    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2002, Book I)]
    [May 10, 2002]
    [Pages 768-774]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks at St. Stephen's Community House in Columbus, Ohio
    May 10, 2002

        Thanks for that warm Columbus, Ohio, welcome. It's nice to be back
    home--well--[laughter]--I say ``home'' because my grandfather was raised
    here, Prescott S. Bush, raised right here in Columbus, Ohio.
        I want to thank you all for coming. I'm here--I want to talk about
    welfare today.

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    I want to talk about how we make sure that we continue on the progress
    that we have made since 1996. Millions of Americans no longer are
    dependent upon Government, and that's incredibly positive not only for
    America but, more importantly, for each individual. It brings dignity to
    someone's life when they're on their own and successful.
        The Congress is going to take up a reauthorization, they call it in
    Washington-speak, of this legislation. And I've got an idea how best to
    make it work, continue the reforms, and how to make it work better for
    Americans.
        We're really here to talk about the dignity and worth of each
    individual American. And joining me today is a man who understands that,
    is my Secretary of Health and Human Services, Tommy Thompson. Tommy was the Governor of Wisconsin, who in 1996
    helped lead the Nation in getting a welfare reform bill that helped
    people but also showed what is possible when you trust local officials,
    when you give them the flexibility necessary to design a program to meet
    the needs of the citizens of a community or a State. Tommy did a
    fabulous job as the Governor of Wisconsin in helping people, and he's
    doing a great job as the Secretary of Health and Human Services.
        I want to thank your Governor. He's a longtime
    friend of mine. He's a man who, when we look out of Washington--which we
    need to do a lot of, by the way--and look down at the States, it gives
    us great comfort to know that Governor Taft would be in a position to
    help implement and start and encourage the programs necessary to help
    people, whether it be in education or in helping people become less
    dependent upon Government. And I want to thank you, Bob, for your
    service and thank you for your leadership. I'm honored to call you
    friend, and the people of Ohio are honored to call you Governor.
        I want to thank my friend, former Governor, a man with whom
    Tommy and I served as Governors, who is
    now the United States Senator from the State of Ohio, George
    Voinovich. George is traveling with us
    today. I'm honored that you're here, George.
        Deborah Pryce, Pat Tiberi, Bob Ney, David Hobson, and Rob Portman, all members
    of a fantastic congressional delegation, are with us today as well. I
    want to thank you all for traveling here today and thank you for your
    friendship. I want to thank Michael Coleman,
    the mayor of Columbus, for joining us today. Mr. Mayor, thank you for
    being here; appreciate you coming. I want to thank the executive
    director of St. Stephen's Community House
    for letting us come.
        Today, when I landed at the airport, I was greeted by a fellow named
    Gabe Wilson, who is a high school senior here.
    He's a fellow that takes time out of his day to help educate younger
    kids about the dangers of drug use. The reason I welcome Gabe and
    introduce him is because he understands that America can be better off,
    one person at a time. I like to put it this way: One person can't do
    everything, but one person can do something to help. He's a member of
    the army of the soldiers--he's a soldier in the army of compassion.
    Where are you, Gabe? Gabe, thank you for coming. [Applause]
        You know, we've got big challenges ahead of our Nation. Obviously,
    one of the great challenges is to make sure that we protect our
    homeland, is to prevent the killers from harming any American, to do
    everything we can to chase them down and bring them to justice. That's a
    key priority, obviously, for me and my administration. It's a key
    priority to make the world peaceful, to seek the peace.
        It's probably going to have to be a little tough to get there--have
    to defend our values, stand up for what we believe, not let people harm
    us. But we seek the peace. We seek the peace. We work to make the world
    more secure. But as we do so, we

