For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
March 12, 2002
Remarks by the President at Reception for "Keep Our Majority" PAC
Constitution Hall
Washington, D.C.
6:45 P.M. EST
THE PRESIDENT: I am here because I am most interested in
making sure Denny Hastert remains Speaker of the
House. (Applause.) It's in the nation's interest
that he remain Speaker of the House.
And there's a reason why. First, he's a high quality
person. I don't know if you all know this, but he was a
wrestling coach at one time. (Laughter.) He's the perfect
Speaker. (Laughter.) He's a steady man; he's a
joy to work with. I trust him, I trust his judgment.
I really appreciate his can-do spirit. Denny's the kind
of person that comes in the Oval Office and asks the question, "How can
we get something done on behalf of the American people?" And
I appreciate that attitude a lot. You know, some folks up
here are looking for a fight. Denny's a guy looking for results.
And the record speaks pretty clearly. I remember first
coming up here, and I told Denny that we've got to work together to get
a tax cut for the American people. He said, you
bet. And as a result of his leadership, we got a tax cut for
the American people, right at the right time. (Applause.)
History will judge that the tax cut was timely. It's a
pretty simple theory, but one that works, and that is if the economy is
slowing down, like it was, if you give people their own money back,
that creates demand. And demand creates production, and production
equals jobs. And as a result of Denny's leadership, we
passed important economic relief, called tax relief.
Some of them up here must be reading a different economics textbook
than Denny and I are. There's a -- for
a while, they were talking about either stopping the tax
relief -- which I view as a tax increase; you
never raise taxes in the midst of a recession, and Denny understands
that, and I appreciate that. (Applause.)
We worked together on a really good education bill. We
had some photos taken earlier, and one lady came through, said she was
a teacher. I want to tell her, and I want to tell everybody
else, that education has got to be one of the top domestic priorities,
regardless of political party. And as a result of working closely
together, we passed a substantial piece of education reform.
It is really good legislation. It is one that sets high
standards; that refuses to accept mediocrity for any child; that
challenges a system that quits on children early and just moves them
through. That's not going to happen in America anymore, as
far as we're concerned. We
say -- we'll fund education, we'll focus money on
where the needs are most, particularly amongst poor, the poor.
But we expect everybody to learn. Not only do we expect
everybody to learn, we firmly believe everybody can learn.
We've got a great reading initiative as a part of this
bill. Denny understands what I know, that reading is the new
civil right. If you can't read, you're going to be left
behind. And we were deadly serious when we said no child
will be left behind in America, and it starts with making sure every
child learns to read.
We're on a mission here in America to achieve that
objective. It, of course, trusts the local
people -- I mean, lest you think I forgot where I
came from. I trust the governors and the local school
districts more than I trust people in Washington, D.C., about educating
children. So not only did we set high standards, we passed
power out of Washington, D.C. One size doesn't fit all. And
if we expect to achieve excellence, we've got to trust local
folks. And that's exactly the spirit of this bill.
As well, Denny understands the need to stimulate our economy even
further. On the one hand, we want to make sure those whose
lives were adversely affected on 9/11 receive help. But
people in America don't want an unemployment check; they want a
permanent paycheck. And, therefore, as a result of his
steadfast leadership, I had the honor of signing an economic
stimulus package last Saturday in the Rose Garden, a package that not
only helps workers but provides incentive for people to develop plant
and equipment, which means jobs.
In other words, Denny understood what I understood: jobs
is the center of any good economic development plan. And Mr.
Speaker, thanks to your steadfast leadership, I was able to sign a very
good economic stimulus bill. (Applause.)
He's the kind of fella that doesn't say much, which is unusual here
in Washington. (Laughter.) He lets results speak
for themselves.
History is going to show as well, we had a substantial legislative
session in the House. As you know, as a result of the
Speaker's leadership, we took a giant stride for improving our energy
situation here in America. On the one hand, we encouraged
more conservation, and the development and modernization of
infrastructure. But on the other hand, we understand we've
got to find more oil and gas in an environmentally friendly way here in
America.
The energy bill that passed the House was a really good piece of
legislation. It is in our national security that we become
less dependent on foreign sources of crude oil, and Denny Hastert
understood that.
As well, we passed a good trade bill out of the House of
Representatives. It's a bill that has got confidence in the
productivity of American farmers and American workers. It
says that if you're confident, you open up markets. If
you're confident, you encourage trade as opposed to
protectionism. And thanks to the Speaker's leadership, we
got trade promotion authority out of the House of Representatives.
