For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
August 14, 2001
Remarks by the President at Fundraising Dinner for Senator Wayne Allard and Governor Bill Owens
The Adam's Mark Hotel
Denver, Colorado
6:41 P.M. MDT
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you,
all. Thank you very much. Thank you all very
much. Okay, sit down, please. Thank you, all.
Madame Secretary, thank you for that kind
introduction. You read it just like I wrote
it. (Laughter.) I'm really proud of my
appointment of Gale Norton to the Secretary of the Interior, she is
doing a fabulous job. (Applause.)
I think one of the things that people are
going to find about our administration is we bring some common sense to
Washington, D.C. And Gale Norton brings a lot of common
sense -- common sense -- to the Interior Department. And it
needed a little common sense. (Laughter and applause.)
I'm sorry my wife isn't with me, but I
want to give you a family report. I'm extremely proud of our
First Lady. (Applause.) She's doing a fabulous
job. She's working on a reading initiative that will have a
profound impact all across America. Right now, she's
worrying about the two dogs and the cat on our ranch in Crawford,
Texas.
We love our ranch in Crawford,
Texas. But I must say, after having been in Estes Park --
(laughter and applause) -- it's good to get out of
Washington. (Laughter.) I love my
job. I want to thank all of you here who helped me become
the President. It's a huge honor.
But it's also a -- and I like going to the
Oval Office every day. As you can imagine, walking into this
great office is -- it's hard to describe how I feel every morning.
But it's also important to get out and see
the people, too. It's important to keep balance and
perspective. We find that on our ranch in Central Texas, and
I find it as I travel the heartland. No better place to come
than the great state of Colorado, where people are down to earth and
work hard and adhere to great American values. And I want to
thank you for the warm welcome I received today. (Applause.)
I appreciate so very much traveling today
with United States Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell. He is a
-- he is an interesting man -- (laughter) -- who I'm proud to call,
friend. He brings a lot of class to the United States Senate
and he represents your state with a lot of dignity. (Applause.)
I want to thank the members of the
Congressional delegation who are here, as well: Scott
McInnis, who just came off Mount McKinley today to say hello to his
President. I want to thank you,
Scott. (Applause.) I traveled today with Tom
Tancredo and Bob Schaffer, as well. Both of these men -- all
three of these men are good, solid citizens in the United States
Congress and I appreciate their friendship, I appreciate their advice
-- I get a lot of advice from members of Congress these
days. (Laughter.)
Most of all, I appreciate their
votes. Thank you all for being here. (Applause.)
I want to thank my friend, Joe Rodgers,
the Lieutenant Governor of the state of Colorado, for being
here. Thank you, Joe. (Applause.) And
Mr. Chairman, thank you for your leadership. Where is
he? There he is, down there. I appreciate you
taking on -- (applause) -- I appreciate you toiling in the trenches, I
appreciate you make sure Colorado remains in the public -- Republican
camp in 2002. (Applause.)
I'm here to help two good men get
reelected. I appreciate you all's work helping them get
reelected. There's no finer Governor in the United States
than Bill Owens. (Applause.) Jeb Bush isn't all
that bad. (Laughter.) But he's done a great
job. He is the kind of fellow you want in office because he
does what he says he's going to do.
That sounds pretty simple to people from
the outside, but a lot of times in the political process, that's not
the way it works. A lot of times, you have candidates
running for office who say one thing and they don't mean
it. They go out and tell the people all across the state
that they're going to do something for education, but they really don't
mean it -- or they can't get it done.
This is a man who has done in office what
he said he would do. He's cut the taxes, he's made education
a priority and you need to send him back, you need to put him back in
the Statehouse. (Applause.) Plus, he married
well. (Laughter.) Frances is a great First Lady
for the state of Colorado. (Applause.)
Bill is going to work hard, I
know. And he's going to run on a positive agenda; that's
what the people want. He told me today on the airplane that
although he's done a lot for education, he's going to continue to stay
on education. And we're going to help him with a good bill
out of Washington, D.C. that will give more power and flexibility to
the states. Education is his priority, and it needs to be
his priority; it's the people's priority of the state of
Colorado. (Applause.)
