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Child Support/Welfare Reform, Fond du Lac, WI 9/30/92 [OA 8130]
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Child Support/Welfare Reform, Fond du Lac, WI 9/30/92 [OA 8130]
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Originally Processed With FOIA(s):
FOIA Number:
S
FOIA
MARKER
This is not a textual record. This is used as an
administrative marker by the George Bush Presidential
Library Staff.
Record Group/Collection:
George H.W. Bush Presidential Records
Collection/Office of Origin:
Speechwriting, White House Office of
Series:
Smith, Curt, Files
Subseries:
Chron File, 1989-1992
OA/ID Number:
13890
Folder ID Number:
13890-029
Folder Title:
Child Support/Welfare Reform, Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, 9/30/92
Stack:
Row:
Section:
Shelf:
Position:
G
18
29
1
6
(Smith/Aarhus)
Draft Two
September 28, 1992
REFORM
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: CHILD SUPPORT
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" 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: Time to pay up,
buddy. 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 10
million families. Today, only half of absent parents are ordered
5
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 -- 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.
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.
For their part, 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 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.
# # # #
(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 the 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 governmnt
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 tax less / spend less / and
regulate 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 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 -- 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. //
Let me quote from someone my opponent probably read while
studying Oxfordomics in England. Here's what Vladmir Lenin said:
"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
3
would have to get his money from individuals with taxable income
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 -- 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
erih
Curt
you we wannet have t maybe 2 brief day to add to add
(Smith/Aarhus)
Draft Two
September 28, 1992
Pissee Nole spee P
the
RBZ
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
6
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
Have
could he telling
wants you to give another $430 a year to the tax man. I say you
to
hedge here hedge here
ought to be able to use it to pay for your kid's education, or
h/c
pay the mortgage on the house -- not send it back to the IRS. //
who
He really
hypothetics
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. //
336-7126
An
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
welfare?
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.
7
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
We
quote -- "from welfare rolls to payrolls. " / Here's the catch.
ghould
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.
Arkansas
[[Talk about "stubborn facts. " Since Bill Clinton was
elected Governor in 1983, welfare rolls have increased by 19 Per
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
with
Avkarsas modertwore has fallen further behind
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.]]
if wrse
betow than
In contrast, you and I are working with Governor Thompson on
natil
avg
real reform. I'm impressed by how in the first six months of
change
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 /
& Dennis Ross was going to call Scully One with is a 2
new dear. must:
7
will
help
track
down
absent
parents
--
allocation of past of Legal Service He tothiswork I forget
especially
when
they
the
change jobs / and hit delinquent parents by making their payments
tax liabilities. We will require all States to recognize and
but other, Id
include
enforce other States' child support orders / make more absent
if for
parents pay kids' health care / and make non-paying parents
of Scally
Uks uks it +
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.
#
#
#
#
(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
fell
peace abroad. A wall falls in Berlin. From Panama to Kuwait,
those enslaved are now free. Imperial Communism is not only E
freedom
V-I-L. It is D-E-A-D. The Cold War is over -- and America won.
here
Today, I want to talk about winning the peace at home -- for
our families, and in our homes, and our communities.
Renewal
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 tax less / spend less and
regulate less. //
St. Helen's
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 taxes -- plus at least $220 billion in new spending. / He
says, Don't worry -- I'll get it from the rich -- people who make
the
over $200,000 top 2 percent. Well, we've heard this song
before. Bill Clinton's definition of rich is anyone who works
slaps the faces of
for a living. The truth is his plan is a Billy club blow against
working families everywhere. //
Let me quote from someone my opponent probably read about
while studying Oxfordomics in England. Here's what John Adams
said: " Facts can be stubborn things. "
Can be turned
aroundto us.
The fact is that to get the money he needs for his plan --
the $150 billion he's promised in new taxes -- Governor Bill Clinton
3
/
would have to get his money from individuals with taxable income
Kind of
over $36,000. His message to working Americans would be
like
that
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 Bill 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." ((By the way, Governor Clinton even raised
hunting and fishing fees in Arkansas. )) He's hunting for ways to
where the money
pay for all his promises -- and he's going to go after the middle
is -- the middle class working American.
class -- because that's where the money is. H
PineBluff, Arkans
Don't take my word for it. Listen to the newspaper from his practically in
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.
That
n't
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 Bill 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 help
pay the mortgage on the house -- not send it back to the IRS. //
My opponent is addicted to taxes. I have a hunch on
Ibelieve that
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
with
Wisconsin's
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.
take a moment here to
have
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 we are proud of you. // What agreat example prase
Yet not everyone is as responsible.
setting for parents everywhere
Think about the single mother here in Wisconsin struggling
to keep the kids fed and clothed on her modest salary. Meantime,
children's father is
her husband S at an the airport in Detroit: 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 -- 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 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
We have also
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
takemeupon
ask for such a waiver -- and we quickly granted it. I remembered
my offert,
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 his State's 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.
