For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
May 22, 2001
Remarks by the President to the National Leadership of the Hispanic Faith-Based Organizations
Dwight D. Eisenhower Executive Office Building
Listen to the President's Remarks
2:40 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you,
all. I now know why he's a Baptist
preacher. (Laughter.)
Thank you,
Luis, and thank you, Jesse, and thank you all for coming. Before I say
a few remarks, I want to introduce some folks. I appreciate
so very much the members from the United States Congress who are here:
Ileana and Lincoln and Henry from the great state of
Texas. Thank you so much for being here. It's a
sign of unity that you're here, and I look forward to working with
you. (Applause.)
I reached into
Philadelphia to ask a man to run the office of the Faith-Based
Initiative. Fortunately, John Dilulio, who is one of the
advanced thinkers about how to help people, how the nation should
eradicate poverty, has joined my staff. What we're about to
talk about is an incredibly serious effort to make sure that the
American promise extends its reach in every
neighborhood. And John is leading the office and for that I
am most grateful, John. Thank you very
much. (Applause.)
And Lisa Trevino
Cummins is helping John, as well. This is an important part
of my administration. Because I want the great hope of
America to be existent in every household in our country. I
worry about a society that could become divided between those who have
and those who don't. I'm concerned about the fact that
certain children are being left behind in America.
My vision includes everybody. It's
described as compassionate conservatism, but I emphasize the
compassion. The problem is government is not a very
compassionate organization. We can fund -- and we should --
budgets, there is a lot of talk about budgets. We've
submitted budgets that increase spending on social
services. We've got what's called a compassion fund, that
matches -- a $500, a million-dollar fund that will encourage
faith-based initiatives throughout the country.
But the dilemma and the problem in the past
has been that somewhere along the line everybody thought government
could make people love one another. And that's not the way
it works. And if part of the future of the country is to
love a neighbor like you would like to be loved yourself, it seems to
follow then our government must welcome, not discriminate against,
faith-based organizations who are providing
that. (Applause.)
I hope the
Congress does not get caught up in the stale, old process argument of
the legalisms involved with encouraging organizations of faith to help
people in need. Because as Louise mentioned, there is
precedent. We fund religious hospitals through Medicare and
Medicaid. There is scholarship money for children to use at
religious institutions.
Why does it not
follow, I asked the Congress and those folks elected, that we not allow
faith-based programs to compete for taxpayers' money if the services
they provide are necessary and the results are positive? The
argument is, let us focus on the process. We're saying, let
us focus on the results. (Applause.)
The way I like to put it -- I gave a speech at
Notre Dame last Sunday, it was a speech that said, it started with
talking about President Lyndon Johnson's speech at the University of
Texas, kicking off the war on poverty. It recognized that
that war on poverty had some positive effects. It also recognized,
though, it had created a dependency on government. It had a
perverse effect.
So then the welfare law came
along in 1996, signed by my predecessor, it had bipartisan support,
that tried to address the concept of dependency upon
government. But we need to take it a step further, because
there are still people who hurt and people whose lives are affected,
people whose hearts need mending. Government must be active
to fund the services, but humble to recognize the power of neighborhood
healers and helpers; humble to step aside when somebody can do a better
job.
I've been so impressed by the
faith-based leaders I've met all around our country, because there is a
genuine commitment to the poor and the disadvantaged. And
that's a commitment that we must channel and a commitment we must
harvest. I used to say in the campaign, I look forward to
rallying the soldiers and the armies of compassion. And I
mean that.
Our nation is so unique in this
way: we are a nation of people who have heard a call to love
a neighbor. We really are. I was sharing with the
good leaders that came to visit me about the fact that everywhere I go
people say, Mr. President, I'm praying for you. They're not
saying it's a Democrat prayer or a Republican
prayer. (Laughter.) It's just prayer. (Laughter
and applause.)
It reminds me on a daily basis
about the great hope and promise of America. It also reminds
me how lucky I am to be the President of a great land, where people
truly care about our country. It also reminds me about what
government ought to do. We ought to set money out there to
encourage faith-based initiatives.
At the
same time, we must never be so arrogant as to say, you can't fulfill
your mission if you access federal money, therefore, you have to change
the entire mission of why you exist. I understand the
frustrations with some in the faith-based community, and the
nervousness as they approach this issue. They say to
themselves, why would I want to access federal money if the federal
government then tries to take away my mission, to take the cross off
the wall or the Star of David off the wall. Why would I want
to interface with a government that's going to say, we'll reluctantly
give you money, and then force you to change your calling.
Well, I can understand that. And
one of our commitments is that we will work tirelessly to make sure
that bureaucracies don't stifle the very reason you exist in the first
place, and the power of your ministries, which is faith -- which is
faith.
And so my message to you is thanks for
what you're doing. You'll have a friend and an advocate in
this administration that marches side-by-side -- side-by side; that we
will do our very level best to make sure that the bureaucratic
obstacles are cleared and that people in need are able to get help.
In the course of the campaign I tried to
explain what a faith-based initiative meant to many members of the
press that followed me and, of course, many citizens. I'll
never forget going to Colfax, Iowa for a teen challenge
program. You know, sometimes people accuse me of not being
very articulate. (Laughter.) English is my second
language. (Laughter.) But there was nothing more
articulate than seeing a person who had been hooked on serious drugs
stand up and explain to the nation -- at least those willing to listen
-- how he kicked drugs because faith had entered into his life.
It's hard to measure that. There is
no formula for that. You can't write a regulation or a
bureaucratic rule that suggests that that happen. But what government
can do is recognize its limitations and, more significantly, recognize
the power of faith in our society. And that's what this
initiative does. We don't pick religions, we don't fund
religion. But we welcome the soldiers of the armies of
compassion.
And to you soldiers, thank you so
much for being here, thank you for caring about our great land and
thank you for the service you provide on a daily basis.
God bless. (Applause.)
END
2:50 P.M. EDT
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