[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George H. W. Bush (1992-1993, Book II)]
[August 24, 1992]
[Pages 1405-1408]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks at Lincoln Technical Institute in Union, New Jersey
August 24, 1992

    The President. Thank you very much, Secretary Martin. Let me just 
salute our great Secretary of Labor and thank her very much for her 
introduction. Salute the former Governor of this State, Tom Kean. The 
working man and woman never had a better friend than Tom Kean. Mattie 
Rinaldo, he and I go back a long time. He's the Congressman from this 
area, doing a superb job. If we had more like him, we wouldn't have a 
gridlocked Congress. And I want to thank Pat Santangelo for the tour, 
and also Senator Don DiFrancesco and all the students and faculty here. 
This has been an inspiring visit.
    Now, let me tell you why I've come to Lincoln Tech. I'm here today 
because of what will take place 71 days from now, because of the 
decision you're going to be making on November 3d. And that's going to 
set the course of this Nation. The defining challenge of the 1990's is 
to win the economic competition and to win the peace.

[[Page 1406]]

    America's got to be--and is, a military superpower--an economic 
superpower, though, and an export superpower. Now, in this election 
you're going to hear two very different versions of how we go about 
this. Theirs is to look inward and protect what we've got. And ours is 
to look forward to open new markets, to create incentives, to restore 
our social fabric, and to prepare our people to compete so that we can 
win. And that's what this is all about here today.
    I want to talk about the last of those challenges, the new ways to 
prepare our American workers to compete. We know the world economy is 
changing. And America must change with it. As President, we worked to 
create new jobs, open new markets all the way from Moscow to Mexico. And 
that means new American jobs from Union, New Jersey, all the way out to 
California.
    Right now, one in every six Americans' manufacturing job is tied 
directly to exports. And that doesn't count the economic ripple effect 
created when those workers pay the mortgage, buy a car, or feed the 
kids. Since 1988, three-fifths of all of our economic growth has come 
from people in other countries buying what's made in the United States 
of America, the good products made right here in New Jersey.
    Now, the jobs in these new export industries demand workers with 
higher skills than the old economy. And workers must realize what you 
know here at Lincoln: During the course of a career you may develop as 
many as five or six skills or proficiencies, putting a premium on 
flexibility, long-life learning. Now, these principles are reflected in 
a new commitment to job training. This is a new national commitment to 
job training that I'm unveiling today, a program that is bold. It is 
innovative, and it is loyal only to the future and to the needs of the 
American workers.
    Now, earlier this year we introduced a program called Job Training 
2000, a comprehensive program to streamline this crazy quilt of over 100 
different Federal jobs programs. Now that we've designed that effective 
structure for delivering job training, I want to expand on our efforts. 
If our Nation is to succeed in this world economy, we cannot afford to 
waste the talent of one single worker. And that means we need better 
training for young people first coming into the work force, better 
retraining for workers that are changing careers, and better training 
and assistance for workers who lose their jobs.
    You start with this new initiative. We call it the Youth Training 
Corps. The program is aimed at young people, primarily in our inner 
cities, kids with talent, kids with ambition, but with no outlets for 
their abilities other than a life of drugs and crime. Right now we have 
a great program called the conservation centers, which takes these kids 
to job training centers, often in rural areas, puts them to work, for 
example, helping rebuild the parks or recreation and community 
facilities. But at the same time these kids learn a skill, find out how 
to manage their finances, and get counseling about how to break away 
from the temptations of the mean streets that they once hung out on.
    Now, we're going to build on those conservation centers, add 25 new 
centers with positions for 43,000 new trainees. And to staff these 
centers we will give hiring priority to former members of our Armed 
Forces, people with the proven leadership skills--these people, they've 
demonstrated that they can lead--proven leadership skills, the drive, 
and the discipline that breeds success.
    Now, we need to expand our existing efforts to teach high school 
kids about their opportunities in life, provide them strong role models, 
and encourage a sense of personal responsibility and discipline. And so 
also today I am also doubling the size of our Junior ROTC program. It is 
in almost 1,500 schools today; we're going to expand it to 2,900 
schools. And with $50 million a year in new funding, another 150,000 
kids will get the benefit of what has been a great program that boosts 
high school competition, high school completion rates, reduces drug use, 
raises self-esteem, and gets these kids firmly on the right track.
    Now, I will also urge the Congress to expand my youth apprenticeship 
program. This one's aimed at high school juniors and seniors who may be 
in danger of dropping out. And the program combines classroom

