[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George H. W. Bush (1992, Book I)]
[February 15, 1992]
[Pages 253-258]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks and a Question-and-Answer Session in Goffstown, New Hampshire

February 15, 1992
    The President. Thank you for that warm welcome back. Before we get 
started, let me just thank Dr. Conway, the superintendent, and to thank 
Ms. Colby, who is the assistant principal here, and Vivian Blondeau, the 
chairman of the school board, and say how pleased I am to be here and 
pleased that we have this opportunity to meet in this wonderful school.
    What we are going to do today is just, in the 20 minutes allocated, 
take questions. So, I think the way to do it is just let me say one 
word: I'm up here to ask the support of the people of New Hampshire to 
be President of the United States for 4 more years.
    And we've made a lot of progress in the world. The cold war is over. 
International imperial communism, the aggressive part that's reaching 
out and trying to do in others, that's finished; it's dead. Aggression 
has been pushed back and international law established by the 
international defeat, you might say, of Saddam Hussein when we kicked 
him out of Kuwait.
    So, a lot of good things have happened. And we are clearly the 
leaders of the world. And I do not want to see us pull back into 
isolation in fear because the economy of this State and other States is 
hurting. And so, what I'm asking the American people to do is say please 
help me get through Congress the economic growth package that I have 
sitting down there now. It would move the housing industry, the real 
estate industry, would lift the spirits of this State. So, we've got a 
plan. It isn't a campaign plan. It's enshrined, enrolled in two big 
pieces of legislation. And I need your help leaning on the United States 
Congress.
    Let me thank the man who introduced me, who is our leader here, 
Governor Gregg of this State. I'm very fortunate to have him as my 
campaign chairman and delighted he's here and has just introduced me.
    Now, with no further ado, I'd be glad to take any questions. Yes, 
sir.

Banking Industry

    Q. Mr. President, my question is, the banking industry in this State 
is very, very, very tight. I would like to know, what can our Government 
do to relieve the rules and the pressures of the Fannie Mae, which is 
from a one-family to a four-family home, and to stop the foreclosures 
that are going on with people that should not have their home foreclosed 
on? And then also, in the business sector, relieve the pressures from 
the banks so they can loan us money so we can put people back to work? 
They will not loan money to any business. Thank you.
    The President. Well, it's a very important question. And one thing 
we are trying to do

[[Page 254]]

is to relieve this credit crunch by doing a better job on regulation. 
We've called in all the regulators. We can't go back to forgiving bad 
practices; we're not going to do that. But they've gone too far the 
other way. And I think the best answer to freeing up credit is trying to 
get these regulators to go forward and take a hard look at the existing 
regulations, as we've done, and say, ``Look, good banks should make good 
loans; don't discourage them.''
    Interest rates are down. We are poised, because of where interest 
rates are and inflation is, to make a real recovery in this country. And 
so, I'm optimistic that these banks will begin to start making loans. 
Their balance sheets are in much better shape nationally. The regulation 
load is being lightened, although I'm having a big fight with Congress 
on some of that right now in the Senate Banking Committee. And I think 
it's going to move in the right direction.
    On Fannie Mae, it's tough because those are independent, and we 
can't snap our fingers and control them.
    But credit crunch, it's hurt us. My appeal is to the good, sound 
institutions to make sound banking loans, and I think that's the kind 
you're talking about. I don't think anyone wants to go back to the 
excesses of the eighties in terms of savings and loan excess or 
financial excess. One thing that's cost us and has hurt the deficit is 
the money that the Government has had to put in to cover the depositors. 
One good thing is not one single depositor has lost money. And I'm 
determined to keep it that way. But I think this change in regulations 
is going to help. Thank you.
    Who's over--yes?

