[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 38, Number 19 (Monday, May 13, 2002)]
[Pages 791-795]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at St. Stephen's Community House in Columbus, Ohio

 May 10, 2002

    Thanks for that warm Columbus, Ohio, welcome. It's nice to be back 
home--well--[laughter]--I say ``home'' because my grandfather was raised 
here, Prescott S. Bush, raised right here in Columbus, Ohio.
    I want to thank you all for coming. I'm here--I want to talk about 
welfare today. I want to talk about how we make sure that we continue on 
the progress that we have made since 1996. Millions of Americans no 
longer are dependent upon Government, and that's incredibly positive not 
only for America but, more importantly, for each individual. It brings 
dignity to someone's life when they're on their own and successful.
    The Congress is going to take up a reauthorization, they call it in 
Washington-speak, of this legislation. And I've got an idea how best to 
make it work, continue the reforms, and how to make it work better for 
Americans.
    We're really here to talk about the dignity and worth of each 
individual American. And joining me today is a man who understands that, 
is my Secretary of Health and Human Services, Tommy Thompson. Tommy was 
the Governor of Wisconsin, who in 1996 helped lead the Nation in getting 
a welfare reform bill that helped people but also showed what is 
possible when you trust local officials, when you give them the 
flexibility necessary to design a program to meet the needs of the 
citizens of a community or a State. Tommy did a fabulous job as the 
Governor of Wisconsin in helping people, and he's doing a great job as 
the Secretary of Health and Human Services.
    I want to thank your Governor. He's a longtime friend of mine. He's 
a man who, when we look out of Washington--which we need to do a lot of, 
by the way--and look down at the States, it gives us great comfort to 
know that Governor Taft would be in a position to help implement and 
start and encourage the programs necessary to help people, whether it be 
in education or in helping people become less dependent upon Government. 
And I want to thank you, Bob, for your service and thank you for your 
leadership. I'm honored to call you friend, and the people of Ohio are 
honored to call you Governor.
    I want to thank my friend, former Governor, a man with whom Tommy 
and I served as Governors, who is now the United States Senator from the 
State of Ohio, George Voinovich. George is traveling with us today. I'm 
honored that you're here, George.

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    Deborah Pryce, Pat Tiberi, Bob Ney, David Hobson, and Rob Portman, 
all members of a fantastic congressional delegation, are with us today 
as well. I want to thank you all for traveling here today and thank you 
for your friendship. I want to thank Michael Coleman, the mayor of 
Columbus, for joining us today. Mr. Mayor, thank you for being here; 
appreciate you coming. I want to thank the executive director of St. 
Stephen's Community House for letting us come.
    Today, when I landed at the airport, I was greeted by a fellow named 
Gabe Wilson, who is a high school senior here. He's a fellow that takes 
time out of his day to help educate younger kids about the dangers of 
drug use. The reason I welcome Gabe and introduce him is because he 
understands that America can be better off, one person at a time. I like 
to put it this way: One person can't do everything, but one person can 
do something to help. He's a member of the army of the soldiers--he's a 
soldier in the army of compassion. Where are you, Gabe? Gabe, thank you 
for coming. [Applause]
    You know, we've got big challenges ahead of our Nation. Obviously, 
one of the great challenges is to make sure that we protect our 
homeland, is to prevent the killers from harming any American, to do 
everything we can to chase them down and bring them to justice. That's a 
key priority, obviously, for me and my administration. It's a key 
priority to make the world peaceful, to seek the peace.
    It's probably going to have to be a little tough to get there--have 
to defend our values, stand up for what we believe, not let people harm 
us. But we seek the peace. We seek the peace. We work to make the world 
more secure. But as we do so, we need to make--work hard to make the 
world better, too, a better place.
    The best place to start is here at home. The best place to start is 
to make sure every child gets educated in America--I mean every child. 
Got good legislation that we passed. Believe it or not, actually, 
Republicans and Democrats worked together to get it done. We put aside 
our political parties and focused on what was right for America. And 
that's important--that's important.
    And we need to do the same thing on helping people who are on 
welfare. We need to set aside our political parties and focus on what is 
best for the American people. Let's do what works. Let's make sure that 
we help people.
    So today I do want to talk about welfare reform. We've come to St. 
Stephen's Community House because it is a living example of flexibility 
in the welfare law, what it means. It is a living example of what we 
call a one-stop center, where people who need help are able to come and 
find help to help themselves. I understand that this is a--kind of a 
welcoming center for people who are transitioning, a place where people 
can find all-important job training or childcare or counseling--just the 
help they need.
    I am impressed by the programs that are here in the building and 
equally impressed by the fact that the county has taken a strong and 
active role. The United Way has taken an active role. The Catholic 
Church plays an active role here at St. Stephen's, and so do other 
individuals and community groups. It's important for there to be a 
collaborative effort in helping people, and this center recognizes that. 
It welcomes all the social entrepreneurs who are willing to help.
    As we reauthorize the welfare bill, it is essential that we always 
remember the importance of work in our society, that work helps people 
achieve the dignity in their lives. If you believe that every person has 
got value, like I believe, then we ought to help that person find work. 
It's the cornerstone of the last--one of the cornerstones of the last 
welfare reform bills that has worked, by the way--it is successful--and 
it ought to be the cornerstone of the reauthorization. If work made a 
huge difference in people's lives as a result of the '96 bill, it ought 
to be a significant part of the reauthorization.
    And so Congress must understand the power of work, and we must 
continue with time limits and high goals and high expectations. Within 5 
years, 70 percent of the welfare recipients must work. We're saying, 
from the time the bill is reauthorized until 5 years later, the goal is 
that 70 percent of those on welfare, those remaining on welfare, must 
find a job. Oh, I've heard them complain about that's too high a goal. 
It's not too high