The ad refers only to people leaving welfare rolls -- not joining
6
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 35 percent
faster than the national average; and food stamp rolls are up 26
percent in the last three years alone. Arkansas remains one of
the poorest states in the country. In Bill Clinton's Arkansas,
in any given month the number of people on welfare has soared
from 60,000 to 75,000.]]
questing
Ws
queu
Mai@ath
was
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 which
re-dal
will help track down absent parents -- especially when they
change jobs / and hit delinquent parents by making their payments
under
use
5 3 5 r5. in
corp
to
lest
3
F lgal i dame serves na in 5
7
use
v
of
perceice the
tax liabilities
We will require all States to recognize and
wish
enforce other States' child support orders / make more absent
Lotes liel up
parents pay kids' health care / and make non-paying parents
ineligible for many Federal benefits.
coll
support
years
If you want more, try this.
No payment -- no passport. Forget that skiing in
snorkeling of the coast of Spain.
the payment. heart
Switzerland -- or yachting in Belize.
No payment -- no new professional licenses. In 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 Congrestman Henry Hyde that will make it a crime for a (parent) 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.
We're setting ambitious goals -- but we must reach them, and
we will. / For only tough policies can confront child neglect /
8
-
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
am going
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.
# # # #
(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
phonetic
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
Can Helen Keller hearit?
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 / 1,700,000 robberies / and 2,700,000 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 American. 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 mental, as well as
physical: Witness our child support system that allows dead-
beat parents to flee responsibility. / We don't often think of
this as a crime -- but it is. It does violence to the innocent -
darnit,
- 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
a year (or 'way)
the trimmings. He could be a month -- or a decade -- behind in
minimum is 6 months
under bill
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.
(fucking))
Cough up the cash, or we'll throw you in 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 welfare 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
(van Winkly
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 unpaid
workfare program or be forced to pay child support. // why isn't the
Gremn of Wilcomsin
Has Children First worked? Has it ever. In its first six Runnis
for
months, child support support collection soared 28 and 145
POTHS?
and 16 trillion percent in a parallel universe)
percent in Fond du Lac and Racine Counties. I salute Governor
task
you.
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.
law rese? ?
Already our Administration has located 50 percent more
praternities for 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.
reword - turgid (much like a Love Wand)
Our plan requires wage withholding for absent parents / will
help track down absent parents -- especially dead-beat dads when
5
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. Under our plan, even existing
passports could be withdrawn. /
No payment -- no new professional licenses. Dead-beat
parents could find even existing licenses revoked. /
No payment -- and dead-beat dads 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.
higher Powerasl understand
it.
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'
the senzzy Bastards.)
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.
Or. as an Parisian friends would say, Plus est plus. 11111
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
(all these
nonpayment and support -- mock American families -- and maim the
(turtle soup)
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.
#
#
#
#
a higher being as 1 unders tand it
(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 tax less / spend less / and
regulate less fitaxless.
(and w/
I believe higher taxes would be the Mount Vesuvius of the
taxes
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. //
fedual This year, he's off again -- proposing at least $150 billion
in new /// 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. //
Let me quote from someone my opponent probably read about
while studying Oxfordomics in England. Here's what John Adams
said: "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
3
would have to get his money from individuals with taxable income
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 -- because that's where the money is. //
The
Don't take my word for it. Listen to the newspaper from his
for
own back yard, The Pine Bluff Commercial. Here's what it says:
same Slick 714
"If Congress followed the example Bill Clinton has set as
willu W. Su Hor
Governor of Arkansas, it would pass a tax program that would hit
the middle-class hardest." End-quote.
subed Vanks:
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 have A 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 we you are me proud doing of right you. by your hids.
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.
we've
made a sood bezumes.
Since I took office, 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 his State's 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.
The ad refers only to people leaving welfare rolls -- not joining
3 Dowe to want S lam his you botrch
6
+ then WAS
it to
them.
By that yardstick, I've moved over a million people from measure
welfare to work in the last three years.
our
our
[[Talk about "stubborn facts." Since Bill Clinton was
proper?
elected Governor in 1983, welfare rolls have increased 35 percent
faster than the national average; and food stamp rolls are up 26
My point con't that
percent in the last three years alone.
Arkansas remains one of
it's that Bill Elinton hom if made
the poorest states in the country. In Bill Clinton's Arkansas,
in any given month the number of people on welfare has soared
it am better.
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 /
will help track down absent parents -- especially when they
change jobs / and hit delinquent parents by making their payments
FUCTURE ? Porth tooh this 'ont- -
why as it in?
7
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. In 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.
We're setting ambitious goals -- but we must reach them, and
we will. / For only tough policies can confront child neglect /
8
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.
# # # #