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[Presidential Remarks, 1990-1992]
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[Presidential Remarks, 1990-1992]
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Records of the White House Office of Speechwriting (George H. W. Bush Administration)
Tony Snow Subject Files
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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:
Snow, Tony, Files
Subseries:
Subject File, 1988-1993
OA/ID Number:
13897
Folder ID Number:
13897-017
Folder Title:
[Presidential Remarks, 1990-1992]
Stack:
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Section:
Shelf:
Position:
G
18
29
2
5
Enrolled Bill H.R. 5835 - omnibus Budget
Reconciliation act of 1990 and
Signing Statement
STATEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT
Today I an signing H.R. 5835, the "ornibus Budget
Reconciliation Act of 1990, 11 the centerpiece of the largest
deficit reduction package in history and an important measure for
ensuring America's long-term economic growth. This bill is the
result of long, hard work by the Administration and Congress. No
one got everything he or she wanted, but the end product is a
compromise that merits enactment.
H.R. 5835, and the discretionary spending caps associated
with it, will achieve nearly $500 billion almost half a
trillion dollars in deficit reduction over the next five
years. Over 70% of that deficit-reduction derives from outlay
reductions; less than 30% from revenue increases. In addition,
the bill enacts significant budget process reforms to ensure that
the agreement is fulfilled, and that budgetary discipline is
extended and strengthened.
Entitlement Reforms. The bill provides for the most
comprehensive and substantial reform of mandatory "entitlement"
programs ever about $100 billion in savings from restructuring
and reforms in the following major programs:
Farm programs;
Federal housing programs;
Student loan programs;
Veterans programs;
Postal subsidies;
Federal employee benefits; and
Medicare.
Discretionary Program Caps. The bill establishes five-year
caps on overall discretionary spending that will result in
savings of over $180 billion. To keep domestic and international
spending from growing any faster than inflation, the bill creates
313.2
new automatic "mini-sequesters". The bill also provides for an
orderly defense reduction without threatening national security.
Energy Security. LThe bill provides incentives for energy
conservation, and for exploration and development of domestic
energy resources.
2/2
Social Security. Social security is fully protected and
taken off-budget.
Enforcement and Process Reform. The bill contains the
toughest enforcement system ever. The Gramm-Rudman-Hollings
sequester process is extended and streng hened with caps, mini-
sequesters, and a new "pay-as-you-go" system.
7.7% Real
POST + Times
88,
M.S.U
Credit Reform. The bill implements a new Federal accounting
and budgeting system to expose and limit previously hidden (and
rapidly growing) liabilities.
TAX Changes. The bill includes a tax rate cut from 33% to
31% for about 3.5 million middle and upper-middle income
taxpayers and an overall decrease in taxes paid by those with
incomes under $20,000. There are higher excise taxes on luxury
items and limitations on itenized deductions and the personal
exemption for higher income taxpayers. The total net tax changes
comprise 28% of the deficit reduction package.
This bill creates the conditions that should allow future
interest rates to be lower than they would be otherwise. Lower
interest rates can benefit the entire economy. They can mean
more housing starts; more Americans driving new cars; reductions
in mortgage ayments for homeowners; more long-term investment;
greater productivity; and increased numbers of jobs.
In signing this landmark Act, I pledge the continuing best
efforts of my Administration 1.0 maintain not only the letter, but
the spirit of the new fiscal order for the Federal Government
that is embodied in this agreement.
H.R. 5835 also contains child care provisions, strongly
supported by this Administration, that will enlarge the
opportunities of parents to obtain the child care they desire,
including care that is provided by sectarian institutions if the
parents so choose. The largest portion of this new child care
program will come from tax credits to people as requested by
the Administration. In addition, a Child Care and Development
Block Grant program includes provisions for the issuance of child
care certificates or vouchers that would enable parents to
exercise their own judgment as to what type of child care best
suits the particular needs of their own child.
I note my understanding of these child care provisions and
sign the bill based on that understanding, as follows:
First, I understand that the definition of child care
certificates in section 658P (2) ensures that states may not
restrict parental choice by limiting the range of providers from
whom parents may seek child care, using certificates as payment,
and that such certificates shall not be considered to be grants
or contracts.
Second, section 658N (a) (1) (B) specifically permits sectarian
organizations that are child care providers to require that all
of their employees adhere to the religious tenets and teachings
of the organization and comply with rules forbidding the use of
drugs or alcohol. As I understand it, the term "sectarian
organization" in this provision includes religious organizations
generally.
2
Third, as used in sections 658N (a) (2) (B) and 658N (a) (3) (B),
the term "organization" means not only the particular provider,
but also a broader association with which that provider may be
identified.
Finally, all of the provisions of the Child Care and
Development Block Grant program will be interpreted in light of
the requirements of the establishment and free exercise clauses
of the First Amendment.
I would also note certain constitutional difficulties in
other titles of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act. In
particular, section 4117 of the bill requires the Secretary of
Health and Human Services, in certain conditions, to treat the
States of Nebraska and Oklahoma as single fee schedule areas for
purposes of determining the adjusted historical payment basis and
the fee schedule amount for physicians' services furnished on or
after January 1, 1992. Such treatment is made to depend on the
Secretary's receiving written expressions of support for
treatment of the State as a single fee schedule area from each
member of the congressional delegation from the State and from
organizations representing urban and rural physicians in the
State. This provision requires the Secretary to base a
substantive decision on the allocation of federal benefits on the
statements of members of Congressional delegations and other
persons who are not appointed by the President. Therefore, it
must be understood either (1) as an attempt to vest significant
authority to execute federal law in those persons, in which case
it violates the Appointments Clause, Article II, section 2; see
Buckley V. Valeo, 424 U.S. 1 (1975) ; or (2) as an attempt to
confer lawmaking power on individual members of Congress and
others, in which case it violates Article I, section 7; see INS
V. Chadha, 462 U.S. 919 (1983). Accordingly, this requirement is
without legal force, and I am so instructing the Secretary of
HHS. I am also instructing the Attorney General and the
Secretary of HHS to prepare remedial legislation to amend this
section for submission to the next session of Congress, so that
the Act can be brought into compliance with the Constitution's
requirements.
Further, the Constitution empowers the President to
"recommend to [Congress] such Measures as he shall judge
necessary and expedient." U.S. Const. Art. II, § 3. Several
sections of the bill raise constitutional difficulties by
appearing or purporting to impose requirements that the Executive
Branch submit legislative proposals of a predetermined kind. The
Executive Branch has consistently treated provisions of this type
as advisory rather than as mandatory, and to avoid a
constitutional question will SO construe the provisions at issue
here.
3
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aprox5,0%?
5,0%?
DOE
25% 2x0-15 7,360
LOG
lett
%
004
110 6% as
3
SEE b/w
313
15' BRI b21 15c
was
McGroarty/Dooley
May 10, 1990
5:00 pm
[USC]
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA COMMENCEMENT
COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA
MAY 12, 1990
10:00 A.M.
Thank you. President Holderman. Senators Thurmond and
Hollings. Representatives Floyd Spence and Elizabeth Patterson.
My dear friend Governor Carroll Campbell -- who's a tremendous
partner to this President in our national crusade for excellence
in education. //
And let me mention one USC alumnus who can't be here today.
A good friend and a real fighter: Lee Atwater. Lee got his
master's degree here. He tells me he's going to finish his Ph.D.
