I just want you to know that I've heard again and again, from Dennis and others, that the Australian people could not have been more open, friendly, or sportsmanlike.

I do hereby proclaim to Dennis Conner and the crew of Stars and Stripes the heartfelt congratulations and appreciation of our Nation for a job well done.

Today the Cup that went down under has come back up.

the only true measure of a welfare program's success is how many people it makes independent of welfare.

welfare reform is not just important but vital—vital to our economic well-being; vital, indeed, to our self-respect as a nation.

I applaud those efforts, and want to begin a process to encourage many more of these state and community-based reform efforts.

The sad truth is that, despite our best intentions, the welfare system is failing; the system traps people in a cycle of dependency that robs them of dignity.

Together we must persuade Congress to provide you the tools necessary to create a better life for Americans in need.

We can and must do better.

Our goal instead must be to establish a process that allows states and communities to implement their own anti-poverty ideas based on their own unique circumstances.

This bicentennial year is a singularly appropriate time to reflect on its importance to each of us.

I call upon all Americans to join the National Conference of Christians and Jews in celebrating the vibrant, richly diverse society the Constitution has made possible in America.