For Immediate Release
Office of the Vice President
June 20, 2003
VP's Remarks to the Independent Petroleum Association of America
The Mizner Center Grand Ballroom, Boca Raton Resort and Club
Boca Raton, Florida
12:09 P.M. EDT
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Thank you. (Applause.) Thank you, Diemer.
I think -- I had forgotten half of what you just laid on the
folks. (Laughter.) But, no, it's true when the President asked
me to be his running mate the first time, I said, no, I don't think I
want to get back into politics. I think I'm happy right where I'm at
here at Halliburton -- nice steady employment in the oil business.
(Laughter.)
And then he came back and he said, well, then, will you help me
with the search? And I said, certainly, I'd be happy to do that.
And we got down to the end of the search, he said he wanted my name on
the list. And I can remember going home to my wife, Lynne, saying --
after he'd talked me into taking the job, saying, honey, sell the
house, I quit my job, we're going back into politics. (Laughter.) But
she took it well, and Diemer is right. The President said he wasn't
worried about carrying Wyoming. He got 70 percent there. But
those three electoral votes, along with 500 votes here in Florida,
turned out to be pretty important.
So I'm delighted to be here today, to stand before you as your
Vice President and see the industry is doing well, see a lot of old
friends and customers in the audience here today, as well, too. And
I want to thank all of you for your continued contribution to the
nation's energy security. And I bring you all greetings from our
president, President George W. Bush today. He knows I'm here.
He asked me to be sure and remind you -- especially the Texans in
the crowd that he's -- you're very much in his mind these days as he
wrestles with the energy problems that we face.
I thought what I would do today is spend a little bit of time sort
of reviewing the last two and a half years. I don't mean to get
political or partisan today. I don't want to do that. I have
noticed that the competition is out there fairly aggressively
already this year. And the election campaign is going to be a long
one, I guess, since the election is some 16 months away. But all what
I'd do is take a little bit of time and talk about it, try to put some
perspective on what the last two and a half years have been like
because it has been a remarkable time.
In part, many of our biggest challenges were absolutely
unpredictable or unknowable at the time that we were sworn in. When
the President came into office, of course, with just this 500-vote
margin here in Florida being the difference between victory and
defeat, a lot of the pundits predicted that because of that very small
margin, that the President would have to trim his sails, that he'd have
to pull back. He obviously couldn't be aggressive in terms of having
a really robust agenda, and he'd have to lower his sights, so to
speak, in terms of the issues he was going to pursue.
The people who made that prediction clearly didn't know George
Bush. After two and a half years in office, I think he's
compiled a truly remarkable record -- one that exceeds that of some of
our Presidents after eight years in office. And I wanted to talk a
little bit about that today and go over a few of those items.
Let me begin, first of all, with foreign policy. You know under
the leadership of the President we've been challenged as never
before with respect to the war on terror. It's been 21
months now since the devastating events of 9/11. We've waged
two of the most successful campaigns in the nation's history in
terms of military operations -- freed two nations and liberated
some 50 million people from the yoke of oppression.
In Afghanistan, we removed the repressive Taliban regime from
power, liberated the Afghan people from al Qaeda's murderous grip.
In Iraq, a regime that supported terror, that brutalized its own
people, threatened its neighbors and the peace of the world no longer
exists. And our forces have just in the last few days captured
Saddam's closest advisor, his top aide and personal private
secretary. This man was number four on our most wanted list of Iraqi
leaders, right behind Saddam Hussein and his two sons.
Around the world, nearly half of the al Qaeda leadership has
been captured or killed during that period of time. And those that are
still at large are being hunted down methodically and relentlessly.
You saw in the press this morning that yesterday we got a guilty plea
from a man who was here in the United States functioning as a scout
for al Qaeda, if you will -- plead guilty and will be sentenced
probably to an estimated 15 or 20 years, shortly. So the fact that
this is a worldwide organization I think goes without saying. But
we've also been very successful in wrapping up many elements of it.
One of the things we know is that the enemy is determined to kill
as many Americans as possible, and that they are still seeking to
acquire ever deadlier weapons, including chemical, biological, and, if
possible, nuclear weapons, to use against us. With an enemy like
that, no peace treaty is possible. There's no negotiation that can
put an end to the threat, no policy of containment or deterrence
that will prove effective. The only way to deal with that kind of
threat is to destroy it -- completely and utterly. And the President
is determined to do just that.
The President's also ushered in a new era in foreign policy
by rejecting the artificial distinctions that used to exist
before 9/11 between terrorist groups and those states that
support terror organizations. The Bush doctrine makes clear that
states that support terrorists, that provide sanctuary to
terrorists will be deemed just as guilty as the terrorists themselves
of the acts they commit. If there is anyone in the world today that
doubts the seriousness of the Bush doctrine, I'd urge that person to
consider the fate of the Taliban in Afghanistan, or Saddam Hussein's
regime in Iraq.
