February 22, 1992.
Presidential Radio Address George Herbert Walker Bush
THE PRESIDENT: Today I want to talk to you about getting our economy moving. I know there's a lot of debate about how to create jobs and build economic strength, but in the end it all boils down to common sense. To strengthen an economy, you encourage investment. You support industries that pull nations out of recessions. You encourage success. In my State of the Union Address, I proposed a short-term economic plan that does these things. I challenged Congress to set aside partisan politics for just a few weeks and pass my plan by March 20. Unfortunately, Democratic leaders refused to submit my plan for a quick, clean vote. They chose politics over duty. They huddled behind closed doors and played games with the Tax Code. They put out one plan one day, another plan the next. Finally, they settled on a scheme that makes no economic sense. Their proposal won't help homebuyers. Their proposal will increase the deficit. It borrows $30 billion to pay for a tiny temporary tax cut. For each person in the average family of four, it hands out about a quarter a day, but only for 2 years. This turns out to be a very costly quarter. After the temporary cut expires, Americans would shoulder the burden of a huge permanent tax increase. In other words, these congressional leaders want to give you 2 years of pocket change in exchange for a lifetime of higher taxes. And that is a very bad deal for us and for our children who must pay the bill. And now my plan: My plan will create jobs. The real estate incentives alone will generate 415,000 new jobs this year. My plan offers the hope of homeownership to first-time homebuyers. Some people have begun buying homes already, expecting Congress to pass a plan that encourages real estate investment, my plan. Congress shouldn't let those people down. My plan will not increase the deficit. It makes some tough choices on Federal spending because I refuse to mortgage our children's future for short-term political gain. My plan will not raise tax rates. I want to raise the child deduction on Federal income taxes by $500, and I want Congress to pass this permanent, long-term, profamily tax cut this year. Put the plans side by side, and here's the bottom line: My plan works; theirs doesn't. So today, join me in telling Congress: Stop fooling around with our future. Tell them to pass my plan now. If politicians hem and haw and offer up excuses, remind them your job is more important than any politician's job. Our recovery will get a huge boost the moment Congress passes my plan. But I need your help. Thank you. And may God bless you and the United States of America.
March 28, 1992.
Presidential Radio Address George Herbert Walker Bush
THE PRESIDENT: Good morning.
Many have called the 20th century the American Century. The question before us today is about the next century, looking just a few years ahead.Let me tell you a story that will help shape that century, a story you probably haven't heard about. It's about a battle between those who want to change things and those who want to protect the status quo. And in this battle those who support change are telling those who want to stand pat: Lead, follow, or get out of the way.
Wednesday, those words were heard loud and clear. I'm talking about how the Democratic Congress couldn't muster a two-thirds majority,incredibly, couldn't even get a majority; to override my veto of the liberals' latest tax increase. This story you haven't heard about is also unheard of. Only twice before in the last 60 years has the House failed to muster a simple majority to override a veto.
