NewsMax.com Wires
Tuesday, July 2, 2002

Bush flew to Ohio touting what the White House called his "compassionate conservatism" agenda before a mostly black audience at the historic downtown State Theater.

Bush delivered his address directed at issues important to blacks: housing, education and welfare reform. The president lost the majority of the black vote to Democrat candidate Al Gore in the last election.

"Our aim isn't to make government bigger by spending more money. Our aim isn't to focus on finance. Large or small, our aim must be to mean that when we spend money, we spend it on what works to create a better society. I call this compassionate conservatism," Bush said.

First on his agenda was school choice, a program that gained renewed attention last week after the Supreme Court upheld a program that provides poor families with a $2,550-a-child subsidy for a private school. The court held that the program is neutral toward religion.

Last year, Bush lost the fight with Democrats in Congress to include vouchers in his overhaul of the government education system. He has promoted his "No Child Left Behind" initiative as being a civil rights issue. Minority children have a right to a good education, and not having high expectations of them is discriminatory, he says.

"We're interested in aiming toward excellence for every child. And the voucher system is a part of the strategy to achieve that here in Cleveland," Bush said. He harkened back to the Supreme Court's 1954 Brown vs. Board of Education decision that mandated an equal education for all American children.

"Can't have two systems, one for African-Americans and one for whites. Last week, what's notable and important is that the court declared that our nation will not accept one education system for those who can afford to send their children to a school of their choice and for those who can't. And that's just as historic," Bush said.

Leftist groups such as National Urban League and the teachers union National Education Association have opposed school voucher programs, which they claim will hurt government schools – and teachers unions.

On housing, Bush said the government had to do a better job of encouraging homeownership among Americans. He estimated that more than 75 percent of white Americans owned their own home, compared to less than 50 percent of Hispanics and blacks.

"That's a gap. That's a homeownership gap. And we've got to do something about it," Bush said.

He pointed to downpayment costs and complicated contracts as barriers to homeownership for minority mortgage applicants. Bush said he wanted to see 5.5 million new minority homeowners by 2010.

Bush is asking Congress to approve $35 million for the Housing Counseling Assistance program and funding for the Section 8 homeownership program, which would allow local housing agencies flexibility in moving poor families into their own homes.

On welfare reform Bush urged the U.S. Senate to pass the reauthorization bill pending before the chamber. Bush proposed changes to the 1996 Personal Responsibility, Work and Family Protection Act, the landmark 1996 welfare reform law that ushered millions of people off taxpayer assistance and into jobs or work activities such as community service.

Bush wants to increase the 30-hour a week work requirement for recipients by 5 percent a year through 2007. Work, as defined in the new bill, would include at least 24 hours in a paid job or supervised community service, or 16 hours in a work activity such as caring for a disabled child.

The bill also mandates improved child care and provides up to $300 million a year for programs that promote marriage and households with two married parents. And it authorizes a $20 million grant to support and promote responsible fatherhood.

The U.S. House of Representatives passed its version of the bill in May.

Copyright 2002 by United Press International.

All rights reserved.

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Bush Administration

George W. Bush

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