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instruction with structured work programs. And when students finish, 
they not only have a diploma, they have a certificate saying they've 
developed a skill and can get a job. Right now this program is working 
as a demonstration project in six States. It ought to be expanded. If I 
have my way, it will be expanded to all 50 States.
    Another part of this: We'll also do more for troubled kids, and 
we'll connect our efforts to get the young people off of drugs with the 
skills that help them get a clean start. We are going to expand drug 
treatment to reach an additional 28,000 kids a year. We're going to tie 
successful drug treatment to job training. I call it Treat and Train. It 
will guarantee these kids a place in our job training program the moment 
they finish rehabilitation.
    So helping young people is a part of the picture. But if we want to 
compete, we've got to help older workers obtain new skills. These are 
people caught in the transition of our economy, eager to earn new skills 
so they can get new jobs and protect their standard of living. And 
that's why I'm announcing today a dramatic new departure in job training 
for Americans in the middle of their careers.
    The key concept here is something I call skill grants. These are 
vouchers worth up to $3,000 per person that can be used toward training 
programs of their choice. And these vouchers can go not simply to those 
that are unemployed but to those who worry the next pink slip may be 
coming their way, to help defense workers retool, to help workers in 
declining industries sharpen the skills that they'll need to stay one 
step ahead. What Pell grants have done to open up opportunities for our 
younger kids, skill grants will do for experienced workers in need of 
new skills.
    The program will focus on the needs of what we call dislocated 
workers, people in industries that are changing because of global 
competition. Twelve days ago I announced the North American free trade 
agreement to open new economic opportunities for American products from 
the Yukon to Yucatan. In the 1990's that agreement will create millions 
of new American jobs, but near-term may also mean dislocations in some 
industries. And thus, I've assured the Congress that I'd work with them 
to ease the transition for the workers in the NAFTA. Today's plan will 
meet that commitment.
    My plan sets aside up to, I think it's $670 million per year for the 
Secretary of Labor to pump into areas that might be negatively affected 
by NAFTA. This funding is more than enough to ensure that any and every 
affected worker gets the kind of training he or she needs. And more 
important, they'll have a choice, get them into programs that they want 
to be in, not shoehorned into some training program that just happens to 
have openings.
    Now, that's our approach to job training. And it rests on the 
proposition that we should empower people with skills instead of 
empowering bureaucracies with people. Just a quick political word here: 
My opponent agrees with this in principle, but when you get to the 
details we really do have a vast philosophical difference. I believe we 
can pay for this new job training offensive without raising taxes on 
people or increasing overall Government spending.
    We've got to make the tough calls. This is a priority. We've got to 
make the tough calls, set the budget priorities. This entire proposal, 
and yes, it's going to cost money, but it will be funded under the 
budget caps. And I will project these in more detail as we move into the 
next budget cycle.
    My opponent is different. He sees job training as a tax raiser, and 
he wants to tax workers to pay for their own training and tax small 
businesses--this is the one that's the worst----
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. ----taxing small businesses around the country 1.5 
percent. That is 1.5 that will come out of your paycheck, and it's on 
top of the new income and other payroll taxes he's proposing. Think of 
what this is going to do to small business, which has created over two-
thirds of the new jobs in the past decade. So let me say this to my 
opponent: There is no point in training people for jobs if your plan is 
going to be in the process of destroying jobs.
    And there's another difference between our two approaches. My 
opponent says he'll do more to help defense workers coping

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with the post-cold-war economic realities. What he won't tell you, 
though, is this: We sent forward a prudent defense budget. Because of 
what we've accomplished around the world, because the world is more 
peaceful, we are able to reduce spending. But he sent forward a program 
that plans $60 billion in additional cuts in defense beyond what the 
experts say is responsible. And that not only will damage the national 
defense, it will throw one million more defense-related industry 
employees out of work and on to the unemployment rolls. And I'm not 
going to have it, on two counts: adding to the unemployment, but 
fundamentally I must protect the national security of the United States.
    Once these workers have lost those jobs, high-paid, high-tech jobs, 
the other side will step in with some, you know, kind of a make-work 
program. Someone ought to ask the workers whether they would rather have 
their high-tech jobs and good training for another high-tech industry, 
or some short-term Government make-work job. I vote for the former. We 
can do it. We can get everybody engaged in high-tech jobs with this 
retraining approach.
    Now, the big point I want to make here in this working State is 
higher spending and higher taxes will not do any favors to the American 
worker. According to one congressional analysis, it could cost America 
almost 3 million jobs, this tax-and-spend approach. And my opponent's 
whole approach reminds me of the guy with the head cold. The doctor 
wants to amputate his leg. And to the patient it sounds a little odd, 
you know, a little radical. To the doctor it's logical: If your cold 
settles in your lungs, you'll get pneumonia; if you get pneumonia, your 
circulation will go; if your circulation goes, you'll get gangrene. So 
just to be safe, better take off the leg. [Laughter]
    Well, that ain't it. That's not going to get the job done. We need a 
new approach and one that doesn't cripple the economy and then offer 
workers a crutch, one that helps people keep the jobs they have, creates 
the new jobs that they demand, and one that helps America retool for the 
challenges of a new century, for the challenges of your lifetime.
    I like the spirit here at Lincoln. The people at Lincoln, students 
and faculty, seem to understand that training for jobs that exist and 
moving people up the ladder is the goal that we all ought to share. It's 
certainly one I do. And I appreciate this visit very much.
    You know, I put forward this approach. I'm going to fight for it in 
the campaign, fight for it with what I hope is a new, nongridlocked 
Congress--that is fouling up everything in this country. And so I 
appreciate very much what you all have shown me here today. I wish each 
and every student at this wonderful institution Godspeed and good luck. 
And I'll tell you, I will do my level-best to hold the line on the taxes 
and to hold the line on the spending and create new jobs through this 
kind of new job training approach.
    Thank you all, and God bless you. May God bless you all. And let me 
say this: I know things have been tough, but we are the United States of 
America. We can overcome our problems and continue to lead in the world. 
Thank you very much.

                    Note: The President spoke at 10:05 a.m. in the main 
                        automotive shop area. In his remarks, he 
                        referred to P.J. Santangelo, Lincoln Technical 
                        Institute president and chief executive officer, 
                        and Donald T. DiFrancesco, New Jersey State 
                        Senate president.