    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2002, Book I)]
    [April 24, 2002]
    [Pages 656-660]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks at the Dakota Ethanol Plant in Wentworth, South Dakota
    April 24, 2002

        Thank you all. Please be seated. Ron, I
    want to thank you very much. I thought Washington was where it got a
    little windy. [Laughter] You've got to remember, I was raised in west
    Texas. I'm kind of used to the wind. It reminds me of home.
        I want to thank you all for a warm welcome. Thank you for being so
    gracious.

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    Ron, thank you very much for hosting us here. I
    appreciate the briefing I had and the chance to meet with some of your
    fellow citizens in South Dakota, a chance to talk about ag policy. And I
    want to thank all those for coming as well.
        I appreciate so very much Secretary of Agriculture Ann
    Veneman traveling with me today. I'm proud of
    the job Ann is doing. She's a great leader for the Ag Department. She
    understands farmers, understands farming, and she's doing America a fine
    job.
        I want to thank your Governor for coming. Janklow and I have been friends for a long time. I was a Governor
    of Texas, he was a Governor of South Dakota; and he kept telling me what
    to do all the time when I was around him. [Laughter] But I appreciate
    you being here, Governor. Thank you very much.
        We share something in common; we both married above our heads.
    [Laughter] I'm sorry my wife isn't with me. I had
    the honor of saying hello to the first lady of South Dakota at the steps of Air Force One. I bring
    up Laura because I can't tell you how proud I am of her. She is--you
    know, when I married her, she was a public school librarian who really
    didn't like politics and didn't care for politicians, either, I might
    add. [Laughter] And she has been such a calm and steady influence for
    the country, and she's come a long way from a public school librarian to
    a great First Lady. I'm real proud of her.
        I want to appreciate the Senate majority leader, Tom
    Daschle, for being here today. Tom, I'm honored
    you'd come. And Tom and I have spent some quality time together. I
    invite him to the Oval Office for breakfast--he doesn't eat much, I want
    you to know, which is good for my wallet. [Laughter] But I appreciate
    working with him. And I also appreciate Senator Tim Johnson being here as well. Thank you, Tim, for coming. As well,
    we're honored to have the only Congressman from the State of South
    Dakota, John Thune--thank you for being here,
    John.
        I want to spend some time talking about agriculture and the
    importance of agriculture for our country, but before I do, I want to
    tell you about the war. I want you to know that we're fighting against
    killers, coldblooded murderers, and they still want to hurt us. Bill
    Janklow and I were talking coming in
    about what he has done to help secure the homeland here in South Dakota.
    And for that, I am grateful, and you need to be. He takes it seriously.
    He is on top of the situation here in South Dakota.
        And I believe that around the country we're making great progress
    toward making our homeland more secure. We've got to do a better job of
    understanding who's coming into our country and why they're coming in,
    and, if they're going out, when they're supposed to be going out. We've
    got a good amount of money in the budget, as Senator Daschle can tell you, to make sure that our first-
    responders are ready, should something happen. We've got a good
    initiative on bioterrorism that we're working on, to make sure the
    homeland is secure.
        But the best way to secure the homeland is to chase these murderers
    down one by one and bring them to justice. And that's exactly what
    America is going to do. The reason I tell you that is it's important for
    you to know that this war to secure our homeland and to protect freedom
    is not going to end anytime soon. I don't have a calendar on my desk
    that says, by such-and-such a date we're going to quit. That's not how I
    think, much to the chagrin of the enemy. You see, I don't know what they
    were thinking when they attacked America. They must have thought we were
    so materialistic, so self-centered, so weak that all we were going to do
    was to file a lawsuit. They found out we don't file lawsuits when it
    comes to defending freedom; we send our United States military.

