    [Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 38, Number 9 (Monday, March 4, 2002)]
    [Pages 303-308]
    [Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

    <R04>
    Remarks to the Chamber of Commerce in Charlotte

    February 27, 2002

        Thank you. Only in America. [Laughter] Frances, thanks. I appreciate
    your story; I appreciate your courage; and I appreciate your
    introduction. I'm also thankful that Tommy Thompson agreed to leave the
    State of Wisconsin to come and help make sure that Health and Human
    Services was run in the right spirit, in the right, compassionate
    attitude, one in which we fight for Federal funds that are reasonable
    and realistic but understand that the true wisdom and strength of the
    country is at the local level.
        Speaking about the local level, I want to thank the mayor and Parks.
    Thank you very much for being here, as well. I appreciate both you all's
    leadership. The innovation that takes place in this community is
    positive and strong, and that's why we're here, to herald a program that
    actually works. Sometimes they sound good on paper. They read good, but
    the results are short. And that's not the case in Mecklenburg County
    when it comes to putting people to work. So I want to thank you all for
    your leadership.
        I had the privilege of flying down with Sue Myrick and Robin Hayes
    today on the airplane, two really good United States Congressmen from
    the State of North Carolina, people who understand that North
    Carolinians can best run North Carolina, and not people out of
    Washington, DC. So I want to thank you all for coming. And I want to
    thank Rodney Carroll, as well, for being here. I want to thank Carroll
    Gray and members of the Chamber.
        A lot of times I talk about responsibility, ushering in a period of
    responsible behavior in America. There is such thing as corporate
    responsibility, corporate America not only making sure the balance
    sheets are real, that all assets and liabilities are exposed for
    shareholder and employee alike. But there's something about saying,
    ``I'm going to do something in the community in which I live,'' working
    hard to take the extra step to employ somebody, to keep them on, to help
    them work through their difficulties. This is a community in which
    corporate North Carolina or corporate Charlotte has heard that call, and
    I want to thank the Chamber for being on the leading edge of encouraging
    corporate responsibility.
        First, let me tell you that, as I said a while ago, the state of
    this Union is very strong. It is clear to me, when I sat in the room
    today, that the state of the State of North Carolina is strong and
    vibrant, at least in this corner of the State, if not the whole State.
    But the state of our Union is strong. We are steady; we're resolved; and
    we are a determined nation.
        You know, the enemy attacked a nation that they thought was weak,
    and man, did they make a mistake. They thought the United States was so
    materialistic, so caught up in a false Hollywood vision of America, that
    we would accept their attack as part of the normalcy in America, that we
    would do nothing about it. And they've now learned that this Nation is
    absolutely resolved to defend that which we hold dearest to our heart,
    and that's freedom--that when somebody attacks freedom, that we'll
    defend it with all our force and all our might. And that's what we're
    doing.

