school usually to si~ in front of the TV and they often find themselves in
trouble.
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NO+ we have to decide what we realt meaJi about supporting families and caring for chiidren,
as Annie said at the White House coJference last year. We brought together many people, some
of them are in this room today, to talk about what we need to do asa nation.
We know that good child care does lake a difference. We know that if we provide good quality,
well-trained, well-paid working prof6ssionals to care for our children, our children will be better
off. I I hav~ also list~ned to stories ab~~t all the programs that are be~n~ done around our nation to
. meet the need of chIld care. And as }\ lIstened to the awardees descnptlOns, I know that good
chil~ care is alive and well around o~r country.
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But I also 1q1ow that there are many ~laces.that do not have access to the kinds of child care
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prorided by the people we honor tod~y. We would like to clone the family day care centers, the
corporate day care, the academic programs, so that they could be affordable and universally
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avaIlable to all our families. It is tim:e that we really do fix our chid care.
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ThJ. President's proposal -- which he l worked on agaIn with many of you in this room who were
verY helpful to the White House in ctafting the President's anriouncedproposal to make a
historic investment in child care -- wbuld do so much good for the children and families in our.
coubtry. It would make child care sd much more affordable for working families through tax
cut~ and subsidies. It ,would promotb early learning. It would improve quality and safety by
enf6rcing state health and safety stanhards,'by facilitating background checks for all works and
. incteasing scholarships for child-car6 professionals to upgrade their income-generating ability.
,Ancl it also would provide after-schobl care to over half a million children a year.
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the country since the State ofthe Union, that many people
I hJve found as I have traveled
in America think that because the President announced his child care proposal in the State of the
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Union, well then, it happened. And I was struck by that when I was with Congresswoman Ellen
TaJcher when I was in her district iniCalifornia a few months ago. We were at a school which
hadl added a building for their after-sthool program .. And we were talking to experts and parents
andl supporters of the program. And bvery question they asked assumed that the President's child
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care program was through Congress 9r was about to be through Congress.
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teacher said to me, "dh, I am 'sol excited. ,I want to thank you and your husband because the .
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extlia money that we are going to get from tqe Federal government will allow us to provide more
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fadlities to provide after.;school carel for many of the poor children in our district that we have
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Well, the Congresswoman and] loo~ed each other in amazement because we knew very well
tha~ the existing Congr~ss does not hkve child care at the top of its list of priorities. And that
they had not held hearings. They ha4 not done the work that you would expect serious
legislators representing working fampies would do to try and help those families with their child
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Although there are only a few weekslleft in this Congressional se~sion, it is not too late for
CoJgress to act on child care legislation. Everyone cares about .child care -- everyone who reads'
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Parents magazine, everyone who applauded my husband's announcement and thought we had it
do~e. Everyone -- wor~ing families,lteachers, advocates, busine~s leaders -- anyone who
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understands the relationship between high quality, affordable child care and productivity in the .
woJk place would make it a point to have their voices heard by contacting members of Congress
andl making a single message absolutb and clear that child care is not a,luxury but a necessity.
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should not be a partisan issue.
e are not talking about Democratic or Republican or
Independent children. This should nbt be an issue that divides Americans, but instead brings
thetb together across racial and econbmic and all other kinds of lines we sometimes get a little bit
conberned about in our country. We 'should talk about what parents and children need and the
CoJgress should act now. It should Aot go home without taking important steps to provide the
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support the President asked for on cHild care.
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R Ig,Iht now C ongress .work'mg on t 1e AppropnatlOns B'll The S enate h 'mc Iud ed ab out $180
million for new funding for child care -- far below the President's request, but at least it is a step
fon\rard. Both houses have increased funding for after-school care, although well below the
Prekident's request. These steps are kmall and the needs are grecH.
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Congress should help parents meet tliose needs in the years to come. If parents and those who
sup~ort parents speak out on behalf 6f child care, then I believe we will put into place the kind 'of
buiiding blocks that will enable mostI families to have the kind of child c'are that we are honoring
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today with these awards.
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know, children don't vote. But Iso often the needs of childrGn and working families are
ovdrlooked in a great rush to deal wiih the issues that truly demand the larger votes and the more
orgbized interests. That is not wha~ our country should be like as we move into the 21 st
cerituf}'. We must put our children first.
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W I must make good on the promise JLe made when we reformed welfare. We will have jobs,
chi~d care and health care for people Iwho are going into the work force. What will we be saying
, to families who are working extremely hard in this very demanding global economy? You have
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to work and work hard but when it comes to child care you are on your own?
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That is ,not the way to breed security! confidence and competence in the future. I hope that
eVdryone who is eligible to vote in tliese upcoming elections will think about what is really
im~ortant in our nation's futures. Abd there is a long list of issues: education and health care, the
en~irbnment, social security reform,jnational security, dealing with terrorism, child care. They"
are issues which truly affect how we, will live in the next century.
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Those are the issues that American should be paying attention'to., Those are the issues
Aniericans should be voting on. Th6se ar~ the issues that will make a difference in the kind of
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country you have in the years to come.
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Thank you very much.
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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Lissa Muscatine - Press Office
Creator
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First Lady's Office
Press Office
Lissa Muscatine
Date
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1993 - 1997
Is Part Of
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<a href="http://clinton.presidentiallibraries.us/items/show/36239" target="_blank">Collection Finding Aid</a>
<a href="http://catalog.archives.gov/id/7431941" target="_blank">National Archives Catalog Description</a>
Identifier
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2011-0415-S
Description
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<p>Lissa Muscatine first served in the Clinton Administration as a speechwriter. Within the First Lady’s Office, she served as Communications Director to the First Lady.</p>
<p>Lissa Muscatine’s records consist of materials from First Lady Hillary Clinton’s Press Office, highlighting topics such as health care, women’s rights, the Millennium Council, Hillary Clinton’s 2000 Senate campaign, and deal extensively with press interviews given by the First Lady; her domestic and foreign travel; and speeches and remarks, on a wide variety of topics, given by her before and during her time as First Lady. The records include interview transcripts, press releases, speeches and speech transcripts.</p>
Provenance
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Clinton Presidential Records: White House Staff and Office Files
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Clinton Presidential Library & Museum
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Adobe Acrobat Document
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1,324 folders in 27 boxes
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Paper
Dublin Core
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Title
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FLOTUS Statements and Speeches 6/27/98 - 11/30/98 [Binder]: [Remarks for the Congressional Black Caucus, 9/18/98, D.C.]
Is Part Of
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Box 22
<a href="http://clintonlibrary.gov/assets/Documents/Finding-Aids/Systematic/2011-0415-S-Muscatine.pdf" target="_blank">Collection Finding Aid</a>
<a href="http://catalog.archives.gov/id/7431941" target="_blank">National Archives Catalog Description</a>
Creator
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First Lady's Office
Press Office
Lissa Muscatine
Identifier
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2011-0415-S
Provenance
A statement of any changes in ownership and custody of the resource since its creation that are significant for its authenticity, integrity, and interpretation. The statement may include a description of any changes successive custodians made to the resource.
Clinton Presidential Records: White House Staff and Office Files
Publisher
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Clinton Presidential Library & Museum
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11/26/2012
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2011-0415-S-flotus-statements-speeches 6-27-98-11-30-98-binder-remarks-congressional-black-caucus-9-18-98-dc
7431941