Congressional liberals suffered this defeat for a simple reason: Americans measure progress in people helped, not dollars spent. And that's why I'm going to continue the fight to keep a lid on Federal spending. It's also why I asked Senator McCain of Arizona and Congressman Harris Fawell of Illinois to formally introduce legislation to endorse the 68 rescissions I announced last week to cut nearly $4 billion in waste from a bloated Federal budget.Unlike liberal Democrats, given our big deficit, I don't think the Federal Government can afford to fund prickly pear research or study asparagus yield declines. Those who reject these pork barrel projects will stand with me and the American taxpayer. Those who support them will have to explain in November why the public interest has been denied.If enough Members demand it, Congress must vote on each of these bills, yes or no, up or down. I'm going to work with those who want the Congress to be accountable and fight those who will try to block our initiatives through parliamentary gimmicks. I know that Government is too big and spends too much. And now let's see where Congress stands. Stay tuned, keep listening. We'll find out who really wants to cut spending and who just wants to keep the pork.In a world more driven by economic competition than ever before, the challenge I am referring to is crucial to our future. I mean reform of the American Government. During the last decade, one institution after another has looked within itself, decided on improvements, and acted to fix its problems and reflect its principles. Our task now is to bring that process of reform to the United States Government. All of us know Government's problem: Too often it is not accountable, not effective, not efficient. It's not even compassionate. Only by changing it can we protect America's general interest against selfish special interests.My rescissions will help knock out one part of the special interest problem at work in Congress today, but the changes I want are even bigger. I want to end the PAC contributions which are corrupting our system. I want to place term limits on Congress, and I want to lead the American people in making changes that will make the 21st century another American century.One challenge is to make our people educated, literate, and motivated to keep learning. And that's why I'm trying to reform our education system from top to bottom.Our people must have a sense of well-being about their health and that of their children and families. My health care reform plan will guarantee them access to the finest health care system in the world and make that care affordable.And next, help me return our civil justice system to its original purpose: dispense justice with civility. Eighteen million lawsuits a year are choking us, costing individuals and businesses billions, a tremendous drag on our morale as well as our economy.And in the next century, as we look at the likely economic competition as well as the likely opportunities, they will be beyond our borders. That means we must open up more foreign markets to sell our goods and our services and to sustain and create jobs for our people.Reform of Government, education, health care, our legal system, opening markets abroad: addressing these issues is fundamental to America's future. Already America has changed the world. Today I'm asking you to help me change America. If Congress won't change, we'll have to change the Congress. The battle has been joined, and it's your future that we're fighting for.Thank you for your support. And may God bless the United States of America.
April 4, 1992.
Presidential Radio Address George Herbert Walker Bush
THE PRESIDENT: American democracy was launched from great ideas which grew out of great debate. Our Founding Fathers believed in the fundamentals: faith, family, and freedom. And they were determined to build prosperity. More than 200 years later, by holding firmly to our principles, America has changed the world.Henry Luce called the 20th century the American Century. If we are to ensure that the next century is also the American century, we must meet five great challenges: education reform, legal reform, health care reform, international competitiveness and market expansion, and Governmental reform.The latest unemployment figures were released Friday. They held steady at 7.3 percent. But unemployment is still too high. Too many Americans are out of work. To get this economy rolling again, faster and stronger, Congress should have passed our economic action plan. But they reverted to form, tried to raise taxes and increase Government spending. We can no longer afford this kind of business-as-usual. We need to reform Congress. And that is my focus today.G.K. Chesterton said,We cannot discuss reform without reference to form. In the face of overwhelming evidence that change is necessary, Congress has kept reform on the back burner. It is up to us to turn up the heat. If we are to improve education, health care, our legal system, if we are to reduce redtape and regulation, if we are to make our country competitive and get this horrendous deficit down, we must reform the congressional process itself.It is true that one-party rule in Congress is a big part of the problem. But the larger issue is a systemic problem: the 284 congressional committees and subcommittees, the almost 40,000 legislative branch employees and staff, the $2.5 billion of taxpayer financing, overlaid with $117 million reelection war chest and special interest campaign contributions for incumbents. Such a system cannot promote reform and change; instead, it aggressively protects the status quo.I know that the Federal Government cannot be run just like IBM or the local convenience store. But Government today is a $1.5 trillion enterprise, and programs that have outlived their function have not outlived their funding. We can and we must improve Government's responsiveness. What merely hampered us in the past will gridlock us in the future. Our ability to compete demands that Congress enact the reforms I have proposed. The set of actions I have proposed, when taken together, will help make Government respond to the people; Government for the people, as our founders envisioned.First, Congress should govern itself by the laws it imposes on everyone else. No more special treatment.Second, Congress should reform its operations and procedures.Third, we must make sweeping campaign finance reforms.Fourth, we need to change how Congress spends the people's money.Fifth, we must revise and eliminate Government regulations that impede our ability to compete, and we must accelerate regulations that enhance our competitive edge.
Sixth, we must limit congressional terms. The cycle of virtually guaranteed reelection through the built-in advantages of incumbency must be broken.And finally, the Congress of the future should be a citizen Congress, not a career Congress.These reforms, taken together, can renew our faith in Government, restore the principles of our founders, and help guarantee for our children a new American century.The choice is clear: On the one side stand the defenders of the status quo; on the other, the forces of change. And now that we've changed the world, we must make the choice to change America.Thank you, and may God bless the United States of America.