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        I think the country has laid out a clear message: First, that either
    you're with us, or you're against us in the fight for freedom; that
    either you stand beside this great Nation as part of a coalition that
    will defend freedom and defend civilization itself, or you're against
    us.
        I think the message has gotten out. The world is knitted up pretty
    tight when it comes to bringing the Al Qaida and other killers to
    justice. We've had over a thousand arrests around the world, different
    countries, different governments that are putting these Al Qaida people
    behind bars. We're slowly but surely, methodically and patiently
    demolishing Al Qaida so they cannot hit us again.
        We have made it clear that if you harbor a terrorist, if you feed a
    terrorist, if you train a terrorist, you're just as guilty as the
    terrorist. And the Taliban Government in Afghanistan found out exactly
    what I meant, thanks to a strong and spirited, well-motivated, well-
    trained United States military, a military of which I am immensely
    proud.
        We have liberated a country. This great Nation seeks not revenge but
    justice, and at the same time, we're not conquerors, but we're
    liberators. We have liberated women and children from the clutches of
    one of the most barbaric regimes history has ever known.
        It was my honor to welcome Mr. Karzai and his Cabinet, including a
    woman minister, to Washington, DC, and hear him firsthand say how
    anxious he is to restore Afghanistan to normalcy, where women and
    children, young girls are educated, just like young boys, where people
    are given a chance in life.
        The Taliban made a terrible mistake, and they paid a dear price. And
    I'm grateful for the United States military for the job it's done, but
    more importantly, so are the average citizens of Afghanistan.
        I want to tell my fellow Americans that we're still in a dangerous
    period when it comes to the first theater in the war against terror--
    dangerous because, until we complete our mission, which is to bring all
    Al Qaida killers to justice, that we're going to hunt them down, that we
    will stay on task. The good news for our United States military is that
    the American people are very patient, and they're resolved, just like
    our military is resolved.
        But we're now facing people who send young kids to suicide--on
    suicide missions, and they, themselves, try to hide in caves; a
    leadership which is willing to send some mom's child on a fruitless
    mission in the name of religion, and they, themselves, are doing
    everything they can to hide and not be accountable for what they've
    done.
        But they can't hide long enough. There's no cave deep enough for
    them to avoid the long arm of justice of the United States. And so it
    doesn't matter how long it takes, as far as I'm concerned. It doesn't
    matter if it's a month, a year--Al Qaida, the people who killed
    thousands of United States citizens, the thugs who want to challenge
    freedom wherever it exists, those who use religion in the name of murder
    will be brought to justice.
        But it's not just Al Qaida. The mission is more than just one group
    or one individual. History has called us into action. History has given
    this Nation a chance to lead a coalition to fight terror wherever it
    exists.
        There is a nightmare scenario that we must not let happen. Imagine,
    for example, if a faceless terrorist organization was able to team up
    with a nation which sponsored and developed weapons of mass destruction.
    Imagine how the balance of power in the world would change.
        We're not going to let that happen. The United States of America
    cannot let nations that are not transparent, closed societies, societies
    which harm their citizens, societies which have a past history of being
    not a civilized nation, to develop a weapon of mass destruction, that
    could possibly team up with somebody like the Al Qaida organization,
    which would, therefore, then hold us hostage, hold the coalition
    hostage. We owe it to our children and our children's children to rid
    the world of terror now, so they can grow up in a free society, a
    society without fear, a society without the threat of attack on our own
    homeland.
        The best homeland defense policy is to find out terrorists where
    they live, where they hide, and bring them to justice. And that's what
    I'm going to do, so long as I am the President of the United States. I
    picked a good man to lead the homeland security

