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21st century, and will allow us to enhance our competitiveness in the global arena.

Enthusiastic and confident, the small business community is the cornerstone of America's economy-and it is an inspiration to people around the world.

Now, Therefore, I, George Bush, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim the week of May 7 through May 13, 1989, as Small Business Week, and I call on every American to join me in this very special tribute.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this eighth day of May, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and eightynine, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirteenth.

George Bush

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 4:37 p.m., May 8, 1989]

Remarks at the Presentation Ceremony
for the Small Business Persons of the
Year Awards
May 8, 1989

To the Members of Congress here and all the distinguished guests, first let me welcome Susan Engeleiter, the Administrator of SBA [Small Business Administration], as well as all the State small business people and their families who came here today. I've participated in these ceremonies before, and I'm especially pleased and honored to present these awards today.

As you probably know, I, long ago, was at small businessman myself, and I think, therefore I know some of the worries that you share the what-ifs when you're the one in charge. And I know how it feels to start something from scratch, work with it day and night, and hopefully see it succeed. Success goes to those who work hard, refuse to give up, and learn from their mistakes. And there's a saying: If I had my life to live again, I'd make the same mistakes, only sooner. [Laughter] I think small businessmen and women can understand those

words. You don't have to sell me on the value of small business.

The work you do is vital to this nation's economic well-being. And I brought along some statistics to back that up. Small businesses employ more than half of America's private sector work force. Small businesses account for over a third of our gross national product. And I've saved the best statistics for last. During the past decade, small businesses have created two out of every three new jobs in our economy. And for me, that's the bottom line. Small business is on the business end of growth and at the cutting edge of the economic expansion that's 77 months old and still going strong.

Let me take a moment right here to mention an issue that should be on the top of the list for all small business people: the question of child care. As you know so well, you're more likely to find small business owners sitting around a kitchen table than in a big corporate boardroom someplace. A small business is less a corporation than a family. And like a family, people engaged in a small business enterprise share common aims, a common outlook, and certainly have common interests. And that's the perfect workplace environment for innovative approaches to meet the concerns and needs of employees. I urge America's small businesses to take the lead in developing creative solutions in child care. I think, for example, of pioneers like Gerald Tsai, Jr., or Jenlane Gee and others who we honored out there today, Asians who have a strong bearing and support in their families for child care. I will do nothing as President of the United States, absolutely nothing, that weakens our family structure. And I encourage small businesses to do everything they can to strengthen the family structure by getting together in a cooperative fashion.

My child care tax credit program is going to benefit small businesses, I believe. I do not believe in these mandated government benefits. I think it has to be decided by the Federal Government, making as flexible as possible, the use of child care tax credits. So, I wanted to take this opportunity, a little off the beaten path, you might say, of honoring these honorees today. But it is very, very important that all of you who are out there trying to produce at competitive

rates, competitive ways, help as best you can. You know the value of freedom and flexibility. And so, I just want to see us work together to preserve that freedom in child care and in other issues that affect the way we live and work.

A moment ago, I cited some statistics on the large impact of small business in the American economy. Ceremonies like this one are important because they honor the individuals behind the statistics-the small business people who conceive the idea, take the chance, and make it work. So, today we recognize the best that small business has to offer. And I want to turn now to the awards. This year there is no fourth place finisher. Instead, we have a tie for third place. And I'll start with Chad Olson of Utah. Chad produces a highly successful line of professional and collegiate sports merchandise. He's marketed franchises in 40 States already. And I understand he's got his eye on all 50. He's got international ambitions as well, with franchise plans for Canada and U.S. military bases overseas. Now, do we do this right now? All right. Chad? Well done. And sharing this third place award with Chad is Carolyn Stradley of Georgia. She started out as a bookkeeper for a paving company and left that company to do what many here have done: start out on her own. She used a loan from her brother to buy her truck, built her business by taking the small jobs that no one else thought worthwhile; and today she's a success, and equally important, an inspiration to businesswomen everywhere. And so, congratulations to you.

The winner of this year's second place award comes from Kansas, Richard Barlow. Dick is well known to gourmet cookie makers as the manufacturer of REMA insulated bakeware. He started his business with a family friend just 6 years ago selling these cookie sheets in Oklahoma-in Kansas. And today REMA bakeware is sold in all 50 States and Japan. And so, congratulations to you, Richard. Well done.

And now the 1989 winner, this year's Small Business Person of the Year, Tad Bretting of Wisconsin. I wondered why Senator Kasten was over here. [Laughter] Tad's got business in his blood. His family has been in the machinery business for three generations-almost 100 years. He joined

the family business in 1958. And those 30 years have seen the Bretting Company grow and prosper from 11 employees back in 1958 to 260 today, from $120,000 in sales each year to $30 million. And today his company is the world's leading producer of high tech custom designed machinery for making paper products. And the secret of Tad's success is the one small business people know so well: It all comes down to taking good care of customers. And so, congratulations to you, Tad.

