For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
March 29, 2001
Remarks by the President to African American Leaders
The East Room
4:00 P.M. EST
THE
PRESIDENT: Thank you all. The Legislative Branch
is always trying to take something from the Executive
Branch. (Laughter.) Thank you, J.C., for helping
set up this meeting. And thank you all for coming. It's my
honor that you're here, and I want to welcome you to the people's
home.
Before I
begin, I do want to make mention of the fact and ask you to join me in
a moment of silence -- a member of the United States Congress passed
away today, Norm Sisisky, from the state of Virginia. I know
you'll join me in asking God's blessing on Norm, as well as on Rhoda
and his four sons and seven grandchildren.
(A moment
of silence is observed.)
THE
PRESIDENT: Amen. Thank you very
much. Secretary Paige, thank you very much for being
here. I've known Rod a long time. You may
remember, at one time I was the governor of the great state of Texas.
(Laughter.) And we had a superintendent of schools in our
largest school district who insisted that every child could
learn. And he caught my attention by saying that, and then
not only insist that, he worked hard to make sure that that was the
case. And it's such an honor to have Rod make the sacrifice
of moving from Texas up here and becoming the Secretary of
Education. People are going to be proud of the job he
does. It doesn't matter what your political party is, you'll
be proud of the job this man does. Thank you,
sir. (Applause.)
I know the
Lt. Governor of the great state of Colorado is here, Joe
Rogers. And I don't know if Kenny Blackwell is here, from
Ohio. We've got elected officials, I know, from Oregon and
Nevada and all around the country. Thanks for coming.
I love the
old words of Jackie Robinson -- he one time said when President Kennedy
did something he disagreed with, he said, "The President is a fine
man. But he reserved the right to change his opinion."
(Laughter.) Every President, whatever his party, is judged
not only by the words he speaks, but more importantly, by the work he
leaves behind. And that's what I hope my administration is
judged on -- by the work we leave behind.
I will
constantly speak for the values that unite our country: personal
responsibility, equal justice, equal opportunity for everybody. These
are important common values. And I've set this
administration to the work of putting those values into practice and
into law.
The work
begins where opportunity usually begins, and that's in the
schoolhouses. I have made public education the number one
priority of this administration for a reason -- because when we get it
right, when every child learns, America will be a much more hopeful
place.
Today, all
the children -- there was a day when all the children couldn't enter
schools. Some of you may remember that. I'm not
trying to age you. (Laughter.) As a result of a
lot of hard work, that has changed. All children can enter
schools. But the fundamental question now is, once in
school, will all children learn. And that's the question all
of us must ask, and if not, we must insist on change. We
must insist on change. I've asked Congress to spend more
money on education. But I've also asked that we expect more
in return.
A good
education system is one that's based on some fundamental
principles. One is high expectations for every
child. You all know, those of you involved with education
know if you lower the bar, if you have low expectations, you get those
kind of results. If you assume certain children can't learn,
certain children won't learn. So, inherent in any good
reform system is one that sets high standards.
Secondly,
it's so important to trust the local folks, is to set power out of
Washington so as not to provide convenient excuses for
failure. We must align authority and responsibility at the
local level.
There's
nothing worse than having a school system where centralized authority
says you must do it this way and when there's failure, somebody says,
oh, we would have succeeded except somebody told me to do it the way we
didn't want to do it. Authority and responsibility must go
hand in hand.
And,
finally, at the center of reform, something Rod and I worked hard on in
Texas, is to measure, is to insist upon
accountability. There's a lot of fear about accountability
in the education system. People view it as a way to
punish. That's not our vision. We view it as a
way to correct.
How do you
know if a child isn't learning unless you measure? So it's
so important that Congress gets the message that in return for federal
help, states and local jurisdictions must develop accountability
systems that measure third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth
grade. It's important that we desegregate those results, so
that we treat each child as an individual. It is important
that we post the results so people know; and as importantly, when we
find success, thank the teachers and principals that are working
hard. But when we find failure, instead of accepting the
status quo, do something about it.
That's why
it's important to start measuring early. I've got a reading
initiative in front of the Congress that starts with those in
kindergarten. It basically says, in order to access the
money, you must develop diagnostic tools, so that we can determine
early whether a child needs extra help, extra time on
task. It says we'll use curriculum that works, not fancy,
feel-good theories, but curriculum that actually can take a child from
illiteracy to literacy. It says, if need be, teach reading
all day long, until you get it right, because literacy, as our friend,
Phyllis Hunter, said in Houston, Texas, is the new civil right.