-- and one day, he'd like to come back to his alma mater to join
the faculty and teach here.
[[I know tickets were hard to come by today. Barbara's here
-- thank goodness she's getting an honorary degree. It was the
only way I could get her a seat. ]]
[[And she's in great company with today's other recipients
of honorary degrees. I don't know how many of you have heard me
speak before, but being on stage with Andrew Lloyd Webber is as
close as I'll ever get to a dramatic presentation. ]] [[And
Michael Eisner: The success he's achieved at Disney is the envy
of CEOs world-wide. His secret is simple: just surround
yourself with the best and brightest -- Dopey, Dumbo, Goofy. ]]
2
And I salute him for his commitment to our "Points of Light"
concept -- the best impulse of America: one American willing to
pitch in to help another.
You've gone to school for four years -- the last thing you
want to hear is one more long lecture -- but I wanted to use this
great University as a forum for some serious foreign policy
observations. // I've chosen to make each of my commencement
speeches this spring a reflection on democratic change. Last
week, at Oklahoma State, I focused on the new role of our
Atlantic Alliance. Yesterday, at Texas A&I, I spoke about
technology, and the vast frontier of space. This morning, I want
to talk about a frontier of a different sort -- about the new
world of freedom opening up in Eastern Europe. 11
In the past year, one nation after another has pulled itself
out from under communism, onto the threshold of democracy. Each
has endured great suffering -- tremendous economic damage. We've
all seen the images of long lines and empty shelves. But what we
can't see so easily -- what's beneath the surface, but no less
real -- is the moral damage: The deep scars on the spirit left
by four decades of communist rule.
Because in these regimes, the human spirit was subject to
systematic assault. Religion, morality, right and wrong -- any
challenge to the rule of the State -- became the enemy of the
State. // Believers were persecuted, churches and cemetaries
razed. Citizens were turned against one another -- enlisted into
the ranks of the regime's informers. Nothing stood outside the
3
reach of the regime -- not even the past. History was rewritten
to suit the needs of the present -- yesterday's heroes air-
brushed from the pages of history. Milan Kundera, the Czech
author, called it "organized forgetting." //
of course, these nations had laws. Courts. Constitutions.
All in service to the State. / They had -- in name at least --
rights and freedoms. In reality -- the empty shell of liberty.
Not the rule of law -- but the perversion of law: rules
made not to serve the will of the people, but the whim of the
Party. That's how, in Romania, the law made it illegal for 3 or
more people to have a conversation in the street. That's how, in
another country, a man whose so-called "crime" was teaching
others about religion -- was jailed for 6 months. The trumped-up
charge: walking on flower beds. // We will never know how many
dissidents were punished as "common criminals" -- and how many
millions of others were frozen by fear into silence and
submission.
That's the legacy -- the landscape of moral destruction.
The tragic consequence of four decades of communist rule: a
breakdown of trust. // From ancient times, the great minds have
recognized the link between the law and trust. As Aristotle
wrote: "Law is a pledge that the citizens of a state will do
justice to one another." The bond that makes a collection of
individuals into a community -- into a nation.
Fortunately, the moral destruction in Eastern Europe was not
complete. Individuals somehow managed to maintain the inner
4
strength -- their moral compass. To sustain the will to break
through the regime's wall of lies. They did so, as Vaclav Havel
[VATS-lahv HA-vel] put it, by the simple act of "living in
truth." They created "flying universities," where lecturers
taught in private homes. They formed underground publishing
houses and groups to monitor human rights -- an authentic "civil
society" beyond the reach of the ruling establishment.
Today, the builders of those civil societies no longer live
underground. They are the new leaders of Eastern Europe. And
they've begun to build on the ruins of communist rule democratic
systems based on trust.
Today, I want to focus on how America can help these nations
secure their freedoms -- become a part of a Europe whole and
free. Early this year, in the State of the Union, I talked about
America's role as a shining example. About the importance of
America -- not as a nation, but as an idea -- alive in the minds
of men and women everywhere. That idea was, without doubt, a
guiding force in the Revolution of '89. //
Let me share a story with you -- about a recent American
visitor to Romania, who asked the people she met what they needed
now -- what was most important to them. // This simple question
produced some unexpected answers. In Timisoara, one woman pulled
from her purse a worn copy of TV Guide, an issue from July 1987,
containing a bicentennial copy of the U.S. Constitution. // She
held it out to the American visitor. She said: "What we need --
is more of these."
8
learned how a vision of Utopia can become a hell on earth for
millions of men and women. We've learned -- through hard
experience -- that the only alternative to the tyranny of man is
the rule of law. //
That's the essence of our version of Europe. A Europe where
not only are the dictators dethroned. But where the rule of law
-- reflecting the will of the people -- ensures the freedoms
millions have fought so hard to gain. //
There is still work to be done. In the Baltic States where
people struggle for the right to determine their own future -- we
Americans -- so free to chart our own course -- identify with
their hopes and aspirations. Ultimately, the Soviet Union itself
will benefit from a Europe whole and free. Democracy and freedom
threaten no one.
We sometimes hear today that with freedom's great triumph,
America's work is done. Nothing could be further from the truth.
I want to close today with a story about the enduring power of
the American idea -- and the unfinished business that awaits the
generation you represent.
It's about a town called Pilsen in Czechoslovakia -- a town
that just last week celebrated the day, 45 years ago, when it was
liberated by American troops. of course, within a few short
years, Pilsen's dream of freedom vanished behind the Iron Curtain
-- and with it, the truth about that day in 1945. A generation
grew up being taught that Pilsen had been freed not by the U.S.
Army -- but by Soviet soldiers, dressed in American uniforms.
5
There, on the streets of Timisoara -- in a country where
food is in short supply, where homes are without heat, and
streets dark at night -- there, a woman pins her hopes on our
Constitution. // What that Romanian woman wanted -- what all
the nations of Eastern Europe aspire to -- is democratic life
based on justice and the rule of law.
Poland, Czechoslovakia and Hungary stand now, in the spring
of 1990, as America stood in the summer of 1787. Who will be
their Franklins, their Washingtons? Their Hamiltons and Madisons
-- their men and women of towering genius? The nation-builders
who will set in place the firm foundations of self-government?
Some of them we know by name -- the heroes of the Revolution
of '89. But for Eastern Europe's Constitution-builders, the work
has only now begun. Because the fate of freedom depends not just
on the character of the people who govern -- but whether they
themselves are governed by the rule of law.
And just as the Framers of our own Constitution looked to
the lessons of history -- Eastern Europe's new democracies will
look to their own parliamentary past. To Europe's example. And
of course, to our own American Constitution. That is why we must
export our experience -- our two centuries of accumulated wisdom
on the workings of free government. //
Already, we're actively engaged with Eastern Europe and the
USSR -- with an on-going series of exchanges bringing jurists,
parliamentarians and political leaders here to the U.S. to meet
their American counterparts. And today, I am pleased to announce
6
four new initiatives -- four steps the U.S. will take to support
democratic development in Eastern Europe.
First, America will continue to act to advance economic
freedom. In the past year, we've committed more than $1 billion
in direct economic assistance to Eastern Europe. We have
extended loans and credits, opened our markets through Most
Favored Nation status, and promoted American investment. Today,
I'm pleased to announce yet another economic initiative: the
Export Import Bank will provide Poland a new line of medium-term
export credits and loan guarantees for purchasing machinery,
technology and services from American suppliers.
