[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George H. W. Bush (1991, Book I)]
[June 13, 1991]
[Pages 654-656]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



[[Page 654]]


Remarks at the Annual Republican Congressional Fundraising Dinner
June 13, 1991

    Thank you. Thank you, Senator Gramm, and thanks, all of you. First, 
let me say what a superb job my introducer is doing in his early 
efforts--and there will be ongoing efforts--get control of the United 
States Senate back. Phil Gramm is a tiger. You saw a little of it here 
tonight. He's tough, and I believe he's going to get the job done.
    May I first salute our Vice President. Let me tell you something: 
Dan Quayle is doing a superb job for our country here and abroad in 
everything he does, and I am proud to have him at my side.
    And of course, let me salute the former majority leader of the 
United States Senate, Howard Baker, who took on this task, a busy man. 
And he got a job done in a historic way. Howard, we owe you a tremendous 
vote of thanks and thank you, sir.
    And I also salute Bob Michel and Senator Dole. It's a joy to work 
with them. I couldn't ask for any leaders to give me more support, 
steadfast, loyal support, than these two, one in the Senate and one in 
the House. And thank you both.
    And may I also thank my Cabinet. We've got a good Cabinet, a strong 
Cabinet. We get a lot of ideas presented at the Cabinet table. And then 
the decision is made, and they come together. And I am very blessed with 
having them and having a strong White House staff, many of whom are here 
tonight. So, I'm grateful, and it gives me a good chance to say that to 
you, the movers and shakers of the Republican Party.
    Let me just say a few words about our country. Frankly, I am 
confident, optimistic about the future of this great country. And I am 
very proud of the way our young men and women served with courage in the 
Gulf, the way they selflessly liberated a small nation. And our 
objective was to show that aggression will not stand, and they sure 
showed that. The aggressors were kicked out of Kuwait because of the 
fine young men and women of this country.
    And what I want to see us do is put this same courage and dedication 
and sense of purpose to work right here at home. In the communities I 
visit--and Barbara is with me, going to many more on her own, I might 
add--I sense a certain urgency. There is an impatience in the air. 
People feel that as a nation we've got great work to do. And that is 
good because that is America.
    You know, I spoke at the White House last night on the lawn, with 
the monument behind us and a beautiful summer evening there, to a 
remarkable cross section of America, hundreds of people who make America 
a land of opportunity. People whose products and ideas fuel an economy 
that, whatever its ebbs and flows, remains the envy of the world. People 
who make government work for us and not against us. And finally, the 
Points of Light, the people who use their time and talent to help the 
young and old, who are too busy solving problems to be stopped by them. 
These people give this nation its special character, and they make their 
nation a nation of practical people, resourceful, down-to-Earth, hard-
working. And they make America a nation where ideals count; a nation 
filled with people not easily satisfied, always ready to aim high, to 
ask more of their country and of themselves.
    And so, that is what is going on across the country, but here in 
Washington we've got to ask ourselves: How can government help? How do 
we recognize the role that government must play and the limits to what 
government can do? Each party provides its own answer. The Democrats 
that control their party don't look at things the way we do. I frankly 
get a little sick and tired of hearing the true practitioners of 
partisan politics saying that we have no domestic agenda. We have the 
kind of domestic agenda the American people want, the kind they elected 
us to enact. And if those leaders weren't up there, we'd get the job 
done for this country. The partisans refuse to move.
    I loved it when they attacked a speech

[[Page 655]]

