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Welfare Reform 9/30/92 [OA 5813]
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Document No. 353062
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
DATE:
09/29/92
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY:
SUBJECT: PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: CHILD SUPPORT/PROJECT KIDS, FOND DU LAC, WI
09/30
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
>
MCBRIDE
BAKER
>
MOORE
SCOWCROFT
MULLINS
DARMAN
PETERSMEYER
BATES
PORTER
BRADY
PROVOST
BROMLEY
ROSS
CALIO
SMITH
DEMAREST
TUTWILER
FITZWATER
ZOELLICK
GRAY
KAUFMAN
HOLIDAY
GROOMES
HORNER
MCGROARTY
REMARKS:
The attached has been forwarded to the President.
RESPONSE:
PHILLIP D. BRADY
Assistant to the President
and Staff Secretary
Ext. 2702
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
2 SEP 29 P8: 36
September 29, 1992
MEMORANDUM FOR THE PRESIDENT
THROUGH:
STEVEN PROVOST
FROM:
CURT SMITH
SUBJECT:
REMARKS IN FOND DU LAC, WISCONSIN
On Wednesday, September 30 at 12;25 p.m., you will address
the community of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. Approximately 5,000 are
expected to attend this event. Prior to these remarks, you will
meet with families who have successfully gone through Wisconsin's
Children First program.
The enclosed remarks (15 minutes, teleprompter) begin by
discussing the difference between you and Bill Clinton on taxes.
They then shift to the main body of the speech: your Project KIDS
program. The text focuses on ways to strengthen parental
responsibility -- and ensure deadbeat dads pay child support. In
a related vein, the remarks look at Bill Clinton's weak Arkansas
welfare record.
(Smith/Aarhus)
Draft Three
September 28, 1992
REFORM
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: CHILD SUPPORT/PROJECT KIDS
FOND DU LAC, WISCONSIN
WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 30, 1992
Thank you for that introduction. It's great to be here in
Fond du Lac. Earlier today I asked Barbara if she had any ideas
about how I could be a big hit in Wisconsin. She said: "Maybe
you could borrow Robin Yount's bat. " //
Actually, I have something in common with your baseball
team. We're both in a tough race. If Phil Garner has any
suggestions for me, I'm all ears. My best to the Team That's
Made Milwaukee Famous. //
Over the last three-and-a-half years, America has helped win
the peace abroad. A wall falls in Berlin. From Panama to
Kuwait, those enslaved are now free. The Cold War is over -- and
freedom won. // Today, I want to talk about winning the peace at
home -- for our families, in our homes, and in our communities.
It involves two tasks crucial to my Agenda for American
Renewal. The first is giving money to the taxpayer -- not
government. The second is upholding individual responsibility
through our system of law.
//
The first task -- like the second -- is as much
philosophical as political. My opponent measures government
success by how much of your money he can take. I measure it by
how much of your money you get to keep. //
2
Recently, I laid out a specific, comprehensive agenda for
America, to create the world's first $10 trillion economy. It
rests upon this firm belief: We must spend less / regulate less
/ and tax less. //
I believe higher taxes would be the Mount St. Helen's of the
U.S. economy. Well, guess what? My opponent has a plan to
unleash that volcano. //
Let's begin with his record. As Governor, Bill Clinton
raised the gas tax, and even taxed mobile homes and cable TV. He
raised and extended the sales tax, including a tax on baby
formula, vegetables, and other groceries. / When you're deciding
which candidate to support -- I think that's food for thought. //
This year, he's off again -- proposing at least $150 billion
in new federal taxes -- plus at least $220 billion in new
spending. / He says: don't worry -- I'll get it from the rich -
- people who make over $200,000 -- the top 2 percent. Well,
we've heard this song before. Bill Clinton's definition of rich
is anyone who works for a living. The truth is his plan is a
billy-club blow against working families everywhere. //
Maybe my opponent should remember what John Adams said.
He said -- and I quote: "Facts can be stubborn things."
The fact is that to get the money he needs for his plan --
the $150 billion he's promised in new taxes -- Bill Clinton would
have to get his money from individuals with taxable income over
$36,600. His message to working Americans would paraphrase that
3
famous TV commercial: For all you do, this tax increase is for
you. //
And that's just the start of his campaign to hurt the middle
class. Governor Clinton hasn't said how he'll get the hundreds
of billions of dollars more to pay for all his campaign promises.
Well, remember the old saying. "When you hunt ducks, you go
where the ducks are." He's hunting for ways to pay for all his
promises -- and he's going to go after the middle class for the
same reason Slick Willie Sutton robbed banks: Because that's
where the money is. //
Don't take my word for it. Listen to the newspaper from
Pine Bluff, Arkansas, practically in his back yard. Here's what
it says: "If Congress followed the example Bill Clinton has set
as Governor of Arkansas, it would pass a tax program that would
hit the middle-class hardest." End of quote.
That Pine Bluff paper isn't bluffing. Let me cite an
example. Let's say you are a third-grade teacher -- making about
$22,000 a year in taxable income. Bill Clinton could be telling
you to give another $430 a year to the tax man. I say you ought
to be able to use it to pay for your kid's education, or pay the
mortgage on the house -- not send it back to the IRS. //
My opponent is addicted to taxes. I have a hunch on
Election Day you're going to show him a cure. I think you'll
support the man who says government must be responsible -- just
as individuals must be responsible. / In that spirit, let me
talk about an area close to my heart. Our need for a child
4
support system that demands responsibility from parents -- that
treats our kids as people to be loved, not pawns to be discarded.
No one knows this better than the people in this crowd.
Earlier today, I met with several families helped by Wisconsin's
Children First program -- a project which lets a judge require
parents to join the workfare program or be forced to pay child
support.
I want to take a moment to congratulate those of you here
who have gone through this program -- and are making payments on
time. You're getting to know your children better. You should
be feeling better about yourselves. You're making your family
proud -- your community proud -- and, most important, you're
doing right by your kids.
Yet not everyone is as responsible.
Think about the single mother here in Wisconsin struggling
to keep the kids fed and clothed on her modest salary.
Meanwhile, her children's father is at the Detroit airport: Can't
wait to begin his European vacation. He could be a year or a
decade behind in child support. Doesn't matter. It's hard --
maybe impossible -- to touch him because he's over state lines.
That's wrong -- and I think it's time the long arm of the
law can easily reach over that state line
...
tap that dead-beat
dad on the shoulder
...
and say loud and clear: Time to pay up,
pal. Cough up the cash, or we'll send you to the slammer.
When the system lets parents short-change their kids -- it's
time to change the system. In 1990, fathers were absent from ten
5
million families. Today, only a little more than half of absent
parents are ordered to pay child support -- and of those required
to pay, barely half do on time in full. Only one in four absent
parents cover kids' health care expenses, often skipping payments
by skipping town. And each year $5 billion in court-ordered
child support fails to reach families. We need to change these
"stubborn facts" -- and we need to change them all.
Since I took office, we've made a good beginning. We have
identified 50 percent more of the fathers of the kids of single
mothers -- and increased by 40 percent the cases of child support
collections, and annual state collections by $2.3 billion.
We have also acted to make it easier for States with
creative reforms to get the Federal waivers they need. Wisconsin
was the first State to take me up on my offer, and ask for such a
waiver -- and we quickly granted it. I remembered how
Wisconsin's previous reform efforts -- begun by President
Reagan's and my Administration -- had produced a new welfare
result: Success.
In 1990, Wisconsin was the only State which had its welfare
caseload drop. Contrast that with another State to the south of
here. Its Governor fiddled -- actually, played the saxophone --
while Arkansas' welfare program burned. //
Maybe you've seen my opponent's TV ad. If so, you know why
they call him "slick". In this ad, he talks about cutting
welfare rolls in Arkansas -- about moving 17,000 people -- and I
quote -- "from welfare rolls to payrolls. " / Here's the catch.
6
The ad refers only to people leaving welfare rolls -- not joining
them. By that yardstick, I've moved over a million people from
welfare to work in the last three years.
Talk about "stubborn facts." Since Bill Clinton was elected
Governor in 1983, Arkansas welfare rolls have increased by 19
percent -- 13 percent faster than the national average; and food
stamp rolls are up 26 percent in the last three years alone. My
point isn't that Arkansas is one of the poorest states in the
country -- it's that under Bill Clinton, Arkansas has fallen
further behind. Under my opponent, in any given month the number
of people on welfare has soared from 62,000 to 75,000.
Compare that welfare tale of woe, to Wisconsin's tale of
progress. Governor Thompson has shown what real reform can mean.
Just look at the first six months of Children First -- where
child support collection for those in the program soared 28
percent in Fond du Lac County and 145 percent in Racine County.
I look forward to the program starting in seven other counties,
and I ask other States to follow Wisconsin's lead.
Now for our part. Today I am proud to announce a Federal
comprehensive child support enforcement strategy to complement
state efforts. Its goal: To see that absent parents pay child
support -- no matter where they live.
Our initiative is called Project KIDS. It will help change
the child support system -- and help that system change America.
Our plan requires withholding salaries from absent parents.
It will help track down absent parents -- especially when they
7
change jobs -- and hit delinquent parents by alerting the IRS to
the fact that they owe support.
We will make more absent parents pay kids' health care, and
make non-paying parents ineligible for many Federal benefits. We
will require all States to recognize and enforce other States'
child support orders. In addition, we will require legal
organizations who receive funding from the Legal Services
Corporation to devote ten percent of their services to assist
eligible mothers who need legal help to collect child support
payments. /
If you want more, try this.
No payment -- no passport. Forget skiing in Switzerland --
or yachting in Belize.
No payment -- no new professional licenses. If you're not
paying, you won't even get to keep your existing license.
No payment -- no loans. Dead-beat parents won't qualify for
FHA home loans, guaranteed student loans, or any other Federal
loan guarantee. And to those who talk of glass houses and
throwing stones -- think again: Our initiative makes the Federal
government a model employer. We will require up-to-date employer
records and immediate payroll withholding.
Within the next few weeks. I expect to sign a bill sponsored
by my friend Congressman Hyde that will make it a crime for a
parent to intentionally avoid paying child support by crossing
state lines.
8
Dead-beat parents should know that they can run, but they
can't hide. If they don't meet their responsibility to provide
spousal and child support -- we'll make sure they do.
We're setting ambitious goals -- but we must reach them, and
we will. / Only tough policies can confront child neglect /
child abandonment / non-payment of spousal support -- problems
that hurt our families and the Family called America.
I want to protect those who need it most. As you in
Wisconsin are -- as the rest of America must. Thank you for your
example to the Nation. Please join me with Project KIDS. May
God bless the state of Wisconsin and may God bless the United
States of America.
# # # #
353062SS
Document No.
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
9/28/92
NOON, TUES., SEPT. 28
DATE:
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY:
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: WELFARE REFORM
FOND DU LAC, WISCONSIN
SUBJECT:
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 1992
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
MCBRIDE
BAKER
X MOORE
SCOWCROFT
X MULLINS
DARMAN
PETERSMEYER
BATES
PORTER
BRADY
x PROVOST
BROMLEY
ROSS
CALIO N/C
SMITH N/C
DEMAREST
TUTWILER
FITZWATER
XZOELLICK
GRAY
KAUFMAN
GROOMES
HOLIDAY
HORNER
MCGROARTY
REMARKS:
Please provide comments on the attached directly
to Dan McGroarty, Rm. 122, x2930, with a copy to
this office NO LATER THAN NOON, TOMORROW, TUESDAY,
SEPTEMBER 29. Thank you.
RESPONSE:
called 11:00
PHILLIP D. BRADY
Assistant to the President
12:00
and Staff Secretary
1:00
Ext. 2702
(Smith/Aarhus)
Draft Two
September 28, 1992
2 SEP 28 P5: 34
REFORM
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: WELFARE REFORM
FOND DU LAC, WISCONSIN
WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 30, 1992
Thank you for that introduction. It's great to be here in
Fond du Lac. Earlier today I asked Barbara if she had any ideas
about how I could be a big hit in Wisconsin. She said: "Maybe
you could borrow Robin Yount's bat." //
Actually, I have something in common with your baseball
team. We're both in a tough race. If Phil Garner has any
suggestions for me, I'm all ears. Meanwhile, my best to the Team
That's Made Milwaukee Famous. //
Over the last 3 and 1/2 years, America has helped win the
peace abroad. A wall falls in Berlin. From Panama to Kuwait,
those enslaved are now free. Imperial Communism is not only E-
V-I-L. It is D-E-A-D. The Cold War is over -- and America won.
Today, I want to talk about winning the peace at home -- in
our streets, and homes. It's a task crucial to the future of
America: Defending civility through our system of law.
Twelve hundred and three days ago -- June 15, 1989 -- the
same day Gorbachev first said the Berlin Wall might come down --
I sent a Comprehensive Crime Bill to Capital Hill. I offered the
hand of partnership to Congress. I said: We must reject those
who soft-pedal the need to be hard on crime. //
2
For twelve hundred and three days Congress has fiddled while
violent crime burned. Here's what's happened while it slept like
Rip Van Winkle. Across America: Almost 60,000 murders / 260,000
rapes / 1,600,000 robberies / and 2,600,000 assaults. Nearly
46,000 of these crimes occurred in Wisconsin since I sent our
Comprehensive Bill to Congress -- 3 in Fond du Lac alone.
People here are like the rest of America. They are tired of
talk -- and sick of delay. They see kids scared to cross town
and visit friends -- the elderly afraid to go out at night for
food. They want a government that prevents and punishes crime -
- and that helps the victim.
They want action -- and they want it now. / /
Violent crime is defined as murder, forcible rape, robbery,
aggravated assault. Yet violence can be indirect -- as well as
direct. / Witness our child support system that allows dead-
beat parents to flee responsibility. We don't always think of
this as a crime -- but it is. It does violence to the innocent -
- and it's got to stop. / /
We need a child support system that helps kids develop --
not traps them in poverty. We also need to recognize that when
the system allows parents to short-change their kids -- it's time
to change the system. //
Consider the single mother here in Wisconsin struggling to
keep the kids fed and clothed on her small salary. Meantime, her
husband's over in Detroit, picking out a new Corvette with all
the trimmings. He could be a year -- or a decade -- behind in
3
child support. Doesn't matter. No one can touch him because
he's over state lines.
That's wrong -- and I think it's time the long arm of the
law reaches over that state line
...
taps that deadbeat dad on
the shoulder
... and says loud and clear: Time to pay up, buddy.
Cough up the cash, or we'll send you to the slammer.
State, Federal, or local level -- our policies should first
help families stick together. If that's not possible -- and
today, sadly, it's often not -- our policies should at least make
sure support payments stick around. //
That's why for the first time in history eight Cabinet
members have joined to fight maltreatment of kids. Secretary
Sullivan has reorganized HHS to improve child welfare and
adoption. We have convinced Congress to pass the largest child
care program ever, and $18 billion in tax credits for low-income
working families. And we've more than doubled funding for the
Head Start program. //
These steps will aid both traditional and broken families -
- no matter. Kids are kids: All are people to be loved -- not
pawns to be discarded. // That's why we've also acted to make it
easier for States with creative reforms to get the Federal
waivers they need. I am proud that Wisconsin was the first State
to ask for such a waiver -- and that we quickly granted it. I'm
even more pleased that Wisconsin's new plans -- and new ideas --
have produced a new welfare result: Success. //
4
In 1990, Wisconsin was the only State to see its welfare
caseload drop. Here's a statistic even Ripley would disbelieve.
