THE PRESIDENT: Welcome to the White
House. It's a privilege for me and for Tom to be with the
country's most accountable elected officials. (Laughter and
applause.) The mayors -- los alcaldes.
We always used to say, you know, the government that's closest to
the people is that which governs best. You know
firsthand. You know what it's like to get the call to make
sure the streets are paved, or the garbage is picked
up. You're what I call
practical. (Laughter.) The farther you get away
from the local governments, we get a little theoretical. But
there's nothing like being a mayor to be a problem-solver.
And as you know, we've got a new problem to solve
here. And that's the security of our
homeland. And I'm so pleased that you all are here to give
me a chance to discuss how we're going to work together to solve this
common national problem, which is the security of our people.
It's your police forces, your emergency medical teams, your fire
fighters who are responsible for the first response on any terrorist
attack, and are responsible for saving lives.
I say terrorist attack because we're still under
attack. They still want to come after us. These
are evil people that are relentless in their desire to hurt those who
love freedom. And since we're the bastion of freedom, the
beacon of freedom, we're their target. And we're going to
respond, and we're going to deal with it by working together.
I want to thank -- when you go back to your communities, you make
sure that you thank your police chiefs and your fire chiefs and your
emergency medical teams, not only on behalf of the President, but the
entire country. These good folks put their lives at risk, they work
incredibly hard and long hours, and they deserve the praise and love of
our nation. (Applause.)
There obviously is a role for the federal government, and I'll
discuss parts of our homeland security strategy in a little
bit. But in order to make sure that our homeland is secure
for a long time, we as a nation must be patient enough and resolved
enough to hunt down the killers and the terrorists wherever they try to
hide and bring them to justice. And that's exactly what this
country is going to do. (Applause.)
I say "patient enough," because sometimes there is a certain sense
of anxiety that creeps into the national dialogue. Some
folks are trying to rush the score card, I guess is a way to put
it. We've made huge progress in four and a half
months. I mean, we've done a lot, thanks to a great
military, by the way. And there's a lot of moms and dads and
wives and husbands and children who also need to be thanked, for their
sacrifice. (Applause.)
But in the first theater to rout out terror, we have done a lot.
We've totally destroyed the government, and routed out the government
that thought they could hide the terrorists. You see, there
used to be, I guess, a school of thought around the world that it's
okay to hide a terrorist, you weren't considered a
terrorist. We changed that. We said, if you hide
a terrorist, or you feed a terrorist, or you coddle a terrorist, you're
just as guilty as the terrorists, and we will hold you accountable, as
the Taliban has found out.
We have liberated people. I'm so proud of our military,
and this great nation, and our coalition -- we've got a strong
coalition -- of going into Afghanistan and freeing women and
children. It was a fantastic moment in United States
history, to be able to liberate people that were so oppressed that they
probably thought they had no future. And yet we came. We
came to achieve an objective. The objective was to hold a
government accountable enforcement for harboring a terrorist and, in so
doing, became liberators. It's a proud moment for the
country.
And now we're chasing down people in the first theater who, on the
one hand, are willing to commit others to suicide and they, themselves,
hide in caves. And they think they can hide, and they may be
able to hide today, but we'll get 'em. We're going to get
them running and, when they run, we'll bring them to justice.
I'm plenty patient. I have no preconceived notion about
how long this should take. And neither do the American
people. What the American people expect was a determined,
relentless effort. And that's exactly what we're going to --
that's exactly how we're going to behave. (Applause.)
And so while we're after them overseas, there's a lot to do at
home. That's what I want to discuss today, that this is a two-front
war. Overseas, we're fighting and at home we're
fighting. We're fighting to share information, or we're
working to share information to make sure that all law enforcement
agencies are knitted up, that we do a better job of alerting people,
giving people a heads-up that something might be going on in the
neighborhood and please help.
Our people are alert. The shoe man, the shoe bomber,
Reid, he found out how alert Americans can be, when he showed up on the
airplane, and all of a sudden people noticed something was odd, and
they turned him in. And now he's in
prison. That's what we're doing. But there's more
to do, and I want to discuss that with you today.
