President Discusses Priorities in Stockton, California
Stockton Memorial Civic Auditorium
Stockton, California
10:30 A.M. PDT
THE PRESIDENT: I'm honored to be here in the great city of
Stockton, California. (Applause.) I appreciate you coming to give me
a chance to share with you some of my thoughts and concerns and hopes
about our great nation. I appreciate you being here.
I want to thank the Mayor. My only regret is the Mayor didn't take
me down to Billy Hebert Field (ph) to see the team play. (Laughter and
applause.) I'm a baseball guy. (Laughter.)
I want to thank so very much the members of the congressional
delegation who met me at Air Force One. I appreciate the hard work of
Richard Pombo, who represents this district. (Applause.) I was so
pleased that he found a tie for this occasion. (Laughter.) Doug Ose
from the next congressional district is here with us. Doug, thank you
for coming. (Applause.) Two fine members of the United States
Congress with whom I have good working relations, people with whom I
can work to do what's right for the American people.
I picked I picked a fine Cabinet. You need to judge a President
based upon the people who he listens to. I listen to some mighty fine
people, I really do. I've got great advice, not only in the national
security side but also on the domestic side of my job. And I picked my
neighbor, somebody from Compton, to serve in an incredibly important
position, particularly for the folks in this part of the world, and
that is to serve as our Secretary of Agriculture. Ann Veneman is doing
a fabulous job. (Applause.)
Mr. Mayor, thank you very much for helping put on this occasion. I
particularly want to thank the greater Stockton Chamber of Commerce for
their hard work in getting this all ready and inviting people to come.
There's one friend I've got here that I've got to say something
about. He's a great citizen from Stockton. He's been a longtime
friend of mine and my family's, and that's of course Alex Spanos.
(Applause.) I like to be around optimistic people. It's important to
stay in touch with those folks who are optimistic. Once again he has
told me that the San Diego Chargers are going to win the Super Bowl.
(Laughter and applause.)
AUDIENCE MEMBER: -- Super Bowl one last time --
THE PRESIDENT: That's right. (Laughter.) And, once again, he
believes it. (Laughter.)
Today, at Air Force One, I met Malikah Rashied. Where is Malikah?
Where is she. (Applause.) There she is. Thank you, Malikah.
(Applause.) She is a Freedom Corps volunteer. She volunteers for the
country. In this case, she works for the California Conservation
Corps, assisting in fire prevention cleanup projects, and cleanup
projects.
We need, by the way, to have a forest policy. (Applause.) I
mention her because I want people to understand that I understand the
true strength of America. It is not in the halls of our governments,
but in the hearts of our people. And there are people like her all
across the country who are willing to try to make the communities in
which they live a better place for all of us. I appreciate your
service. (Applause.) I also appreciate you working on fire
prevention. And that's something the federal government needs to work
on.
Listen, we cannot allow our forests to become places where kindling
piles up. It doesn't make any sense to me to fly over these huge fires
that are consuming much of the West and realize our forest policy
encourages doesn't prevent, doesn't work to make the forest
healthier and safer. The forest the hands-off forest policy
proposed by well-meaning people has failed. And now we need to do
something about it. (Applause.)
We've got a lot to do in this country. We really do. We've got
some big hurdles, big challenges ahead of us. One of the things I've
found in Washington is if we can get rid of all the politics
(applause) and get people thinking about what's important for the
nation, we can get some things done. We really can. (Applause.)
Oh, I know we'll never get rid of all the politics. But at least
we can get people thinking and setting the right priorities on behalf
of the American people. That's the most one of my most important
jobs. And we're making some progress. If you look at the record when
people decide to come together, we're doing some things right for the
American people, starting with making sure the funding priorities of
the government is to win the war on terror. (Applause.)
A new priority has been to help secure the homeland by working with
our brave first responders, the police, the fire, the EMS teams all
around the country, those who work hard here in Stockton and all around
America. It's been a priority of ours. And both Republicans and
Democrats have come together to fund that priority for the good of the
country.
I proposed some tough, new standards on for corporate reform.
Like you all, I took a look out there and saw a problem. And the
problem was, we had some folks who were trying to fudge the numbers.
We had some people who decided they weren't going to tell the truth
when it came to their assets and liabilities, to the detriment of not
only shareholder and employee, but to the country itself.
You see, a few a few began to shatter the confidence of the
American people. And so we decided to do something about it.
Republicans and Democrats came together. I was honored and proud to
sign the most comprehensive corporate reforms since Franklin Roosevelt
was the President. This wasn't a Republican idea, it wasn't a Democrat
idea. (Applause.) It's an American idea to hold people responsible who
betray the public's trust, and that is what we're going to do.