Capital Gains Tax

    Q. Welcome, President Bush, thank you. I'm a student of business 
right now, and I have a business question for you. You proposed a 
capital gains cut which, it seems to me, is going to benefit people who 
are investing in art, in jewelry, and other things, instead of an 
investment tax credit which would invest in business and make it more 
competitive and more productive. Why is that?
    The President. We have proposed, maybe you missed it, in our 
proposal we have before the Congress right now an investment tax 
allowance. The ITC, itself, what you call investment tax, is terribly 
expensive. I think the revenue loss estimates were something like $250 
billion. So, we couldn't do that and fit it into our budget plan without 
a tax increase, which I would like to firmly avoid and I'm determined to 
avoid.
    Investment tax allowance is what you might more appropriately call 
more rapid depreciation which will stimulate the kind of investment 
you're talking about. The capital gains cut, I am absolutely convinced, 
will stimulate jobs and stimulate investment, too. It worked under the 
Steiger amendment in 1978. I think it would have a very salutary effect. 
And it isn't what some of the opponents call it, a tax break for the 
rich. It's going to create jobs. It's going to create people taking more 
risks. So, look at how it worked in '78. And I think you'll find that 
this combination of these two things really will stimulate the economy.
    And what's happened, I send this seven-point--they're all 
stimulatory tax provisions--say to the Congress, ``Pass it by March 
20th.'' They go in behind closed doors, beat it on a straight party-line 
vote, including this investment tax allowance, ITC type of thing, and 
come out and say, ``Well, what we've got to do is redistribute the 
wealth by increasing taxes.''
    I do not think that's what the American people want, and I'm going 
to fight for this growth package. I'm not going to give up on it. I 
think we can make some headway in the Senate and in the House floor. But 
I'm not sure; we may not agree on a capital gains. You take a look at 
this ITA, this tax allowance, this stimulation; I think you'll find it's 
good.
    Yes, sir?

Federal Budget

    Q. Thank you for coming here. My question to you, I've heard your 
speech recently, is reducing the size of the Government. We've gotten so 
big and so out of control. Can you speak to us, Federal level, what can 
be done to lower the cost and the size of the Government?

[[Page 255]]

    The President. Lowering the cost of it, it's a good point. It is too 
big and takes too much out in the gross national product in taxes.
    The only good thing about the budget agreement that was passed in 
1990 is that it put caps on the Federal spending. It put caps on 
discretionary spending. Now, I hear some candidates running around here, 
around this State, saying they're going to freeze all spending. That 
sounds attractive, but I don't think that's fair to the senior citizen, 
for example. I don't think that he should be denied, he or she denied 
the cost of living increase, for example. So it's easy to say that. And 
I think we've got to control the growth of the entitlements, but I don't 
think the freeze is the answer.
    I do believe that this proposal of holding the caps on Federal 
discretionary spending is important. And right now, you listen to the 
Congress, Democrat Congress, they're talking about getting rid of those 
caps or shifting the caps. The best protection for the taxpayer is to 
hold those caps on Federal spending. And I believe, I think we can be 
able to do that. That's the key.
    Who's next? Way in the back, Father.

Education

    Q. Thank you, Mr. President. First of all, I commend you on your 
courageous position regarding the life of the unborn in our country. As 
president of a college, I'd like to ask a question on higher education 
and ask if you'd comment, please, on your plans to help low- and middle-
income families have access to colleges of their choice and particularly 
independent colleges in terms of Federal aid.
    The President. Father, let me say this: I believe in school choice. 
We have an excellent education program. It is called America 2000. It is 
not Republican. It's not Democrat. It's not conservative. It's not 
liberal. It works to implement the six national education goals that 
were passed by the Governors, Democrat and Republican alike. One of the 
provisions of our America 2000 program is choice.
    When I got out of college, I was a recipient of the GI bill. I 
fought for my country, and one of the things that veterans got way back 
then was a GI bill. And they didn't say what kind of school you could go 
to. They simply said, ``Take your choice.'' I believe that choice is one 
of the best ways to increase the quality of education from all schools, 
and I'm going to continue to fight for it. And that, I think, gets to 
your question. That is the fundamental part of America 2000. It is a 
fundamental part of how we improve education.
    And you do it through vouchers, but different private schools ought 
not to be denied. One of the allegations is, well, people will leave a 
bad school to go to a good school. Where that's happened, the bad 
schools have improved. Take a look at Rochester, New York, as a good 
example.
    So, the answer to the question you're raising is choice. And back it 
up so that the parents will have the main say. I had the mayors, I 
mentioned this in the State of the Union, I had the mayors from the 
National League of Cities in. And they were Mayor Bradley of Los 
Angeles, great big, complex metropolitan area, a Democrat; a tiny town 
in North Carolina with a Republican mayor, 3,000. And they said, ``The 
one thing that concerns us is that the fundamental cause of a lot of 
these problems is the demise of the family.'' And what we're trying to 
do there is strengthen the family. And choice, I think, is one of the 
best ways to go about it.
    Way in the back. Yes, ma'am. We can hear you. Go ahead.