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a goal if it helps a person--that helps a person. If it brings dignity 
into someone's life, it is not too high a goal.
    And we're going to help. That's what St. Stephen's is here for. 
That's why we've got to have flexibility. We want to help people find 
the work. Right, Dannetta? I need to let Dannetta get up here and talk. 
She knows what she's talking about. She said to us, in a meeting we had 
before, she said the most important thing in the success of the '96 bill 
was there to be time limits on people being able to stay on welfare, 
that there be a time certain, so that people get moving.
    I not only believe there ought to be time limits; I believe there 
ought to be strict goals, too--high expectations. The higher the 
expectations, the more likely it is people are going to succeed.
    As part of the 40-hour workweek requirement, of course, we recognize 
that people need education and vocational help. And so part of meeting 
the work requirement is to allow for 2 days each week for vocational 
training and educational training. So in other words, part of the vision 
is to say, ``You'll get work. We want to help you get work, and we 
recognize the importance of job training and vocational training to help 
people find the skills necessary to find jobs that actually exist,'' 
like they do right here at St. Stephen's.
    Now, one of the keys to make sure--now, if we set high goals and 
high standards and high expectations, we've got to recognize that it's 
important to give flexibility to States and local authorities to achieve 
those goals. In order to achieve the expectations, you've got to trust 
local people. If you don't trust local people, it means everybody in 
Washington is making the decision. It's not going to work with everybody 
in Washington making the decision. There needs to be flexibility.
    I was struck today on our discussions about the fact that a lot of 
folks from Somalia have come to Columbus. I met a young lady--there she 
is--who came from Somalia, who came--barely speak English; she got help. 
Needed job skills; she got help. She now owns her own business in 
America, because the program had flexibility to meet her particular 
needs. And we need to have flexibility--as we call it, the ticket to 
independence--that gives States the freedom to innovate and to create 
programs that meet local needs.
    Oh, some in Washington don't like that because they want to control 
everything out of Washington. But if you're interested in helping 
people, we've got to empower people at the local level to help people in 
need.
    I'll give you an example of some of the roadblocks that Federal 
regulations create, all the rules, all the fine print, Mr. Mayor, all 
the thick layers of booklets. The Governor's explained to me this case, 
and it's interesting. There's a single mom with two daughters here in 
Ohio. One of the daughters is disabled, and the other daughter is 
working at--she's 17 years old--to help the family. She's working part 
time. Because she was 17 years old, her income didn't count in the 
formula to decide whether or not the family was eligible for food 
stamps. Guess what happened on her 18th birthday? All of a sudden, her 
income, because of a rule or regulation, starts to count. Even though 
the income level of the family didn't increase, they lost their food 
stamps.
    Now, that's not what a compassionate America is all about. When 
people need help, we need to help them. Now, it's conservative to trust 
local people, but it's compassionate to provide flexibility so that 
rules and regulations don't prevent people from getting the help we want 
them to get. What ought to happen is, the State of Ohio should have the 
flexibility necessary to allow that young girl and her family to receive 
food stamps as a transition period to full-time employment. In other 
words, it ought to be a part of the transition from welfare to work, but 
that's not the way the food stamp program works.
    And I'll tell you what else happens with a system that is too 
bureaucratic and too focused on rules and regulations. The 
administrative costs of these programs end up putting money not in the 
pockets of people we're trying to help, but in--as a result of the bean 
counters, you know, how do you keep track of what's going on? The more 
complicated the rules and regulations out of Washington, the more money 
States have to spend to account for the money.
    And I'll give you an example. On the food stamp program here, the 
State of Ohio spent $192 million administering the program. The

