Wednesday, January 27, 1999
Clinton boosts future for students
SPEECH: Proposals to add 13th, 14th grades, teachers make for
stabler economy
By Jacob Ballon
So, it appears that President Clinton is not going to be removed
from office. Despite many valiant efforts by critics, any
wrongdoing Clinton may be guilty of is not severe enough to warrant
a removal from his post.
"Big deal," you say. "There is no way Clinton will ever be able
to be an effective president. Certainly, after alienating so many
people close to him, he will never be able to institute any useful
policy, right?"
Well, just as I was having my doubts about his potential future
effectiveness as the leader of this country, Clinton delivered one
of the best and most important speeches of his career, the 1999
State of the Union address.
In this speech, Clinton had an opportunity to talk about
something other than his sex life, and demonstrated that he still
has the same brilliance and strength to see that his plans turn
into reality. His ideas about education, health care and social
security are most relevant to us as students and citizens.
Education policy is most important in determining the future of
this country. Clinton proposed several strategies to improve
education.
Perhaps most associated with us as college students are the
proposals to make 13th and 14th grades (first two years of college)
as commonplace as high school. How can he help convince people to
take another two years of school before entering the work force?
For those of us at UCLA, it probably wasn’t a difficult decision to
come here. This is a great school and the launching pad to many
great careers. College is clearly the best way to get ahead in
today’s society, and merely a high school diploma doesn’t open the
doors that are necessary for a high quality of life. In order to
make junior college or four-year schools more worthwhile, Clinton
proposes a 20-percent tax credit to help offset tuition costs for
college or lifetime learning. While this isn’t making it free to go
to school, it certainly eases the burden on students who otherwise
might not have been able to break out of an impoverished upbringing
through education.
Also, programs that have been in effect for a couple years
already, such as Americorps, give students ample opportunity to
help their communities and themselves by doing service in return
for college scholarships.
Pell Grants are giving more students more money than ever
before, and Clinton has taken steps to lower interest rates on
student loans – meaning you don’t have to mortgage your future to
attend school. Steps like this give incentive to students who
hadn’t contemplated college – perhaps because nobody in their
family has a university degree. College would give them a chance to
challenge themselves and ultimately better themselves and this
country.
Clinton’s education plans don’t merely extend the average length
of schooling by two years. He also proposes many innovative
strategies for bettering our younger students.
As President Clinton leads us into the 21st century, it is
appropriate that he is trying to increase technological familiarity
and universality. In the last five years, technology funding has
increased 3,000 percent to over $600 million.
Also, Clinton has won a down payment on his goal to hire 100,000
new teachers to reduce class size and give individual students more
attention in the earlier grades. Having more teachers will fuel the
success of the proposed national reading standard that will have
every child reading by the third grade.
Clinton’s proposals are also highlighted by increases in health
care funding. Clinton’s new budget adds money to both research and
to patient care. According to the National Alliance for the
Mentally Ill, Clinton’s latest plan calls for more money to be
added to the National Institutes of Health and Mental Health than
ever before. By investing in medical research, particularly mental
illness research, Clinton is showing the foresight to help prevent
costly health disasters for future generations and compassion with
those who need medical help. It is another demonstration of how
there can and should be more than merely a measure of the bottom
line when discussion the distribution of resources for health
care.
The large budget surplus that the Clinton administration has
created also leaves room to fund at least a 25-year bail-out of
Medicare. This is the largest investment in Medicare since the
’60s. By using 15 percent of the surplus funds toward preserving
Medicare, Clinton has made a firm commitment to providing access to
quality health care to as many people as possible. This investment
is of particular importance because we are nearing a senior
citizens boom. People are living longer and there is more need for
access to medical care and to Medicare specifically. Without a
commitment as strong as Clinton’s, Medicare would run out by the
year 2008.
The funds earmarked in this proposal would be matched for the
next 15 years and would be placed into a Medicare trust fund so
that they could not be taken for use by another cause. By the time
this plan is over, nearly $700 billion will be added to the
Medicare fund and will provide the adequate prescription coverage
and the care for the elderly that is becoming more important each
decade.
It would be nice to know that the money I’m having removed from
my paycheck each month toward Social Security will be there when I
retire. Clinton proposes using 62 percent of the extra upcoming
budget surpluses, amounting to $2.7 trillion which will be
available to our nations seniors. While it may seem like that will
be gone by the time we retire, this money will be a foundation for
all of our retirement plans. The money from the surplus will not
merely sit statically in a savings account to be withdrawn quickly
by the retired people of the country.
Rather, in the typical bipartisan spirit embodied by this
administration, a committee will be formed to assess the investment
of the money to help the nation’s collective nest egg to grow.
Clinton’s plan will keep Social Security solvent and healthy
until at least 2055 and probably longer. In that time, future
lawmakers will have time to design a plan for the next generation.
Clinton’s plan effectively gets us in the 21st century and leaves
it into our hands to get it right for our age group and for
subsequent generations.
In addition to helping retirees with improved and adequately
funded Social Security for the next 50-plus years, Clinton has
proposed a revolutionary new way for people to save for their
retirements.
With the ever fluctuating job market causing people to change
careers and employers many times, pensions as they existed
previously are no longer possible.
Clinton proposes creating a Universal Savings Account (USA).
These USAs are individual bank accounts that aren’t forfeited when
you change jobs. A portion of your paycheck automatically will go
toward this individual pension plan. For each dollar you donate to
your future after that, the government will match it, in most
cases. This money also comes from the projected surpluses. This
means that if you are serious about your future, the government
will support your plans. Then, when it comes time to retire, you
will have a sufficient nest egg from which to live.
While all these plans are beneficial for the country, it is
important that they are embraced with a bipartisan spirit. Yes,
they are primarily Democratic ideas and thus will have to be
modified to meet bipartisan demands. However, it is important that
this bipartisanism, which is the goal of new House Speaker Dennis
Haster, is maintained throughout the 106th Congress.
Fighting based on party lines is unproductive and leads to
ineffective gridlock. Clinton’s programs show that he is able to
lead by example. He has not gotten bogged down by the partisan
bickering that everyone is so used to hearing about in the news.
Rather than get caught up in the useless, heavily partisan debates,
he has constructed, with Vice President Al Gore, solid plans for
America’s future.
It is important for lawmakers and citizens to be able to discuss
opinions and the merits of government programs regardless of party
and for these to be equitable solutions that the majority of
citizens can be happy about.
This is one of the most exciting times in our political history
because for the first time in my life we actually have surplus
money to spend on helping people rather than figuring out what
money has to be cut from essential programs.
Government will be able to do what it is supposed to do, which
is to maintain the health and security of our nation’s
citizens.
By putting more teachers in classrooms, more money for lower
income people to retire and more scientists in laboratories, the
Clinton administration has seen to making this country an
economically vital nation for the next generation and the 21st
century.
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