Remarks of Secretary Dan Glickman National Rural Housing Coalition
                                                                 
                                             Release No.  0635.96

                            Remarks 
                              of 
                    Secretary Dan Glickman 
                National Rural Housing Coalition
             Washington, D.C. -- December 12, 1996

INTRODUCTION
     Thank you. It's good to be here. In fact, since this is one of the first
big speeches I've given since Election Day, I'd say it's very good to be here.

     I'm told that George Bernard Shaw once -- in preparation for opening
night of one of his plays -- sent a pair of tickets to Winston Churchill. With
them, he enclosed a note:  Please bring a friend ... if you have one.' Not to
be outdone, Churchill fired back his regrets that he could not attend opening
night.  But,' he added,  please send tickets for the second night ... if there
is one.'

     It feels good to be part of a second Administration ... headed by a
leader who cares deeply about rural America ... who is himself a son of rural
America ... who knows the people there, and wants to see every one of them
succeed economically, as communities, as families, and as Americans.

     Every time we in politics go through an election, there's a tendency
afterwards to ask the basic philosophical question:  What does it all mean?'
What were  The People' telling us?

     I think they said,  we like a strong economy.' I think they said,
 America's on the right track, and we prefer steady progress to quick, radical
lurches.' And, I think they said,  we don't want to see a bunch of bickering
in Washington. We want to see Republicans and Democrats work through their
differences in a thoughtful manner, and do what's best for the country.'

     Some will say the tide has turned this way or that. But I prefer the old
saying:  The more things change, the more they stay the same.' I have a hunch
that most people don't particularly like hard-ball politics. Instead, I think
most of us believe the best politics is good government -- pure and simple.

     This Administration has been both the practitioner and protector of good
government. We answered the call to stop reinventing the wheel and start
reinventing government. We've done more with less, thought in new ways and
empowered communities. 

     But we also understand that government can do good. Abraham Lincoln, who
founded the Department of Agriculture, once said,  the legitimate object of
government is to do for the people what needs to be done, but which they
cannot, by individual effort, do at all, or do so well, for themselves.'

RURAL DEVELOPMENT IS GOOD GOVERNMENT
     Given that definition, I can think of few federal programs that better
symbolize good government -- indeed great government -- than this
Administration's rural development programs.
 
     We have President Clinton's Water 2000 initiative -- which is bringing
     safe, running water to the 2.5 million rural Americans who currently
     don't have it. They will by the year 2000.

     We're using technology to bring health care and education to remote
     areas -- saving lives and giving rural students access to the advanced
     courses they need to get into college -- oftentimes making them the
     first in their family to go to college.

     We've established rural Empowerment Zones and Enterprise Communities ...
     channeling  federal resources into the neighborhoods that need them most
     ... giving the people there the power to make the decisions that will
     affect their lives -- whether it's job training, small business
     development, affordable housing, or other community needs.

     And, we have the President's Homeownership Initiative. He wants 8
     million new homeowners by the turn of the century. With your help, we'll
     reach that goal, and it will be an increase in rural homeowners that
     puts us over the top. 

     Federal housing programs have a special place in good government. Our
rural housing programs have helped more than 2 million Americans buy or keep
their homes -- options they probably wouldn't otherwise have had.

     Under President Clinton, we've streamlined the programs so more
resources get out of the bureaucracy and into the community. But the
underlying fact remains: These programs work. They make a tangible, positive
difference in people's lives, and they should be protected.

     Strong federal housing programs are essential because they help people
lay the foundation for their American Dream. In many ways, homeownership is
the American Dream. It epitomizes our country's golden rule: If you work hard
and play by the rules, you can build a better future for yourself and your
family. If we let that dream slip away for any American, then we turn our
backs on an important part of what it means to be Americans.

NRHC/USDA TEAMWORK
     I can't overemphasize the role this coalition has played in keeping that
dream alive. In last year's farm bill debate, we beat back a proposal to block
grant rural development funds. Instead, we passed the President's Rural
Performance Partnership Initiative, giving us the best of both worlds -- more
locally based decisionmaking while retaining rural development as a national
priority.

     You were also with us every step of the way on self-help housing -- the
idea that if folks pick up a hammer and help build a house for someone who
needs it, they can earn  sweat equity' toward the cost of their own home. This
is the ideal of good government because it's government not simply doing for
people, but government empowering people to do for themselves. 

     Every story coming out of this program is inspirational. I'll give you
one that's in keeping with the season. Monroe and Katherine Presley have lived
their whole lives in the Mississippi Delta -- the poorest region of our
country which President Clinton designated as a rural Empowerment Zone. For
more than 30 years, Monroe was a farmer. He, Katherine, and their 10 children
spent most of that time in a two-bedroom house with no indoor plumbing. 

     Three years ago, Monroe sold his farm and went to work in a factory.
Katherine tried her hand at construction. Through the self-help housing
program, she literally built a better future for her family. 

     With the tireless work of Harriet Macklin, Bob Rapoza, and this
organization, we were able to double the funding for self-help housing last
year to help more families like the Presleys. In last year's budget climate,
that was an amazing accomplishment. I'd like to tell you about another one.

     A week from this Saturday, Monroe and Katherine Presley, along with 8 of
their children -- two are now in college -- will move into a 5-bedroom house.
Arguably of greater importance, it has two bathrooms. 

     Four days after their move, the Presleys will celebrate their first
Christmas as a family in a home of their own. 

