Child Health Day, 2000

Proclamation 7349 of September 29, 2000

Child Health Day, 2000

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

As parents and as concerned citizens, we have a
profound responsibility to ensure that America's
children not only receive a healthy start in life, but
also that they continue to grow and develop in a
nurturing environment where they have the opportunity
to reach their full potential.

Recognizing the importance of healthy, happy children
to the future of our Nation, my Administration has
strived to offer America's families the tools they need
to fulfill their responsibilities. In 1997, I was proud
to sign into law the Child Health Insurance Program
(CHIP), the largest investment in children's health
care since the creation of Medicaid 35 years ago. This
innovative program allows States to use Federal funds
to provide health insurance for children of working
families whose incomes are too high to qualify for
Medicaid but too low to afford private health
insurance. Children with health insurance are more
likely to receive the immunizations and other
preventive care they need to avoid serious illnesses
and to enjoy a healthier start in life. In March of
1997, only 4 States provided such coverage for
children. Today, 30 States have plans approved to cover
qualified children, and I have proposed an additional
$5.5 billion over the next 10 years to cover even more
children and to raise awareness of CHIP among families
who may not realize they are eligible.

In addition to quality health care, children need
nutritious meals every day. I am pleased that our
national school lunch program provides healthy lunches
to more than 25 million students in more than 96,000
schools across our nation, ensuring that some of our
most vulnerable children can look forward to at least
one healthy meal each day. We can also be heartened to
know that children enrolled in programs funded under
the Department of Agriculture's Special Supplemental
Program for Women, Infants, and Children not only
receive the nutritious food they need, but also are
immunized earlier, perform better in school, and spend
less time in the doctor's office.

Since 1965, in addition to engaging parents in the
early educational development of their children, the
Head Start program has provided medical, mental health,
nutrition, and dental services to more than 17 million
children from birth to age 5. My Administration will
continue this investment by increasing Head Start
funding in our proposed fiscal 2001 budget by $1
billion--the largest Head Start expansion in history.

It is also our responsibility to ensure that our
children feel part of a safe, strong, nurturing
community. Through our Safe Schools/Healthy Students
initiative, my Administration is helping parents,
school principals, police, and mental health providers
to collaborate on local solutions to school and youth
violence. My proposed budget for fiscal 2001 includes
an increase of more than $100 million for this program.
I have also called on the Congress to allow eligible
workers under the Family and Medical Leave Act to take
up to 24 hours of additional leave each year to meet
family obligations, including school activities such as
parent-teacher conferences. America is enjoying a
period of unprecedented economic success today; but we
will never be truly successful as a Nation until we
ensure that

all families have the tools and opportunity they need
in order to raise healthy children. To acknowledge the
importance of our children's health, the Congress, by
joint resolution approved May 18, 1928, as amended (36
U.S.C. 105), has called for the designation of the
first Monday in October as ``Child Health Day'' and has
requested the President to issue a proclamation in
observance of this day.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM J. CLINTON, President of the
United States of America, do hereby proclaim Monday,
October 2, 2000, as Child Health Day. I call upon
families, schools, communities, and governments to
dedicate themselves to promoting and protecting the
health and well-being of all our children.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
twenty-ninth day of September, in the year of our Lord
two thousand, and of the Independence of the United
States of America the two hundred and twenty-fifth.