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    effort. Tom Ridge was the Governor of Pennsylvania.
        The last time I was here in the State of North Carolina, I talked
    about a first-responders initiative, about how the budget I was going to
    submit to Congress not only was going to make national defense a
    priority but also that homeland defense would be a priority. I have
    since done that. We talked about first-responders to make sure that the
    police and fire had a strategy necessary to respond to emergencies if it
    were to occur. I'm also talking about a bioterrorism initiative. I'm
    also talking about a border security initiative.
        One of the interesting things I think that the people of North
    Carolina will appreciate, that I hold in high esteem the United States
    Coast Guard. We've got a plan to beef up the Coast Guard, to modernize
    her ships, to make sure the Coast Guard is available around all the
    coasts of the country to protect the homeland. We've got a better
    intelligence-sharing system in place. We've got a strategy to defend the
    homeland of the United States.
        And every day I ask the question to the FBI Director and others,
    ``What have you done to make the homeland more secure?'' My fellow
    citizens need to know we're doing everything in our power to protect
    innocent families.
        There's a lot to be done in Washington, as well. Obviously, we've
    got to fight a recession. My view about the recession is that we'll help
    people with unemployment checks, and we must. But as Congress tries to
    figure out ways of how to deal with this, I always want them to remember
    that people want more than an unemployment check; they want a paycheck.
    And therefore, we ought to have jobs as a central aspect of any economic
    recovery plan, how best to create jobs.
        What should we do? Well, I thought I did something pretty wise, and
    that was last year, when we got a sniff that the economy was pretty darn
    slow, was to fight for a tax relief package that gave people their own
    money to spend. When people have more money in their pocket to spend, it
    creates more demand, which means somebody is producing products, which
    means somebody is getting a job. The more money people have in their
    pockets to spend in the face of recession, the more likely our economy
    is going to come out of a recession. And for those in Washington who
    think they want to roll back the tax relief, they're not going to get to
    do so. The tax relief was right. And it's important for the American
    people that we defend tax relief.
        But there is more to do. I would hope Congress would pass an
    economic stimulus package that will encourage investment in plants and
    equipment. The more investment in plants and equipment, the more likely
    it is a textile worker is going to find a job. The more incentive there
    is for somebody to put a new piece of equipment in a factory, the more
    likely it is somebody is going to work. And so as they debate the
    stimulus package, it's important not only to remember we want to take
    care of those who have been affected by the attacks on 9/11, we also
    want to stimulate jobs, to encourage jobs.
        We also--I submitted in my budget a priority for educating the
    American people, educating our kids. We talked today about the best
    welfare plan--best to make sure we keep people off welfare, besides
    helping them find work--is to make sure they're educated. And the State
    of North Carolina deserves congratulations for having a really good
    public school system. You were tied with Texas, and that's a big
    admission for a Texan to say. [Laughter]
        I want you to know that we passed a good piece of education reform,
    and it ties in directly to what we're talking about today. It says,
    every child matters. We've got to challenge a system that tends to just
    shuffle children through without regard to whether they can read or
    write and add and subtract. We need to focus resources on Title I. We'll
    demand accountability. We'll pass flexibility out of Washington, DC, to
    the local level. We've got a reading program that understands reading is
    the new civil right; if you can't read, you can't succeed in the America
    of the 21st century. This is a great piece of legislation, sponsored by
    both Republicans and Democrats. It shows what can happen when we put our
    Nation ahead of political party, which we must do more of in Washington,
    DC, as far as I'm concerned.
        In order to make sure our economy recovers, in order to make sure
    we've got a balance

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    sheet that is reasonable as we go into the out-years, I want to insist
    Congress hold the line in spending, that they not get carried away, that
    they not spend--that what they think sounds like--sounds good is not
    going to work.
        One area in which I'm going to hold the line on the budget, though,
    is on TANF funds. My budget calls for over $17 billion a year for TANF
    funds to be block-granted back to States. Now, there's going to be some
    in Congress that say we've got to reduce the TANF monies, welfare
    monies, because the caseloads have dropped. I don't think we ought to do
    that at this time in history. And so the budget I've submitted holds the
    line on TANF.
        On the other hand, I do think we need some reforms, and I want to
    share with you some of those. But first, let me tell you that there has
    been great success when it came to welfare reform. We've actually
    changed the whole culture from dependency to self-sufficiency. And by
    doing that, the welfare rolls have declined dramatically, and the
    country's better off for it, but more importantly, so are the human
    beings.
        It's so easy to get caught up in statistics, and forget about behind
    each number is a person. And today I have the honor of talking about--of
    hearing from the people involved, the human stories, the real-life
    stories of people that have overcome incredible obstacles.
        I like to tell people, the toughest job in America is a single mom
    trying to raise her children. That's the hardest hill to climb in this
    country. And yet, as a result of a collaborative effort of public-
    private partnership here in Mecklenburg County, a place where government
    and business teamed up, many people have been moved from dependency upon
    government to work.
        Now, the system worked, but in order for that to happen, it requires
    a will, a personal determination. Some person has to say, ``I can do
    better and want to do better,'' just like my introducer, Frances
    Cunningham, did. She is a single mom with two teenagers. That, in
    itself, deserves a medal. [Laughter] She has started working with the
    Work First Program, obviously has a job. But I want to quote what she
    said: ``The success of it is, my children see me go to work every day.
    And that makes them go to school every day, because they see Mama isn't
    staying at home.'' The ability for somebody to realize kind of an
    independent life, less dependent upon government, not only affects that
    person but also affects a lot of other people, starting with the
    children--starting with the children.
        I met with Michelle Venegas. Michelle is articulate. I told her she
    speaks better English than I do--[laughter]--although she got hired as a
    translator. She's from Mexico, Tijuana, Mexico. She was working for a
    company that went out of business. She needed a little transition help.
    She found it here in Mecklenburg County. By the way, she, herself, is a
    mom, got a little ninita. She went to the county department of social
    services. She found out they needed someone with Spanish language
    skills. She's now employed full-time by the department.
        Kathleen Collado, I met with her, as well. She's a single mom,
    recently divorced. She had no high school diploma. Imagine how tough her
    future looked. She needed to take a step up in life, and she found help.
    Kathleen was able to get her GED. She polished her interviewing skills
    and now works for U.S. Airways.
        These are stories that are real. But the good news is, in this
    county and all across America, they have happened time and time again.
    There are 20,000 businesses nationwide that have helped 1.1 million
    people go from welfare to work. It is an essential ingredient of what
    the future bill ought to look like.
        We need to make sure that work is an integral part of any welfare
    reauthorization, that the cornerstone of a good bill understands that
    when we help somebody find work--and I emphasize the ``help somebody
    find work''--that leads to more independence, more self-esteem, and more
    joy and hope. And so, as Congress begins to reauthorize, I want to make
    sure that work is an integral component and a strong component. As a
    matter of fact, I believe that within 5 years, 70 percent of the welfare
    recipients must work. As part of the requirement, 70 percent of people
    being helped have got to get to work, and we'll help.

