For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
August 20, 2001
Remarks by the President to the Veterans of Foreign Wars
Annual Convention
Midwest Express Center
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
11:20 A.M. CDT
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you
all. (Applause.) Thank you very
much. At ease. (Laughter.)
Thank you for that warm
welcome. Before I begin my address, I know you'll want to
join me in paying tribute to a fine friend and a good man who left us
last week. We mourn the loss of Floyd Spence, who served our
country well as a congressman from South Carolina and was chairman of
the Committees on National Security and on the Armed Services, a senior
member of the Committee on Veterans Affairs. He was a strong
advocate for national defense. Our prayers are with his
wife, Deborah, and his four sons. (Applause.)
My, time flies. I was here a
year ago, minus one day. (Laughter.) Since then, I have had
a change of address -- (laughter and applause) -- and I received a
great honor. Another honor comes to me today, to speak as
Commander-in-Chief to the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States
of America. (Applause.)
Today, I bring the respect of our nation,
and a special greeting from one of your own members, from VFW Post 4344
of Houston, Texas, the former President, George H.W.
Bush. (Applause.)
I want to thank your
Commander-in-Chief. John has been in the Oval Office. He is
a true advocate for the veterans. He has done a fine job.
(Applause.) And, like me, he married well. (Applause.)
And I want to congratulate John's
successor, Jim Goldsmith. And I look forward to working with
Jim, just as I have with John. (Applause.)
I also want to thank Bob
Wallace. I want to thank Bob Wallace, the VFW's man in
Washington, D.C., for working closely with my administration and
representing your interests very well. (Applause.)
I want to thank Pat Jankowski of the
Ladies Auxiliary who are gathered here as well in Milwaukee, and I want
to thank her for her leadership. (Applause.) And I want to
congratulate Diana Stout, who will become the incoming president of the
Ladies Auxiliary. (Applause.)
As well, I want to thank the governor of
Wisconsin, Scott McCallum for his hospitality, and I want to thank all
the good people of Wisconsin, particularly Milwaukee for being such a
welcoming city to this great convention. (Applause.)
I want to pay tribute to a good friend of
mine and a good friend of yours, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs,
Tony Principi. (Applause.) Last year, he was
giving me advice about veterans affairs. This year, he sits
around the Cabinet, making sure I understand what we are doing in
veterans affairs. (Applause.) And I appreciate so very much
Tony's return to public service. He is doing a fine job.
I want to thank you all for having me come
to this convention. I have been looking forward to this
visit. I appreciate every chance I get to travel our
country. It is important for a president never to become
isolated in the seat of power. As great and influential as
that city is, sometimes the President just has to get out of Crawford,
Texas. (Laughter and applause.)
This is a fine
organization. General Douglas MacArthur called the VFW the
greatest organization in the world. He and his dad were both
members, and they would be proud of all you have done for your country,
and they would be proud of the more than 1.9 million members of the
VFW. (Applause.)
Each one of you is a living example of a
special kind of patriotism, the love of country, expressed not just in
word but in lifetimes of service. You defended America in hours of
need. You help your fellow veterans in times of their
need. And you have done so much to build the character of
our young people, to teach them to live by good values, to honor their
parents, to trust in God. You helped them to appreciate
freedom, to love America, and to respect our flag.
You understand as well that showing a
basic respect for our nation's flag is not merely the option of every
citizen, it should be a matter of constitutional
law. (Applause.)
In Europe last month, one of my last stops
was Camp Bondsteel in Kosovo. I went there to thank our
servicemen and women for their sacrifice for our nation. I took the
occasion to make good on a promise, by signing a bill to allocate over
$2 billion in additional appropriations for military pay, benefits,
health and housing. (Applause.)
To restore the strength and morale of
America's armed forces, we must first take care of the people who wear
our uniform. (Applause.) I believe we're making
every branch of service a place where men and women are proud to serve,
and as importantly, proud to stay. (Applause.)
My administration understands America's
obligations not only go to those who wear the uniform today, but to
those who wore the uniform in the past: to our
veterans. And at times, those obligations have not been
met. (Applause.) Veterans in need of care have been kept waiting, and
thousands of veterans' claims have been delayed, or in some cases lost
in the bureaucracy.
Many veterans have observed that the
government seemed to work a lot more efficiently when it wanted
something from them. When the Draft Board got your file, it
worked efficiently. (Laughter.) But now, when you
need health care, forms get lost and answers come late. That
is no way to treat America's veterans, and that is going to
change. (Applause.)