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program provides $573 million of benefits. That is a high cost per 
dollar delivered. It's about 25 percent overhead cost. Now, I'll tell 
you, a lot of that money--with fewer rules and regulations, a lot of 
that money would end up going to benefit people. And that's important 
for the American people to understand. The more regulations there are 
out of Washington, the more complex the Washington, DC, regulations are, 
the more likely it is money is not going to end up helping people.
    And therefore, for the good of the people we're trying to help, 
flexibility out of Washington--no-strings-attached type legislation--not 
only will help people; it'll be more efficient with our taxpayers' 
money. After all, if you look at the success the TANF program, the 
Temporary Assistance to Needy Family program, the overhead cost in those 
programs as a result of the flexibility at the local level is only 10 
percent--is only 10 percent. I hope Congress understands that granting 
States flexibility not only will help people we're trying to help but 
will make it easier to spend our dollars in a more efficient way.
    We had some great success--we met with some great success stories. 
Josef, where are you? Josef is a man--as a result of flexibility in the 
program in Dayton, Ohio, Dannetta was able to take some TANF funds and 
some work assistance funds, and Josef is now becoming a computer expert. 
Yes, he's going to end up--[applause].
    One of the important things about the future of our country is to 
remember some important values. One of the most important values in 
America is our family values, the importance of family in our country. 
Now look, I recognize that not every marriage is going to survive; I 
know that. And I recognize some folks, you know, are just going to find 
it impossible to stay married, and I know that. But I firmly believe 
that in order to make the welfare program work, in order to help people, 
that wherever couples seek help in trying to figure out how to save a 
marriage, our Government ought to be responsive to that need.
    The statistics show that when moms and dads raise a child, when moms 
and dads stay together, that child is much more likely to succeed. It's 
an important--it's never to diminish the fact--listen, being a single 
mom raising a child is the toughest job in America. I know that. But 
wherever possible, we ought to promote and encourage programs that help 
save marriage, foster family, encourage families. That ought to be a 
focus of the welfare reform. We've got money in the budget to do just 
that.
    Today we met with Melvin and Rhonda Tuggle. Where are the Tuggles? 
There they are. Thank you all for coming. These are folks that had--that 
had children. They had income, but it was certainly not enough to meet 
the needs of their three children. The economic struggles put a huge 
strain on their marriage. They split apart. Thankfully, in the city of 
Cincinnati, Rhonda sought help, sought a job training program to help 
her out. But one of the interesting things that she found in the program 
was the willingness of the folks there to help work to save her 
marriage.
    In other words, you know, in a compartmentalized world, no one ever 
would have thought to have a marriage counseling be a part of somebody 
trying to help find a job, but these good people did. They understood 
the importance of family, the importance of encouraging moms and dads to 
stay together.
    As a result of a social entrepreneur working hard to help save a 
soul, the Tuggles not only have helped improve themselves by better job 
training and better jobs, but they received the counseling necessary to 
encourage them to stay married. They had another child. They're 
together. Their four children now have a much better future as a result 
of the decision they made. We must have the courage in America to 
promote and encourage stable families for the good of our children.
    It's also important to help our young children learn to make right 
choices in life, to help them understand consequences of choices. One of 
the parts of our welfare reform reauthorization is to promote 
abstinence, is to be willing as a society--[applause]. I've heard all 
the reasons why we shouldn't. Let me give you a reason why we should: It 
works every time. [Laughter]
    And finally, in order to complete our welfare vision, which says 
we're going to help everybody in America, that every individual