Second, the U.S. will work to help ensure free and fair
elections in Eastern Europe. Next week, we will send a
presidential delegation to observe the elections in Romania --
and another team to next month's elections in Bulgaria.
Third, America will work to broaden the mandate of the CSCE
-- the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe. Less
than a month from now, as one of the 35 nations of the CSCE, the
United States will take part in a conference on human rights --
including free elections, political pluralism, and the rule of
law. I have instructed Ambassador Max Kampelman --- head of our
delegation -- to seek a new consensus on these cornerstones of
freedom, rights and democracy. As I said last week at Oklahoma
State University, we must work within the CSCE to bring Eastern
Europe's new democracies into the commonwealth of free nations.
//
7
Fourth and finally, we will work to strengthen the
foundations of free society in Eastern Europe -- and I am pleased
to announce today the creation of a Citizens Democracy Corps.
Its first mission: to establish a center and clearing-house for
American private sector assistance and volunteer activities in
Eastern Europe. We know the real strength of our democracy is
its citizens -- the collective strength of individual Americans.
We're going to focus that energy where it can do the most good.
America has much to contribute -- much it can do to help
these nations move forward on the path to democracy. We can help
them build political systems based on:
Respect for individual freedoms. For the right to speak our
mind, to live as we wish, and to worship as our conscience tells
us we must. // Systems based on respect for property -- and the
sanctity of contract. Laws that are necessary not to amass
fortunes -- not to build towers of gold and greed. But to
provide for ourselves, for our families. Systems that allow free
associations -- trade unions, professional groups, political
parties: the building blocks of free society.
We've got to
help the emerging democracies build legal systems that secure the
procedural rights that preserve freedom. // And above all, a
system that supports a strict equality of rights. One that
guarantees that all men and women -:- whatever their race or
ancestry -- stand equal before the law. //
In this century, we've learned a painful truth -- about the
monumental evil that can be done in the name of Humanity. We've
McGroarty/Dooley
March 5, 1991
6:00 pm
[JSC]
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: JOINT SESSION OF CONGRESS
THE CAPITOL
MARCH 6, 1990
9:00 PM
Mr. President. Mr. Speaker. Members of Congress: Five
short weeks ago, I came to this House to speak to you about the
State of the Union. We met then in time of war. Tonight, we
meet in a world blessed by the promise of peace. //
From the moment OPERATION DESERT STORM commenced on January
16, until the time the guns fell silent at midnight one week ago,
this nation has watched its sons and daughters with pride --
watched over them with prayer. // As Commander in Chief, I can
report to you: our armed forces fought with honor and valor. As
President, I can report to the nation -- mission accomplished.
No one nation can claim this hard-won victory for its own.
It is a victory for every nation in the coalition -- and for the
United Nations. It is a victory for the rule of law -- and for
what is right. //
DESERT STORM's success also belongs to the team that so ably
leads our Armed forces: our Secretary of Defense and our
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs: Dick Cheney and Colin Powell. //
And of course, this victory belongs to someone whose
reponsibilities keep him from joining us tonight. I'm talking
about the one the British now call the "Man of the Match" -- the
tower of calm at the eye of DESERT STORM -- General Norman
Schwarzkopf. ///
2
Let us not forget Saudi General Khalid, or Britain's General
de la Billiere, or General Roquejoffre of France -- and all the
others whose leadership played such a vital role. //
I thank the members of this Congress -- for once the battle
was joined, support here for our troops was steady and strong.
And above all, I thank those whose unfailing love and support
sustained our courageous men and women in the field. I thank the
American people. ///
Tonight, I come to this House to speak about our world --
our world after war.
The recent challenge could not have been clearer. Saddam
Hussein was the villain -- Kuwait the victim. To the aid of this
small country came nations from North America and Europe, from
Asia and South America, from Africa and the Arab world -- all
united against aggression. //
Our uncommon coalition fought in common cause. We must now
work in common purpose -- to forge a future that should never
again be held hostage to the darker side of human nature.
The work of peace begins with the liberation of Kuwait --
with a peace that makes a small nation whole. Throughout the
Middle East, we must work to put to rest the ancient enmities
that for so long have shattered the peace in this historic heart
and crossroads of civilization. //
I am pleased to report tonight that the ceasefire is holding
and appears to be secure. [[LATEST DEVELOPMENTS ON CEASEFIRE,
POWs, etc. ]]
3
Yes, Saddam Hussein remains in Iraq. But he walks amidst
ruin. I can report to you: His war machine is crushed. // I
can report to you: His ability to threaten mass destruction is
itself destroyed. // And this I promise you: for all that they
have done to their own people, to the Kuwaitis, and to the entire
world -- Saddam and those around him are accountable. ///
All of us grieve for the victims of war. For the people of
Kuwait -- and the suffering that scars the soul of that proud
nation. For all our fallen soldiers, and their families -- for
all the innocents caught up in this conflict. And for the people
of Iraq -- my hope is that one day we will welcome them once more
as friends into the community of nations -- for the people of
Iraq have never been our enemy.
To all who know America, it will come as no surprise that
our commitment to peace in the Middle East does not end with the
liberation of Kuwait. //
So tonight, let me outline four key challenges to be met:
First, we must work together to create shared security
arrangements in the region. Our friends and allies in the Middle
East recognize that they will bear the bulk of the responsibility
for regional security. But we want them to know that, just as we
stood with them to repel aggression -- so now America stands
ready to work with them to secure the peace.
What does this mean for the United States? It does not mean
stationing U.S. ground forces on the Arabian Peninsula -- but it
does mean, for example, American participation in joint
4
exercises -- involving both air and ground forces. And it means
maintaining a capable U.S. naval presence in the region -- just
as we have for over forty years.
All that we have accomplished in war will be in vain, if
this nation fails to serve -- now and in the future -- as a force
for peace and stability. //
Second, we must act to control the proliferation of weapons
of mass destruction and the missiles used to deliver them. This
calls for greater coordination among the suppliers of these
deadly technologies. And it calls for greater cooperation among
the states of the region to forego these and other modern
weapons. It would be tragic if the nations of the Middle East
and Persian Gulf were now, in the wake of war, to embark on a new
arms race.
Iraq requires special vigilance. Until Iraq convinces the
world of its peaceful intentions -- that its leaders will not use
new revenues to rearm Iraq and rebuild its menacing war machine -
- Iraq must not have access to the instruments of war. ///
Third, we must work to create new opportunities for peace
and stability in the Middle East. On the night I announced
OPERATION DESERT STORM, I expressed my hope that out of the
horrors of war might come new momentum for peace. // In the
conflict just concluded, Israel and many of the Arab states have
for the first time found themselves confronting the same
aggressor. We have learned in the modern age, geography cannot
guarantee security -- and that security does not come from
5
military power alone. There can be no substitute for
negotiations -- the tactics of terror lead nowhere. We must do
all that we can to close the gap between Israel and the Arab
states -- and between Israelis and Palestinians.
