issues2000

George W. Bush on Families & Children


Tax cut plan helps single people as well as families

Q: What is one example of something in your plans that would improve opportunities for single adults past their college years?

A: There are a number of examples in my plans to improve opportunities for single adults, from my proposed health insurance credit to my proposal [for people to] invest a portion of their Social Security payroll taxes in personal retirement accounts. If I were to highlight just one example it would be the income tax relief that my plan provides to everyone. It improves the opportunities for all single adults who pay income taxes because they can take more of their paycheck home. An accounting firm examined five hypothetical single taxpayers. Every one of them got a tax cut under my plan. Four out of five got no tax relief under Al Gore’s plan. For example, a single person earning $40,000 a year pays $5,772 in federal taxes under current law and gets no income-tax relief under Gore’s plan. That same person would get a $496 income tax cut under my plan.

Source: Associated Press Nov 6, 2000

Internet filters, ratings, & parental monitorinf for kids

Q: How can we protect children from inappropriate entertainment?

BUSH: You bet there’s things the government can do. We can work with the entertainment industry. We can have filters on Internets where public money is spent. There ought to be filters in public libraries, and filters in public schools, so that if kids get on the Internet, there’s not going to be pornography or violence coming in. I think we ought to have character education in our schools.

I think we need to have rating systems that are clear. And I happen to like the idea of having technology for the TV, easy for parents to use, so you can tune out these programs that you don’t want in your house. I’m going to remind mothers and dads: The best weapon is the off-on button, and paying attention to your children and eating dinner with them.

Source: St. Louis debate Oct 17, 2000

Solution to Columbine: Love your neighbor like yourself

BUSH: [Gore] says we ought to have gun-free schools. Everybody believes that. I’m sure every state in the union’s got them. You can’t carry a gun into a school. And there ought to be a consequence when you do carry a gun into a school. But Columbine spoke to a larger issue and it’s really a matter of culture, it’s a culture that somewhere along the line we’ve begun to disrespect life. Where a child can walk in and have their heart turn dark as a result of being on the Internet and decide to take somebody else’s life. Gun laws are important, no question about it. But so is loving children and character education classes and faith-based programs being a part of afterschool programs. This society has got to do a better job of teaching children right from wrong. And we can enforce law, but there’s a larger law: Love your neighbor like you’d like to be loved yourself. And that’s where our society must head if we’re going to be a peaceful and prosperous society.
Source: Presidential Debate at Wake Forest University Oct 11, 2000

Paying taxes hurts family time for middle class

Bush argued that because tax payments take up such a large percentage of families’ incomes, it effectively forced people to work more and spend less time at home. “Many middle class families work three jobs: his, hers and the joint responsibility of raising children. High taxes rob families of time to be with each other, and be with their children.” He promised he would reduce taxes, making sure middle class Americans pay no more than 25 percent of their income to the federal government.
Source: Frank Bruni, NY Times Sep 18, 2000

Blueprint: Focus on community; adoption; fatherhood; safety

Source: Blueprint for the Middle Class Sep 17, 2000

Safety at school & home: Project Sentry & Project ChildSafe

Source: Blueprint for the Middle Class Sep 17, 2000

Teach our children the values that defeat violence

My administration will encourage after-school programs that build character, and support mentoring groups that shape and save young lives. We must give our children a spirit of moral courage, because their character is our destiny. Our schools must support the ideals of parents, elevating character and abstinence from afterthoughts to urgent goals. Most of all, we must teach our children the values that defeat violence.
Source: Speech to Republican National Convention Aug 3, 2000

Fathers’ registry will promote involvement, responsibility

Bush today promoted a 1997 Texas law creating a Paternity Registry. Fathers of out-of-wedlock children must sign the registry to maintain a legal claim of parenthood. “This is a way to encourage responsibility on behalf of dads on one hand, but on the other hand, if fathers refuse, for whatever reason, to be responsible, expedite adoptions. Every child deserves to grow up in a loving home with a father and a mother. Too often, however, fathers are absent from the lives of their children. We need to provide a vehicle for fathers to formalize paternity. Our child welfare system, working in partnership with states and citizens in communities throughout America, must do more to encourage fathers to care for their families or, failing that, to expedite adoption when that is the mother’s wish or the mandate of the state,“ Bush said.
Source: Ron Fournier in Washington Post Jul 17, 2000

$75M to support veterans to mentor youth

Bush will outline plans for a five-year, $75 million effort to place former members of the armed forces in contact with youngsters. “There can be no more important mission today than to connect young people with veterans who can pass on the qualities that have made their lives full and our democracy strong,” Bush said. His “Veterans Mission for Youth Initiative” would provide federal matching grants to community organizations that connect veterans & retired military personnel with the young.
Source: AP article in NY Times Jul 13, 2000

$2.3 billion over 5 years for adoption & child welfare

Announcing his agenda to “ensure that every child lives in a secure, permanent, and loving family,” Bush today unveiled reforms to improve child-welfare services and make adoption easier for families. The reform total $2.3 billion over 5 years. “The objectives of the federal-state child welfare system are safety, permanency, and healthy child development. Sadly, this system has failed. When children come out of the system facing troubled lives, lost opportunities, and shattered dreams - that is a tragedy. When the very system designed to help them has made them victims yet again - that is a crisis. And that is a call to action.“
Source: “Help for Families & Children”, part of “Renewing America” Jul 11, 2000