April 11, 1992.
Presidential Radio Address George Herbert Walker Bush
THE PRESIDENT: The American people have always been a people constantly searching for improvement, impatient for change when things need changing. Last week I spoke about the need for a change here in Washington, for Government reform, especially congressional reform. Today I want to focus on reforming our welfare system, especially on our Government's role in that reform process.
After years of trying to help those who are in need, we have found that too often our assistance does not help people out of poverty; it traps them there. It's not that people stopped caring; it's that the system stopped working. We want a welfare system that breaks the cycle of dependency before dignity is destroyed and before poverty becomes a family legacy. But today we must face this fact: Our system has failed.I have repeatedly called for the forging of Federal-State partnerships that would make welfare reform a powerful, effective reality. Yesterday, at my direction, the Federal Government waived outdated rules to allow Wisconsin to try a new kind of welfare reform. The Wisconsin plan replaces some of the old assumptions of the welfare state and recognizes the importance of personal responsibility, self-respect, independence, and self-sufficiency.In my State of the Union Address, I made a commitment to make it quicker and easier for States with welfare reform ideas to get the Federal waivers they need. By approving Wisconsin's waivers 24 days after we received their request, that commitment now has the force of action. I want to commend Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson, and I want to challenge other States to propose their own reforms.We must balance America's generous heart with our responsibility to the taxpayers who underwrite governmental assistance. Our assistance should in no way encourage dependency or undermine our Nation's economic competitiveness. We pay twice for those who make welfare a way of life: once for the initial benefits, but even more because the Nation loses their contribution to the Nation's economic well-being.
Those who receive Government assistance have certain responsibilities: the responsibility to seek work or get education and training that will help them get a job, and the responsibility to get their lives in order. That means establishing lifestyles that will enable them to fulfill their potential, not destroy it.We have responsibilities, too. We must structure our welfare programs so that they reverse policies which lock in a lifestyle of dependency and subtly destroy self-esteem. We must encourage family formation and family stability. Too often our welfare programs have encouraged exactly the opposite.We must incorporate incentives for recipients to stay in school. For instance, in Wisconsin, teen parents are required by the Learnfare program to stay in school to obtain full benefits. They recognize that in many respects opportunity is equated with education. And I'll have more to say about the urgent need for educational reform next week as we mark the first anniversary of the crusade that I call America 2000.My approach to welfare reform should not only open the doors of opportunity for our citizens who are on public assistance but also prepare them to walk proudly and competently through those doors. Our goal is to build a system of welfare that will encourage self-respect, build strength of character, and develop to the fullest each individual's potential for a productive, meaningful life.Thank you for listening. And may God bless the United States of America.
April 18, 1992.
Presidential Radio Address George Herbert Walker Bush
THE PRESIDENT: This past week I spent some time in the town of Fraser, Michigan. I met with workers at a major machine tool factory and talked with them and local business leaders about a program I call Job Training 2000. Thursday, I was in Allentown, Pennsylvania, in the Lehigh Valley, one of the first communities to take up our America 2000 crusade to revolutionize this Nation's schools.In Michigan and in Pennsylvania, I announced specific proposals, legislative initiatives aimed at helping people with two of the real building blocks of opportunity: advancing their education and sharpening their job skills. If acted on by Congress, these initiatives will make a real impact on the way people live, not just in Fraser and in Allentown but all across America.Let me start with a concept I call the ``lifetime education and training account, a package of grants and a line of credit worth $25,000 to every eligible American to use to further their education or acquire new job skills to make the most of their abilities. It's a new way of thinking about an old idea known as student aid. And it's based on this simple fact: Education does not end with graduation.How will this lifetime education account help real families? Think of a single mother struggling to balance her responsibility for her family and for her job against her own hopes for the future. Her dream is to set aside one night a week and take one college course at a time. But money's tight, and under present Federal rules as a part-time student she doesn't qualify for the grant or loan that would help pay tuition. That just doesn't make sense. Here's a woman willing to work hard to better herself, stopped short by a program that works against her. With our lifetime line of credit, all that would change. The woman would be able to go to school, bring that distant dream