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        And I've submitted a budget to the United States Congress that sets
    our defense as the number one priority. It's a big increase, no question
    about it. But my attitude is we're in it for the long haul, and we must
    send that signal not only to the enemy but to our coalition partners.
    And secondly, anytime we commit a U.S. citizen who wears our uniform to
    combat, or in harm's way, they must have the best equipment, the best
    training, the best pay possible. The price of freedom's high, but as far
    as I'm concerned, it's not too high, and we're going to pay it.
        And there's no cave deep enough for them to hide. We're going to get
    them one by one, because this Nation is patient and we're plenty tough
    when it comes to defending our country.
        But it's also important to know that we're a compassionate nation as
    well. I remind our citizens, particularly the young, that we don't seek
    revenge; we seek justice. And when we went into Afghanistan to uphold
    the doctrine that said, if you harbor a terrorist, you're just as guilty
    as the ones that came to kill America, and routed out the Taliban, we
    didn't go in there as conquerors; we went in as liberators. We freed
    people from the clutches of one of the most barbaric regimes ever. And
    now, thanks to the United States of America and our coalition partners,
    young girls go to school in Afghanistan.
        We've got a lot of work to do on the war front. We've got a lot of
    work to do on making sure that Afghanistan is a viable nation which can
    defend herself and is a good neighbor in an important part of the world.
        And so you just need to know that I am proud of America; I'm proud
    of the fact that we're unified. This isn't a Republican war; this isn't
    a Democrat war; this is an American war. And our country is unified, and
    we are strong, and we are resolved. And that makes this President and I
    know it makes the Members of the Congress feel really good.
        And we have work to do at home as well. The enemy, when they hit us,
    did affect our economy, and there's no question about that. And my
    attitude is, anybody who wants to work who can't find work--we've got a
    problem in the economy. And there was a lot of people who wanted to work
    who couldn't find work.
        What I thought was necessary was to cut the taxes on the people who
    work. See, my attitude is if you get people more money, they increase
    demands for good and services. When they increase demand for goods and
    services, somebody produces the goods and services. And when somebody
    produces the good and services, somebody's going to have a job to
    produce the goods and services. For the good of the jobs in America,
    cutting taxes and passing an economic--and signing an economic stimulus
    bill was good. It was good for the country.
        And part of the tax relief package was the repeal of the death tax.
    The death tax is particularly tough on South Dakota and Texas farmers or
    anybody who farms or ranches. It's a tax that keeps taxing somebody's
    assets over and over again. You know, it's this--you get taxed by the
    income tax; you die; you keep paying taxes even after you're dead. It's
    not a fair tax, and we got rid of it.
        Except for, there's a quirk in the rules in the United States Senate
    that means that, after 10 years, it's conceivable that the death tax
    doesn't go away. The House made the repeal of the death tax permanent. I
    saw that Senator Daschle is going to bring
    that to a vote on the floor of the Senate, for which I am grateful. It
    is time to get rid of the death tax forever.
        American agriculture is incredibly important for our economic
    vitality. I--when I was the Governor of Texas, I had the honor of being
    the Governor of the second largest farm State in the Union. I'm heading
    to Crawford after tonight. It's not a very big town; almost everybody
    there is in agriculture business.

