George H.W. Bush

You've earned the admiration of the Nation because when people say, 'It can never be done,' you're doing it.

So, congratulations to all of you.

We single out all 10 of these cities not because they claim to be the best cities in America - I think they're too smart or, in some instances, too modest for that - but because they represent what's best about American cities.

The All-American Cities are all-American success stories.

You've refused to surrender to crime and to drug dealers and to natural disaster, to despair.

It's an honor and, indeed, a pleasure to have you here at the White House.

I simply will not break faith with the young men and women who have freely chosen to serve their country.

I can't think of a more exciting time in the history of the United States to be your President.

The budget constraints we face are very real; but so, too, is the need to protect the gains that 40 years of peace through strength have earned us.

America remains a pivotal factor for peaceful change.

The world remains a dangerous place with serious threats to important U.S. interests.

Failure to enact a debt limit increase by that date would compress the time period for distributing those securities.

Failure to enact a debt limit increase by August 13 would prevent the Treasury from auctioning securities on August 14 and settling on August 15.

The cost of the delay would grow with its length.

This would raise the cost of Treasury borrowing, all other things being equal.

A default would almost certainly occur on August 15 if the debt limit is not increased.

This act is powerful in its simplicity.

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is such legislation.

The ADA is a dramatic renewal not only for those with disabilities but for all of us.

I pledge the full support of my Administration for the Americans with Disabilities Act.

And now I sign legislation which takes a sledgehammer to another wall, one which has for too many generations separated Americans with disabilities from the freedom they could glimpse, but not grasp.

This historic act is the world's first comprehensive declaration of equality for people with disabilities.

The Americans with Disabilities Act represents the full flowering of our democratic principles, and it gives me great pleasure to sign it into law today.

It signals the end to the unjustified segregation and exclusion of persons with disabilities from the mainstream of American life.

Fears that the ADA is too vague or too costly and will lead to an explosion of litigation are misplaced.