In the last four years, these programs have helped some 60,000
people leave welfare for work. A little while ago I met several
families helped by your Children First program -- a pilot project
which lets a judge require a dead-beat dad to join the workfare
program or be forced to pay child support. //
Has Children First worked? Has it ever. In its first six
months, child support support collection soared 28 percent in
Fond du Lac County and 145 percent in Racine County. I salute
Governor Thompson -- a true reform pioneer -- and look forward to
the program soon coming to seven other counties. For their part,
I challenge other States to follow Wisconsin's lead.
Now for our part. I am proud to announce today a Federal
comprehensive child support enforcement strategy to complement
state efforts. Its goal: To see that absent parents pay child
support -- no matter where they live.
Our initiative is called Project KIDS. It will help change
the child support system -- and help that system change America.
Already our Administration has located 50 percent more of the
fathers of the kids of single mothers / increased the cases of
child support collections by 37 percent -- and annual state
collections by $2.3 billion. Our new plan will build on those
beginnings.
Our plan requires withholding salaries from absent parents /
will help track down absent parents -- especially dead-beat dads
5
when they change jobs / and hit delinquent parents by making
their payments tax liabilities. It will require all States to
recognize and enforce other States' child support orders / order
absent parents to pay kids' health care / and make non-paying
parents ineligible for all Federal benefits.
Want more? Try this.
No payment -- no passport. Forget that skiing in
Switzerland -- or yachting in Belize.
No payment -- no new professional licenses. Dead-beat dads
-- we're even going after existing licenses. /
No payment -- no loans. Dead-beat dads -- you won't qualify
for FHA home loans, guaranteed student loans, or any other
Federal loan guarantee. And to those who talk of glass houses
and throwing stones -- think again: Our initiative makes the
Federal government a model employer. We will require up-to-date
employer records and immediate payroll withholding.
Some will call these steps Draconian. I say: Thank God. /
Recall how fathers were absent from 10 million families in
1989 -- how today only half of absent parents are ordered to pay
child support -- and those required to pay, only half did on time
in full. /
Think of how only one in eight absent parents cover kids'
health needs -- how they skip payments by skipping town. / And
remember the $5 billion in court-ordered child support which
fails to reach families each year. Friends: Enough is enough.
6
Dead-beat dads should know that they can run, but they can't
hide. If they don't meet their responsibility to provide spousal
and child support -- we'll make sure they do.
By 1996, Project KIDS aims to boost the percent of absent
parents who pay child support from 50 to 75 / lift the percent of
full collections from 50 to 75, and health coverage of absent
parents from 1 in 8 to 1 in 2 / and at least double the
praternities we establish for kids born to single mothers. //
These are ambitious goals -- but we have to reach them, and
we will. / For only tough policies that defend children can make
family values real. Child neglect / child abandonment / spousal
nonpayment and support -- all these mock American families and
maim the Family called America.
Abandoned child or deserted mother. How different are they
from those who are looted / assaulted / pillaged / burned? Each
is a victim. Each stands vulnerable, and alone.
Yes, let's help kids from traditional families. Let's also
remember that child support is crucial to help kids develop even
in broken families. I mean to protect those who need it most.
As you in Wisconsin are -- as the rest of America must. Thank
you for your example to the Nation. Please join me with Project
KIDS. And may God bless the United States of America.
#
#
#
#
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
September 29, 1992
MEMORANDUM FOR THE PRESIDENT
THROUGH:
STEVEN PROVOST
FROM:
CURT SMITH
is
SUBJECT:
REMARKS IN FOND DU LAC, WISCONSIN
On Wednesday, September 30 at 12;25 p.m., you will address
the community of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. Approximately 5,000 are
expected to attend this event. Prior to these remarks, you will
meet with families who have successfully gone through Wisconsin's
Children First program.
The enclosed remarks (15 minutes, teleprompter) begin by
discussing the difference between you and Bill Clinton on taxes.
They then shift to the main body of the speech: your Project KIDS
program. The text focuses on ways to strengthen parental
responsibility -- and ensure deadbeat dads pay child support. In
a related vein, the remarks look at Bill Clinton's weak Arkansas
welfare record.
(Smith/Aarhus)
Draft Three
September 28, 1992
REFORM
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: CHILD SUPPORT/PROJECT KIDS
FOND DU LAC, WISCONSIN
WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 30, 1992
Thank you for that introduction. It's great to be here in
Fond du Lac. Earlier today I asked Barbara if she had any ideas
about how I could be a big hit in Wisconsin. She said: "Maybe
you could borrow Robin Yount's bat." //
Actually, I have something in common with your baseball
team. We're both in a tough race. If Phil Garner has any
suggestions for me, I'm all ears. My best to the Team That's
Made Milwaukee Famous. / /
Over the last three-and-a-half years, America has helped win
the peace abroad. A wall falls in Berlin. From Panama to
Kuwait, those enslaved are now free. The Cold War is over -- and
freedom won. // Today, I want to talk about winning the peace at
home -- for our families, in our homes, and in our communities.
It involves two tasks crucial to my Agenda for American
Renewal. The first is giving money to the taxpayer -- not
government. The second is upholding individual responsibility
through our system of law.
//
The first task -- like the second -- is as much
philosophical as political. My opponent measures government
success by how much of your money he can take. I measure it by
how much of your money you get to keep. //
2
Recently, I laid out a specific, comprehensive agenda for
America, to create the world's first $10 trillion economy. It
rests upon this firm belief: We must spend less / regulate less
/ and tax less. //
I believe higher taxes would be the Mount St. Helen's of the
U.S. economy. Well, guess what? My opponent has a plan to
unleash that volcano. //
Let's begin with his record. As Governor, Bill Clinton
raised the gas tax, and even taxed mobile homes and cable TV. He
raised and extended the sales tax, including a tax on baby
formula, vegetables, and other groceries. / When you're deciding
which candidate to support -- I think that's food for thought. //
This year, he's off again -- proposing at least $150 billion
in new federal taxes -- plus at least $220 billion in new
spending. / He says: don't worry -- I'll get it from the rich -
- people who make over $200,000 -- the top 2 percent. Well,
we've heard this song before. Bill Clinton's definition of rich
is anyone who works for a living. The truth is his plan is a
billy-club blow against working families everywhere. //
Maybe my opponent should remember what John Adams said.
He said -- and I quote: "Facts can be stubborn things."
The fact is that to get the money he needs for his plan --
the $150 billion he's promised in new taxes -- Bill Clinton would
have to get his money from individuals with taxable income over
$36,600. His message to working Americans would paraphrase that
3
famous TV commercial: For all you do, this tax increase is for
you. //
And that's just the start of his campaign to hurt the middle
class. Governor Clinton hasn't said how he'll get the hundreds
of billions of dollars more to pay for all his campaign promises.
Well, remember the old saying. "When you hunt ducks, you go
where the ducks are." He's hunting for ways to pay for all his
promises -- and he's going to go after the middle class for the
same reason Slick Willie Sutton robbed banks: Because that's
where the money is. //
Don't take my word for it. Listen to the newspaper from
Pine Bluff, Arkansas, practically in his back yard. Here's what
it says: "If Congress followed the example Bill Clinton has set
as Governor of Arkansas, it would pass a tax program that would
hit the middle-class hardest." End of quote.
That Pine Bluff paper isn't bluffing. Let me cite an
example. Let's say you are a third-grade teacher -- making about
$22,000 a year in taxable income. Bill Clinton could be telling
you to give another $430 a year to the tax man. I say you ought
to be able to use it to pay for your kid's education, or pay the
mortgage on the house -- not send it back to the IRS. //
My opponent is addicted to taxes. I have a hunch on
Election Day you're going to show him a cure. I think you'll
support the man who says government must be responsible -- just
as individuals must be responsible. / In that spirit, let me
talk about an area close to my heart. Our need for a child
4
support system that demands responsibility from parents -- that
treats our kids as people to be loved, not pawns to be discarded.
No one knows this better than the people in this crowd.
Earlier today, I met with several families helped by Wisconsin's
Children First program -- a project which lets a judge require
parents to join the workfare program or be forced to pay child
support.
I want to take a moment to congratulate those of you here
who have gone through this program -- and are making payments on
time. You're getting to know your children better. You should
be feeling better about yourselves. You're making your family
proud -- your community proud -- and, most important, you're
doing right by your kids.
Yet not everyone is as responsible.
Think about the single mother here in Wisconsin struggling
to keep the kids fed and clothed on her modest salary.
Meanwhile, her children's father is at the Detroit airport: Can't
wait to begin his European vacation. He could be a year or a
decade behind in child support. Doesn't matter. It's hard --
maybe impossible -- to touch him because he's over state lines.
That's wrong -- and I think it's time the long arm of the
law can easily reach over that state line
tap that dead-beat
dad on the shoulder
...
and say loud and clear: Time to pay up,
pal. Cough up the cash, or we'll send you to the slammer.
When the system lets parents short-change their kids -- it's
time to change the system. In 1990, fathers were absent from ten
5
million families. Today, only a little more than half of absent
parents are ordered to pay child support -- and of those required
to pay, barely half do on time in full. Only one in four absent
parents cover kids' health care expenses, often skipping payments
by skipping town. And each year $5 billion in court-ordered
child support fails to reach families. We need to change these
"stubborn facts" -- and we need to change them all.
Since I took office, we've made a good beginning. We have
identified 50 percent more of the fathers of the kids of single
mothers -- and increased by 40 percent the cases of child support
collections, and annual state collections by $2.3 billion.
We have also acted to make it easier for States with
creative reforms to get the Federal waivers they need. Wisconsin
was the first State to take me up on my offer, and ask for such a
waiver -- and we quickly granted it. I remembered how
Wisconsin's previous reform efforts -- begun by President
Reagan's and my Administration -- had produced a new welfare
result: Success.
In 1990, Wisconsin was the only State which had its welfare
caseload drop. Contrast that with another State to the south of
here. Its Governor fiddled -- actually, played the saxophone --
while Arkansas' welfare program burned. //
Maybe you've seen my opponent's TV ad. If so, you know why
they call him "slick". In this ad, he talks about cutting
welfare rolls in Arkansas -- about moving 17,000 people -- and I
quote -- "from welfare rolls to payrolls. " / Here's the catch.
6
The ad refers only to people leaving welfare rolls -- not joining
them. By that yardstick, I've moved over a million people from
welfare to work in the last three years.
Talk about "stubborn facts." Since Bill Clinton was elected
Governor in 1983, Arkansas welfare rolls have increased by 19
percent -- 13 percent faster than the national average; and food
stamp rolls are up 26 percent in the last three years alone. My
point isn't that Arkansas is one of the poorest states in the
country -- it's that under Bill Clinton, Arkansas has fallen
further behind. Under my opponent, in any given month the number
of people on welfare has soared from 62,000 to 75,000.
Compare that welfare tale of woe, to Wisconsin's tale of
progress. Governor Thompson has shown what real reform can mean.
Just look at the first six months of Children First -- where
child support collection for those in the program soared 28
percent in Fond du Lac County and 145 percent in Racine County.
I look forward to the program starting in seven other counties,
and I ask other States to follow Wisconsin's lead.
Now for our part. Today I am proud to announce a Federal
comprehensive child support enforcement strategy to complement
state efforts. Its goal: To see that absent parents pay child
support -- no matter where they live.
Our initiative is called Project KIDS. It will help change
the child support system -- and help that system change America.
Our plan requires withholding salaries from absent parents.
It will help track down absent parents -- especially when they
7
change jobs -- and hit delinquent parents by alerting the IRS to
the fact that they owe support.
We will make more absent parents pay kids' health care, and
make non-paying parents ineligible for many Federal benefits. We
will require all States to recognize and enforce other States'
child support orders. In addition, we will require legal
organizations who receive funding from the Legal Services
Corporation to devote ten percent of their services to assist
eligible mothers who need legal help to collect child support
payments. /
If you want more, try this.
No payment -- no passport. Forget skiing in Switzerland --
or yachting in Belize.
No payment -- no new professional licenses. If you're not
paying, you won't even get to keep your existing license.
No payment -- no loans. Dead-beat parents won't qualify for
FHA home loans, guaranteed student loans, or any other Federal
loan guarantee. And to those who talk of glass houses and
throwing stones -- think again: Our initiative makes the Federal
government a model employer. We will require up-to-date employer
records and immediate payroll withholding.
Within the next few weeks. I expect to sign a bill sponsored
by my friend Congressman Hyde that will make it a crime for a
parent to intentionally avoid paying child support by crossing
state lines.
8
Dead-beat parents should know that they can run, but they
can't hide. If they don't meet their responsibility to provide
spousal and child support -- we'll make sure they do.
We're setting ambitious goals -- but we must reach them, and
we will. / Only tough policies can confront child neglect /
child abandonment / non-payment of spousal support -- problems
that hurt our families and the Family called America.
I want to protect those who need it most. As you in
Wisconsin are -- as the rest of America must. Thank you for your
example to the Nation. Please join me with Project KIDS. May
God bless the state of Wisconsin and may God bless the United
States of America.
# # # #
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
September 29, 1992
MEMORANDUM FOR THE PRESIDENT
THROUGH:
STEVEN PROVOST
FROM:
CURT SMITH
is
SUBJECT:
REMARKS IN FOND DU LAC, WISCONSIN
On Wednesday, September 30 at 12;25 p.m., you will address
the community of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. Approximately 5,000 are
expected to attend this event. Prior to these remarks, you will
meet with families who have successfully gone through Wisconsin's
Children First program.
The enclosed remarks (15 minutes, teleprompter) begin by
discussing the difference between you and Bill Clinton on taxes.
They then shift to the main body of the speech: your Project KIDS
program. The text focuses on ways to strengthen parental
responsibility -- and ensure deadbeat dads pay child support. In
a related vein, the remarks look at Bill Clinton's weak Arkansas
welfare record.
(Smith/Aarhus)
Draft Three
September 28, 1992
REFORM
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: CHILD SUPPORT/PROJECT KIDS
FOND DU LAC, WISCONSIN
WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 30, 1992
Thank you for that introduction. It's great to be here in
Fond du Lac. Earlier today I asked Barbara if she had any ideas
about how I could be a big hit in Wisconsin. She said: "Maybe
you could borrow Robin Yount's bat. " //
Actually, I have something in common with your baseball
team. We're both in a tough race. If Phil Garner has any
suggestions for me, I'm all ears. My best to the Team That's
Made Milwaukee Famous. //
Over the last three-and-a-half years, America has helped win
the peace abroad. A wall falls in Berlin. From Panama to
Kuwait, those enslaved are now free. The Cold War is over -- and
freedom won. // Today, I want to talk about winning the peace at
home -- for our families, in our homes, and in our communities.
