President Bush Thanks America's Workers at Labor Day Picnic
Carpenters Joint Apprenticeship Center
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
2:35 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I thank you very much for this warm welcome.
Thanks for inviting me. If I speak too long, it's going to remind me
of Crawford. (Laughter.) But I appreciate you all coming. I love to
see your families.
I'm here to talk about the greatness of this country. And it
starts with the fact that we've got great Americans who work hard to
make a living to put food on the table. Our workers are the most
productive, the hardest working, the best craftsmen in the world. And
I'm here to thank all those who work hard to make a living here in
America. (Applause.) I also want to talk today about how to make sure
our country is safer, our country is stronger, and our country is a
better place for everybody.
But before I do so, I want to thank Doug. I appreciate his
leadership. I appreciate his vision. But most of all I appreciate the
fact that Doug McCarron cares deeply, deeply about the members of his
union. Each person in this union matters to Doug. You can tell it
when you talk to him, and I've had a chance to talk to him quite a
lot. He is a fine, fine man, who cares deeply about people and who
loves his country just as much as I do. Doug, thank you for your
leadership, and thank you for your friendship. (Applause.)
I, too, want to thank Jack Brooks. I've had the honor of meeting
Jack before. He's a decent, kind, smart, hardworking fellow. And I
appreciate Jack's leadership as much as you do. I want to thank Ray
Vogel, as well, for giving me a tour of the training center here. One
of the things that distinguishes this union is that they understand
through training, somebody is going to get better pay. If you help a
man or a woman enhance their skills, it's going to enhance their
pocketbook. And I appreciate so very much the attention that this
union pays to the skill level of its members. So I want to thank Jack
and Ray for helping set this picnic up, and giving me a chance to come
by and talk to you all.
I also appreciate the Secretary of Labor being here. Elaine Chao
is doing a fine job. Her door is open. People are able to come in and
visit with her. She's a good, honest and open person. And I
appreciate her service to the country. (Applause.)
I want to thank your Governor, Mark Schweiker, your Secretary
General Mike Fisher, your Allegheny County Executive Jim Roddey, and
the Mayor of Pittsburgh Tim Murphy. Thank you all for coming.
(Applause.) The Mayor has got a lot of spunk -- he challenged me to a
three-mile run. (Laughter.) I said, fine, see you in Crawford at 4:00
p.m. in the afternoon in August. (Laughter.)
I do appreciate Melissa Hart and Phil English coming, members of
the United States Congress -- thank you all for being here.
(Applause.)
I had the honor of meeting a lady named Doris Harris today. Where
are you, Doris? Thank you for coming. (Applause.) You see, the
reason I introduced Doris is because she volunteers her time to help
people in need. Doris knows that when somebody is shut in, they're
alone and lonely. And so she takes time to visit homebound seniors, to
say, I love you, what can I do to help you? Doris is a member -- is a
soldier in the army of compassion here in America. And the reason I
bring that up is because there are soldiers in the armies of compassion
here amongst you, as well. I want to thank Doris, and I want to thank
you all for doing everything you can to bring love and compassion to
the neighborhoods in which you live. It's the true strength of the --
America. (Applause.)
You know, Doug mentioned a year ago, Labor Day -- I was in
Wisconsin talking to carpenters. I said that we were a nation that's
strong because our people are strong. See, we're a great nation
because we've got great people. (Applause.) I said, we're a decent
nation because our people are decent.
I didn't realize when I said that at the time, how tested we would
be. But a couple of days later, the enemy hit us, and they tested the
character of this country. They tested our will. They tested our very
fiber. I don't know what was going through their mind when they
attacked us. (Laughter.) They must have thought we were so
materialistic, so self-absorbed, so selfish, that all we would do is
shrug our shoulders and file a lawsuit maybe. They didn't understand
the America we know. (Applause.)
