pd08jy02 Message to the Congress Transmitting a Report on the National Emergency...

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[Page 1123]
 
Monday, July 8, 2002
 
Volume 38--Number 27
Pages 1111-1143
 
Week Ending Friday, July 5, 2002
 
Exchange With Reporters in Milwaukee, Wisconsin

July 2, 2002

New York Times Article

    The President. Yes, Terry [Terry Moran, ABC News], what is it?
    Q. Do you have any response--there's this columnist in the New York 
Times today who says that your role on the board of Harkin Energy back 
in the 1980s and its sale of Aloha Petroleum, your sale of stock, that 
amounts to the same kind of corporate misbehavior you're now 
criticizing.
    The President. Everything I do is fully disclosed. It's been fully 
vetted.
    Any other question?

International Criminal Court

    Q. Excuse me, sir. Do you think you'll be able to work out that 
logjam, or is our participation in Bosnia coming to an end?
    The President. The International Criminal Court is troubling to the 
United States. It's troubling to the administration and obviously 
trouble with the United States Senate as well.
    President Clinton signed this treaty, but when he signed it, he said 
it should not be submitted to the Senate. It therefore never has been, 
and I don't intend to submit it either, because it--you know, as the 
United States works to bring peace around the world, our diplomats and 
our soldiers could be drug into this court, and that's a very 
troubling--very troubling to me.
    And we'll try to work out the impasse at the United Nations. But one 
thing we're not going to do is sign on to the International Criminal 
Court.

Corporate Responsibility

    Q. Mr. President, as you contemplate new penalties for corporate 
malfeasance, do you think that the laws on the books are insufficient to 
prosecute CEOs, or----
    The President. I will make a statement on that at the appropriate 
time, Dick [Richard Keil, Bloomberg News].

Independence Day Celebrations

    Q. How should Americans celebrate July 4th this year, given the 
anxieties about more attacks?
    The President. They should celebrate heartily because we have 
freedom, and we love freedom. And I--they should also know our 
Government is doing everything they can to make the homeland secure, 
that people ought to be joyous in their celebration and celebrate the 
fact that we're fortunate enough to be Americans. I'm going to do that 
in West Virginia.
    Thank you all.

Note: The exchange began at 10:16 a.m. during a tour of the Holy 
Redeemer Institutional Church of God in Christ. A tape was not available 
for verification of the content of this exchange.


<DOC>
[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents]
 [frwais.access.gpo.gov]
                         

[Page 1123-1129]
 
Monday, July 8, 2002
 
Volume 38--Number 27
Pages 1111-1143
 
Week Ending Friday, July 5, 2002
 
Remarks on the Faith-Based Welfare Initiative in Milwaukee

July 2, 2002

    Thank you very much for that warm welcome. I--it's great to be here 
in the midst of so many social entrepreneurs--[laughter]--people who are 
willing to think differently in order to provide hope for people who 
need hope.
    Wisconsin--Tommy is right--it's kind of the heartland of 
compassionate conservatism. People decided, ``We're not going to worry 
about process; we'll worry about results. And the result we want is for 
everybody to feel a part of the American experience.'' I'm glad I picked 
Tommy to be in my Cabinet. You all trained him well--[laughter]--and 
he's doing a great job on behalf of all Americans.
    Bishop Patterson, I'm honored that you would travel here. Bishop 
Patterson is a leader. He is a person who has got a clear vision about 
the need for the private sector and public sector to join together to 
help people who need help. And the fact, sir, that you traveled all the 
way here from the great city of Memphis, Tennessee, to be with us today 
is a tribute to your dedication to finding ways to improve people's 
lives. I'm honored you're here.
    And then Bishop Daniels, I'm sorry that we kind of muzzled him. I 
was hoping that he would unleash--[laughter]--if not in

[[Page 1124]]