It involves two tasks crucial to my Agenda for American
Renewal. The first is giving money to the taxpayer -- not
government. The second is upholding individual responsibility
through our system of law.
//
The first task -- like the second -- is as much
philosophical as political. My opponent measures government
success by how much of your money he can take. I measure it by
how much of your money you get to keep. //
2
Recently, I laid out a specific, comprehensive agenda for
America, to create the world's first $10 trillion economy. It
rests upon this firm belief: We must spend less / regulate less
/ and tax less. //
I believe higher taxes would be the Mount St. Helen's of the
U.S. economy. Well, guess what? My opponent has a plan to
unleash that volcano. //
Let's begin with his record. As Governor, Bill Clinton
raised the gas tax, and even taxed mobile homes and cable TV. He
raised and extended the sales tax, including a tax on baby
formula, vegetables, and other groceries. / When you're deciding
which candidate to support -- I think that's food for thought. //
This year, he's off again -- proposing at least $150 billion
in new federal taxes -- plus at least $220 billion in new
spending. / He says: don't worry -- I'll get it from the rich -
- people who make over $200,000 -- the top 2 percent. Well,
we've heard this song before. Bill Clinton's definition of rich
is anyone who works for a living. The truth is his plan is a
billy-club blow against working families everywhere. //
Maybe my opponent should remember what John Adams said.
He said -- and I quote: "Facts can be stubborn things."
The fact is that to get the money he needs for his plan --
the $150 billion he's promised in new taxes -- Bill Clinton would
have to get his money from individuals with taxable income over
$36,600. His message to working Americans would paraphrase that
3
famous TV commercial: For all you do, this tax increase is for
you. //
And that's just the start of his campaign to hurt the middle
class. Governor Clinton hasn't said how he'll get the hundreds
of billions of dollars more to pay for all his campaign promises.
Well, remember the old saying. "When you hunt ducks, you go
where the ducks are." He's hunting for ways to pay for all his
promises -- and he's going to go after the middle class for the
same reason Slick Willie Sutton robbed banks: Because that's
where the money is. //
Don't take my word for it. Listen to the newspaper from
Pine Bluff, Arkansas, practically in his back yard. Here's what
it says: "If Congress followed the example Bill Clinton has set
as Governor of Arkansas, it would pass a tax program that would
hit the middle-class hardest." End of quote.
That Pine Bluff paper isn't bluffing. Let me cite an
example. Let's say you are a third-grade teacher -- making about
$22,000 a year in taxable income. Bill Clinton could be telling
you to give another $430 a year to the tax man. I say you ought
to be able to use it to pay for your kid's education, or pay the
mortgage on the house -- not send it back to the IRS. //
My opponent is addicted to taxes. I have a hunch on
Election Day you're going to show him a cure. I think you'll
support the man who says government must be responsible -- just
as individuals must be responsible. / In that spirit, let me
talk about an area close to my heart. Our need for a child
4
support system that demands responsibility from parents -- that
treats our kids as people to be loved, not pawns to be discarded.
No one knows this better than the people in this crowd.
Earlier today, I met with several families helped by Wisconsin's
Children First program -- a project which lets a judge require
parents to join the workfare program or be forced to pay child
support.
I want to take a moment to congratulate those of you here
who have gone through this program -- and are making payments on
time. You're getting to know your children better. You should
be feeling better about yourselves. You're making your family
proud -- your community proud -- and, most important, you're
doing right by your kids.
Yet not everyone is as responsible.
Think about the single mother here in Wisconsin struggling
to keep the kids fed and clothed on her modest salary.
Meanwhile, her children's father is at the Detroit airport: Can't
wait to begin his European vacation. He could be a year or a
decade behind in child support. Doesn't matter. It's hard --
maybe impossible -- to touch him because he's over state lines.
That's wrong -- and I think it's time the long arm of the
law can easily reach over that state line
...
tap that dead-beat
dad on the shoulder
and say loud and clear: Time to pay up,
pal. Cough up the cash, or we'll send you to the slammer.
When the system lets parents short-change their kids -- it's
time to change the system. In 1990, fathers were absent from ten
5
million families. Today, only a little more than half of absent
parents are ordered to pay child support -- and of those required
to pay, barely half do on time in full. Only one in four absent
parents cover kids' health care expenses, often skipping payments
by skipping town. And each year $5 billion in court-ordered
child support fails to reach families. We need to change these
"stubborn facts" -- and we need to change them all.
Since I took office, we've made a good beginning. We have
identified 50 percent more of the fathers of the kids of single
mothers -- and increased by 40 percent the cases of child support
collections, and annual state collections by $2.3 billion.
We have also acted to make it easier for States with
creative reforms to get the Federal waivers they need. Wisconsin
was the first State to take me up on my offer, and ask for such a
waiver -- and we quickly granted it. I remembered how
Wisconsin's previous reform efforts -- begun by President
Reagan's and my Administration -- had produced a new welfare
result: Success.
In 1990, Wisconsin was the only State which had its welfare
caseload drop. Contrast that with another State to the south of
here. Its Governor fiddled -- actually, played the saxophone --
while Arkansas' welfare program burned. //
Maybe you've seen my opponent's TV ad. If so, you know why
they call him "slick". In this ad, he talks about cutting
welfare rolls in Arkansas -- about moving 17,000 people -- and I
quote -- "from welfare rolls to payrolls.' = / Here's the catch.
6
The ad refers only to people leaving welfare rolls -- not joining
them. By that yardstick, I've moved over a million people from
welfare to work in the last three years.
Talk about "stubborn facts." Since Bill Clinton was elected
Governor in 1983, Arkansas welfare rolls have increased by 19
percent -- 13 percent faster than the national average; and food
stamp rolls are up 26 percent in the last three years alone. My
point isn't that Arkansas is one of the poorest states in the
country -- it's that under Bill Clinton, Arkansas has fallen
further behind. Under my opponent, in any given month the number
of people on welfare has soared from 62,000 to 75,000.
Compare that welfare tale of woe, to Wisconsin's tale of
progress. Governor Thompson has shown what real reform can mean.
Just look at the first six months of Children First -- where
child support collection for those in the program soared 28
percent in Fond du Lac County and 145 percent in Racine County.
I look forward to the program starting in seven other counties,
and I ask other States to follow Wisconsin's lead.
Now for our part. Today I am proud to announce a Federal
comprehensive child support enforcement strategy to complement
state efforts. Its goal: To see that absent parents pay child
support -- no matter where they live.
Our initiative is called Project KIDS. It will help change
the child support system -- and help that system change America.
Our plan requires withholding salaries from absent parents.
It will help track down absent parents -- especially when they
7
change jobs -- and hit delinquent parents by alerting the IRS to
the fact that they owe support.
We will make more absent parents pay kids' health care, and
make non-paying parents ineligible for many Federal benefits. We
will require all States to recognize and enforce other States'
child support orders. In addition, we will require legal
organizations who receive funding from the Legal Services
Corporation to devote ten percent of their services to assist
eligible mothers who need legal help to collect child support
payments. /
If you want more, try this.
No payment -- no passport. Forget skiing in Switzerland --
or yachting in Belize.
No payment -- no new professional licenses. If you're not
paying, you won't even get to keep your existing license.
No payment -- no loans. Dead-beat parents won't qualify for
FHA home loans, guaranteed student loans, or any other Federal
loan guarantee. And to those who talk of glass houses and
throwing stones -- think again: Our initiative makes the Federal
government a model employer. We will require up-to-date employer
records and immediate payroll withholding.
Within the next few weeks. I expect to sign a bill sponsored
by my friend Congressman Hyde that will make it a crime for a
parent to intentionally avoid paying child support by crossing
state lines.
8
Dead-beat parents should know that they can run, but they
can't hide. If they don't meet their responsibility to provide
spousal and child support -- we'll make sure they do.
We're setting ambitious goals -- but we must reach them, and
we will. / Only tough policies can confront child neglect /
child abandonment / non-payment of spousal support -- problems
that hurt our families and the Family called America.
I want to protect those who need it most. As you in
Wisconsin are -- as the rest of America must. Thank you for your
example to the Nation. Please join me with Project KIDS. May
God bless the state of Wisconsin and may God bless the United
States of America.
# # # #
(Smith/Aarhus)
Draft Two
September 28, 1992
REFORM
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: WELFARE REFORM
FOND DU LAC, WISCONSIN
WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 30, 1992
Thank you for that introduction. It's great to be here in
Fond du Lac. Earlier today I asked Barbara if she had any ideas
about how I could be a big hit in Wisconsin. She said: "Maybe
you could borrow Robin Yount's bat. " //
Actually, I have something in common with your baseball
team. We're both in a tough race. If Phil Garner has any
suggestions for me, I'm all ears. My best to the Team That's
Made Milwaukee Famous. //
Over the last 3 and 1/2 years, America has helped win the
peace abroad. A wall falls in Berlin. From Panama to Kuwait,
those enslaved are now free. The Cold War is over -- and freedom
won. / /
Today, I want to talk about winning the peace at home -- for
our families, in our homes, and in our communities.
It involves two tasks crucial to my Agenda for American
Renewal. The first is giving money to the taxpayer -- not
government. The second is upholding individual responsibility
through our system of law.
//
The first task -- like the second -- is as much
philosophical as political. My opponent measures government
2
success by how much of your money he can take. I measure it by
how much of your money you get to keep. //
Recently, I laid out a specific, comprehensive agenda for
America, to create the world's first $10 trillion economy. It
rests upon this firm belief: We must spend less / regulate less
/ and tax less. //
I believe higher taxes would be the Mount St. Helen's of the
U.S. economy. Well, guess what? My opponent has a plan to
unleash that volcano. //
Let's begin with his record. As Governor, Bill Clinton
raised the gas tax, and even taxed mobile homes and cable TV. He
raised and extended the sales tax, including a tax on baby
formula, vegetables, and other groceries. / When you're deciding
which candidate to support -- I think that's food for thought. //
This year, he's off again -- proposing at least $150 billion
in new federal taxes -- plus at least $220 billion in new
spending. / He says, "Don't worry -- I'll get it from the rich -
- people who make over $200,000 -- the top 2 percent." Well,
we've heard this song before. Bill Clinton's definition of rich
is anyone who works for a living. The truth is his plan is a
Billy-club blow against working families everywhere. //
Maybe my opponent should remember what John Adams said.
He said -- and I quote: "Facts can be stubborn things."
The fact is that to get the money he needs for his plan --
the $150 billion he's promised in new taxes -- Bill Clinton would
have to get his money from individuals with taxable income over
3
$36,600. His message to working Americans would be a paraphrase
of a famous TV commercial: For all you do, this tax increase is
for you. / /
And that's the just the start of his campaign to hurt the
middle class. Governor Clinton hasn't said how he'd get the
hundreds of billions of dollars more to pay for all his campaign
promises. / Well, remember the old saying. "When you hunt
ducks, you go where the ducks are." He's hunting for ways to pay
for all his promises -- and he's going to go after the middle
class for the same reason Slick Willie Sutton robbed banks:
Because that's where the money is. //
Don't take my word for it. Listen to the newspaper from
Pine Bluff, Arkansas, practically in his back yard. Here's what
it says: "If Congress followed the example Bill Clinton has set
as Governor of Arkansas, it would pass a tax program that would
hit the middle-class hardest." End-quote.
That Pine Bluff paper isn't bluffing. Let me cite an
example. Let's say you are a third-grade teacher -- making about
$22,000 a year in taxable income. Bill Clinton could be telling
you to give another $430 a year to the tax man. I say you ought
to be able to use it to pay for your kid's education, or pay the
mortgage on the house -- not send it back to the IRS. //
My opponent is addicted to taxes. I have a hunch on
Election Day you're going to show him a cure. I think you'll
support the man who says government must be responsible ---- just
as individuals must be responsible. / In that spirit, let me
4
talk about an area close to my heart. Our need for a child
support system that demands responsibility from parents -- that
treats our kids as people to be loved, not pawns to be discarded.
No one knows this better than the people in this crowd.
Earlier I met several families helped by Wisconsin's Children
First program -- a project which lets a judge require parents to
join the workfare program or be forced to pay child support.
I want to congratulate those of you here who have gone
through this program -- and are making payments on time. You're
getting to know your children better. You should be feeling
better about yourselves. You're making your family proud -- your
community proud - and you're doing right by your kids.
Yet not everyone is as responsible.
Think about the single mother here in Wisconsin struggling
to keep the kids fed and clothed on her modest salary. Meantime,
her children's father is at the airport in Detroit airport:
Can't wait to begin his European vacation. He could be a year or
a decade behind in child support. Doesn't matter. It's hard --
maybe impossible -- to touch him because he's over state lines.
That's wrong -- and I think it's time the long arm of the
law can easily reach over that state line
...
tap that deadbeat
dad on the shoulder
and say loud and clear: When the system
lets parents short-change their kids -- it's time to change the
system. //
In 1990 fathers were absent from 10 million families.
Today, only half of absent parents are ordered to pay child
5
support -- and of those required to pay, barely half do on time
in full. / Only one in 5 absent parents cover kids' health care
expenses -- often skipping payments by skipping town. And each
year $5 billion in court-ordered child support fails to reach
their families. / We need to change these "stubborn facts" --
and we need to change them all. /
Since I took office, we've made a good beginning. We have
identified 50 percent more of the fathers of the kids of single
mothers -- and increased by 40 percent the cases of child support
collections, and annual state collections by $2.3 billion.
We have also acted to make it easier for States with
creative reforms to get the Federal waivers they need. Wisconsin
was the first State to take me up on my offer and ask for such a
waiver -- and we quickly granted it. I remembered how
Wisconsin's previous reform efforts -- begun by the Reagan
Administration -- had produced a new welfare result: Success.
In 1990, Wisconsin was the only State which had its welfare
caseload drop. Contrast that with another State to the south of
here. Its Governor fiddled -- actually, played the saxaphone --
while Arkansas' welfare program burned. //
Maybe you've seen my opponent's TV ad. If so, you know why
they call him slick. In it he talks about cutting welfare rolls
in Arkansas -- about moving 17,000 people -- and I quote -- "from
welfare rolls to payrolls. " / Here's the catch. The ad refers
only to people leaving welfare rolls -- not joining them. By
6
that yardstick, I've moved over a million people from welfare to
work in the last three years.
Talk about "stubborn facts." Since Bill Clinton was elected
Governor in 1983, Arkansas welfare rolls have increased by 19
percent -- 13 percent faster than the national average; and food
stamp rolls are up 26 percent in the last three years alone. My
point isn't that Arkansas is one of the poorest states in the
country -- it's that under Bill Clinton Arkansas has fallen
further behind. Under my opponent, in any given month the number
of people on welfare has soared from 60,000 to 75,000.
In contrast, you and I are working with Governor Thompson on
real reform. I'm impressed by how in the first six months of
Children First, child support collection for those in the program
soared 28 percent in Fond du Lac County and 145 percent in Racine
County. I salute Governor Thompson -- a true reform pioneer --
and look forward to the program starting in seven other counties.