The President has also made clear that in a post-Cold War we need
to operate in a way that allows the nation to adapt new strategies
to meet threats from other quarters, as well. The administration
recognized that instead of adding to our security, that the old 1972
Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty hindered our ability to develop and
deploy defenses against missile strikes from rogue states.
That's why in December of 2001, the President gave formal notice
to Russia that we were going to withdraw from that treaty. Many
of the pundits confidently predicted that with that decision, we
would trigger a Russian-American arms race. But once again, they
were proven wrong. Far from embarking on an arms race, in May of 2002,
President Bush and Russia's President Putin signed the Moscow Treaty on
Strategic Offensive Reductions. Under that treaty, the U.S. and
Russia will slash our current levels of strategic arms by
two-thirds by 2012. Both the U.S. and Russia have declared their
intention to cooperate on joint projects in the area of missile
defense.
The President has also acted boldly to transform NATO. The 2003
NATO Summit in Prague just last fall made the most significant
changes in reforms in NATO since its founding, half a century ago.
The U.S. and our allies have agreed to extend NATO eastward and
southward, and to follow the confirmation of -- by following
confirmation by the current members to add seven former communist
countries to NATO: Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, as well
as Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, former republics of the old
Soviet Union. They'll all join NATO next May. In addition to
increasing NATO's military strength, these new NATO members will
bring greater clarity to NATO's purposes and help our most
important alliance deal with the unprecedented dangers posed by rogue
states with weapons of mass destruction and terrorist networks of
global reach.
The President has also asked for and received the largest increase
in defense spending since the Reagan years, an increase combined with
one of the most significant transformations of our military forces in
decades. To defend our country from terrorists and terrorist states,
our armed forces will continue to gain in speed, agility,
precision, and every advantage that we need in order to continue to
dominate on the field of battle.
The fundamental interests of this nation require that we confront
and defeat aggressive threats. Yet as President Bush has said, we
find our greatest security in the advance of human freedom. We stand
for the values that defeat violence and the hope that overcomes
hatred.
In the Middle East, the President has been the first to endorse
the establishment of a Palestinian state, and our Mideast policy
rests on a vision of two states, Israel and Palestine, living
side-by-side in peace and prosperity, can provide security for the
region. Today, Secretary of State Powell is in the region meeting
with Israeli and Palestinian leaders as part of a long-term effort to
turn that vision into reality.
The President is acting with equal boldness and vision on
the domestic front. Since the attacks of 9/11, every level of our
government has taken important steps to protect America against
terrorism. We've put more marshals on airplanes, stepped up
security at ports and border crossings, begun to aggressively address
the dangerous threat of biological warfare, including smallpox,
anthrax, and plague, increased funding for research to develop and
procure ever more effective medical treatment. And we've deployed
environmental detectors to identify weapons of mass destruction,
and increased our public health response capabilities.
We've also carried out the most extensive reorganization of
the federal government since the 1940s when President Truman
united our military forces under the single Department of
Defense. Today, the Department of Homeland Security has the
overriding mission of protecting our fellow Americans against terrorist
threats.
The government's first obligation must always be to protect
the security of the nation. But we also have a responsibility to
ensure the economic security of our nation. And we are moving
forward to meet that responsibility, as well. Shortly after we came
into office, the President won passage of one of the largest tax cuts
in American history. To address the economic fallout from 9/11, he
signed his second tax cut in early 2002. And last month, I had the
privilege of casting the tie-breaking vote to pass the third tax
cut in three years, something that not even Ronald Reagan could
achieve.
The Jobs and Growth Act we passed and signed into law last month
will deliver substantial tax relief to 136 million American
taxpayers. It increases the child credit by up to $400 per child --
from $600 to $1,000; it reduces the marriage penalty; lowers the tax
rate for stockholders with corporate dividends and capital gains to 15
percent; it accelerates to this year the income tax reductions that
had been scheduled to occur later in the decade; increases the
amount of equipment investment that small businesses can write
off, from $25,000 to $100,000. And if they invest more than
$100,000, they receive a 50-percent bonus depreciation, further
reducing the cost of investment.
The jobs and growth plan, we believe, is working. I think
we're starting to see the signs of increased investor confidence
by leaving families and entrepreneurs with more to spend, more to
save, and more to invest. We believe we will restore investor
confidence, increase economic growth, and create new jobs for millions
of Americans.