And so this
is an education program that's based upon principles. I firmly believe
that when implement, that when in place, that we'll begin to achieve
the goal and dream that we all want, and that's an educated tomorrow.
I also know
that -- the importance of our Historically Black Colleges. I
know it well, because in our state of Texas, many of our finest
citizens have been educated at those places of higher
learning. And therefore, in the budget I've submitted to the
Congress, I'm asking for an increase of $1.4 billion over a 5-year
period of time. (Applause.) I hope Congress
doesn't blink. I hope they join us in this important
mission.
And people
say, well, is there money -- do you have enough money in Washington to
be able to make those kinds of commitments. Let me talk
about my budget, because there's a lot of discussion about
budgets. And I want to thank the House for passing what I
call a common-sense budget. It's a realistic budget. It's a
budget that has set priorities. One of the priorities is
education. In the budget is the amount of money I've just
spoken to. It's a budget that sets aside all the payroll
taxes for Social Security, and only Social Security.
That old
style, that old tired debate hopefully will be put to rest now forever,
so they don't try to scare folks away from good public
policy. The budget doubles the Medicare
budget. That's over a 10-year period of time we double the
Medicare budget. It's a budget that increases the -- doubles
the number of folks who will be served in the community health centers
over the next five years.
I don't
know if you know what the community health centers are. There places
where folks living on the edge of poverty, maybe the newly arrived, can
get good primary care in the health care system.
It's a
budget that talks about how do we enable the working uninsured to
purchase health insurance. It's a budget that grows by 4
percent in the discretionary side of things.
Now, 4
percent is greater than the rate of inflation; 4 percent is greater
than most people's paychecks have increased. But for some, 4
percent isn't enough. I happen to think it's just
right. Because by focusing and by having a budget that's
realistic, it leaves more money left over. And with this
economy beginning to sputter, we need to send some money back to the
people who pay the bills. We need to have meaningful, real
tax relief. (Applause.)
And we can
afford tax relief. We certainly can afford tax
relief. And that's the debate. Can you afford tax
relief, or do you want bigger government? And after setting
priorities -- and, by the way, paying down $2
trillion of debt over a 10-year period, and setting aside money for
contingencies -- I firmly stand on the side of letting people keep
their own money. It's not only good for the economy, it's
good for people, more importantly.
The crux of
the issue is, who do you trust with the money? And I trust
the people. It's their money, to begin with. This
surplus is not the government's money, it is the people's
money. And so we've submitted a plan that I think makes the
code more fair, eminently more fair.
If you're a
single mother in America, let's say, trying to raise two children -- if
she's at the income level of $22,000 and makes an additional dollar,
she will pay a higher marginal rate on that dollar than someone who
makes $225,000 a year. The way our tax code is structured is
that for every additional dollar above the level of $22,000, in this
case, for this particular woman, she starts losing her earned income
tax credit, she pays a 15-percent bracket for the first time and she
pays payroll taxes.
Our code is
structured so that somebody struggling to get ahead, somebody working
the hardest job in America, pays a higher marginal rate than successful
folks -- Wall Street bankers. And that's not
right. And that's not fair. So one of the things
we have done is we work with Congress to drop the bottom rate from 15
percent to 10 percent, and doubled the child credit from $500 to
$1,000, making the middle class easier to access than the current
code. The code is more fair. (Applause.)
I also drop
the top rate -- 39.6 percent to 33 percent. My attitude is
that everybody who pays taxes ought to get tax relief. I get nervous
when I hear we're going to have targeted tax cuts. I guess
that's okay, just so long as you're not targeted
out. (Laughter.) Just so long as the target is
fixed in the right way. I don't believe in trying to pick or
choose winners and losers in good public policy. I think
everybody who pays taxes ought to get relief.
But I have
been reminding people around here about the benefits of dropping the
top rate, and it's important for you all to hear this. By
far, the vast majority of small businesses are unincorporated
businesses, sole proprietorships, maybe subchapter-S corporations, all
of which pay taxes at the highest marginal rate.
There's a
lot of discussion, and rightly so, about how do we encourage ownership
in all communities in America. Well, one way to do so is to
have an environment for the growth of small businesses in America. It
turns out there are many hundreds of African Americans who are starting
their own business. And public policy people got to think
about how to create an environment so that those businesses can
flourish. And one way to do so is to let people keep more of
their own cash flow so they can reinvest it. Seventy-five
percent of the new jobs -- (applause) -- 75 percent of the new jobs in
America are created by small businesses. And 100 percent --
100 percent -- of the great hope of America comes when somebody owns
and company. And that's what it's all about.
