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Texas Governor George W. Bush took time out from his Presidential campaign on June 15 to sit down with me and Business Week Online News Editor Doug Harbrecht. The topic: New initiatives to empower people with disabilities through assistive technology. In a 35-minute interview, Bush detailed where he stands on the Americans With Disabilities Act and a host of other issues affecting companies and workers. Here are edited excerpts of our conversation:
Q: Governor, it's difficult for people with disabilities to reconcile your philosophy of compassionate conservatism when it comes to the federal government protecting their rights because many people with disabilities believe they are better off under a moderate-to-liberal President rather than someone who is a conservative. How would you translate your concept of being a compassionate conservative into ensuring people with disabilities that you will enforce the Americans with Disabilities Act?
A: What you are really saying is, how do I challenge stereotypes? Someone hears the word "conservative" and suddenly thinks, "He does not care about me." I care about each individual. I think the conservative cares about each individual rather than lump people into groups, because each individual matters. Each individual counts in life.
A conservative is someone who supports the marketplace and who trusts people to make the right decisions. When you listen carefully to the policies that I have enunciated, I hope people give me a fair shake. Shed the label and listen. I believe to the extent that a person does not have the ability to live independently, and to the extent that the government can help people understand that each person matters, then there is a role for the federal government.
Let me lay this principle out. No law should undermine the Americans with Disabilities Act. The ADA must stand. The ADA is a good law. I want your readers and followers to know that George W. Bush, the son of President Bush who signed the Americans with Disabilities Act, fully supports the ADA in spirit and in law. I would not do otherwise. There is a role to enhance the ADA: I want to make sure the law is fully complied with. The federal government has made a commitment to protecting civil rights. The ADA is a civil-rights legislation.
People in the disability community should not be focusing on labels -- after all, they have been labeled. Let's eliminate the labels. I urge them to listen to what I say. I talk about assistive and universal technology. It recognizes that in this case, the market may not be sufficient enough to demand the full development of assistive and universal technology. There is a role for government. (For more on Bush's "New Freedom Initiative," see John Williams' 6/21/00 Assistive Technology column.)
Q: Governor, do you support the Foley Amendment [which would transfer enforcement of the ADA from the federal government to the states and require lawyers to notify businesses before they are to be sued for noncompliance]?
A: No. I do not. The problem with opening up the ADA to an amendment is you open up the whole law to other amendments.
Q: How do you define a leader?
A: A leader sets a goal. My goal is to encourage a society that allows for independent living. A society that allows each person to realize their potential. I am incredibly optimistic about America's future.
Q: What would you advise states on how to spend federal money for special-education programs?
A: I assume you are referring to the Individual with Disabilities Education Act, commonly referred to as IDEA. IDEA is a good idea. But it's an unfunded mandate. My goal is to work with Congress to get IDEA fully funded. Properly funded, the program will help children with disabilities receive a better education and help local school districts provide a better education. I have a $5 billion reading program that will teach every child to read. There will be teacher training on how to teach children to read, so every child, including children with disabilities, can read.
Q: Governor, California is trying to overturn Title II of the ADA, which says state and county governments are subject to the same standards as the private sector when it comes to employment of people with disabilities. California is citing the 11th Amendment to the Constitution, which says a state cannot be sued by persons from another state. What is your opinion of the suit?
A: I really have not looked into the situation, but let me say that I believe in the full force and effect of the ADA. I am told by no less an authority than Boyden Gray [White House counsel for Bush's father] that the ADA is constitutional.
Q: How would you convince businesses to work with you on technology transfer?
A: First of all, there is a market application. As assistive technology becomes more universally applied, the market will expand more dramatically. The world is becoming a more individualized world. That is why I am so hopeful about people with disabilities. It's a world where people can work out of their homes. Where people do not have to rely on mass-transit systems.
I have a research-and-development component in my program that says we can do a better job of developing the technologies necessary that will help people with disabilities become independent and will also have the same application to me over time [meaning when Bush is older and might need such technology]. I am willing to spend taxpayers' money so long as it's part of a conservative effort with compassionate results. I propose using the tax code to enable people with disabilities to become productive contributors.
Q: Do you believe the federal government should spend money to make the Internet accessible to people with disabilities?
A: Yes. The key on that situation is it's going to be successful and will be so in an incredibly cost-effective way. The reason it will be so cost-effective is the market and the technology will drive it.
Q: What will you do to encourage states to buy into the Work Incentives Improvement Act [which would allow people with disabilities to obtain Medicare and Medicaid if they choose to work, so that they don't lose their disability benefits]?
A: I would sign an executive order that would say, "Let's implement it." This is an incredibly important piece of legislation.
Q: Governor, there is a huge cost of taxpayers' dollars paying for people who become disabled as a result of a poor environment, as a result of smoking, as a result of gun violence. Do you think there is a role for the federal government in these areas?
A: I think there is a legitimate role for the federal government in each of these areas. I think there is a legitimate use of taxpayers' money to educate the young on the dangers of smoking. The same situation exists for drugs and alcohol. It's in our national interest to do so.
As for guns, we have gun laws. I came up with an innovative plan to distributive trigger locks for free. I encourage people to use them when they get them. A free society is one that is freer when the people make the right choices themselves. This election is about what America will look like as we move into the 21st century: whether we will be a hopeful society or a society beset by violence. I think it will be a hopeful society.
What do you think about Governor Bush's answers? Have your say at BW Online's Assistive Tech Forum. Or drop John a line at JMMAW@aol.com
EDITED BY DOUGLAS HARBRECHT
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