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    need to make--work hard to make the world better, too, a better place.
        The best place to start is here at home. The best place to start is
    to make sure every child gets educated in America--I mean every child.
    Got good legislation that we passed. Believe it or not, actually,
    Republicans and Democrats worked together to get it done. We put aside
    our political parties and focused on what was right for America. And
    that's important--that's important.
        And we need to do the same thing on helping people who are on
    welfare. We need to set aside our political parties and focus on what is
    best for the American people. Let's do what works. Let's make sure that
    we help people.
        So today I do want to talk about welfare reform. We've come to St.
    Stephen's Community House because it is a living example of flexibility
    in the welfare law, what it means. It is a living example of what we
    call a one-stop center, where people who need help are able to come and
    find help to help themselves. I understand that this is a--kind of a
    welcoming center for people who are transitioning, a place where people
    can find all-important job training or childcare or counseling--just the
    help they need.
        I am impressed by the programs that are here in the building and
    equally impressed by the fact that the county has taken a strong and
    active role. The United Way has taken an active role. The Catholic
    Church plays an active role here at St. Stephen's, and so do other
    individuals and community groups. It's important for there to be a
    collaborative effort in helping people, and this center recognizes that.
    It welcomes all the social entrepreneurs who are willing to help.
        As we reauthorize the welfare bill, it is essential that we always
    remember the importance of work in our society, that work helps people
    achieve the dignity in their lives. If you believe that every person has
    got value, like I believe, then we ought to help that person find work.
    It's the cornerstone of the last--one of the cornerstones of the last
    welfare reform bills that has worked, by the way--it is successful--and
    it ought to be the cornerstone of the reauthorization. If work made a
    huge difference in people's lives as a result of the '96 bill, it ought
    to be a significant part of the reauthorization.
        And so Congress must understand the power of work, and we must
    continue with time limits and high goals and high expectations. Within 5
    years, 70 percent of the welfare recipients must work. We're saying,
    from the time the bill is reauthorized until 5 years later, the goal is
    that 70 percent of those on welfare, those remaining on welfare, must
    find a job. Oh, I've heard them complain about that's too high a goal.
    It's not too high a goal if it helps a person--that helps a person. If
    it brings dignity into someone's life, it is not too high a goal.
        And we're going to help. That's what St. Stephen's is here for.
    That's why we've got to have flexibility. We want to help people find
    the work. Right, Dannetta? I need to let
    Dannetta get up here and talk. She knows what she's talking about. She
    said to us, in a meeting we had before, she said the most important
    thing in the success of the '96 bill was there to be time limits on
    people being able to stay on welfare, that there be a time certain, so
    that people get moving.
        I not only believe there ought to be time limits; I believe there
    ought to be strict goals, too--high expectations. The higher the
    expectations, the more likely it is people are going to succeed.
        As part of the 40-hour workweek requirement, of course, we recognize
    that people need education and vocational help. And so part of meeting
    the work requirement is to allow for 2 days each week for vocational
    training and educational training. So in other words, part of the vision
    is to say, ``You'll get work. We want to help

