The bottom line is this: Peace will come to Israel and the Middle East only when the Israeli government is willing to comply with international law, … - Jimmy Carter

First of all, I want to thank you for letting me interrupt your meeting. If it's one person I don't like to follow, it's Barbara Mikulski. She always makes me feel inept and tongue-tied and without humor. But I do thank you for having me come over. I'm glad to bring my wife, Rosalynn. I think you've just done two things. One is to stand in silence to honor a woman who was a pioneer in a demonstration of courage in the early days of the civil rights movement, Fanny Lou Hamer. And you've also just recognized a woman who will move into Government, I hope very shortly, to continue that very strong and able fight for civil rights, particularly for women and minority groups, Eleanor Holmes Norton. I've had the pleasure lately of working with Midge Costanza in choosing some of the women who will meet this year in a continuation of the 1975 Women's Year conventions. They include, as you know, Gloria Steinem, and they include Betty Ford, who's agreed to serve--I'm very grateful for that--and Bella Abzug, who will be the chairman, and others, about 40 other women, who will represent our Nation in a continuing international discussion of women's rights. I'm proud of this effort, and I'm proud to be part of it.

I think, first of all, that the Helsinki agreement has played a useful role. We've never acknowledged, as you know, the absorption by the Soviet Union of the groups to whom you refer. My wife's brother—his wife is an Estonian; she was born and raised there. And we've had a chance in the last few months at Belgrade to specify particular violations of human rights which were in conflict with the Helsinki agreement. As you know, the Soviets wanted to minimize the so-called third basket and not discuss human rights, but talk about military and political interrelationships. I think we're making some progress. In my private discussions with foreign leaders-and I set a record last year by meeting with 68 heads of state—hardly ever do we have a 10- or 15-minute or, certainly, not a 3-hour discussion that the subject of human rights doesn't arise. In most instances, they raise it. My guess is that 2 years ago, the subject of human rights would be a rarity among heads of state. But now, even the most abusive governments, there is a concern—"what does the rest of the world think about me, what will happen if I persecute this group or bring a legal charge against this person?" I think we are making success in a very slow, tedious way. I notice that this morning—I can't vouch for the accuracy of it—there was a story in the news, for instance, about contending military leaders in Argentina. And the challenging group, I think from the Navy, said that their basis for future success was their deeper commitment to human rights, and they thought that we might support them because they were more convinced that human rights was a case. Last night I watched the news, which I don't ordinarily do—I don't get home that early, but I had company—and there was a story about the 10,000 Indonesians who are being released from prison this year. I think there is kind of a subtle thing, but I think that this is one of the major commitments that we've made that has aroused worldwide interest, not always worldwide cooperation. And I don't intend to back down on it ever. As long as I'm in the White House, human rights will be a major consideration of every foreign policy decision that I make, and I might say, also, domestic.

To help our hard-pressed cities, which quite often in the past have not gotten a fair share of governmental opportunity, we've supported--and Congress just passed yesterday--a major expansion of countercyclical revenue sharing, which means that the money goes to the areas that are most in need. We've also proposed a renewed community block grant program with changes that will stimulate private investment, in particular housing and other developments, and put more of the money into the cities again which need it most. We support extending the earned-income tax credit for working people and a general, personal tax credit, which together add up to $6.8 billion annually in individual tax relief, mostly for low- and middle-income families, including those families too poor to owe any income tax. And also, I will sign into law within the next few days--Congress has already passed--a permanent $4 billion tax cut through increases in the standard deductions. Eighty-eight percent of this tax relief will go to families with incomes of less than $15,000 a year, and 3.3 million low-income taxpayers who no;,' pay taxes will not have to pay any Federal income taxes at all.