[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.