[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George H. W. Bush (1992, Book I)]
[February 4, 1992]
[Pages 195-198]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks to the National Grocers Association in Orlando, Florida

February 4, 1992
    Thank you for that warm welcome, and please be seated. And Tom, 
thank you for that wonderful introduction. Thanks also to Bill Confer, 
your chairman. And before we get started, I don't know where they are, 
but I'd like to recognize two outstanding Congressmen from this area, 
Bill McCollum and Cliff Stearns, and also a former Congressman who is 
actively involved with me, Bill Grant, of Florida. You have three of the 
best right here with you today.
    And it's a great pleasure, and I really mean that, to be here with 
this enthusiastic group. I originally had planned to be at your dinner 
last night. But then I found out it was called the Asparagus Club 
Banquet. [Laughter] Thought I'd better not take a chance. And you know 
why, dangerously close. [Laughter] Okay, Barbara won the broccoli war. I 
said what I thought, and she got out and received all these broccoli 
growers. And sales shot up about 500 percent. [Laughter]
    You all know, I think, of my love for sports. And this being an 
election year, my competitive juices are flowing more than ever. And so, 
today I'm making an announcement that many of you have been expecting 
for a long time. I'm officially declaring my entry into your best bagger 
contest. Just one question: Paper or plastic? [Laughter]
    I'll always remember, and Tom referred to it, but from a personal 
standpoint I'll always remember that warm reception that you all, the 
NGA, gave me when I addressed that 1985 convention. It was in New 
Orleans. You gave me a good education about your industry then, and I 
remember it still. A typical NGA member is a family-run business. Many 
of you carry on legacies built through the vision and sacrifice of a 
grandmother or a grandfather. Just met one of your directors. She was a 
third generation in the grocery business, perhaps an immigrant to this 
country; some were. You work on the thinnest of profit margins. You 
challenge one another with bracing competition that clearly benefits our 
consumers like no others in the world. And today as always, your success 
as community grocers depends not just on the bottom line but on the old-
fashioned virtues of being a good neighbor.
    Since I last met you all in 1985, the world has changed. We've got a 
lot to be grateful for. We won the cold war. We led a coalition in the 
Gulf to crush Saddam Hussein's aggression in Kuwait. We've created a 
world with the prospects of unprecedented prosperity and peace. But 
we've also run into some hard times here. Our economy has slowed down. 
We must get it fired up again.
    The professional pessimists tell us America has become weak and 
disabled, that our