For their part, I challenge other States to follow Wisconsin's
lead.
Now for our part. Today I am proud to announce a Federal
comprehensive child support enforcement strategy to complement
state efforts. Its goal: To see that absent parents pay child
support -- no matter where they live.
Our initiative is called Project KIDS. It will help change
the child support system -- and help that system change America.
Our plan requires withholding salaries from absent parents.
It will help track down absent parents -- especially when they
7
change jobs / and hit delinquent parents by making their payments
tax liabilities.
We will require all States to recognize and enforce other
States' child support orders / make more absent parents pay kids'
health care / and make non-paying parents ineligible for many
Federal benefits. In addition, we will require legal
organizations who receive funding from the Legal Services
Corporation to devote 10 percent of their services to assist
eligible mothers who need legal help to collect child support
payments. /
If you want more, try this.
No payment -- no passport. Forget that skiing in
Switzerland -- or yachting in Belize.
No payment -- no new professional licenses. If you're not
paying, you won't even keep your existing license.
No payment -- no loans. Dead-beat parents won't qualify for
FHA home loans, guaranteed student loans, or any other Federal
loan guarantee. And to those who talk of glass houses and
throwing stones -- think again: Our initiative makes the Federal
government a model employer. We will require up-to-date employer
records and immediate payroll withholding.
And this week, I expect to sign a bill sponsored by my
friend Congressman Henry Hyde that will make it a crime for a
parent to intentionally avoid paying child support by crossing
state lines.
8
Dead-beat parents should know that they can run, but they
can't hide. If they don't meet their responsibility to provide
spousal and child support -- we'll make sure they do.
We're setting ambitious goals -- but we must reach them, and
we will. / Only tough policies can confront child neglect /
child abandonment / nonpayment of spousal support -- problems
that hurt our families and the Family called America.
I mean to protect those who need it most. As you in
Wisconsin are -- as the rest of America must. Thank you for your
example to the Nation. Please join me with Project KIDS. And
may God bless the United States of America.
#
#
#
#
TIME OF TRANSMISSION
TIME OF RECEIPT
WHITE HOUSE
SITUATION ROOM
PRECEDENCE:
IMMEDIATE
RELEASER:
PRIORITY
ROUTINE
DTG:
MESSAGE NO.
CLASSIFICATION unclassified
PAGES
FROM Curt Smith
2772
120
(NAME)
(PHONE NUMBER)
(ROOM NO.)
MESSAGE DESCRIPTION
TO (AGENCY)
DELIVER TO
DEPT/ROOM NO.
PHONE NUMBER
AFI
Steve Provost
Christina Martin
REMARKS:
Curt has just taken a copy
to Zoellick.
(Smith/Aarhus)
Draft Two
September 28, 1992
REFORM
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: WELFARE REFORM
FOND DU LAC, WISCONSIN
WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 30, 1992
Thank you for that introduction. It's great to be here in
Fond du Lac. Earlier today I asked Barbara if she had any ideas
about how I could be a big hit in Wisconsin. She said: "Maybe
you could borrow Robin Yount's bat. = //
Actually, I have something in common with your baseball
team. We're both in a tough race. If Phil Garner has any
suggestions for me, I'm all ears. My best to the Team That's
Made Milwaukee Famous. //
Over the last 3 and 1/2 years, America has helped win the
peace abroad. A wall falls in Berlin. From Panama to Kuwait,
those enslaved are now free. Imperial Communism is not only E-
V-I-L. It is D-E-A-D. The Cold War is over -- and America won.
Today, I want to talk about winning the peace at home -- for
our families, and in our homes.
It involves two tasks crucial to my Agenda for America. The
first is giving money to the taxpayer -- not government. / The
second is upholding individual responsibility through our system
of law. //
The first task -- like the second -- is as much
philosophical as political. My opponent measures government
2
success by how much of your money he can take. I measure it by
how much of your money you get to keep. //
Recently, I laid out a specific, comprehensive agenda for
America, to create the world's first $10 trillion economy. Its
rests upon this firm belief: We must spend less / regulate less
/ and tax less. //
I believe higher taxes would be the Mount Vesuvius of the
U.S. economy. Well, guess what? My opponent has a plan to stoke
that volcano. //
Let's begin with his record. As Governor, Bill Clinton
raised the gas tax, and even taxed mobile homes and cable TV. He
raised and extended the sales tax, including a tax on baby
formula, vegetables, and other groceries. / When you're deciding
which candidate to support -- I think that's food for thought. //
This year, he's off again -- proposing at least $150 billion
in new federal taxes -- plus at least $220 billion in new
spending. / He says, "Don't worry -- I'll get it from the rich -
- people who make over $200,000 -- the top 2 percent." Well,
we've heard this song before. Bill Clinton's definition of rich
is anyone who works for a living. The truth is his plan is a
Billy-club blow against working families everywhere. //
Maybe Governor Clinton should remember what John Adams said.
He said -- and I quote: "Facts can be stubborn things."
The fact is that to get the money he needs for his plan --
the $150 billion he's promised in new taxes -- Governor Clinton
would have to get his money from individuals with taxable income
3
over $36,000. His message to working Americans would be a
paraphrase of a famous TV commercial: For all you do, this tax
increase is for you. //
And that's the just the start of his campaign to hurt the
middle class. Governor Clinton hasn't said how he'd get the
hundreds of billions of dollars more to pay for all his promises.
/ Well, remember the old saying. "When you hunt ducks, you go
where the ducks are." ((By the way, Governor Clinton even raised
hunting and fishing fees in Arkansas.) ) He's hunting for ways to
pay for all his promises -- and he's going to go after the middle
class for the same reason Slick Willie Sutton robbed banks:
Because that's where the money is. //
Don't take my word for it. Listen to the newspaper from his
own back yard, The Pine Bluff Commercial. Here's what it says:
"If Congress followed the example Bill Clinton has set as
Governor of Arkansas, it would pass a tax program that would hit
the middle-class hardest." End-quote.
I don't think that Pine Bluff paper is bluffing. Let me
cite an example. Let's say you are a third-grade teacher --
making about $22,000 a year in taxable income. Governor Clinton
wants you to give another $430 a year to the tax man. I say you
ought to be able to use it to pay for your kid's education, or
pay the mortgage on the house -- not send it back to the IRS. //
My opponent is addicted to taxes. I have a hunch on
Election Day you're going to show him a cure. I think you'll
support the man who says government must be responsible -- just
4
as individuals must be responsible. / In that spirit, let me
talk about an area close to my heart. Our need for a child
support system that demands responsibility from parents -- that
treats our kids as people to be loved, not pawns to be discarded.
No one knows this better than the people in this crowd. A
little while ago I met several families helped by your Children
First program -- a project which lets a judge require parents to
join the workfare program or be forced to pay child support.
I want to congratulate those of you who gone through this
program -- and are making payments on time. You're getting to
know your children better. You should be feeling better about
yourselves. / You're making your family proud -- your community
proud -- and you are doing right by your kids
Yet not everyone is as responsible.
Think about the single mother here in Wisconsin struggling
to keep the kids fed and clothed on her modest salary. Meantime,
her husband's at an airport in Detroit: Can't wait to begin his
vacation. He could be a year -- or a decade -- behind in child
support. Doesn't matter. It's hard -- sometimes impossible --
to touch him because he's over state lines.
That's wrong -- and I think it's time the long arm of the
law can easily reach over that state line
tap that deadbeat
dad on the shoulder
and say loud and clear: When the system
lets parents short-change their kids -- it's time to change the
system. //
5
In 1990 fathers were absent from 10 million families.
Today, only half of absent parents are ordered to pay child
support -- and of those required to pay, barely half do on time
in full. / Only one in 5 absent parents cover kids' health care
expenses -- often skipping payments by skipping town. And each
year $5 billion in court-ordered child support fails to reach
their families. / We need to change these "stubborn facts" --
and we need to change them all. /
Since I took office, we've made a good beginning.
We have identified 50 percent more of the fathers of the
kids of single mothers / increased by 40 percent the cases of
child support collections -- and annual state collections by $2.3
billion. I'm also proud of how we've acted to make it easier for
States with creative reforms to get the Federal waivers they
need. Wisconsin was the first State to ask for such a waiver --
and we quickly granted it. I remembered how Wisconsin's previous
reform efforts -- begun by the Reagan Administration -- had
produced a new welfare result: Success.
In 1990, Wisconsin was the only State which had its welfare
caseload drop. [ [Contrast that with another State to the south
of here. Its Governor fiddled -- actually, played the saxaphone
-- while Arkansas' welfare program burned. //
[[Maybe you've seen my opponent's TV ad. If not, do.
You'll see why they call him slick. In it he talks about cutting
welfare rolls in Arkansas -- about moving 17,000 people -- and I
quote -- "from welfare rolls to payrolls. " / Here's the catch.
6
The ad refers only to people leaving welfare rolls -- not joining
them. By that yardstick, I've moved over a million people from
welfare to work in the last three years.
[[Talk about "stubborn facts." Since Bill Clinton was
elected Governor in 1983, welfare rolls have increased by 19 [er
cent -- 13 percent faster than the national average; and food
stamp rolls are up 26 percent in the last three years alone.
My point isn't that Arkansas is one of the poorest states in the
country -- it's that Bill Clinton hasn't made it any better.
Under my opponent, in any given month the number of people on
welfare has soared from 60,000 to 75,000.]]
In contrast, you and I are working with Governor Thompson on
real reform. I'm impressed by how in the first six months of
Children First, child support collection for those in the program
soared 28 percent in Fond du Lac County and 145 percent in Racine
County. I salute Governor Thompson -- a true reform pioneer --
and look forward to the program starting up in seven other
counties. For their part, I challenge other States to follow
Wisconsin's lead.
Now for our part. Today I am proud to announce a Federal
comprehensive child support enforcement strategy to complement
state efforts. Its goal: To see that absent parents pay child
support -- no matter where they live.
Our initiative is called Project KIDS. It will help change
the child support system -- and help that system change America.
Our plan requires withholding salaries from absent parents /
7
will help track down absent parents -- especially when they
change jobs / and hit delinquent parents by making their payments
tax liabilities. We will require all States to recognize and
enforce other States' child support orders / make more absent
parents pay kids' health care / and make non-paying parents
ineligible for many Federal benefits.
If you want more, try this.
No payment -- no passport. Forget that skiing in
Switzerland -- or yachting in Belize.
No payment -- no new professional licenses. If you're not
paying, you won't even keep your existing license.
No payment -- no loans. Dead-beat parents won't qualify for
FHA home loans, guaranteed student loans, or any other Federal
loan guarantee. And to those who talk of glass houses and
throwing stones -- think again: Our initiative makes the Federal
government a model employer. We will require up-to-date employer
records and immediate payroll withholding.
And this week, I expect to sign a bill sponsored by my
friend Henry Hyde that will make it a crime for a father to
intentionally avoid paying child support by crossing state lines.
Some will call these steps Draconian. I say: They are
meant to be.
Dead-beat parents should know that they can run, but they
can't hide. If they don't meet their responsibility to provide
spousal and child support -- we'll make sure they do.
8
We're setting ambitious goals -- but we must reach them, and
we will. / For only tough policies can confront child neglect /
child abandonment / nonpayment of spousal support -- problems
that hurt our families and the Family called America.
Let's remember that child support is crucial to help all
kids develop -- especially crucial to those in broken families.
I mean to protect those who need it most. As you in
Wisconsin are -- as the rest of America must. Thank you for your
example to the Nation. Please join me with Project KIDS. And
may God bless the United States of America.
# # # #
From R. Porter
Child Support
Rec'd
September 29, 1992
30
pm.
1.
Makes failure to meet child support obligations a Federal
crime if:
The non-custodial parent intentionally leaves the
State to avoid child support payments, or
The non-custodial parent has been delinquent for more
than one year or owes more than $5,000 on their child
support payments for a child living in another State.
2.
Requires States to honor child support orders entered in
other States and to enforce them as if such orders were
issued in that State.
3.
Allows a court to require full payment of child suipport
obligations as a condition for probation or supervised
release from Federal prison.
4.
Provides legal assistance to mothers who need help
collecting child support payments. Legal organizations
receiving funding from the Legal Services Corporation must
devote not less than ten percent of their services to
assisting eligible mothers who need legal help to collect
past due child support payments.
5.
Make non-paying parents ineligible for all Federal
benefits.
6.
Improving access to existing records to track down absent
parents, and to tracking down non-custodial parents when
they change jobs.
7.
Delinquent parents could not qualify for FHA home loans,
guaranteed student loans, or any other Federal loan
guarantee.
8.
Federal Government as a model employer by requiring up-
to-date employer records and immediate payroll
withholding. ??
Curt- These are the 8 key points-
We need to make cloar
the districtions between federal
state anthority.
353062SS
Document No.
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
9/28/92
92 SEP 29 P12: 49
NOON, TUES., SEPT.
DATE:
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY:
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS:
WELFARE REFORM
FOND DU LAC, WISCONSIN
SUBJECT:
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 1992
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
MCBRIDE
BAKER
MOORE
SCOWCROFT
MULLINS
DARMAN
PETERSMEYER
BATES
PORTER
BRADY
PROVOST
BROMLEY
ROSS
CALIO
SMITH
DEMAREST
TUTWILER
FITZWATER
ZOELLICK
GRAY
KAUFMAN
GROOMES
HOLIDAY
HORNER
MCGROARTY
REMARKS:
Please provide comments on the attached directly
to Dan McGroarty, Rm. 122, x2930, with a copy to
this office NO LATER THAN NOON, TOMORROW, TUESDAY,
SEPTEMBER 29. Thank you.
RESPONSE:
PHILLIP D. BRADY
Assistant to the President
and Staff Secretary
Ext. 2702
(Smith/Aarhus)
Draft Two
September 28, 1992
P5: 34
REFORM
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: WELFARE REFORM
FOND DU LAC, WISCONSIN
WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 30, 1992
Thank you for that introduction. It's great to be here in
Fond du Lac. Earlier today I asked Barbara if she had any ideas
about how I could be a big hit in Wisconsin. She said: "Maybe
you could borrow Robin Yount's bat. " //
Actually, I have something in common with your baseball
team. We're both in a tough race. If Phil Garner has any
suggestions for me, I'm all ears. Meanwhile, my best to the Team
That's Made Milwaukee Famous. //
Over the last 3 and 1/2 years, America has helped win the
THE
e
peace abroad. X wall falls in Berlin. From Panama to Kuwait,
those enslaved are now free. Imperial Communism is not only E-
V-I-L. It is D-E-A-D. The Cold War is over -- and America won.
Today, I want to talk about winning the peace at home -- in
our streets, and homes. It's a task crucial to the future of
America: Defending civility through our system of law.
