[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2001, Book II)]
[August 8, 2001]
[Pages 947-949]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks to Participants in Habitat for Humanity's ``World Leaders 
Build'' in Waco
August 8, 2001

    Thank you, all. Please be seated, before you melt. [Laughter]
    Mel, thank you very much. Laura and I 
had the honor of welcoming Mel and Kitty to 
our little slice of heaven last night in Crawford, Texas. He's doing a 
fabulous job. I don't know if you know the story about Mel Martinez, but 
as a young boy, his parents put him on a boat from Cuba, hoping that he 
could find freedom--and did, and now is a Cabinet Secretary in the 
Cabinet of the 43d President, and he is doing a fabulous job on behalf 
of America. And Mel, it's a lot cooler here in Texas than it is in 
Tampa, Florida. [Laughter]
    I'm honored to be here with Laura. She is--I 
know most of my Texas friends know this was going to be the case, but 
she is a great First Lady.
    I want to thank the Gowan family for your hospitality. I asked him about that 
New York Yankee hat. [Laughter] He said it was the only one he could 
find. [Laughter] Either that or he was showing off for the national 
press corps. [Laughter]
    I want to thank, as well, the Evans family, Bubba and Destini and 
Gladys. I told Bubba, if he wanted some advice, 
it's always to listen to his mother, something I understand quite well. 
[Laughter] But Bubba and Destini promised Laura and me that they're 
going to go to college. They're going to use that home as a place to 
study. You're now on record, Bubba. [Laughter]
    Tom, it's good to see you again, sir. Thank you for coming down from 
Washington today. I had the honor of welcoming Jimmy Carter to the Oval Office the other

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day, and he asked me about the international home build, and I said I 
was going to participate--in God's country. [Laughter] He said, ``I 
didn't realize you were going to be in Georgia.'' [Laughter] I said, 
``No, Texas.'' [Laughter] And so it's an honor to be participating today 
along with President Carter, who is in South Korea, and other world 
leaders all around the globe.
    I want to thank my fellow Texans who are here, as well. I 
particularly want to thank David Ward, and I want 
to thank the Baylor University Habitat for Humanity crowd. It's one of 
the oldest in the country. I think it's the first Habitat for Humanity 
college building program, and I want to thank the Baylor students who 
are here today and those who have kept the tradition alive up to now.
    I'm glad to welcome the Governor. It's good to see you, Gov; I'm glad you're here. I played golf with my State 
senator, David Sibley. You're supposed to play 
``President wins.'' [Laughter] I guess you know me too well. I know you 
better now. [Laughter] It's good to see you and Pam. It's good to see Kip and Dianne; thank you all for both coming over. I 
miss you. I miss the--they're both members of the State House. Sibley is 
in the Senate.
    Dealing with the United States Congress is an interesting experience 
compared to dealing with our legislature. It seems like people there 
want to harden their positions pretty quickly because they're a lot of 
times more interested in politics than they are in good policy. I want 
to assure you all I'm working hard to change that attitude. I'm trying 
to erode the old bias, the old prejudice of putting politics ahead of 
what's right for America. I think we're making good progress. I do miss 
the days when Democrat and Republican could sit down together here in 
Texas and work things out.
    I was telling David yesterday that we're 
making some pretty good progress on the Patients' Bill of Rights by 
focusing with people to find common ground. It's an experience he and I 
had together. I gave him some pretty good lessons on how to get positive 
things done.
    It's great to have the statewide officeholders here, members of the 
supreme court--Phillips and Enoch, thank you all for coming. And new judge, too--thank 
you, Judge, for being here. We've got 
one-third of the court here. [Laughter] Almost enough for a quorum. 
[Laughter]
    I want to thank the railroad commission for being here: 
Garza, Williams, 
and Matthews, it's good to see all three 
of you. You're looking pretty darn good, in spite of the fact that I 
know you're working hard. It's also good to see Greg Abbott and David Dewhurst. Thank you 
all for coming, as well; we're honored that you're here. I appreciate 
you taking time to be here.
    One of the things I love to remind people around our country is that 
the great strength of America is not in our government. It may be in the 
form of government but not in the halls of government. The great 
strength of America is in the hearts and souls of citizens all around 
our country. And we have a chance to see that today here in Waco, Texas, 
people who have heard the universal call to help a neighbor in need and 
have come out in 100-degree temperature to do so, people that understand 
that owning a home is part of the American Dream. Owning something is 
what America is all about. The ability to own a piece of property, 
regardless of who you are or how you were raised or where you're from, 
is the thing that really has made America so unique and so different.
    But the thing that makes it more interesting to people from around 
the world is that we've got hundreds of citizens who are willing to help 
those who may not be able to afford a house to be able to move into a 
house. It's the beauty of America.
    You know, I've told the people of the Nation's Capital there that I 
was coming back to the heartland to herald the values of the heartland, 
the values that make America so different and so unique. And one of 
those values is neighbors helping