Energy Policy

    Q. This is something I don't hear a lot about. I would like to know 
what plans are in the works for the further development of solar energy, 
particularly where it appears we may have a lot more sun than we know 
what to do with soon? [Laughter]
    The President. I'm very proud of our administration for first having 
taken the lead on phasing out CFC's and then speeding it up when new 
scientific information came in. We moved very fast on that. And I 
believe that set a good example for other countries around the world, 
and I confidently expect that the EC and other countries will follow the 
lead of this country in phasing out these CFC's that do damage to the 
ozone layer.
    Our energy program puts a good deal of

[[Page 256]]

emphasis on alternate sources of energy, not simply solar, incidentally. 
It is all sources of energy other than hydrocarbons. And we are not 
going to be independent so that we can get rid of all burning 
hydrocarbons; that simply can't be done. It's unrealistic. I want to see 
this country less dependent on foreign oil. And if our energy program 
gets passed, it will do that, alternate sources, conservation, and 
certainly not neglecting the domestic side of the hydrocarbon industry. 
So, it's in our energy bill, and I think we can move relatively fast. 
But to say to the country, as I've heard some people up here do, we can 
solve all these problems by going to solar energy today, that simply is 
not technologically feasible. We just don't have the delivery system of 
that kind of energy source.
    Also, and I know this one might be controversial, and I don't know 
where you come down on this one, but I also happen to believe that safe 
utilization of nuclear power is in our interests. It burns clean, and 
technology is good. I know you get a lively debate on it, but as I look 
at the energy requirements, we ought to do that.

U.N. Conference on Environment

    Q. I was wondering if you could let us know whether or not you're 
planning to attend the United Nations Conference on the Environment and 
Development?
    The President. Her question was whether I plan to attend the United 
Nations conference which will be held in Brazil on the environment. 
We're talking about that right now. The problem is it comes at a time 
when we've got a relatively hot political year here. But the United 
States must lead, and I have not told President Collor of Brazil yet 
whether I can do it. I'm talking to other world leaders as to whether 
they're attending. Bill Reilly, who is doing a superb job as head of the 
EPA, is back; we're going to have a meeting with him next week.
    So, the answer is, a decision has not been made on that. I just 
don't know. But whether I'm there or not, they're certainly going to 
have full cooperation and, I'd say, leadership from the United States. 
It's an important conference.
    Way in the back.

Student Loans

    Q. Yes, Mr. President, I am an ex-student from the New England area, 
and I'm sure you know that probably a good portion of the schools in the 
United States are located in the East. As of this year I'm not able to 
deduct the interest on my student loans anymore. That really hurts 
because I owe about $25,000 for school. So where do you stand on that?
    The President. I stand on asking your support for the bill that I 
referred to that's before the Ways and Means Committee right now, before 
the Senate Finance Committee, because it does permit the deduction of 
interest on student loans. And I think you're absolutely right; it 
should be done. So, we need your help getting it passed. But we've got 
that in this legislation. I hope we can succeed.

