For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
June 28, 2001
Remarks by the President at the President's Dinner
D.C. Convention Center
Washington, D.C.
7:30 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you
all. Please be seated. Mr. Vice President, 11
months ago I made the smartest decision I could make when it came to
politics. I picked you to become the Vice
President. What a good man this guy is, and what a great job
he's done for America. (Applause.)
I think you're the one over there with the
light shining off your head. (Laughter.) Oh yes,
there you are. But I do know you're sitting next to a
fabulous woman. Lynne Cheney is a great friend of Laura and
mine, and we're real proud that she is a part of our team as well.
(Applause.)
Speaking about Laura, I can't tell you how
proud I am of the job she's doing on behalf of the citizens of
America. She is a -- not only a fantastic mother
and wife, but a truly wonderful First Lady for America.
(Applause.) We would like to stay for dinner, but we've got
to go home and feed Barney, the dog. (Laughter.)
I'm really proud to be here at what used to be
called the House-Senate Dinner. And I've glad to have
something to do with the name change. (Applause.) But this
name -- the dinner's name wouldn't have changed without the help of a
lot of people in this room. And I want to thank you, and the
American people, for giving me a chance to be the President of the
greatest nation on the face of the earth. (Applause.)
I want to thank Roger Enrico for his hard
work. I want to thank Tommy Loeffler and George Allen and
Jim McCrery as well. I want to thank my friends, the Speaker
of the House and soon to be Majority Leader of the Senate, Speaker
Hastert and Trent Lott. It is such a pleasure to be able to
work with two men, to try to do what's right for
America. And I want to thank you all for coming, make no
mistake about it. This dinner has one goal in mind, to make
sure Denny Hastert remains the Speaker of the House, and to make sure
Trent Lott is the Majority Leader of the United States Senate.
And we've got a reason why. This
just isn't politics. There's a reason why we need to make
sure we remain strong in the Senate. And I want to thank the
senators who are here tonight. And the reason why we need to
remain strong in the House -- and I want to thank the House members who
are here tonight -- and the reason why is because we have an agenda
that is positive for America. We have a philosophy that is
conservative and compassionate. Ours is a party that stands
on principle. And ours is a party that's getting things done
for the American people.
You know, there's a lot of talk in this town
-- people like to hold press conferences; people like to call people
names. Well, what I like to do is to point out that when we
work together, we can make some serious progress on behalf of the
American people.
Take tax reform. Gosh, I remember
in the campaign -- Dick will tell you -- when we used to talk about tax
reform, and there would be a collective yawn by the people that made
the news. Our opponents said it was a foolhardy
effort. But as a result of working together, and as a result
of listening to the American people, I was able to sign in the White
House, in record time, the first broad-based tax relief in a
generation. (Applause.)
It would not have happened had the Speaker and
the Leader and members of the Senate and House been willing to work
together, to do what's right for America. And what's right
for America at this point in history is to trust the people with their
own money. What was right for America is to understand these
projected surpluses were not the government's money, it was the
people's money. And we've got to trust the people with their
own money. (Applause.)
We worked together to put a plan out that was
fair. Gosh, I remember all the old, tired talk in Washington
about targeted tax relief. It meant that a handful of people
got to decide who the winners and losers were in the tax
code. We didn't think that was fair. We came with
the simple principle that if we were going to have tax relief,
everybody in America who paid taxes ought to get tax
relief. And so the bill I signed reduced all taxes, on every
taxpayer in America. (Applause.)
We recognized the marriage penalty was
unfair. After all, what kind of tax code is it that
penalizes marriage. Ours is a party that stands for strong
families in America. And so we did something about the
marriage penalty, and we did away with the death tax in the tax
code. (Applause.)
Ours was a plan based upon
principles. The role of government is not to create wealth,
the role of government is to create an environment in which the small
business can grow, or the entrepreneur can flourish. Tax
relief sent a clear message that we understand the role of capital in
our society and we want to provide capital for small business owners,
regardless of their background, regardless of where they're from --
because the American Dream is really about owning something.
