The Washington Post
Tuesday, April 11, 2000

Following is the prepared text of Texas Gov. George W. Bush's speech today in Cleveland, Ohio, on his proposed healthcare package.

Governor Taft, Elving Otero - thank you both. It is good to be with you at the West Side Ecumenical Ministry, a moral and social leader in this community. One of the great privileges of running for president is the chance to visit groups like yours, seeing just how much good that people can do for one another with commitment and compassion and vision.

I have just come from another group here in Cleveland called El Barrio, where I had a chance to visit with its leader, Dr. Nelson Bardecio. Like you, El Barrio helps people in need - with occupational training, job placement, and after-school tutoring. And, like you, their calling is to spread not only the gifts of charity but the blessings of opportunity - helping people to make their own way in the world and to use their own gifts.

And that is the same message that brings me here.

To share with you my own vision of how - in every city, and every barrio, and all across our country - we can make opportunity not only a hope and a promise, but a living reality.

One hundred years ago, Booker T. Washington - born a slave, founder of the Tuskegee Institute, evangelist for an integrated America - was given an honorary degree by Harvard University. It was a recognition of his many accomplishments. A symbol of racial inclusion.

Yet Washington urged Harvard and a listening America to confront a great challenge. "The mansions on Beacon Street," he said, must "feel and see the need of the spirits in the lowliest cabin in the Alabama cotton fields [and the] Louisiana sugar bottoms." Each of these worlds, he explained, can give strength and vitality to the other. Both of these worlds must become one nation.

A century of achievement later, the challenge still echoes. Ours is an age of unmeasured prosperity.

Despite corrections and setbacks, the stock market continues its rise, and more Americans than ever own a share in its success. From the millionaire next door to the increasing affluence of the middle class, America is wealthier than it has ever been.

Yet, in this plenty, there is need. At the edges of affluent communities, there are those living in prosperity's shadow. The same economy that is a miracle for millions of Americans is a mystery for millions as well.

Americans who live in a world above welfare's assistance, but beneath prosperity's promise.

From the beginning of this campaign, I have said that prosperity must have a purpose. That our nation must close the gap of hope. Today, I want to expand on that agenda.

Our newspapers and television programs praise and profile the winners in our high-tech economy. But we must never become a winner-take-all society.

Our economy must also honor and reward the hard work of factory and field, of waiting tables and driving cabs - not just enterprise, but sheer effort, not just technology, but toil.

As president, I will be committed to the advancement of all Americans - including those who struggle.

Who are these Americans? There are at least three groups. Many are just beginning a life of work, liberated from dependence on welfare.

Four years ago, we replaced a system of cash benefits with work requirements and time limits. Across America, we have seen a 40 percent decline in welfare cases -- 54 percent in my state of Texas. And most who have left welfare are now working.

But those who have left welfare's grasp can still feel welfare's pull. Progress can come slow, and not without courage. The courage of long hours and small tips and big responsibilities - the hard journey to self-sufficiency.

One woman off welfare put it this way: "It's good to be working, but you're steady crawling."

The end of welfare should be the beginning of opportunity. We want entry-level jobs to lead to real economic progress. Welfare reform should not be the survival of the fittest. It should be the path to a better life.

Still others on the fringes of our prosperity are new Americans, who have come to this country with the same dreams as our ancestors.

I am the governor of a state with many immigrants. I see the challenges: language barriers, lack of education and housing. All the problems of a young workforce. Yet I also see the vitality, energy and determination of men and women for whom America is not just a country, but a promise. I see a powerful ethic of work and faith and family.

At one time, we called this the Puritan work ethic. Or the Protestant ethic. Now, we are finding it is the Asian ethic. The Hispanic ethic. The African ethic.

It is, in fact, the American ethic. And if we welcome these new Americans - into our economy and into our hearts - we will be enriched by their gifts.

And finally there are many struggling Americans who have never been on welfare and never seen an immigration line. On the outskirts of both poverty and prosperity, they live paycheck to paycheck. With little savings. No health insurance. They are found in rural areas, small towns and big cities. Their finances are fragile.

A job is lost, a husband leaves, and they are weeks from poverty.

In all these cases, it should be our goal to help those who are getting by to get ahead. We want them to build, for themselves. We want them to build the confidence of a middle class life - a margin of savings and skills. A margin of economic safety, that allows Americans to turn from daily struggle to greater goals.

The success of America has never been judged by the sum of its wealth.

America has been successful because it offers a realistic shot at a better life. America has been successful because poverty has been a stage, not a fate. America has been successful because anyone can ascend the ladder and transcend their birth.

Never in history has there been a nation with such a close connection between dreams and reality. The worker who in Europe had faced the bolted door of class found in America a door that opened wide onto an entire continent of opportunity.

