    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2004, Book I)]
    [June 21, 2004]
    [Pages 1099-1105]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks in a Discussion in Cincinnati, Ohio
    June 21, 2004

        The President. Okay, thanks. Sit down, please. We got to get to
    work. [Laughter] Neil, thanks for having me. I
    appreciate the opportunity to come to such a shining

    [[Page 1100]]

    example of compassion and love here in the heart of Cincinnati, Ohio.
        I want to thank you all for coming as well. I particularly want to
    thank my friend Bob Taft, and Hope Taft, for coming today. Governor and Hope, thanks for coming.
    Like me, the Governor married above himself. [Laughter] And I know that
    Hope has done a lot of work here in the Cincinnati area of helping save
    lives and changing society, one soul at a time. And when you think about
    it, that's really what we're here to talk about, isn't it--how do we
    make sure America is as hopeful a place it can possibly be, one soul at
    a time, one conscience at a time?
        I want to thank my friend Rob Portman, and
    Jane and Jed, for
    coming today. Thank you all for being here. I like to say this is part--
    what we're going to discuss today is part of what we call a compassion
    agenda. And there's no more compassionate Congressman than Rob Portman.
    He has not only been an excellent Congressman, but as well he's been
    very much involved in inspiring and supporting groups to interface with
    those who need help.
        I appreciate Congressman Steve Chabot
    coming as well. Steve, it's good to see you, sir, appreciate you being
    here. And from Dayton, Ohio, Congressman
    Mike Turner--glad you could come, Michael. Glad you're here.
        As well, we've got State Senate President Doug White. Senator, where
    are you? Yes, not a very good view, but--maybe it is the best angle.
    [Laughter] Thank you for coming. I know we've got other State and local
    officials here. I appreciate you taking time to come.
        I met Charlene Calhoun--there she is.
    She was there right at the steps of Air Force One when we--when I
    disembarked. The reason I bring up Charlene is that she is a volunteer
    here, see.
        Oftentimes, as we discuss our country, we think in terms of our
    strength being the military. And I happen to believe it's important to
    have a strong military to keep the peace. Or we talk about the strength
    of our country being the fact that we're a wealthy nation. I also happen
    to think that's a very important part of our country, and I was pleased
    to see that the unemployment rate here in Ohio dropped to 5.6 percent.
    People are going back to work. The economy is getting better.
        The true strength of the country is the hearts and souls of our
    citizens. That's the true strength of America, see. Government can hand
    out money--and we're going to talk a little bit about the money we want
    to hand out--but Government cannot put hope in a person's heart or a
    sense of purpose in a person's life. That happens when a loving soul
    like Charlene puts her arm around somebody
    who hurts and says, ``What can I do to help you? What can I do to make
    your life a better life? How can I, a citizen of America, interface with
    you to help you understand there is a bright hope and a better future?''
    No, the strength of this country is the hearts and souls of the soldiers
    in the army of compassion. Charlene, thank you for being a soldier.
        I know I don't need to say this to people here, but if you're
    interested in serving your country, volunteer, become a mentor, feed the
    hungry, find shelter for the homeless. If you really want to be a super
    patriot, join the army of compassion.
        And speaking about that, Neil is a general
    in the army of compassion. He's what I call a social entrepreneur. We
    got business entrepreneurs. We've also got social entrepreneurs, people
    who are trying to invigorate the social side of life. I mean, we're a
    land of plenty, but amidst our plenty, there are people who hurt. And we
    got to do something about it here in America. We got to be smart about
    how we save lives, because the vision of our country is that everybody
    has hope, not just some. This country belongs to everybody.
        Today you're going to hear from some good folks who are trying to
    help and some folks who have received help because they

    [[Page 1101]]