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    you get work, and we recognize the importance of job training and
    vocational training to help people find the skills necessary to find
    jobs that actually exist,'' like they do right here at St. Stephen's.
        Now, one of the keys to make sure--now, if we set high goals and
    high standards and high expectations, we've got to recognize that it's
    important to give flexibility to States and local authorities to achieve
    those goals. In order to achieve the expectations, you've got to trust
    local people. If you don't trust local people, it means everybody in
    Washington is making the decision. It's not going to work with everybody
    in Washington making the decision. There needs to be flexibility.
        I was struck today on our discussions about the fact that a lot of
    folks from Somalia have come to Columbus. I met a young lady--there she is--who came from Somalia, who came--
    barely speak English; she got help. Needed job skills; she got help. She
    now owns her own business in America, because the program had
    flexibility to meet her particular needs. And we need to have
    flexibility--as we call it, the ticket to independence--that gives
    States the freedom to innovate and to create programs that meet local
    needs.
        Oh, some in Washington don't like that because they want to control
    everything out of Washington. But if you're interested in helping
    people, we've got to empower people at the local level to help people in
    need.
        I'll give you an example of some of the roadblocks that Federal
    regulations create, all the rules, all the fine print, Mr.
    Mayor, all the thick layers of booklets. The
    Governor's explained to me this case, and it's
    interesting. There's a single mom with two daughters here in Ohio. One
    of the daughters is disabled, and the other daughter is working at--
    she's 17 years old--to help the family. She's working part time. Because
    she was 17 years old, her income didn't count in the formula to decide
    whether or not the family was eligible for food stamps. Guess what
    happened on her 18th birthday? All of a sudden, her income, because of a
    rule or regulation, starts to count. Even though the income level of the
    family didn't increase, they lost their food stamps.
        Now, that's not what a compassionate America is all about. When
    people need help, we need to help them. Now, it's conservative to trust
    local people, but it's compassionate to provide flexibility so that
    rules and regulations don't prevent people from getting the help we want
    them to get. What ought to happen is, the State of Ohio should have the
    flexibility necessary to allow that young girl and her family to receive
    food stamps as a transition period to full-time employment. In other
    words, it ought to be a part of the transition from welfare to work, but
    that's not the way the food stamp program works.
        And I'll tell you what else happens with a system that is too
    bureaucratic and too focused on rules and regulations. The
    administrative costs of these programs end up putting money not in the
    pockets of people we're trying to help, but in--as a result of the bean
    counters, you know, how do you keep track of what's going on? The more
    complicated the rules and regulations out of Washington, the more money
    States have to spend to account for the money.
        And I'll give you an example. On the food stamp program here, the
    State of Ohio spent $192 million administering the program. The program
    provides $573 million of benefits. That is a high cost per dollar
    delivered. It's about 25 percent overhead cost. Now, I'll tell you, a
    lot of that money--with fewer rules and regulations, a lot of that money
    would end up going to benefit people. And that's important for the
    American people to understand. The more regulations there are out of
    Washington, the more complex the Washington, DC, regulations are, the
    more likely it is money is not going to end up helping people.

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        And therefore, for the good of the people we're trying to help,
    flexibility out of Washington--no-strings-attached type legislation--not
    only will help people; it'll be more efficient with our taxpayers'
    money. After all, if you look at the success of the TANF program, the
    Temporary Assistance to Needy Family program, the overhead cost in those
    programs as a result of the flexibility at the local level is only 10
    percent--is only 10 percent. I hope Congress understands that granting
    States flexibility not only will help people we're trying to help but
    will make it easier to spend our dollars in a more efficient way.
        We had some great success--we met with some great success stories.
    Josef, where are you? Josef is a man--as a
    result of flexibility in the program in Dayton, Ohio, Dannetta was able to take some TANF funds and some work
    assistance funds, and Josef is now becoming a computer expert. Yes, he's
    going to end up--[applause].
        One of the important things about the future of our country is to
    remember some important values. One of the most important values in
    America is our family values, the importance of family in our country.
    Now look, I recognize that not every marriage is going to survive; I
    know that. And I recognize some folks, you know, are just going to find
    it impossible to stay married, and I know that. But I firmly believe
    that in order to make the welfare program work, in order to help people,
    that wherever couples seek help in trying to figure out how to save a
    marriage, our Government ought to be responsive to that need.
        The statistics show that when moms and dads raise a child, when moms
    and dads stay together, that child is much more likely to succeed. It's
    an important--it's never to diminish the fact--listen, being a single
    mom raising a child is the toughest job in America. I know that. But
    wherever possible, we ought to promote and encourage programs that help
    save marriage, foster family, encourage families. That ought to be a
    focus of the welfare reform. We've got money in the budget to do just
    that.
        Today we met with Melvin and Rhonda
    Tuggle. Where are the Tuggles? There they are.
    Thank you all for coming. These are folks that had--that had children.
    They had income, but it was certainly not enough to meet the needs of
    their three children. The economic struggles put a huge strain on their
    marriage. They split apart. Thankfully, in the city of Cincinnati,
    Rhonda sought help, sought a job training program to help her out. But
    one of the interesting things that she found in the program was the
    willingness of the folks there to help work to save her marriage.
        In other words, you know, in a compartmentalized world, no one ever
    would have thought to have a marriage counseling be a part of somebody
    trying to help find a job, but these good people did. They understood
    the importance of family, the importance of encouraging moms and dads to
    stay together.
        As a result of a social entrepreneur working hard to help save a
    soul, the Tuggles
    not only have helped improve themselves by better job training and
    better jobs, but they received the counseling necessary to encourage
    them to stay married. They had another child. They're together. Their
    four children now have a much better future as a result of the decision
    they made. We must have the courage in America to promote and encourage
    stable families for the good of our children.
        It's also important to help our young children learn to make right
    choices in life, to help them understand consequences of choices. One of
    the parts of our welfare reform reauthorization is to promote
    abstinence, is to be willing as a society--[applause]. I've heard all
    the reasons why we shouldn't. Let me give you a reason why we should: It
    works every time. [Laughter]
        And finally, in order to complete our welfare vision, which says
    we're going to help everybody in America, that every individual has got
    worth and dignity, we must