All of us know the depth of bitterness that makes the
dispute between Israel and its neighbors one of the world's most
painful and intractable. In 1948 and 1956 -- in '67 and again in
'73 -- in 1982 in Lebanon, and today in the violence of the West
Bank and Gaza -- hostility has spilled over into bloodshed and
open conflict. // For too long, the passage of time in the
Middle East has been measured by wars waged. //
By now, it should be plain to all that peacemaking in the
Middle East requires compromise from all parties. At the same
time, peace brings real benefits to everyone. A comprehensive
peace must be grounded in United Nations Security Resolutions 242
and 338 and the principle of territory for peace. This principle
must be elaborated to provide for Israel's security and
recognition, and at the same time for legitimate Palestinian
political rights. Anything else would fail the twin tests of
fairness and security. Let us bury the legacy of the 1967
conflict, once and for all. The time has come to put an end to
Arab-Israeli enmity. //
History has shown that this task will be far from easy. But
I guarantee you one thing: there will be no greater advocate of
peace in the Middle East than this President. //
6
Fourth, we must foster economic development for the sake of
peace and progress. The Persian Gulf and Middle East form a
region rich in natural resources -- with a wealth of untapped
human potential. The challenge is to promote open trade and
investment -- and achieve economic growth and opportunity for all
people of the region. //
By meeting these four challenges -- shared security
arrangements, controlling weapons of mass destruction, ending
Arab-Israeli enmity, and fostering economic development -- we can
build a framework for peace. / I have asked Secretary of State
Baker to go to the Middle East, to conduct a new round of
consultations. He will go to listen, to probe, to offer
suggestions -- to advance the search for peace and stability. I
have also asked him to raise the plight of the hostages held in
Lebanon. We have not forgotten them -- we will not forget them.
///
To all the challenges that confront this region of the
world, there is no single solution -- no solely American answer.
But we can make a difference. America will work tirelessly as a
catalyst for positive change. //
The consequênces of this conflict reach far beyond the
confines of the Middle East. // Twice before in this century,
an entire world waged wars against aggression. Twice this
century, out of the horrors of war emerged hope for a more
peaceful world. Twice before, those hopes proved to be a distant
dream, beyond the grasp of man. Until now, the world we've known
7
has been a world divided -- a world of barbed wire and concrete
block, conflict and Cold War. ///
Now, we can see a new world coming into view. A world where
the United Nations -- freed from the clash of ideologies -- is
poised to fulfill the historic vision of its founders. A world
in which there is the very real prospect of a new world order,
where the conduct of nations is guided by the rule of law. In
the words of Winston Churchill, a "world order" in which "the
principles of justice and fair play
protect the weak against
the strong
"
A world in which freedom and respect for human
rights find a home among all nations. //
The Gulf war put this new world to its first test. / And
my fellow Americans: We passed that test. //
For the sake of our principles -- for the sake of the
Kuwaiti people -- we stood our ground. // Because the world
would not look the other way -- Mr. Ambassador, tonight, Kuwait
is free. ///
Tonight, as our troops begin to come home let us recognize
that the hard work of freedom still calls us forward. / We've
learned the hard lessons of history. The victory over Iraq was
not "a war to end all wars. " This new world order does not mean
an era of perpetual peace.
But our victory sends a clear signal. To any dictator -- to
any would-be tyrant, anywhere in the world, the message is clear:
Aggression will not stand. ///
8
Our success in the Gulf will shape not only the new world
order we seek -- but our mission here at home. //
In the war just ended, there were clear-cut objectives --
time tables -- and, above all, an overriding imperative to
achieve results. We must bring that same sense of self-
discipline -- that same sense of urgency -- to the way we meet
challenges here at home.
We can build on our successes -- and complete the unfinished
business that remains. Last year, we passed a Crime Bill that
made a start in the right direction. This year, we've sent to
Congress our comprehensive crime package. Last year, we passed
the Air Transport Act. This year, we've sent up our new Highway
Bill -- the Surface Transportation Act. In 1990, we enacted an
historic Clean Air Act -- now we've sent forward a National
Energy Strategy. Last year, we passed a Child Care Bill that put
power in the hands of parents. Today, we're ready to do the same
thing with our schools, and expand choice in education. //
It's time to finish the job. Tonight, I call on Congress to
move forward aggressively on the domestic front. Let's begin
with education, transportation and crime -- and let's commit
ourselves to passing forward-looking legislation without delay.
If our forces managed to win the ground war in 100 hours -- then
surely, we can pass this legislation in 100 days. // Let that
be a promise we make tonight to the American people. //
Five weeks ago, when I spoke in this House about the State
of our Union, I asked all of you: if we can selflessly confront
9
evil for the sake of good in a land so far away -- then surely we
can make this land all that it should be. // In the time since
then, the brave men and women of DESERT STORM accomplished more
than even they may realize. They set out to confront an enemy
abroad -- and in the process, they transformed a nation at home.
Think of the way they went about their mission -- with
confidence and quiet pride. // Think about their sense of duty
-- about all they taught us -- about our values. About
ourselves. //
We hear so often about our young people in turmoil -- how
our children fall short -- how our schools fail us. How American
products and American workers are second-class. // Well, don't
you believe it. // The America we saw in DESERT STORM was
first-class talent -- using first-class technology and text-book
tactics. The excellence embodied in the Patriot missile -- and
the patriots who made it work. And soldiers who know about honor
and bravery and duty and country -- and the world-shaking power
of these simple words. // There is something noble and majestic
about the pride -- about the patriotism -- that we feel tonight.
So, to everyone here -- and everyone watching at home --
think about how we can honor the men and women of DESERT STORM.
Let us honor them with our gratitude -- I ask the Congress
to join with me in proclaiming a special day of thanksgiving,
[DATE].
Let us comfort the families of the fallen -- and remember
each precious life lost. / /
10
Let us learn from them as well. Let us honor those who have
served us / by serving others. //
Let us honor them as individuals -- men and women of every
race, all creeds and colors -- by setting the face of this nation
against discrimination, against bigotry and hate. ///
I'm sure many of you saw on television the unforgettable
scene of four terrified Iraqi soldiers surrendering. They
emerged from their bunker -- broken, tears streaming from their
eyes, fearing the worst. / And then there was the American
sergeant. Remember what he said? "It's okay. You're all right
now. // You're all right now." //
That scene says a lot about America -- a lot about who we
are. // Americans are a humble people. We are a good people -
- a generous people. A people who believe in justice. Let us
always be humble and good and generous and just in all we do.
///
Soon, our troops will begin the march we've all been waiting
for -- their march home. // Let it remind us that those who
have gone before are linked with us in the long line of freedom's
march. Americans have always tried to serve -- to sacrifice
nobly for what we believe to be right. That proves that we can
come together with respect and compassion to serve a larger
purpose. //
[[Tonight, I want to announce that during the week of May
11th the nation will celebrate the return of our troops. ]] Every
Main Street in every city and town in America will welcome them,
11
with open arms. They may have missed Thanksgiving and Christmas
-- but I can tell you this: for them and for their families, the
day they come home will be a holiday they' 11 never forget. //
In a very real sense, this victory belongs to them -- to the
privates and the pilots, to the sergeants and the supply
officers, to the men and women in the machines, and the men and
women who made them work. It belongs to the 101st Airborne. The
2nd Marine. To the 24th Mechanized -- the Wisconsin and the
Saratoga -- the 1st Tactical Fighter Wing. This victory belongs
to the finest fighting force this nation has ever known. ///
Let us honor those who have served us -- those who have
shown us all that America means to the world -- by making certain
that we here are worthy of them. ///
May God bless this great nation -- the United States of
America.
# # #
12
cultivate in ourselves -- in everything we do -- that same sense
of humanity. A saving sense of humility -- and let that kind and
generous spirit shine forth in all that America does. //
The fruits of this victory are far more than a free Kuwait.