Twelve hundred and three days ago -- June 15, 1989 -- the
same day Gorbachev first said the Berlin Wall might come down --
EXTENDED my
I sent a Comprehensive Crime Bill to Capital Hill. I offered the
hand of partnership to Congress. I said: We must reject those
who soft-pedal the need to be hard on crime. //
2
DECAMED AND
For twelve hundred and three days Congress has fiddled while
DELIBERATED
AND WHILE THE COUNTRY WAITED FOR CONGRESS
violent crime burned. Here's what's happened while it slept like
TO ACT WE HAVE WITNESSED:
Rip Van Winkle. Across America: Almost 60,000 murders / 260,000
rapes / 1,600,000 robberies / and 2,600,000 assaults. Nearly
46,000 of these crimes occurred in Wisconsin since I sent our
Comprehensive Bill to Congress -- 3 in Fond du Lac alone.
-
NS
People here are like the rest of Americal. They are tired of
talk -- and sick of delay. They see kids scared to cross town
and visit friends -- the elderly afraid to go out at night for
food. They want a government that prevents and punishes crime -
- and that helps the victim.
They want action -- and they want it now. //
Violent crime is defined as murder, forcible rape, robbery,
CRIME
HURT PEOPLE WITHOUT INJURYING
aggravated assault. Yet violence can be indirect as well as
THEM PHYSICALLY.
direct. / Witness our child support system that allows dead-
beat parents to flee responsibility. We don't always think of
this as a crime -- but it is. It does violence to the innocent -
- and it's got to stop. //
We need a child support system that helps kids develop --
not traps them in poverty. We also need to recognize that when
the system allows parents to short-change their kids -- it's time
to change the system. //
Consider the single mother here in Wisconsin struggling to
MODEST
keep the kids fed and clothed on her small salary. Meantime, her
husband's over in Detroit, picking out a new Corvette with all
the trimmings. He could be a year -- or a decade -- behind in
3
HE CAN'T BE FORCED TO PAY
child support. Doesn't matter. No one can touch him because
he's over state lines.
That's wrong -- and I think it's time the long arm of the
law reaches over that state line
...
taps that deadbeat dad on
the
shoulder
and says loud and clear: Time to pay up, buddy.
Cough up the cash, or we'll send you to the slammer.
State, Federal, or local level -- our policies should first
help families stick together. If that's not possible -- and
today, sadly, it's often not -- our policies should at least make
ARE MADE IN FULL AND ON TIME.
sure support payments stick around: //
That's why for the first time in history eight Cabinet
members OFFICERS have joined to fight maltreatment of kids. Secretary
THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Sullivan has reorganized HIIS to improve child welfare and
adoption. We have convinced Congress to pass the largest child
care LEGISLATION program ever, and $18 billion in tax credits for low-income
working families. And we've more than doubled funding for the
Head Start program. //
ALL FAMILIES.
These steps will aid both traditional and broken families
no matter. Kids are kids: All are people to be loved -- not
pawns to be discarded. // That's why we've also acted to make it
easier for States with creative reforms to get the Federal
waivers they need. I am proud that Wisconsin was the first State
to ask for such a waiver -- and that we quickly granted it. I'm
even more pleased that Wisconsin's new plans -- and new ideas --
have produced a new welfare result: Success. //
4
WHICH HAD
In 1990, Wisconsin was the only State to see its welfare
NOT
caseload drop. Here's a statistic even Ripley would disbelieve.
In the last four years, these programs have helped some 60,000
FIND WORK AND GET off THE WELFARE ROLLS.
people leave welfare for work. A little while ago I met several
families helped by your Children First program -- a pilot project
which lets a judge require a dead-beat dad to join the workfare
program or be forced to pay child support. //
Has Children First worked? Has it ever. In its first six
months, child support support collection soared 28 percent in
Fond du Lac County and 145 percent in Racine County. I salute
Governor Thompson -- a true reform pioneer -- and look forward to
STARTING UP IN
the program soon coming to seven other counties. For their part,
I challenge other States to follow Wisconsin's lead.
COMPREHENSIVE
Now for our part. I am proud to announce today a Federal
comprehensive child support enforcement strategy to complement
state efforts. Its goal: To see that absent parents pay child
support -- no matter where they live.
Our initiative is called Project KIDS. It will help change
the child support system -- and help that system change America.
SINCE 1988 WE HAVE MADE REAL PROGRESS. WE HAVE INCREASED BY
Already our Administration has located L 50 percent more of the
key
IDENTIPYING THE
fathers of the kids of single mothers / increased, the cases of
INCREASED
child support collections by 37 percent -- and annual state
ENFORCEMENT collections by $2.3 billion. Our new plan will build on those
PROMISING
beginnings.
Our plan requires withholding salaries from absent parents
WE
EXPAND OUR EFFORTS TO
<will/ will help track down absent parents especially dead beat dads
5
when they change jobs. / and hit delinquent parents by making
WE
their payments tax liabilities,
It will require all States to
recognize and enforce other States' child support orders. / order
WE WILL
absent parents to pay kids health care / and make non-paying
parents ineligible for all Federal benefits.
Want more? Try this.
No payment -- no passport. Forget that skiing in
Switzerland -- or yachting in Belize.
factual
No payment -- no new professional licenses Dead beat dads
we're even going after existing licenses /
No payment -- no loans. Dead-beat dads -- you won't qualify
for FHA home loans, guaranteed student loans, or any other
Federal loan guarantee. And to those who talk of glass houses
and throwing stones -- think again: Our initiative makes the
Federal government a model employer. We will require up-to-date
employer records and immediate payroll withholding.
Some will call these steps Draconian. I say: Thank God. /
Recall how fathers were absent from 10 million families in
1989 -- how today only half of absent parents are ordered to pay
child support -- and those required to pay, only half did on time AND
in full. /
Think of how only one in eight absent parents cover kids'
CARE EXPENSES
health needs -- how they skip payments by skipping town. / And
remember the $5 billion in court-ordered child support which
fails to reach families each year. Friends: Enough is enough.
6
Dead-beat dads should know that they can run, but they can't
hide. If they don't meet their responsibility to provide spousal
and child support -- we'll make sure they do.
AGE
By 1996, Project KIDS aims to boost the percent of absent
parents who pay child support from 50 to 75 / lift the percent of
full collections from 50 to 75, and health coverage of absent
parents from 1 in 8 to 1 in 2 / and at least double the NUMBER of
praternities we establish for kids born to single mothers. / /
must
These are ambitious goals -- but we have to reach them, and
we will. / For only tough policies that defend children can make
family values real. Child neglect / child abandonment / spousal
HURT
nonpayment and support -- all these meck American families and
main the Family called America.
Abandoned child or deserted mother. How different are they
from those who are looted / assaulted / pillaged / burned? Each
is a victim. Each stands vulnerable, and alone.
Yes, let's help kids from traditional families. Let's also
remember that child support is crucial to help kids develop even
in broken families. I mean to protect those who need it most.
As you in Wisconsin are -- as the rest of America must. Thank
you for your example to the Nation. Please join me with Project
KIDS. And may God bless the United States of America.
#
#
#
#
7272
353062SS
Document No.
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
9/28/92
92 SEP 29 P2. 16
DATE:
NOON, TUES., SEPT. 29
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY:
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: WELFARE REFORM
FOND DU LAC, WISCONSIN
SUBJECT:
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 1992
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
MCBRIDE
BAKER
MOORE
SCOWCROFT
MULLINS
DARMAN
PETERSMEYER
BATES
PORTER
BRADY
PROVOST
BROMLEY
ROSS
CALIO
SMITH
DEMAREST
TUTWILER
FITZWATER
ZOELLICK
GRAY
KAUFMAN
GROOMES
HOLIDAY
HORNER
MCGROARTY
REMARKS:
Please provide comments on the attached directly
to Dan McGroarty, Rm. 122, x2930, with a copy to
this office NO LATER THAN NOON, TOMORROW, TUESDAY,
SEPTEMBER 29. Thank you.
RESPONSE:
TO: DANIEL B. MCGROARTY
September 29, 1992
The NSC staff has reviewed the above-referenced matter and PHILLIP D. BRADY
has no objection to the Presidential remarks, subject to Assistant to the President
the changes noted.
Brent Scowcroft
and Staff Secretary
Ext. 2702
CC: Phillip D. Brady
(Smith/Aarhus)
Draft Two
September 28, 1992
2 SEP 28 P5: 34
REFORM
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS:
WELFARE REFORM
FOND DU LAC, WISCONSIN
WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 30, 1992
Thank you for that introduction. It's great to be here in
Fond du Lac. Earlier today I asked Barbara if she had any ideas
about how I could be a big hit in Wisconsin. She said: "Maybe
you could borrow Robin Yount's bat." //
Actually, I have something in common with your baseball
team. We're both in a tough race. If Phil Garner has any
suggestions for me, I'm all ears. Meanwhile, my best to the Team
That's Made Milwaukee Famous. //
Over the last 3 and 1/2 years, America has helped win the
peace abroad. A wall falls in Berlin. From Panama to Kuwait,
those enslaved are now free. Imperial Communism is not only E+
V-I-L. It is D-E-A-D. The Cold War is over -- and America won.
Today, I want to talk about winning the peace at home -- in
our streets, and homes. It's a task crucial to the future of
America: Defending civility through our system of law.
Twelve hundred and three days ago -- June 15, 1989 -- the
same day Gorbachev first said the Berlin Wall might come down --
I sent a Comprehensive Crime Bill to Capital Hill. I offered the
hand of partnership to Congress. I said: We must reject those
who soft-pedal the need to be hard on crime. //
2
For twelve hundred and three days Congress has fiddled while
on
violent crime burned Here's what's happened while it slept like
Rip Van Winkle. Across America: Almost 60,000 murders / 260,000
rapes / 1,600,000 robberies / and 2,600,000 assaults. Nearly
46,000 of these crimes occurred in Wisconsin since I sent our
Comprehensive Bill to Congress -- 3 - in Fond du Lac alone.
People here are like the rest of America. They are tired of
talk -- and sick of delay. They see kids scared to cross town
and visit friends -- the elderly afraid to go out at night for
food. They want a government that prevents and punishes crime -
- and that helps the victim.
They want action -- and they want it now. //
Violent crime is defined as murder, forcible rape, robbery,
aggravated assault. Yet violence can be indirect -- as well as
direct. / Witness our child support system that allows dead-
beat parents to flee responsibility. We don't always think of
this as a crime -- but it is. It does violence to the innocent -
- and it's got to stop. //
We need a child support system that helps kids develop --
not traps them in poverty. We also need to recognize that when
the system allows parents to short-change their kids -- it's time
to change the system. //
Consider the single mother here in Wisconsin struggling to
keep the kids fed and clothed on her small salary. Meantime, her
husband's over in Detroit, picking out a new Corvette with all
the trimmings. He could be a year -- or a decade -- behind in
3
child support. Doesn't matter. No one can touch him because
he's over state lines.
That's wrong -- and I think it's time the long arm of the
law reaches over that state line
taps that deadbeat dad on
the shoulder
and says loud and clear: Time to pay up, buddy.
Cough up the cash, or we'll send you to the slammer.
State, Federal, or local level -- our policies should first
help families stick together. If that's not possible -- and
today, sadly, it's often not -- our policies should at least make
sure support payments stick around. //
nameing
That's why for the first time in history eight Cabinet
members have joined to fight maltreatment of kids.
Secretary
Sullivan has reorganized HHS to improve child welfare and
adoption. We have convinced Congress to pass the largest child
care program ever, and $18 billion in tax credits for low-income
working families. And we've more than doubled funding for the
Head Start program. / /
These steps will aid both traditional and broken families -
- no matter. Kids are kids: All are people to be loved -- not
pawns to be discarded. // That's why we've also acted to make it
easier for States with creative reforms to get the Federal
waivers they need. I am proud that Wisconsin was the first State
to ask for such a waiver -- and that we quickly granted it. I'm
even more pleased that Wisconsin's new plans -- and new ideas --
have produced a new welfare result: Success. //
4
In 1990, Wisconsin was the only State to see its welfare
caseload drop. Here's a statistic even Ripley would disbelieve.
In the last four years, these programs have helped some 60,000
people leave welfare for work. A little while ago I met several
families helped by your Children First program -- a pilot project
which lets a judge require a dead-beat dad to join the workfare
program or be forced to pay child support. //
Has Children First worked? Has it ever. In its first six
months, child support support collection soared 28 percent in
Fond du Lac County and 145 percent in Racine County. I salute
Governor Thompson -- a true reform pioneer -- and look forward to
the program soon coming to seven other counties. For their part,
I challenge other States to follow Wisconsin's lead.
Now for our part. I am proud to announce today a Federal
comprehensive child support enforcement strategy to complement
state efforts. Its goal: To see that absent parents pay child
support -- no matter where they live.
Our initiative is called Project KIDS. It will help change
the child support system -- and help that system change America.
Already our Administration has located 50 percent more of the
fathers of the kids of single mothers / increased the cases of
child support collections by 37 percent -- and annual state
collections by $2.3 billion. Our new plan will build on those
beginnings.
Our plan requires withholding salaries from absent parents /
will help track down absent parents -- especially dead-beat dads
5
when they change jobs / and hit delinquent parents by making
their payments tax liabilities. It will require all States to
recognize and enforce other States' child support orders / order
absent parents to pay kids' health care / and make non-paying
parents ineligible for all Federal benefits.
Want more? Try this.
No payment -- no passport. Forget that skiing in
Switzerland -- or yachting in Belize.
No payment -- no new professional licenses. Dead-beat dads
-- we're even going after existing licenses. /
No payment -- no loans. Dead-beat dads -- you won't qualify
for FHA home loans, guaranteed student loans, or any other
Federal loan guarantee. And to those who talk of glass houses
and throwing stones -- think again: Our initiative makes the
Federal government a model employer. We will require up-to-date
employer records and immediate payroll withholding.
Some will call these steps Draconian. I say: Thank God. /
Recall how fathers were absent from 10 million families in
1989 -- how today only half of absent parents are ordered to pay
child support -- and those required to pay, only half did on time
in full. /
Think of how only one in eight absent parents cover kids'
health needs -- how they skip payments by skipping town. / And
remember the $5 billion in court-ordered child support which
fails to reach families each year. Friends: Enough is enough.
6
Dead-beat dads should know that they can run, but they can't
hide. If they don't meet their responsibility to provide spousal
and child support -- we'll make sure they do.
By 1996, Project KIDS aims to boost the percent of absent
parents who pay child support from 50 to 75 / lift the percent of
full collections from 50 to 75, and health coverage of absent
parents from 1 in 8 to 1 in 2 / and at least double the
praternities we establish for kids born to single mothers. //
These are ambitious goals -- but we have to reach them, and
we will. / For only tough policies that defend children can make
family values real. Child neglect / child abandonment / spousal
nonpayment and support -- all these mock American families and
maim the Family called America.
Abandoned child or deserted mother. How different are they
from those who are looted / assaulted / pillaged / burned? Each
is a victim. Each stands vulnerable, and alone.
Yes, let's help kids from traditional families. Let's also
remember that child support is crucial to help kids develop even
in broken families. I mean to protect those who need it most.
As you in Wisconsin are -- as the rest of America must. Thank
you for your example to the Nation. Please join me with Project
KIDS. And may God bless the United States of America.
#
#
#
#
353062SS
Document No.
