Bill Clinton: “Thank you and welcome, every one of you. I'd like to begin by welcoming the Mayor of Baltimore, Kurt Schmoke, and the…”

“Thank you and welcome, every one of you. I'd like to begin by welcoming the Mayor of Baltimore, Kurt Schmoke, and the Mayor of East St. Louis, Gordon Bush. I'd like to thank the Members of Congress here behind me who are so responsible for the purpose for which we are called today. I want to acknowledge Congresswoman Donna Christian-Green, Congressman Elijah Cummings, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, Congressman Donald Payne. I will say more about Congresswoman Maxine Waters and Representative Lou Stokes in a moment. [Laughter] But I want to thank them and all the members of the Congressional Black Caucus, including all the House members and Senator Carol Moseley-Braun, for what they did. And then I would like to offer a special word of appreciation to Senator Arlen Specter and Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, who helped us so much to get this done. Thank you very much. I want to thank everyone in our administration who has worked so hard on the issue of HIV and AIDS, beginning with the Vice President, who couldn't be here today but who has worked very hard on all these issues; and Secretary Shalala; our wonderful Surgeon General, David Satcher; the Director of our AIDS Policy Office, Sandy Thurman, who has literally spent months sounding the alarm about the growing crisis in communities of color and working to help achieve these dramatic funding increases. There is no stronger or more effective advocate, and I think we ought to thank Sandy Thurman for what she's done.…”