And it is true today. The Los Angeles Times tells the story of the Mendoza family, Americans from Honduras. The husband drives for a courier service, the wife works as a caregiver, and they struggle on $27,000 a year. But once a month, they make a point of taking their two girls out to dinner. "The girls need to know how to behave, what to order in a nice restaurant," says their mother. "Someday they are going to have that in their lives."

The Mendozas take their girls to tutoring, and save for education. As Mrs. Mendoza says: "My girls will go to college."

This amazing certainty, this durable faith, is the silent strength of our country. And it must not be lost. This promised land must keep its promises.

Clearly there are some in our society who can't help themselves - the hardest core of need. People with severe mental and physical handicaps. People with no bootstraps to pull. These Americans require a safety net of care. Our nation should provide that safety net - and actively encourage charities and parishes and synagogues to add their support.

For the rest, we must have a "society of free work, of enterprise, of participation." Those are the words of Pope John Paul II. They are the substance of the American dream.

This requires a healthy economy - rapid, non-inflationary economic growth. Such growth is not inevitable.

For our prosperity to continue, it must be actively expanded. And I have proposed a plan to do so. Less regulation. Less litigation. Lower taxes. Policies to create good, new jobs - to sustain our prosperity, and expand it.

But our prosperity is not enough. It is true that government can undermine upward mobility - as welfare once did. It is equally true that government -- active but limited government - can promote the rewards of work. It can take the side of individual opportunity.

This is a higher and older tradition of my party. Abraham Lincoln argued that "every poor man should have a chance." He defended a "clear path for all." He financed colleges, welcomed immigrants, promoted railroads and economic development.

And, through the Homestead Act, he gave countless Americans a piece of land and a start in life. "Never in human history, before or since," says historian Paul Johnson, "has authority gone to such lengths to help the common people."

It is time for a New Prosperity Initiative that reflects the spirit of Lincoln's reforms. A plan to help remove obstacles on the road to the middle class. A plan to clear a path for all. Instead of helping people cope with their need, we will help them to move beyond it. With the same energy and activism that others have brought to expanding government, we must expand opportunity.

My New Prosperity Initiative begins with education - the constant focus of my campaign.

I have an agenda that brings high standards to low income schools. An agenda that says to failing schools: We will help you improve. But we will also require you to improve - to show results for the federal money. We will no longer ignore or excuse your failure. The stakes are too high. Jobs in America increasingly require reading and problem solving and computing. The quality of education is closely related to the quality of our jobs and the quality of our lives. So we must make all our schools into "engines of mobility."

Today I want to focus on four other areas - in addition to education. Four keys to upward mobility. We must increase the rewards of hard work. We must increase access to affordable health care. We must expand homeownership. And we must encourage savings and personal wealth.

First, we must change an oppressive tax system that punishes workers on the lowest rung of the economic ladder.

Picture a single mother with two children, working full-time, juggling all the responsibilities of home and work, and making $22,000 a year. Now picture a young corporate lawyer making ten times that much - $220,000 a year. Under the current tax code, that single mom actually pays a higher marginal tax rate than the lawyer does. In other words, just as she moves up and starts making more money, the federal government takes away nearly half of every dollar she earns through overtime and pay raises.

She is punished for working her hardest hours. This is unfair. It is unjust. And it must be ended.

Under my tax relief plan, she won't be paying that higher rate. In fact, she won't pay any federal income tax at all, and neither will six million other low income families. By reducing rates and doubling the child credit, my plan takes down the tollbooth to the middle class.

Our tax code, in the end, will be more progressive.

Today, the wealthiest taxpayers - those earning more than $100,000 - account for 62 percent of total income taxes paid. Under my plan, this will increase to 64 percent. For all other income groups, their share of the tax burden will fall.

In this year, you can expect to hear charges and countercharges and attacks. But on taxes, I hope you'll remember this basic fact. Under today's tax code, a single-parent family of three starts paying federal income taxes at about $21,000 in income.

Under my plan, federal taxes for that family don't begin until $31,000. It used to be that my critics were against tax cuts for the rich. Now they're also against tax cuts for the poor. I welcome the debate.

Second, America must set a goal-- a goal worthy of our nation. Every low income, working family in America must have access to basic health insurance - for themselves and for their children.

Of all the bills we pay in life, medical costs are the most unpredictable, and can be the most expensive. For a family without health insurance, a single doctor bill can be a financial disaster.

I believe we can help these Americans.

We can start by making a basic health plan more affordable. As president, I will propose a Family Health Credit. This credit will pay for 90 percent of the cost of an insurance policy, up to $2,000 a year, for every family making less than $30,000.