that I didn't give even before I didn't give it. [Laughter] They go out 
and assail a theme that wasn't particularly going to be in the speech in 
the first place. They're desperate. They seem to feed--these Democrat 
leaders--on hard feelings, to thrive on bad times, to keep telling us 
that everything is bad about our country. And such a negative approach 
to this, the greatest country on the face of the Earth.
    But your philosophy, my philosophy, is fundamentally different. We 
put our trust in the people. Republicans want to do more than simply 
rein in the excesses of the liberal alternative. Republican government 
is guided by a sense of what is good for the individual, what is good 
for the family. The family stands at the very center of all that is 
right and good about America, and this President and this party will 
defend the American family and will deny legislation that weakens the 
American family.
    When we put together our policies and programs, we've got to always 
ask ourselves: Does this really help? Does this program or policy 
promote independence, or are we treating a proud individual as a ward of 
the state? Are we strengthening or weakening the family? Is government 
offering a helping hand or a fatal embrace? The answers to those 
questions shape our administration's approach to government.
    Take education: We want schools that work, an education strategy 
that sparks innovation, improves achievement, raises standards, and in 
the process, revolutionizes the American schools.
    Take housing: Let the Democrats make it their goal to warehouse the 
largest possible number of housing tenants by throwing money at bricks 
and mortar. Our goal is to transform those tenants into America's newest 
homeowners and give them the dignity that everybody that owns a home 
feels in his heart.
    And take child care: We fought off, with great help in the Senate 
and great help in the House, the other party's attempt to build a new 
child care bureaucracy managed and mandated from Washington, DC. A 
system of redtape and regulations so stifling that it would take our 
kids out of their grandparents' arms and put them into antiseptic 
government day care institutions. And our child care initiative put 
choice right where it belongs--in the hands of the parents. And we 
passed--thank heavens we passed a good child care bill last year.
    And look, I am the first to know that we have had difficulty putting 
our ideas into action. Right now, as you have heard tonight from our 
leaders, Republicans are on the short end of the numbers game up on 
Capitol Hill. In a world where the pace of change accelerates every day, 
we've got one part of government, congressional government, that moves 
at a glacial pace. I didn't come here to knock the Congress. I've got a 
lot of Congressmen sitting out here that make sense that can knock the 
Congress.
    I've been there, though. I served in the House alongside of Bob 
Dole, who is here, and Bob Michel and many other old hands here tonight. 
And I will once again say that I just can't tell you, every day that I'm 
in the White House, how grateful I am to our leaders. And it's not just 
the two that we've had here tonight--I salute them--but to our whips Al 
Simpson and Newt Gingrich. They are doing a super job for our party.
    Look, I respect the Congress, and I know the dedication that good 
Congress men and women bring to that job. And I know the way our whips 
get going and all the rest of our Republican team work tirelessly to 
advance our team. But I also know Capitol Hill, the way the place allows 
each individual Congressman to duck collective responsibility for taking 
action, even when action is imperative.
    Back in March--and you heard Phil mention this--during my joint 
address to the Congress at the conclusion of Desert Storm, I challenged 
Congress to tackle pressing national problems with the same energy and 
the same sense of purpose that guided us in the Gulf. And I set out a 
fairly detailed domestic agenda, and to get things moving I picked just 
two issues. I singled out just two--it could have been more--a 
comprehensive crime bill and a transportation bill. And I urged the 
Congress to act to pass these two bills in 100 days. Franklin Roosevelt 
challenged the Congress to act in a period of time. Lyndon Johnson 
challenged it. President Ford challenged it. John Ken-

[[Page 656]]

nedy set goals with timeframes on them. To listen to the leaders of the 
Democrats squawk, you'd think I was violating the Constitution of the 
United States.
    Ninety-nine days have passed since I issued the challenge, and all 
we've gotten from the Congress these past 99 days is 101 excuses. And I 
think I detect a trend here: The complaints are getting louder the 
closer we move towards 1992, for some reason. If Congress doesn't get 
the message, the American people are going to have to get themselves a 
new Congress. And very candidly, with your generosity tonight and what 
so many of you have done in the past and will do in the future, that is 
where you come in.
    In 1992, with your help, we will make great gains in the House. Bob 
Michel is right. I think the climate is different now. I really believe 
people want change. I think they're tired of people that serve in 
perpetuity. I think they want change and dynamism. And we can build 
Republican numbers up to a point where we are within striking distance 
of a majority, where we can work across the aisle then. Can't quite get 
it done yet. Then we'll be able to work across the aisle to build a 
consensus with the far-sighted, like-minded members of the opposition, 
and there are plenty of those around. Where after too many years in the 
wilderness, we can put our ideas into action in the House. And I have 
even higher hopes for the Senate. After election day in 1992, when I 
talk to the Senate majority leader, I'll be talking to Bob Dole, a 
Republican. And it's about time we get control back.
    And so, let me say to all the Republican Members of the Congress 
here tonight: In spite of all the odds, thanks to you we have had our 
share of successes, from clean air to child care to the historic civil 
rights legislation, the Americans with Disabilities Act. But too much of 
the time you and the White House have been forced to play defense. I've 
counted on congressional Republicans to uphold my vetoes. We've turned 
back more than a few bad bills that would have become law. And I was 
reluctant, but I had to veto 21 bills. And thanks to so many Members 
here tonight, not one single veto has been overturned. And that is not 
easy.
    Which reminds me, if we could only get for the President that which 
43 Governors have, we could really protect the taxpayer. And I'm talking 
about the line-item veto. And I'm trying to find ways to use it. And if 
we control one House of the Congress, we can get on the offensive. We 
can stay there. We can bring to the attention of the American people 
those things that I was elected to perform on. We can get our programs 
through: crime and transportation and education and a real growth 
package and our homeownership initiatives and regulatory reform and a 
true civil rights bill. All of our agenda to move America forward--and 
we've got a good one. We can deliver the kind of leadership America 
deserves, the kind of government that I honestly believe in my heart 
that only our party can provide.
    And so, tonight I wanted to thank each and every one of you for 
helping us take a step forward to the future. As you get shaken down by 
these awesome fundraisers out here and you do the same to your fellow 
Americans, you're doing the Lord's work. We need you. And you're working 
to change the direction of this country and give us the manpower and the 
womanpower in both Houses of Congress to get the job done.
    Thank you all, and God bless you. Barbara and I are grateful to each 
and every one of you.

                    Note: The President spoke at 9:36 p.m. in Hall A at 
                        the Washington Convention Center. In his 
                        remarks, he referred to Senator Phil Gramm, 
                        chairman of the National Republican Senatorial 
                        Committee; Vice President Dan Quayle; Howard 
                        Baker, dinner chairman; Robert H. Michel, House 
                        Republican leader; Bob Dole, Senate Republican 
                        leader; Senator Alan K. Simpson; and 
                        Representative Newt Gingrich.