(Applause.)
I remember giving a speech in New York about how I thought the
accountability bill ought to go. And at one point in the speech, I
talked about the fact that our business schools don't teach right from
wrong. They're unwilling to say to future business leaders, there's a
right way to deal with things and there's a wrong way. And I was
lamenting that fact. And I called upon our business schools to show
leadership and to teach future leaders right from wrong.
And I was working a rope line afterwards and a fellow walked up
who's a professor at a business school. And he said, thanks for saying
that, Mr. President, we needed to hear that. And a large guy, I
assumed he was one of the construction folks that was there,
construction union leaders that was supportive of this initiative, he
said, if you want to teach them right from wrong, Mr. President, the
best lesson you can send is put them in handcuffs. (Applause.)
And that's what's happening. And that's what happening. We cannot
let a few and I emphasize a few set the tone for the many who are
decent, honorable citizens of this country who take care of their
shareholders, who are good to their employees, who tell the truth. So
we're working together.
The other day, I had the honor of signing a bill that both
Republicans and Democrats supported that gives me the capacity to open
up markets for U.S. goods. Here's my attitude about trade: If you're
good at something, you ought to promote it. If you're good about if
you're good at growing crops, you ought to figure out how to sell more
of the crops. And we're the best in the world at farming and
ranching. (Applause.)
I'm thrilled to be here in the breadbasket of America, because it
gives me a chance to remind our fellow citizens that we have an
advantage here in America. We can feed ourselves. (Applause.) And
we've always got to be able to do that. It puts us in a it gives us a
strategic advantage, a strategic edge. Imagine if we were going around
the world asking for food. It would put the President in a pretty
tough position. (Laughter.) They may want to bargain a little high.
(Laughter.)
But, fortunately, we can feed ourselves and, not only that, we
produce more food than we need, because we're good at what we do. And
therefore, it makes sense on behalf of the producers to open up
markets. We ought to be feeding feeding the world. Where people
are hungry, they ought to be eating American food. We ought to be
knocking down those tariffs and those barriers. We ought to be
leveling the playing field, and that's precisely what I'm going to do
with my new authority. (Applause.)
I told Ann and she would testify to this and I told Zoellick,
who's our trade man, I said, I don't want our agriculture producers to
be shunted aside when it comes to opening up markets. As a matter of
fact, when you're good at something, it ought to be the cornerstone of
your policy. So I want agriculture to be the cornerstone of good
international trade policy, and it will be. And we made some
progress.
I don't know if you've been following this, but we had a little
problem with the Russians for a while. They agreed to take our
chickens, they were going to buy U.S. chickens, and then all of a
sudden they decided not to buy the chickens, and that created a
problem. It creates a problem for the chicken growers, it affects
prices of other commodities, truly does.
And it was interesting, at one of my press conferences with
Vladimir Putin, who I like he's a good man he said, you know, the
good thing about our new relationship, as opposed to talking about war,
we're talking about chickens. (Laughter and applause.)
But I want the agricultural folks here to understand, we talked
about chickens up until yesterday when Secretary Veneman announced an
agreement with the Russians that they're going to take U.S. chickens,
they're going to honor their obligations. (Applause.)
I bring these examples up because it shows what is possible in
Washington when people decide to work together. And they're getting
ready to come back in August. And when they come back in August
(Audience interruption) -- and when they come back in August
(Audience interruption.)
AUDIENCE: Booo!
THE PRESIDENT: And when the Congress comes back after their August
break, I hope they keep in mind the fact that we need to continue to
work together on behalf of the American people. We need to work --
(Applause.)
AUDIENCE MEMBERS: USA, USA, USA!
THE PRESIDENT: And as we work together to make -- (applause) -- to
make America more secure, we must do so on three fronts. We must work
together to make sure that there's economic security. We must work
together to make sure there's homeland security. And we must work
together to make sure that we win the war on terror to defend our
freedoms. (Applause.)
I hosted some folks down to Waco, Texas, the middle of Texas in the
middle of August. They obviously had something on their mind. And it
was a really interesting forum to hear from people from all walks of
life talk about the difficulties they face, the hurdles they face, to
create jobs. That's what I'm interested in.
When I hear somebody who wants to work can't find a job, I view
that as a problem. It concerns me. I want people to be able to find
work. That ought to be the cornerstone of any good economic policy.
And so part of what Congress needs to do is to get together and
work on ways to make sure there's economic security for the American
people. The platform for growth is good. It just is.
