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Home , Barbara Bush, Kay Bailey Hutchison

May 30 / Administration of George , 1992

Note: The President spoke at 12:28 p.m. at directors of the Miracles in the Sky Air the Madera Municipal Airport. In his re- Show. A tape was not available for verifica- marks, he referred to Lonnie English and tion of the content of these remarks. his wife, Heidi, members of the board of

Letter to Congressional Leaders on the National Emergency With Respect to Yugoslavia May 30, 1992

Dear Mr. Speaker: (Dear Mr. President:) sponse to the actions and policies of the Pursuant to section 204(b) of the Inter- Governments of Serbia and Montenegro, national Emergency Economic Powers Act, acting under the name of the Socialist Fed- 50 U.S.C. 1703(b), and section 301 of the eral Republic of Yugoslavia or the Federal National Emergencies Act, 50 U.S.C. 1631, Republic of Yugoslavia, in their involvement I hereby report that I have exercised my in and support for groups attempting to statutory authority in order to declare a na- seize territory in Croatia and Bosnia- tional emergency to respond to the threat Hercegovina by force and violence utilizing, to the national security created by the ac- in part, the forces of the so-called Yugoslav tions and policies of the Governments of National Army. The grave events in Serbia Serbia and Montenegro, acting under the and Montenegro constitute an unusual and name of the Socialist Federal Republic of extraordinary threat to the national security, Yugoslavia or the Federal Republic of Yugo- foreign policy, and economy of the United slavia, and to issue an Executive order that States. The measures that I have taken blocks all property including bank deposits today express our outrage at the actions of of the Governments of Serbia and Montene- the Serbian and Montenegrin Governments gro, as well as property in the name of the and will prevent those governments from Government of the Socialist Federal Repub- drawing on monies and properties within lic of Yugoslavia or the Government of the U.S. control. Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, in the Sincerely, United States or in the control of U.S. per- sons including their overseas branches. The Secretary of the Treasury is author- ized to issue regulations implementing these Note: Identical letters were sent to Thomas prohibitions. S. Foley, Speaker of the House of Represent- I am enclosing a copy of the Executive atives, and , President of the order that I have issued. Senate. The Executive order is listed in Ap- I have authorized these measures in re- pendix E at the end of this volume.

Remarks at a Victory ’92 Fundraising Dinner in , Texas May 30, 1992

Thank you for that wonderfully warm in- him in action up there, I am absolutely con- troduction, Senator, and I am just delighted vinced that with his leadership now of this to be at your side. I won’t rave about Phil Senate campaign committee which is taking Gramm; we know what kind of Senator we him all across the country, and then given have. But as I listen to him on the floor what I’m about to tell you how I see this of the Senate from time to time, as I see country moving, I really believe with his

