[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2003, Book II)]
[September 12, 2003]
[Pages 1151-1156]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]
[[Page 1151]]
Remarks at the Power Center in Houston, Texas
September 12, 2003
The President. Thank you all very much. Be seated.
Kirbyjon can tell it. [Laughter] Heck,
I might sound inarticulate compared to him. [Laughter]
Reverend Caldwell. No, no.
The President. Yes. Let's see how to start here. First, it's glad to
be back--I'm glad to be back to Texas. It's good to see some of my
buddies. I'm looking at a man right here on the front row I went to the
seventh grade with in Houston, Texas. I see my friend ``Big Tuna'' I
used to play basketball with at the Y. I never forget my friends, and
I've got a lot of friends here in Texas, and I'm thrilled to be with
you. Thank you all for coming tonight.
But thank you for coming to support this wonderful program. You'll
hear me say this a couple of times in what's going to be a short
address. Pastor Caldwell said, ``Speak
all you want, but don't exceed 7 minutes.'' [Laughter]
I think the fact that people are willing to contribute money to save
lives is a powerful testimony to the strength of America. I think that
when people are willing to support a social entrepreneur like Kirbyjon
Caldwell and the others at the Windsor
Village Church who have heard a call and are out to save any life they
can find that needs to be saved--the fact that you support them speaks
to your heart as well. And so today I first want to say thanks. Thanks
for contributing hard-earned money to make Houston, Texas, the best
place it can be.
And I'm proud to be up here with my friend. Sometimes it's not easy
to be the friend of George W. Bush--I know that--[laughter]--if you know
what I mean. [Laughter] But let me tell you something. It's good to have
a friend that I can call before a debate and say, ``Do you mind saying a
prayer?'' It's good to have a friend to go with you to Ground Zero. He's
not a political friend; he's a friend. He rises above that, that
friendship. And it's good for this community to lift up a man like
Kirbyjon Caldwell who acts for the best
interests of all the citizens of this community. And I'm proud to call
him friend.
And we both married above
ourselves.
Reverend Caldwell. Amen.
The President. Yes, sir. Well, you don't need to ``amen'' it that
loud, but--[laughter]. Laura sends her love to Kirbyjon and Suzette and to
all our buddies here. She is a fantastic First Lady, by the way. I
really lucked out. And she's doing great, she really is.
Suzette is a unique person. I just had
had my picture taken with a group of Prayer Warriors organized by
Suzette Caldwell. You know, it's a unique country, when you think about
it, that people would pray for me. People I'll never know, people I'll
never have a chance to say thank you to, pray for me. Suzette organized
such a group, and I had a chance to say thank you to the group. But it
shows the kind of person Suzette is. And I want to thank you for your
friendship as well. I want to thank you for your prayers. I feel them,
and it means a lot--it means a lot. And so, Suzette, I want to thank you
for your friendship as well. It's great seeing your kids. They're little
livewires, little--one of them is like a little Kirbyjon, you know--[laughter]--hard to control. [Laughter]
It's great to see Booker and Jean
Caldwell as well. Kirbyjon and I both lucked out; we've got good, strong mothers. I
hope you're still listening to yours, Kirbyjon. [Laughter] I'm listening
to mine, I can assure you. [Laughter]
I'm traveling today with a great friend of Houston, Texas, a friend
of mine, a man who has agreed to serve our community--communities all
across the country as the Secretary of Education, Mr. Rod Paige. I
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like to remind people that when I was picking the Cabinet, I wanted for
the education man, somebody that had actually been an educator. We had
enough theory in Washington. We wanted somebody that had actually done
the job. And as you know, he did a great job as the superintendent of
the Houston Independent School District. What I love about Rod is, he is willing to challenge the soft bigotry
of low expectations. He raises the bar, and he's not afraid to measure
to determine whether or not we're meeting those standards.
We passed a really important piece of legislation called the No
Child Left Behind Act. And the way you make sure no child is left behind
is, you raise standards. You hold people accountable. You correct
problems before--early, before they're too late. I am absolutely
convinced that under Rod's leadership at the Department of Education, it
is less likely a child is going to be left behind in America. And I want
to thank you for your service.
I know some of my running buddies from the State government are
here, Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst and
Railroad Commissioner Michael Williams.
I want to thank you all for coming. I'm proud you're here. I know
Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee is here,
and I'm--there she is--and I'm honored that you're here. Thank you for
coming, Congresswoman. I appreciate it. One thing about Sheila Jackson
Lee is, when I see her, she's never afraid to offer up any advice.