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        The bill must allow for there to be adequate time for training. Of a
    5-day work week, 3 could be devoted to work and 2 to education and job
    training. For the tougher cases, there ought to be time set aside
    exclusively for job training or drug rehabilitation. And high school
    moms ought to be allowed to get credit for going to high school at the
    same time as part of their work requirement. In other words, the system
    ought to insist upon work but encourage work by making sure people have
    got the skills necessary to work or the help necessary to make them a
    responsible person in the workplace.
        Secondly, our public policy must encourage families. Research shows
    that two-parent families are more likely to raise a child that is going
    to go to high school or college, that a child in a two-parent family is
    less likely to get addicted to drugs. Now, I understand there are some
    families that just simply aren't meant to be. I know that. I'm not--I'm
    wise about that. On the other hand, we ought to aim for a goal, a goal
    that recognizes the power and importance of two-parent families in
    America.
        And therefore, the budget I'm submitting and the reform that I hope
    that Congress will insist upon recognizes that premarital counseling can
    work, conflict resolution after marriage is important, antigambling--
    help the old man get off the gambling habit will help. Drug and alcohol
    rehabilitation can be part of an important concept about keeping
    families together. We've got $300 million--up to 300 million in the
    budget to encourage parenting and family programs to flourish at the
    local level.
        And as well, I've got $135 million in the budget for abstinence
    education programs. Now, let me be as candid as I can about this.
    Abstinence works every time--[laughter]--when it comes to making sure
    somebody may not have an unwanted child or someone picks up sexually
    transmitted disease. And this society ought to give children the benefit
    of the doubt. We ought not to assume that our culture is automatically
    going to lead a child to defy an abstinence education program. We ought
    to try it. We ought to work hard. We ought to shoot for the ideal in
    society and not get drug down by the cynics. And so part of making sure
    that welfare reauthorization is going to achieve objectives is to
    promote family and to encourage right choices amongst American youth.
        Thirdly, we must trust local officials to manage the money necessary
    to achieve certain objectives and goals. We have got to have flexibility
    at the Federal level. Tommy understands that. It's one of the main
    reasons I asked him to become the Secretary of Health and Human
    Services. He was a Governor; I was a Governor. We understand that the
    more flexibility there is at the local level, the more possible it is to
    meet local needs and, therefore, meet local and national objectives, to
    meet goals.
        And so one of the things we're going to ask Congress is not to
    micromanage the system. There are hundreds of Federal welfare programs.
    For those of you who work in this line of work, you know what I'm
    talking about--hundreds of them, many of them with incredible hoops that
    need to be jumped through in order to be able to access funds. It is not
    necessary to have hundreds of welfare programs. What's necessary is to
    make a commitment to set goals, to expect results, and to trust local
    people in managing the dollars. And that's the spirit of welfare reform.
        And we're going to push hard for this initiative in the United
    States Congress. I can't guarantee 100-percent success. But I can
    guarantee you, we're going to give it our best shot to make sure that
    we're able to achieve local objectives and, therefore, realize a
    national goal, and that is moving as many people as we can, as
    compassionately as we can, from welfare to work, helping people help
    themselves.
        And finally, any part of a welfare authorization must understand the
    power of faith-based organizations and charitable organizations in our
    society. I have asked for legislation that will encourage charitable
    giving and, at the same time, allow faith-based organizations to access
    Federal dollars without discrimination, without causing the faith-based
    organization to abandon faith. You see, here's what I believe: I believe
    there are neighborhood healers and helpers all across America who want
    to love their neighbor just like they love themselves and ought to be
    encouraged rather than thwarted.