868 Administration of George Bush, 1992 / May 30 leadership we have an opportunity to get about it in all this gloom-and-doom tele- control back of the vision we’re getting in this country, not one. and to move this country forward. And he’s There have been significant changes. An- doing a superb job for our State. cient enemies are talking to each other in Dr. Criswell, it is very nice to see you the Middle East, something that nobody again, sir. Last time I saw him was in his dreamed could happen. Democracy’s on the own church, and it was a moving experience move south of the border. Almost every sin- for me. I am delighted that he is with us gle country where there used to be military tonight. When you want to get somebody dictatorships, there are democratic regimes. that knows how to sing ‘‘The Star-Spangled South Africa’s on the move; the states of Banner,’’ sign up an Aggie. And Fred the former Soviet Union, struggling to be- McClure did it once again. As you may come democratic; Eastern Europe, free; the know, Fred was one of the top people in Baltics, free. So there’s a great deal of grati- the , running all of our rela- tionship with Congress, and did a superb tude that I have in my heart for the changes job there. And now he’s back here in busi- that are taking place in the world. It is only ness in Dallas. I want to thank the the United States of America that can lead Rangerettes from Kilgore for their dance and effect this change. And I am going to performance. I want to thank Rob remain involved in bringing about more Mosbacher who’s heading this program, Vic- change for peace for the whole world. tory ’92; and of course, Dan Cooke who’s Now, I hear the revisionists talking about just done a superb job on this dinner. A Kuwait. If I’d have listened, as Phil said, great success, and thank you to both of you. to some of the critics on the Democratic Then my State chairman for the Bush- Party up there, Saddam Hussein would be Quayle campaign, Jim Oberwetter. He’s be- sitting in Saudi Arabia, and we’d be paying ginning to peak a little early. He’s out on $10 a gallon for gasoline. And that’s the that television all the time, but he’s saying fact. We ought not to let somebody revise smart and sensible things. It saves me from history because they were wrong on the doing something that I look forward to Persian . doing, but I’m not going to do it now, and So we’ve changed the world with a lot that is get after these opponents. But I’m of help. I salute my predecessor that I met going to wait a little bit, and I’ll tell you with yesterday, , a steadfast why in a minute. I’m grateful to Jim. I’m contribution—‘‘that wall will come down,’’ grateful to Barbara Patton, our cochairman; and thank God, it did. So we’ve got a lot she’s here from . And of course, to be grateful for. We have helped change to salute , an old the world. friend; , our commissioner; and Here’s now what we’re doing to help then our State chairman, Fred Meyer, who change this country. Phil touched on some continues to do a great, great job. So welcome to all, and thank you for of it. We have a strong domestic agenda. being here. Phil put it right: These are not It is significant, and it is in keeping with easy times. They’re not easy. But in my the principles that unite everybody here to- view, we have a great deal to be grateful night: empowerment, government close to for as a Nation. Phil touched on some of the people, trying to hold the rein on the it. When you look at big things having hap- ever-increasing Federal Government, and pened, take a look around the world, the getting the action right back where it be- very fact that these little kids here, sitting longs, right here in the towns and cities over here, go to bed at night and do not around Dallas, Texas. have the fear of nuclear war that kids a We’re working hard for free trade. Some generation before, is something significant. want us to retreat and pull back. Agricultural And we helped bring that about. I happen trade with Mexico is 3 times higher than it to think that a foremost responsibility of any was just a few years ago, and we haven’t even President is the national security of this gotten the free trade agreement. I am going country. You don’t read one single word to continue to work for a job-creating

869 May 30 / Administration of George Bush, 1992 free trade agreement with Mexico and a not just the chosen schools, but because of successful conclusion of the Uruguay round the old American theory of competition, it’s to the GATT. You watch, when we get that benefited those that weren’t chosen. They done, a level playing field, the creation of get their act together. So school choice and American jobs in this country. We’re not America 2000 is a positive program. But we pulling back. We’re the United States. have got to get more people elected to the We’re moving forward. Congress that don’t want to do it the old- I would hate to take my case to the peo- fashioned way. ple in the fall that the only way I could Legal reform: Phil and I have been trying win is if everything was bad, capitalizing on for at least 3 years to reform the legal sys- the gloom and doom and on the dreariness tem. The bottom line is simply this: We of the recession and of the slow growth that sue each other too much and care for each we’ve been in for the last couple of years. other too little. We’re trying to change that. It has been bad. Families have been hurt, The political opposition—and don’t take my and they’ve been hurt bad. But this econ- word for it, ask Phil—the political opposi- omy is beginning to move, and each inch tion is so afraid to offend a powerful lobby of the way it starts up, the Democratic Party they won’t even let our liability reform pro- is panicking, because the only way they can posals or malpractice reform proposals be win is if things are going to hell in this voted on. We’ve got to change the Congress country. I wouldn’t want that. I think we’re and get people there who will do what the much more positive than that, and the econ- people want done. omy is moving. As it begins to go forward I am worried about these deficits and we have good answers. leaving these kids with a greater legacy of We need health care reform. We need debt, and we’ve tried to do something about to keep the quality of health care we’ve got, it. I’ll give you a four-point program if you and we have to make health insurance— want one, and I’ll be proud to take this give it access to all, rich and poor alike have one to the American people this fall: a chance to have insurance. But what we don’t need to do is put a socialized medi- One, you’ve got to cap the growth of cine or a nationalized medicine program in mandatory spending, all these programs that that will diminish the quality of the health a President never gets a shot at, that are care in this country. We have a good plan just locked into the law. You can permit to take to the American people, and they’ll them to grow; they can grow at the rate see it loud and clear in the fall. It will be of inflation plus population, and then that’s there. it. And that in itself will have billions, lit- Education: As I look at what we need erally $2 trillion of savings over the next to give those kids a break and to be com- 5 or 10 years. We’ve got to do that. petitive in the world, it gets right back to The second point is we’ve got to pass my passion for a change in education. We’ve some of the things that we’ve got up in got a good program. We’ve sent it to the the Congress for stimulating economic , and what did they growth. The biggest one is a reduction in do? They threw out this whole innovative the capital gains tax. It will encourage entre- approach that we call America 2000 and preneurship. simply added more of your taxpayers’ The third one is an idea that the Texas money to the programs that have failed. I Republican Party and many in this room want to take this case for education reform have been in the forefront for for many, to the American people in the fall, and I’m many years, but I believe its time has come, confident we have a winner. We are right unless it gets blocked by the leadership, the to fundamentally reform education in this Democratic Party in the House and Senate country. who are now nervously conniving to find I might say I strongly favor parental out how to block it. I’m talking about a choice in schools. It works at the college balanced budget amendment to the Con- level, and it can work at the lower school stitution that will discipline the executive levels. Where it’s been tried, it’s benefited branch and discipline the Congress. The