We're counting on you, and I'm about to tell you that we're going
to make resources available so that we can work
together. (Applause.) I want to thank Tom for
taking on a tough assignment. I appreciate you bringing one
Mayor who thought you did a good job as
Governor. (Laughter.)
I'm really proud of Tom's efforts. He understands local
government, he understands state government. He believes in
cooperative efforts, he's an open-minded fellow. I hope
you've found that he's willing to listen, willing to listen to good
ideas. He's not an, "it's got to be invented here"
guy. He believes that if there's a good idea, it doesn't
matter who brought it up, Republican or Democrat. We'll put
in place. So I'm real proud of your efforts, Tom, and thanks
for your hard work. (Applause.)
Mel Martinez is here. He will have spent a lot of
quality time with you all on housing issues. I appreciate
your service, Mel. I appreciate your
service. (Applause.) A man who worked with me a
lot in Texas, who now runs FEMA, who is a -- who has made sure the
agency is responsive to emergencies, who will eventually soon play a
big effort in making sure this national strategy for homeland defense
is affected in a way that helps you do your job, and that's Joe
Allbaugh. Thank you for coming. (Applause.)
I appreciate all the county officials, all the city officials, all
who helped make sure that we work together in good
fashion. I particularly want to thank the head of the
Mayors. I am a little disappointed in Mayor
Morial. I went down to Antoine's the other day in New
Orleans to eat a meal -- I was hoping I could invite him and he would
pay. (Laughter.) But the intelligence-gathering
system in New Orleans works well, so he went to
Mexico. (Laughter.)
But nevertheless, Mr. Mayor, I appreciate your
service. I love your town and thanks for being here today,
sir. (Applause.)
I'm going to the Congress next Tuesday night to deliver a State of
the Union address. And I will lay out the priorities of our
government. You heard one of our first
priorities. That's to fight and win this war.
The second priority of our government, a priority which will be
reflected in my budget, is making sure we protect the people at home,
homeland defense. And, therefore, I'll be calling on
Congress to pass a funding increase for homeland defense of 38 -- an
additional $38 billion. (Applause.)
This is double the pre-September 11th
numbers. Thirty-eight billion dollars is the total
request. Double over 2002. It's the beginning of
a homeland defense initiative which is going to last throughout my
administration. It's the beginning of a cooperative effort.
It shows and recognizes that, in the first minutes or hours after
an attack, are the most hopeful minutes for saving lives -- the first
minutes, immediately. And, therefore, we've got to
understand and remember the important role of
first-responders. It became vivid, obviously, on September
11th.
One of the most poignant stories I remember is when some going into
the danger wrote their Social Security numbers on their
arms. It reminds all of us about how dangerous the job is,
and about how some are willing to sacrifice for others. We
saw that firsthand throughout the September the 11th time frame.
We saw people drive an airplane into the ground to save
others. I think America is now coming to appreciate the
definition of sacrifice, sacrifice for freedom, sacrifice for human
life. That's something our first-responders have known for a
long time. And it's important for America to recognize that
contribution they make.
And so, what we must do in the country is remember that the attacks
on September 11th were not just attacks on New York or the Pentagon,
were attacks on all of America, and treat those attacks
such. It is a national threat and, therefore, obviously,
it's a federal responsibility.
And so the 2003 budget proposes $3.5 billion in federal aid to
state and local
first-responders. (Applause.) That is a thousand
percent increase over what our government has
spent. (Applause.) It's necessary
money. It's part of the $38 billion budget I'm going to be
asking for for homeland security. It's absolutely necessary
that we spend the money, and that we spend it correctly.
And, therefore, in order to make sure that there is a strategy, one
that you understand, one that the governors understand, one that the
folks in Washington understand, I'm going to ask the Federal Emergency
Management Agency to be the lead agency on coordinating efforts with
the local governments.
It is the right agency to choose. They understand local
disaster and the local emergency. They understand and have
responded in the past, not only in this administration, but in other
administrations, the need to work closely with mayors to make sure that
we affect good policy. Plus, I trust
Allbaugh. I've seen him work before. He's a good
man. It doesn't matter whether Daley calls him, or whether a
Texan calls him. He's going to answer the
phone. (Laughter.) He's not one of these
political, partisan guys. He's here to serve the country for
the right reason. And so this is the right way to
go. And if you have any problem with him, call me.