another day closer. When Government can help people help themselves, that's the kind of Government we need.And the other proposal I announced was a new apprenticeship initiative, a companion program to our Job Training 2000. To see what kind of difference this initiative can make, take that same family, the working mother I mentioned earlier, this time with a 17-year-old son, a senior in high school. He's made the decision that it's time for him to enter the working world, to help out by bringing home a paycheck. Right now, he faces a tough choice, juggling school and a job. He's trying to do both, and both are suffering. He doesn't want to close the door on college, but he's feeling pressure to drop out.Our-Youth Apprentice Act- can help that young man stay in school, keep his job, and keep his options open. It will let him sit down with his school and his employer, put together a course of study and a job schedule that will keep him on track for graduation. And later on, if that young man wants to change careers or go to college, he's got a skill certificate to show future employers and a diploma that really means something.Each one of these initiatives begins with the same question: What can Government do to open the doors of opportunity to every American? As the President, I've made it my mission to preserve and advance three legacies close to all our hearts: a world at peace, an economy with good jobs, a Nation of strong families. The initiatives I've talked about today can help Americans make those legacies their own.Thank you for listening today. And as so many of you celebrate Passover or prepare for Easter Sunday, may God bless the United States of America.
April 25, 1992.
Presidential Radio Address George Herbert Walker Bush
THE PRESIDENT: A lot of the reports we Americans hear on TV or the radio seem to follow the maxim ``Good news is no news. Well, today I'm going to break a few rules and talk about some good news. The story is jobs, jobs created and jobs sustained because of our ability to sell our product and services abroad.Last week, we received the latest from the economic front. All around the world, more and more people are buying American. Our exports shot up 7 percent in February to a one-month record high of almost $38 billion, closing the deficit gap by 16 percent. If there's any moral to this story, it's a reminder that if Americans want to succeed economically at home, we've got to lead economically abroad. In the past couple of weeks, I've been talking to groups around the country and to leaders from around the world. The message is simple: Expanding free trade abroad means expanding opportunity at home.America's trade story is good news, not just for our coastal States and port towns but all across America. Here's a sampling: Colorado, about 90,000 jobs supported by trade; about 90,000 in Iowa; Arizona, 120,000 jobs; Tennessee, 150,000 jobs. America's manufacturing exports are more competitive than 10 years ago, our labor more productive. The Chicken Little hysterics of an America under siege may make better copy, but they leave out one little fact: The United States is the leading exporter in the world, bar none.I don't mean to discount the competition. Our competitors are tough. More and more, America competes in an international marketplace where standing still means falling behind. Some want us to respond to these challenges as if they were a bad dream, just hide under the covers and hope it goes away. They may be talking tough, but they're really running scared. The problem is, they're running the wrong way. The answer isn't to build up our barriers; it's to get other countries to tear down theirs.Two days ago, I met with the heads of Europe's Common Market. And we talked long and hard about how to bring the Uruguay round of GATT, the world trade negotiations, to a successful conclusion. Such an agreement could pump $5 trillion into the global economy over the next 10 years. The U.S. share would top $1 trillion. That's hundreds of thousands of new American jobs.I don't plan to stop there. We're also negotiating an historic free trade agreement with Mexico and Canada. Listen to these facts: During my Presidency, 45 out of our 50 States have increased their exports with Mexico. Already over the 4 years, exports to Mexico have more than doubled, creating hundreds of thousands of jobs here at home. Clearly, with a successful agreement, we'd export more than ever before, increasing trade with Mexico by $10 billion and creating over 360,000 American jobs. And that's why a North American free trade agreement is in our interest, because it means more jobs right here.Just this week, the United States took steps to facilitate trade in high-technology goods, an initiative made possible by the rebirth of freedom in formerly Communist lands. We relaxed trade restrictions that served us well during the cold war but no longer serve their purpose. We will eliminate requirements for thousands of export licenses, including many that affected computers, one of our strongest export earners. Trade covered by this deregulation amounts to about $2.5 billion. The choice is simple. We can either promote protectionism or promote free trade. To my reckoning, no one ever beat the competition by cringing behind a trade barrier. You see, I have faith in free trade because I have faith in the American worker. When trade is free and fair, Americans can beat the competition fair and square. Thank you for listening. And may God bless the United States of America.