870 Administration of George Bush, 1992 / May 30 votes are there. It obviously has to be is the time to go soft on those who commit phased in, but it can work. And I’ll be glad crime. We need a tough crime bill, and we to make the tough decisions that go with need this ‘‘Weed and Seed’’ program. it. I was amazed out there in California, lis- Then the fourth point: Give me what 43 tening to some of the television commer- Governors have now—and this one, the case cials for the people running now out there I’m taking to the American people—you in their primaries or running for the United give me that line-item veto that 43 Gov- States Senate, Democrats who come back ernors have, and let’s see what we can do. to Washington and vote against our tough We’re talking about change—people in crime bill, out there on those 30-second the cities, horribly brought to our attention spots: ‘‘I’m going to be tough on law and because of what happened in Los Angeles. order.’’ We have a good crime bill up there. And we moved immediately and forcefully It’s tougher on the criminals, and it’s kinder because I didn’t have to ask the Congress to the victims of crime. And it has been what to do. We mobilized SBA and FEMA frustrated. As Phil said, he said 1,079 days; and Agriculture Department and HHS and it seems like 3 million years. But we’re all. We put in seven central locations in the going to keep fighting until we can get done areas, in South Central, the burned areas. what our police officers deserve and what We brought what we could without having the neighborhoods of this country are crying one piece of legislation, the Federal Gov- out for. ernment to help these people. I was there Welfare reform: You’ve got to be careful yesterday and saw it, and it was very, very on that, because some say you’re playing moving. a race card. Who gets hurt the most by Now, I’ve said to the Congress, and again, a system that’s failed? Those who can afford Phil is in the lead on this, ‘‘We want to it the least, and I want to reform the wel- do something better now. These programs fare system. A little girl saved about $1,200, haven’t worked. We want people to have jobs with dignity.’’ The time has come, and and they came to her and said, ‘‘Well, you I heard this in the Boys Clubs, I heard it can’t do that. Your mother’s on welfare, and in the churches in South Central, the time the law says you can’t accumulate over has come to pass enterprise zones to draw $1,000.’’ We’ve got to change it. We’ve got the businesses like a magnet into the inner to structure it so it does not discriminate city through getting rid of the capital gains against saving but encourages the saving and tax in those green-lined areas. encourages work and encourages learning. Let me tell you this: The Mayor of Los We are going to reform that welfare system. Angeles wants it. The council of Los Ange- If I can’t get it done before the fall, I’m les wants it. The Congressmen give a lot taking that case to the American people, of lip service to it. Peter Ueberroth tells loud and clear. me that it will make his job a lot easier Homeownership: Isn’t it far better to have as he’s trying to bring businesses in there. a Federal program that encourages owning And yet, it’s hung up because some of the homes than going into these tenements that leadership is afraid to give the President or strip you of your dignity? Of course it is. to give the Republicans in Congress a vic- We’ve got a good program for that, and I’m tory. I want to get that clearly in focus for hoping we can get that through the Con- the American people. This isn’t time just gress, Job Training 2000, a forward-looking to have some broad, general thesis; this is job training program. something that will really help. We’ve got Now, there are six incentives that would to get it done. We may have a chance, still, help the cities immediately. Dallas would to get that passed—I hope we will, Phil— be a beneficiary as well as Los Angeles or in the next few weeks. Houston or wherever else it might be. We’ve got other programs that I think will Now, on those six points I’ve asked the help. We’ve got a good one for crime: Congress to put partisanship aside. I said, ‘‘Weed and Seed,’’ it’s called; weed out the ‘‘Look, the American people really want criminals, because I don’t believe that this something done.’’ It’s not just the cities, as a