[Laughter] It's become a habit of ours, hasn't it? [Laughter]
I appreciate the fact that we've got two former Secretaries of
Commerce here, one Houstonian, Bob Mosbacher, and new Texan, Bill Daley.
And I want to thank them both for coming. I appreciate them being here.
I appreciate my friend Oxford. He's actually making a pretty good hand.
Thanks for putting on this event. Great to see you.
Genora Boykins, who's the chairperson of
the CDC, I want to thank her for opening this event up. I thank my
friend Jodi Jiles, who's the treasurer of the
Community Development Corporation. I've known Jodi for a long time.
You know, I have had the chance to hear Kirbyjon preach, and he's a pretty darn good preacher. He reminds
me of the preacher that got going one day, and about three-quarters of
the way through the sermon, a guy was so moved on about pew three that
he popped up and screamed, ``Use me, Lord. Use me.'' The preacher plowed
on through and finished up and didn't think anything of it until the
next Sunday. About the same time in his sermon, this guy gets so moved--
I'm sure some of you have been so moved by Kirbyjon that you think about
popping up--this guy popped up again and he screamed, ``Use me, Lord.
Use me.'' After the service was over, the preacher sought the fellow
out. He said, ``Fine, I appreciate your willingness to help, and
therefore, I suggest and would like for you to scrape and paint all the
pews.'' The next Sunday the preacher is up there letting it go. The guy
pops up and he says, ``Use me, Lord. Use me, but in an advisory
capacity.'' [Laughter]
I'm at the Power Center today because this place is full of doers,
not advisers. This was once an empty Kmart building. It is now a
building full of love. It was used to sell goods, and now it provides
incredibly important services to help save lives.
I find it interesting that they named the center the Power Center.
This--we're not talking about electricity in this power. We're talking
about a higher power that caused this center to be. I find it also
interesting that in the midst of this--or at least the last time I came,
Suzette showed me the prayer facility right
in the middle of the center. You had a bank. You've got a school, and
you've got a women and children's clinic, the WIC program--it's a
Government program. You've got some job training. You've got the Houston
Community Center--Community College facility, I
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mean. But in the midst, there's a prayer center. People should realize
that the reason why this program is successful is because the power in
the Power Center comes from a higher calling, a higher source of power.
And the reason why I came to see the Power Center in the first place
was twofold: One, I felt I had an obligation as the Governor of the
State to support programs that were changing people's lives in a
positive way; and secondly, I had heard that beyond good intentions
there were good results here and that the Power Center was a unique
faith-based program. And it helped me develop a philosophy of government
that I want to explain right quick to you.
And part of my reason I'm doing this is because I'm sending a
message to the Congress at the same time. [Laughter] They might not be
here, except for one very distinguished Congresswoman, but the TV cameras are here. It gives me a chance to
speak directly to good social policy in America.
I saw people's lives changed because of faith. Right here at the
Power Center is a good example. I saw the fact that with the proper
application of the call to love a neighbor like you'd like--love
yourself, with resources and social entrepreneurship, souls could
change. And I recognized that, at the time in Texas and now nationally,
that the absolute best way to make sure that the promise of America
extends its reach into every neighborhood, the best way to help heal
those who hurt is to bring all the resources of our country to bear. And
the most powerful resource of all is the ability to transform lives
through faith.
I don't talk about a particular faith. I believe the Lord can work
through many faiths, whether it be the Christian faith, Jewish faith,
Muslim faith, Hindu faith. When I speak of faith, I speak of all faiths,
because there is a universal call, and that main universal call is to
love your neighbor. It extends throughout all faith.
That's what the Power Center says to me. It's a living example of
what is possible not only in Houston but in communities all around our
country, because there are faith-based communities all around our
country. There are churches on every corner. There are synagogues in
every town. There are people of faith who have heard a call. It seems
like to me, this society of ours must rally the people of faith. Amongst
our plenty, there are people who hurt. There's addiction and loneliness,
social problems that can only be cured by love.
I've been searching for that bill, by the way, ever since I've been
in government, the bill that says you'll love somebody. Sheila Jackson
will sponsor it, and I'll sign it. [Laughter] But there is no such bill.