We've had problems. No question. When we came in, there was a
recession. History shows that for the first three quarters of my
Presidency, we were negative growth. The next three quarters have been
positive growth, which is good news for the American people.
(Applause.)
Wages were rising. The productivity of the American worker is the
strongest in the world. We're good at our workers are really good.
Our entrepreneurs are innovative. We've got a good tax base, good
monetary policy. Interest rates are low. And so we've got the
foundation for growth.
But I'm not content with our progress. And here's some things I'd
like to see done. First, I can't tell you how strongly I feel and
passionately I feel about the need to make the tax cuts that we passed
permanent. (Applause.)
See, here's the chapter of the economics book I read and I
admit, some of them in Washington didn't read this chapter.
(Laughter.) I believe that when times are slow and, remember, the
first three quarters of our administration was negative growth. When
times are slow, you let people keep their own money. And when they
keep their own money, they demand a good or a service. And when they
demand a good or a service, somebody produces the good or the service.
And when somebody produces that good or service, someone is likely
more likely to find work. That's how it works. (Applause.)
And therefore, the tax relief happened at the right time. Not only
did we provide lower tax rates which, by the way, is a spur to small
business growth. Most small business owners are soul proprietors.
Most small business owners pay tax rates at the individual rate because
they're limited partnerships. Most small businesses -- small
businesses create most new jobs in America. And, therefore, we ought
to have policy that encourages the growth of small businesses. By
cutting individual rates, we understand the importance of small
business. (Applause.)
And not only that, we put the death tax on the road to extinction.
The death tax is a bad tax. (Applause.) And not only that, we began
to change the marriage penalty, because we want the Tax Code to
encourage marriage, not discourage marriage. (Applause.)
But here's why I bring up the issue. Because of a quirk in the
Senate law, all the work that we did reverts back to normal in 10
years, normal being what it was prior to the tax relief. In other
words it's kind of hard to explain (laughter) but you get tax
relief and you don't get tax relief, see. It stays in place for 10
years and then it goes away.
And so Congress, both Republicans and Democrats, have got to
understand, for the good of the economy, we need some permanency.
People need to be able to plan. They need to be able to know that what
is real today will be real tomorrow. Therefore, the tax cuts need to
be made permanent. (Applause.)
We've got a problem when it comes to construction here in America,
because many folks cannot get insurance to cover losses from potential
terrorist attack. There's about $8 billion worth of projects that have
been put aside because people can't get terrorism insurance. That
means we've got some hard-hats here in America who aren't working who
should be working. That means there's some good, hardworking folks who
aren't as active as they should be in the job market.
And therefore, I have asked Congress the House responded and the
Senate came up with a version, they need to get together to provide
terrorism insurance legislation to help these big construction programs
go forward. This bill would put people back to work so long as the
House and the Senate understand that the priority is not trial lawyers,
but hard-hat workers in America. (Applause.)
Congress, when they get back, needs to give me an energy bill. In
order for the economy to be strong, we've got to have an energy plan.
We've got to have a bill that promotes renewable sources of energy,
that encourages conservation. But we need more energy explored here at
home in an environmentally friendly way. It is in our economic
security that we find more energy at home, it is in our national
security that we become less dependent on foreign sources of crude
oil. (Applause.)
Congress needs to get to work on a reauthorization of the welfare
bill. See, the welfare bill is coming up again. And, by the way, it
worked when we said to people we will help them find work. It made
people less dependent upon government. It has been a successful,
successful public policy in America. And we need to continue that.
There are some in the Senate who want to say work isn't important, and
so they've got all kinds of loopholes. I think work is incredibly
important. Work leads to dignity. (Applause.)
And therefore, they need to give me a welfare bill like the House
bill that says, we're going to help people help themselves by finding
work. That's what we're going to do. We're going to train people for
jobs, but we're going to insist that they work in return for help.
(Applause.)
And there's one other vital piece of legislation that they need to
get to me before they all go back to their districts and campaign, and
it's this. I want to unleash the great compassion of America by
recognizing the power of faith-based institutions in our society.
(Applause.) I asked the question, does it work. That's what I asked.
Does it work if somebody's heart is changed and therefore they get
off alcohol and drugs? Does that work? And if it does, our government
ought not to fear programs based upon the capacity to change somebody's
heart. As a matter of fact, we ought to welcome those programs.
(Applause.) We ought to say if you've got an idea and you've got a
cross on the wall or the star of David, or if you're a mosque, we
welcome those ideas to help change society one person at a time.
(Applause.)
We'll never fund religion. Of course we're not going to fund
religion. That's not the purpose. But we want to help people, and we
should not discriminate against programs which have the capacity to
help save lives. When we save a life in America, we make America a
better place for all of us. (Applause.)
