[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George H. W. Bush (1992, Book I)]
[March 9, 1992]
[Pages 406-410]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks to the National League of Cities

March 9, 1992
    Thank you very much. Glenda, thank you so much for that kind 
introduction, and to all of you. And may I salute the Members of 
Congress that have been with us here. Let me say good morning to them, 
and please do what's right up on Capitol Hill. My greetings to all the 
special guests here at the head table; to Don Borut and Wallace

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Stickney, who is with us.
    Let me just say that I'm very pleased to join you today. I enjoyed, 
Glenda referred to it, I enjoyed speaking to you over the television 
hookup in December. It's much better face to face. And I hear that you 
have had a very energetic, very well attended series of meetings. And I 
salute your leadership, present leadership; and then, of course, an old 
former colleague of mine, or put it this way, a still young but former 
colleague of mine in the House of Representatives who will be your 
leader--what, starting next November, is it--Don Fraser.
    In January, as Glenda said, I had a followup meeting with 10 of your 
members. And like your organization as a whole, they represented a broad 
cross section of urban America's leadership: Republicans and Democrats, 
liberals, conservatives, officials from large and small and midsize 
cities.
    And of course, we're all concerned, all of us here, about the big 
issues, jobs and family and world peace. And even so, I was struck at 
this meeting by the unanimity of the message that your members wanted to 
deliver. It can't be repeated often enough in Washington or any State 
capitol or any city hall. Your message was simply this: The enormous 
problems facing cities today, from infant mortality to high dropout 
rates to runaway crime, are partly, at least, symptoms of one larger 
problem, the deterioration of the American family.
    Now, I understand the breadth of the issues that you deal with 
daily, poverty to potholes to property taxes. And in addressing myself 
to this one subject, I don't want you to think that we are less 
concerned about these enormous problems you face every day. But this 
morning, I would like to discuss that same serious issue that you all 
raised with me, the family. The restoration of the American family is at 
the heart of much of what we have done these last 3 years. Leaving aside 
for a moment the enormous costs, the wasted human resources or the 
billions spent to repair the damage of broken homes, family breakdown 
ultimately endangers our position in a world increasingly driven by 
economic competition.
    Certainly, the integrity of family is critical on its own merit. As 
Barbara Bush, my favorite philosopher, says, ``What goes on at the White 
House is not nearly as important as what goes on in your house.'' And 
there's a lot of truth in that. But particularly at a time when our 
efforts must focus on economic growth, the family's disintegration 
endangers, for all of us, our ability to create and to preserve jobs, 
and to create an economy open to participation by all our citizens.
    So we must start with a clear-eyed look at what is really happening 
to the family in American communities today, not just in poor urban 
neighborhoods but all across America. And then we've got to look inside 
ourselves, to establish the principles that will shape our approach. And 
then we must act.
    The urgency is clear. We all know the statistics, perhaps you know 
them better than most Americans, the dreary drumbeat that tells of 
family breakdown. Today, one out of every four American children is born 
out of wedlock; in some areas the illegitimacy rate tops 80 percent. A 
quarter of our children grow up in households headed by a single parent. 
More than 2 million are called latch-key kids, who come home from school 
each afternoon to an empty house. And a large number of our children 
grow up without the love of parents at all, with nobody knowing their 
name.
    We know from experience the consequences of family decline. 
Neglected children are more susceptible to the lure of crime and drugs; 
they're more likely to have poor health, drop out of school early, more 
likely to lead a life without hope. Each of you is in a position to know 
the human costs that these statistics can only dimly sketch. You know, 
as I do, that for every blip on a chart or dot on a graph, there is a 
human story to tell, and too often the story is a tragedy.
    About 10 days ago, I was in Bexar 
County, Texas, in San Antonio, meeting with Latin American leaders to 
intensify our war on drugs. And while there, I saw a front-page story in 
the San Antonio Light. A cabdriver had been murdered last September, 
another act of random, selfless violence, and his murderer had just been 
found guilty. But what was truly horrifying,