People don't get their inspiration to help a neighbor in need from
government. They get their inspiration from a higher being. And yet,
government has thwarted faith to be involved in our communities because
of what they call the doctrine of separation of church and state. And
that's a noble doctrine. The church should never be the state, and the
state certainly should never be the church. But our Government must not
fear the application of faith into solving social problems. We must not
worry about people of faith receiving taxpayers' money to help people in
need.
In my judgment, that doesn't obscure the line of church and state.
It enhances the capacity of state to save lives by tapping into this
fundamental powerful resource of ours, the heart and soul of the
American people.
And yet in Washington, DC, there is an attitude that we should not
welcome faith-based programs into the budgets of our Government. As a
matter of fact, there are regulations that specifically prohibit faith-
based programs from job training, for example, or Head Start or some
housing programs. There is a fear that funding faith will somehow change
the doctrine of church and state.
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I completely disagree. The discrimination against faith-based
programs at the Federal level prevents us from using all our resources
to save lives. And for those who hurt, we need to use every resource we
have. For those who are lonely, we need to use every resource. For those
who are hungry, we need to use every resource. For those who look for
housing, we need to use every resource. And so one of my missions is to
work with people to end the discrimination in Washington, DC, against
faith-based programs.
The other problem we have, besides just outright regulations saying
that you cannot use money for housing or Head Start or job training
programs, is the fact that oftentimes groups that try to access Federal
money--by the way, and the purpose of the money is to save lives, in
many cases--the groups that apply have to change their board of
directors in order to access the money, or have to take the cross off
the wall, in the case of the Christian faith-based program. But it's
hard to be a faith-based program if you can't practice faith. If the
effectiveness of the program is based upon faith, our Government must
allow that program to practice its faith.
You see, up to now, the question has been, what is the process? My
question is, what are the results? If we're saving lives, if the
Salvation Army is doing what it does so very well, we ought to welcome
programs that succeed. We ought to say, ``You're welcome into the
fabric, the social fabric, of America in changing lives.''
So that's what we're off to do. And I have signed an Executive
order--Presidents sign Executive orders. [Laughter] It says that we'll
have a level playing field for faith-based programs when they apply for
Federal money. I've got offices in each Cabinet set up to make sure that
the faith-based programs have a friendly ear when they come to apply,
that they're not facing the same old bureaucratic morass, that they get
a welcoming ear. Rod has got one in his
office. HUD has got one. Social--Cabinets have got them in their offices
because I want people who have got a good idea about how to change
somebody's life to have a sympathetic ear in Washington, DC.
I want people to know that you ought to come. Not only are people
allowed to come and make their case and to get help on grantmaking, but
we also assure them that, in reverse, the Government is not going to
force them to change their habits and change their ways and change their
basic reason for existing.
And we're beginning to make some progress. Slowly but surely, we're
changing the culture. We'll finalize new regulations later this month
that will open up a lot of money available to faith-based programs. And
that's important, because it means that we'll do a better job of
encouraging the neighborhood healers to fulfill their mission.
Obviously, not all money will be Federal money. That would be bad
for the fabric of America. That's why you're here, see. That's why I
came. I want to encourage private foundations not to discriminate
against faith-based programs. I want to encourage individuals to give.
But what I'm also telling you is that the Federal Government needs to
take an active role, in my judgment.
Let me tell you some of the kinds of things that are taking place,
and hopefully this will stimulate other thought for others who may want
to try to compete for taxpayers' money to help save lives. The
Department of Health and Human Services recently awarded $7 million of
grants to 15 faith-based groups who support abstinence education. One of
the grants, for nearly $500,000, a new grant, went to A Woman's Concern.
It's a group of faith-based health centers in the Boston area. It seems
like it makes sense to me that when you're trying to help people make
right choices, that you ask people of faith to be included in the
process. This won't be a punitive--it wouldn't be punitive education. It
would be education done out of
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the kindness of somebody's heart. Faith-based programs work.
We've got a--the Department of Labor has awarded $21 million to
faith-based groups for job training. I asked Kirbyjon on the way in from Ellington Field, I said, ``Are you able
to access Federal money for your job training program?'' He said, ``I
didn't know we were able to.'' Well, you will be able to. What's wrong
with having faith-based programs? What's wrong with having a church be
able to reach out to a prisoner, somebody who just got out of prison,
somebody who's desperate for love? What's wrong with a church, a place
of love, surrounding that soul and at the same time having a job
training program to help them? I'll tell you what's wrong with it--
nothing's wrong with it. And the Federal Government ought to welcome
faith-based programs to help save lives.