871 May 30 / Administration of George Bush, 1992 matter of fact. I think the whole country That’s changing. Things are beginning to wants something done. If you look at the move. We are not a pessimistic Nation. We core of these proposals, there are themes are a rising Nation, and we are full of prom- that all of us can agree on, once again: Re- ise for the future. I have vowed, as we try sponsibility, opportunity, ownership, inde- to get something done with Congress before pendence, dignity, empowerment. These the shift goes entirely into politics in this are not partisan values. They are fundamen- every-4-year dance that we’re all engaged tal American values, and we have a duty to in, that I will not attack any single oppo- make them real. nent. I haven’t done it since it started. Five Now, so far I’ve talked about what the people in the Democratic side, one on the Government can do. But as I finish here, Republican side, bolstered by the press that let me just say the more I am in this won- love a good fight. I am not going to do derfully challenging job—and again, I’m it. I am going to concentrate on trying to very grateful to the people around this room lead this country. I’m going to concentrate because I see many, many that go back to on trying to build and get something done. my earliest days in Texas politics—but the But I want each and every one of you longer I am in this job, the more convinced to know that I am ready for the battle that I am that Government alone simply cannot lies ahead. I have never felt more confident solve these problems. It can’t be done. of a victory, and I have never felt more You might say, ‘‘What keeps a kid in fired up about taking our sound message school? What keeps a kid away from drugs? of values and opportunity to the American What keeps a kid out of the gangs?’’ It’s people in the fall. not Government. It is family. So let all these other balloons go up. Let said it right: What happens in your house everybody else have their day in the sun. is far more important than what happens Our day is going to prevail because we are in the White House. We have got to find right on the issues, because we are compas- ways to strengthen the American family, and sionate and caring about the American peo- we must find ways to see that not one piece ple, and because our fundamental values, of legislation passes that diminishes the our fundamental values of faith and family American family. is what this country is all about. I’ve been in politics a long, long time. Thank you all for what you’re doing, and I computed it the other day. Half of my may God bless the United States of Amer- adult life since I got out of the Navy and ica. Thank you. went to school and then moved out to Odessa in the spring of 1948, half of my adult life has been in public life, and exactly Note: The President spoke at 7:37 p.m. at half has been in the private sector. We have the Grand Kempinski Hotel. In his remarks, been blessed, both Barbara and I have been he referred to Dr. W.A. Criswell, pastor, blessed, by the challenges and the joy that First Baptist Church of Dallas; Fred we’ve had in all kinds of fascinating assign- McClure, managing director, First South- ments. west Co.; Robert A. Mosbacher, Jr., chair- The more I think of our country, I’d say man, Texas Victory ’92; Kay Bailey this: We have been through tough times. Hutchison, ; and Rick The country’s been through tough times. Perry, Texas commissioner of agriculture.

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