By defending one nation's right to exist -- we made every nation
more secure. // It is that willingness to act together that is
the world's best hope for lasting peace. ///
13
Finally, let us pray that this pain and loss and tragedy will
move man to seek peace with all his strength.
Together, we rejoice -- but we do not rest. We give thanks
-- bind up our wounds -- and begin anew the hard work of freedom,
at home and around the world. //
// Let history mark this moment as a turning point in pursuit of
peace.
Let's recognize right here and now what that means for our
own defenses. It's time to turn away from politics-as-usual --
from the temptation to protect unneeded weapons systems and
obsolete bases. It's time to put an end to micro-managing
security assistance programs. It's time to enact a national
energy strategy that reduces our vulnerability to foreign oil.
In short, it is time to rise above the parochial and the pork-
barrel -- and do what's necessary and right. //
McGroarty/Dooley
April 17, 1991
11 a.m.
[EDSTRAT]
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: NATIONAL EDUCATION STRATEGY
THE EAST ROOM
APRIL 18, 1991
2:00 P.M.
[Introductory acknowledgements.] My thanks to you for
joining me here. I've asked all of you -- Governors, educators,
business and labor leaders, members of Congress -- and especially
Rae Ellen McKee, the national teacher of the year, who is here
with 10 of the previous 11 teachers of the year // -- to join me
at the White House today. Together, we will underscore the
importance of a challenge destined to define the America we'll
know in the next century.
For those of you close to my age, the 21st Century has
always been a kind of shorthand for the distant future -- the
place we put our most far-off hopes and dreams. Today, the 21st
Century races toward us. Anyone who wonders what that century
will look like can find the answer -- in America's classrooms.
Nothing better defines what we are -- and what we will
become -- than the education of our children. To quote the
landmark case, Brown V. Board of Education, "It is doubtful that
any child may reasonably be expected to succeed in life if he is
denied the opportunity of an education."
Education has always meant opportunity. Today, education
determines not just which students will succeed, but also which
nations will thrive in a world united in pursuit of freedom and
enterprise. //
2
Think about the changes transforming our world: the
collapse of communism and Cold War. The advent -- and
acceleration -- of the information age. Down through history,
we've defined resources as soil and stones -- land and the riches
buried beneath. No more: our greatest natural resource lies
within ourselves -- our intelligence -- ingenuity -- the capacity
of the human mind. Nations that nurture ideas will move forward
in years to come. Nations that stick to stale old notions and
ideologies will falter and fail.
I'm here to say America will move forward. The time for all
the reports and rankings -- for all the studies and surveys about
what's wrong in our schools -- is past.
If we want to keep America competitive in the coming century
-- we must stop convening panels to report the obvious -- and we
must accept responsibility for educating everyone among us,
regardless of background or disability.
If we want America to remain a leader, a force for good in
the world -- we must lead the way in educational innovation.
If we want to combat crime and drug abuse -- if we want to
create hope and opportunity in the bleak corners of this country
where there is now nothing but defeat and despair -- we must
dispell the darkness with the enlightenment that a sound and
well-rounded education produces. //
Think about every problem, every challenge we face today.
The solution to each starts with education.
3
For the sake of the future -- of our children and our nation
-- we must transform America's schools. The days of the status
quo are over. //
Across this country, people have started to transform the
American school. They know that the time for talk, talk is over.
Their slogan is: Don't dither. Just do it.
Let's push the reform effort forward -- use each experiment,
each advance, to build for the next American Century -- new
schools for a new world. //
As a first step in this strategy, we must challenge not only
the methods and the means we've used in the past -- but also the
yardsticks we've used to measure our progress.
Let's stop trying to measure progress in terms of money
spent. We spend 33% more per pupil in 1991 than we did in 1981 -
- 33% more in real, constant dollars -- and I don't think there's
a person anywhere who would say we've seen a 33% improvement in
our schools' performance.
Dollar bills don't educate students. Education depends on
committed communities -- determined to be places where learning
will flourish. Committed teachers -- freed from non-educational
burdens. Committed parents -- determined to support excellence.
Committed students -- excited about school and learning. To those
who want to see real improvement in American education, I say:
There will be no renaissance without revolution. //
We who would be revolutionaries must accept responsibility
for our schools. For too long, we've adopted a "no fault"
4
approach to education: Someone else is always to blame. And
while we point fingers, students suffer. Well, there's no place
for a no fault attitude in our schools. It's time we held our
schools -- and ourselves -- accountable for results.
Until now, we've treated education like a manufacturing
process, assuming that if the gauges seemed right -- if we had
good pay scales, the right pupil-teacher ratios -- good students
would pop out of our schools. It's time to turn things around -
- to focus on students. To set standards for our schools -- and
let teachers and principals figure out how best to meet them. //
We've made a good beginning by setting the nation's sights
on six ambitious National Education Goals -- and setting for our
target the year 2000. Our goals have been forged in partnership
with this nation's Governors -- and they're well known to
everyone in this room. For those who need a refresher course [[-
- there may be a quiz on this later--]] let me list those goals
right now. // By 2000, we've got to
One: Ensure that every child starts school ready to learn;
Two: Raise the high school graduation rate to 90 percent;
Three: Ensure that each student leaving the 4th, 8th and
12th grades can demonstrate competence in five core subjects.
Four: Make our students first in the world in math and
science achievement;
Five: Ensure that every American adult is literate, and has
the skills necessary to compete in a global economy and exercise
the rights and responsibilities of citizenship;
5
And Six: Liberate every American school from drugs and
violence, so that schools encourage learning. //
Our strategy to meet these noble, national goals is founded
in common sense -- and common values. It's ambitious -- and yet,
with hard work, it's within our reach. And -- I can outline our
strategy in one paragraph. Here it is:
For today's students, we must make existing schools better
and more accountable. For tomorrow's students -- the next
generation -- we must create a new generation of American
schools. For all of us -- for the adults who think our school
days are over -- we've got to become a nation of students --
recognize that learning is a lifelong process. Finally, outside
our schools, we must cultivate communities where learning can
happen. // That's our strategy.
You know, people who want Washington to "solve" our
educational problems are missing the point. We can lend
appropriate help through such programs as Head Start. But what
happens here in Washington won't matter half as much as what
happens in each school, each local community, and each home.
Still, the federal government will serve as a catalyst for change
in several ways:
Working closely with the Governors, we will define new World
Class Standards for schools, teachers and students in the five
core subjects: math and science, English, history and geography.
We will develop voluntary national tests for 4th, 8th and
12th Graders in the five core subjects. These American
6
Achievement Tests will tell parents and educators -- politicians
and employers -- just how well our schools are doing. I am
determined to have the first of these tests -- for 4th Graders -
- in place by the time school starts in September 1993. //
And for high-school seniors, let's add another incentive --
a distinction sure to attract the attention of colleges and
companies in every community across the country: a Presidential
Citation to students who excel on the 12th Grade test. //
We can encourage educational excellence by encouraging
parental choice. The concept of choice draws its strength from
the principle at the very heart of the democratic idea. Every
adult American has the right to vote -- the right to decide where
to work -- where to live. It's time parents were free to choose
the schools their children attend. This approach will create the
competitive climate that stimulates excellence in our private and
parochial schools as well.