And I'm proud to stand up here for Wayne,
as well. He's a good man, he works hard and I need him in
the Senate. I need somebody who I can count on in the United
States Senate. (Applause.)
And Colorado needs him in the
Senate. Colorado needs a man who understands natural
resources and who brings balance to the issue. Colorado needs a man
who understands energy. Colorado needs a fiscal conservative
in the United States Senate. Colorado needs a common sense
man, and that man is Wayne Allard. (Applause.)
Let me say one other
thing. It's much better to have two United States senators
who will have their phone call returned from the White House than
one. (Laughter and applause.) It's much better to
have two people working on the state's business, who can work closely
with an administration. It's important to have somebody who
is an ally in the Oval Office, to represent your state. And
I view Wayne as an ally, and I think he views me as an ally of
Colorado. That's important.
And the voters of Colorado have got to
understand the practical aspects of how Washington
works. And it's going to work a lot better for Colorado when
you send Wayne Allard back to the United States Senate. (Applause.)
We're getting a lot done in the nation's
capital. I can remember watching Washington in the so-called
days of gridlock, and the anger and the finger-pointing, and say, we
can do better than that. This great land of ours needs a
government that is more willing to listen, more respectful tone; so
that when people are coming up in our system they're not discouraged by
what they see.
Democracy depends upon our citizenry
becoming involved. It means that those of us who have been
entrusted with power must set a good tone and a good
example. And we're beginning to get that done in
Washington. Oh, there is still some name-calling and some
finger-pointing and some gnashing of teeth. But it's getting
better.
And one reason it's getting better is
because we're getting some things done, starting with a meaningful,
real tax cut for the American
people. (Applause.) I can remember in the course
of the campaign people would say, well, he's just saying it, he doesn't
mean that. But it's reality. And it needed to be
reality, because our economy began to slow down. And one of
the things a common sense administration does is solve problems.
And one way you solve the problem of an
economic slow-down is give people some of their money
back. That's called good, sound fiscal policy. (Applause.)
Today, when we were riding on the road up
to Estes Park, I was so proud to see a lot of citizens holding that
sign up saying, thanks for the $600, Mr. President. But you
know what? It wasn't my $600 to give. It was
their money in the first place. (Applause.)
I think we're finally making the point in
Washington that the so-called surplus is not the government's money; it
is the people's money. And when we've got too much of it in
Washington, we're going to send it back to the people who pay the
bills. (Applause.)
And I want to thank Wayne for his help on
repealing the estate tax. That tax was punitive, it's unnecessary and
we're finally going to get rid of it in the tax code of the United
States. (Applause.)
You hear a lot of them talking in
Washington about, oh, the tax cut might cause a
deficit. No. What causes a deficit is too much
spending. (Applause.) And we've got a good budget in place
and I expect the United States Congress to adhere to the budget we have
in place. And if they try to over-spend -- I know none of
the members up here will -- but I can assure you, when we get back this
fall, if they try to bust the budget, you'll have a President who will
veto those budget-busting bills. (Applause.)
There's a new day in Washington,
D.C. It used to be they'd have a bidding contest to see who
could get out of town first. Those days are
over. We've set a responsible budget, passed by both the
House and the Senate. And I expect members of both political
parties to adhere to that budget. It's the best way to make
sure our economy recovers -- sending money back to the taxpayers and
having fiscal sanity in the halls of government in Washington,
D.C. (Applause.)
We passed an education bill, that was one
of my top priorities. It's a bill that's going to make our
schools better. It's a bill that gives more flexibility at
the local level, it consolidates programs. But it also does
something that you've done here in Colorado: it challenges
the soft bigotry of low expectations. It says every child
can learn. And we believe that we must measure to determine
whether or not every child is learning.
