George H.W. Bush: “Well, it does. And the plan for the homeless is to fully fund what's known as the McKinney Act, which we've done. The…”

“Well, it does. And the plan for the homeless is to fully fund what's known as the McKinney Act, which we've done. The Federal Government has partial responsibility for that. But the responsibility the Federal Government has is to assist the States and municipalities as much as we can. I think we're spending more money as a result of that act on the homeless than we've had before. But it's a tough problem, and I don't believe the answer lies just at the Federal level. I'll be honest with you: I continue to worry about a third of the homeless who have mental problems. We changed the laws somewhere back in the last couple of decades which permitted these people to be free of care and attention, and that has exacerbated this problem. I'm not sure that it needs the Federal action on this, but it is an area of which I'm very much concerned, and without shifting responsibility. I know when Barbara took Mrs. Yeltsin the other day to a soup kitchen there, it was to demonstrate that the Government can't do it all. The, what we call Points of Light, the volunteers that are helping all over the country, got to pitch in and do more. Federal level, the answer is fully funding of the McKinney bill, which we are trying to do and which we propose.”