Thanks to the Speaker's leadership, we're focusing on research and
development, and at the same time send a firm clear
message: we will ban cloning in America. Thanks
to the Speaker's leadership, we passed a faith-based initiative, which
recognizes that there are some in our society who hurt, badly hurt,
badly hurt, and that the next step of good welfare reform is to rally
the armies of compassion all across America, to encourage faith-based
programs to help people who have got significant needs in our society.
The last four pieces of
legislation -- energy, trade, cloning, as well as
faith-based initiative -- passed the House, but
they haven't gotten out of the Senate yet. Denny Hastert is
a can-do leader that focuses not on the political parties, but focuses
on what's best for America. And it's good for our country
that he's the Speaker of the House of
Representatives. (Applause.)
I submitted a budget that recognizes our nation is in a long
struggle for freedom. And Denny understands
that. He understands that my most important
job -- and as a significant leader, his most
important job -- is to make sure the enemy doesn't attack
America again; that our most important job is to protect innocent life
here in our country.
We've got a great homeland defense strategy that the Speaker and I
have been working on, as well as working with Tom Ridge. But
I want to assure you all that I know this fact: that the
best way to secure the homeland is to find the enemy, wherever he tries
to hide, and bring them to justice. And that's precisely
what we're going to do here in America. (Applause.)
I gave a speech the other day, and I talked about the fact that
we've accomplished the first stage of our mission, and that is we
liberated a country from the clutches of one of the most barbaric
regimes in the history of mankind. We unleashed our mighty
military, along with coalition forces, and we routed out the
Taliban. (Applause.) I can't tell you how proud I
am -- I'm so proud of our military, men and women
who are making huge sacrifice on behalf of freedom, and they have not
let us down.
We're now in another phase of this war, which is to deny the enemy,
the al Qaeda, and any other affiliated terrorist group, any sanctuary
anywhere in the world. We want them on the
run. We want them to be treated like the international
terrorists and international criminals that they are. And,
therefore, our policy not only continues to focus on Afghanistan, we
have just finished -- or are in the midst of
wrapping up a significant battle in Afghanistan where we have achieved
a mighty victory.
We've lost life, and for those lives we mourn. And I
hope those family members understand that the lost life was for a giant
cause -- and that is the freedoms we hold
dear. But we're not through in Afghanistan. Any time we
find al Qaeda or like-minded killers bunched up, we're going to get
'em. We'll be steady, we'll be relentless, we'll be
resolved, we will not blink. I will continue to lead this
coalition. History has called us into action and we're not
going to miss this opportunity to make the world more peaceful.
And so whether it be in Afghanistan or in Yemen or in the
Philippines, perhaps in Georgia, this mighty nation will use our
resources to deny sanctuary to anybody who thinks they can harm the
United States of America or our friends or our allies.
And there is a large cause at hand, as well. And Denny
understands this. This great nation must never allow the
world's most dangerous regimes to develop the world's most dangerous
weapons and hook-up with terrorist
organizations. (Applause.) I made that pretty clear to the
world. I will continue to make that clear. This
nation must speak clearly and strongly for universal
values. We must never waver in our love for
freedom. We must never waver in our disdain for those who
use murder to achieve political ends. And so long as I'm the
President, I promise you I will be steadfast and strong in the face of
evil.
And the good thing about America is that the nation understands
this. We're a united nation. We're bound together,
regardless of political party or where we live, by this common love for
freedom. And America understands the stakes, and they
recognize that history has called us into action. And for
that I am most grateful to the American people. It is such
an honor to be the President of such a great land.
As well, American people are beginning to show the world that we're
a compassionate nation as well, that we're a kind and decent
people. We're tough on the battlefield; we're really
tough. But also at home, neighbors love neighbors more than
ever before. And I like to remind my fellow citizens that if
you're interested in joining the war against terror, love a neighbor
just like you'd like to be loved yourself.
You see, it's the gathering momentum of millions of acts of
kindness and decency that define our country, and allow me to say that
good stands squarely in the face of evil.
We're a good people. We're a strong
people. We're a resolute people. And we're a people who
will not be deterred in our desire to not only protect our homeland,
but to make the world more peaceful for generations to come.
It is an honor to be here with a great man, the Speaker of the
House, and it is an honor to be the President of the greatest nation on
the face of the earth. God bless. (Applause.)
END 7:03
P.M. EST
|