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
9/28/92
92 SEP 29 P3: 0<
DATE:
NOON, TUES., SEPT. 28
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY:
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: WELFARE REFORM
FOND DU LAC, WISCONSIN
SUBJECT:
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 1992
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
MCBRIDE
BAKER
MOORE
SCOWCROFT
MULLINS
DARMAN
PETERSMEYER
BATES
PORTER
BRADY
PROVOST
BROMLEY
ROSS
CALIO
SMITH
DEMAREST
TUTWILER
FITZWATER
ZOELLICK
GRAY
KAUFMAN
HOLIDAY
GROOMES
HORNER
MCGROARTY
REMARKS:
Please provide comments on the attached directly
to Dan McGroarty, Rm. 122, x2930, with a copy to
this office NO LATER THAN NOON, TOMORROW, TUESDAY,
SEPTEMBER 29. Thank you.
RESPONSE: See comments and Justice attachment.
FIS 09/29 Paul K.
PHILLIP D. BRADY
Assistant to the President
7ps/3
and Staff Secretary
Ext. 2702
SEP-29-1992 01:46 FROM DEP SEC HHS
TO
94561605 P.01
SEF-28-1992 05:57 FROM DEP SEC HHS
TO
94014578 P.04
SENT 5Y:Xerox Telscopier 7028 1 0-20-02 : 6:50PM :
OPO-
989877551# 2
(Suith/Aarbus)
Draft Two
september ss, 1992
SEP 28 P5: 34
REFORE
PRESIDENTIAL KENARKS: WELFARE REPORT
FORMS BE LAC, WISCONSIN
WHINESSDAY, 197. 35, 1993
Thank you for that introduction. It's great to be here in
Fond du Leg. Barlier today I asked Barbare is she mad any 1deas
about how I could be a big hit in Wisconsin. the said: "Maybe
you could berrow Romin Yount's BEE." 11
Actually, I have something is DONBER with your baseball
team. We're notti in 8 tough rece. If Pail Garner has any
suggestions for me, I'm all care. Meambile, By best - the Your
That's Made Hilwaukee Famous, "
over the last 3 and 1/2 years, America has helped vin the
passa abroad. A wall falls in Marlin. From Panana to nait,
those enslaved are DOV free. Imparial Commission is not only I
V-I-L. It is D-N-A-D. the cole was is over - and
Today, I want to talk about winning the psace at home - in
our streets, and home. It's = task crudial to the future of
America: Defending civility through our system of lav.
Twelve hundred and three days ago -- June 15, 1989 - the
saze day gorbachev first said the Barlin Wall wight ase deen -
I sent s comprehensive Crime Bill to Capital Mill. $ offered the
nand of partnership to Compress. I said: We must reject these
who mattenadal the need to be hard so arim. 11
SEP-29-1992 01:46 FROM DEP SEC HHS
TO
94561605 P.02
00.00
FRUIT
SEC.
UTTILE
IU
0301100
SEP-28-1992 25:57 FROM DEP SEC HHS
TO
94014678 P.05
SENT BY:Xerox Tolecopier TOZO 1 8-28-02 : S:31PM 1
OPD-
85607795:8 8
2
For twelve hundred and three days Congress has fiddled while
violent crime burned. Bers's stat's happened while it slept like
Rip Van winkle. Across America: Almost 60,000 nurders / 260,000
rapes / 1,600,000 rebbaries / and 2,600,000 sexaults. Nearly
46,000 of these crimes cocurred in Wissonsin since I sent sur
Comprehensive Bill to Congress - - in Fend 4a Las alame.
People here are like the rest of imarica, they are tired of
talk - and sick of delay. They ⑉ kide scared to gross town
and visit friends - the olderly straid to TO out st night for
food. They vant a government that prevents and puxishes urine -
- and that helps the viotin.
They vent action - and they went 11
Viclent grime is defined as nurder, forcible rape, rebbery,
aggrevated assoult, Yet violance can B indirent - - well "
direct. / Witness our child support system that allows dead-
heat parents to flse responsibility. No don't always think of
this as a urine - but is is. It does vislance to the insecent -
- and it's not to stop. 11
We need & child support system that helps kids develop -
not traps them in poverty. We also need to recognise that when
the avates allows parents to short-change their kids - Lets time
to change the avatom. 11
consider the single mother here in Wisceasin straggling to
xevy the kide tea and elethed on her small salary. Meantine, has
husband's over in Detroit, picking ost e new Cerrette with all
the trimmings. Be could be a year - or B checke - behind in
SEP-29-1992 01:47 FROM DEP SEC HHS
TO
SEP-29-1992 00:11 FROM ACF/ASST. SEC. OFFICE
94561605 P.03
TO
6907755 P.84
SEP-28-1992 05158 FROM DEP SEC HHS
TO
SENT BY:Xprox Telecopier 7020 1 8-28-02 ; B151PM i
94814678 P.86
OPD-
4
a Too often he is not
onild support. Doesn't matter. als because
bale over state lines.
That's consistently vzong - and I think it's time the Long are of the
law over that state line ... tape that desibeat dad on
the shoulder and says loud and clear: Time to pay up, buddy.
deach stawner.
State, Federal, or local level -- our policies should first
help families stick together. If that's not possible -- and
today, sadly, it's often not - our policies should at least Bake
sure support payments tick sround. #
reward thin
That's vhy for the first time in history signt Cabinet ,
thesip
nembers have joined to fight maltreatment of Ride. Secretary
muddled
Sullivan bas recryanised THE to improve child velfare and
anunduaf
adoption. We have convinent Congrass to pass the Juryook akild
diffect
care program ever, and $18 billion in tax credits for low-income
TRUES Hows.
as relating
working families. And we've more than doubled funding for the
+ children.
Head start program. "
it the is littin
shows much and
These steps will aid both traditional and broken families .
the shewse ~
was in about
makea
- no matter. Kids are kids: All are people to be lared - not
what the Present
pawns to be discerded. 11 That's vity we've also action to make it
4v children It. done the
liter recerming
easier for States with creative reforms to get the Federal
cheven supporting
veivers they need. I as proof that wisconsin was the first state
to ask for such a waiver - and that V8 quickly granted it. I'm
even yers pleased that Wisconsin's
previous new plans reform effects. sprined by the
and
TRUE
Regcan-Br
have produced annew welfere result: success. 11
administ
SEP-29-1992 01:47 FROM DEP SEC HHS
TO
94561605
P.04
SEP-28-1992 05:58 FROM DEP SEC HHS
TO
94014678 P.07
SENT BY:Xerex Teleeepier 9020 : HH2 $ 5:52PM 1
OPD->
1080775510 5
This program puallels a
Federal $ publice-
4
private That Parents Fin
IS 1990, Wiscomsin was the only state to ⑉ its walfare administration
shave initiated by my
in F
serviced drop. Here's a ststistic even Ripley vould disbelieve
Don't
sites
know this
In the last your years, there programs have helped nose 60,000
and
the
+
people leave welfare for work. A líttle while ago I net several
country
count confusion
fumilies helped by your Children First program - 8 pilot project
which late 8 judge, require n dead-boat dad to join the verifers
7 of que
program or units support.
Has Children First worked? Has it over. In its first aix
Fa the in the nonon
menths, child support support cellection, soared 26 parsent in
Fond du Lac county and 145 percent in Racine County. I salute
Governor Thoupson - & true reform pioneur - and 100k forward DO
the program BOURS coming to seven other counties. Pur their part,
I challenge other States to fellow Wisconsin's lead.
KW for sex part. I ⑉ proud to REDUCTION today . Federal
comprehensive child support enforcement strategy to
state efforts, Its goal: 70 ⑉ that about parents pay child
support - netter where they live.
our initiative is called Project EIDS. It will haly change
the child evetem - and help that system change America.
Senie took THE in January 1989, our consideration has
located 50 percent more of the
fathers of the kids of single mothers / increased the cases # with
child support collections by 37 persent - and - annual state increased
collections by $2.3 billion. our new plan will build on those
beginnings. expends the requirement to ?
our plan requires withholding selaries from absent purmite /
will help track can abount parents - especially dead-boat dada
SEP-29-1992 01:48 FROM DEP SEC HHS
TO
94561605 P.05
SEP-29-1992 00:13 FROM ACF/RSST. SEC. OFFICE
TO
6907755
P.00
SEP-20-1992 05:59 FROM DEP SEC HHS
TO
94014678 P.08
SENT BY:Xerox Telecopier TO20 ; 0-20-02 i 5:55PM ;
OPD-
6
5
when they change jobs / and nit delinquent parents by making
their payments tax liabilities. It will require all states to
sheedy
recognize and enforce state states' shild support orders / wher
?
absent parents to pay kids' health care 1 and make non-paying
parents inaligible for all Federal benefits.
want more? Try this.
No savant - no managerk. Forget that sking in
sviteariand - or yachting in Balize.
No payment - no new professional licenses, Dead=beat dais
- ve're even voing after suisting licenses,
/
the payment -- no loans. Dead-beat dada - you wer's qualify
for 7ML home loans, quaranteed student leans, = any other
Federal loan guarantee. and to these who talk of glass houses
and throwing stones - think again: our initiative makes the
Federal government a model employer. We will require up-to-date
employer records and imediate payroll withholding.
- will call these stops Dreamian, I say: Thank and. /
Recall how fathers were absent from 10 million fumilies in
"less
98
58%
than
1996 -- DOW today only half of abount parents are ordered to pay
three-
fifths"
?
child support - and those required to pay, only half did on time
in full, /
waver
Think of how only one in eight about parents cover riss'
health needs - how they skip payments by skipping town. 1 And
remember the $5 billion in court=ordered shild support which
fails to reach families sech year. Friends:
to medical cansus date it
accading 4006 Suppure actually made filest and
SEP-29-1992 01:48 FROM DEP SEC HHS
TO
94561605 P.06
SEP-28-1992 05:59 FROM DEP SEC HHS
TO
94014678 P.09
SENT. BY:Xerox Telecopier 7020 i 0-20-02 i 6:54PM ;
OPD-
7
€
pead-beat dads should know that they can run, yes they car't
hide. If they don't neet their responsibility to provide spouse).
and child support -- wall there
by 1996, Project KIDS aims to boost the percent of abount
are adexto
parents who pay onlid support from so to 75 / lift the percent of
full cellections from 50 to 75, and health coverage of about
nothing
parents from 1 in 8 to 1 in 2 / and at least double the
iverch
#uternities ve establish for kids born to single mothers. 11
shills
These are ambitious goals - but TO have to reach them, and
although an and next
wavill. / For only tough policies that defend children OKR make
ramily values real. Child neglect / child abandoment / speasel
nempayment and support - all these work American families and
min the Family called America.
during the
Abundoned child or deserted mother. Bow different are they
alumishe
from those who are losted / assecised / Dillaged / Burned? Each
is B vistin. mah stants vulnarable, and alone.
Yes, laby tenditions Let's
into
remember that child support is crucial to help kids develop
producted adults
I Bean to protect those who need it most.
As you in Wisconsin as - " the rest of America make Thank
you for your example to the Nation. Please join 20 with Project
KIDS. And may God bless the United States of America.
#
,
#
09/29/92
13:48
202 514 0468
ATTORNEY GENERAL WHITE HOUSE/OCA
002
Office of the Attorney General
OMA
REQUITURE
Washington, D. C. 20530
September 29, 1992
TO:
Paul Korfonta
FROM:
Julie E. Samuels
Assistant to the JS Attorney General
SUBJECT: Comments on Presidential Remarks: Welfare Reform, Fond
du Lac, Wisconsin
We have several comments on the proposed Presidential
remarks. For your information, the section on Child Support
Enforcement in the proposed crime bill has three elements:
creating a new federal crime; requiring interstate enforcement of
child support orders; and providing legal assistance through
Legal Services Corporation earmarking. Earlier versions of the
proposed legislation included withholding of certain federal
benefits, but the final version does not.
1. p.3, first line. The sentence beginning, "No one can touch
him..." is overstated. We recommend changing the sentence
to read:
"It's difficult, and sometimes impossible, to touch him
because he's over state lines."
2.
p.3, first full paragraph. A conforming change would revise
this to read, "That's wrong -- and I think it's time the
long arm of the law can easily reach over that state line
3.
We defer to HHS and others on most of the text. We are
unfamiliar with the federal comprehensive child support
enforcement strategy, Project KIDS, described on pages 4-6.
Is there new legislation proposed?
4.
pp.4-5. We do wonder about the description of withholding
benefits from non-paying parents. Since this is no longer
included in the crime bill, we are uncertain whether this is
accurate; you need to verify this elsewhere. Moreover, in
any system, we question whether non-paying parents can, or
should, be made ineligible for "all" Federal benefits.
Please call me if you have any questions.
- MASTER -
(Smith/Aarhus)
Draft Two
September 28, 1992
REFORM
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: WELFARE REFORM
FOND DU LAC, WISCONSIN
WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 30, 1992
Thank you for that introduction. It's great to be here in
Fond du Lac. Earlier today I asked Barbara if she had any ideas
about how I could be a big hit in Wisconsin. She said: "Maybe
you could borrow Robin Yount's bat. " //
Actually, I have something in common with your baseball
team. We're both in a tough race. If Phil Garner has any
suggestions for me, I'm all ears. Meanwhile, my best to the Team
That's Made Milwaukee Famous. //
Over the last 3 and 1/2 years, America has helped win the
The
fell Parter
peace abroad. A wall falls in Berlin. From Panama to Kuwait,
those enslaved are now free. Imperial Communism is not only E-
V-I-L. It is D-E-A-D. The Cold War is over -- and America won.
Today, I want to talk about winning the peace at home -- in
our streets, and homes. It's a task crucial to the future of
America: Defending civility through our system of law.
Twelve hundred and three days ago -- June 15, 1989 -- the
same day Gorbachev first said the Berlin Wall might come down --
Capitol Cray Parter extended my
Parter
I sent a Comprehensive Crime Bill to Capital Hill. I offered the
in
Rrter
hand of partnership to Congress. I said: We must reject those
who soft-pedal the need to be hard on crime. //
2
delayed and
For twelve hundred and three days Congress has fiddled while
deliberated (Porter And while the country waited for congress
violent crime burned. Here's what's happened while it slept like
to act we have witnersed: Porter
Rip Van Winkle. Across America: Almost 60,000 murders / 260,000
rapes / 1,600,000 robberies / and 2,600,000 assaults. Nearly
46,000 of these crimes occurred in Wisconsin since I sent our
Comprehensive Bill to Congress -- 3 in Fond du Lac alone.
-
Americans Porter
People here are like the rest of America. They are tired of
talk -- and sick of delay. They see kids scared to cross town
and visit friends -- the elderly afraid to go out at night for
food. They want a government that prevents and punishes crime -
- and that helps the victim.