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has got worth and dignity, we must not be afraid to rally faith-based 
programs in America. There's legislation in Washington that will 
encourage charitable giving, allow non-itemizers to deduct their 
charitable gifts, which the experts tell me will increase charitable 
giving immeasurably in America, and that's good. It's important. Part of 
the legislation, the Faith-Based Initiative which has passed the House 
and hasn't passed the Senate yet--it needs to get out of the Senate, by 
the way--is to recognize that our Government should allow faith-based 
programs to access Federal dollars, to help people in need without 
causing them to have to lose the heart and soul of their mission.
    Government has got to recognize that love and compassion are 
oftentimes the result of strong faith. In order to help heal broken 
hearts and save broken lives, we need love and compassion. There are 
pockets of despair and hopelessness in America that we must be 
addressing. Money helps, obviously, but it cannot put faith in people's 
lives, or hope. That requires compassion and decency.
    I talk a lot in America about this war on terror, obviously. Part of 
my job is to educate the American people about how long it's going to 
take to defend ourselves. And it's going to take a while. But I also 
tell people, and I truly believe this, that out of the evil done to 
America can come incredible good. Part of the good is going to be peace. 
Part of the good is going to be a more compassionate America.
    My call to the good folks of Columbus, Ohio, is to become involved 
in helping a neighbor in need. If you really want to join the war 
against terror, do some good. People say, ``How can I fight the war 
against terror?'' And the answer is, love your neighbor just like you'd 
like to be loved yourself.
    The Faith-Based Initiative relates to welfare that way. Loving a 
neighbor just like you'd like to be loved yourself is the natural 
extension of welfare reform. The best way to save some folks from drug 
and alcohol abuse is to recognize faith can change hearts and therefore 
change lives. The best way to help a child who may wonder whether or not 
he or she has a future in America--and there's a lot who wonder that--is 
to encourage a loving mentor and welcome a loving mentor in their lives. 
The best way to encourage the homeless to recognize that there--somebody 
cares, is for a church or a synagogue or a mosque to rally a program to 
help the homeless.
    No, this is a great country, because we're full of great people. The 
strength of our country is not really in the halls of Government--our 
system is great; it's magnificent--but the true strength of America lies 
in the fact that there are millions of Americans who want to help a 
neighbor in need. The role of the Government is to recognize that power 
and that goodness of the American people, and structure our welfare laws 
that welcome and encourage and foster the greatness of the country.
    Every American has got dignity. Every American has got value. And we 
want to make sure our laws welcome that--understand that. This is a 
welcoming country. And when we get the welfare reauthorization bill 
right, it's going to be even more welcoming.
    Listen, thank you for letting me come and talk to you all. You live 
in the greatest country in the face of the Earth. May God bless you all.

Note: The President spoke at 10:52 a.m. in the gymnasium. In his 
remarks, he referred to Gov. Bob Taft of Ohio; Judith Stattmiller, 
executive director, St. Stephen's Community House; Dannetta Graves, 
director, Montgomery County Department of Job and Family Services; and 
Ramla Munye and Josef Pollard, who were both helped by job assistance 
programs.