Every family will be eligible that is not already covered by government programs or an employer plan.

This Family Health Credit will help to buy a basic policy. In most places in America, that means visits to a doctor, discounted prescriptions, and hospitalization. The basics, but enough to ensure against sudden poverty. And a lot more peace of mind.

We will also increase the number of good, lower-cost plans available to workers.

Small businesses should be allowed to buy insurance from a trade association, giving them the same purchasing power as a large company, and bringing down the cost. This means that a family restaurant, or a local hardware store, can insure their workers through, say, the National Restaurant Association, or the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

We will not nationalize our health care system. We will promote individual choice. We will rely on private insurance. But make no mistake: In my administration, low income Americans will have access to high quality health care.

Third, in the spirit of the Homestead Act, we will help many Americans to buy their first home. Just as Lincoln gave immigrants fresh from Europe a piece of land, we will help Americans to own a part of the American Dream.

Everyone who owns a home can remember that first day when the loan was approved, the check cleared and they stepped foot into their very own house.

It's different from renting. Suddenly you belong somewhere. Just like that, you're not just visitors to the community anymore but part of it - with a stake in the neighborhood and a concern for its future.

Looking at today's construction boom, it's easy to forget that many Americans are still waiting for this experience. The homeownership rate among whites in America is 73 percent. Among African-Americans and Hispanics, it is 47 percent.

Right now the government offers help to low-income families, but mainly in the rental market. Through what's known as the Section 8 program, the federal government makes up the difference between fair-market rents and what a given family is able to pay.

This is a good aim, as far as it goes - but we should extend it further. Instead of receiving monthly voucher payments to help with the rent, I propose a path to ownership.

Under my plan, low-income families can use up to a year's worth of rental payments to make a down payment on their own house. And for five years after that, as they pay their mortgage and build equity, they can still receive housing support, just as they would if they were still renting.

It makes a lot more sense to help people buy homes than to subsidize rental payments forever. They are not only gaining property but independence and the sense of belonging that ownership brings.

For the millions of low income families not enrolled in Section 8, we will create a new program - called the "American Dream Down Payment Fund." When a low income family is qualified to buy a house but comes up short on the down payment, we will help them. If they and the bank can come up with 25 percent of the down payment, the government will pay the rest, up to $1,500. This simple reform could help over 650,000 families in five years purchase homes.

I believe in private property. I believe in private property so strongly, and so firmly, I want everyone to have some.

In the same way, we can help people to build other assets, starting literally with money in the bank. The fourth key to upward mobility.

Those in the lowest 20 percent of income usually have savings of less than $1,000. Many coming off welfare have never had a personal bank account. But money in the bank builds confidence. It makes us agents of our own destiny.

Many people who are now successful can remember how hard it was to save - but how important it was to start. And we can help many Americans make that start. As president, I will propose Individual Development Accounts. If a low-income person is able to save up to three hundred dollars, we will encourage banks, with a federal tax credit, to match that amount. The money can then be withdrawn tax free to pay for education, to help start a business or buy a home. This proposal should result in over a million new savings accounts.

For decades, our government tried to fight poverty by redistributing income, often leaving a legacy of dependence. The great promise of our time is to fight poverty by building the wealth of the poor. A home to anchor their family. A bank account to create confidence. And, I believe, a personal Social Security account, which would give millions of low income Americans, not just a check, but an asset to own, a stake in our prosperity.

This account would not only better their lives, but could be passed to their children and grandchildren, giving them a better start in life. These are the tools of freedom and independence. And they should not belong to the prosperous alone.

In a depression, economic justice is a thundering demand. In good times, it is often a still, small voice. But we must listen. We must listen to a voice that says, "To whom much is given, much is required."

We must listen to a voice that says, "Let not the needy be forgotten, nor the hope of the poor be taken away."

In our society, it is easy to be secluded in success, in gated communities and separate schools. Yet our growing nation must not be allowed to grow apart. Since Lincoln, our national task has been to build a single nation - to cross boundaries of class and race and region. We have accepted a moral obligation to bring every American into the mainstream of opportunity. Because no one is a stranger. Because everyone is a neighbor and a citizen and a child of God.

I am reminded of Teddy Roosevelt's words: "For well or for woe we are knit together, and we shall go up or down together; and I believe that we shall go up and not down, that we shall go forward instead of halting and falling back, because I have an abiding faith in the generosity, the courage, the resolution and the common sense of all my countrymen."

It will be said of our times that we were prosperous.

But let it also be said of us that we used our wealth wisely. We invested our prosperity with purpose. We opened the gates of opportunity. And all were welcomed into the full promise of American life.

Thank you.

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