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what would horrify any American, was this: The murderer was a 12-year-
old boy. And as the deputies took the boy from the courtroom, according 
to the newspaper story, they had trouble fitting him with shackles and 
handcuffs, so slender were his wrists. This youngster was 4 feet tall, 
not yet a teenager but now a convicted murderer.
    The drumbeat continues: two teenagers shot dead in a New York public 
school, an LSD ring busted up in an affluent northern Virginia suburb, 
or the harrowing stories of runaway kids and the horrors that befall 
them.
    I know that almost all of you could tell stories equally 
distressing, stories from your neighborhoods and your cities where the 
unthinkable has become the commonplace. I am sure that many of you here 
took office with high confidence in the power to solve these problems, 
only to discover, sooner rather than later, I suspect, that they were 
far more stubborn than we could imagine. Let's not forget that the 
trials our citizens face each and every day were generations in the 
making. We can't expect change overnight. But make no mistake: Change 
will come because change simply must come.
    Let's face it. We can only change things if we work in common 
purpose. We must call a cease-fire in the war of words that too often 
consumes us. Casting blame brings no solutions, nor will questioning 
each other's motives. We have got to focus every ounce of our energy to 
turn back this assault upon the American family and act as one Nation to 
defend and strengthen it. As public servants, we must never forget that 
the best department of HHS, of health and human services, is, indeed, 
the family. In restoring the family, we restore to coming generations 
the values, the sense of right and wrong, the will and confidence to 
succeed that only a family can provide a child. And in doing this, we 
will reinvigorate our cities and our communities as well.
    We needn't look far for principles to guide us. There are old home 
truths: Rely on what works; discard what doesn't. Never be afraid to 
innovate. Remember that Government closest to the people responds best 
to the needs of the people. And let's not forget this as a guiding 
principle: If people are to be responsible, they must be given 
responsibility.
    The Government's first duty is like that of the physician: Do no 
harm. But the fact is, with the best of intentions, many past Government 
policies have worked against the institution of the family, undermined 
young people's desire to marry and stay married, to provide for their 
children, to plan for their future. As a practical matter, doing no harm 
means in part that we ensure parents retain the authority to make the 
big decisions for their families. This doesn't absolve parents of 
responsibility; it's just the opposite.
    For example, even if we're able to reform our education system--and 
I am determined that the Federal Government assist all of you in every 
way in revolutionizing the education system--but even if we are, parents 
must still read to their children. The point is that Government harms 
the family when it restricts its autonomy or usurps the authority of 
responsible parents.
    Let me give you another example. Those of us in Government can never 
plausibly claim to fight for families if we insist that Government, not 
parents, must choose who cares for their children. So 2 years ago our 
administration waged a fight in Congress over this very issue, and we 
won. We kept choice of child care out of the hands of Government and put 
it where it belongs, in the hands of parents.
    And now we're engaged in a similar fight over whether parents should 
have the right to choose their children's schools. We know the benefits 
of competition; it is the linchpin of American prosperity. And 
competition among schools will be the linchpin of educational 
excellence, too. From Minnesota to Milwaukee to east Harlem, school 
choice works.
    But you see, it's important for other reasons: It restores authority 
and responsibility to parents. Just as it makes our schools accountable, 
it also makes parents accountable for the decisions they make. Not only 
in child care and school choice but in other areas as well, a key to 
healing the American family will be restoring parental authority and 
accountability.
    Another example, the initiative that we