May 9, 1992.
Presidential Radio Address George Herbert Walker Bush
THE PRESIDENT: Less than 24 hours ago, I returned from Los Angeles. And today I'd like to use this opportunity to report in on what I saw and what I heard.
By now, each one of us has seen images of hate and horror we won't soon forget. But what I saw during my time in Los Angeles, even in the hardest hit parts of south central L.A., should give us all cause for hope. Everywhere, the people I talked with told me about the acts of individual heroism, about the extraordinary courage of ordinary people. Some braved the gangs of looters to form bucket brigades to put out fires when the fire trucks couldn't get through. Some stood against the angry mobs, reached across the barrier of color to save lives. Many of these aren't the stories you'll see on the first 2 minutes of the nightly news, but they are the stories that tell us the power of simple human decency.I went to L.A. to meet with community leaders, to get firsthand information as to how best the Federal Government could speed the recovery. Part of it is to provide, as we're doing now, Federal funds to help shopowners get their businesses open again, funds to help the people who lost jobs when the places they worked were burned out. But beyond this immediate emergency assistance, I set out a broader agenda, a means of bringing hope and opportunity to our inner cities.First, we've got to preserve order, keep the peace, because families can't thrive, children can't learn, jobs can't flourish in a climate of fear.Second, we must spark an economic revival in urban America. And that means establishing enterprise zones in our cities and reform of our welfare system to help people with individual initiative work and save.Third, we've got to revolutionize American education. That's why we've built our America 2000 strategy around innovations like choice, competition, and community action. Children in our inner cities deserve the same opportunities that kids in our suburbs have.Four, we must promote new hope through homeownership. And that's the aim behind my HOPE initiative, to give the least advantaged among us a stake in their neighborhood by turning public housing tenants into homeowners.At every turn during my time in Los Angeles, I heard people talking about the principles that guide these initiatives: personal responsibility, opportunity, ownership, independence, dignity.I can already hear some of the critics out there. They'll say, ``Well, you've proposed all this before.'' That's true. They're right. But now it's time to act on these proposals, time to try something new. My first order of business now that I am back in Washington is to build a bipartisan effort in support of immediate action on this agenda.So far I have spoken about what Government can do. Now let me talk about what society must do, because Government alone cannot create the scale and energy needed to transform the lives of people in need. All over America, people have already found the answers for themselves, and they're taking action to make things better. You can find them everywhere, even in south central L.A. I met a man there named Lou Dantzler, a bear of a man who runs the Challengers Boys and Girls Club. He started it out in the back of an old pickup truck with a group of kids who wanted to get off the streets. And today, across from a burned-out block in south central L.A., the Boys and Girls Club stands unscarred. No, it wasn't a miracle that the building was left standing. The real miracle is what goes on inside. It's a place kids can go to get the concern and the love they need, a place where people care.
That's why guaranteeing a hopeful future for the children of our cities is about a lot more than rebuilding burned-out buildings. It's about building a new American community.This I know: We have the strength and spirit in our Government, in our communities, and in ourselves to transform America into the Nation we have dreamed of for generations.Thank you for listening. And may God bless the United States of America.
June 6, 1992.
Presidential Radio Address George Herbert Walker Bush
THE PRESIDENT: I want to talk to you today about a big idea, a big change in the way your Government works. For the past 12 years, President Reagan and I have tried to get Congress to act responsibly and restrain Federal spending. We've tried compromise. We've tried confrontation. And we've tried quiet diplomacy with the leaders of Congress. None of this has been enough. And so, my friends, the time has come to take some commonsense action. We must pass a constitutional amendment mandating a balanced budget.For most of our Nation's history, there was an unwritten rule against deficit financing, against saddling future generations with a mountain of debt. But in recent times, we've moved away from that. Now, we're borrowing from the future to pay for indulgences of the present. Our future is at stake. To ensure long-term economic growth, we must get Federal spending under control.I've called for big changes in many areas, reforms in how this Nation's gridlocked capital does business. Right now, we're coming out of tough times. The American people know that budget deficits threaten the long-term economic health of our country. Over the years, we've accumulated Federal debt totalling $65,000 for every family of four. This doesn't create more wealth. It merely helps pay for our current consumption. And that's like taking out a car loan and never buying a car.