The Jobs and Growth Act is a major step forward on the
economic agenda, but further steps clearly are required. In order to
bring down the budget deficit that has resulted from the war, from
recession, and from terrorist attacks, we need to hold federal
spending to responsible levels. So spending discipline is crucial, as
well. Our budget for this year calls for an increase in the
discretionary spending that does not exceed 4 percent, roughly the
amount that the average American household income will increase this
year.
We also need to work to prepare our citizens for the new jobs
that the economy will create. The President came to town determined
to bring fundamental reforms to education, and we think we've
succeeded. With a solid bipartisan majority, we passed the No Child
Left Behind Act, which ends the period of low expectations for
American education. It sets high standards for our public schools,
it demands stronger accountability for results. It increases
flexibility and local control and gives parents more options. It
gives schools the resources they need to meet these
challenges. And today we're spending more money on our schools than at
any other time in American history. But we're also requiring
results in return. In short, the President is keeping his promise:
We will leave no child behind.
We're also honoring America's obligation to our senior citizens.
The President has proposed a framework to strengthen and improve
Medicare so that it offers more choices and better benefits for
seniors. Seniors who want to stay in the current Medicare system
should have that option, plus a prescription drug benefit. Seniors
who want enhanced benefits, such as more coverage for preventive
care and other services, should have that choice, as well. And
no so-called reforms must ever be allowed to undermine our system
of private medicine in this nation.
The Senate and the House are moving forward on their
Medicare legislation. The President is confident the houses will
complete action on their respective bills by the Fourth of July
recess. The President looks forward to having a bill on his desk
that provides our seniors with the prescription drug benefits and
choices they need and that they deserve as soon as possible.
The President also wants to fix America's broken medical
liability system, so that no doctors are ever forced to leave their
communities, as happens all too often, simply because the high cost
of medical liability forces them to do so.
He wants to extend the welfare reform law, build on its successes,
so that more Americans can find the independence that comes with a
steady job. He wants to restore dignity and civility to the
judicial confirmation process, by making certain that every person
nominated to the federal bench gets a timely up-or-down vote.
And two years ago, President Bush unveiled his national
energy policy, the first comprehensive and balanced energy plan in a
generation. The President realizes that a reliable and affordable
supply of energy is a fundamental condition for our nation's long-term
economic growth. If we're to avoid regular price spikes and chronic
shortages, we must continue our progress in energy efficiency and
conservation and increase energy production right here at home.
Recent concerns about the supply of natural gas highlight the
need for a balanced approach. The National Energy Policy contained
more than 100 specific recommendations to increase domestic
energy, to diversify energy sources, to modernize our conservation
efforts and to upgrade our national energy infrastructure. Since
issuing the National Energy Policy, we've begun developing and
implementing a second wave of policy initiatives, built upon the
original recommendations.
We're also supporting the International ITER Partnership to look
at long-ranging research in the area, for example, of magnetic
fusion, designed to designate the practicality of fusion power by
the middle of this century. And right now, we're making major efforts
to get Congress to pass an energy bill that will enact the
legislative promises of the National Energy Policy.
The House has passed a good bill, one that increases America's
energy independence by diversifying our sources of renewable energy,
expanding new technology and increasing environmentally sound
exploration. The Senate is currently considering energy legislation.
And the President hopes that an energy bill that strengthens our
economy and reduces our dependence on foreign sources of energy will be
on his desk just as quickly as possible.
America faces critical energy needs. And your support
for comprehensive energy legislation is much appreciated. We
couldn't get it done without you. The President recognizes that
independent producers play a crucial role in America's energy
security.
Winning the war on terror, overthrowing two of the most
brutal regimes on the planet and liberating 50 million people,
withdrawing from the ABM treaty to better defend the American
people against missile attacks, negotiating massive reductions in
Russian and American strategic nuclear weapons, adding new members
to NATO, transforming our military, taking unprecedented measures to
defend our homeland, cutting taxes across the board, inaugurating a
new era in educational reform, strengthening Medicare so that
it offers more choices and benefits, including prescription
drug coverage for every senior, promoting greater corporate
responsibility, developing a comprehensive energy policy for America --
the list of President Bush's achievements is pretty impressive.
And don't forget, this President has only been in office two-and-a-half
years.
In light of the record, I don't think I'm exaggerating in the
least when I say that at this point, this could, indeed, be one
of the most consequential presidencies in American history. And
I know I'm not exaggerating when I say that in this critical time,
I'm deeply honored to stand behind a President who is decisive, who
is determined and who has united our nation behind great goals.
For all the challenges we face, the United States of America
has never been stronger than we are today. And even better days are
ahead of us. Thank you very much.
END 12:29 P.M. EDT
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