This piece of federal legislation says,
for the first time, if you take any federal money, you, the state, must
measure; you must show us whether or not children are learning to read
and write and add and subtract. And if they are, there will
be ample praise. But if not, we will not stand idly
by. We will not continue to fund failure. There
are no second-rate children in America and there are no second-rate
dreams, as far as this administration is
concerned. (Applause.)
Oh, I've heard all the complaints about
testing. They say, there's too much government if you
test. But we're results-oriented people. We
expect there to be a return on taxpayers' money. We want to
know if we're spending money on the schools out of Washington, D.C.,
are you spending money on the schools out of Colorado? It
seems like it makes sense to ask the question, what are the results.
And then they say, if you test, it's
racist. Folks, let me tell you something as plainly as I
can: it's racist not to test. It's so much easier
to quit on inner-city black kids or kids whose parents may not speak
English as a first language. It's so much easier to shuffle
them through the system. But those days are gone, as far as
this President is concerned. I want every child to learn to
read and write and add and subtract. (Applause.)
I believe every child can learn in
America. And it starts with teaching every child to
read. And that's exactly what we're going to start doing in
America. We're going to ask the governors, like Owens, to
have a reading program based upon sound science -- not based upon some
feel-good curriculum, but based upon what works. Phonics
works, by the way, and it needs to be integrated into the reading
programs all across America. (Applause.)
Ours is the first administration to put
out an energy plan. And we needed an energy
plan. I called upon our good Vice President -- and by the
way, his health is strong and he's a fabulous Vice President of the
United States. (Applause.) He comes from right
around the corner, Wyoming. As he likes to say, who thought
those three electoral votes weren't important? (Laughter and
applause.)
But we've developed an energy policy that
makes sense for America. On the one hand, it says we can do
a better job of conserving our resources, and we must. We
must use the new technologies available, or becoming available, to make
better use of scarce supply of energy. One of the
interesting initiatives we've taken in Washington, D.C. is we've got
these vampire-busting devices.
A vampire is a -- a cell deal you can plug
in the wall to charge your cell phone. And when your cell
phone is not on the charger, even though the charger is plugged in,
it's still eating electricity. So some smart person came
along and developed a cell phone charger that doesn't eat electricity
when the cell phone is not plugged in.
And so our federal government is going to
start using these devices to set the example, to show that we can be
good stewards of our nation's energy. All of us must do a
better job. But make no mistake about it, we need more
supply, as well.
The state of California leads our nation
when it comes to conservation measures. But they ran out of
energy. They're building 12 energy -- 12 power plants, and
that's good, and we helped to expedite the process to get the 12 power
plants built. But those 12 power plants are going to be
powered by natural gas, and this nation better have an administration
that starts asking, where's that gas going to come from if they're
going to power the power plants. We need more supply
available for American consumers, as well. (Applause.)
There's a lot of people who don't have
faith in our technology in America. I have faith in
technology. And like many of you in the energy sector, you
know we can go into parts of Alaska and drill for natural gas, for
precious natural gas, without destroying the
environment. It's time to have a common sense energy policy
for the United States of America. (Applause.)
Ours is an administration that told our
United States military that we would help them remain
strong. And it starts with paying our troops better, and we
have. (Applause.) The budgets we submitted
increased pay, helped on health insurance and improved the housing of
the men and women who wear the uniform. And we're going to
do so in the 2002 budget, as well.
But this is an administration who is not
going to needlessly spend money. We want to spend money on a
clear, strategic vision. We want our military to be a
military not only that can keep the peace today, but a military ready
to keep the peace tomorrow. And so I've asked Secretary
Rumsfeld to prepare a strategic vision for what our military ought to
look like, so when we spend taxpayers' money we spend it wisely.
And along those lines, I appreciate the
support of the members up here who recognize what I recognize, that the
Cold War is over. It's time to discard the treaties that
codified the Cold War and to develop a new strategic relationship with
a country like Russia, so we can more ably keep the
peace. Russia is no longer our enemy. The Cold
War no longer exists. The enemies that the United States face are
terrorists, rogue nations that will develop weapons of mass destruction
and point them at us or our allies, cyberterrorists.
