[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George H. W. Bush (1992-1993, Book II)]
[September 17, 1992]
[Pages 1584-1587]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



[[Page 1584]]


Remarks to the Community in Jonesboro, Georgia
September 17, 1992

    The President. What a fantastic welcome. Thank you very, very much. 
Thank you all very much for that warm welcome. I am delighted to be 
here, and I'm especially glad to be with the residents of Avery of 
Walnut Creek and thank them for this impromptu block party. You really 
know how to make a guy feel at home here.
    May I salute Jerry Kopp, not only our chairman but a man whose 
vision is bringing this place alive, thank him for his leadership, thank 
him for his hospitality. We've got a great host here today.
    I also want to salute and thank the members of the Atlanta Home 
Builders who are with us here today. The president-elect is here, 
Charles Bussey. Also we're expecting Congressman Newt Gingrich, whose 
plane was about to land, and I salute him as one of our leaders in the 
Congress.
    But let me just mention two candidates with us today. We've got to 
get Mac Collins elected to the House of Representatives. We need new 
blood. We need people that think as you and I do on trying to solve the 
problems of this country. As for the Senate, I would like to see us get 
some new Senate leaders up there, and Paul Coverdell is the man.
    You know, he's already served our administration with great 
distinction. He has the courage and he has the commitment to work with 
me to get the budget deficit down. Because of that commitment, in this 
State, where for a while Ross Perot captured the imagination of many 
people because of his commitment to get the deficit down, Paul has now 
been endorsed by the Perot leadership in this State. I think that's a 
tribute to his integrity and his commitment to getting the debt off the 
backs of these young people.
    When you're done here, I'd like you to all pack up and go to 
Washington, because there's a certain House on the Hill that's in need 
of a little renovation. You know Bob Vila's old show, ``This Old 
House''? Well, back in Washington there's an old House on Capitol Hill 
that hasn't been cleaned out for 38 years. We've got to clean House. We 
need these two people elected there.
    Audience members. Clean the House! Clean the House! Clean the House!
    The President. ``Clean the House!'' is right.
    Well, I'm pleased to be here with you today because you're building 
here at 1270 Larkwood Drive, and it isn't just a house. The way I look 
at it, it's a part of the American dream for the family who will call it 
a home.
    And now that the cold war is over, the defining challenges of the 
nineties are to win the peace and to win the competition in the new 
global economy. Let me give it to you straight. In the 21st century 
America must be not only a military superpower, but an economic 
superpower and an export superpower.
    In this election you're going to hear varying versions of how to do 
this. My opponent wants to look inward, to pretend that we can protect 
what we already have. Yours and mine is to look forward, open up new 
markets, prepare our people to compete, strengthen the American family, 
and save and invest so that when it comes to the global competition, 
America will win, just as we did in the cold war.
    What we need is this: an agenda for the American renewal, a strategy 
that reaches out to the world in a way that makes a difference right 
here in this county and in your neighborhoods and in your lives. We've 
got to build on the fundamentals of lower tax rates, limits on 
Government spending, less redtape, less regulation, and more trade and 
more competition to generate the growth that this country needs, which 
means opportunity.
    I think that in the nineties, Government can add to this growth by 
building opportunity and hope for individuals, empowering families and 
communities. And my agenda for renewal is a blueprint for long-term 
growth. But near-term, right now, we all know that we've got to jump-
start this economy, to put America back to work.

[[Page 1585]]

    Let me tell every would-be homebuyer and everybody familiar with the 
homebuilding industries: Back in January, 8 months ago, you might 
remember this, I challenged the Congress to pass a new incentive, a 
$5,000 tax credit for these first-time homebuyers. I proposed that 
credit for two reasons: First, because I knew that coming out of 
troubled times, housing is traditionally the sector that pulls this 
economy forward. I also wanted to help the young families, the ones that 
are struggling to save for that first home, because the American dream, 
after all, really starts right here with a home of your own.
    This year alone, my plan would have meant more than 120,000 new 
housing starts and 220,000 new jobs in the economy, including jobs for 
carpenters and plumbers and plasterers. For the average first-time 
homebuyer right in this county, that tax credit would have been the 
equivalent of 8 months worth of mortgage payments, right here at 1270 
Larkwood. It's like getting your down payment back and more.
    And my plan, you know what's happened to it, it is still sitting, 
stalled by the do-nothing liberal leadership that puts politics ahead of 
helping people. The opposition feels the only chance they can have to 
win is if everything is bad. They refuse to act, and it's time to put 
people ahead of political gain in this country.
    You know, rule number one in the housing business is build from the 
ground up. Well, given what you've seen in Congress this year, I think 
this is one time you ought to raise the roof. Go after these people. 
Clean them out. They've been there 38 years. Give us some new leadership 
in both the Senate and the House.
    You know, the housing business is no different than a lot of other 
small businesses. I see small business as the engine to pull this 
economy forward, generating jobs and opportunity. My opponent sees small 
business as the goose that laid the golden egg. Here's what he wants: 
$150 billion in new taxes to a payroll tax for health care to a training 
tax. Governor Clinton wants to squeeze small business to bankroll big 
Government, and we cannot let him do that.
    So I say keep your hands off the housing industry. America's small 
businesses need relief, relief from taxation and overregulation and, 
yes, relief from these frivolous lawsuits. We're suing each other too 
much and caring for each other too little.
    Last month, I was in Michigan, western Michigan, talking to a group 
of small-business leaders. And I talked to a guy who runs an asphalt 
paving company. He said, ``Mr. President, when a regulation doesn't make 
sense, it's the worker who pays with his job.''
    Excessive regulation is a huge hidden cost in housing. The single 
most expensive item in a home these days isn't sheetrock; it's not the 
drywall; it isn't all the lumber, even the land underneath. The single 
most expensive item in a new home is that piece of paper you stick 
inside the front window, the building permit. All the regulations that 
it represents can add up to 20 to 35 percent of the cost of these 
houses. That's why I put a freeze on new Federal regulations to give 
businesses like this a chance to make it, a chance to improve, a chance 
to get ahead.
    For those in the housing business and those potential consumers, let 
me say this: Today I'm announcing an important regulatory reform that 
will make housing more affordable, a reform that does not require action 
by the Congress, thank heavens. It will substantially reduce the 
insurance premium on FHA-insured 15-year mortgages, with benefits to 
both the homebuyers and the homebuilders.
    Now, this action is no substitute for the legislation I want, the 
one I proposed back in January. But I will continue to do everything I 
can on my own to get the economy moving, even if Congress sits on its 
hands.
    Now, there are some good signs for the housing industry. I think 
most people here in Georgia know it. The housing affordability index is 
almost double what it was 10 years ago. Interest rates today are lower 
than at any time since 1973. The last time a family could get a mortgage 
this low, milk was 98 cents a gallon and the Braves' Hank Aaron was 
still chasing Babe Ruth's record. That was some time ago.
    So let me tell you what the lower interest means to you and to the 
American family. Lower interest rates mean real money, real