So I urge
Congress not to get trapped in the -- kind of the rhetoric of class
warfare, and think about the positive benefits that come by encouraging
the growth of the small business sector of America.
I see many
of my friends here who are involved in the faith community, and I want
to thank you all for coming. As you know, there's been a lot
of discussion about a faith-based initiative. My attitude is
that government can pass laws and we can work on matters of justice --
and, by the way, we will. Racial profiling is wrong. I've
instructed the Attorney General to come up with a plan to end
it. (Applause.) And he's following through.
But what
government cannot do is cause people to love one another. I
wish we could. We would sign the bill. J.C. will
sponsor it -- (laughter) -- I think, won't you? And I will
sign it. (Laughter.) But love comes as a result
of a higher calling, in many cases. Love comes from
hearts. And our job in America is to gather the great
compassion of America.
You know,
we were talking about, earlier -- I remember my friend, Tony Evans,
gave a speech outside of Dallas, in Greenville, Texas. And
he talked about the greatest welfare programs are on every street
corner in America. Because there are houses of worship where
people have heard the universal call to love a neighbor like they'd
like to be loved, themselves. People who spend their days trying to
help a neighbor in need.
Government
can't make people do that. We've got to recognize the
limitations. But what government can do is encourage
faith-based programs and their mission. What government can
do is fund an individual who we'd like to help, and let that individual
make a choice as to whether or not they want to find help in a secular
program or in a faith-based program. Government can do
that. (Applause.)
And we can
do that without offending the process-oriented people who worry about
church and state. We shouldn't breach the line of church and
state, but we should welcome faith-based initiatives and faith-based
programs, that use a powerful, powerful way of changing people's
lives. That's called the power of faith. You change
somebody's heart, you change their lives. And government
shouldn't fear faith-based initiatives. As a matter of fact,
we ought to welcome them.
And I want
to thank those in the room who have been on the forefront of change --
of helping us change government attitude toward a policy that I'm
absolutely convinced is going to positively affect the lives of
thousands of people. One such initiative that we've asked
for Congress to fund is a mentoring program for boys and girls whose
mom or dad may be in prison. (Applause.)
And so
these are some of the goals that we're working on here in
Washington. I cannot do it alone. One, I've
assembled a great team of people, of good people, like Rod and
others. I was today with the Chancellor of Germany, at the
Oval Office, there and the little dining room. And sitting
next to me were Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice, as we were effecting
foreign policy that affects the world. And I've got a great
team of people around me.
As you can
tell, I welcome good, strong folks. I guess the sign of a
chief executive officer who knows what he's doing. And I
empower them, and I work with them. But we can also do some
other things. We can help work to change the culture of
Washington, and to kind of tone down, dial down the rhetoric and dial
up success. (Applause.)
I'm doing
my very best to stop the name-calling and the finger-pointing, to say
that good people can disagree in an agreeable way. It's so important
that we have mutual respect in the Nation's Capital. The
issues that I've talked about, I don't particularly -- I don't think
are necessarily Republican issues. I think they're good
policy issues. I think these are issues that are best for
everybody in the country; otherwise, I wouldn't be promoting
them. And I know we can do a better job. And I
hope the country's beginning to get a sense that there is now a culture
of respect in Washington, D.C., and, as importantly, a culture of
accomplishment, that we're getting some things done.
And not
everybody's going to agree with every detail, but we're getting things
done. And that's important, because, after all, those of us
who have assumed the high offices we hold must understand we have a
responsibility to those offices. We have a responsibility to
conduct ourselves in ways in which somebody will say, I'd like to
serve. Public service is a noble calling. Public
service is important to this nation.
But you
don't have to be a president or a congressman or a secretary of a
cabinet to affect people's lives in a positive way. And
that's a message I'm also trying to spread -- that the true strength of
this country really isn't in the halls of government or in the White
House; it's in the hearts and souls of people who live all across
America, without government, without a president saying to go do this
-- just walk across the street and say to somebody in need, what can I
do to help.
And that's
why I'm so optimistic about America, and so optimistic about our
future, and so thankful that you are here to give me a chance to talk
about our vision. Thanks for coming, and God
bless. (Applause.)
END 4:20
P.M. EST
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