[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George H. W. Bush (1992-1993, Book II)]
[September 30, 1992]
[Pages 1713-1716]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks to the Community in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin
September 30, 1992

    The President. Thank you, Governor Thompson. Thank all of you for 
that warm Fond du Lac welcome. And it's great, great to be here in your 
city, great to be back in the State of Wisconsin. Let me just say how 
pleased I am to be here with your Lieutenant Governor, Scott McCallum, 
who's doing a great job for the State; Anita Anderegg, the county 
executive here, a real leader; Cate Zeuske, the State treasurer. And let 
me also thank my longtime friend John MacIver, our Bush-Quayle Wisconsin 
chairman, for all his efforts. Unless you don't know it, you've got one 
of the greatest Governors in Tommy Thompson in the entire United States 
of America. He is an outstanding national leader. He's doing great 
things for this State. And he's working most cooperatively with 
Washington. I am very, very proud that he is my close, dear friend. And 
Barbara feels exactly the same way about him. I see some Tom Petri 
signs. We've got to reelect him to the United States Congress. He's a 
good man, a good Congressman. Reelect him.
    Now, I understand that I'm visiting here the day before the 
Democratic candidates come to town.
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. I can't resist saying, I don't think this is the last 
time that I'll be ahead of the Democratic ticket. We are going to win 
this election in November.
    Audience members. Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!
    The President. There's been a lot of discussion in the past week 
about Presidential debates. I think debates are important. I think the 
American people deserve to see the two candidates side by side. So 
yesterday, down in Tennessee, I challenged my opponent to a series of 
four television debates, the last four Sundays before the election. I 
said I'd be very flexible about the format, but I was eager to have the 
American people compare my ideas with Governor Clinton's. We have 
offered to meet with Governor Clinton's campaign anywhere, anytime. And 
so far at least, Governor Clinton has responded to my challenge the same 
way he responds to issues like free trade, fuel efficiency standards, 
and middle class taxes: He waffles. I can't find him. He's lost. He's 
missing in action. He refuses on this issue to take a position one way 
or the other, just like on all these other issues.
    So this morning I renew my challenge to Governor Clinton: Let's have 
our people sit down, work this out. Let's have four debates with the 
formats that I like and the format that you like. And I'm no Oxford 
debater. I didn't spend a lot of time over in

[[Page 1714]]

Oxford, England, in the debating society. But I say let American people 
decide. Let's get up there and get it on, side by side.
    Now, when we sit down to debate, and I hope the Governor will take a 
stand to agree to them, we should discuss the most important question: 
What kind of America do we want for the young people here today? Because 
of your sacrifice, because of your commitment, we have helped reduce the 
fear of nuclear annihilation. Today, our kids can dream the sweet dreams 
of peace without fear of nuclear war. And I am proud that that happened 
when I have been President of the United States. You listen to Governor 
Clinton, you might think national security of this country and foreign 
affairs are not important. They are. We've changed the world.
    Now we face a new challenge. We must win the new global economic 
competition because that is the only way we'll create good jobs for our 
kids and our grandkids. And I've laid out my call for an Agenda for 
American Renewal, a comprehensive, integrated agenda to create in 
America by the 21st century the world's very first $10 trillion economy. 
And we can do it. We are Americans.
    I know that many Americans are anxious about our economy today, 
concerned about our future. But we need to understand that we are 
experiencing the impact of a global economic slowdown. It isn't just the 
United States. It's being felt here at home, but it's also felt in Asia 
and Europe. Those countries would switch with us in a minute regarding 
economies.
    My opponent spends a lot of time cutting down America, tearing it 
down, telling everybody how bad he thinks things are. I would remind him 
of a few facts, like the fact that when you go looking for the world's 
most productive workers and farmers, you don't look to Japan, you don't 
look to Germany; you look right here in the United States of America.
    We need to build on our strengths. And so my agenda starts with a 
commitment to free and fair trade. And I want to use my experience in 
international affairs to open new markets for our products and services, 
because the American worker never retreats; we always compete. And we 
always win.
    The people of Fond du Lac know this, but small business is the 
backbone of what we call the new American entrepreneurial capitalism. 
Small business will create two-thirds of the new jobs in this new 
economy. Governor Clinton promises small business relief from taxation, 
regulation, and yes, litigation. But if we're going to stay with him, we 
better see what the record is. He has a lousy record on regulation. And 
he certainly has a lousy record on litigation.
    Now, if we're really going to renew America, attention must be paid 
to our children. It is tough to be a kid in America today. The face of 
poverty is too often a fresh face. The ignorant mind is too often--a 
young mind is too often something you can lose. And the spirit of hope 
and opportunity has too often been taken away from the young. We know 
what works to help our kids. We know, for example, that if you give a 
low-income kid a head start on kindergarten, they end up doing much 
better in school. And I am proud that today, for the very first time, 
every eligible kid who wants a head start can get one. That happened on 
my watch, and I'm very proud of it.
    I am proud of our education revolution. Already 1,700 schools, 
including many right here in Wisconsin, have signed on to the national 
crusade to raise standards, to free the teachers--God bless those 
teachers--to free them from redtape, and to literally reinvent American 
schools. I want to go farther and give every parent the right to choose 
the best schools for their kids, public, private, or religious.
    But if we really want to help those kids, we have to change the 
American system of child support. And the statistics there are not 
pretty: 1989, fathers were absent from 10 million families. Only a 
little more of half of absent parents are ordered to pay child support. 
Those required to pay, only half do, on time and in full. And only one 
in five absent parents pay for kids' health care. Each year, $5 billion 
in court-ordered child support, $5 billion, fails to reach families and 
kids who desperately need it.
    These working parents, mostly mothers, are trying to keep their 
families going,