Use Florida courts for Elian, not middle-of-the-night raids

When Elian’s mother gave her life to bring her son to the land of the free, she could not have possibly dreamed that it would have come to this. Ours is a nation of laws, not guns. Custody disputes are resolved in the calm of a courtroom, not in the terror of middle-of-the-night raids. The Clinton-Gore administration says it was enforcing the law and had no alternative. But the law clearly gives the Attorney General the authority to have Elian’s custody determined by a Florida family court, a court that exists to protect the best interests of children. All sides have claimed to be acting in Elian’s best interests, but surely no one can argue that taking a young boy at gunpoint is in his best interests. The INS initially recommended that a Florida family court determine custody of Elian, and the administration should have followed that legal and responsible course. The moral authority of our law comes from the understanding it will be applied in a fair and measured way.
Source: Press Release Apr 22, 2000

Promote abstinence in schools and via churches

Source: GeorgeWBush.com: ‘Issues: Policy Points Overview’ Apr 2, 2000

Parental accountability is more important than trigger locks

Q: What about requiring trigger locks on guns?
A: I don’t mind trigger locks being sold. But the question is how do we enforce it. Are we going to have trigger lock police knocking on people’s doors saying show me your trigger lock? 80% of the guns sold today have trigger locks with them and I think that’s fine. I think there need to be laws that say that if a parent is irresponsible and a child ends up with a weapon, the parent ought to be held accountable.
Source: GOP debate in Los Angeles Mar 2, 2000

Leave no child behind, via improving schools & health care

Q. If you could tell Americans one thing they need to know about your commitment as President to acting on behalf of children, what would you tell them?
A. I have worked to strengthen families, improve public schools, and increase access to quality health care so no child is left behind.
Source: National Association of Children’s Hospitals survey Jan 8, 2000

More daycare funds; caseworkers; “Second Chance” homes

Source: GeorgeWBush.com/News/ “1999 Texas Legislative Record” Jun 25, 1999

Abstinence Ed should get funded as much as Sex Ed

Bush has long supported sexual abstinence for unmarried couples...announced that if he were elected president, the federal government would channel as much money into abstinence education as it spends on sex education. “The twin epidemics of teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease are a major problem for the future of America,” Bush said.
Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution Jun 22, 1999

Appropriate to draw a moral line for children

Some people think it’s inappropriate to draw a moral line. Not me. For our children to have the lives we want for them, they must learn to say yes to responsibility, yes to family, yes to honesty and work. What can be done? We can give schools and principals more authority to discipline children. We must encourage states to reform their juvenile justice laws. We must say to our children, “We love you, but discipline and love go hand in hand, and there will be bad consequences for bad behavior.”
Source: Candidacy Announcement speech, Cedar Rapids, Iowa Jun 12, 1999

V-chip OK, but cultural changes are better

On questions relating to the influence of popular culture, Bush said he had no problem with Clinton’s initiative to require a V-chip in televisions that parents could use to block objectionable material. He also said the kind of ‘tools’ for parents Clinton has proposed (such as the V-chip and a television rating system) are less important than cultural changes. “The fundamental question is going to be, can America rededicate itself to parenting as the No. 1 priority for all of us?” he argued.
Source: (cross-ref to Technology) L.A. Times May 1, 1999

Filter - or avoid - media that romanticizes violence

After the Littleton, Colorado, shootings, Bush blamed popular culture for ‘romanticizing violence.’ He said he favored parental filtering devices for television and the Internet, but said the best solution was simply not to watch violent shows.
Source: Reuters Apr 21, 1999

Enforce child protection and child support

Our youngest Texans need our help. Last year, 176 children were killed by abusive parents or caretakers. For every one who dies, countless others suffer in anonymity. This breaks my heart. I urge you to increase funding so our child protection agency can hire 380 new caseworkers to rescue children before they become a tragic statistic. The early years are critical ones, so I ask you to support the First Lady’s early childhood initiative and to give our Attorney General more tools to enforce child sup
Source: 1999 State of the State Address, Austin TX Jan 27, 1999

Teach kids right (abstinence) and wrong (drugs & gangs)

We must teach our children right from wrong. We live in a culture of moral indifference, where movies and videos glamorize violence and tolerance is touted as a great virtue. Respect for other ideas must not be confused with tolerance of actions that are harmful. There are right choices in life and wrong choices. We must teach our children to say no to drugs & alcohol, no to violence & gangs and yes to staying in school, yes to making healthy choices and yes to abstaining from sex until marriage.
Source: Powell Lecture Series, Texas A&M Univ. Apr 6, 1998

Other candidates on Families & Children: George W. Bush on other issues:
John Ashcroft
Pat Buchanan
George W. Bush
Dick Cheney
Bill Clinton
Hillary Clinton (D,NY)
Elizabeth Dole
Steve Forbes
Rudy Giuliani (R,NYC)
Al Gore
Alan Keyes
John McCain (R,AZ)
Ralph Nader
Ross Perot
Colin Powell
Jesse Ventura (I,MN)

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