They want action -- and they want it now. //
Violent crime is defined as murder, forcible rape, robbery,
crime
hurt people without injurying
aggravated assault Yet violence can be indirect -- as well as
them physically (Porter)
direct. / Witness our child support system that allows dead-
beat parents to flee responsibility. We don't always think of
this as a crime -- but it is. It does violence to the innocent -
- and it's got to stop. //
We need a child support system that helps kids develop --
not traps them in poverty. We also need to recognize that when
the system allows parents to short-change their kids -- it's time
to change the system. //
Consider the single mother here in Wisconsin struggling to
modest Porter
Yes
keep the kids fed and clothed on her small salary. Meantime, her
husband's over in Detroit, picking out a new Corvette with all
the trimmings. He could be a year -- or a decade -- behind in
3
He can't be forced to pay
Porter
child support. Doesn't matter. No one can touch him because
he's over state lines.
That's wrong -- and I think it's time the long arm of the
law reaches over that state line
taps that deadbeat dad on
the shoulder and says loud and clear: Time to pay up, buddy.
Cough up the cash, or we'll send you to the slammer.
State, Federal, or local level -- our policies should first
help families stick together. If that's not possible -- and
today, sadly, it's often not -- our policies should at least make
are made in full and on time.
sure support payments stick around. //
Porter
That's why for the first time in history eight Cabinet
officers Poster
members have joined to fight maltreatment of kids. Secretary
The Department of Health and Human Services Porter
Sullivan has reorganized/HHS to improve child welfare and
adoption. We have convinced Congress to pass the largest child
legislation Porter
care program ever, and $18 billion in tax credits for low-income
working families. And we've more than doubled funding for the
Head Start program. //
all families Porter
These steps will aid both traditional and broken families -
- no matter. Kids are kids: All are people to be loved -- not
pawns to be discarded. // That's why we've also acted to make it
welfare Gray
easier for States with creative/reforms to get the Federal
20
waivers they need. I am proud that Wisconsin was the first State
to ask for such a waiver -- and that we quickly granted it. I'm
even more pleased that Wisconsin's new plans -- and new ideas --
have produced a new welfare result: Success. //
4
which had Poster
13
In 1990, Wisconsin was the only State to see its welfare
not (Parter)
caseload drop. Here's a statistic even Ripley would disbelieve.
In the last four years, these programs have helped some 60,000
find work and get off the weltare rolls. Parter
people leave welfare for work. A little while ago I met several
families helped by your Children First program -- a pilot project
which lets a judge require a dead-beat dad to join the workfare
program or be forced to pay child support. //
Has Children First worked? Has it ever. In its first six
months, child support support collection soared 28 percent in
Fond du Lac County and 145 percent in Racine County. I salute
Governor Thompson -- a true reform pioneer -- and look forward to
yes
starting up in Porter
the program soon coming to seven other counties. For their part,
I challenge other States to follow Wisconsin's lead.
comprehensive
Parter
Now for our part. I am proud to announce today Federal
comprehensive child support enforcement strategy to complement
state efforts. Its goal: To see that absent parents pay child
support -- no matter where they live.
Our initiative is called Project KIDS. It will help change
the child support system -- and help that system change America.
Since 1988 we have made real progress. the we have increased by,
Porter
Already our Administration has located L50 percent more of the
indentifying fathers of the kids of single mothers Porter / increased the cases of
the
child support collections by 37 percent -- and annual state
enforcements collections by $2.3 billion. Our new plan will build on those
Porter
promising beginnings.
Parter
Our plan requires withholding salaries from absent parents /
expand our efforts to
Wewill/help track down absent parents -- especially dead-beat dads
Porter
5
when they change jobs / and hit delinquent parents by making
(Parter) we
their payments tax liabilities. It will require all States to
ste
recognize and enforce other States' child support orders / order
we will Porter
(male
absent parents to pay kids health care / and make non-paying more also
pay
parents ineligible for all Federal benefits.
las w
Want more? Try this.
many
Parter
No payment -- no passport. Forget that skiing in
Switzerland -- or yachting in Belize.
(doctor, lawyer,etc.)
Corry
No payment no new professional licenses. Dead beat dads
we re even going after existing licenses.
Parter
No payment -- no loans. Dead-beat dads -- you won't qualify
for FHA home loans, guaranteed student loans, or any other
Federal loan guarantee. And to those who talk of glass houses
and throwing stones -- think again: Our initiative makes the
Federal government a model employer. We will require up-to-date
employer records and immediate payroll withholding.
Some will call these steps Draconian. I say: Thank God. /
Recall how fathers were absent from 10 million families in
1989 -- how today only half of absent parents are ordered to pay
child support -- and those required to pay, only half did on time
in full. /
Think of how only one in eight absent parents cover kids'
fine
care expenses Purter
health needs -- how they skip payments by skipping town. / And
remember the $5 billion in court-ordered child support which
fails to reach families each year. Friends: Enough is enough.
6
Morter
Dead-beat dads should know that they can run, but they can't
hide. If they don't meet their responsibility to provide spousal
and child support -- we'll make sure they do.
percentage Gray Porter
By 1996, Project KIDS aims to boost the percent of absent
percentage
Gray
parents who pay child support from 50 to 75 / lift the percent of
full collections from 50 to 75, and health coverage of absent
parents from 1 in 8 to 1 in 2 / and at least double the number
of Porter
praternities we establish for kids born to single mothers. //
must Porter
These are ambitious goals -- but we have to reach them, and
we will. / For only tough policies that defend children can make
family values real. Child neglect / child abandonment / spousal
of spoused support Cray
hurt Parter
nonpayment and support -- all these mock American families and
maim the Family called America.
Abandoned child or deserted mother. How different are they
from those who are looted assaulted pillaged / burned? Each
is a victim. Each stands vulnerable, and alone.
Yes, let's help kids from traditional families. Let's also
remember that child support is crucial to help kids develop even
in broken families. I mean to protect those who need it most.
As you in Wisconsin are -- as the rest of America must. Thank
you for your example to the Nation. Please join me with Project
KIDS. And may God bless the United States of America.
#
#
#
#
353062SS
Document No.
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
9
9/28/92
DATE:
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY:
NOON, TUES., SEPT. 2$ 28
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: WELFARE REFORM
FOND DU LAC, WISCONSIN
SUBJECT:
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 1992
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
MCBRIDE
BAKER
MOORE
SCOWCROFT
MULLINS
DARMAN
PETERSMEYER
BATES
PORTER
BRADY
PROVOST
BROMLEY
ROSS
CALIO
SMITH
DEMAREST
TUTWILER
FITZWATER
ZOELLICK
GRAY
KAUFMAN
HOLIDAY
GROOMES
HORNER
MCGROARTY
REMARKS:
Please provide comments on the attached directly
to Dan McGroarty, Rm. 122, x2930, with a copy to
this office NO LATER THAN NOON, TOMORROW, TUESDAY,
SEPTEMBER 29. Thank you.
RESPONSE:
comments as noted calledinto
PHILLIP D. BRADY
Assistant to the President
Dan McGroarty 9/29/92 by javet Rehnquist x2898
and Staff Secretary
Ext. 2702
(Smith/Aarhus)
Draft Two
September 28, 1992
2 SEP 23 P5: 34
REFORM
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: WELFARE REFORM
FOND DU LAC, WISCONSIN
WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 30, 1992
Thank you for that introduction. It's great to be here in
Fond du Lac. Earlier today I asked Barbara if she had any ideas
about how I could be a big hit in Wisconsin. She said: "Maybe
you could borrow Robin Yount's bat. " //
Actually, I have something in common with your baseball
team. We're both in a tough race. If Phil Garner has any
suggestions for me, I'm all ears. Meanwhile, my best to the Team
That's Made Milwaukee Famous. //
Over the last 3 and 1/2 years, America has helped win the
peace abroad. A wall falls in Berlin. From Panama to Kuwait,
those enslaved are now free. Imperial Communism is not only E-
V-I-L. It is D-E-A-D. The Cold War is over -- and America won.
Today, I want to talk about winning the peace at home -- in
our streets, and homes. It's a task crucial to the future of
America: Defending civility through our system of law.
Twelve hundred and three days ago -- June 15, 1989 -- the
same day Gorbachev first said the Berlin Wall might come down --
0
I sent a Comprehensive Crime Bill to Capital Hill. I offered the
hand of partnership to Congress. I said: We must reject those
who soft-pedal the need to be hard on crime. //
2
For twelve hundred and three days Congress has fiddled while
violent crime burned. Here's what's happened while it slept like
Rip Van Winkle. Across America: Almost 60,000 murders / 260,000
rapes / 1,600,000 robberies / and 2,600,000 assaults. Nearly
46,000 of these crimes occurred in Wisconsin since I sent our
Comprehensive Bill to Congress -- 3 in Fond du Lac alone.
-
People here are like the rest of America. They are tired of
talk -- and sick of delay. They see kids scared to cross town
and visit friends -- the elderly afraid to go out at night for
food. They want a government that prevents and punishes crime -
- and that helps the victim.
They want action -- and they want it now. //
Violent crime is defined as murder, forcible rape, robbery,
aggravated assault. Yet violence can be indirect -- as well as
direct. / Witness our child support system that allows dead-
beat parents to flee responsibility. We don't always think of
this as a crime -- but it is. It does violence to the innocent -
- and it's got to stop. //
We need a child support system that helps kids develop --
not traps them in poverty. We also need to recognize that when
the system allows parents to short-change their kids -- it's time
to change the system. //
Consider the single mother here in Wisconsin struggling to
keep the kids fed and clothed on her small salary. Meantime, her
husband's over in Detroit, picking out a new Corvette with all
the trimmings. He could be a year -- or a decade -- behind in
3
child support. Doesn't matter. No one can touch him because
he's over state lines.
That's wrong -- and I think it's time the long arm of the
law reaches over that state line
taps that deadbeat dad on
the shoulder
and says loud and clear: Time to pay up, buddy.
Cough up the cash, or we'll send you to the slammer.
State, Federal, or local level -- our policies should first
help families stick together. If that's not possible -- and
today, sadly, it's often not -- our policies should at least make
sure support payments stick around. //
That's why for the first time in history eight Cabinet
members have joined to fight maltreatment of kids. Secretary
Sullivan has reorganized HHS to improve child welfare and
adoption. We have convinced Congress to pass the largest child
care program ever, and $18 billion in tax credits for low-income
working families. And we've more than doubled funding for the
Head Start program. //
These steps will aid both traditional and broken families -
- no matter. Kids are kids: All are people to be loved -- not
pawns to be discarded. // That's why we've also acted to make it
welfare
easier for States with creative reforms to get the Federal
^
waivers they need. I am proud that Wisconsin was the first State
to ask for such a waiver -- and that we quickly granted it. I'm
even more pleased that Wisconsin's new plans -- and new ideas --
have produced a new welfare result: Success. //
4
In 1990, Wisconsin was the only State to see its welfare
caseload drop. Here's a statistic even Ripley would disbelieve.
In the last four years, these programs have helped some 60,000
people leave welfare for work. A little while ago I met several
families helped by your Children First program -- a pilot project
which lets a judge require a dead-beat dad to join the workfare
program or be forced to pay child support. //
Has Children First worked? Has it ever. In its first six
months, child support support collection soared 28 percent in
Fond du Lac County and 145 percent in Racine County. I salute
Governor Thompson -- a true reform pioneer -- and look forward to
the program soon coming to seven other counties. For their part,
I challenge other States to follow Wisconsin's lead.
Now for our part. I am proud to announce today a Federal
comprehensive child support enforcement strategy to complement
state efforts. Its goal: To see that absent parents pay child
support -- no matter where they live.
Our initiative is called Project KIDS. It will help change
the child support system -- and help that system change America.
Already our Administration has located 50 percent more of the
fathers of the kids of single mothers / increased the cases of
child support collections by 37 percent -- and annual state
collections by $2.3 billion. Our new plan will build on those
beginnings.
Our plan requires withholding salaries from absent parents /
will help track down absent parents -- especially dead-beat dads
5
when they change jobs / and hit delinquent parents by making
their payments tax liabilities. It will require all States to
recognize and enforce other States' child support orders / order
absent parents to pay kids' health care / and make non-paying
parents ineligible for all Federal benefits.
Want more? Try this.
No payment -- no passport. Forget that skiing
Switzerland -- or yachting in Belize.
(doctor. in lanyer etc.)
No payment -- no new professional licenses. Dead-beat dads
-- we're even going after existing licenses. /
No payment -- no loans. Dead-beat dads -- you won't qualify
for FHA home loans, guaranteed student loans, or any other
Federal loan guarantee. And to those who talk of glass houses
and throwing stones -- think again: Our initiative makes the
Federal government a model employer. We will require up-to-date
employer records and immediate payroll withholding.
Some will call these steps Draconian. I say: Thank God. /
Recall how fathers were absent from 10 million families in
1989 -- how today only half of absent parents are ordered to pay
child support -- and those required to pay, only half did on time
in full. /
Think of how only one in eight absent parents cover kids'
health needs -- how they skip payments by skipping town. / And
remember the $5 billion in court-ordered child support which
fails to reach families each year. Friends: Enough is enough.
6
Dead-beat dads should know that they can run, but they can't
hide. If they don't meet their responsibility to provide spousal
and child support -- we'll make sure they do.
By 1996, Project KIDS aims to boost the percent age of absent
parents who pay child support from 50 to 75 / lift the percent age of
full collections from 50 to 75, and health coverage of absent
parents from 1 in 8 to 1 in 2 / and at least double the
praternities we establish for kids born to single mothers. //
These are ambitious goals -- but we have to reach them, and
we will. / For only tough policies that defend children can make
family values real. Child neglect / child abandonment / spousal
8 sponsal
nonpayment and support -- all these mock American families and
maim the Family called America.
Abandoned child or deserted mother. How different are they
from those who are looted / assaulted / pillaged / burned? Each
is a victim. Each stands vulnerable, and alone.
Yes, let's help kids from traditional families. Let's also
remember that child support is crucial to help kids develop even
in broken families. I mean to protect those who need it most.
As you in Wisconsin are -- as the rest of America must. Thank
you for your example to the Nation. Please join me with Project
KIDS. And may God bless the United States of America.
#
#
#
#
George Bush, 1992
Administration of George Bush, 1992 / Sept. 30
1817
r to be introduced
worrying about how kind we want to be to
great job for the State; Anita Anderegg, the
great, Governor
these criminals.
county executive here, a real leader; Cate
e lucky out here,
And speaking of those who are on the front
Zeuske, the State treasurer. And let me also
line, I was delighted-take a look at the Fra-
thank my longtime friend John MacIver, our
and pleased to re-
ternal Order of Police in Little Rock, Arkan-
Bush-Quayle Wisconsin chairman, for all his
Visconsin's law en-
sas. They've lived with Governor Clinton for
efforts. Unless you don't know it, you've got
e State troopers,
12 years, and they know his record best. And
one of the greatest Governors in Tommy
Association, the
they endorsed me for President of the United
Thompson in the entire United States of
1, the Milwaukee
States.
America. He is an outstanding national lead-
To you who put your lives on the line every
er. He's doing great things for this State. And
eighborhoods safe
day, let me just say you have my thanks. But
he's working most cooperatively with Wash-
ndamental respon-
much more than that, you have our strong
ington. I am very, very proud that he is my
takes a tough, no-
support. You are on the side of the law, and
close, dear friend. And Barbara feels exactly
nat puts our sym-
I am on your side. I wish you had a little
the same way about him. I see some Tom
time, not with the
more clout with the United States Congress.