[[Page 1715]]

trying to work, keep the kids on track, pay the bills. They need that 
check every month, and they deserve it. And I believe that since I took 
office we've made a very good start. We are now able to identify 50 
percent more fathers of the kids of single moms, and we increased by 
more than 40 percent the cases of child support collections. With the 
aggressive leadership of Governors like your great Tommy Thompson, 
States collect over $2 billion more in child support. And that's a whole 
lot of good kids who are now getting some lunch money, money that they 
deserve.
    That's something you and Wisconsin can take pride in. But the job's 
not finished. Today I want to build on your success with a new 
initiative called Project KIDS. Project KIDS will require all States to 
recognize and enforce other States' child support orders. And that will 
make it much easier to cross borders and catch those deadbeat parents in 
other States. We will require organizations who receive support from the 
Legal Services Corporation to devote 10 percent of their Federal funds 
to helping mothers who need legal help track down a deadbeat dad. And we 
will say to deadbeat parents: If you owe child support and you haven't 
paid, then you're going to pay a price. You'll get no passport, no 
professional licenses, no housing or student loans, or any other help 
from the Federal Government until you do right by your children. So the 
bottom is, if you haven't done what's right for your kids, don't expect 
any help from Uncle Sam from this day forward.
    Now, by taking these steps, we think we can help reduce the stress 
on so many families. We can help single parents. And most importantly, 
we can lend a big hand to kids.
    Now, while we're on the subject, maybe it's worth taking just a few 
minutes to consider Governor Clinton's record with children. I hate to 
do this to you on this beautiful sunny day here in Wisconsin. But in 
this area as in so many others, Governor Clinton talks a good game, but 
his record leaves something to be desired. Welfare is a kids' issue, 
because the more we can get people off welfare and into work, the more 
we strengthen the family. Here in Wisconsin, you are the leading State. 
Tommy Thompson is making real progress, promoting personal 
responsibility. Governor Clinton talks a good game, but when you look 
behind the rhetoric, there's nothing there. He's got a TV ad that talks 
about cutting the welfare rolls in Arkansas. What he neglects to mention 
is that while some people were leaving welfare, even more were going 
onto welfare. Since Bill Clinton was elected Governor, Arkansas' welfare 
rolls have increased by 19 percent, 13 percent faster than the rest of 
the Nation.
    Now, he says he wants to do for America what he's done for Arkansas.
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. I don't know whether that's a promise or a threat. 
America deserves better than that.
    Look at the facts. Look at the facts about Arkansas. In the late 
1980's, Arkansas' rate of violent deaths for teenagers soared at 3 times 
the national average. Over the decade, child abuse reports shot up 130 
percent. And behind each one of those cases is a story of heartbreak. 
Arkansas' kids deserve to have their hearts healed.
    Arkansas faced a special crisis of abuse in the State's foster 
homes. For years Governor Clinton ignored the problem until he was sued 
by welfare advocates in his own State. And only this summer, in the 
middle of his campaign, did he settle a lawsuit and take any steps to 
improve these homes. Now he's running around our great country, claimed 
to be an advocate for children. I urge all Americans, young and old, to 
take a look not just at his rhetoric but a hard look at Governor 
Clinton's record. I believe America can do better, and I believe we must 
do better by the young people in this country.
    The economy is the major issue, let's look at it, a major issue in 
this campaign. When Bill Clinton became Governor 12 years ago, Arkansas, 
yes, was one of the poorest States in America. Today, Arkansas is still 
stuck at the bottom. And Bill Clinton's policies are responsible. As 
Governor, he raised and extended the sales tax, including a tax on baby 
formula, vegetables, and other groceries. He raised the gas tax. He 
taxed mobile homes and cable TV. And just for good measure he threw in a 
tax on beer. Now, how do you like that one?