And our defenses must reflect the true
threats facing us. So that's why I was proud to represent
our nation in sitting down with the Russian President. And I
told him, I said, Mr. President, you're not our enemy and, therefore,
we need to get rid of the ABM Treaty; we need to have a new way of
thinking, a way that will allow a peaceful nation like the United
States to develop the necessary defenses to protect our people, our
allies, our friends all around the world.
It's time to think differently about the
defense of the United States of America. There are some at
this table who -- all at this table who support me, but some in the
United States Senate are nervous about getting rid of the relics of the
Cold War. And I don't agree with them. I don't
agree with them.
And the reason I don't is because I
understand the intention of America. We love the
peace. We're a nation that relies upon strength to keep the
peace. We're a nation that says we can develop the
technologies necessary to make the entire world more
peaceful. It's my pledge to the American people; it's my
pledge to our allies overseas; and it's a pledge I intend to
keep. (Applause.)
We're making progress on what they call a
patients' bill of rights, that recognizes that patients need to be more
empowered when it comes to making choices in the medical
field. I say we're making progress because there needs to be
balance in the law. It's important to give our docs and
patients more opportunity to interface and the law will.
But we cannot allow lawsuits to drive up
the cost of medicine, that will force people out of health
insurance. There are too many people uninsured in America
today. (Applause.)
I think we can get a good bill out of the
conference committee. We got one good bill already out of
the House. A not-so-good bill out of the
Senate. I'm hopeful that we can come together and get a good
bill that I can sign, that will bring balance to health care.
And, finally, we're making great progress
in Washington, D.C. on a very important initiative. It's
called the faith-based and community development
initiative. It's an initiative that really takes welfare a
step beyond where we are today.
First of all, we recognize there are lot
of people hurt in America; people who have lost hope and faith in our
country; people that don't believe the American Dream was meant for
them; people hooked on drugs and are destitute. We should
never give up on those folks in our country. We're a compassionate
nation and we're a wealthy nation. And we ought to focus our
resources and compassion so it helps.
But governments can't make people love one
another. I wish we could -- I'd sign the law, Allard would
sponsor it, Nighthorse would vote for it and I would sign
it. But the good news is, we are a loving nation. There's a
lot of people who have heard the call to love their neighbor just like
they'd like to be loved themselves.
We're a nation, the fabric of which is
created by little communities of conscience all over
America. I was at one today, at the YMCA Camp in Estes Park,
a place where they teach children right from wrong by teaching
values. There are drug treatment programs all across our
country who rely upon faith. They change a person's heart
and that person changes their lives.
We've got prison ministries that are
helping prisoners find the walk. We've got all kinds of faith-based
initiatives that are literally changing our country one heart, one
soul, one conscious at a time. And the federal government
must not fear faith-based programs in America. We must
empower them. We must welcome them into all neighborhoods,
to make sure the American Dream reaches across every
neighborhood. (Applause.)
My dream for America is to usher in a
period of personal responsibility; a culture that rejects the old times
that said if it feels good, do it, and if you've got a problem, blame
somebody else. I believe there's a better culture for the
country. It's one that says each of us must be responsible
for the decisions we make in life.
If you're a mom or a dad, you're
responsible for your child. The most important job you'll
ever have is to love your child with all your heart and all your
soul. If you're a neighbor -- got a neighbor in need, it's
up to you, not your government, to help the neighbor in
need. Be responsible with our
environment. Responsible by supporting teachers in the
school system. Be a responsible citizen.
But it starts with having responsible
leadership. And that's why I'm so proud to stand and
represent and urge for the reelection of Wayne Allard and Bill Owens,
who are responsible citizens, who bring dignity and honor to the
offices to which they have been elected. (Applause.)
It's an honor to be here. May
God bless you all and may God bless America. (Applause.)
END 7:05 P.M. MDT
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