Congress has got work to do on the homeland security front as
well. My most important job is to protect you all, our fellow
Americans, from another attack. That's my most important job. And
make no mistake about it, there are cold-blooded killers out there, and
we're doing everything we can to find them. Some people might not
think they're out there. They're out there, they just are.
People say, why why would someone want to attack America? And
the answer is because we love freedom, that's why. (Applause.) They
hate us because we value each life. Each life is important here in
America everybody counts. Ours is a country that recognizes in our
great diversity that every single person has worth, and they can't
stand that. (Applause.) They can't stand the thought of a nation which
recognizes that people can worship an Almighty God in different ways,
that we welcome that type of diversity in America, that we love that
freedom. (Applause.)
They don't like free speech, they don't like a free press. They
really don't like anything about us, it turns out. (Laughter.) But
they're killers. That's the only way I can tell you how I think about
them. They're cold-blooded killers, and therefore my most important
job is to protect the homeland. (Applause.)
And so when I looked at ways to protect the homeland, I realized
when I looked at our homeland security there in Washington, we've got
over 100 agencies that have something to do with protecting the
homeland, and they're scattered everywhere. In order to set the number
one priority of these agencies to be the homeland defense, I decided to
create a Department of Homeland Security with a new Cabinet secretary.
I did not to create the size of government, but to make the government
work better. I did it to be able to start changing cultures within
agencies. I did it to make sure that agencies had that number one
priority, so that I could report back to the American people that we're
doing everything we possibly can do.
And the House of Representatives passed a good piece of
legislation, for which I'm grateful. The Senate is now wrestling with
it, and I've got some problems with how they're wrestling with it. You
see, I need to my secretary needs to be able to move people to
different agencies, if need be, to protect America. We need to put
people in the right place at the right time.
I'll give you an example. We've got to know who's coming in the
country, what they're bringing in the country, and whether or not
they're leaving the country. (Applause.)
And yet, when you go down to the border, you'll realize they've got
the INS, the Customs, the Border Patrol. We've got to be able to have
the same strategy, the same culture. We don't need three competing
agencies; we need to figure out how to bring people together to
accomplish the objective, and that means we need some flexibility.
Yet, when you look at the Senate bill, it sounds like they're more
interested in special interests that have got lobbies in Washington,
not to people. They're more interested in having micromanaging the
department, they're more interested in protecting their turf, than
giving us the flexibility to do what it takes to protect the American
people. (Applause.)
But the best way to secure the homeland is to hunt the killers down
one by one and bring them to justice. (Applause.) And so the first
order of business for both Republicans and Democrats when they get back
to Washington is to get the defense appropriations bill on my desk as
soon as possible. They ought not to play politics with defense
appropriations at this time in American history. (Applause.)
And so the first order of business for both Republicans and
Democrats when they get back to Washington is to get the defense
appropriations bill on my desk as soon as possible. They ought not to
play politics with defense appropriations at this time in American
history. (Applause.)
I've asked for the largest increase in spending since Ronald Reagan
was President -- defense spending -- since Ronald Reagan was
President. I did that for two reasons: One, anytime we commit our
military into harm's way, they deserve the best training, the best pay,
the best possible equipment. (Applause.) And for those of you who
have loved ones in the military, you thank them on behalf of a grateful
nation and a Commander in Chief. And I thank you for the sacrifice of
your family. (Applause.)
And secondly, the defense increase sends a clear signal to friend
and foe alike that when it comes to defending our freedom, we're in
this for the long haul. You see, there's not a calendar on my desk in
Washington that says, now time to quit. (Laughter.) That's not the
way I think. I believe history has called us into action. History has
put the spotlight right here on America. History will determine
whether or not we understand the value of freedom, the necessity to
keep a vast coalition together to make the world more peaceful.
See, that's my goal. My goal is for there to be a peaceful world.
There's going to be some steep hills to climb, because this is a
different kind of war. It's not the kind of war that many of our
veterans fought in. It's not the kind of war we can measure infantry
brigades marching across plains or squadrons of aircraft. We can't
count the enemy's aircraft. We don't know how many foot soldiers they
have. That's not the kind of war. Remember, these are the commanders
who hide in caves and send their youngsters to their death. That's the
kind of enemy we fight. So we've got to think differently, which means
we've got to use all intelligence at our disposal. We've got to make
sure we continue to talk with our friends and allies, that when they
know something, we need to know it; and when we have learned something,
we will share it with them. It means we need diplomatic pressure.