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neighbors. It's a value that has existed for a long period of time. But 
no President should ever take that value for granted. And so that's why 
Laura and I are so honored to thank the volunteers who are here and to 
remind our fellow Americans that if we're interested in a decent 
tomorrow for every citizen, if we want the American Dream to extend its 
reach in every community, that all of us must work hard in our 
communities to help a neighbor in need.
    One of the most interesting initiatives that we have proposed is a 
Faith- and Community-Based Initiative. There's great debate in 
Washington about the process, the legalities of the initiative. What my 
administration talks about is the results of the initiative. If a faith-
based program helps a family find a home, then we ought to welcome it 
and nourish it. And Secretary Martinez 
talked about how we're going to do that by putting more money in our 
budget.
    If a faith-based initiative helps someone kick drugs or alcohol, we 
ought to welcome that initiative and welcome that program and say to the 
folks who are involved, ``Government stands squarely on your side.'' In 
our society, we should not fear faith and the power of faith and the 
volunteers who are motivated by faith. We need to welcome it. And as far 
as I'm concerned, the Federal Government will be a welcoming agency, 
will put money up to allow faith-based programs to compete side by side 
with secular programs, all aimed at making sure America is the greatest 
country possible for every single citizen.
    And it's going to happen in this country. I've had the honor of 
traveling the world for our country. I went to Europe. And we're 
different in a positive way; we're unique in an incredibly positive way. 
It's important for our Nation to never lose sight of that. And for those 
who worship in houses of faith, regardless of their religion, whether it 
be Christian or Muslim or Jewish, and you want to help a neighbor in 
need and you want to access grant money, as far as I'm concerned, please 
come on. Please come on and hear the universal call to love a neighbor 
just like you'd like to be loved yourself.
    We're making great progress in Washington changing the tone of our 
country. We're making great progress reminding people that the values of 
the heartland are the values that make America unique and different.
    I want to thank all the volunteers here in Waco, Texas, and all the 
volunteers all across this State and all across our Nation who, on a 
daily basis, make this country so wonderful and so different. I also 
want to thank my fellow Texans for coming out to give me a warm welcome. 
It's great to see you all again.
    May God bless Texas, and may God bless America. Thank you.

Note: The President spoke at 9:35 a.m. at the home of Otis and Thresa 
Gowan, a 1990 Habitat for Humanity project. In his remarks, he referred 
to Kitty Martinez, wife of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Mel 
R. Martinez; Gladys Evans and her children Edwinn ``Bubba'' and Destini, 
whose home the President helped build; Diana Ward, board chair, Waco 
Habitat for Humanity; Gov. Rick Perry of Texas; Pam Sibley, wife of 
State Senator David Sibley; State Representatives Kip Averitt and Dianne 
White Delisi; Chief Justice Thomas R. Phillips and Justices Craig T. 
Enoch and Wallace B. Jefferson, Texas Supreme Court; Chairman Michael L. 
Williams and Commissioners Tony Garza and Charles R. Matthews, Texas 
Railroad Commission; and Greg Abbott and David Dewhurst, candidates for 
Lieutenant Governor of Texas.