Petri signs. We've got to reelect him to the
me is what crimi-
For 1,091 days, I believe the figure is, they
United States Congress. He's a good man,
nnocent kids and
are sitting on a strong anticrime bill that I
a good Congressman. Reelect him.
to live in fear of
sent up there 3½ years ago. And they've
Now, I understand that I'm visiting here
NO candidates are
done absolutely nothing with it. That is not
the day before the Democratic candidates
out just one can-
fair to the men and women who wear the
come to town.
I ask, and will be
uniform, who are out there supporting us.
Audience members. Boo-o-o!
e in these debates
Whether it's in the courts or on the streets,
The President. I can't resist saying, I don't
up-[laughter]-
we need to back them up with strong Federal
think this is the last time that I'll be ahead
anticrime legislation.
of the Democratic ticket. We are going to
kansas ranks near
You know, with your strong support, I
win this election in November.
ant per capita law
know that we can take back the streets and
Audience members. Four more years!
for prisons, 46th
we can turn back the threat of drugs and
Four more years! Four more years!
and legal systems,
crime and make our communities safer and
The President. There's been a lot of dis-
spending for po-
more secure.
cussion in the past week about Presidential
49th. Since 1989,
So thank you all very, very much, women
debates. I think debates are important. I
it increase in Fed-
and men of law enforcement, for your vote
think the American people deserve to see the
of confidence. May God bless the men and
two candidates side by side. So yesterday,
on the Arkansas
women who serve us. Thank you very, very
down in Tennessee, I challenged my oppo-
Governor Clinton,
much. Thank you.
nent to a series of four television debates,
erage served just
the last four Sundays before the election. I
before they were
Note: The President spoke at 11:20 a.m. at
said I'd be very flexible about the format,
ey did crime, and
Wittman Regional Airport. In his remarks,
but I was eager to have the American people
of the time. That
he referred to Robert Jungwirth, Mayor of
compare my ideas with Governor Clinton's.
ontrast that with
Oshkosh.
We have offered to meet with Governor
les who fall under
Clinton's campaign anywhere, anytime. And
y jurisdiction: Ar-
so far at least, Governor Clinton has re-
and the Federal
sponded to my challenge the same way he
cent of their full
Remarks to the Community in Fond
responds to issues like free trade, fuel effi-
in favor of the po-
du Lac, Wisconsin
ciency standards, and middle class taxes: He
victims of crime.
September 30, 1992
waffles. I can't find him. He's lost. He's miss-
e, one more area
ing in action. He refuses on this issue to take
ansas cannot kind
The President. Thank you, Governor
a position one way or the other, just like on
his record. If you
Thompson. Thank all of you for that warm
all these other issues.
tough on crime,
Fond du Lac welcome. And it's great, great
So this morning I renew my challenge to
Look at the peo-
to be here in your city, great to be back in
Governor Clinton: Let's have our people sit
ront line, putting
the State of Wisconsin. Let me just say how
down, work this out. Let's have four debates
d me every single
pleased I am to be here with your Lieutenant
with the formats that I like and the format
to support, not
Governor, Scott McCallum, who's doing a
that you like. And I'm no Oxford debater.
1818
Sept. 30 / Administration of George Bush, 1992
I didn't spend a lot of time over in Oxford,
The people of Fond du Lac know this, but
England, in the debating society. But I say
small business is the backbone of what we
let American people decide. Let's get up
call the new American entrepreneurial cap-
there and get it on, side by side.
italism. Small business will create two-thirds
Now, when we sit down to debate, and
of the new jobs in this new economy. Gov-
I hope the Governor will take a stand to
ernor Clinton promises small business relief
agree to them, we should discuss the most
from taxation, regulation, and yes, litigation.
important question: What kind of America
But if we're going to stay with him, we better
do we want for the young people here today?
see what the record is. He has a lousy record
Because of your sacrifice, because of your
on regulation. And he certainly has a lousy
commitment, we have helped reduce the fear
record on litigation.
of nuclear annihilation. Today, our kids can
Now, if we're really going to renew Amer-
dream the sweet dreams of peace without
ica, attention must be paid to our children.
fear of nuclear war. And I am proud that
It is tough to be a kid in America today. The
that happened when I have been President
face of poverty is too often a fresh face. The
of the United States. You listen to Governor
ignorant mind is too often-a young mind
Clinton, you might think national security of
is too often something you can lose. And the
this country and foreign affairs are not im-
spirit of hope and opportunity has too often
portant. They are. We've changed the world.
been taken away from the young. We know
Now we face a new challenge. We must
what works to help our kids. We know, for
win the new global economic competition
example, that if you give a low-income kid
because that is the only way we'll create good
a head start on kindergarten, they end up
jobs for our kids and our grandkids. And I've
doing much better in school. And I am proud
laid out my call for an Agenda for American
that today, for the very first time, every eligi-
Renewal, a comprehensive, integrated agen-
ble kid who wants a head start can get one.
da to create in America by the 21st century
That happened on my watch, and I'm very
the world's very first $10 trillion economy.
proud of it.
And we can do it. We are Americans.
I am proud of our education revolution.
I know that many Americans are anxious
Already 1,700 schools, including many right
about our economy today, concerned about
here in Wisconsin, have signed on to the na-
our future. But we need to understand that
tional crusade to raise standards, to free the
we are experiencing the impact of a global
teachers-God bless those teachers-to free
economic slowdown. It isn't just the United
them from redtape, and to literally reinvent
States. It's being felt here at home, but it's
American schools. I want to go farther and
also felt in Asia and Europe. Those countries
give every parent the right to choose the best
would switch with us in a minute regarding
schools for their kids, public, private, or reli-
economies.
gious.
My opponent spends a lot of time cutting
But if we really want to help those kids,
down America, tearing it down, telling every-
we have to change the American system of
body how bad he thinks things are. I would
child support. And the statistics there are not
remind him of a few facts, like the fact that
pretty: 1989, fathers were absent from 10
when you go looking for the world's most
million families. Only a little more of half
productive workers and farmers, you don't
of absent parents are ordered to pay child
look to Japan, you don't look to Germany;
support. Those required to pay, only half do,
you look right here in the United States of
on time and in full. And only one in five ab-
America.
sent parents pay for kids' health care. Each
We need to build on our strengths. And
year, $5 billion in court-ordered child sup-
so my agenda starts with a commitment to
port, $5 billion, fails to reach families and
free and fair trade. And I want to use my
kids who desperately need it.
experience in international affairs to open
These working parents, mostly mothers,
new markets for our products and services,
are trying to keep their families going, trying
because the American worker never retreats;
to work, keep the kids on track, pay the bills.
we always compete. And we always win.
They need that check every month, and they
ge Bush, 1992
Administration of George Bush, 1992 / Sept. 30
1819
know this, but
deserve it. And I believe that since I took
nothing there. He's got a TV ad that talks
e of what we
office we've made a very good start. We are
about cutting the welfare rolls in Arkansas.
reneurial cap-
now able to identify 50 percent more fathers
What he neglects to mention is that while
ate two-thirds
of the kids of single moms, and we increased
some people were leaving welfare, even more
conomy. Gov-
by more than 40 percent the cases of child
were going onto welfare. Since Bill Clinton
business relief
support collections. With the aggressive lead-
was elected Governor, Arkansas' welfare rolls
yes, litigation.
ership of Governors like your great Tommy
have increased by 19 percent, 13 percent
im, we better
Thompson, States collect over $2 billion
faster than the rest of the Nation.
a lousy record
more in child support. And that's a whole
Now, he says he wants to do for America
y has a lousy
lot of good kids who are now getting some
what he's done for Arkansas.
lunch money, money that they deserve.
Audience members. Boo-o-o!
renew Amer-
That's something you and Wisconsin can
The President. I don't know whether
our children.
take pride in. But the job's not finished.
that's a promise or a threat. America deserves
ca today. The
Today I want to build on your success with
better than that.
esh face. The
a new initiative called Project KIDS. Project
Look at the facts. Look at the facts about
young mind
KIDS will require all States to recognize and
Arkansas. In the late 1980's, Arkansas' rate
lose. And the
enforce other States' child support orders.
of violent deaths for teenagers soared at 3
has too often
And that will make it much easier to cross
times the national average. Over the decade,
ag. We know
borders and catch those deadbeat parents in
child abuse reports shot up 130 percent. And
Ve know, for
other States. We will require organizations
behind each one of those cases is a story of
v-income kid
who receive support from the Legal Services
heartbreak. Arkansas' kids deserve to have
they end up
Corporation to devote 10 percent of their
their hearts healed.
d I am proud
Federal funds to helping mothers who need
Arkansas faced a special crisis of abuse in
every eligi-
legal help track down a deadbeat dad. And
the State's foster homes. For years Governor
can get one.
we will say to deadbeat parents: If you owe
Clinton ignored the problem until he was
and I'm very
child support and you haven't paid, then
sued by welfare advocates in his own State.
you're going to pay a price. You'll get no pass-
And only this summer, in the middle of his
a revolution.
port, no professional licenses, no housing or
campaign, did he settle a lawsuit and take
: many right
student loans, or any other help from the
any steps to improve these homes. Now he's
on to the na-
Federal Government until you do right by
running around our great country, claimed
to free the
your children. So the bottom is, if you haven't
to be an advocate for children. I urge all
ers-to free
done what's right for your kids, don't expect
Americans, young and old, to take a look not
ally reinvent
any help from Uncle Sam from this day for-
just at his rhetoric but a hard look at Gov-
farther and
ward.
ernor Clinton's record. I believe America can
oose the best
Now, by taking these steps, we think we
do better, and I believe we must do better
ivate, or reli-
can help reduce the stress on so many fami-
by the young people in this country.
lies. We can help single parents. And most
The economy is the major issue, let's look
those kids,
importantly, we can lend a big hand to kids.
at it, a major issue in this campaign. When
n system of
Now, while we're on the subject, maybe
Bill Clinton became Governor 12 years ago,
here are not
it's worth taking just a few minutes to con-
Arkansas, yes, was one of the poorest States
nt from 10
sider Governor Clinton's record with chil-
in America. Today, Arkansas is still stuck at
ore of half
dren. I hate to do this to you on this beautiful
the bottom. And Bill Clinton's policies are
o pay child
sunny day here in Wisconsin. But in this area
responsible. As Governor, he raised and ex-
only half do,
as in so many others, Governor Clinton talks
tended the sales tax, including a tax on baby
e in five ab-
a good game, but his record leaves something
formula, vegetables, and other groceries. He
care. Each
to be desired. Welfare is a kids' issue, be-
raised the gas tax. He taxed mobile homes
I child sup-
cause the more we can get people off welfare
and cable TV. And just for good measure he
amilies and
and into work, the more we strengthen the
threw in a tax on beer. Now, how do you
family. Here in Wisconsin, you are the lead-
like that one?
ly mothers,
ing State. Tommy Thompson is making real
Audience members. Boo-o-o!
going, trying
progress, promoting personal responsibility.
The President. I didn't think you guys
ay the bills.
Governor Clinton talks a good game, but
would like it. Now Governor Clinton says
h, and they
when you look behind the rhetoric, there's
he's seen the light. In this campaign he's pro-
1820
Sept. 30 / Administration of George Bush, 1992
posing at least $150 billion in new spending.
dream, and so we can continue to make lives
But don't worry, he says, "I'm going to get
better for American children by matching the
it all from the rich," the people who make
peace around the world and by giving our
over $200,000, the top 2 percent. Well, but
kids peace of mind right here at home.
here's the truth, and here's the problem. To
Let me say something, in conclusion,
get the money he needs for his plan, the $150
about service to country. I am very proud
billion that he's promised in new taxes, Gov-
that I served my country in the uniform of
ernor Clinton would have to get his money
the United States of America. I think that
from every individual with taxable income
has helped me be a good Commander in
over $36,000. Now, these are not people on
Chief when we had to stand up against ag-
the "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous." You
gression halfway around the world. And that
deserve a break, not a further tax increase.
standing up against aggression has changed
Audience members. Four more years!
the world. Don't listen to the Governor who
Four more years! Four more years!
says we're less than Germany and slightly
The President. Look, you see, that's just
ahead of Sri Lanka. We are the most re-
the start of the tax campaign though, cam-
spected nation on the face of the Earth, ad-
paign against the middle class. He has lit-
mired by every country, the friends we have
erally made hundreds of promises in this
and those that used to be our foes.
campaign. He hasn't said how he'll pay for
So now, help me take that kind of leader-
any one of his new programs. But his own
ship and help me change America to make
hometown newspaper, the Pine Bluff Com-
life better for every single family in our great
mercial, says, "If Congress followed the ex-
country. We are going to win Wisconsin, and
ample that Bill Clinton set as Governor of
we are going to win the Presidency because
Arkansas, it would pass a program that hit
our ideas are right for America, this genera-
the middle class the hardest.' We do not
tion and generations to come.
need that for the United States of America.
May God bless the United States of Amer-
Now, the good Governor says he's going
ica, the greatest country on the face of the
after all the millionaires, but he'll end up hit-
Earth. Thank you very, very much.
ting all the nurses and teachers and cab driv-
ers and construction workers. I say you pay
Note: The President spoke at 12:45 p.m. in
enough to the tax man already. We do not
Veterans Memorial Park.
need to add taxes to the working families in
this country.
So it boils down to this: We cannot take
a risk of a candidate with no experience, no
Remarks to the Law Enforcement
track record, whose ideas and agenda are
Community in Newark, New Jersey
wrong for America. That is the basic thing:
September 30, 1992
Governor Clinton is wrong for America.
Let me tell you something. In the Oval
The President. Thank you all so very
Office you face tough decisions. You cannot
much. I mean, this is a tremendous event.
be on all sides of every question. You've got
I just can't tell you how much I appreciate
to call them as you see them. And I've made
the support of these men and women stand-
mistakes. Like any American, I'll admit it
ing here. It transcends me personally. I think
when I make a mistake. But I believe I've
the fact is that this country must strongly sup-
been a good, strong leader, willing to make
port our law enforcement people. And I am
the tough calls. I'm a leader whose ideas are
grateful for this endorsement.
right for America.
Let me just say that all of these organiza-
I stand before you today asking for your
tions are important, the endorsement of the
support so that we can change America, just
members of the New Jersey law enforcement
as we have changed the entire world. I want
community: the New Jersey Fraternal Order
a second term in office so we can continue
of Police; the Newark Policemen's Benevo-
to renew our schools, reform welfare, give
lent Association; New Jersey State Fraternal
our children a better shot at the American
Association representatives that are here;
Gray
26
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
P61
SEP 29 A10: 27
3 lines from bottom
- Capital in spelled wont
pg3
5 i.net up from bottom
- with creative welfare
reforms.
pgc
- The parentage of absent
- lift the penentage.
- non payment of spoutal
support
Weltare
1
Holiday -
HHS is bringing
over a lot of
changes.