//
But the centerpiece of our national education strategy is
not a program or a test. It's a challenge: To re-invent
American education -- to design New American Schools for the year
2000 and beyond.
This idea is simple but powerful: put America's special
genius for invention to work for America's schools.
I will challenge communities to become what we will call
America 2000 communities. Governors will honor communities with
this designation if the communities embrace the national
education goals, create local strategies for reaching them,
7
devise report cards for measuring progress, and agree to
encourage and support one of the new generation of American
schools.
We must also foster educational innovation. I am delighted
to announce today that America's business leaders -- under the
leadership of Paul O'Neill -- will create the New American
Schools Development Corporation: a private sector research and
development fund of at least $150 million dollars to generate
innovation in education. This fund offers an open challenge to
the dreamers and doers eager to re-invent and reinvigorate our
schools.
With the results of this R&D in hand, I will urge Congress
to provide one million dollars in start-up funds for each of 535
New American Schools -- at least one in every congressional
district -- and to have them up and running by 1996. //
The New American Schools must be more than rooms full of
children seated at computers. If we mean to prepare our children
for life, classrooms also must cultivate values and good
character -- give real meaning to right and wrong. //
We ask only two things: that their students meet the new
national standards for the five core subjects and that outside of
the costs of the initial R&D, the schools operate on a budget
comparable to conventional schools. //
The architects of the New American Schools should break the
mold. Build for the next century. Re-invent the American
school. No question should be off-limits -- no answers assumed.
8
We're not after one single solution for every school. We're
interested in finding every way to make schools better.
There's a special place in inventing the New American School
for the corporate community -- business and labor. I invite you
to work with us not simply to transform our schools, but to
transform every American adult into a student. Fortunately, we
have a secret weapon in America's system of colleges and
universities -- the finest in the world.
The corporate community can take the lead by creating a
voluntary private system of World Standards for the workplace.
Employers should set up Skill Centers where workers can seek
advice and learn new skills. But most importantly, every company
and every labor union must bring the worker into the classroom -
- and bring the classroom into the workplace. We'll encourage
every Federal agency to do the same. And to prove no one's ever
too old to learn, I'll become a student again myself. I'll soon
start trying to become more proficient on the computer. ///
The workplace isn't the only place we must improve
opportunities for education. Across this nation, we must
cultivate communities where children can learn. Communities
where the school is more than a refuge -- more than a solitary
island of calm amid chaos. Where the school is the living center
of a community where people care for each other and their futures
-- not just in the school but in the neighborhood. Not just in
the classroom, but in the home.
9
Our challenge amounts to nothing less than a revolution in
American education -- a battle for our future. Now, I ask all
Americans to be points of light in the crusade that counts most -
- the crusade to prepare our children and ourselves for the
exciting future that looms ahead.
What I've spoken about this afternoon are the broad strokes
of our national education strategy: accountable schools for
today -- a new generation of schools for tomorrow. A nation of
students committed to a lifetime of learning -- in communities
where all our children can learn. //
There are four people here today who symbolize each element
of this strategy -- and point the way forward for our reforms.
Four of our guests symbolize each element of this strategy:
Esteban Pagan, Steve, an award-winning 8th grade student in
science and history at East Harlem Tech - a choice school.
Mike Hopkins, "Lead Teacher" at the Saturn School in St.
Paul, Minnesota, where teachers have helped re-invent the
American school.
David Kelley -- a high-tech troubleshooter at the Michelin
Tire plant in Greenville, South Carolina. David has spent the
equivalent of one full year of his four years at Michelin back at
his college expanding his skills.
Finally, Michelle Moore of Missouri -- a single mother
active in Missouri's Parents as Teachers program. She wants her
year-old son Alston to arrive for his first day of school ready
to learn. ///
10
For these four people -- and for all the others like them -
- the revolution in American education has already begun.
Now, I ask all Americans to be points of light in the
crusade that counts most -- the crusade to prepare our children
and ourselves for the exciting future that looms ahead.
At any moment, in every mind, the miracle of learning
beckons us all. Between now and the year 2000, there is not one
moment -- or one miracle -- to waste. //
Thank you -- and may God bless the United States of America.
# # #
CLOSE HOLD
Document No.
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
92 FEB 14 P3:25 P3: 25
DATE: 2/14/92
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY:
3:00 PM TODAY
SUBJECT: PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: PINKERTON ACADEMY
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
HORNER NK
SKINNER
MCBRIDE N/C
SCOWCROFT Bootleam
medium MOORE 2533
DARMAN
PETERSMEYER
BRADY.
PORTER
BROMLEY
ROGICH
N/C
CALIO steve.
ROLLINS
N/L
DEMAREST
SMITH N/C
FITZWATER
FINDLAY
GRAY
N/C
KAUFMAN
HOLIDAY N/C
REMARKS:
Please forward your comments directly to Tony Snow, Rm. 122,
x2930, no later than 3:00 PM TODAY, with a copy to this office.
Thank you.
RESPONSE:
lingo
PHILLIP D. BRADY
Assistant to the President
CLOSE HOLD
and Staff Secretary
Ext. 2702
McGroarty/Bunton
February 14, 1992
82
FEB14
12:00 noon
PI2
[RAILY]
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: PINKERTON ACADEMY
DERRY, NEW HAMPSHIRE
FEBRUARY 15, 1992
7:00 P.M.
[Introductory acknowledgements.] Governor Gregg. // Hats
off to the parents, students and staff of Pinkerton Academy for
opening the gym for tonight's event. Thanks to Restless Heart
for sending a little music our way. [[ It's great to hear some
Country & Western. It's so much better than listening to the
Democrats sing the Blues. ]]
And of course, my thanks to my good friend Arnold.
[[Arnold's working on a new film about Congress: He calls it The
Procrastinator. / But you know, I may just take a tip from the
Kindergarten Cop. When Congress doesn't behave -- take away
their recess. ]]
I thank all of you for coming from the four corners of New
Hampshire to Derry on this Saturday night. You're here for the
same reason I'm here -- together, we're going to make things
happen.
And if anyone can, we can. From the fall of the Berlin Wall
to the last gasp of Imperial Communism -- from the four decades
of the Cold War to the forty days of Desert Storm -- America has
led the way. America has changed the world. //
Now the change -- and the challenge -- have come home. Time
after time, we lifted ourselves up. Time after time, we asked
more of ourselves -- more of each other.
2
Each time, America met the challenge.
This time, America will do it again. //
So if New Hampshire's looking for someone to lead the way,
look my way. I've set the mission. I've laid out the plan. And
I won't rest -- until the job is done. //
Next Tuesday, New Hampshire makes its choice. You take part
in this state's proud tradition as first in the nation. You know
this is serious business. You understand the importance of your
vote. You go to the polls -- not to send a signal. Not to
register a protest. You go to the polls to pick a President.
The first order of business in this election is the economy.
Count on this: I will fight to get this economy moving again --
to get New Hampshire back on the road to recovery.
Three weeks ago I laid out my plan, to New Hampshire and the
nation. My plan cuts taxes for American families. It boosts
investment -- creates new jobs. It will help restore the value
of real estate -- and it will take an axe to wasteful government
spending.
You know what I think: My plan is just what the economy
ordered. But when it comes down to me and the other candidates,
here's the only difference that counts: I have a plan -- and
they don't have a clue.