    decided to do something about their own lives. I think you're going to
    find these stories to be incredibly interesting; at least I did.
        Before we do so, I do want to talk about some initiatives. You know,
    there's been a lot of talk about welfare reform. In other words, we're
    moving people from welfare to lives of independence, and it's been a
    very successful policy. I mean, people want to be independent. They
    don't want to be dependent on Government, but it must be done in a
    compassionate way.
        The welfare rolls have declined 60 percent since 1996. A better way
    to look at it is, more people are now living a life they choose to live
    because they got help. And the question is, how do we continue to
    provide that help, to help people live lives of independence?
        One is to make sure the education system works well. I mean, I think
    one of the keys to make sure that people are able to realize their dream
    is to insist that every child gets educated, that we stop this business
    about--you know, there was kind of a mindset here in America that said,
    oh, let's just move them through. Guess who got moved through? Generally
    inner-city kids, kids whose parents don't speak English as a first
    language. They're the easiest ones to quit on, and our system did. We've
    changed that. I want to thank the Members of Congress here. I want to
    thank the Governor as well.
        See, we're setting high standards now in America. We said, in return
    for Federal money, for the first time we're asking the question, can the
    kid read? It seems like a reasonable question, doesn't it, in return for
    taxpayers' money. At least, can they read at grade level in the third
    grade? We want that answer to be, absolutely, yes. And if not, we want
    to know why. We want the problems corrected early, before it's too late.
    We've got to stop shuffling kids through. We're now a results-oriented
    system.
        And that's important for moms and dads to know. See, you need to
    know, if you're a mother or a father with a kid in school. You need to
    know whether or not the school is meeting expectations. I like to say
    we're challenging the soft bigotry of low expectations. If you've got
    low expectations, you're going to get lousy results. So step one to make
    sure that people are independent in America is to make sure people are
    educated in America.
        Step two is to do some smart things with taxpayers' money. I think
    one of the smartest things we can do is encourage families and is to
    have a--is to spend money on grants to States to be matched by States or
    grants directly to faith-based or community-based programs that teach
    people what it means to be in a successful marriage.
        Now, you say, ``Why do you think that?'' Well, strong families
    really mean that children are going to grow up--children have a better
    chance to succeed. Let's just be blunt about it. If a child grows up
    with a mom and a dad, they have a much better chance to succeed. We want
    everybody to succeed in America. If that's one of the keys to success,
    it seems like it makes sense to encourage strong families in America.
        And so one of the things we're going to talk about today is how
    programs such as Talbert House works to encourage marriage and
    strengthen families. And as I mentioned, I've asked the Congress to
    spend about $300 million--$290 million--for grants on--to States and/or
    directly to programs, all which are set up to provide parenting classes
    and family classes. It seems to make sense to me.
        Secondly, I know that many a good soul makes a mistake in their life
    and ends up in prison, and it seems to make sense to me to spend
    taxpayers' money to help these prisoners realize a better tomorrow when
    they get out of prison, give them a second chance. And I want that
    second chance to be done not only in kind of the traditional way, but
    also through faith-based and community-based programs. And I can't--

    [[Page 1102]]

    frankly can't think of a better reentry program for somebody to be there
    with open arms saying, ``I love you, no matter what you may have done in
    the past. I want you to succeed, and here--and we're here to help.''
        And so I'm asking the Congress to spend some money on a prisoner
    reentry initiative as well as a mentoring program for children whose
    moms and dads may be in prison, see. I think we need to make sure those
    kids understand that they've got a bright future as well.
        Finally, one of the big challenges we face here in America is the
    challenge of addiction, addiction to alcohol and drugs. I have asked the
    Congress to support a new initiative, which basically says to the
    addict, ``We're going to give you a script. We're going to give you the
    money, and you get to choose where you find your help.''
        Sometimes, you can kick alcohol or drugs by going through the
    traditional clinical assessment. A lot of times, however, you need to
    change your heart. If you want to change your habits, you need to change
    your heart. Government is not very good about changing hearts, see.
    Government is law and justice. Government isn't love. But you can change
    your heart by interfacing with people who may have heard a call from
    above.
        And we in Government ought not to worry about the process involved
    in these programs. We ought to just ask the question, ``Are these
    programs working?'' That's what we want to know. ``Are we saving lives?
    Are we making a difference in our society by helping people?''
        And the best place to--for me to make my point is to turn to a
    social entrepreneur in Neil--Neil Tilow. He
    doesn't look like an old guy, but he's been at this business since 1974.
    Must have started when he's in junior high. [Laughter] Now, what do you
    think?
        Neil Tilow. Thank you, sir. [Laughter]
        The President. Neil, tell us about the Talbert House, how it got
    started, what do you do here. There may be somebody listening who would
    want to contribute to this great program and/or volunteer their time
    here or start their own. But tell us what you do.

    [Mr. Tilow, president, Talbert House, Cincinnati, OH, made brief
    remarks. He concluded with a discussion on proposed legislation on
    prisoner reentry.]

        The President. Yes, one reason I'm here is to give a little boost to
    that bill. I want to explain what we're doing, but it's--I've got a
    little method behind it all, see. [Laughter] Sometimes Congress needs to
    get a boost. Portman doesn't need a boost, but--
    anyway, sorry to interrupt. [Laughter]
        Mr. Tilow. I was told you might do that.
    [Laughter]
        The President. We're lobbying him. [Laughter]
        Mr. Tilow. Let me know how I can help,
    sir. [Laughter]
        The President. You're helping. Keep talking, will you? [Laughter]

    [Mr. Tilow made further remarks.]

