For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
August 26, 2003
Remarks by the President to Bush-Cheney 2004 Luncheon
St. Paul River Centre
St. Paul, Minnesota
12:12 P.M. CDT
THE PRESIDENT: Thanks for the warm welcome. I appreciate such a
huge response for our invitation to come for a little light meal.
(Laughter.) It's an honor to be back in the beautiful state of
Minnesota, and two such vibrant cities -- the temperature differential
is nice, too, I might add. (Laughter.)
I came up from Crawford today. What I really want to do is thank
you for your support and your friendship, and to let you know that
today we're laying the groundwork for what is going to be a great
national victory in November of 2004. (Applause.)
I appreciate the fact that you have contributed, but I want you to
know I'm going to count on you to contribute more. I need you to tell
your neighbors, and for those of you who go to coffee shops, you be
telling them in the coffee shops that this President and this
administration will continue to work for a positive and hopeful vision
for every single American. (Applause.)
I'm loosening up and I'm getting ready for the campaign.
(Laughter.) But there's going to be plenty of time for politics,
because I've got a job to do. I'm focused on the people's business.
And we have a lot on our agenda in Washington, D.C. Until the
political season starts for me, I will continue to work to earn the
confidence of every American by keeping this nation secure and strong
and prosperous and free.
My big regret today is that the First Lady is not traveling with
me. She's in Crawford, with Barney. (Laughter.) But I want you to
know that it is a great comfort to live in the White House with Laura
Bush. She is a great First Lady, a fabulous wife, I love her dearly
and she sends her best. (Applause.)
I want to thank Ben Whitney for his willingness to lead this
campaign here in the state of Minnesota. I appreciate my friend, Rudy
Boschwitz, for taking a leadership role for this event today and for
the remaining events. I want to thank all the state co-chairman,
starting with a fine man, the guy who is doing a good job as your
Governor, Tim Pawlenty. Tim, thank you for coming today. (Applause.)
I'll never forget the rally that I attended here in 2002 for United
States Senator Norm Coleman. I'm sorry Norm can't be here, but it's a
joy to work with him in the United States Senate. He is doing a fine
job on behalf of the citizens of Minnesota. (Applause.)
I thank Congressman Gil Gutknecht for coming today. I appreciate
his hard work, and it's been a joy to work with him and others of the
Minnesota delegation. I want to thank your State Auditor for coming.
I appreciate the leadership of the legislature for being here, the
Speaker of the House, as well as the Minnesota Minority Leader in the
State Senate. I'm honored you all have taken time out of your day to
come to say hello.
I appreciate my friend, Mercer Reynolds, who is the national
fundraising chairman for Bush-Cheney. He's from Cincinnati, Ohio.
He's a business person. He's taking time out of his life to work hard
to see that we raise the monies necessary to wage a viable and strong
campaign.
I want to thank Rob Eibensteiner, who is the Chairman of the
Republican Party of Minnesota. I want to thank former Governor Al Quie
for coming. But most of all, I want to thank you all for your loyal
and strong support.
You know, in the last two-and-a-half years, this nation has acted
decisively to confront great challenges. I came to the Office of
President of the United States to solve problems, instead of passing
them on to future Presidents and future generations. (Applause.) I
came to seize opportunities, instead of letting them slip away. We are
meeting the tests of our time.
Terrorists declared war on the United States of America, and war is
what they got. We have captured or killed many key leaders of the al
Qaeda network, and the rest of them know we're on their trail. In
Afghanistan and Iraq, we gave ultimatums to terror regimes. Those
regimes chose defiance, and those regimes are no more. (Applause.)
Fifty million people in those two countries once lived under tyranny,
and now they live in freedom.
Two-and-a-half years ago, our military was not receiving the
resources it needed, and morale was beginning to suffer. We increased
the defense budget to prepare for the threats of a new era. And,
today, no one in the world can question the skill and the strength and
the spirit of the United States military. (Applause.)
Two-and-a-half years ago, we inherited an economy in recession.
And then our country was attacked, and scandals broke out in corporate
America, and we were headed to war -- which all affected the people's
confidence. But we acted. We passed tough new laws to hold corporate
criminals to account. And I have twice led the United States Congress
to pass historic tax relief to get our economy moving again.
(Applause.)
Here's what I believe and here's what I know: that when Americans
have more take-home pay to spend, to save or invest, the whole economy
grows, and people are more likely to find a job. I also understand
whose money we spend in Washington, D.C. It is not the government's
money, it is the people's money that we spend in our nation's capital.