And to the entrepreneurs all across the
country we say loud and clear, we understand what you're going through
and we want to stand side-by-side with you. Tax relief was
principled in and it said, we trust the people of
America. We said loud and clear, when it came to budgeting
we would budget a fair amount of money for the federal government, we'd
meet the basics, which we did. But with any money left over,
we wanted the American people to have the right to spend their own
money. You see, we trust the people of
America. We'd rather the American people be making decisions
for their families, as opposed to the federal government.
We also had a plan that was necessary at this
point in our economic history. Oh, you're hearing all kinds
of second-guessing now about the tax relief plan. But what
you can't second-guess is that our economy has slowed
down. And one of our jobs -- the Vice President's and my job
is to solve problems. And a way to handle an economic
slowdown is through good, sound fiscal policy, and by passing money
back to people this summer through tax rebates. And by
reducing the rates on everybody who pays taxes, we've sent a clear
message to entrepreneurs and capital and workers all around the
country, we're going to do something about the economic slowdown.
Tax relief is important to provide second wind
for the economic growth of the United States of
America. (Applause.) I want to remind people it
was conservative to cut taxes, but it was compassionate, as well.
I remember traveling our country, endlessly,
seeking the vote. And nearly every stop there were people
there that were tax families -- hardworking Americans who were
struggling to get ahead. People who were trying to cope with
their high energy bills, or trying to get out from underneath their
credit card debt. Moms and dads who were hoping for a bright
future for their children. I can remember looking in the
eyes of our fellow citizens at every stop, and saying to myself, I
can't wait to go to Washington and to work with Congress to pass money
back, so these good folks have got more of their hard-earned dollars to
spend on their families.
Tax families made a huge impact on me as I
campaigned across the country. I can't wait to get on the
phone and see whether or not they like their tax rebate check when they
start getting them this summer. I suspect they
will. (Applause.)
And I remember traveling our country to
hundreds of classrooms all across America, as well, and meeting
dedicated teachers. And one of the things Laura is doing is
she's traveling the nation recruiting youngsters and people who have
just gotten out of the military to become a teacher. We need more
teachers in America. We need to thank our teachers all
across our land.
But we've also got to make sure we have an
education system that's focused on results; an education system that
holds up every child; an education system that believes every child can
learn. And so we worked with the United States Congress to
pass meaningful, real education reform. It's a reform package that
says not only should we set high standards, but we ought to trust local
people to chart the path for excellence for every single child.
It's an education plan that focuses on each
individual by insisting that school districts and states measure, so
that we know. The old way used to say, how old are you, and
if you're 10 we'll put you in the 4th grade, and if you're 12 we'll
move you here, and if you're 14, gosh, you're supposed to be
here. But once we get this bill out of the Senate and the
House conference committees and on my desk, America will start to ask
the question, what do you know? And if you don't know what
you're supposed to know, we'll make sure you do, early, before it's too
late. There are no second-rate children in America, as far
as we're concerned. And there are no second-rate
dreams. (Applause.)
Mine is a job that will leave us with vivid
memories and great experiences. There's no vivid a memory
than I had when the EP-3 crew came to the White House. They
were all dressed in their sparkling whites. They were proud
to be Americans, and I was proud to welcome them to the most sacred
office in our land. I was really proud to be able to tell
the pilot what a fantastic job he did, of taking a damaged aircraft and
saving the lives of his crew members. (Applause.)
Whether it be greeting the EP-3 crew or
inspecting the troops as Commander-in-Chief, I'm reminded of what one
of my principal jobs is, and to make sure the world is a more peaceful
place. And we believe it starts with having a military
that's properly paid, properly housed, and properly trained -- prepared
to fight and win war, and therefore, prevent war from happening in the
first place. (Applause.)