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call HOPE, H-O-P-E. It took more than a year to get that program through 
Congress and another year to get even partial funding for it. But HOPE 
will be crucial to our success by offering low-income families a greater 
opportunity to own their own homes. HOPE is based on a simple principle: 
To survive, people need the intangible values of dignity and self-
respect. Government can't provide those, but homeownership can, an 
education can, a job can, and being part of a family can.
    The Federal Government has a positive role in preserving the family, 
and we welcome that role. It's guided the decisions that we make every 
single day. Since 1989, for example, we have more than doubled the 
funding for the program that I bet everybody in this room supports, Head 
Start, a program that brings children and parents into the classroom, 
strengthens family ties, and reinforces parental responsibility. For the 
first time in the program's history, we can support now Head Start for 
all eligible 4-year-old children whose parents choose to have them 
participate.
    There are many other examples. We've increased the earned income tax 
credit for low-income families. And since '89, we've increased the 
funding for WIC, the supplementary food program for women, infants, and 
children, by 47 percent to $2.8 billion next year. We've increased other 
nutritional programs by similar percentages. And this year Federal 
support for childhood immunization grants will top $340 million, an 
increase of 18 percent over last year's level. So all told, funding for 
children's programs, from nutrition and education to foster care and 
child immunization, has increased 66 percent since we took office.
    But look, we will never measure, and I think you all would be the 
first to agree with this, we would never measure our compassion simply 
in dollars spent. We will measure it by results. The test will be the 
health and happiness of our children and, most important of all, the 
sense of well-being and self-reliance instilled by our families. Our 
administration has targeted funding to programs that efficiently fulfill 
Government's role in supporting families and keeping them together, 
programs that work for the family.
    Yet, at the same time, we must face another fact. Government can 
sometimes be a burden as well as a boon. Over the past 40 years, the 
child tax exemption has lagged far behind the soaring costs of 
childrearing. And I have asked Congress to increase the exemption by 
$500 per child. For a family with four children, that's an increase of 
$2,000. And it's a crucial first step toward redressing the imbalance, 
and it's what we can afford to do right now.
    And now I come to perhaps the most crucial matter of all, one that 
concerns you all. We must reform our Nation's welfare system. Americans 
are the most generous people on Earth, but they want to see and they are 
entitled to see some relationship between welfare and work. Welfare must 
never be what Franklin Delano Roosevelt warned it might become, ``a 
subtle destroyer of the spirit.'' It is not meant to be a way of life or 
a family legacy passed from one generation to the next. Welfare can eat 
away at the ties that bind a family together.
    And State and local governments are undertaking the brave work of 
reform: Learnfare in Wisconsin; REACH, Realizing Economic Achievement in 
New Jersey; Washington State's FIP, Family Independence Program. These 
are all demonstration projects that we support. And my administration is 
committed to reform, and we are acting now on waivers, to loosen up on 
waivers, to waive unnecessary redtape that impedes reform.
    There's no hidden agenda here. This administration, the mayors, the 
State leaders who press for drastic reform of welfare aren't modern-day 
Scrooges chiseling one more dime out of some poor family. Democrat or 
Republican, California, New Jersey, Federal or State: In our heart of 
hearts, we really believe reforming the welfare system is the best way 
to serve people. Break this sorry cycle of despair. Give people real 
hope. And we're going to keep on trying to do just that because every 
single American deserves to believe in the American dream.
    Today, with family as the center, I've highlighted the role of 
government, both positive and negative, because we're men and women of 
government. But let's never forget the work of private Americans dedi-

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cating themselves to the voluntary service of others, who create an 
environment where families can flourish. Each is a Point of Light, 
offering service with no thought of reward, though the reward will be 
reaped by every single American.
    And let me be very clear. When I talk about Points of Light, they 
are not a substitute for the good that government can do, but it's more 
this: We will simply not solve our most pressing problems without the 
dedication of those Points of Light, of those volunteers. And I urge all 
of you, when you return to your cities, to do all in your power to 
encourage these caring men and women, to make yours a community of 
light.
    In my State of the Union Address, I announced that we would soon 
institute a commission on America's urban families. Your executive board 
or directors or whatever group it was--I've never been sure with whom I 
was dealing, but they were all big shots, believe me--[laughter]--came 
together. And their work will be one result of my meeting in January 
with some of your leaders.
    And I have asked Governor Ashcroft of Missouri, a caring man, 
Annette Strauss, the former Mayor of Dallas, a very able woman who also 
cares deeply, to lead the commission and fulfill its mandate: To 
identify those government programs, at all levels, that weaken or 
strengthen urban families; to analyze ways to improve private efforts to 
strengthen families; and to recommend new policies to help families in 
our cities.
    I am convinced that we can correct our mistakes, that we can learn 
from our failures and build on our successes. I do not exaggerate when I 
say that the future of America depends on our efforts. The family is the 
irreducible unit of comfort and love. And from families radiate 
neighborhoods, from neighborhoods come towns and cities, and their 
health determines the health of our country, for better or for worse. 
And like you, I am committed to making our health whole and to ensuring 
that our cities, as Theodore Parker said, ``remain the fireplaces of 
America, radiating warmth and light against the darkness.''
    Thank you all very much for giving me this opportunity to visit with 
you today. And may God bless our great country. Thank you so much.

                    Note: The President spoke at 11:36 a.m. at the 
                        Washington Hilton Hotel. In his remarks, he 
                        referred to Glenda E. Hood and Donald J. Borut, 
                        president and executive director of the National 
                        League of Cities; and Wallace E. Stickney, 
                        Director of the Federal Emergency Management 
                        Agency. The Executive order of March 12 
                        establishing the National Commission on 
                        America's Urban Families is listed in Appendix E 
                        at the end of this volume.