To make our economic future strong, the balanced budget is where we must start. Beginning well before I became your President, I have fought for a balanced budget amendment. As a matter of fact, on February 9th, 1989, the very first legislative proposal that I made as President was for Congress to adopt a balanced budget constitutional amendment. In each of the three budgets I've submitted since, I've repeated that plea.Why am I so fiercely dedicated to this issue? Look at your own family. You know what happens when you spend more than you make. The devil's going to come demanding his due. Well, that's what our American family faces right now.When you hear about a deficit measured in hundreds of billions of dollars, remember that's not ``Monopoly money. Some day, that debt must be paid with your money, as sure as your own personal debts will have to be paid with your money. It's unacceptable when this spending riptide has us drowning in debt, dragging us further out to sea.This amendment will bring us back to shore. Forty-four States already have some type of constitutional balanced budget requirement. Eighty percent of the American people want this amendment and the tougher scrutiny of Government spending which it will require.We're fed up. We know it's time for partisan posturing to yield to responsibility to govern. It's time to stop treating our Federal Treasury like the corner cash machine.Thomas Jefferson's words still ring true: ``I place public debt as the greatest of the dangers to be feared. Today, we have within our grasp the power to conquer that fear. The key to this is twofold: We must control reckless Government spending, and we must encourage economic growth.Last January, I proposed a solid, commonsense action plan to create jobs and stimulate economic growth for the short term. Congress still needs to act on that plan and act now. A balanced budget amendment will help ensure economic security for the American people in the long term. Congress needs to act on that measure and act now.We have a moral imperative to act on behalf of future generations. They are not yet here to represent themselves. It's time to protect our children and our children's children. And we're determined to enact this solemn bond between generations.May God bless you and our great Nation.
June 27, 1992.
Presidential Radio Address George Herbert Walker Bush
THE PRESIDENT: Today I'd like to speak with you about a subject close to the heart of every American: the education of our children. You might not know it to read the morning paper or watch the evening news, but there's a revolution going on in our country, a revolution with a single aim: To make American schools the best in the world.This week I proposed a giant step forward in that revolution. I sent to Congress legislation authorizing $500 million to help States and communities give children from middle- and low-income families a $1,000 scholarship. And here's the crucial part: Families will be allowed to spend this money at any school of their choice, whether that school is public, private, or religious. This proposal is in the greatest American tradition.Forty-eight years ago this week, President Roosevelt signed the GI bill creating scholarships that veterans could use at any college, any college of their choice. The GI bill created opportunity for Americans who never would have had it. And in so doing, it helped to create the best system of colleges and universities in the world. And we can do it again, this time with a ``GI bill'' for children, helping State and local governments create the best elementary and secondary schools in the world.My proposal is based on a few fundamental truths. I believe that parents are their children's first teachers. Parents, not bureaucrats, know what's best for their children. Parents, not the Government, should choose their children's schools. For too long we've shielded schools from competition, allowed them a damaging monopoly power over our children. This monopoly turns students into statistics and parents into pawns.Let's be clear about who's hurt most by the present system. It's not the wealthy; they can already afford to send their children to whichever school they choose. The ``GI bill'' for children will give low- and middle-income families more of those choices. Whether it's the public school down the street or across town, whether it's a parochial or Yeshiva or Bible school, parents should be able to decide which school will provide the best education for their kids. By injecting competition into our education system, by allowing parents to choose their children's schools, we can break the monopoly, provide the catalyst to open up opportunities for our kids and create genuine change in our schools.Abraham Lincoln said, ``Revolutions do not go backward.'' And all across the country, from Pennsylvania to California, from San Antonio to Indianapolis, the school choice revolution is gaining steam.I met with many leaders of that movement at the White House this week. They are the true heroes of school reform. They aren't afraid to stand up to the status quo, to say loud and clear that when it comes to educating our kids, business as usual just is not good enough. And I'm proud to stand at their side.The protectors of the status quo should understand this revolution will succeed with or without their help. We will create the finest schools for our children and grandchildren. And we will do it by restoring to education the truest American principles: freedom and opportunity and choice.Thank you for listening. And may God bless the United States of America.