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    not be afraid to rally faith-based programs in America. There's
    legislation in Washington that will encourage charitable giving, allow
    non-itemizers to deduct their charitable gifts, which the experts tell
    me will increase charitable giving immeasurably in America, and that's
    good. It's important. Part of the legislation, the Faith-Based
    Initiative which has passed the House and hasn't passed the Senate yet--
    it needs to get out of the Senate, by the way--is to recognize that our
    Government should allow faith-based programs to access Federal dollars,
    to help people in need without causing them to have to lose the heart
    and soul of their mission.
        Government has got to recognize that love and compassion are
    oftentimes the result of strong faith. In order to help heal broken
    hearts and save broken lives, we need love and compassion. There are
    pockets of despair and hopelessness in America that we must be
    addressing. Money helps, obviously, but it cannot put faith in people's
    lives, or hope. That requires compassion and decency.
        I talk a lot in America about this war on terror, obviously. Part of
    my job is to educate the American people about how long it's going to
    take to defend ourselves. And it's going to take a while. But I also
    tell people, and I truly believe this, that out of the evil done to
    America can come incredible good. Part of the good is going to be peace.
    Part of the good is going to be a more compassionate America.
        My call to the good folks of Columbus, Ohio, is to become involved
    in helping a neighbor in need. If you really want to join the war
    against terror, do some good. People say, ``How can I fight the war
    against terror?'' And the answer is, love your neighbor just like you'd
    like to be loved yourself.
        The Faith-Based Initiative relates to welfare that way. Loving a
    neighbor just like you'd like to be loved yourself is the natural
    extension of welfare reform. The best way to save some folks from drug
    and alcohol abuse is to recognize faith can change hearts and therefore
    change lives. The best way to help a child who may wonder whether or not
    he or she has a future in America--and there's a lot who wonder that--is
    to encourage a loving mentor and welcome a loving mentor in their lives.
    The best way to encourage the homeless to recognize that there--somebody
    cares, is for a church or a synagogue or a mosque to rally a program to
    help the homeless.
        No, this is a great country, because we're full of great people. The
    strength of our country is not really in the halls of Government--our
    system is great; it's magnificent--but the true strength of America lies
    in the fact that there are millions of Americans who want to help a
    neighbor in need. The role of the Government is to recognize that power
    and that goodness of the American people, and structure our welfare laws
    that welcome and encourage and foster the greatness of the country.
        Every American has got dignity. Every American has got value. And we
    want to make sure our laws welcome that--understand that. This is a
    welcoming country. And when we get the welfare reauthorization bill
    right, it's going to be even more welcoming.
        Listen, thank you for letting me come and talk to you all. You live
    in the greatest country in the face of the Earth. May God bless you all.

    Note: The President spoke at 10:52 a.m. in the gymnasium. In his
    remarks, he referred to Gov. Bob Taft of Ohio; Judith Stattmiller,
    executive director, St. Stephen's Community House; Dannetta Graves,
    director, Montgomery County Department of Job and Family Services; and
    Ramla Munye and Josef Pollard, who were both helped by job assistance
    programs.

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