It means we've got to be bold enough to enforce the doctrines.
When I say, if you harbor a terrorist, you're just as guilty as the
terrorists, I mean it. (Applause.) When I say, you're either with us
or you're with the others, I mean that, too. And we're enforcing that
doctrine. And the Taliban found out exactly what we mean.
I want the youngsters here to understand the nature of your
government. We don't seek -- we do not seek revenge here in America;
we seek justice. (Applause.) We don't want to conquer anybody.
That's not the way we think. We want to liberate people. See, we
believe every life matters. It doesn't matter whether it's an American
life, every life counts.
And so when we liberated Afghanistan from the clutches of the
barbaric regime called the Taliban, young girls, many young girls went
to school for the first time. No, this great country, this great
country -- applause.) This great country has a vision of peace and
justice and compassion for our fellow human beings.
But we also understand that in order to achieve those goals we're
going to have to do what it takes to make the world more secure. We're
going to have to do everything we can to rid the world of terror. And
we're making some progress, we're making some progress. We've -- the
coalition has arrested, hauled them in, however you want to call it, a
couple of thousand of them. About that many weren't quite as lucky so
far.
We've got more work to do, though. We just do. Where they bunch
up, we'll get 'em. We're making it clear that -- to other nations,
once we get them on the run, don't let them light in your part of the
world. And so we spent time destroying training camps and disrupting
infrastructure and disrupting communication capacities. We're getting
them on the run. And you watch; slowly but surely -- slowly but surely
-- we will achieve the objective and bring them to justice.
And as we do so, we can achieve some larger objectives. And by the
way, there is another objective that we've just got to keep in mind for
the sake of our children, and their children. We cannot allow the
world's worst leaders to harbor and develop the world's worst weapons,
to hold those of us who love freedom hostage. We must not do that.
(Applause.)
No, the enemy hit us September 11th, nearly a year ago. And I just
can't imagine what was going through their mind. They said, well, this
nation is not going to do anything. They're so materialistic, so
self-absorbed and so selfish that they might file a lawsuit or two --
(laughter) -- but that's all they'll think about doing. They'll kind
of crumble under their own greed and their own self-centered attitude
about life. They didn't know who they were hitting, though, did they?
Out of the evil done to America is going to come some good, because
we're a great nation. (Applause.) We can achieve peace -- we can
achieve peace -- by being strong and diligent, reminding people of the
great, God-given values that are important to all humanity. We can
achieve peace, and will. We can achieve peace -- you got to know how I
think -- I believe we can achieve peace in the Middle East by being
strong and determined and to focus on what's best for people. We can
achieve peace in South Asia.
I know this seems like high hurdles, but we have a chance. Out of
the evil done to America can come some incredible good around the
world. And some incredible good can come here at home, too. See, it's
important to remember, in this land of plenty there are pockets of
despair and hopelessness. There are people who hurt. There are
youngsters who wonder or not whether America is meant for them, whether
or not the American Dream applies to them. And, of course, it does.
See, I believe when one of us hurts, all of us hurt. When one of
us is diminished, all of us are affected. And therefore, we need to do
something about it here in America. I believe the enemy has wakened a
spirit in this country that understands in order to fight evil, in
order to fight evil -- (applause) -- that in order to fight evil, you
can do so by loving your neighbor just like you'd like to be loved
yourself. And that's happening. (Applause.)
It's important for our fellow citizens to recognize that if you
were to mentor a child, you're a part of defining the true compassion
of America. If you go into a shut-in's home and say, I love you, what
can I do to help you, you're making a difference here in America. If
you help feed somebody who's hungry, you're making a huge difference in
showing the world the true character of this country.
No, out of the evil done to America is going to come some good,
because Americans understand that being a patriot is more -- is more
than just saying the Pledge Allegiance; being a patriot is serving
something greater than yourself. We learned that lesson most
profoundly on September the 11th, when citizens were flying across the
country, or thought they were, on Flight 93. They realized their
airplane was going to be used as a weapon to take life, perhaps in the
Nation's Capital. They were on the phones and they told their loved
ones they loved them -- they used the word, "love." They said a
prayer, they said a prayer. One guy said, "Let's roll." They drove
the plane in the ground to serve something greater than themselves in
life. (Applause.)
It is that spirit of serving something, it is that spirit that
recognizes while one of us can't do everything, each of us can do
something, one thing to help change America one heart and one soul and
one conscience at a time.
No, out of the evil done to America is going to come great good,
because this is the greatest nation on the face of the Earth, full of
fantastic, compassionate, decent fellow citizens. May God bless you
all. And may God bless America. (Applause.)