July 3, 1992.
Presidential Radio Address George Herbert Walker Bush
THE PRESIDENT: Today, I'm asking all Americans to help me break a logjam holding up reform of our health care system. Health care in our country is too expensive, too complicated. And too many times, the system is downright unfair. I've proposed comprehensive reforms, including four pieces of legislation now waiting in Congress' in-box. Americans could begin enjoying the benefits of reform right away if only Congress would act.Let me tell you about our plan, including my legislation and some initiatives by House and Senate Republicans. We would lower costs for patients and providers alike by keeping high taxes, costly litigation, and big bureaucracies off their backs. We're fighting to give self-employed Americans the same tax advantages that big corporations already have, and that is being able to take 100 percent of health insurance premiums off their income taxes.Our legislation also would help small business and self-employed people get the same break as the big guys through new purchasing networks and broader risk pooling. That's good because it will help drive down health care costs for everyone. And House Republicans have a good idea to let both employers and employees contribute to new tax-free MediSave accounts for health care.It's time to reform our antiquated system, move things into the electronic age. Our legislation would cut paperwork and redtape and put health insurance on a modern electronic billing system. Going to the doctor should involve no more paperwork than using a credit card. I've also asked that horse-and-buggy-era rules end and that practices for patient records and consumer health information be replaced with computerization. By the end of the decade, these two reforms alone would save Americans an estimated $24 billion a year.Just this week I sent Congress a bill to curb the runaway costs of medical liability. Nearly every community in this country knows gifted medical people, conscientious men and women, who no longer use their talents and training because they're afraid of being wiped out by damage suits. That's wrong. And it hurts every one of us. Everywhere I travel in this country, people tell me Americans should make more effort helping each other instead of suing each other. And that's why I'm asking Congress to pass my plan to put caps on damages and encourage settling disputes out of court.We need medical malpractice reform now. But there's a logjam, the old-time liberal leadership in the Senate and the House stalling my reforms. While I want to curb the excessive damage awards in medical malpractice cases, too many in that Capitol Hill crowd are too beholden to the trial lawyers lobby to act in the people's interest. Where I want the freedom and the proven efficiency of the modern market to work, the old-time leadership wants Federal bureaucrats to control prices and ration services.The biggest story of our time is the failure of socialism and all its empty promises, including nationalized health care and government price-setting. But somehow this news that shook the world hasn't seeped through the doors of the Democratic cloakrooms on Capitol Hill.And that's why I'm asking your help. Let's get them the message. Americans deserve a better health care system. And they support the principles of my plan. Let's get our Senators and Congressmen off the dime and make them bring my plan to a vote. Thank you for listening. And may God bless the United States of America.
September 12, 1992.