In East Harlem, the Exodus Transitional Community is using grants
from Labor and Justice to help released prisoners get a job. That's the
kind of thing I'm talking about. Exodus helped 252 people last year.
This year, with the new grant, they'll help 375. And that may not sound
like a lot because there's a lot of prisoners. But think about if there
was Exodus programs or Exodus-type programs all over. Instead of 375,
we'll be talking about 375 times thousands. And then all of a sudden,
souls who were once lost are then found. People who thought they didn't
have hope can find hope.
HUD, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, is supporting
faith-based groups like Uplift Fourth Ward. You may have heard about the
program. The Rose of Sharon Missionary Baptist Church in Houston runs
it. Uplift Fourth Ward, the folks in it--there you go. [Laughter] I'm
glad you invited somebody, Kirbyjon--[laughter]--from Uplift Fourth
Ward. It is a chance to rehabilitate historic buildings and provide safe
and affordable housing to low-income seniors. Who says housing programs
have to be done out of the old traditional construction company? Why
can't housing companies be started out of faith-based institutions?
There's program after program that have started--but we're just
starting, is my point to you. Congress needs to hear the call. Congress
needs to not thwart efforts. You see, my attitude is, if a faith-based
program provides help to anybody in need regardless of their religion,
we should not fear that program. My view is, is that the program ought
to stand on its own. The money won't go for proselytizing. The money
will go to the social service intended for that program.
I believe we ought to empower people to be able to make choices on
where they receive their help. I can't think of anything more vital in
America than to have a program aimed at changing drug addiction in
America and a program that will allow faith-based programs to be an
integral part of helping somebody kick alcohol and drugs. I say that
because I know firsthand what it takes to quit drinking, and it takes
something other than a textbook or a manual. If you change a person's
heart, you can change their life.
Our society must not fear the use of faith to solve life's problems.
We must welcome faith, and Congress must not block these important
initiatives. There are lives to be saved. There are soldiers in the army
of compassion ready to save them, and the Federal Government ought to be
on the side of the soldiers in the armies of compassion.
We'll continue working on the Compassionate Capital Fund. I've asked
for $100 million this year. It's a way to help startup social
entrepreneurs learn how to apply for grants. It gives people ways to
fulfill their mission, to realize their dreams. I believe we ought to
have a national mentoring program, particularly for children whose mom
and dad may be in a prison, for junior high students. I've asked for
$450 million. I hope Congress funds it. I just told you about my view on
drug rehabilitation. Look,
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when we find suffering in our society today, we can't turn away.
And just as an aside, we can't turn away overseas, either. I'm proud
of the United States of America. This great Nation is going to spend $15
billion over the next 5 years in the important work of human rescue by
providing medicine and help to millions and millions of men, women, and
children suffering from AIDS on the continent of Africa.
I'm incredibly proud of our country. We're a really strong nation.
We need to be strong. We're at a war with people who hate America, and
I'll keep us strong militarily. We'll be strong to meet the challenges.
We'll continue to push for freedom and peace overseas. The world is
going to be peaceful, thanks to the United States of America. America
will be more secure, thanks to the focus and strength of the American
people.
But at home, we need to work to save lives as well. A secure America
is a hopeful America. A secure America is an educated America. A secure
America is a place where people realize the American Dream is meant for
them as much as it is meant for me.
People say, ``Well, your country's strong.'' I say, ``Yes, we are,
but you don't really understand the strength of America. It's the hearts
and souls of our citizens.'' That's the true strength of this country.
The Power Center tapped into that strength. Your contributions tonight
recognize that strength and support it. And our Government must stand
side by side with that strength as well.
I'm incredibly optimistic about our country and its future. I've
seen firsthand the great character of the American people. And it's that
character, it's that determination, it is that optimism that allows me
to boldly predict: America will overcome any problem she faces, abroad
and here at home.
Thank you all for coming. May God bless you, and may God bless our
country.
Note: The President spoke at 5:49 p.m. In his remarks, he referred to
Rev. Kirbyjon H. Caldwell, senior pastor, Windsor Village United
Methodist Church, his wife Suzette, and his parents Booker and Jean
Caldwell; Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst of Texas; Michael L. Williams, chair,
Texas Railroad Commission; and Genora Boykins, chairperson of the board,
and Jodi Jiles, treasurer, Pyramid Community Development Corp.