Labor Council for Latin American Advancement Remarks at a White House Reception.

It's always good for us to have guests come here to the White House, and particularly those among you who have made such a tremendous contribution to the growing strength of our country.

As you know, we are a nation that has the fourth largest population of Spanish speaking people on Earth. And the strength that has been given to our country by some newcomers and some of the very first settlers of our Nation who speak Spanish is indeed inspirational to a President or anyone who lives in this house.

It's also important to our Nation when working people organize for a better life, not only for Latin American advancement, as your Labor Council has done, but for the advancement of all Americans.

We are now going through a transition phase, where a narrowly focused commitment for a small group of Americans-rapidly growing, but small group—is being expended and expanded by you to cover the aspects of life for all Americans who live in our great country. Your leadership is an inspiration; it's been effective. And the opening up of a strong voice for the Spanish-speaking people of our country has indeed been impressed very vividly on the minds of all those who seek public office in our country.

So, I want to extend to you una muy calurosa bienvenida [a very warm welcome]. As they say in all Spanish-speaking countries, this is your house; literally, it is a house that belongs to all Americans. And I'm very grateful that you've come here this afternoon.

I'm deeply familiar with the problems that you face and the problems faced by others in minority groups who have suffered too long in this country from discrimination, the exclusion from full participation in the opportunities of American life. Your commitment to your own cause, the strength of your organization, the sacrificial service of many of your members, and the accuracy with which you express both the deprivations and the opportunities are transforming, quite rapidly, opportunities for those for whom you speak.

The American labor movement is strong. Its strength is enhanced by you. And when we formed the labor accord, not only to deal with inflation from a wage settlement standpoint but to outline the principles on which our Government would deal with rapidly changing circumstances, your voice was and is and will be included to a major degree.

Since LCLAA was established, I believe in 1973, you have grown by leaps and bounds; now organizations, I understand, in 22 different States. You've made great strides in voter registration. You've made great strides in employment opportunities. You've made great strides in getting out the vote on election day, and you've also made great strides in educating those who might go to the polls to shape the future policies of our Government.

I've been very pleased that we fought together in protecting Davis-Bacon Acts and putting forward the concept of labor law reform. We have fought those battles together. Those victories which we have not yet won are still waiting for us to win, and we will not give up until the victories are complete.

Yesterday we inaugurated, as you know, a new Department of Education. You helped with this effort. And when the Secretary of Education and my wife made one visit to a school together yesterday, they chose, not coincidentally, a school that specializes in bilingual education. The Secretary of Education speaks a little better Spanish than my wife. [Laughter] My wife speaks a lot better Spanish than I do. [Laughter] But the fact that all of us are tempted to learn your and my language is significant, indeed, in the shape of American life in the years ahead.

The preparation and training of young Americans to lead a productive life is a responsibility that you're carrying out very well. We've made good progress in this effort. We've increased Federal funding for education of the young, in just a short 3-year period, by more than 70 percent, largely to teach basic skills to those who have, in the past, lacked those skills and to provide opportunities for the attendance in college of students whose parents did not have that opportunity.

We've tried to help young people get jobs, and we have opened up the opportunities not only to young people but to , adults. There has been a tremendous benefit for Spanish-speaking Americans among the 9 million jobs that have been added to American society in the last 3 years. As a matter of fact, the rate of increase of employment among Spanish-speaking Americans has been twice that of average Americans, of the average of the whole population. A lot of that is not because of the extra-good job that you and I have done, but because we had so far to go at the beginning to correct longstanding discrimination.

We're trying to break down not only the barriers of poverty and a lack of education but also the barriers of language.

I think the new census effort has been shaped, to a major degree, by the concerns expressed by you to me through spokesmen who serve on a full-time basis in the White House. In the past, every 10 years we have not made an adequate attempt to count those families and those citizens in our country, who happen to speak a language other than English. This year, primarily because of the emphasis by Spanish-speaking Americans, that discrimination has been eliminated for all those whose primary language is other than English.

We have, also, an opportunity in the future to probe for better chances in housing, transportation, health, the alleviation of the afflictions of disabilities—physical disabilities, mental disabilities—for those who speak Spanish. Those who are fortunate enough to belong to a highly organized labor union, as are most of you, have a special privilege, yes; but also a special opportunity and responsibility to speak for those who've not yet been protected by a well-organized and highly motivated group. You've met this responsibility well, and I know you'll continue to do this in the future.

All the progress that we have made in giving a better economic life to Americans has been threatened lately by the extremely high rate of inflation. Almost exactly 2 months ago, in this very room, I laid out for the Nation an anti-inflation program. We've had extraordinary progress since that time. Interest rates are now falling at the most rapid rate in the history of our country, and I have no doubt that in the next few weeks, perhaps in the summer, we'll have substantial evidence that the inflation rate is also dropping quite rapidly. This will help to rejuvenate the homebuilding industry and other industries so heavily dependent on loans for the financing of purchases and for the financing of inventories in small businesses, on the farms, and in construction.

Our efforts have also been sharply focused on the major cause of inflation on a worldwide basis, and that is the excessive dependence on imported oil. This year we'll import about $90 billion worth of oil, equivalent to $400 for every man, woman, and child who lives in the United States. That's money we're sending overseas to foreign countries, And along with the oil, we import inflation and unemployment. And of course, this money could well be spent here to build schools, to build homes, to give us better health, better education, and to provide new jobs in industry.

The last thing I'd like to say is this: We are trying to protect the most vulnerable, but we need to do everything we can to let those vulnerable people be able, in the future, to protect themselves. We want to eliminate dependence on the Government as much as possible among those who are mentally and physically able to support themselves; to let them be leaders in the future, not followers; to let them shape the policy of our country at the initiation of new programs, not try to repair damage when programs are ill advised and not shaped for their benefits in the initial stages.

We need to continue with economic justice and also with social justice. And I think there is no doubt that the greater participation we have from the Latin American community, in its breadth and its great diversity, the better our Nation will be in the future.

This is a nation of immigrants; this is a nation of refugees. We have a great additional strength, not a weakness, because we have close ties to families and friends, to history and to heritage, to customs and the language in other nations. There is not another nation on Earth which does not have representatives of it living in our country—a dynamic part of a strong united America. This is a source of great pride to me, and I know it's a source of great pride to you.

We face difficult tasks in our country, difficult challenges, difficult problems.

The unwarranted example of international terrorism in Iran, when innocent Americans have been captured and held imprisoned now for 6 months, is a travesty and a violation of international law and human decency. We cannot rest until all those Americans are restored to freedom and can come home to be with their own families.

Along with all other Americans, I was sick in my heart that the rescue mission did not succeed. I'm proud that it was attempted, but I deeply regret its failure and the loss of life of eight heroic Americans. Friday we will have a ceremony for them at Arlington Cemetery, and I'll be joined with their families there. And I'll express, on behalf of the American people, my admiration for their bravery and my appreciation for their willingness to offer their lives for the principles on which our Nation was founded and for the freedom of their fellow Americans.

My first responsibility as a President is to guarantee the security of our country. That security can only be guaranteed permanently if we are strong. We are the strongest nation on Earth, and we will remain the strongest nation on Earth. And that strength is derived from the commitment and the courage of individual American citizens, whose origins were from all nations on Earth, who have come here to combine our hearts and our lives in a commitment to not only strength militarily but economic and social strength, to justice, to human rights, and to freedom.

We've got the greatest nation on Earth, and with your help and your common commitment, we will be even greater in the future.

Thank you for being here with me. God bless every one of you.