[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.
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