PROCLAMATION 6579—JULY 4, 1993 107 STAT. 2701 skills. That is why we must have the courage to change our education system to face the challenges of the 21st century. My Administration's education reform legislation, the Goals 2000: Educate America Act, establishes high academic and occupational standards, while providing support to States and communities to help them reach those standards. Fifty million Americans have no high school diploma, and half of those who do graduate do not go on to college. We must be sure that these Americans receive the education and training they need to compete in a high-wage, high-skills economic climate. Literacy is not a luxury. It is a right and a responsibility. It is hard for most of us to imagine functioning in our society without the ability to complete a job application or balance a checkbook. It is a disadvantage that is intolerable in a Nation dedicated to the principles of freedom and equality. In recent years progress has been made toward a more widely literate society. States and communities, volunteer and religious organizations, businesses and labor organizations have all made invaluable contributions to raising public awareness and assisting undereducated adults. I applaud the good work that these groups have done, and I encourage them to join in a partnership with our Federal initiatives to completely erase American illiteracy by the year 2000. To recognize the urgent need to increase literacy to ensure the futiu*e well-being of our country and all its citizens, the Congress, by House Joint Resolution 213, has designated July 2, 1993, and July 2, 1994, as "National Literacy 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 July 2, 1993, and July 2, 1994, as "National Literacy Day." IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this second day of July, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-three, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and seventeenth. WILLIAM J. CLINTON Proclamation 6579 of July 4, 1993 To Implement an Accelerated Tariff Schedule of Duty Elimination and To Modify Rules of Origin Under the United States-Canada Free-Trade Agreement By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation 1. On January 2, 1988, the President entered into the United States- Canada Free-Trade Agreement ("the Agreement"). The Agreement and certain letters exchanged between the Governments of Canada and the United States were approved by the Congress in section 101(a) of the United States-Canada Free-Trade Agreement Implementation Act of
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