word, at least in song. I'm looking forward to listening to the Daniels 
CD that he gave me today. But I'm impressed by his vision as well. We 
had the opportunity earlier to see the building plans, and that's just 
the skeleton. The body comes from the works that are going to take place 
inside the building, based upon faith and compassion and decency, all 
aimed--those works all aimed to change people's lives. And Bishop, I 
appreciate what you're doing. I'm not kidding when I use the words 
``social entrepreneur.'' It's a word that's applicable to the bishop and 
the congregation and the church. The willingness for people to use the 
great power of faith to revitalize neighborhoods is inspiring. Mr. 
Bishop, thank you very much for having us here. I appreciate that.
    I appreciate Members of the United States Congress coming today. I 
know Mark Green and Tom Petri are here--I'm honored you both are here--
as well as the chairman, Chairman Sensenbrenner. Much of what I'm going 
to talk about in terms of the Faith-Based Initiative has--those 
accomplishments which have taken place in Washington, in other words, 
the bill that got out of the House--[laughter]--he is responsible for. I 
appreciate you, Jim, very much for your leadership.
    I want to thank members of the statehouse who have come. Of course, 
the Governor's here. I appreciate Scott, and I appreciate his 
leadership, and I appreciate his willingness to carry on the vision of 
welcoming social entrepreneurs in the providing of aid and comfort to 
people who need help. I appreciate the speaker being here and the 
minority leader of the Senate in the State of Wisconsin. Thank you all 
for coming today as well.
    I appreciate local officials--it seems like when the President shows 
up, quite a few people show up. And I'm honored that the mayor is here. 
Thank you, Mr. Mayor, for coming. And County Executive Scott Walker, I 
appreciate you coming, Scott, too. Thank you.
    And finally, the Bradley Foundation is represented here today. The 
reason that I'm so happy that my friend Mike Grebe is here and Mike 
Joyce and others from the Bradley Foundation is because foundation 
America must be a part of the revitalization of our communities as well. 
And the Bradley Foundation has always been willing to seek different 
solutions. They've been willing to challenge the status quo. They'd say, 
``Where we find failure, something else must occur.'' And the foundation 
not only has been kind and generous with its donation, the foundation 
also has been willing to help people think anew. And I appreciate you 
all coming. I'm honored you're here, and thanks for your good work.
    As I travel the country, I get to meet the quiet heroes of America, 
those folks who were willing to give of their time and talents and their 
heart to help people in need. Today Linda Stephenson came out to see Air 
Force One, and I'm glad she came, because it gave me a chance to thank 
her for 36 years of volunteering her time and efforts to help causes 
ranging from Youth Leadership Academy to Public Allies to Goodwill 
Industries. You see, the reason I like to talk about the individual hero 
is because America can change one heart, one soul, one conscience at a 
time. And while a person can't do everything, a person can do something 
to be a part of that. And thank you for coming, Linda. I'm honored 
you're here. Please stand up. [Applause] Got you. Thanks for coming.
    Listen, we've got some big goals for America. Somebody asked me 
today, ``What should people feel like going into the Fourth of July?'' I 
said, ``You should be celebrating the fact that we live in America and 
the Fourth of July is our Independence Day. It is the day we honor our 
freedoms, and as we honor the freedoms, we're going to do everything we 
can to protect the freedoms.''
    There are people that hate our freedoms, that really can't stand the 
thought that people are able to worship freely or speak their mind 
freely or be able to realize their dreams regardless of who they are. 
They don't like that, and therefore they want to strike out at America 
again. And I want to assure you that we're doing everything we can to 
protect the homeland of America. We've got a lot of dedicated folks who 
work overtime, all the time, to run down any lead. Any hint, any idea of 
anybody trying to do something to America, we'll react to it, because 
protecting innocent life is my most important job and

[[Page 1125]]

