[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 90 (Wednesday, June 8, 2016)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3639-S3640]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


              BARBARA BUSH FOUNDATION FOR FAMILY LITERACY

  Mr. ALEXANDER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to have printed 
in the Record a copy of my remarks from earlier today at the Barbara 
Bush Foundation for Family Literacy's Conversation on the Future of 
Adult Literacy.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:


              BARBARA BUSH FOUNDATION FOR FAMILY LITERACY

       Mr. ALEXANDER. I'm glad to be invited to join the 
     conversation on adult literacy and to do as my late friend 
     Alex Haley used to say, ``Find the good and praise it,'' 
     especially about Barbara Bush. Tomorrow, one of the speakers 
     you're going to hear, Jon Meacham, just finished his book, a 
     biography of George H. W. Bush, and had the extraordinary 
     opportunity to go through the personal diaries of Barbara and 
     President Bush going back to the 1960s. I don't know any 
     other biographer who's had that kind of access to that much 
     material. The name of the book is ``Destiny and Power.'' I 
     have a friend in Nashville who says that a better name for 
     the book would be ``The Last Gentleman.'' I think an even 
     better name for the book would be ``The Last Gentleman and 
     His Lady,'' and perhaps the best name for the book would be 
     ``The Last Gentleman and His Very Independent Lady'' because 
     as we all know Barbara Bush was and is a very independent 
     lady. I know that from experience.
       In 1991, it was a sunny day on the South Lawn of the White 
     House, and President Bush was walking out to announce his 
     program to help give scholarships to low-income children so 
     they could choose schools. It was called the ``GI Bill for 
     Kids'' and President and Mrs. Bush were walking along toward 
     the event, and I was with them and Barbara looked at the 
     president and said, ``You've got on the wrong pants.'' He had 
     one suit coat on and different pants on. She insisted that he 
     turn around and go back into the White House and change his 
     clothes before making his announcement.
       On another occasion, the President and Mrs. Bush invited 
     Honey and me to go with them one evening to Ford's Theatre. 
     When we arrived there in the presidential limousine, the 
     Secret Service opened the door and the President got out 
     first and Barbara said, ``I'll get the door, George.''
       On another occasion, I was sitting with them and I forget 
     what it was, he may have been vice president then, but he was 
     called on to speak unexpectedly and he leaned over to Barbara 
     and said, ``What should I speak about?'' and she said, 
     ``About five minutes, George.'' So she is a very independent 
     lady.
       Before we go much further in this discussion about adult 
     literacy, let's recognize that today is our lady's 91st 
     birthday.
       As was mentioned, I was education secretary in 1991 when 
     the National Literacy Act was enacted. Let's use Barbara 
     Bush's own words to describe the event--you'll find them in 
     her memoir. She wrote, ``I must say, I got more credit than I 
     deserved.'' I don't agree with that, but, she continued, ``I 
     heard that George was going to give the pen to me, but before 
     he could, Senator Simon spoke up and said, `That pen ought to 
     go to Barbara.' I donated it to the George Bush Presidential 
     Library Center. In the end, however, it's not pens and 
     pictures that count; it's the National Literacy Act that 
     really counts. It was the first piece of legislation--and, to 
     date, the only one--ever enacted specifically for literacy 
     with the goal of ensuring that every American adult acquires 
     the basic literacy skills necessary to achieve the greatest 
     possible satisfaction professionally and personally. But even 
     more than that, the act seeks to strengthen our nation by 
     giving us more productive workers and informed citizens.'' 
     That was Barbara Bush's memoir.
       Three years before that, in 1988, the year President George 
     H. W. Bush was elected, the Saturday Evening Post did a cover 
     story on Barbara and her passion for literacy. The writer 
     told a story of JT Pace, the 63-year-old son of a former 
     sharecropper who had just learned to read and was invited to 
     read the Preamble to the Constitution on a televised program 
     celebrating the bicentennial of the Constitution as well as 
     the cause of literacy. When Mr. Pace arrived in St. Louis for 
     the event, he discovered there were a few words in the 
     Preamble that he couldn't read. Right when he decided he 
     couldn't participate, Pace was introduced to Barbara Bush. 
     She put him at ease and asked if they might read the Preamble 
     together. The reporter writes: ``That evening, they stood 
     together on the podium and slowly began to read the Preamble. 
     JT mumbled some of the difficult words; gradually Barbara 
     Bush's voice subsided as JT gained confidence and finished 
     his reading in a strong voice, his eyes glistening with 
     tears.'' That was the story from the Saturday Evening Post.

