With just five full days left in office, President Clinton today will send to Congress an official statement pleading for a continuation of his policies on racial reconciliation, an issue that this son of the New South has been identified with throughout his career. Clinton's message is in part a rhetorical challenge, and in part an audacious attempt to pressure Congress and the incoming Bush administration to endorse Clinton's agenda on criminal justice, poverty and civil rights even after he leaves the presidency. [continues 726 words]
News that the White House drug control office is secretly placing digital bugs on the computers of people who visit one of its Web sites caused an uproar yesterday, prompting White House Chief of Staff John D. Podesta to order the practice stopped. Podesta also demanded an explanation from Barry R. McCaffrey, director of the National Drug Control Policy Office, for how the practice of monitoring traffic through dropping electronic "cookies" on the hard drives of Web visitors began, White House officials said. [continues 736 words]
Flurry of Revelations Designed to Cast Clinton in Favorable Light President Clinton offered another sneak preview of his proposed 2000 budget yesterday, trumpeting about $215 million his plan includes to help states impose tougher drug testing and treatment policies for prisoners and parolees. The Roosevelt Room announcement was the latest in a flurry of formal announcements and orchestrated leaks coming from the White House about its budget. The goal, say White House aides, is for these flurries to accumulate into a fresh blanket of domestic policy initiatives between now and Clinton's State of the Union address, planned for Jan. 19, and the official release of his budget on Feb. 1. [continues 758 words]
WASHINGTON -- President Clinton plans to announce today that the federal government will begin conducting annual surveys to determine cigarette brand share in the market for underage smokers, a defiant gesture aimed at tobacco companies and their congressional allies. Recoiling from the demise of comprehensive anti-smoking legislation in the Senate last week, Clinton will issue an executive order directing the Department of Health and Human Services to begin documenting which brands enjoy favor among smokers ages 12 to 17, as part of the yearly National Household Survey on Drug Abuse, senior administration officials said Sunday. [continues 60 words]
WASHINGTON - President Clinton was announcing today that the federal government will begin conducting annual surveys to determine cigarette-brand share in the market for underage smokers, a defiant gesture aimed at tobacco companies and their congressional allies. Recoiling from the demise of comprehensive anti-smoking legislation in the Senate last week, Clinton today was issuing an executive order directing the Department of Health and Human Services to begin documenting which brands enjoy favor among smokers aged 12 through 17, as part of the yearly National Household Survey on Drug Abuse, administration officials said yesterday. [continues 660 words]
At 8:30 a.m. on Monday, Health and Human Services Secretary Donna E. Shalala was huddled with her top scientific advisers, preparing for a news conference later that morning in which she planned to announce that federal funds could be used for needle-exchange programs. A news release announcing the long-debated decision was ready. So were talking points for the secretary's case: Federal funding could start flowing because there was now conclusive research that needle exchanges slowed the spread of AIDS without encouraging drug use. [continues 1198 words]