No, they hit us, and we united. They hit us, and we're now working
together as a nation, to make the nation a safer place, a strong place
and a better place. My most important job is to keep our families
safe. That's my most important job now. I want you to know that
there's still an enemy out there that hates America. I'm sure your
kids, they're wondering, why would you hate America? We didn't do
anything to anybody. Well, they hate America because we love freedom.
(Applause.)
We cherish our freedoms. We value our freedoms. We love the fact
that people can worship an almighty God in a free land, any way they
choose to worship. (Applause.) We value the idea of people speaking
their mind freely here in America. We value a free press; we value our
freedoms. But most importantly, we say each life matters. Everybody
counts, everybody has got purpose, everybody is important in life.
(Applause.)
And the enemy doesn't view it that way. They don't view it that --
they don't value life. See, they've hijacked a great religion and
they're willing to kill innocent people in the name of their sordid
attitude about the future. And so, so long as we love freedom, which
we'll do forever, and so long as this enemy is -- still stand, they're
going to come and try to get us. That's just the reality that we
face. And so, therefore, our biggest job is to protect the homeland.
And there are a lot of good people working hard to do so, there
really are. A lot of fine folks in Washington at the federal level,
and here in Pennsylvania at the state level, and at the local level in
Pittsburgh, doing everything they can to run down every lead, to chase
down every idea, to hold people to account, to disrupt. And we're
making some pretty good progress. But I've asked the Congress to join
me in creating a new homeland security department. And the reason I
did is because I want to be able to come and, when I see the people,
say our most important priority is to protect America, and therefore, I
want all agencies involved with protecting America under one umbrella.
See, if you want to most important thing to be done, you've got to
gather up over 100 agencies that have got something to do with homeland
security and put them under one boss, put them under one lead, so you
can not only change the priorities, but change the culture.
I'll give you one example. We need to know who's coming into
America, what they're bringing into America, and whether or not they're
leaving America when they say they are. (Applause.) But, see, on your
border, you've got your INS and your Customs and your Border Patrol,
three different agencies. And they've got different cultures. And we
need to have them under one umbrella, so we can do a better job of
assuring the American people we're doing their job. Look, anybody who
wants to join a union can do so in this crowd, with the homeland
security department. I mean, if you're a whistle-blower, you'll get
protections. You'll have all the rights to be free to join. But I
need the flexibility to put the right people at the right place at the
right time to protect the American people. And the Senate better get
it right. (Applause.)
No, we're doing everything we can. A lot of people are working
hard, but the best way to secure our homeland for the long run is to
hunt these killers down, one person at a time, and bring them to
justice. And that's what America is going to do. (Applause.)
And that's how you ultimately make America a safer place. For
those of you who have got relatives in the military, you need to proud
of the job they're doing -- I sure am. (Applause.) It's a different
kind of war. In the old days, you could count tanks and figure out how
strong the enemy was. This is an enemy that hides in caves. They try
to find the darkest cave, the deepest cave, and then they send
youngsters to their suicidal deaths. It's a different kind of hater
than we're used to.
But my attitude is, there's no cave deep enough and dark enough to
hide from the long arm of justice of the United States and our friends
and allies. And that's exactly what we're going to do, folks. It
doesn't matter how long it takes. You see, they put the spotlight on
us, and we're going to find out what we're made out of, and so are
they. And what we're made out of is, we're freedom-loving people who
are plenty tough and plenty determined to make sure the future for our
children is a future that is free and peaceful. (Applause.)
And that's why I want to strengthen the military. Any time you put
a soldier in harm's way, they deserve the best pay, the best training
and the best possible equipment. (Applause.) So a stronger America to
me means a stronger military. And that's why I've submitted the
biggest increase in defense spending since the mid-'80s, when Ronald
Reagan was the President. I wanted to send a message. The message is,
we'll take care of our people. See, we owe it not only to those who
wear the uniform, we owe it to their loved ones, as well. We owe it to
the husbands and wives of our soldiers. We owe it to the moms and
dads; we owe it to the sons and daughters.