[[Page S3640]]

       How important it is for the future of our country that 
     adult Americans will be able to read our Constitution and 
     understand that we are united by our principles and what 
     those principles are--and not by our ethnicity. It's an 
     important reminder to think about the fact that if you move 
     to say, Japan, you can't become Japanese, really, but if you 
     move to America and embrace our principles, you are an 
     American.
       In 1989, President George H. W. Bush did an extraordinary 
     thing. He convened a meeting of all the governors in 
     Charlottesville. The governors do not get together for a 
     single purpose like that very much in history. They 
     established voluntary, I underline voluntary, national goals. 
     In 1991, by then I had been invited to be education 
     secretary, the president announced America 2000, to move the 
     nation voluntarily toward those goals state by state, 
     community by community. America 2000 had six goals, and one 
     of those was to increase adult literacy. We said then that a 
     ``Nation at Risk'' must become a ``Nation of Students.'' In 
     1991, Congress passed the National Literacy Act. That act 
     increased authorization of literacy programs, established a 
     National Institute for Literacy, authorized state literacy 
     resource centers, created national workforce demonstration 
     projects, literacy programs for some incarcerated 
     individuals, and required ``Gateway Grants'' to public 
     housing authorities.
       Today, we continue to focus on literacy. The National 
     Literacy Act was most recently reauthorized, as we say in 
     Congress, in 2014 as a part of the Workforce Innovation and 
     Opportunity Act. Then, in December, as was mentioned, we 
     passed a law to fix No Child Left Behind. That included 
     several references to encourage literacy, by innovative, 
     competitive literacy programs, allowing states and schools to 
     use federal money in all their formula programs on improving 
     the literacy skills of students and defining reading and 
     literacy activities as part of a well-rounded education.
       We are all very fortunate that Barbara Bush is still as 
     active in her pursuit of literacy for all as she used to be, 
     and we honor her lifetime of work by gathering here for this 
     conversation today. Last year, on her 90th birthday, she 
     announced the $7 million Barbara Bush Adult Literacy XPRIZE. 
     This global competition challenges teams from around the 
     world to develop an app that will help people learn to read 
     by just using their smartphone. There are currently 109 teams 
     from 15 countries working on this. Barbara has always been 
     able to see what's important, what endures--while also 
     looking forward to the future with optimism and wit. It 
     reminds me of the story that Jon Meacham tells in the 
     biography of President H. W. Bush that I had mentioned 
     earlier.
       He writes of a ``generational controversy'' that Barbara 
     Bush endured in May 1990. ``Generational controversy'' are 
     Meacham's words; he always comes up with good, big words. It 
     was during the visit by Mikhail Gorbachev and his wife to the 
     White House to see the President and Mrs. Bush. According to 
     Meacham, ``Mrs. Bush was invited by Wellesley College to 
     speak at graduation and receive an honorary degree; the First 
     Lady was being criticized by Wellesley's young women, as 
     President Bush put into his diary `because she hasn't made it 
     on her own--she's where she is because she's her husband's 
     wife. What's wrong with the fact that she's a good mother, a 
     good wife, great volunteer, great leader for literacy and 
     other fine causes? Nothing. But to listen to these elitist 
     kids there is.' Mrs. Bush invited [Mrs.] Gorbachev along with 
     her to Wellesley. There, the American First Lady confronted 
     the issues of work versus family and the role of women head-
     on, delivering a well-received commencement address.'' This 
     is what Barbara Bush said: `` `Maybe we should adjust faster, 
     maybe we should adjust slower,' she told the graduates. `But 
     whatever the era, whatever the times, one thing will never 
     change: fathers and mothers. If you have children, they must 
     come first. You must read to your children, and you must hug 
     your children, and you must love your children. Your success 
     as a family, our success as a society depends not on what 
     happens in the White House, but on what happens inside your 
     house.' ''
       Meacham goes on, ``She received her most sustained applause 
     when she remarked that perhaps there was someone in the 
     audience that day who would, like her, one day preside over 
     the White House as the president's spouse. `And I wish him 
     well,' she said, to cheers from the crowd.'' So Barbara Bush, 
     we wish you well on your 91st birthday and we're grateful for 
     your lifetime of commitment to our children, our country, and 
     to literacy.

                          ____________________