        The President. Let me comment on that, if you don't mind. [Laughter]
    He didn't mind. [Laughter] You see, if we can
    get Government to focus on results as opposed to process, you'll find
    there will be a lot of flexibility for you, and that's the attitude we
    got to take.
        It's really a difference about who do you trust, if you really think
    about it. Do you trust a social entrepreneur on the ground, or do you
    trust a planner in a faraway capital? And I think you'll find that these
    initiatives I've talked about and the spirit that you've just defined is
    now kind of the attitude in Washington. And that's important. That
    really is important. If we say, ``What matters is whether or not lives
    are being saved, you figure out how to do it,'' you'll find that the
    entrepreneurial spirit at the social level will be much more invigorated
    and much more alive. The energy level will be tremendous at the
    grassroots level. And that's really the job of Government, is to

    [[Page 1103]]

    set the strategy and the goals and get out of the way.
        Now, if you don't perform, you'll find--I hope you'll find
    Government to be very inflexible, because we don't need to fund failure.
    What we need to do is fund success.
        Anyway, sorry.

    [Mr. Tilow made further remarks.]

        The President. Good job. You ready?
        Okay, we've got Teri Rust with us. She's a
    master clinical service provider. I think I got it right. More
    importantly, she is the supervisor of two programs.
        Teri Rust. Yes, sir.
        The President. Tell us what you do, and thanks for coming.

    [Ms. Rust, master clinical service provider, Talbert House, Lebanon, OH,
    made brief remarks.]

        The President. It must make you feel pretty good.
        Ms. Rust. Oh, very good, yes, sir.
        The President. Saving America, one soul at a time.
        Speaking about good souls, we've got Tami Jordan with us. She is an inspirational person. Why don't you
    inspire? [Laughter] Tell us your story.

    [Tami Jordan, former Talbert House resident, Cincinnati, OH, made brief
    remarks.]

        The President. Thank you very much. I loved your story. There's
    nothing like having a story like this to be able to share with people.
    I'll never forget when I was the Governor of Texas, I went to a prison
    unit. I decided to turn over a wing of the prison to a faith-based
    program. Again, the attitude was whether or not the prisoners would come
    out and not go back in. I said the recidivism rate would--could it be
    lowered if we had a faith-based initiative in the prison unit?
        And so I went to see it as the Governor, and out comes the prison
    choir. And one of my favorite hymns is ``Amazing Grace.'' Of course,
    I've got a lot of my mother in me, so I
    immediately jumped in line with the prisoners singing ``Amazing Grace,''
    you know, like 10 white suits and me. [Laughter] They weren't exactly
    suits. They were, like, you know the kind of the suit I'm talking
    about--jumpers, yes. [Laughter] And anyway, we're swinging back and
    forth, and on the front page of The Houston Chronicle is Bush arm in arm
    with a guy in prison for 20 years.
        Let me tell you something. I welcomed some people to the White House
    who had been involved in this program, and I looked a the man sitting next to me in the Roosevelt Room of the White
    House, and sure enough, it was the guy who I was arm in arm with,
    singing ``Amazing Grace.''
        You can go from prison to be a boss. You can go from prison to the
    White House, just so long as you have somebody who's there, willing to
    take you by the hand and say, ``I want to help you help yourself.'' And
    that's what we're here to talk about. You did a great job.
        We now have a family with us, the Groves family. That would be
    Darla.
        Darla Groves. Yes.
        The President. Larry.
        Larry Groves. Yes.
        The President. Tell us about your story. Have you decided which of
    you are going to talk?
        Mrs. Groves. We'll both talk.
        Mr. Groves. We both are. [Laughter]
        The President. Okay. Let her go. People are interested in why you're
    here.

    [Mr. and Mrs. Groves, former Temporary Assistance for Needy Families
    recipients, Cincinnati, OH, made brief remarks.]

        The President. There you go. That's a good job, well rehearsed. ACT
    is a collaboration of local entities, of which the Talbert House is one.
    So when you hear ACT, think in terms of the Talbert House, plus others,
    correct?
        Mr. Tilow. It's a freestanding
    organization.

    [[Page 1104]]

        The President. Right, freestanding organization, all aimed--set up
    by the State of Ohio, right?
        Mr. Tilow.  [Inaudible]
        The President. Encouraged by the State of Ohio. We're fixing to get
    to the State man here in a minute.
        Mr. Tilow. It was encouraged by our
    county, Job and Family Services, by the State, and led by the founding
    agencies.
        The President. Okay. Let me get back to you for a minute. So tell
    them what's going to happen July the 8th.
        Mrs. Groves. July the 8th--well, it's been
    a long 2 years. My first year----
        The President. It's hard to go back to school, right?
        Mrs. Groves. It's very tough to go back to
    school, especially after being out 17 years.