[[Page 1716]]

    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. I didn't think you guys would like it. Now Governor 
Clinton says he's seen the light. In this campaign he's proposing at 
least $150 billion in new spending. But don't worry, he says, ``I'm 
going to get it all from the rich,'' the people who make over $200,000, 
the top 2 percent. Well, but here's the truth, and here's the problem. 
To get the money he needs for his plan, the $150 billion that he's 
promised in new taxes, Governor Clinton would have to get his money from 
every individual with taxable income over $36,000. Now, these are not 
people on the ``Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous.'' You deserve a 
break, not a further tax increase.
    Audience members. Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!
    The President. Look, you see, that's just the start of the tax 
campaign though, campaign against the middle class. He has literally 
made hundreds of promises in this campaign. He hasn't said how he'll pay 
for any one of his new programs. But his own hometown newspaper, the 
Pine Bluff Commercial, says, ``If Congress followed the example that 
Bill Clinton set as Governor of Arkansas, it would pass a program that 
hit the middle class the hardest.'' We do not need that for the United 
States of America.
    Now, the good Governor says he's going after all the millionaires, 
but he'll end up hitting all the nurses and teachers and cab drivers and 
construction workers. I say you pay enough to the tax man already. We do 
not need to add taxes to the working families in this country.
    So it boils down to this: We cannot take a risk of a candidate with 
no experience, no track record, whose ideas and agenda are wrong for 
America. That is the basic thing: Governor Clinton is wrong for America.
    Let me tell you something. In the Oval Office you face tough 
decisions. You cannot be on all sides of every question. You've got to 
call them as you see them. And I've made mistakes. Like any American, 
I'll admit it when I make a mistake. But I believe I've been a good, 
strong leader, willing to make the tough calls. I'm a leader whose ideas 
are right for America.
    I stand before you today asking for your support so that we can 
change America, just as we have changed the entire world. I want a 
second term in office so we can continue to renew our schools, reform 
welfare, give our children a better shot at the American dream, and so 
we can continue to make lives better for American children by matching 
the peace around the world and by giving our kids peace of mind right 
here at home.
    Let me say something, in conclusion, about service to country. I am 
very proud that I served my country in the uniform of the United States 
of America. I think that has helped me be a good Commander in Chief when 
we had to stand up against aggression halfway around the world. And that 
standing up against aggression has changed the world. Don't listen to 
the Governor who says we're less than Germany and slightly ahead of Sri 
Lanka. We are the most respected nation on the face of the Earth, 
admired by every country, the friends we have and those that used to be 
our foes.
    So now, help me take that kind of leadership and help me change 
America to make life better for every single family in our great 
country. We are going to win Wisconsin, and we are going to win the 
Presidency because our ideas are right for America, this generation and 
generations to come.
    May God bless the United States of America, the greatest country on 
the face of the Earth. Thank you very, very much.

                    Note: The President spoke at 12:45 p.m. in Veterans 
                        Memorial Park.