Today I submitted up to Congress an amendment
to the 2002 budget, which will increase military spending by $32.6
billion over the 2001 budget. It is my administration's
commitment to a strong national defense. And at the same time, I'm
proud of my Secretary of Defense's review of our military, to make sure
that we're focused, and make sure that taxpayers' dollars go into
weapons systems that will be needed to keep the peace as we head into
the 21st century.
I had the honor of representing our nation
recently in Europe, where I had a chance to explain what it meant to
develop new weapons systems to keep the peace. Perhaps the
most meaningful discussion I had was in a beautiful country called
Slovenia. You ought to go there sometime. It is
picturesque. I told the President I'd put a plug in for
him. (Laughter.) It is unbelievably beautiful
country. And there I had the honor of meeting President
Putin of Russia.
It was a fascinating discussion. I
explained to him that ours was a peaceful nation. We didn't
view Russia as an enemy. Mine is an administration that
wants to discard the old way of thinking that took place during the
Cold War. In the old days, peace was achieved by figuring
out how many weapons we could point at each other. But I
explained to President Putin, Russia is no longer the
threat. The threat to Russia, or the threat to the United
States, or the threat to freedom-loving people will come as a result of
a leader of a rogue nation having weapons of mass
destruction. And therefore, to keep the peace we must think
differently.
I explained to him that history, past history
was no longer relevant to the future; that two young leaders should
seize the moment and make the world more peaceful by discarding that
part of the ABM Treaty that prevents the United States from doing the
research and development necessary to deploy effective antiballistic
missile systems to keep the peace. (Applause.)
And it's been my honor to travel our country
and to see the great acts of compassion that take place every single
day, without one government law telling people what to do. I
remember going to Tampa, Florida for a Habitat For Humanity building
site. I had the privilege of raising the
wall. For those of you who have built a Habitat For Humanity
home, you know the great pride you have when you nail a bunch a nails
and not hit your finger. (Laughter.) And then
stand side-by-side with good, decent citizens, including the homeowner,
to raise the wall. It was such a meaningful moment, because
it reminded me about the great strength of America. And the
great strength of America is America's people.
Ours is a compassionate land, a decent land, a
land where people are motivated by goodwill, good heart, and strong
faith. And so one of the most important initiatives that
we're are discussing in the halls of the United States Congress is an
initiative which will gather the true strength of America -- a
faith-based initiative that says there are people in America who
suffer; they suffer from want and need; they suffer from love and
compassion. It makes sense for our country to welcome
community and faith-based groups into the compassionate delivery of
care and help, if we want the American Dream to extend its reach
throughout every neighborhood in America. (Applause.)
One of my favorite stories is an old story
about a grandfather and his grandson walking along a beach that was
chock-full of starfish. And the young boy picked one of them
up and threw it in the ocean. And the grandfather, looking
down the beach, seeing all the starfish, said, "That's not going to
make any difference." And the young boy looked at his
grandfather and said, "It makes a difference to that
one." And that's how you change America -- one heart, one
soul, one conscience at a time. (Applause.)
And we can also change America, for those of
us fortunate enough to hold positions of responsibility, by setting
good examples, by working hard to usher in a period of personal
responsibility. We must reject the old cultures which said,
if it feels good, just go ahead and do it; and if you've got a problem,
blame somebody else. Ours is a group of citizens caring
about America who want to work together to usher in a period of
personal responsibility. A period where the moms and dads of
America understand our most important job will be to love our children
with all our hearts and all our souls. A period when each of
us must turn to a neighbor in need and say, what can we do to
help. A period of time when those of us who have been
elected to office understand the high responsibilities of the offices
to which we have been elected.
I welcome a cultural shift in
America. I'm going to work hard to call all those who care
about our nation to join me in changing the culture, and join me in
ushering in a period of personal responsibility. And I want
you to know that assuming the responsibility of President is a high
honor, an honor I hold dearly, an honor I hold sacred, and an honor I
will not abrogate to the American people.
Thank you for coming tonight, and God
bless. (Applause.)
END
7:48 P.M. EDT
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