Everyone knows we've got to work fast to get the economy up
on its feet. But listen to the other side: they're pushing
protectionism -- escape from economic reality. They say they're
going to play defense. They're going to fight back. / Sounds
3
tough -- until you think about it. It's not the school-yard
bully -- it's the boy who wants to take his ball and go home.
Well, America's not that kind of country.
We're not a nation that locks the doors, pulls down the
shades and tells the world to go away. / Our national symbol
isn't the ostrich -- it's the eagle. ///
Never in this nation's long history has America turned its
back on a challenge -- and we won't start now. We don't cut and
run -- we compete.
To succeed economically at home -- you've got to lead
economically abroad. And the world must know: America is in it
to win.
You see: I believe in the American worker. / Let's not
build walls. Let's open markets -- help our workers go head-to-
head. When they do, the world will see: The American worker can
out-think, out-produce and out-perform the competition --
anywhere, / anytime. //
I ask the people of New Hampshire to remember: change
brings new challenges. But character endures.
Yes, times have changed -- but this year in New Hampshire
you still hear the same old song. The leaves turn, the snow
falls -- the candidates come. They descend on your communities -
- knock on your doors, shake hands, share a cup of coffee -- and
they tell you what they think you want to hear.
4
Well neighbor to neighbor, let me say: They can walk I-93
from the North Country all the way to Nashua -- but they still
can't get it right.
Whatever the question, whatever the problem, they've got one
answer: more government. // They say: Let the government tell
you where you can send your kids to school. Let the government
run day-care. Let the government tell you when the doctor is in.
Oh yes, and while you're at it: let the government take a
little more in taxes.
When you're working hard, worrying about how to keep your
job -- they've got no answer. But lose your paycheck -- well,
then they're ready: they'll give you a government check. //
But for all the time they've spent, I don't see that message
getting anywhere. Not here -- not in New Hampshire. When they
say government-knows-best -- I say: New Hampshire knows better.
New Hampshire has it right: limit government -- not
freedom.
That's the principle -- and here's the first rule of reform:
everything you need to know about the federal government in one
sentence: Government's too big -- and it spends too much. //
I will fight for welfare reform -- and I will fight against
the system that provides for the body but saps the soul. We must
tie welfare to the work ethic -- and revive a sense of
responsibility. //
I will fight for a revolution in American education -- and I
will fight against the status quo that wants to sink more money
5
into schools that just don't work. I say: Put children first -
- give parents school choice.
I will fight for choice in child care -- and I will fight
against any plan that warehouses our kids in some brave new child
care bureaucracy. Put parents first -- preserve the values
closest to home.
I will fight for health care for all Americans -- and I will
fight against any scheme that puts government between you and
your doctor. National health care would be a national disaster.
I will not give the last rites to the best-quality health care
system in the world.
I will fight for the family -- against the forces that make
it weak. Because when the family comes first -- America is
first. //
It all comes down to next Tuesday. Don't let anyone tell
you it doesn't matter. Because you don't just choose a candidate
-- you choose a future, set the course this country will follow
for the next five years. Here's what I know about this country's
future: No matter how tough times are now -- America's best day
always lies ahead. / I believe that now. I'll believe it every
day I live -- because that's the great glory of America. //
I felt it today, from Nashua to New Boston and each stop in
between. The people of New Hampshire -- like citizens all across
this country -- are ready to move ahead, ready to move forward to
meet a new American destiny.
6
Everyone sees the need for change. Everyone feels the
excitement. Everyone is impatient to begin. //
Everyone, that is -- except the Congress. 11
Nearly three years ago, I called on Congress to pass a no-
nonsense crime bill. Three years, and no action. Almost three
years ago, I asked Congress to join the revolution in education.
Three years -- no action. Three times in three years, I sent
Congress a growth package. Three times it's gone up -- and three
times it's gone nowhere.
And then Congress complains that nothing gets done.
It's been more than two weeks now since I sent up my action
plan -- my seven-point package to stimulate economic growth. Two
weeks -- and where's Congress? Well, I say: Ring the bell:
Recess is over.
[[Now, I know Congress can't do it overnight.
That's why I gave them 52 days. //]]
But they say: The deadline is arbitrary.
They say: The deadline is too early.
They say: The deadline is unfair. //
You know what I say.
The deadline is March 20. ///
I challenge the Congress: Don't bury my plan in some sub-
committee / don't declare it D.O.A. / don't resort to
parliamentary tricks to make my plan vanish without a trace. //
I say to the leaders who control the Congress: bring my plan to
7
the floor. Put my plan to a vote. Pass my plan -- and get this
economy moving again. //
But you know, I can't do it without your help. So I ask all
of you -- all your neighbors across New Hampshire: Send a
message to the Congress. Tell them America is ready to move.
Tell them the time has come to act. //
Thank you, New Hampshire, for your trust and support. And
God bless this great land we share -- the United States of
America.
# # #
McGroarty/Bunton
April 2, 1992
11:00 am
[ASNE]
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: AMERICAN SOCIETY OF NEWSPAPER EDITORS
J.W. MARRIOT
APRIL 9, 1992
1:45 P.M.
{Acknowledgements/Introductory section.} I understand I'm
on the "undercard" for the Brown-Clinton bout tomorrow.
Even in the age of VCRs and CNN, it's still possible to stir
passion with the printed word. //
Look around the world today. 7 Think of the Page One
stories of the past few years. Our victory in the Cold War, /
the collapse of imperial communism, / the liberation of Kuwait,
the great Revolutions of '89 that brought down the Berlin Wall -
- and brought a new world of freedom to Eastern Europe. Think of
the role this nation played in every one of these great triumphs
-- the sacrifices we made, the sense of mission that carried us
through.
Each day brings new changes: new nations, new realities --
new hopes and new horizons. Yes, dictators have given way to
democracy -- and yet dangers remain. We've put an end to a long
era of military confrontation -- and entered a new age of
economic competition. But the challenges we face -- the sheer
complexity of our world -- can't obscure the basic values that
guide this Nation. Times change, but truths endure. I'm talking
about the big issues that shape our world -- about the values
close to home. Everything I've done -- I've done to preserve and
2
advance three precious legacies: strong families. Good jobs. A
world at peace.
Securing those legacies has been my mission as President --
and it will be my mission today and every day, now and for the
next four years. //
Right now, the number one concern for most Americans is the
economy -- and turning this economy around, creating jobs, is the
mission that matters most. Listen to what people say about the
economy. Get beneath the cold statistics -- down to the real
heart of this issue. People want to know whether they can keep
the good job they've got -- and whether they're on track for a
better one. For their kids, they've got grander visions: not
just a job -- a career. Work that means more than simply making
ends meet: Work that gives real meaning to their lives. //
I want to speak today about government's role in all of
this.
/
No, we can't legislate the American Dream. But
government can serve as an agent for change -- clearing away the
obstacles to economic growth and the unnecessary costs of doing
business. Expanding the opportunities for aggressive businesses
and enterprising individuals to create new jobs. Training and
educating our children -- giving them the tools of thought
they'll need to compete in the new world economy. //
The fate of America's economic future rests on five pillars:
On free trade -- our ability to break down barriers, open new
markets to American goods. Our future rests on legal reform --
on ending the explosion of litigation that strains our patience
3
and saps our economy. On health care reform -- opening up access
to all Americans, controlling the run-away cost of health care
without sacrificing choice and quality. Government reform --
because only if we reverse a generation of creeping bureaucracy,
only if we restore limits to government, can we restore public
trust. Finally, our future depends on education reform -- our
ability to revolutionize -- literally re-invent our schools:
prepare a new generation for the challenges of the next century.