But I also wanted to send a message to the enemy, and our friends,
that we're in this deal for the long haul. See. When it comes to
defending that which we hold dear to our hearts, we're in it for the
long pull. I've asked Congress to get that bill to my desk soon. They
don't need to be playing politics with the defense bill. (Applause.)
They don't need to hold it up for other reasons, they need to get home
-- come from their homes, they need to get to Washington and get me a
bill as soon as possible, so we can win this war and fight this war.
That's what -- we owe it to those who wear the uniform to get the
defense bill done early. (Applause.)
And part of making sure we have a strong America is to understand
there are some people who want to find work and can't find work, and
therefore, we're not as strong as we should be. A strong America is
one where there's economic security. See, we want people working. I
know the statistics and all that business. What I worry about is when
I hear the stories of people who can't find work. And so we've got to
make sure that we continue to focus on jobs, and job creation, and job
growth.
I think the ingredients are pretty good. I mean, when you think
about it, interest rates are low -- that's good. Inflation is low, and
that's positive. Productivity is up, because we've got the best
workers in the world, and that's important. (Applause.) So I'm
encouraged about job growth, but I'm not satisfied. And neither should
you be, and neither should the United States Congress. And there are
some practical ways that we can build on this foundation for growth,
starting with getting a terrorism insurance bill out of the United
States Congress.
Let me tell you what that means. That means some of these big
construction programs can go forward. See, a lot of them, they've been
delayed because they can't get insurance. They can't get insurance
because of what the terrorists did to America on September the 11th.
So Doug and I and a lot of other concerned citizens have been working
with Congress. We said, okay, that's fine, we'll take some of the risk
to get these big construction projects moving.
There's been over $8 billion worth of projects that have been
delayed because they can't get insurance. That means 300,000 workers
aren't working. You see, if we want to do something to make sure the
job base continues, Congress needs to get moving on a terrorism
insurance bill. (Applause.)
And this bill has got to be good for hard-hats, not lawyers.
(Applause.) This bill -- we get this bill, a lot of folks are going to
go back to work. And the same with the energy bill. See, the energy
bill that we're talking about is a jobs bill. You get the energy bill,
we're going to get more jobs here in America. It's also a national
security bill. See, we don't -- the less we import oil from foreign
sources, the more our national security is strong. (Applause.) And so
we want to make sure that we conserve more, that we use our
technologies to develop renewable sources of energy -- that makes
sense, we can do that. We can do a better job of exploring
environmentally. But we need a bill -- we need a bill, we need a bill
on behalf of the American workers, and we need a bill on behalf of the
national security of America. Congress needs to quit talking about
energy, and get back to work and do something on behalf of the American
people when it comes to energy. (Applause.)
In order to get confidence back in the economy, we've got to do a
good job of making America's pensions strong. You see, one of the
things that we did, we passed a -- part of this corporate reform bill,
one of the things we passed which made a lot of sense is that if the
boss gets to sell, everybody else does. What's good for the head
person is good for the people on the shop floor. We also allow people
to diversify out of their 401(k)s. You ought not to be stuck in one
stock forever. After a reasonable period of time, you ought to be able
to diversify. You need to get the best investment advice. We need to
make sure our workers are protected when it comes to pension reform.
And the Congress needs to act on it. For the good of the economy, they
need to act on this, just like they acted on corporate reform.
And now it's my turn to act. Let me tell you what's going to
happen. If we catch somebody cooking the books, like we have been
doing, it's no more easy money, it's just hard time. (Applause.) By
far, the vast majority of our fellow citizens are honest and decent and
honorable people; they just are. But a few have created a -- put a bad
name out there. They've created a sense of -- lack of -- they diminish
the confidence of the American people. We're putting those days behind
us.
We had Republicans and Democrats work together to pass the most
comprehensive corporate reform since Franklin Roosevelt was the
President. I put together a task force, and I want to assure you, my
fellow Americans, here on Labor Day, that if we catch them cooking the
books, if we catch them fudging the numbers, if we catch people trying
to put a sleight of hand to the detriment of employees and shareholders
alike, there are going to be serious consequences here in America. We
expect people to behave responsibly in our society. (Applause.)