(Laughter.)
Part of our task is to recognize there's 36,000 local jurisdictions
all around the country. And how do we make sure there are
some standards, how do we make sure, you know, that the fire hydrant
hookup works in one city and can go across the region and fit another
city? How do we make sure information flows
properly? How do we make sure there's mutual aid agreements
in the neighborhoods? How do we make sure that the
communications equipment and the rescue equipment is compatible not
only within a state but nationwide?
Those are the tasks ahead, and that's part of the challenge we
face. But I'm confident that if we work with you, we can meet the
challenge. There's no question in my mind that, given the right
impetus and the right focus, the right communications and the right
money, we can make it work. We have no choice. We're all
charged.
We find ourself in a moment of history where we, as leaders, must
respond, and we will, and we will respond. It is --
sometimes you get to pick your moments and sometimes you
don't. (Laughter.) And we're here now in the
middle of a war and I want to thank you all for understanding the
call. And we're not going to blink as a nation, and I know
you won't blink as mayors. You accept your responsibility
and I accept mine.
And, as a result of working together, the nation will be better
off. We've got a lot of work to do. But that's how I got
elected. And it starts with cooperation. And I
can assure you, this government is willing to
cooperate. (Applause.)
I also understand a good homeland defense means our cities are
vibrant and strong. I want to work with you on brownfields
legislation -- on implementing
brownfields. (Applause.) I signed legislation,
now it's time to get after it, and it's going to help the cities around
America, that we clean up the brownfields. I want to thank
the Republicans and Democrats up here who worked on this
initiative. We finally got something passed that will enable
cities to revitalize tracts of land that have been abandoned, that now
can be productive parts of your property tax base.
I want to work with you to support home ownership for low income
Americans. I love the
idea. (Applause.) I love the idea of somebody
owning something, somebody owning their own home. I can't
think of anything more powerful to help revitalize neighborhoods, than
to encourage home ownership. And we'll work with you on
that.
I want to work with you to strengthen the community-based drug
prevention, and effective drug treatment programs. I believe
that the best -- (applause) -- I know we've got to do a better job of
suppressing demand for drugs. But I also understand that the
most effective programs are community based programs. You've
seen them. You've helped make them vital in your
communities. And we want to work with you to do just that.
I have not given up on my faith-based initiative. Many
of you understand the power of faith-based programs in your
communities, church programs, programs out of synagogues and
mosques. I believe so strongly in the power of faith, I
believe strongly that we must unleash the armies of compassion in every
city in America to provide hope for people where hope doesn't
exist. And I want to work with you to do just that. I think
we can get a bill out of Congress. (Applause.)
I bring up matters of the spirit because the enemy doesn't
understand who they hit. They first thought they were
hitting somebody, a nation which was soft, a nation which wouldn't --
oh, we might respond but we wouldn't mean it. You know, it
would be kind of a slap-on-the-wrist response. They didn't
understand that when you attack America and you murder innocent people,
we're coming after you with full force and fury of a great nation and
our allies. (Applause.)
They didn't understand our fiber, our character, our
values. And that's one of the interesting developments in
our country, is that people, as you know better than me, have said, we
better assess our values as a result of what went on, and people all
across the country are doing just that. It's a moment that
we must seize. Those of us in leadership position must
understand that there are a lot of Americans who are asking what they
can do to help. I like to put it in as plain terms as I can
-- if you want to fight evil, do some good.
If you want to show the world that we're not going to stand evil,
let's make sure we love somebody, mentor a child. Let's get
involved in the school systems in our local
communities. Let's rally around those who want to help a
neighbor in need. Let's seize the moment, seize the
initiative, seize the chance to rally the armies of compassion, so that
people feel love and decency in their lives, so that shut-ins know
somebody cares, so lonely children who may have a parent in prison know
somebody loves them.
This is the opportunity. I look forward to working with
you, to rally the country, to not only not let -- to not only fight
evil, but to stamp in place a compassion, a decency and a goodness that
will stand the test of time. It's a challenge we face, and I
know it's a challenge we can meet.