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REMARKS BY : TOMMY G. THOMPSON, SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES PLACE: To the "New Avenues for Youth" Luncheon, Portland, Oregon DATE: November 5, 2001
Harry (Merlo), thank you so much for those very kind words. As Harry said, we've known each other for years and I count him not only as a wise counselor but a good friend. It's wonderful to be with you, my friend.
Let me thank each of you for coming out today to support this important effort on behalf of Portland's young people. Portland is a beautiful city, one of the crown jewels of the Northwest.
In recent years, you've experienced a real downtown renaissance with new public buildings, new commercial enterprise and a revitalized waterfront. This beautiful "City of Roses" is setting a standard for the rest of the nation.
Let me mention that in recent weeks I've traveled twice to a city a continent away from here but which is close to all of our hearts. Of course, I'm talking about New York City.
I've stood at Ground Zero in the heart of Manhattan . seen the bravery and the deep sense of honor of the men and women recovering the bodies of those slain in the attack . and visited the facilities set up to care for those in crisis.
I've also been to the Pentagon and watched the men and women of our nation's armed forces work with solemn courage as they go about the business of rebuilding that amazing structure as well as defending our great nation.
I know Portland has given generously to the victims of the terrorism that struck our nation. And your Mayor, Vera Katz, led a "Flight for Freedom" by leading a group of 1,200 Oregonians on a trip to New York to show that terrorists would not stop America's use of the airways. What a wonderful gesture.
On behalf of the President, let me thank you for what you have done and what you are continuing to do.
I've been all across America in recent weeks - from Georgia to California, from Texas to my great home state of Wisconsin. There's no question in my mind that America is resolved and united as seldom before in our history.
That sense of oneness is perhaps best exemplified by a bumper sticker that was seen on a car in Missoula, Montana - "We're all New Yorkers."
Our national unity of purpose has been greatly strengthened by the leadership of our President, George W. Bush. I was proud to become part of his Cabinet earlier this year.
But my pride has deepened in the nearly two months since the terrorists struck. I meet with the president regularly and let me tell you, this man is utterly committed to the destruction of international terrorism.
As the President said last week, "Our country is patient, our country is resolved, our country is united. Regardless of our religion, regardless of where we live, regardless of our political party, we're united behind the fact that we must rise to this occasion, and rise we will."
That's the spirit that will rebuild New York and restore the Pentagon. And most importantly, that's the spirit that is renewing America as we think about the things we all cherish - freedom, justice, opportunity and hope.
I know those are things you value, or else you'd be spending your lunch hour differently. You're here because you care about restoring hope to a part of our population whose pain is real and whose need is great.
We cannot ignore the grim reality of young people in crisis. I just completed a tour of the New Avenues facility. I was so deeply impressed by what I saw.
New Avenues is turning lives around. Dozens of young people - many for the first time in a long time - are realizing there are alternatives to the bleakness and abuse that have characterized their lives.
The work New Avenues does is inspiring because it summons new hope to broken lives. That is not an easy task. Helping a boy or girl in crisis means taking upon oneself the pain of someone whose life has been touched by abuse, rejection and desperation.
That pain is deepened by the very youth of those New Avenues is helping. They are at an age when they should be experiencing the joys of adolescence . of friendship and family, of proms and ball games . of challenging classes and bright horizons.
Instead, they bear scars - sometimes physical, sometimes emotional, sometimes mental - scars no one should have to bear, but especially not someone for whom life should be opening up, not closing in.
But through your good work and the courage and tenacity of the young people themselves, lives are being recovered and hope is being reborn.
At HHS, we work with agencies around the country that know most young people have a desire to learn, to be part of the community and to create a positive future for themselves.
Young people will learn and grow if we give them a chance. Our job is to ensure that families and communities have the resources necessary to engage and support all of America's young people.
I want you to know that the Bush Administration stands with you in that effort. For example, the President's budget for fiscal year 2002 calls for an increase of $33 million under the Consolidated Runaway and Homeless Youth program to support community-based maternity homes. These homes provide a safe, stable environment for some of our most vulnerable youth - young women who are pregnant or who have young children.
Maternity group homes also provide an adult-supervised, nurturing environment for young mothers who cannot live safely with their own families. They assist them in moving forward by helping them to finish school and to acquire both job skills and parenting skills, thereby helping them to break a cycle of poverty and abuse and to create opportunities for positive development for both young parents and their children.