Presidential Radio Address George Herbert Walker Bush
THE PRESIDENT: This week I laid out my Agenda for American Renewal, a comprehensive set of answers to the most important question Americans are asking these days: What kind of America will our kids grow up in? My agenda offers the promise of a renewed America, an America with a $10 trillion economy by early in the next century. With that kind of dynamic growth we can address our problems here at home and guarantee that America will remain not just a military superpower but an export superpower and an economic superpower.Today one out of every six manufacturing jobs is tied to exports. So first, I offer a strategic trade policy, including new free trade agreements with the emerging democracies of Eastern Europe. By increasing trade we increase American jobs. It's as simple as that.If we want America to compete with other nations, we have to change our schools. Through my America 2000 program we are already reinventing education in almost 2,000 towns and cities. And I want to give scholarships to low- and middle-income students so that parents can choose where their kids go to school, whether public schools, private schools, or religious schools.Even with new schools, graduates are going to need good jobs. So the third part of my agenda is to sharpen our businesses' competitive edge. That means cutting taxes and regulations on small business. It also means doing away with the crazy lawsuits that strike fear into the hearts of every business man or woman. Get this: American businesses and consumers now spend up to $200 billion each year just on direct costs to lawyers. I don't want to see an America where only lawyers get rich. I want to see an America where workers can get rich.The fourth part of my agenda is extremely important: to promote economic security for all working people. For example, I have a program to control health care costs, to allow you to take your coverage from job to job, and to make health care available to almost 30 million Americans who simply can't afford it today.In the 21st century we will need the talents of everyone, regardless of whether you were born in city or suburb. And that's agenda item number five: opportunity for all Americans. It means reforming our welfare system. Already we've given States authority to experiment with programs that don't just give people a check but reward work and personal responsibility. The final part of my agenda is especially important: ``rightsizing Government. I believe the Federal Government today is too big and spends too much of your money. My opponent wants to raise taxes and raise spending. I put forth almost $300 billion in specific cuts in spending over the next 5 years. I want to use the savings to reduce taxes and get this economy moving, and get the deficit off our children's shoulders. This is my Agenda for American Renewal. Parts of it are already underway; parts of it are new. I will fight for this agenda with the new Congress and its 150 expected new Members. If Congress balks, I will work with Governors, mayors, teachers, community leaders to keep my agenda moving forward. My opponent has reached into the medicine cabinet and offered the same tired old prescription: more Government and bigger Government. My agenda for America offers new solutions, solutions that give power to you, not Government. This is the way we will create a $10 trillion economy. This is the way we can match the peace we've achieved around the world with peace of mind here at home. Thank you for listening.
November 7, 1992.
Presidential Radio Address George Herbert Walker Bush
THE PRESIDENT: Way back in 1945, Winston Churchill was defeated at the polls. He said, ``I have been given the Order of the Boot. That is the exact same position in which I find myself today.I admit, this is not the position I would have preferred, but it is a judgment I honor. Having known the sweet taste of popular favor, I can more readily accept the sour taste of defeat, because it is seasoned for me by my deep devotion to the political system under which this Nation has thrived for two centuries.I realize that defeat can be divisive. I want the Republican Party to be as constructive on the outside of executive power as it has been for 12 years on the inside. There must be no finger pointing, no playing the blame game. New ideas will flourish, and that is good. But as for what has passed, I can only say that it was my administration, my campaign. I captained the team, and I take full responsibility for the loss. No one else is responsible. I am responsible.I hope history will record the Bush administration has served America well. I am proud of my Cabinet and my staff. America has led the world through an age of global transition. We have made the world safer for our kids. And I believe the real fruits of our global victory are yet to be tasted.I'm also proud of my campaign team. They put together a tenacious, spirited effort in a difficult year. When you win, your errors are obscured; when you lose, your errors are magnified. I suspect history will take the edge off both interpretations. One thing I know for sure: My supporters should go out with their heads held high.One final thought. As I campaigned across this Nation, I had the opportunity to talk to many people. I felt the anxiety that accompanies a time of change, but I could also see every day, in ways large and small, the resiliency of the American spirit. Ours is a nation that has shed the blood of war and cried the tears of depression. We have stretched the limits of human imagination and seen the technologically miraculous become almost mundane. Always, always, our advantage has been our spirit, a constant confidence, a sense that in America the only things not yet accomplished are the things that have not yet been tried. President-elect Clinton needs all Americans to unite behind him so he can move our Nation forward. But more than that, he will need to draw upon this unique American spirit. There are no magic outside solutions to our problems. The real answers lie within us. We need more than a philosophy of entitlement. We need to all pitch in, lend a hand, and do our part to help forge a brighter future for this country. On January 20th, Barbara and I will head back to Texas. For us there will be no more elections, no more politics. But we will rededicate ourselves to serving others because, after all, that is the secret of this unique American spirit. With this spirit, we can realize the golden opportunities before us and make sure that our new day, like every American day, is filled with hope and promise. Thanks for listening. And God bless the United States of America.