The Economy

    Q. Mr. President, in tough times what can Americans do by pulling 
their own bootstraps?
    The President. Well, I think what Americans can do is what we've 
always done, work hard, et cetera. But I think the economy needs some 
assistance now, like a tax credit for the first-time homebuyer. I have 
proposed that, $5,000. The National Association of Home Builders tell us 
that that would really stimulate this economy and do it fast. So, I 
think what we must do in Government is to try to give incentive, but it 
cannot be Government make-work programs. It has to be freeing up this 
economy to do a better job for the citizens.
    See, I'm not as discouraged as some people are. I know people have 
had a tough time in this State. But I've seen what we can do when we 
come together. I saw what we've done around the world in establishing 
our leadership. We're still the number one country in terms of our gross 
national product, by far. So, what we've got to do is jump-start this 
economy and then get the Government out of the way as much as possible 
and let this ingenuity that you're talking about come to the fore more.
    So, let's not be so discouraged that we cannot see any hope out 
there. I know people are hurting, but you've got interest

[[Page 257]]

rates at an all-time low; you've got inflation down; the economy is 
poised to come back. And I'm saying, give me the support I need in the 
Congress to get this one package passed, and then this ingenuity you're 
talking about really can flourish. I think you've got it in perspective.
    How about this guy right over here?
    Q. May I have your autograph? [Laughter]
    The President. Come on. The answer to that question is yes. Here you 
go. I signed that for you.
    All right, who's got--right here in the front.
    Q. Thank you.
    The President. You're welcome. That's a tough question. [Laughter]

Health Care

    Q. Mr. President, can you please assure us that you will not push 
through a national health plan? We would like to keep health care 
private.
    The President. I have a strong health proposal, health care plan. 
It's printed; it's out there. It does not nationalize health care. We've 
got a lot of criticism about our health care. We still have the best 
quality health care in the entire world, the best. Otherwise, why do 
people come here from other countries to get it? And you hear some of 
these people--somebody told them a few months ago, health care's an 
issue. So they'll come out trying to emulate some foreign plan.
    We're not going to have that. We are going to have the kind of plan 
that I put forward that will keep the quality and still make health care 
affordable to all through insurance. And people say, ``Well, poor guy 
doesn't have money to pay for the insurance.'' Then we have the voucher 
system, where he goes to a central location, name is on there, they have 
access to privately held, competitive insurance coverage. And that is 
the answer, not what you've asked about, this national health care plan. 
And you've got to take a look at the cost, too. And ours is much easier 
to pay for.
    Now, I'm getting a signal that we have time--let's say two more. 
Then I've got a special treat for you. Way back here in the red shirt, 
yes, sir.

Congressional Term Limitations

    Q. My question is very simple, Mr. President, is: Understanding we 
have many career politicians in Congress, how do you feel about term 
limitations?
    The President. I am in favor of term limitations. I'm in favor of 
that, and if it's good enough for the President it ought to be good 
enough for some of these Congressmen.
    All right. Yes, sir, right here.

Government Decentralization

    Q. Mr. President, with the high degree of communications technology 
that exists today, when can we look forward to decentralizing the large, 
expensive Washington-based form of Government?
    The President. I'm not sure. I wouldn't hold my breath on that one. 
[Laughter] I think your point is well-taken. There can be a more 
diffused Government, Government closer to the people through technology. 
Computer networks are doing that. I don't honestly see, though, that it 
is going to be so decentralized that one agency will be in one place and 
one agency in another place. With the kind of Government we have where 
the action of Congress is very, very important, I don't see a really 
diffused transfer of these departments around the country. It has 
certain appeal, but I don't want to be unrealistic. It ain't going to 
happen.
    All right. Now, let me tell you, we've got a special treat here, a 
good friend of mine. And this man is doing an awful lot on fitness. 
Somebody mentions health care; one of the reasons you do it is you 
prevent bad health by keeping fit. And so let me introduce to you a 
supporter and a great friend of mine, Arnold Schwarzenegger.
    Give them the fitness test.
    Mr. Schwarzenegger. Thank you very much, Mr. President. Thank you.
    The President. He's part of our health plan, see.

[At this point, Mr. Schwarzenegger spoke.]

    The President. Thanks so much. I guess we're out of here. Good to 
see you all. Thanks for coming. Glad to see you. Thanks for taking the 
time.

[[Page 258]]

                    Note: The President spoke at 1:04 p.m. at Mountain 
                        View Middle School. Arnold Schwarzenegger was 
                        Chairman of the President's Council on Physical 
                        Fitness and Sports.