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        I know you've got a strong faith-based initiative here in
    Mecklenburg County. I want to applaud you for that. It makes sense to
    say to church and synagogue and mosque that if you want to help a
    neighbor in need, we encourage you to do so. It makes sense to recognize
    that sometimes a drug addict or an alcohol--person hooked on alcohol
    needs a change of heart in order to change behavior. And that doesn't
    happen through Government bureaucracies. It happens as a result of
    people of faith interfacing with neighbors in need.
        And so I'm calling on Congress, the Senate--and I talked to Senator
    Daschle about this this morning, and he wrote a very positive editorial
    about the need for faith-based programs in our society. I hope they get
    this legislation passed and to my desk. It is essential that we rally
    the armies of compassion all across the country.
        Yesterday in Washington, DC, I met with a guy hooked on crack
    cocaine. He found the Lord. He changed his life. He's married. He was a
    lousy dad; he's now a good dad, upholding his obligations. He feels so
    much better about himself. And as importantly, he's a part of a program
    that exists in inner-city Washington, DC, trying to find the next crack
    cocaine addict, to help that person help themselves.
        The fabric--I envision a fabric in our Nation of healers and helpers
    and faith-based, compassionate people, all reaching out to a neighbor in
    need. People ask me all the time, ``What can I do in the fight against
    terror?'' And the answer is: Do something good.
        You see, it's the gathering--what I like to call the gathering
    momentum of millions of acts of kindness on a daily basis that stands
    strong against the evil which attacked our country. It is the ability
    for our Nation to show its compassionate side through acts and deeds of
    kindness and the willingness of somebody to put their arm around a child
    as a mentor and say, ``I love you.'' Or just walking into a neighbor's
    house, an elderly neighbor's house, a shut-in, and saying, ``I care
    about you. What can I do to help you today?''
        This is the strength of the country. This is--we're not trying to
    reinvent something. We're tapping into the great soul of America. The
    spirit of our country is one based upon neighborhoods, people helping
    each other, communities all bound up with one thing in mind, how to make
    people's lives better.
        You know, they hit us; they attacked us; they took life; but they
    have not been able to dent the spirit of America. We are strong. We are
    compassionate. We're a loving nation. And as a result, I see a future
    that is so hopeful and so bright for every citizen who's fortunate
    enough to call themselves an American.
        Thank you for letting me come. God bless.

    Note: The President spoke at 11:25 a.m. at the Chamber of Commerce. In
    his remarks, he referred to Mayor Patrick McCrory of Charlotte; Parks
    Helms, chairman, Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners; Rodney
    Carroll, president and chief executive officer, Welfare to Work
    Partnership; Carroll Gray, president, Charlotte Chamber of Commerce; and
    Chairman Hamid Karzai of the Afghan Interim Authority. The President
    also referred to Title I of the Improving America's Schools Act of 1994
    (Public Law No. 103-382), which amended Title I of the Elementary and
    Secondary Education Act of 1965 (Public Law No. 89-10), and TANF, the
    Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program.