BUDGET OUTLOOK
     The budget stakes will be even higher this year. The country has made it
clear that the federal government should live as they do -- within their
means. More importantly, I think this will be the year we actually do balance
the budget. 

     The challenge will be to do it in a way that doesn't sell out America's
priorities. I know that's foremost in the President's mind going into this
process. We're still in the very macro stages of working through the numbers,
so I don't have many details for you. But I can say that this Administration
is as committed as you are to strong housing programs.

     We have our work cut out for us. Last year, we requested $1.2 billion.
Congress cut us back by $200 million. This -- along with a subsidy rate that
changed with interest rates -- combined for a 40 percent drop-off in funding. 

     That's a serious problem that needs fixing. I'll look to the Fund for
Rural America and other sources to try and close the gap. But I don't want to
underestimate the difficulty of that task. The Fund is limited, and there's a
tremendous backlog in rural development programs -- from housing, to clean
water, to distance learning and telemedicine. These are all basic needs that
shouldn't be pitted against one another, but joined in one strategy to improve
the rural standard of living. 

REINVENTING GOVERNMENT
     We'd also like to use the Fund to try some new things, so we're not
simply relying on the ways of the past to tackle the challenges of the future.
Our rural development programs are on the cutting-edge of  reinvented
government. In fact, USDA's restructuring of our single-family direct-loan
program is one of the best reinvention stories this Administration has to
tell.

     We took an outmoded, outdated and inefficient system .... We're talking
piles of forms that had to be filled out by hand ... that never made it into a
computer ... that were stored in cardboard boxes in local offices around the
country. There was no centralized operation, and no way to pay taxes or
insurance with your mortgage. If it were a private bank, you'd have left
decades ago.

     We replaced all of this with a streamlined, centralized, state-of-the-art system which we call  DLOSS' -- short for Dedicated Loan Origination and
Servicing System. It may sound like management mumbo jumbo, but the bottom
line is it will save taxpayers a quarter of a billion dollars over the next
five years.  

     We've also scrapped more than 250 pages of regulations. Under the old
system, single family housing regs took up about 290 pages in the Federal
Register. I have trouble getting through a spy novel that long, let alone a
legal document. Now, we're down to 30 pages, and it's readable.

TARGETTING LIMITED RESOURCES
     But reinventing government is more than just streamlining and
modernizing, it's also rethinking how we use limited resources. At President
Clinton's request, we're targetting resources where they're needed most, and
where they can have the greatest impact. This means doing more -- particularly
in the low- and very-low income categories -- whether it's in an Empowerment
Zone, Indian country or elsewhere.

     As we shift into an era of even tighter budgets, we have to protect the
people on the lowest rungs of the economic ladder. That means protecting the
515 rental program -- which helps many senior citizens, farm laborers, and
others keep a roof over their head. And it means taking a stand for the
Section 502 loan program. This is the only federal program that gives low- and
very-low income families a chance at homeownership in rural America. This
program reaches families who -- on average -- earn about half the rural median
household income ... hard-working families like the Presleys who just need
that extra boost.

     What we have to make crystal clear in this debate is that what's good
for the Presleys is good for America.

A BIPARTISAN APPROACH TO HOUSING IN 21ST CENTURY
     Homeownership is the backbone of every community. It's a simple fact of
life that if you're going to stick around for a while, you get to know your
neighbors, you take an interest in the quality of your schools, the success of
local businesses, and the general well-being of your community. 

     I've heard the 20th Century described as  the time the country moved to
the city.' Until recently that was definitely the case. Throughout the  80s,
rural populations declined significantly as people moved to urban centers in
search of jobs.

     With a serious, sustained focus on rural development, President
Clinton's started to turn that trend around. Just last year, we saw more
people come home to rural America. In 1995, a million more people moved into
rural towns than moved out. More importantly, folks are once again seeing the
country as a place where they can make a living and raise a family.

     This Administration's been doing everything in our power to support that
trend. We've invested in small businesses that are making a comeback on Main
Street. We've improved rural water systems, health care and education. We've
helped boost farm incomes to a record high. And we've increased homeownership.
We can say all we want about helping rural economies, but unless people settle
there, there won't be much of an economy to talk about.

     So as we focus on building up our economy ... on giving every citizen a
fair shot at the American Dream ... on coming together to take a stand against
crime, against poverty, for stronger schools and greater opportunities ... all
of this has as its foundation strong communities ... and strong communities
are built around strong families that lay down roots, get to know their
neighbors, and form a tight-knit community. 

CONCLUSION
     President Clinton has extended his hand across the partisan divide, and
said let's work together and move this country forward. He's appointed a
Republican to his Cabinet -- Senator William Cohen who will make a fine
Secretary of Defense. 

     In accepting that appointment, Senator Cohen noted that America's
defense should be a bipartisan effort. I've long felt that way about our
agriculture policy and our housing policy. In fact, I've felt it should be
non-partisan. These programs are too central to the economic health of our
nation and the values that define us as a nation.

     We'll need this organization fighting with us to make that case. Of
course, it doesn't hurt to have on our side a President from Hope, Arkansas --
population 9,768. When I became Secretary of Agriculture, the first thing
President Clinton told me was  don't forget rural America, places like my home
town.' I haven't. I know no one in this room has. We need to make sure urban
and suburban Americans don't forget. They may not understand rural life, but
every American understands the desire to own a home.

     This Administration is committed to seeing more rural Americans achieve
that dream. On behalf of President Clinton, I'd like to thank each of you for
making its pursuit your life's work as well. Together, we'll work to see the
day when every rural family has a place to call home. 

     Thank you.

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