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REMARKS BY:  DONNA E. SHALALA, SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
PLACE: PRESS CONFERENCE ANNOUNCING NEW DEMOCRATIC CHILD CARE PROPOSAL , WASHINGTON, D.C. 
DATE: JUNE 9, 1998

We all know that raising children is a team endeavor. Parents are the coaches and managers. But there are other important players in our children's lives. Communities. Churches. Child care providers. And public leaders like Representatives Kennelly, Tauscher and others here today. Leaders who take our children's concerns to heart, take them to Washington, and take them to a vote.

Right now, we're cheering for another team -- the Washington Capitals -- as they take a shot at the Stanley Cup for the first time in history. There are good lessons to be learned from hockey. As Wayne Gretzky once said, "I don't skate to where the puck used to be. I skate to where the puck will be." Setting our eyes on a goal - and going for it: That's what we're doing today for American families who need child care they can afford and trust. We've come a long way toward this goal.

Like the Caps, it's taken seasons of hard work and great leadership. The work and leadership of a President and a First Lady who've always put children first.

We've put child care funding in the new welfare-to-work system, so that more mothers can exchange a welfare check for a pay check. We're teaming up the public and private sectors to offer working parents more child care options. We've helped states establish health and safety standards for child care providers. We've promoted partnerships between child care and health care agencies. We've established the National Child Care Information Center. And, with the stroke of his pen, the President directed federal child care centers to make themselves a national monument of quality care.

But like in hockey, we can't dwell on the last play. We must always set our sights on the next goal. Because there is a big difference between simply advancing the puck - and putting numbers on the board.

Today, too many low and middle-income families still spend over 20 percent of their income on child care. And, even though states are putting their child care block grants to creative use, current funding isn't enough to serve every eligible family. Child care is still a crisis for too many working families. That's why we need the kind of bold child care legislation being introduced today. And that's why we celebrate our next speaker who's here today.

She knows what it's like to be a working mother. She's also one of our greatest advocates for the rights of children, and for stronger families. She has raised the nation's awareness, consciousness and concerns about childhood needs -- and the challenges of families raising the children of the millennium. Please join me in welcoming, the First Lady of the United States.