the most important job of government at any level.
    We value life; the enemy hates life. We say each life matters; they 
say innocent life doesn't matter. And so we've got a big task at hand.
    The best way for us to secure the homeland, besides utilizing 
resources in an effective way to protect America, is to hunt this enemy 
down one by one and to bring them to justice. It's to find them where 
they try to hide and to bring them to--you notice I say we're not going 
to seek revenge. This Nation seeks justice because we love freedom.
    It's going to take a while. It'll take a while. This is a different 
kind of enemy. These are the folks that hide in caves and then send 
youngsters to their suicide deaths. They don't march across land in 
formations. They--they're nearly invisible. But they're nothing but a 
bunch of coldblooded killers. That's--you've got to know how I feel 
about it. And so they'll be treated as international criminals. We will 
get them on the run and keep them on the run until we bring them to 
justice.
    But you need to know--you need to know that--and it's important that 
you tell your youngsters--Bishop, I know you'll tell youngsters who hear 
about war that this Nation longs for peace. That's what--we do what we 
do for peace.
    See, I believe that out of the evil done to America can come some 
good. I believe there can come some good, and part of that good is a 
more peaceful world, not only for Americans but for people all across 
the globe. I believe if the American--I know if America stays steadfast 
and strong and resolute and speaks plainly about the values, the human 
values that are universal, we can achieve peace in places where the 
people don't dream of peace. And that's what I think can happen and will 
happen.
    And as we work hard to secure America, we've got to work hard to 
make America a better place, and that's what I want to talk about today. 
You see, it's one thing to make sure that we are secure, but we've also 
got to understand that in our plenty, there are pockets of despair and 
hopelessness. In our plenty as America, in our strength, our military 
strength, we've got to recognize there are some people in our country 
who wonder whether or not the American experience is meant for them. And 
so long as there's that despair and worry and hopelessness, this Nation 
must do something about it. And I've got some ideas about how to do it, 
and that's what I want to speak about today, because it relates directly 
to what's happening inside the walls of this church.
    It starts with making sure every child gets a good education, not 
just a few, not just the ones that are apparently easier to educate, but 
every child, every single child.
    That sounds obvious, but it's not obvious in the way we address 
education, because in some parts of the world, there aren't high 
standards. If you have low standards and low expectations, you know what 
you're going to get? You're going to get bad results.
    If you believe every child can learn, you set high standards. And 
that's what we've done in the new law we passed out of the Congress 
called the No Child Left Behind law. It says that we expect the best for 
every single child, and since we do so, we want to know whether or not 
the children are learning to read and write and add and subtract.
    If you have low expectations, you don't measure, because you say, 
``Well, certain kids can't learn, why measure?'' If you care about each 
child, you do measure. And the measuring system is important, because it 
helps indicate what's working and what's not working. It helps show 
whether or not a curriculum makes sense or not makes sense. It helps us 
judge whether or not the very faces of our future can read, for 
starters. And if they can't read, we as a society must do something 
about it. We cannot accept mediocrity.
    And so the first time in history, the Federal Government has said, 
if you take Federal money--and we're spending a lot of it, particularly 
for Title I students, and that's good--that you've got to show us 
whether or not the money is making a difference. You, the people of 
Wisconsin, measure.
    And finally, a final part of this bill is it says we trust the local 
people to chart the path to excellence for their children. In other 
words, we pass power out of Washington to the local level, and we 
encourage--by doing

[[Page 1126]]

so, encourage any approach that works. See, we're not worried about the 
process; we're worried about the results.
    That's why I am so appreciative of what Wisconsin and the city of 
Milwaukee has done in terms of providing choice. You call it whatever 
you want to call it, vouchers, choice, whatever it is. Freedom for 
parents is what I call it, and the results are better as a result.
    I want to thank the bishop for having education as one of the 
cornerstones of this enterprise. You see, he understands what I know and 
you all know: If a child is educated, that child is more likely to be 
able to realize his or her dreams. An educated child is one much more 
likely to succeed. If you're worried about children going to prison, 
let's make sure that a child can read. That's the first step to making 
sure somebody can have a hopeful future. And the fact that this 
enterprise--what I call an enterprise--this fantastic operation has 
education within its building is a sign of clear vision.
    And I want to thank the Supreme Court for making an important 
decision when it ratified the Cleveland voucher program. It said that--
it was an important statement about let's focus on each child to make 
sure no child is left behind. Let's worry more about results and less 
about process.
    In the bill that we've signed this year, there will be 3.5 million 
children who will be attending failing schools--that's the estimate. 
They will be given--their parents will be given different options, 
public school choice or after-school tutoring. It could be very likely 
that someone will come here into this building and find an after-school 
tutoring program, where the money follows the child, so that the parent 
and the child can escape from the mediocrity. And that's an important 
concept, very important concept.
    I do believe the Federal Government can do more. I know we need to 
work with local jurisdictions to help them develop a variety of options 
for parents--all aimed, by the way, at making sure our public school 
system works. See, the public school system is an incredibly important 
part of democracy, and we want it to work, and we want it to work for 
every single child. And so I think we ought to work for an education tax 
credit that will be a part of empowering parents to be able to make 
choices if they're dissatisfied with the status quo. We're going to make 
progress.
    We're making progress on education. It's an important progress to 
make. It's an important way to make sure America is not only a secure 
country but a better country.
    There's another initiative that I want to speak briefly about, and 
that is homeownership. We've got a homeownership gap in America: 75 
percent of Anglos or white people own their homes; less than 50 percent 
of minority own their homes. That's a gap that needs to change. And so 
my goal--my goal is that by 2010, we have 5.5 million additional 
minority homeowners.
    There are ways the Government, obviously, can help. One is to help 
people with their downpayment. People think about owning their home, and 
they say, ``I can't afford the downpayment. Forget ownership. I'll just 
continue to rent.'' And so we're going to have Federal monies available 
to help people afford the downpayment so they can make the first big 
step into homeownership.
    Secondly, we will work with the Tax Code to provide tax credits so 

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