    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George H. W. Bush (1991, Book I)]
    [June 3, 1991]
    [Pages 596-599]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks to the National Federation of Independent Business
    June 3, 1991

        Thank you very, very much for that welcome. Listen, I should be the
    one clapping to thank you all for the fantastic support that NFIB has
    given to this administration as we work towards common goals.
        First, let me thank John Sloan not just for the introduction but for
    the leadership he has given to these sound business principles. I'm also
    very pleased that with us here, with John and me here on this platform,
    is Pat Saiki. She has joined our team in the administration, having been
    a key member of it when she was in the Congress, and she already has
    brought new energy to the SBA. And we're very proud of her. And I know
    you will enjoy working with her.
        Let me warn you ahead of time, I gave four commencement addresses
    last week. And if I lapse into saying things like, ``Your future lies
    ahead of you,''--[laughter]--or ``You're at a crossroads in your life,''
    you'll know exactly why. [Laughter]
        Actually, my favorite commencement line of all comes from that great
    philosopher, Woody Allen. [Laughter] That's right, Woody Allen. He once
    told a graduating class, ``Mankind is at a crossroads. Down one path is
    despair and utter hopelessness. Down the other, total destruction.''
    [Laughter] Then he goes on and finishes, ``Let's hope your generation
    has the wisdom to choose correctly.'' [Laughter]
        Well, this is one place I don't have to worry about that. You offer
    something other than hopelessness and destruction and despair. You
    create opportunity and hope. You've played a leading role--and I don't
    say this just in passing, I mean it--you've played a leading role in
    helping this administration advance the cause of free markets and
    economic growth. And thanks for helping us win some important victories
    in the Congress, victories in pushing back this endless flow of mandated
    programs--mandated parental leave now, and helping us in pushing for
    parental choice in child care, a wonderful step forward for our country
    that strengthens the family of the United States. And thanks for helping
    us persuade Congress to preserve a crucial device for securing free and
    fair international trade, the Fast Track procedures.
        And now, we need your help in securing civil rights legislation that
    ensures the most basic civil right of all: the right of all people to
    pursue their dreams without fear of discrimination or fear of unfair
    lawsuits.
        In that regard, I notice some of the buttons out there. I like the
    buttons. And I don't know anybody who disagrees with that sentiment, as
    a matter of fact. You've got mine, as a matter of fact.
        Calvin Coolidge once told a gathering of newspaper editors that
    ``the chief business of the American people is business.'' And that
    much-maligned quote contains an important truth. We are an enterprising
    people, and our economy thrives because people with ideas establish
    businesses like yours. They risk money. They risk comforts. They risk
    failure. And they achieve greatness.
        The Government can help advance the cause of economic freedom in
    three ways. First, it can promote it. It can create an environment that
    enables entrepreneurs to flourish, especially the men and women who run
    small businesses. Our economic growth package offers a series of
    positive inducements to growth. We want to bring down the tax on capital
    gains. That reform won't just reduce the cost of capital but to

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    reform. And it won't just reduce the cost of capital, it will encourage
    investors to risk money on new businesses, therefore expanding job
    opportunities for all Americans, including small businesses. It also
    will encourage people to sell assets such as real estate that they won't
    sell now because the taxes are too high.
        This administration also is determined to put a lid on the growth of
    Federal spending. Last year's controversial budget agreement--the
    largest deficit reduction program in history--imposed real, long-term
    caps on spending. You now see Members of Congress trying to retreat from
    the spirit of that agreement, urging us to raise taxes so they can buy
    political pork. No way. Congress must keep its word. Congress must keep
    its word. And if it doesn't, I will veto spending bills that violate the
    caps and violate our budget accord.
        Our growth package also includes a comprehensive set of long-overdue
    banking reforms. These reforms are designed to bring our banking system
    up to date and to make banks, large and small, stronger and better able
    to serve their customers. The business community--particularly yours,
    the small business community--needs strong banks that can provide much-
    needed financing for jobs and for economic growth.
        This administration believes in free and fair trade. In an age of
    international economic competition we cannot afford, simply cannot
    afford, to shield ourselves from competition or to lose the vast
    benefits that free and fair trade will produce. We will use the Fast
    Track procedures to pursue three vital trade agreements: the Uruguay
    round of the GATT talks, the North American free trade agreement, and
    the Enterprise for the Americas Initiative. These agreements would open
    the world to American products and would create fantastic opportunities
    for American businesses.
        We also want to create a work force that can propel America into the
    21st century, to make that 100 years the next American century. Our
    America 2000 strategy for education lays out a series of bold
    challenges: to create better and more accountable schools that parents
    can choose, to reinvent the American school by developing a new
    generation of American schools, to turn our land into a nation of
    students and, in the process, me into a computer genius. [Laughter] But
    no one's too old to learn. That's part of our fundamental thesis. And to
    create communities where learning can happen.
        I understand the vital importance of a well-educated work force to
    the small business sector in particular. You depend on schools to
    educate our kids. You don't have the resources to provide remedial
    education. You depend on schools to provide sensible measures of
    educational achievement. That's one of the reasons we are developing a
    series of voluntary national achievement tests.
        I'll be talking today to groups--when I leave here, I'll go over to
    speak to one of them--to groups that are helping us develop sound
    educational goals and measurements. And you can be sure that I'll stress
    that their business will give a big boost to America's businesses.
        But it's not enough just to encourage growth. Government's second
    role must be to remove some of the obstacles that it has created.
    Regulations cost the economy at least $185 billion--that's billion
    dollars--last year. That's $1,700 for every taxpayer. The Government
    generated 5.3 billion hours' worth of paperwork during the same period.
    I think that we can all agree we don't need this much paperwork and
    regulation. You've seen the volumes of regulation. Maybe the Surgeon
    General can help--[laughter]--make them put a warning label on the
    Federal Register: Do not attempt to lift this unless your name's Arnold
    Schwarzenegger. [Laughter]
        The Vice President's Council on Competitiveness has zeroed in now on
    regulations that turn would-be Edisons into paper-pushers. It helps
    weigh the costs and the benefits of regulation so that when the
    Government issues rules it will produce more benefits than redtape.
        Health care costs also have become a major factor for many
    businesses. Although some people think it makes sense to establish our
    own brand of federally mandated national medical care, I disagree
    strongly. And we have offered reforms to hold down medical costs without
    reducing the amount