    [Mrs. Groves made further remarks.]

        The President. And? You make a little more, right?
        Mrs. Groves. What?
        The President. You make a little more money----
        Mrs. Groves. Yes, and the money----
        The President. Now, catch this. I just want everybody to know, there
    is a happy ending.
        Mrs. Groves. There is a very happy ending
    here, that the money I used to make, which was $20,000 some a year, I
    will be making close to $40,000 a year.
        The President. Did you get help going to school?
        Mrs. Groves. Through Cincinnati State, I
    was very fortunate to be able to use the Pell grant. I was very blessed
    with that. But through my LPN program, unfortunately, it didn't cover
    that. I did have to take loans out.
        The President. Let me say that--this is a very interesting story.
    Our economy is changing, and there are some interesting jobs available.
    It requires some to go back to school, and there's help. There are Pell
    grants. There's displaced worker money. There's trade adjustment money.
    I mean, there's all kinds of money available to help. And what's
    interesting, and people will find this to be--what Darla just said--extra education makes you more productive.
    And if you're more productive, you're going to get paid more.
        And so it was painful, I'm sure, to go back to school.
        Mrs. Groves. Yes, it was very painful, very
    painful. [Laughter]

    [Mr. Groves made further remarks, concluding as follows.]

        Mr. Groves. But all of this here, I really
    have to say, I give a lot of credit to ACT because we was lost, Mr.
    President----
        The President. And now you're found.
        Mr. Groves. Yes, sir.
        The President. That's good. Congratulations. You found yourself.
        By the way, Government can't make people sit down with their kids
    and pray. They can't make people decide to go to--people have to make
    those decisions themselves. See, the role of Government is to stand
    there and say, ``We're going help you. If you want help, there's help
    here.''
        And that's what we're describing. We're describing this network of
    providers that are there to help people help themselves. The job of the
    Federal Government is to fund the providers that are actually making a
    difference.
        Now, we've heard from the local man, and we've heard from the
    Federal man. Now we're going hear from the State man, Joel Potts. See, the State plays a critical role in all this
    business. Much of the Federal money goes directly to States.
        One of my jobs, by the way, is to make sure Governors understand the
    vitality of faith- and community-based programs and that they ought to
    be spending Federal money that we send to the State on programs which
    work. Whether or not they've got a cross on the wall or a Star of David
    on the wall, we should not worry about faith being a part of the
    delivery of social

    [[Page 1105]]

    service. As a matter of fact, quite the contrary, we ought to welcome
    that.
        Anyway, you've got a job to do here, and if you would, share with us
    the Ohio vision. Thanks for coming. Potts works
    for the State. He's the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.
    Welcome.

    [Joel Potts, senior policy analyst, Ohio Department of Jobs and Family
    Services, Columbus, OH, made brief remarks.]

        The President. What Joel is talking about is
    Congress needs to get the welfare bill to my desk. It's a bill that will
    encourage work, and it will encourage compassionate programs at the same
    time. It's stuck. There's too much politics in Washington on this. The
    1996 welfare law worked. And Members of Congress from both parties have
    got to understand it worked, and we need to build on it to save lives.
    That's what we're here to talk about.
        And I hope you get a flavor of the attitude now coming out of
    Washington, DC, about how we can support the social entrepreneurs.
    That's really what I wanted you to hear. I wanted you to hear that in
    your own community here in Cincinnati you've got heroic figures, heroic
    people, saving lives on a daily basis, and these folks need to be
    supported. They need to be supported at the local level. They need to be
    supported at the State level, and they need to be supported at the
    Federal level.
        And then you saw some great examples of people who made the--made a
    choice. They said, ``I want to do better. I want to be a mom. I want to
    be a mom and a dad. I want to put food on the table, and I'm not afraid
    to ask for help.'' If anybody is listening out there who needs help,
    call the Talbert House or call the State and ask where you can get help,
    because there's plenty of people in this good State with big hearts who
    are willing to help.
        I want to thank you all for coming. May God bless the State of Ohio,
    and may God continue to bless our great country. Thank you very much.

    Note: The President spoke at 4:08 p.m. at the Hamilton County Alcohol
    and Drug Addiction Services Center. In his remarks, he referred to Gov.
    Bob Taft of Ohio and his wife, Hope; and Jane Portman, wife of
    Representative Portman, and their son Jed.