So, there you have our four winners. This room, though, is full of success stories today. It's in this nation's small businesses that the American spirit, entrepreneurial spirit, takes root and grows. And so, our nation needs you your drive, your dynamism, your creativity, and your can-do attitude. Congratulations to all of you, and especially to you winners with us here today. Thank you all very much.

Note: The President spoke at 1:40 p.m. in the East Room at the White House. In his remarks, he referred to Gerald Tsai, Jr., member of the board of directors of Primerica, and Jenlane Gee, California Teacher of the Year, 1988.

Message to the Congress Transmitting the District of Columbia Budget and Supplemental Appropriations Request May 9, 1989

To the Congress of the United States:

In accordance with the District of Columbia Self-Government and Governmental Reorganization Act, I am transmitting the District of Columbia Government's FY 1990 Budget and FY 1989 Budget supplemental.

The District's General Fund 1990 operating budget request is $3,071 million. Total Federal payments anticipated in the District's budget are $498 million. The District's FY 1989 budget supplemental contains $106 million in cost increases and $79 million in budget authority rescissions, for a net increase of $27 million. This transmittal does not affect the Federal budget.

There are four District budget issues to which I would direct your attention. First, I

would encourage you to continue the abortion funding policy that the Congress established in the District's 1989 appropriations bill that prohibits the use of both Federal and local funds for abortions.

Second, the 1990 Budget reproposes an initiative that would require the District of Columbia to charge Federal establishments directly for water and sewer services. The lump-sum appropriation provided in recent years to the District for water and sewer services in Federal buildings increases the deficit unnecessarily because Federal agencies' budgets already contain funds to pay these costs. I urge the Congress to enact this needed reform. Direct billing also reduces appropriated Federal payments for nongovernmental entities, such as the American Red Cross and the Pan American Union, as well as for entities outside the appropriations process such as the Postal Service and the Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation. It would encourage Federal agencies to assure the accuracy of bills received and to pursue conservation policies.

Third, I request reinstatement of Presidential apportionment authority over the Federal payment to the District of Columbia. Directing immediate disbursement of the Federal payment at the start of the fiscal year increases Treasury's cost of borrowing. Further, the Congress very clearly did not intend to exempt the District of Columbia from sequestration in the original Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act, and there is no reason for doing so via an appropriations bill.

Finally, in a related Federal Budget request, I will include a $1 million supplemental reimbursing the District Government for additional Presidential inaugural expenses incurred above the $2.3 million appropriated.

I look forward to working with the Congress on these matters.

The White House,

May 9, 1989.

George Bush

White House Fact Sheet on the
President's Child-Care Principles
May 9, 1989

Four basic principles underlie the President's approach to child care:

• Parents, who are best able to make decisions about their children's care, should have the discretion to make these decisions.

• Federal policy should not discriminate against parents who work at home.

• Federal policies should act to increase, not decrease, the range of child care choices available to parents.

• New Federal assistance should be targeted to families most in need.

Myths and Facts about Child Care Today

Myth: Religiously affiliated day care will benefit from new Federal day care programs such as the ABC bill.

Fact: As many as one-third of formal day care centers are religiously affiliated. ABC prohibits assistance "for any sectarian purpose or activity, including sectarian worship and instruction." This implies that to be eligible under ABC, the child care services provided by religiously affiliated centers might be required to be indistinguishable from those provided by wholly secular providers. To meet this standard, facilities could be required by the courts or by Federal or State regulatory bodies to remove religious symbols, end the teaching of religious values and avoid such practices as prayer before meals and the singing of religious songs. Furthermore, even those centers which adhered rigorously to these standards would be subject to potential litigation over their receipt of ABC funds.

Myth: Most young children are being cared for in day care centers.

Fact: Less than 11 percent of children under 5 are cared for in child care centers. Only 46 percent of children under 5 have employed mothers. Even among those mothers who are employed, the great majority use relatives or neighbors as child care providers. For parents with young children who prefer to care for their children themselves while their spouses work, the President's proposals will shift the economics of work and child care in their favor.

The President's proposals discriminate neither against day care centers nor mothers caring for children at home.

Myth: Aiding child care centers will primarily help low- and moderate-income working families.

Fact: Subsidies biased toward centerbased care will naturally tend to help those who are comparatively better off. In 1986 a majority of mothers in married-couple families earning less than $20,000 chose to stay at home to provide child care while less than one-third of the mothers in families making over $20,000 made the same choice. Furthermore, approximately 80 percent of children in center-based care come from two-earner families.

Myth: Federal day care standards are necessary because day care is largely unregulated.

Fact: All States currently regulate day care to some extent. Every State licenses child care centers, and all but one regulate some or all family day care homes. State and local governments are best able to determine what standards are needed for child care. Federal standards, proposed in the past, will not work. Congress, realizing this, prohibited implementation of Federal standards in 1980.

Myth: Unregulated child care is unhealthy and unsafe for children.