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    of available medical care. Some encourage people to take care of
    themselves. Others encourage people to resolve disputes with doctors
    instead of hauling everyone involved off to court. Too many of our
    medical dollars go to pay off lawyers--with all respect to you guys out
    there. Our medical money ought to pay for healing, not suing.
        And thirdly, this administration will fight legislative proposals
    that threaten small business, that threaten the heart and soul of our
    economic system. We will resist mandated benefits programs. You know
    them all too well, Washington's one-size-fits-all solutions to problems
    that come in all sizes and shapes.
        We will also oppose striker replacement legislation. The bills in
    Congress, believe me, could have catastrophic consequences for small
    businesses, regardless of whether they have union representation. As you
    know, small business creates most of our jobs in this country. A survey
    published just last week showed that firms with 100 or fewer employees
    generate 58 percent, 58 percent, of our new jobs.
        And finally--and this is timely--we will fight for a civil rights
    bill that pursues the cause of civil rights, the cause of equal
    opportunity. Our civil rights package--and you haven't read anything
    about it because the debate is being dominated by the Democrats that
    control the Congress--takes dead aim at those who discriminate unfairly.
    But it also encourages people to work together, rather than employing
    quotas or other devices; encourages them to work in the name of
    equality, instead of inviting people to squabble and to feud.
        You know, let me talk from the heart here. I have been accused of
    playing election politics with this issue. And very frankly, it's the
    other way around, and it has been for some time. My opponents won't even
    consider my civil rights bill. They keep changing theirs to attract
    different blocks of voters. Their obvious move to convert the bill into
    a ``women's issue'' is just plain, pure politics--a politics of
    selective inclusion and exclusion. Our bill would properly protect
    women's rights, everyone's rights.
        The beltway interest groups and their spokespersons want to make me
    accept or veto a quota bill. And the fact is we have tried to
    compromise, but not to accept quotas. And at one point last year, we had
    an agreement that would bring all sides together. But the beltway
    interest groups refused. They wanted a political win. They wanted to
    grind me into the political dirt.
        And we have a good record on civil rights. And we had a good history
    of fair play. And I want a fair, strong antidiscrimination bill that
    will guarantee worker's rights, women's rights, workplace rights, but
    will not create quotas. And P.S.--P.S.--[laughter]--I want a bill that
    will help all working men and women and not one that will produce a
    bonanza for avaricious lawyers. And now you know my position.
        If you listen to these talk shows you wouldn't even know we have a
    civil rights bill up there. [Laughter] You see the same ones, hey?
    [Laughter]
        Today, you have my word: Whatever happens to this bill--and I feel
    this in my heart--I will continue to work for racial harmony and fair
    play and against discrimination in the workplace.
        We want to build a society of shared hopes and helping hands, a
    society in which all benefit from growth and prosperity. We want to make
    this kind of society--a good society--the hallmark of our
    administration.
        In closing, let me say that this administration will not waver in
    its devotion to free enterprise. All of us here know that no experience
    can match the scary thrill of striking out and starting a business.
    Nothing better tests your mettle. And as we prepare to launch ourselves
    into the next American century, we must do the three things I've
    outlined today: We must encourage enterprise, sweep away unnecessary
    barriers to growth, and fend off attempts to place chains on
    entrepreneurs.
        We want a free society, a just society, a fair society. But we also
    want a society brightened by growth and hope. And you know, each in your
    own way, in your own communities, you promote that dream every day. And
    we will encourage you every single step of the way.
        Thank you. May God bless you all. And may God bless the United
    States of America. Thank you very much.

    [[Page 599]]

                        Note: The President spoke at 1:04 p.m. in the
                            Regency Ballroom at the Capitol Hill Hyatt
                            Regency. In his remarks, he referred to John
                            Sloan, president and chief executive officer of
                            the National Federation of Independent Business;
                            Patricia F. Saiki, Administrator of the Small
                            Business Administration; humorist and film
                            director Woody Allen; and Arnold Schwarzenegger,
                            Chairman of the President's Council on Physical
                            Fitness and Sports.