Secretary Principi is conducting a
top-to-bottom review of the claims processing. Currently,
there are about 600,000 pending applications, of which 53,000 have been
pending over a year. Many of those belong to veterans over
70 years of age. That's not right. I have given
Secretary Principi the clearest of clear mandates. He must
bring those claims to a speedy and fair resolution. We must move as
quickly as possible on the backlog, and we will. (Applause.) We will
improve cooperation between the VA and the Department of Defense in
providing care to those who served.
In May, I signed an executive order
creating a presidential task force to recommend major reforms in the
delivery of health care to veterans in military
retirees. Two distinguished Americans will lead that task
force. Dr. Gail Wilensky, an expert on health policy and a
faithful friend to the veterans, and former Congressman Jerry
Solomon. One might be tempted to call him an ex-Marine, but
we all know there is no such thing as an ex-Marine. (Applause.)
We are making great progress on
implementing the Veterans Millennium Health Care Act to ensure that our
veterans receive high-quality care. In the budget I
submitted to Congress, I requested an increase of $1 billion,
additional money for veterans services. Secretary Principi
recently announced new health care facilities for
veterans. Six new centers for Parkinson's disease, research
and care, and 41 new outpatient clinics in 28
states. Veterans are a priority. (Applause.)
Veterans are a priority for this
administration. I put a good man in charge, and that
priority is reflected in my budget. Our budget also meets
the most fundamental responsibility a President bears, to provide
security for the United States of America. Not only does the
budget take care of our people, we give today's military what it needs
to operate, equipment, spare parts, advanced training.
In all, I've asked Congress to provide our
military an increase of $39 billion over the original 2001
appropriations. This is the largest increase in military
spending since Ronald Reagan was the Commander-in-Chief. (Applause.)
We are not only going to spend more on national defense, we're also
going to spend it more wisely.
Secretary Rumsfeld is charged with
developing a strategy to bolster today's military and he is charged
with developing a strategy to develop a military that is ready to
defend America tomorrow as well. A modern military requires
major investment in research and development, so that our military is
always the finest in the world. (Applause.)
And something I offered last year as a
promise is today a commitment, to research, develop and deploy a
defense against ballistic missiles. (Applause.) These are the
priorities I submitted to Congress in February and priorities reflected
to the budget amendment in June. I trust they will be
reflected in the appropriations bills Congress sends me this fall for
my signature.
As we enter the appropriations process, I
have great hopes, but no illusions. Washington has its own
way of doing things, especially around the time of year when final
appropriations are made. The spending bills are passed one
after another, 13 in all. Everybody in Washington knows
there is a budget. But new spending gets thrown in along the way.
Finally, when it is time to pass the last
bill, they realize they are just about to go over the
budget. And often, and sadly, the final bill has been the
Defense Appropriations Bill. And, therefore, defense
appropriations has gone without adequate funding. That's the
old way of doing business. That's old style of thinking.
I have a better idea. Let's
abandon the old ways of gamesmanship, standoffs and government
shutdowns. Let us keep our priorities strait and start with
the things that matter most to our country's security and our country's
future. This year, let us have responsible spending from day
one and put the national security and education of our children first
in line when it comes to the appropriations
process. (Applause.)
I hope you all -- I hope you all watch
very carefully. It's important that people pay attention to
what goes on in Washington. It will be an interesting signal
about the priorities of the leaders of the United States Congress when
they let those appropriation bills out to come to my desk. I'm
confident I can work with Congress on appropriations, because we have
worked closely together on other issues. We saw bipartisan
votes on the budget itself. And they passed and I signed and the
mailman is delivering the first major income tax relief in a
generation. (Applause.) And we also work together
in honoring veterans.
Members of the VFW have long advocated a
fitting memorial to those who served in the Second World
War. The World War II Memorial has been in the works for an
awfully long time. The final obstacles have been
removed. I've signed it into law, and soon the veterans of
World War II will have their place of honor in the heart of our
nation's capital. (Applause.)
In the heart of Washington, D.C., that
monument will stand for all time as a reminder of service and
sacrifice. Not far away are monuments to those who fought in
other wars across the world. For all of you, service in time
of war was a defining experience in your life. Your brave
and selfless conduct has defined the best of our country.
America does not seek to produce more
generations of war veterans; we are a peaceful nation. But
we'll always need the commitment and courage and honor that we find in
our veterans. Those who have worn the uniform have made a
contribution, not just to the defense of our nation, but to the
character of our nation. You've given your best to America
and in so many ways you are the best that is in America.
For all that, you have the deep respect of
those who wear the uniform today, the Commander-in-Chief as
well. And you have the gratitude of a nation that is in
debt. Thank you for letting me come. May God
bless our veterans. (Applause.)
END
11:24 A.M.CDT
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