Fact: The typical "unregulated" day care provider is a mother caring for one or two other neighborhood children, along with her own child. In contrast, in day care centers, the average ratio of children to staff is five to one. According to an ABT Associates report, "The National Day Care Home Study," unregulated family child care is “stable, warm, and stimulating . . . it caters successfully to the developmentally appropriate needs of children in care; parents who use family day care report it satisfactorily meets their child care needs. . . [the study's] observers were consistently impressed by the care they saw regardless of regulatory status."

[the

THE ABC BILL DOES NOT MEET THE PRESIDENT'S PRINCIPLES

The Senate is likely to turn soon to the "Act for Better Child Care," sponsored by Senator Dodd. This bill, "ABC," does not

meet the President's principles for increasing child care options and parental choice: Parental choice: ABC puts its trust in Government, not parents. No money goes directly to parents. All money goes to the States. The States then fund providers, not parents, through grants, contracts, and certificates that they, not parents, arrange or approve. It is the States, not parents, who have the ultimate decision-making power on the care children will receive under ABC.

Encourages options: ABC imposes Federal day-care standards on all providers who receive public assistance. All States currently regulate day care to some degree, ensuring a healthy and safe environment for children. These costly Federal requirements will put some current child care providers out of business, keep potential providers from offering care, and drive up the cost of care available for all parents. Parents who want their children to be taught and guided by the religious values that are central to their lives would not be able to receive assistance: All caregivers, including relatives, are prohibited from engaging in sectarian activities, worship, or instruction in providing services under ABC.

In fact, parents could not use their ABC eligibility to have anyone other than a grandparent, aunt, or uncle care for their children unless (1) the State rules in each individual case that the person was an eligible child careprovider, (2) the person and his/her home meets Federal standards, and (3) the person submits to governmental grant, contract and paperwork require

ments.

Nondiscrimination: ABC serves twoparent families only if both parents are employed, perpetuating the discrimination against two parent families in which one parent stays at home to care for the children.

Targeted to families most in need: ABC is not well targeted and would serve only a fraction of families most in need. Families with incomes as high as 4 times the poverty level are eligible for ABC. Only a small number of eligible children would actually receive care under ABC-6 percent in 1990 according to the sponsors' estimates, and there is no guarantee that they would be

from families most in need. Only one million children, the sponsors say, would reIceive child care services from the Statesfar less than the number of children in the 3.5 million families that would initially benefit from the President's tax credit proposals.

Note: The fact sheet also contained information concerning the President's visit to the Shiloh Child Development Center. His remarks at the center appear in the following item.

Question-and-Answer Session With
Teachers of the Shiloh Child
Development Center
May 9, 1989

The President. Well, tell me how it's going. That's what I wanted to find out. And it seems-where are we? What are we in?

Ms. Omachonu. This is in the chapel-
The President. The chapel?

Ms. Omachonu. And this is a special place where many of our youth comeThe President. I see.

Ms. Omachonu. -on Sundays. The President. Lovely, isn't it? Then the big church is right on this side?

Ms. Omachonu. It's right on the other side. Yes.

The President. I haven't been here in a while, but I've known your pastor for a long time. Tell me about how it's going. One reason we wanted to do this is that I do feel that there is a role, a national role, for the kind of child care center that you all have run for what, how many years?-some years.

Ms. Omachonu. A long time.

The President. Yes, a long time--because I do not want to see the Federal legislation erode out this kind of participation, in this instance, by a church. And I worry that some of the legislation up there would say to a church, If you want to get Federal help, you can't have a religious underpin ning to your day care center. And I don't think that's good.

But anyway, that's the Bush view. But I'm anxious-more interested in listening and getting your views on this. Who wants to start?

Ms. Omachonu. First of all, I would like to say that the traditional philosophy of the center is based on meeting the direct needs of young children. And this developmental program is designed to meet the child's physical, social needs. And we do plan activity in different learning areas, and also we do celebrate religious programs for example, Christmas. And children do learn that Christmas means sharing, caring, and loving, besides celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. And also we encourage our children to say their grace before each meal. And we have show-and-tell period: When they come to school on Monday, they tell us about their experiences at the Sunday school; they have opportunities to sing religious songs on Monday morning.

The President. Well, that's good. That's very good. Are the kids that come here all-their families all parishioners of Shiloh? Ms. Omachonu. No.

The President. Not necessarily. Who else? Ms. Nickerson. I believe we have one minister's child in the 4-year-old group. But we recognize and we also respect religious philosophies from

The President. Diversity, yes.

Ms. Nickerson. Yes. We have different backgrounds

The President. And do you have kids from different-do you have-obviously, nondenominational. But do you have kids that come out of religions that are not Christian? I mean, like—

Ms. Omachonu. Yes, we do. We have two children whose parents are Muslim. We also have another child whose parents belong to the Jehovah Witness, the whole family. But we do sort of-with activities, we seek their permission that their children participate in the activities or exclude them out of activities. They've been very supportive. They say, Go ahead, let them participate.

The President. Well, it's a concept that is so important. And I believe strongly in separation of church and State, and so does the pastor. But we're not talking of that here. We're talking about your right to diversify-to do it in a diverse way and not have

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