    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2002, Book I)]
    [February 7, 2002]
    [Pages 189-190]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks on Faith-Based Initiative Legislation
    February 7, 2002

        President Bush. I want to welcome Senator Lieberman and Senator Santorum and
    the delegation of U.S. Senators from both parties here at the Oval
    Office, to herald a great accomplishment, which is an agreement to move
    a Faith-Based Initiative out of the United States Senate.
        All of us in this room share a priority and insist that people who
    don't have hope can find hope; people who wonder about the American
    Dream will realize the American experience is meant for them. One way to
    ensure that is to unleash these fantastic armies of compassion which
    exist all across the country.
        And Government ought to stand on their side. We're in complete
    agreement that Government should not discriminate against faith-based
    programs, but it should encourage them to flourish. And so I welcome so
    very much the Senators here to get this really important piece of
    legislation through.
        This legislation will not only provide a way for Government to
    encourage faith-based programs to exist without breaching the separation
    of church and state; it will also encourage charitable giving, as well.
    And we have an opportunity to capture the compassion of the country,
    focus it in the right direction. And because of the Senators here, we're
    taking a big step in that direction.
        So Senator Lieberman, the lead
    sponsor, thank you for being here, appreciate you coming.
        Senator Joseph I. Lieberman. Thank
    you, Mr. President. Thanks for your leadership on this, and thanks to
    Senator Santorum and all our colleagues and our staffs that worked very
    hard on this. I have always believed that faith, right from the
    beginning of this country, was one of the great unifiers of the American
    people. And faith has been strong enough to unify all of us as we went
    forward to find a constitutionally appropriate way to have a Faith-Based
    Initiative, to help people who want to do good works and whose desire to
    do good works is motivated by their faith.
        This proposal really will matter to people. It creates some very
    important tax incentives for greater charitable giving, including saying
    to nonitemizers--and Mr. Secretary, you correct me, but I think
    something like 75 percent of taxpayers do not itemize.
        Secretary Paul H. O'Neill. That's right.
        Senator Lieberman. And it will give
    individuals an additional $400 deduction for charitable giving and
    couples an additional $800. That's a lot stronger, with all respect,
    than the comparable House bill. And I think it really will motivate more
    charitable giving. There are other tax incentives, as well.
        We also have an agreement to increase funding for a group of social
    service programs, including, particularly, the Social Service Block
    Grant Program, which is very important to our States and very important
    to a lot of nonprofit organizations, including faith-based organizations
    that now use it to do good works. We have also here--and I mention that
    this is constitutionally appropriate--but we have responded here in this
    proposal to the evidence presented by your Faith-Based Office, John
    DiIulio, last summer, I believe, and the study that showed that there
    was some sense of not fairplay totally toward faith-based groups as they
    applied for Government funding.
        And this says that if you qualify otherwise, you can't be
    discriminated against in applying for a grant to do social service work
    if you have a cross on the wall or a mezuzah on the door or if you
    praise God in your mission statement. And that's the way it ought to be.
    So this is a real step forward.

    [[Page 190]]

        I remember when we stood together last year over in Anacostia on the
    day you announced your desire to have this Faith-Based Initiative, I was
    proud to support you. And I said then, because we were talking in
    general terms, that the devil--if I may use that term advisedly--
    [laughter]--would be in the details. The details along the way, Congress
    being what it is, turned out to be quite devilish. But in the end here
    today, I think we've put the good Lord right into the details.
        President Bush. Yes, thank you.
        Senator Lieberman. And I'm proud to
    be part of it. I thank you.
        President Bush. Thank you, sir. Thank you all. See you a little
    later on.

    Note: The President spoke at 2:05 p.m. in the Oval Office during a
    meeting with congressional leaders. The Office of the Press Secretary
    also released a Spanish language transcript of this address.