[[Page 1586]]

savings for every American who buys a home, every family that refinances 
a mortgage. It means money in your pocket, as much as $2,000 a year or 
more that instead of paying to the bank you can put in the bank. 
Nationwide, over the past 2 years alone, that is like a $26 billion tax 
cut for America's homeowners.
    Now, that is good news. But we've got to do even better. Some 
studies show that three-quarters of all renters are ready to become 
buyers if they could muster up the down payment. If Congress had passed 
my plan when I asked them to, if Congress had acted to help that first-
time homebuyer, you'd see almost 400,000 more ``Sold'' signs on front 
lawns all across America. Workers in the homebuilding industry wouldn't 
be worried about pink slips; they'd be too busy working overtime.
    So today let me make a suggestion to you: Come November, send me a 
Congress that shares our view to get this country moving, to get the 
economy moving.
    Audience members. Clean the House! Clean the House! Clean the House!
    The President. And if you say, give me one good reason you'll get 
Congress to act, I'll give you about 150. That's the number of new faces 
that we'll probably see next year in the Congress.
    I'll be candid: I want every last one of them to be a Republican, of 
course. But whatever party they come from, even if they were first 
elected before some of you were born, they'll come back with a new 
appreciation of what you want, a complete set of instructions from the 
American people that say it's time for Congress to change. I am 
convinced with a new Congress, a Congress made up of so many new people, 
we can get the job done. I'll sit down with them all the day after the 
election, say, ``You've listened to the American people. I've listened 
to the American people. Now let's get things going forward in this 
country and put aside all these politics.''
    Don't forget what happened the last time Democrats controlled both 
ends of Pennsylvania in Washington, DC. The ``misery index,'' the 
malaise days, the ``misery index'' was over 20 percent, and mortgage 
rates were so high, sky high, there was a lockout for millions of 
Americans who wanted to buy their own home. We've seen what happens when 
the party of tax-and-spend operates without any checks and balances, and 
we cannot do that to the American people again.
    I've set out in my program 13 specific challenges, initiatives, 
actions, challenging the new Congress to take in the first 100 days of 
my second term. And November 3d, I'm looking for a mandate to move 
forward, to move forward on this Agenda for American Renewal, an agenda 
that builds a stronger, more secure America that we want for ourselves 
and certainly for these kids here.
    We've got to remember this one fundamental fact: America is the envy 
of the world. Governor Clinton and Senator Gore would have you believe 
that we're a nation, here's what they said, somewhere south of Germany 
but just ahead of Sri Lanka. They are wrong. We are the most respected 
nation in the entire world. We're that, not because our Government is 
great but because our people are great and because the American people 
are builders and dreamers and dreamers who build.
    I am delighted to be here. Let me tell you this. I'm sorry that 
Barbara is not here. She's meeting me in downtown Atlanta in a few 
minutes. But I am absolutely convinced that we're going to have change 
this year. We're going to have a new Senator from the State of Georgia, 
Paul Coverdell. Clearly, we've got to elect Mac to the House. He's a 
good man, and he knows what change is all about.
    I don't care what the liberals think about it; I am not going to 
stop talking about strengthening the American family, the values that we 
have tried to emulate in the White House. So let them knock us. Let them 
tear us down. I will continue to find ways to help every family in 
America strengthen the values that we hold so dear.
    Thank you. Now elect these good men. Vote for me. And may God bless 
each and every one of you. Thank you.

                    Note: The President spoke at 3:39 p.m. at a homesite 
                        in the Avery of Walnut Creek development. In his 
                        remarks, he referred to

[[Page 1587]]

                        Jerry Kopp, president, Koppar Corp. (developer 
                        of Avery of Walnut Creek), and chairman, 
                        Republican Party of Clayton County.