Bush urges new effort to help poor

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- President Bush yesterday urged a new generation of American voters to "revive the spirit of citizenship" and carry on the work of two Democratic presidents -- Lyndon Johnson's war on poverty and welfare reforms under Bill Clinton.

"The war on poverty established a federal commitment to the poor. The welfare-reform legislation of 1996 made that commitment more effective. For the task ahead, we must move to the third stage of combating poverty in America," Bush told 2,500 Notre Dame graduates, their families and teachers in his first commencement address as president.

"Our society must enlist, equip and empower idealistic Americans in works of compassion that only they can provide," he said.

Dressed in a graduation gown, Bush also defended his hotly contested plans to funnel more federal money to religious-based community service programs. Civil liberties groups and Christian conservative ministers alike have decried Bush's plan, which has stalled in Congress.

Bush said critics "should take a look around them."

"Public money already goes to groups like the Center for the Homeless and, on a larger scale, to Catholic Charities. Do the critics really want to cut them off? Medicaid and Medicare money currently goes to religious hospitals. Should this practice be ended?" Bush said

"Government loans send countless students to religious colleges" such as Notre Dame, a Catholic institution, he said. "Should this be banned?"

The bulk of the speech, however, was strikingly bipartisan -- with the Republican president quoting Johnson and praising Clinton.

"Work and self-respect have been returned to many lives," Bush said. "This is a tribute to the Democrats and Republicans who agreed on (welfare) reform, and to the president who signed it: President Bill Clinton."

He did not mention, as Republicans often do, that Clinton twice vetoed GOP welfare-reform bills before signing a third at the urging of political advisers. Bush did contend that Johnson's policies, though nobly intended, caused some to depend on welfare.

"Our nation has confronted welfare dependency. But our work is only half-done. Now we must confront the second problem: to revive the spirit of citizenship -- to marshal the compassion of our people to meet the continuing needs of our nation," Bush said, reading from a TelePrompTer.

Rephrasing a Clinton refrain, Bush said: "Welfare as we knew it has ended. But poverty has not."

With many states seeing the first wave of welfare recipients reach the law's five-year limit, Bush said the most complicated cases remain: people with no job skills, little education or mental illness.

He said individual acts of kindness will make a greater difference than any government program. "Compassion often works best on a small and human scale," Bush said.

Still, he said the government can help in this "third stage" of fighting poverty by urging charities and religious groups to fill the gaps. He also pressed businesses to open their coffers to such groups.

Bush announced that he would convene a White House summit in the fall, bringing corporate and philanthropic leaders together to discuss ways of assisting both secular and religious community groups.

He tucked into his speech just one nugget of new policy: a promise to include in his budget next year an increase in money -- from $25 million already proposed for 2002, to $75 million for 2003 -- for low-income home ownership programs such as Habitat for Humanity.

Bush traveled later yesterday to Yale University, his alma mater, where he was to address graduation ceremonies today.