[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: GEORGE W. BUSH (2001, Book I)]
[May 28, 2001]
[Pages 584-586]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks at a Memorial Day Breakfast
May 28, 2001

    Thank you. Well, Tony, thank you 
very much. I appreciate so very much the fine work you are doing on 
behalf of the veterans for America. I knew that I made a pretty good 
selection when I picked Tony. I didn't realize that so many would agree 
with me so quickly, and I thank you very much for taking on such a tough 
assignment.
    I am also honored that the Secretary of Defense is here. Mr. Secretary, thank you, and thanks for bringing 
your great wife, as well. I'm pleased to know 
that Mel Martinez and his wife are here, another Cabinet Secretary, as well as Ann 
Veneman and Tommy Thompson, head of Health and Human Services. Thank you all for being 
here today. Jeni, thank you for your kind prayer.
    Senator Dole, it's great to see you, sir. I'm 
really pleased you brought your better half. [Laughter] Elizabeth is one of our all-time favorites. I know you've 
worked hard for this moment, and I want to thank you for being here. I 
see Freddie Smith, as well, who--you did 
a fine job of twisting his arm to take over the head of the World War II 
Memorial Fund. And thanks, Fred, so much for your hard work.
    I'm glad Members of the Congress who are here--I thought most of you 
were trying to escape town, but some of you stayed behind to help 
celebrate this occasion. Senator Hutchinson from the great State of Arkansas is here. Thank you very 
much, Tim, for being here. Senator Bob Smith, 
thank you, sir, for coming. Senator Ted Stevens, 
I appreciate so very much, you being here. And of course, the chairman, 
John Warner, thanks for coming. Members of 
the House Cass Ballenger and Ralph 
Regula, Ike Skelton, 
and Chris Smith are here, as well. 
Thank you all for coming.
    I've got to say something about an ex-Congressman. I just saw Sonny 
Montgomery sitting here, and Sonny, you may 
not be in the House but a lot of people wish you still were, and thanks 
so much for being here.
    I want to thank the members of the Joint Chiefs who are here. I also 
want to thank all the World War II vets who are here. And if you 
wouldn't mind standing, I wish you would, please. [Applause]
    William Schmidt, an ex-POW, and Joseph 
Alexander, a Defender of Bataan & 
Corregidor, are here. You just stood, but I want to thank you two 
gentlemen for coming, as well.
    I want to welcome everybody to the White House. Laura and I are so 
honored you are here this morning. Later today I will lay a wreath at 
the Tomb of the Unknowns, one of the many acts of remembrance that will 
mark this day. Many of

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you will be there. Thank you for coming, not only here but there, as 
well.
    Each of you is not only a veteran in this room, but each of you is a 
servant to other veterans, and for that our Nation is grateful. 
America's veterans have earned not only honors but specific benefits, 
and those only become more necessary with the years.
    My administration will do all it can to assist our veterans and to 
correct oversights of the past. My budget provides a significant 
increase for health care at the Department of Veterans Affairs, where 
Senator Principi is very much in charge. 
We are making considerable progress on implementing the Veterans 
Millennium Health Care Act. And the Secretary--did I say Senator 
Principi? [Laughter] Always worried about that balance of power. 
[Laughter] Secretary Principi has begun a top-to-bottom review of VA 
claims processing in order to identify weaknesses and areas of 
improvement.
    These are good first steps, but they are only first steps. We must 
also improve the way the VA and the Department of Defense work together 
to provide care to those who have served in uniform. I am today 
announcing the creation of a Presidential task force to recommend major 
reforms in the delivery of health care to veterans and military 
retirees.
    I have asked two distinguished Americans to lead it. Dr. Gail 
Wilensky is a prominent expert on health 
policy and a faithful friend to veterans. She will work with Gerry 
Solomon, who is a long-time advocate for 
veterans and a former Congressman. One might be tempted to call him an 
ex-marine, but we all know there is no such thing as an ex-marine. 
[Laughter] I'm honored that both have agreed to serve. I am honored they 
are both here. Please stand. [Applause] Thank you for coming.
    America really has been given so much. Yet, of all our assets, 
resources, and strengths, none have counted more than the courage of our 
young soldiers in the face of battle. They have cleared the seas, 
crossed the rivers, charged the hills, and covered the skies, and they 
have never let America down.
    I know that those who have seen war are rarely eager to look back on 
it, and the hardest memories of all concern those who serve their 
country and never live to be called veterans. Yet, memory is our 
responsibility. We are in their debt more than a lifetime of Memorial 
Days could repay. Their sacrifices left us with a duty that goes on 
through the generations, to honor them in our thoughts and our words and 
in our lives.
    We have been given that opportunity this morning. On your way to 
Arlington National Cemetery you will pass The Mall, where our Nation 
raised up memorials to Washington, Lincoln, and those lost in Vietnam. 
That same Mall will soon be the site of the World War II Memorial.
    The generation of World War II defeated history's greatest tyranny, 
leaving graves and freedom from Europe to Asia. Our Nation must always 
remember their heroism and humility and terrible suffering. And that 
memory must be and will be preserved on the Washington Mall.
    The World War II Memorial has been in the works for a long time. The 
Congress of the United States has acted to remove the obstacles and 
begin the project. What is required now is a signature, and I am glad to 
give it. In the 60th year after Pearl Harbor, it is my huge honor to set 
my name on this bill, ordering construction of a monument that will 
stand for the ages. Not only will I sign the bill, I will make sure the 
monument gets built.
    Thank you all for coming.

Note: The President spoke at 8:40 a.m. in the East Room at the White 
House. In his remarks, he referred to Secretary of Veterans Affairs 
Anthony J. Principi, who introduced the President; Kitty Rumsfeld, wife 
of Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld;

[[Page 586]]

Joyce Martinez, wife of Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Mel 
R. Martinez; Jeni Cook, Director of Chaplain Services, Department of 
Veterans Affairs; former Senator Bob Dole, national chairman, and 
Frederick W. Smith, cochairman, World War II Memorial Campaign; and 
Elizabeth Dole, former Secretary of Transportation. Following his 
remarks, the President signed H.R. 1696, to expedite the construction of 
the World War II Memorial, which was assigned Public Law No. 107-11. The 
Memorial Day proclamation of May 25 and the Executive order of May 28 on 
the President's Task Force To Improve Health Care Delivery for Our 
Nation's Veterans are listed in Appendix D at the end of this volume.