To meet that challenge, we've got to turn our backs on the
status quo -- and set our sights on change. Today, I want to
focus on one reform that can shape the future right now. Talk to
people: ask them what they see as critical to their child's
future. Over and over, all the hopes and dreams rest on one
word: education. //
Education represents a perfect community of interest:
between the individual and society -- between one generation and
the next. Between the proud history we must pass on -- and the
path-breaking future we must create. // And in terms of
America's economic future -- education is nothing less than a
matter of economic survival. //
I'll spare this group the bleak statistics. Anyone who
worries about slack productivity or a bad balance of trade ought
to be alarmed about our children's test scores. Millions of
students work hard, millions of dedicated teachers do their best
-- and still, in one test after another, America's children score
at or near the bottom ranks of international achievement. //
4
Today, the problem's evident to anyone who picks up a
newspaper. If we fail to act -- a generation from now, the
problem will be: will there be anyone who picks a newspaper up?
Something is wrong with our schools. Recognizing that fact
is the first step toward reform. For the sake of our students,
we've got to shake off any sense of complacency -- and shake up
the status quo. It's the reason behind the education strategy I
call America 2000 -- a plan to help this country put an end to
business as usual -- to break the mold -- build a new generation
of American schools.
One year ago this month
2000: First in the world in
math and science --- and we should have in place a system of World
Class Standards and tests to measure students' progress. By the
year 2000, every American adult must be literate, every American
child must be ready to learn the day they first walk into the
classroom -- and every American school must be free of drugs,
free of the violence that today too often follows our kids into
the classroom.
These goals are not my goals. They're not the Governor's
goals. They are the nation's goals. //
America 2000 is built on four ideas:
We asked the Congress for funds to develop World Class
Standards in five core subjects -- and to establish a series of
voluntary American Achievement Tests to measure our children's
progress.
5
We asked the Congress for relief from the rigid formula-
grant approach that forces a one-size-fits-all solution on our
schools -- for the freedom to give teachers and principals in
every state and school district flexibility to apply resources
where they're needed most. [Example of adverse affect of formula
grants.]
Houston
We asked Congress for half-a-billion dollars to fund the
first New American Schools -- at least one in every Congressional
District across the country. These schools could make a quantum
leap into tomorrow's technologies --- or they could make a return
to the traditions, to the discipline and disciplines that marked
the schools of an earleir era. Each one of these schools would
be a laboratory of learning -- an experimental effort to re-
invent American education.
For far too long, we've shielded our schools from
competition -- allowed the system a damaging monopoly-power over
students. Well, just as monopolies are bad for the economy --
they're bad for education.
B
That's why America 2000 includes a common-sense idea called
school choice: every parent should have the power to choose
which school is best for his child -- public, private or
religious. //
And let's be clear: if we deny parents school choice --
let's recognize who's hurt worst by the status quo. It's not the
well-to-do. It's not the upper middle class. It's not any one
of us who ever went house-hunting with a map of the good school
p.3. change
I 've been talking
about the Spellars ilforms
education:
job.
employers can't ashed be
to retrain
6
districts. // Deny people school choice, and the ones you hurt
most are the Middle Class and lower -- and especially the poor.
That's why choice is catching on in some of the hardest-hit
neighborhoods in this nation. Talk to parents spearheading the
school choice crusade -- people like Polly Williams in Milwaukee.
They'll tell you how the lack of choice left them powerless to
force change -- how a public school bureaucracy turned students
into numbers and parents into pawns. Look at Milwaukee today --
pioneering school choice, giving poor parents control, and poor
children pride. // Look at the schools in East Harlem -- where
teachers put their names on waiting list to get a chance to teach
in a choice school. They can't wait to stand in front of a
classroom of children who want to be there -- who want to learn.
Choice works -- and here's why. When our students are a
captive audience --- our schools have no incentive to improve.
What competition brings to the economy -- choice can bring to
education. Say what you want about reforming our schools: If
you're for change -- you're for school choice.
The America 2000 crusade is catching fire all across the
move
country. Already, 43 states and more than 1000 communities --
up
the cities and towns your papers serve -- have joined the crusade
to transform American education. But here in Washington, D.C.,
the battle is far from over. Forces right now are waging a last-
ditch effort to put the brakes on change -- to preserve the
business-as-usual approach the present crisis in education.
4/2/92: See. Alexanders
Bob Slavin - Johns Hop his-
Break. the mold.
for all " theory.
prevention n of remidiation
early indirvention
How to prevent kids were falling behind?
1) tataing - certified teachers.
2) identify heds w/ physical/fouly cercumistances
Funded
that impede leaving
by Ch. dollars.- 3) "relentlennes"- assessments,
They are now
costs:
ponerty schoolo, qualified
every 8 weeks
"mandaring gaterges cheap
for reading.
"ealy"
for Chilfunds.
Family support team. /Comiseltors?
Implications for Ch. I projects:
Shewed assessments: Failing Girds helps NCÉ reading gains.
Ch.1 should offer a range of programs.
find staff development
obs tacles:
Federal Requirements:- or local state- interpretations of.
Deduc: Die
"non- Chil schools"
"a kid's full -time job."
give $ to school- - to be spent
ao they determine,
4.5 % of kids
70±00 above
Slavin: could be less than 1%
BrunoMauno.
401-3078.
7
At a time when change is imperative, Congressional
leadership is captive of the special interests. Too many members
march in lock-step with the N.E.A. monopoly -- folks who long ago
left the blackboard for the Beltway life, and left the real world
of parents, teachers and students far behind. //
Take a look at the bill now winding its way through the
Congress. Under the influence of the edu-crats, House and Senate
leaders have ignored the strategy I mapped out in America 2000.
Because Congress failed to act by their own April 1 deadline
-- our break-the-mold project lost $100 million dollars we could
have used this year. If the House has its way, funded this
project in name only -- funnelling more than $800 million into
existing business-as-usual state bureaucracies -- and not a penny
for the experimental schools we need.
Finally, Congress stripped out any mention of school choice
from their bill. The bill they claim will help our schools is an
exercise in cynicism -- call it the Status Quo Schools Act of
1992. They're going to paint anyone who opposes their bill as an
enemy of education -- and let election-year pressure do the rest.
Well, it won't work -- because when it comes to their children'
schools, the American people are too smart for that.
So today let me serve notice to education lobby and their
friends on Capitol Hill: No more business as usual
It'll be
just like you learned in civics class: for every bad bill,
there's a veto. //
8
The revolution in American education is already underway.
In our states, in our communities -- in individual schools -- the
old ways are being abandoned, There is nothing even Congress
can do to stop it.
The challenges we face call out for action. From our
schools to our courts, from our hospitals to the halls of
government, from our neighborhoods to the new realities of a new
world economy -- the need for reform won't wait. The only
acceptable response is the American response. We must rekindle a
revolution -- a revolution to bring change to the country that's
changed the world. //
Here's what I know about this country's future: No matter
how tough times get -- no matter what trials we face -- America's
best day always lies ahead. / I believed that when I was a boy.
I believe it now. I'll believe it every day I live -- because
that's the great glory of America. //
Thank you all for this warm welcome -- and may God bless the
United States of America.
# # #
a world of learning.