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        Like you all, I like to--I used to like to go down and sit around
    the coffee shop. They don't let me go down to the coffee shop anymore.
    [Laughter] But I think I got a pretty good handle on the importance of
    agriculture for the future of this country, and one of the most
    important ways to make sure the agriculture economy is strong is to
    promote value-added processing.
        I said when I was running for President, I supported ethanol, and I
    meant it. I support it now, because not only do I know it's important
    for the ag sector of our economy, it's an important part of making sure
    we become less reliant on foreign sources of energy. I appreciate
    Senator Daschle working on the RFS
    standard.
        And I appreciate John Thune working on the
    bio-energy rebate program, to make sure that we help increase, on the
    one hand, the demand for ethanol and, on the other hand, the supply of
    ethanol. It's good public policy for America. It's good for our air;
    it's good for our economy; and it's good for our national security.
        Thank goodness we're self-sufficient in food. But we're not so self-
    sufficient in energy. And pretty soon they're going to get an energy
    bill to my desk, and I look forward to signing it. On the one hand, it's
    going to encourage more conservation. On the other hand, hopefully it
    will spur not only the development of renewables but more oil and gas at
    home, and the two are not mutually exclusive. The less reliant we are on
    foreign sources of crude oil, the better off we are in America.
        I mentioned we're self-sufficient in food, and that's good. And we
    generally produce more than we need here at home. And if that's the
    case, it seems like we ought to figure out how to sell more of it
    overseas. The more markets that are open for U.S. farmers and ranchers,
    the better off our economy will be.
        It is important that this Nation embrace free and fair trade. It is
    important that we understand that when we're good at something--and
    we're the best farmers and ranchers in the world--we ought to work to
    open up markets to sell our products all across the world.
        And I will tell you the days are over with, with American ag being
    kind of shunted aside when it comes to international trade agreements.
    We need to keep American ag in the forefront of trade agreements. It
    ought to be the cornerstone of international trade policy. And that's
    been my record thus far as the President, and it will be my record so
    long as I am the President.
        I understand that the Senate is getting to take up a trade bill, for
    which I'm grateful. I look forward to getting that bill to my desk. It's
    important to get it passed and to get it moving. And it's important to
    get a farm bill to my desk as well. We need good farm legislation.
    It's--the farm bill needs to get done quickly so that the farmers who
    are out there fixing to plant know what the rules of the game is. And we
    can do it. We need to put aside all the posturing, all the noise, and
    for the good of American agriculture, get a trade bill to my desk and
    get a farm bill to my desk.
        I want you to know that this great country is going to make the
    right decisions when it comes to peace, is going to make great decisions
    when it comes to how to bolster our economy and make sure we understand
    that a strong ag sector is good for America, good for everybody in
    America. But this country also is going to stand squarely in the face of
    evil, and here's how: We're going to love our neighbor like we'd like to
    be loved ourself and show the world that good overcomes evil every
    single time.
        We can not only boast of a strong military and hopefully a vibrant
    economy all across the country, but we can do small acts of kindness
    that, in their aggregate, in their total, defines the true nature of
    America. You know, when you go to your Sunday school or your synagogue
    or mosque and vow to help somebody in need,

    [[Page 660]]

    you're really helping define the face of America. When you mentor a
    child who seems lost or hopeless, you're helping to define America. When
    you teach in a classroom, when you love your children and you tell your
    children you love them every day, that's part of making sure that
    America is as compassionate as can be.
        No, the enemy hit us, but out of this evil is going to come some
    incredible good. Out of this evil is going to come a nation that will be
    stronger, more resolved, tougher, but also more loving.
        I believe that the country is on the verge of changing the culture
    which for years has said, ``If it feels good, just go ahead and do it,''
    and ``If you've got a problem, blame somebody else,'' to a day in which
    each of us understand we're responsible for the decisions we make in
    life, that we're responsible for something greater than ourselves.
        That came home to me on Flight 93: When Americans were on an
    airplane, they got the word that they were--the enemy was going to use
    the airplane as a weapon. They got on cell phones and told their loved
    ones goodbye; they said a prayer; they drove the plane into the ground
    to save somebody else.
        It's the America that I know, and it's the America that I love that
    was represented in that act, and that happens every day. It happens
    every day here in South Dakota. It happens every day in States and
    communities across the country. That willingness to serve something
    greater than yourself is such a wonderful part of the American
    character.
        And my call to you is, if you want to fight evil, do some good; love
    a neighbor just like you'd like to be loved yourself. It's happening all
    across America--because, folks, I happen to be the President of the
    greatest nation on the face of the Earth because of our people.
        God bless you all.

    Note: The President spoke at 2:32 p.m. in a storage warehouse at the
    plant. In his remarks, he referred to Ron Alverson, president, board of
    directors, Lake Area Corn Processors, the plant's ownership cooperative;
    and Gov. William J. Janklow of South Dakota and his wife, Mary Dean
    Janklow. The President also referred to RFS, the proposed Renewable
    Fuels Standard to specify a percentage of the Nation's fuel supply to
    come from renewable domestic fuels like ethanol and biodiesel.