Now, I know New Avenues received a grant for $100,000 under the Runaway and Homeless Youth program for transitional housing assistance a couple of years ago. Let me urge you to apply for more assistance. We welcome your grant application and I hope you will submit one for additional aid.
We're also asking Congress for $200 million - an increase of 30 percent - for the Independent Living program, which provides states like Oregon with more flexibility and additional resources to support services that are designed to help young people make the transition from foster care to productive adulthood.
The additional $60 million requested in the President's budget would be used to provide youth aging out of foster care with educational vouchers for college tuition or vocational training, giving them a real chance to complete their education and become economically self-sufficient adults.
The President is also seeking to launch a wonderful new program that would provide funding to mentor the children of prisoners. This $67 million initiative would provide grants to support faith- and community- based groups to mentor the boys and girls of men and women who are incarcerated or on probation.
Programs like these promote the positive development of America's youth, helping them to gain a sense of competence, usefulness and belonging. And they give young people a sense that they can control their futures, that they can make positive choices that will result in a good tomorrow.
I'm sure many of you are also familiar with the President's Faith-Based Initiative, which is designed to help organizations rooted in traditions of religious conviction provide for the needs of hurting people more effectively.
We're not trying to subsidize any religion. But the President doesn't believe we should discriminate against organizations that perform vital and wonderful work because they have a faith component in their outreach.
At the Department of Health and Human Services, we have a Faith-Based office in our main building. They're doing terrific work in bridging the gap between public resources and private charities, and I'm so very proud of their good efforts.
But even as those efforts continue, our focus in recent days has been on another issue of great concern to every American - bioterrorism. I know you're all concerned. So am I, and so is the President.
We're moving forward on all fronts - the Centers for Disease Control . the National Institutes of Health . the Food and Drug Administration . the Public Health Services . are all part of the Department of Health and Human Services.
We're working together as a team, in Washington, D.C. and throughout the nation.
Just a few steps from my office, I've turned our department's main conference room into a 24 hour a day, 7 day a week "war room" in which top health officials are staying abreast of the latest information.
We have made Ciprofloxacin - commonly known as Cipro - available to the widest number of people suspected of being exposed to inhalation anthrax. And the F-D-A has approved other drugs such as doxycycline and penicillin as treatments for anthrax.
The CDC has done a good job of finding the letters in question and getting treatment to those at risk. The work of the CDC has likely saved many from serious illness and death.
But we need to get ahead of the science. We will be even more aggressive in securing the safety of our postal workers who may have been exposed to a tainted letter.
Therefore, I've ordered the CDC, when a case of anthrax does emerge, to immediately move in at any and all postal facilities that might have handled that piece of mail. Last month, President Bush requested an additional $1.5 billion to strengthen our ability to prevent and respond to a bioterrorism attack. Of the total funds requested, two-thirds - $1.2 billion - are being designated for the production of vaccines and antibiotics.
The President's request includes $643 million to expand the National Pharmaceutical Stockpile and $509 million to speed the purchase of 300 million doses of smallpox. With these resources, H-H-S will expand its program capabilities to respond to an all-hazards event.
The President and my Department are also committed to the development and approval of new vaccines and therapies. The CDC, the Food and Drug Administration and the National Institutes of Health are collaborating with the Defense Department and the Homeland Security Office and other agencies to support and encourage research to address scientific issues related to bioterrorism.
We have eight strategically located groups of supplies called "Push Packs" - 50 tons of medicines and equipment that can get anywhere in the country in 12 hours or less. In fact, the Push Pack we sent to New York on September 11 got there in seven hours. We're adding 4 more Push Packs with another 200 million tons of supplies, as well.
And we're working to accelerate the production of vaccines and antibiotics and also invest in essential programs to ensure the speedy and orderly distribution of antibiotics and other supplies in the event of another bioterrorism attack.
So, we're on the move, making sure America is ready for another attack even as we work to defeat out attackers.
But as we prepare for any attack by our enemies, we must also prepare for the future of our children. We must never forget that their future is ours, that if we neglect the most needy of our young we deny at home the very principles of decency and compassion we're defending abroad.
We won't neglect them, and we're all working for a future of hope and renewal for these troubled young men and women.
As I think about what we should do for these young lives, I'm moved by the words of Mother Theresa: "Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin."
You have made a wonderful beginning through the New Avenues for Youth program. Thank you for your compassion . your concern . and your commitment.
It's been a pleasure being with you. I'm glad to take some questions. God bless you, and may he always bless our country, the United States of America.
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