(Applause.)
We're returning more money for people to help them raise their
families. We're reducing taxes on dividends and capital gains to
encourage investment. We're giving small businesses incentives that
are needed to hire new people. With all these actions, we're laying
the foundation for greater prosperity and more jobs across our country
so that every single person has a chance to realize the American
Dream. (Applause.)
Two-and-a-half years ago, there was a lot of talk about education
reform, but there wasn't much action. So I called for, and the
Congress passed, the No Child Left Behind Act. With a solid bipartisan
majority, we delivered the most dramatic education reforms in a
generation.
We're bringing high standards and strong accountability measures to
every public school in America. See, we believe that every child can
learn the basics of reading and math. We believe every school must
teach the basics of reading and math. This administration is
challenging the soft bigotry of low expectations. (Applause.) The
days of excuse-making are over. In return for federal money, we expect
results in every single classroom so that not one child in America is
left behind. (Applause.)
We reorganized the government, the largest reorganization since the
Defense Department was reorganized in the late '40s and early '50s.
And we did so to create the Department of Homeland Security to
safeguard our borders and ports and to better protect the American
people.
We passed a trade promotion authority to open up new markets for
Minnesota's farmers and ranchers and entrepreneurs and manufacturers.
We passed budget agreements that is helping to maintain much needed
spending discipline in Washington, D.C. On issue after issue, this
administration has acted on principle, has kept its word, and has made
progress for the American people. (Applause.)
The United States Congress has shared in these great achievements.
I particularly enjoy working with Speaker of the House Hastert and
Majority Leader Frist. I'm proud of Norm Coleman and the members of
the congressional delegation that you've sent to Washington from the
state of Minnesota. I will continue to work with these leaders to
change the tone in Washington, D.C., to get rid of the needless
partisan bickering, and to focus on the people's business and to
concentrate on results.
And that's the nature of the men and women I've asked to join my
administration, results-oriented people. I have put together a
fantastic administration on behalf of the American people. There has
been no greater Vice President of the United States than Richard B.
Cheney. (Applause.) Mother may disagree. (Laughter.)
In two-and-a-half years, we have come far, we've done a lot, we've
taken on a lot of problems. But our work is only beginning. We have
great goals worthy of this great nation. First, America is committed
to expanding the realm of freedom and peace for our own security and
for the benefit of the world.
And, second, in our own country we must work for a society of
prosperity and compassion, so that every citizen has a chance to work
and succeed and realize the great promise of our country. It is clear
that the future of freedom and peace depend on the actions of America.
This nation is freedom's home and freedom's defender. We welcome this
charge of history, and we're keeping it.
Our war on terror continues. The enemies of freedom are not idle,
and neither are we. This country will not rest, we will not tire and
we will not stop until this danger to civilization is removed.
(Applause.)
Yet, our national interest involves more than eliminating
aggressive threats to our security. Our greatest security comes from
the advance of human liberty, because free nations do not support
terror; free nations do not attack their neighbors; free nations do not
threaten the world with weapons of mass terror. Americans believe that
freedom is the deepest need and hope of every human heart. And I
believe that freedom is the right of every person and the future of
every nation. (Applause.)
America also understands that unprecedented influence brings
tremendous responsibilities. We have duties in the world. When we see
disease and starvation and hopeless poverty, we will not turn away. On
the continent of Africa, this great nation is committed to bringing the
healing power of medicine to millions of men and women and children now
suffering with AIDS. Our great country is leading the world in this
incredibly important work of human rescue.
We face challenges at home, as well. (Applause.) We've got big
challenges here at home and, no doubt, our actions will prove that
we're equal to those challenges. First, I'm concerned about people not
being able to find a job. I want our people working. And, therefore,
we'll continue to work to create the environment necessary to have a
strong entrepreneurial spirit, to make sure capital flows, to make sure
the work force expands so that anybody in the state of Minnesota or
elsewhere who wants to work and can't find a job will be able to do
so.
We have a chance to keep our commitment to America's seniors by
strengthening and modernizing Medicare. A few weeks ago, the Congress
took historic action to improve the lives of our older Americans. For
the first time since the creation of Medicare, the House and the Senate
have passed reforms to increase the choices for seniors and to provide
coverage for prescription drugs.
The recess is almost over. It is now time for both Houses to come
together to iron out their differences and to get a bill to my desk.
The sooner they finish the job, the sooner America's seniors, and those
of us who will be seniors soon, will have a modern Medicare plan. We
owe it to our seniors. (Applause.)