And finally, in order to make sure the economy continues to grow
and there's jobs, we've got to be wise about how you spend your money.
See, every idea sounds like a good idea up there. Everybody throws
something out there and it sounds like a brilliant idea. But they
always cost in the billions, it seems like. One way I like to remind
Congress about how to be fiscally responsible is to remind them whose
money they're spending. It's not the government's money they spend,
it's your money. It's the people's money. (Applause.)
No, we can meet our needs. We can meet our needs. And by the way,
we can make that tax relief a permanent part of the tax code. You need
to have more money in your pocket as far as I'm concerned.
(Applause.) No, those are ways to make America a stronger place by
continuing to focus on the economic security of all our citizens --
every citizen.
And we've got to make sure that America is not only safer and
stronger, but a better place -- a better place. And there are ways to
do that. One, America will be a better place when our seniors have got
prescription drugs as a part of Medicare. (Applause.) That's a better
country, a country that understands that Medicare serves an important
purpose. Medicine has changed; Medicare hasn't. And therefore, our
seniors don't have prescription drugs. It will be a better country
when we do that.
It's a better country when we focus on educating every child --
not just a few children, but every single child. (Applause.) I want
to thank the teachers who are here. (Applause.) I can tell. But
remember, if you're a mom or a dad, you're a teacher. (Applause.)
We're a better country when we help people get off welfare by
finding them work. We're a better country when people learn to work.
(Applause.) This training center here makes us a better country. It's
a better country when you've got people who are willing to help people
help themselves. It's a better country. It's a better country when
people can own their own homes. When you own something, it makes
America a better place. We've got a minority gap in ownership here for
homes in America. We need to do something about it. We need to close
that gap. We need to help people with down payments. We need to get
some -- we need to get more capital into the marketplace, so people can
find ways to borrow money to build -- to buy their own home.
No, it's a -- the goal is more than just a safer country, it's a
better place for all of us, see. I mean for all of us. You know, the
enemy didn't realize, but out of the evil is going to come some
incredible good here in America. I truly believe that, I believe
that. (Applause.)
I believe that we can achieve peace. And I want you to tell your
sons and daughters that we fight for our freedom in order for there to
be peace, for the world to be more peaceful -- not only here at home,
but for children all across the world. See, we value each human life
as important. We don't try to distinguish, everybody has got worth in
the eyes of the Almighty, as far as we're concerned in this nation.
(Applause.)
But peace is our goal. Peace -- there's going to be some steep
hills to climb, no question about it, but we're going to work hard to
achieve peace. Out of the evil done by these killers will come peace,
we think -- I think. We have to be tough and determined and resolute,
but we can achieve peace.
And at home, we can have a better America. People say, well, what
can I do to help. You can love your neighbor just like you'd like to
be loved yourself. (Applause.) You can help a neighbor in need. You
can go to a shut-in and say, I love you. That's just a part of being
-- a part of loving your neighbor. You can mentor a child. You can
understand your most important responsibility, if you're a mom or a
dad, is to love your children with all your heart and all your soul.
You should tell them you love them every single day. Put your arm
around them. Find somebody who hurts, understand there's deep addiction
and hopelessness in parts of our neighborhoods in America. And we can
help change that, one person at a time.
See government, can hand out money -- pretty good at it --
(laughter) -- but it can't put hope into people's hearts. It can't put
a sense of purpose in people's lives. Somebody said, well, I can't do
everything. No, but you can do something. You can do something. See,
we can change America, one heart, one soul, one conscience at a time.
And I call upon our fellow Americans, here on Labor Day, to be a
part of that change in America. Be a part of the gathering momentum of
millions of acts of kindness and decency which show the true face and
character of the greatest nation, the greatest nation on the face of
the Earth. (Applause.)
God bless you all. God bless. God bless America. Thank you all.
(Applause.)