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economy has fallen and it can't get up. Well, that's just plain bunk. 
It's not true. And I'm going to tell you what we can do about it. Day by 
day and step by step, we're going to get ourselves moving, and we'll do 
it as Americans always have. We'll combine our common sense, our work 
ethic, and our determination with progrowth policies. With these, we'll 
carry the entire world into the next American century. You can bet on 
it.
    You don't have to be some rocket scientist to understand how. You 
stick with the basics. And I proposed a commonsense comprehensive action 
plan last week in my State of the Union Address. It gets investment 
going, because you can't build new businesses and create new jobs 
without new investment. It strengthens the industries that historically 
have led us into recoveries, especially real estate and housing. It 
hacks away obstacles to growth. It cuts the Federal deficit by holding 
back spending. Government is far too big, and it spends too much. And I 
am going to keep it within its limits of this budget agreement that is 
in place right now.
    Ask yourselves the question: How free are we, really, when the 
Government gobbles up 25 percent of our GNP? I'm demanding, I need your 
support, that Congress get serious about this. One thing, I've listed 
246 programs that I want cut out this year, 246. Each one has a 
protector; each one has a noble title. None of them is essential to the 
well-being of the United States of America. And I want something else. I 
want that line-item veto so I can enforce real spending disciplines. 
Forty-three Governors have it.
    We've got to get Washington back to common sense. To do that, I 
really mean this, I need your help. I know you can deliver. You know 
your neighbors; they know you. The grocery business grows when your 
neighborhood grows, when the Nation's economy grows. I've asked Congress 
to enact some laws that will create jobs by getting our economy growing 
again. And I've set a deadline, March 20th. I ask you to circle that 
Friday on your calendar. Remember this deadline. Congress needs to take 
a few simple steps to create good American jobs, now.
    The Capitol Hill hearings on my program begin today. But I must say, 
too often when I send progrowth proposals to Congress, all the public 
hears is sloganeering about fairness. This twists a good concept into a 
weapon of envy and divisiveness, desire to divide America along class 
lines. I don't look at it that way. Here's what fairness means to me: It 
means if you want to work, you can get a job. It means if you have a 
good idea, you'll get a chance to test it, or if you build a business, 
you don't lose your earnings to excessive taxes or overregulation. 
That's what fairness means to me. Above all, the most important test of 
fairness for my plan is that it will work for all Americans. It will 
create jobs.
    And now, here's what I want by March 20th. And I set that date 
because I do believe we have a window in which we get something done, 
even though this is going to be a very controversial and difficult 
national election year. Here's what I want: First, incentives to make 
productive investments. These involve a 15-percent investment tax 
allowance and needed changes to the alternative minimum tax. Now, these 
will encourage business to invest in equipment and become more 
productive. I just took a tour through the exhibits here, amazed by some 
of the technology. These proposals will stimulate that kind of 
investment and will help individuals invest in high technology or in 
whatever machinery is needed.
    Second, we need incentives to build and to buy real estate: a change 
in the passive-loss rules for active real estate developers. We need 
penalty-free withdrawals from IRA's for first-time homebuyers and a 
$5,000 tax credit for the first purchase of a home. Housing economists 
predict that my plan will mean an extra 200,000 homes built and 415,000 
new construction jobs to build them. Real estate and housing, with this 
stimulus, will lead our way into active recovery.
    And third, incentives to succeed: Cut the capital gains tax. This 
tax hurts anyone who has made a sensible investment in a home, a 
business, or a farm. None of our key competitors taxes gains at high 
rates, world 
global competitors. Let's stop penalizing 
savings and investment. Let's stop punish-

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ing excellence. And yes, let's talk about fairness. Lower capital gains 
mean more investment, and more investment means more jobs. So, let's get 
that capital gains tax cut, now.
    Three measures, three pieces of common sense, three things Congress 
should do by March 20th. I know that Congress will listen to you; you 
come right from the grassroots. And I'm counting on your help. In the 
meantime, I've initiated some reforms that will get the economy moving 
without having to wait for Congress to act. I've imposed a 90-day freeze 
on Federal regulations that could hinder economic growth. And during 
that period, all Departments and Agencies will review regulations, old 
and new, and when possible, stop the ones that will hurt growth and 
speed up those that will help growth.
    I see from your convention schedule that you have a workshop 
entitled ``The Regulators Are Back.'' No wonder. You can't get through a 
day without having to worry about what some regulator is going to do to 
you through some thoughtless regulation. Regulations may have stated 
aims as wholesome as Mom and the apple pie. But you know better than 
anyone that when regulators carry that regulation too far, there won't 
be any apple pie for Mom to buy.
    I ran a council on deregulation for 8 years as Vice President. And 
I'm here to assure you, we've not lost the spirit of deregulation. I 
want you to be able to spend your time working on what you can do for 
your customers rather than fretting about what some regulator might do 
to you.
    And I'm also fighting hard against this epidemic of lawsuits. The 
costs and the delays in our legal system are a hidden tax on every 
single American consumer, on every business transaction in America. And 
that's why I'm sending to Congress today a reform bill, the ``Access to 
Justice Act of 1992.'' My reform proposal will give Americans cheaper 
and easier alternatives to trial. And my plan will halt needless 
lawsuits by making changes in the way some attorney's fees are awarded. 
Let's stop America's love affair with the lawsuit. If we're as good at 
rewarding success as we are at suing each other, we'd be way ahead of 
the rest of the world. I might say parenthetically, health care costs 
would be an awful lot lower if we didn't have a lot of frivolous 
lawsuits going after these doctors for malpractice.
    One of the great lessons of our times is this: Freedom and 
cooperation work; big Government doesn't. And after 70 years, the new 
leaders in Moscow recognize that total Government regulation produces 
only one thing: total failure. And now, the Russians--I had a 
fascinating visit with Boris Yeltsin up at Camp David on Saturday--the 
Russians want to try something different, like grocery stores with 
groceries on the shelves. [Laughter] This man's put into some tough 
reforms there. Got to stay with him. Got to help him make them work.
    Isn't it ironic, at the exact moment the world is turning to our 
values of more economic freedom and competition, some in the United 
States Congress want to go just the opposite way. And here's an example 
of the trouble brewing in Congress: That's the so-called FDA enforcement 
bill. I'm sure those of you who sell your own private-label groceries 
aren't exactly thrilled by the prospect of more legal and accounting and 
paperwork burdens. But that's just what some in the Congress want to do. 
Well, let me tell you in no uncertain terms: The time for overregulation 
is over. And if they send me any more legislation with excessive 
regulation in it, I'm going to veto it and send it back. It's going 
right back up there.
    Again, the Congress can help get the economy moving if it will just 
do the right thing. Last week one Member of Congress, a Democrat, said 
it might be smart politics for the Democrats to meet the deadline and 
pass my plan intact. I can't say what their motives may be, but I know 
one thing, my plan will help the American people. So let me take the 
heat. I know that my program will get the economy moving again. And 
again, urge the Congress to pass it intact by March 20th.
    March 20 isn't a moment too soon to enact this short-term program. 
But we also must take a longer look, look to longer horizons. And I 
proposed a long-term plan in my State of the Union Address. Let me just 
give you a couple of the highlights here, some of the highlights.
    First, let's create more American jobs by

