[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 37, Number 21 (Monday, May 28, 2001)]
[Pages 788-790]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks to Leaders of Hispanic Faith-Based Organizations

May 22, 2001

    Thank you, all. I now know why he's a Baptist preacher. [Laughter]
    Thank you, Luis, and thank you, Jesse, and thank you all for coming. 
Before I say a few remarks, I want to introduce some folks. I appreciate 
so very much the Members from the United States Congress who are here: 
Ileana and Lincoln and Henry from the great State of Texas. Thank you so 
much for being here. It's a sign of unity that you're here, and I look 
forward to working with you to get the legislation through.
    I reached into Philadelphia to ask a man to run the Office of the 
Faith-Based Initiative. Fortunately, John DiIulio, who is one of the 
advanced thinkers about how to help people, how the Nation should 
eradicate poverty, has joined my staff. What we're about to talk about 
is an incredibly serious effort to make sure that the American promise 
extends its reach in every neighborhood. And John is leading the office, 
and for that I am most grateful, John. Thank you very much. And Lisa 
Trevino Cummins is helping John, as well.
    This is an important part of my administration, because I want the 
great hope of America to be existent in every household in our country. 
I worry about a society that could become divided between those who have 
and those who don't. I'm concerned about the fact that certain children 
are being left behind in America.
    My vision includes everybody. It's described as compassionate 
conservatism, but I emphasize the compassion. The problem is Government 
is not a very compassionate organization. We can fund--and we should--
budgets; there is a lot of talk about budgets. We've submitted budgets 
that increase spending on social services. We've got

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what's called a compassion fund, that matches--a $500 million fund that 
will encourage faith-based initiatives throughout the country.
    But the dilemma and the problem in the past has been that somewhere 
along the line everybody thought Government could make people love one 
another. And that's not the way it works. And if part of the future of 
the country is to love a neighbor like you would like to be loved 
yourself, it seems to follow, then, our Government must welcome, not 
discriminate against, faith-based organizations who are providing that.
    I hope the Congress does not get caught up in the stale, old process 
argument of the legalisms involved with encouraging organizations of 
faith to help people in need. Because, as Luis mentioned, there is 
precedent: We fund religious hospitals through Medicare and Medicaid; 
there is scholarship money for children to use at religious 
institutions. Why does it not follow, I asked the Congress and those 
folks who were elected, that we not allow faith-based programs to 
compete for taxpayers' money if the services they provide are necessary 
and the results are positive? The argument is, ``Let us focus on the 
process.'' We're saying, ``Let us focus on the results.''
    The way I like to put it--I gave a speech at Notre Dame last Sunday. 
It was a speech that said--it started with talking about President 
Lyndon Johnson's speech at the University of Texas kicking off the War 
on Poverty. It recognized that that War on Poverty had some positive 
effects. It also recognized, though, it had created a dependency on 
Government. It had a perverse effect.
    So then the welfare law came along in 1996, signed by my 
predecessor--it had bipartisan support--that tried to address the 
concept of dependency upon Government. But we need to take it a step 
further, because there are still people who hurt and people whose lives 
are affected, people whose hearts need mending. Government must be 
active to fund the services but humble to recognize the power of 
neighborhood healers and helpers, humble to step aside when somebody can 
do a better job.
    I've been so impressed by the faith-based leaders I've met all 
around our country, because there is a genuine commitment to the poor 
and the disadvantaged. And that's a commitment that we must channel and 
a commitment we must harvest. I used to say in the campaign, I look 
forward to rallying the soldiers and the armies of compassion. And I 
mean that.
    Our Nation is so unique in this way: We are a Nation of people who 
have heard a call to love a neighbor. We really are. I was sharing with 
the good leaders that came to visit me about the fact that everywhere I 
go people say, ``Mr. President, I'm praying for you.'' They're not 
saying it's a Democrat prayer or a Republican prayer. [Laughter] It's 
just prayer. [Laughter]
    It reminds me on a daily basis about the great hope and promise of 
America. It also reminds me how lucky I am to be the President of a 
great land, where people truly care about our country. It also reminds 
me about what Government ought to do: We ought to set money out there to 
encourage faith-based initiatives.
    At the same time, we must never be so arrogant as to say, ``You 
can't fulfill your mission if you access Federal money. Therefore, you 
have to change the entire mission of why you exist.'' I understand the 
frustrations with some in the faith-based community and the nervousness 
as they approach this issue. They say to themselves, ``Why would I want 
to access Federal money if the Federal Government then tries to take 
away my mission, to take the cross off the wall or the Star of David off 
the wall? Why would I want to interface with a Government that's going 
to say, `We'll reluctantly give you money, and then force you to change 
your calling?' ''
    Well, I can understand that. And one of our commitments is that we 
will work tirelessly to make sure that bureaucracies don't stifle the 
very reason you exist in the first place and the power of your 
ministries, which is faith--which is faith.
    And so my message to you is, thanks for what you're doing. You'll 
have a friend and an advocate in this administration that marches side 
by side--side by side--that we will do our very level best to make sure 
that the bureaucratic obstacles are cleared and that people in need are 
able to get help.

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    In the course of the campaign, I've tried to explain what a faith-
based initiative meant to many members of the press that followed me 
and, of course, many citizens. I'll never forget going to Colfax, Iowa, 
for a teen challenge program. You know, sometimes people accuse me of 
not being very articulate. [Laughter] English is my second language. 
[Laughter] But there was nothing more articulate than seeing a person 
who had been hooked on serious drugs stand up and explain to the 
Nation--at least those willing to listen--how he kicked drugs because 
faith had entered into his life.
    It's hard to measure that. There is no formula for that. You can't 
write a regulation or a bureaucratic rule that suggests that that 
happened. But what Government can do is recognize its limitations and, 
more significantly, recognize the power of faith in our society. And 
that's what this initiative does. We don't pick religions. We don't fund 
religion. But we welcome the soldiers of the armies of compassion.
    And to you soldiers, thank you so much for being here. Thank you for 
caring about our great land, and thank you for the service you provide 
on a daily basis.
    God bless.

Note: The President spoke at 2:40 p.m. in Presidential Hall in the 
Dwight D. Eisenhower Executive Office Building. In his remarks, he 
referred to Rev. Dr. Jesse Miranda, president, Alianza de Ministerios 
Evangelicos Nacionales (AMEN), and Rev. Luis Cortes, president, Nueva 
Esperanza and chairman, National Hispanic Religious Partnership.