For the sake of our health care system, we need to cut down on the
frivolous lawsuits which increase the cost of medicine. (Applause.)
People who have been harmed by a bad doctor deserve their day in
court. Yet, the system should not reward lawyers who are fishing for
rich settlements. (Applause.) Because frivolous lawsuits drive up the
cost of health care, they affect the federal budget.
Medical liability reform is a national issue that requires a
national solution. I have proposed a plan -- (applause) -- I have
proposed a good plan to reform medical liability. The House of
Representatives passed a good bill. It is stuck in the Senate. It is
time for the United States Senate to realize that no one has ever been
healed by a frivolous lawsuit. (Applause.)
I have a responsibility as President to make sure the judicial
system runs well. And I have met that duty. I have nominated superb
men and women for the federal courts, people who will interpret the
law, not legislate from the bench. (Applause.) Some members of the
Senate are trying to keep my nominees off the bench by blocking
up-or-down votes. Every judicial nominee deserves a fair hearing and
an up-or-down vote on the Senate floor. It is time for members of the
Senate to stop playing politics with American justice. (Applause.)
The Congress needs to complete work on a comprehensive energy
plan. I came to your great state to lay out my vision for a
comprehensive energy plan. And now it's time for the Congress to act.
And the recent breakdown of the deliverability of electricity on the
East Coast should send a clear signal to the United States Congress
that we need a comprehensive energy plan, that we need to modernize our
system, that we need mandatory reliability standards, and we need
incentives to encourage investment.
This country also must become less dependent on foreign sources of
energy. For economic security and for national security, we must use
our technology to explore in environmentally safe ways to increase the
energy supply of the United States of America. (Applause.)
Our strong and prosperous nation must also be a compassionate
nation. I will continue to advance our agenda of compassionate
conservatism by applying the best and most innovative ideas to helping
our fellow citizens in need. There are still millions of men and women
who want to end their dependence on the government and become
independent through hard work. We must work to build on the welfare
reform successes of the immediate past to bring work into the lives of
more of our citizens.
Congress should complete the Citizen Service Act, so that more
Americans will serve their communities and their country. And both
Houses should reach agreement on my faith-based initiative to support
the armies of compassion, to support the Christians and Jewish people
and Muslims, all who've heard the universal call to help a neighbor in
need, to encourage the mentoring of children and caring for the
homeless and offering hope to the addicted.
A compassionate society must also promote opportunity for all,
including the independence and dignity that come from ownership. This
administration will constantly strive to promote an ownership society
in America. We want more citizens owning their own home. We want
people to own and manage their own retirement accounts. We want people
to have control over their own medical accounts. We want there to be
more ownership of small businesses in America because we understand
when America and Americans own something, he or she has a vital stake
in the future of our country. (Applause.)
In a compassionate society, people respect one another, and they
take responsibility for the decisions they make. We're changing the
culture of America from one that has said, if it feels good, do it,
and, if you've got a problem, blame somebody else, to a culture in
which each of us understands that we're responsible for the decisions
we make in life.
If you are fortunate enough to be a mother or father, you're
responsible for loving your child with all your heart and all your
soul. If you're concerned about the quality of the education in the
community in which you live, you're responsible for doing something
about it. If you're a CEO in corporate America, you're responsible for
telling the truth to your employees and your shareholders. And in a
responsibility society, each of us is responsible for loving our
neighbor just like we'd like to be loved ourself.
We can see the culture of responsibility and the culture of service
growing around us, particularly since 9/11, 2001. You know, I started
what's called the USA Freedom Corps to encourage Americans to extend a
compassionate hand to a neighbor in need, and the response has been
significant. Our charities and our faith-based organizations are
vibrant and strong all across America. And policemen and fire fighters
and people who wear our nation's uniform are reminding us what it means
to sacrifice for something greater than yourself.
Once again, the children of America believe in heroes, because they
see them every day. In these challenging times, the world has seen the
resolve and the courage of America. And I've been privileged to see
the compassion and the character of the American people.
All the tests of the last two-and-a-half years have come to the
right nation. We're a strong country, and we use our strength to
defend the peace. We're an optimistic country, confident in ourselves
and in ideals bigger than ourselves. Abroad, we seek to lift whole
nations by spreading freedom. At home, we seek to lift up lives by
spreading opportunity to every corner of our country. This is the work
that history has set before us. We welcome it. And we know that for
our country and for our cause, the best days lie ahead.
Thank you for coming, and may God bless. (Applause.)
END 12:36 P.M. CDT
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