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opening up and expanding markets all over the world. A new GATT 
agreement, we're working hard to get one, will make the world trading 
system come to grips with the damaging tariffs and export subsidies in 
agriculture. And by tearing down economic barriers with Mexico and 
Canada, a new North American free trade agreement can lift us to new 
heights of prosperity. And make no mistake about this: A sound free 
trade agreement will mean more American jobs, not less, more American 
jobs.
    Second, let free choice and free markets reform this health care 
system of ours. This week I'm going to ask for a new credit to help 
those without health insurance, employed or not, to buy such coverage. 
My plan will assure that both American workers and the unemployed will 
have access to basic health insurance even if they change jobs or 
develop serious health problems. We can't improve health care by 
threatening the health of job-intensive businesses. The last thing we 
want is for companies to cut costs by cutting workers. And I am 
wholeheartedly opposed, as I believe you are, to schemes that cost jobs 
by mandating benefits that an employer must pay.
    And thirdly, let's strengthen the family, the cornerstone of the 
American dream. Let's ease the burden of child-rearing. The personal tax 
exemption has not kept up with inflation. I'm asking Congress, 
immediately, to increase the exemption for each child by $500. It's a 
significant move in the right direction, and for our kids' sake, we must 
do no less.
    Look at my economic proposals and you will find straightforward, 
plain solutions to our problems. Some may complain that they lack the 
flash of an expensive new program or that they don't have quite the 
right political ring for this political year. But I'm not seeking 
spending for spending's sake. I don't want a fancy title on a bill that 
will shoot interest rates right up through the roof. I want results. My 
plan is sound, and it will work.
    If you hear people in Congress gripe that they can't get the job 
done by March 20th, remind them we won the Gulf war in 44 days. Surely 
Congress can pass my urgent domestic program in 52 days. Remember, 
Congress can act with lightning speed when it wants to. So, accept no 
excuses. Accept no delays. And accept no substitutes.
    Please don't leave this message behind when you leave this 
convention hall. Take it home to your families, to your customers, to 
your neighbors. From February 8th till February 17th, your Congressmen 
will be home for the President's Day recess. That's a great time for you 
to go to their hometown offices and tell them to meet the deadline and 
to pass this plan. With an effort like this, I know we'll get their 
attention, and we'll get America moving again.
    Thank you very, very much for this reception. And may God bless the 
United States of America. Thank you.

                    Note: The President spoke at 11:35 a.m. at the 
                        Orange County Convention/Civic Center. In his 
                        remarks, he referred to Tom Zaucha, president of 
                        the National Grocers Association.