    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2002, Book II)]
    [September 25, 2002]
    [Pages 1659-1664]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    [[Page 1659]]

    Remarks at the National Republican Senatorial Committee Dinner
    September 25, 2002

        Thank you all very much. Well, thanks for coming tonight. I
    appreciate so many of our fellow Americans being here. I'm here because
    I want to urge you to do everything you can to make sure that the United
    States Senate is a Republican Senate.
        In order to make real progress for America, I believe we need to
    have a change of leadership in the United States Senate. And together--
    together--we can work together to make America a stronger place, a safer
    place, and a better place for everybody who is fortunate enough to live
    in this country.
        I want to thank Bill Frist, who's the
    chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee. I want to
    thank you for your kind words. I want to thank you for your leadership.
    I want to thank Karyn Frist for being a patient
    woman, standing by this guy. Frist and I married above ourselves. We
    both married Texas women. Laura is not here. I
    wish she were. She's on her way down to do a little diplomatic work in
    Mexico. She sends her best. She sends her love. And I can't tell you how
    proud I am of the job she's doing on behalf of America.
        They tell me this is a successful dinner. And I'm not surprised.
    After all, the chairman of the dinner is from Texas, a fine United
    States Senator, a close friend, Kay Bailey Hutchison. Kay, I want to thank you for your dedication and for
    your hard work.
        I also am honored to be in the presence of the next majority leader
    of the United States Senate, Trent Lott. I want
    to thank all the Senators who are here tonight. I appreciate your
    friendship. I appreciate the opportunity to work with you.
        One Senator not here tonight is Senator Strom Thurmond. Today he gave what is likely his farewell speech on the
    floor of a body he loves a lot. I join his colleagues and join you all
    in expressing our appreciation and deep admiration for Senator Strom
    Thurmond and his 48 years of service in the United States Senate.
        I also want to thank my friend Michael W. Smith and Debbie Smith for being here.
    You're in for a real treat when you hear him sing. He is one of the
    great voices in America. I love his spirit. I love his soul. I'm proud
    to call him friend. I wish I could stay for the songs, Michael, but my
    dinner might get cold. [Laughter]
        I want to work with all of us here in Washington to make America a
    stronger place. And that starts with making sure we do everything in our
    power to make our economy grow. See, if anybody who wants to work can't
    find a job, we've got a problem. And so we've got to continue to focus
    on economic growth and economic vitality. And we made great progress
    when we controlled the Senate by cutting the taxes on the American
    people.
        Well, I know--I know some up here in Washington have read a
    different textbook from most of us. But here's a page we remember. It
    says, ``If you let a person keep more of their own money, they're likely
    to demand a good or a service. And if they demand a good or a service,
    somebody in America is likely to produce that good or a service. And
    when somebody produces a good or a service, somebody is more likely to
    find work.''
        The tax cuts came as our economy was slowing down. The tax cuts came
    at the right time in American history, and we need a Senate who makes
    the tax cuts permanent.
        Working together, we promoted a trade bill, which is good for
    American jobs. If you're a confident nation, like we must be, if you
    believe in the productivity of the American worker, if you believe in
    the strength of the American entrepreneur, you

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    open up markets around the world. And thanks to the Senate, and thanks
    to many Senators here, I have now got trade promotion authority, which I
    will use for the good of the American worker.
        We began to lose some confidence in our system because some of our
    fellow Americans thought it was okay to fudge the books, to hide
    numbers. And so we came together, thanks to many in this room, and
    passed the most comprehensive corporate reform since Franklin Roosevelt
    was the President. We believe that those who run corporations in America
    have a responsibility. They have a responsibility to the shareholder.
    They have a responsibility to the employee. And if we catch somebody
    fudging the numbers, there's not going to be any more easy money in
    America; there's just going to be hard time.
        And there's more we can do, and these Senators here in this audience
    understand it. We need an energy bill. We need an energy bill for the
    sake of job security, and we need an energy bill for the sake of
    national security.
        We need terrorism insurance. We want to put our hardhats back to
    work. We need a bill that helps get construction projects moving again.
    But we want a bill that rewards the hard-working hardhats of America,
    not the trial lawyers of America.
        And as the Congress heads to home, it's very important to remember
    that to make sure job creation continues and to make sure our economy
    strengthens, we must not overspend in Washington, DC. It's very
    important that Members of the Congress understand whose money we're
    spending. See, it's not the Government's money. We're spending the
    people's money, and we've got to be wise about how we spend the people's
    money.
        Every idea up here sounds like a good idea. Except in Washington,
    when you start totaling up the bill, it runs into the billions. And so,
    for the sake of job creation, the Congress must not use a continuing
    resolution for pet projects. For the sake of fiscal sanity, we must fund
    our priorities and hold the line elsewhere in the budget. And I
    appreciate the Senators leading the charge in this audience,
    understanding the need for fiscal--that fiscal responsibility equals
    jobs for the American people.
        And for a stronger America, we need good judges. We need people who
    will not write the law from the benches but people who strictly
    interpret the Constitution. I have been appalled at what has taken place
    in the United States Senate recently. I named two good judges, one from
    Mississippi and one from my home State of Texas, Charles
    Pickering, Priscilla Owen. Their records were distorted. I don't think they
    were given a fair hearing. Special interests got a hold of the
    committee. It is not right that these two fine, fine people were denied
    the bench.
        Soon the Senate will take up the nomination of Miguel
    Estrada. Miguel Estrada is an excellent
    lawyer. He's a fine man. He's an American success story. The Senate
    should not play politics with this nomination, for he will be an
    outstanding judge. One of the reasons to change the United States Senate
    is to make sure the good judges I nominate get a fair hearing, a swift
    vote, and approval.
        And as we work hard to make sure our economy grows so people can
    find work, we've also got to remember our number one priority, and that
    is to protect our homeland from further attack. There's an enemy which
    hates America lurking around. They hate us because we love freedom. They
    hate everything our country stands for. They can't stand the thought
    that in this great country, we worship an almighty God any way we see
    fit. They can't stand the thought that we have good, honest political
    discourse. They hate a free press. They hate everything we love.
        And there's something else which distinguishes us from the enemy. We
    value life in America. We say everybody has worth. Everybody is
    precious. They take innocent life, as they've hijacked a great religion.

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    And because the enemy lurks and because we refuse to yield on our love
    for freedom, we must prepare the homeland for future attack.
        I asked the Congress to join me in creating a Department of Homeland
    Security. I did so because we must better coordinate our defenses. If
    homeland security is the number one priority of the Government, it ought
    to be the number one priority of every agency in Washington, DC. If
    protecting the homeland is the number one priority, we ought to be in a
    position where we can move people to protect our homeland. This
    President and future Presidents must have the ability to put the right
    people in the right place at the right time in order to protect America.
        Unfortunately, some Senators, not all Senators but some Senators,
    believe it is best to try to micromanage the process, believe the best
    way to secure the homeland is to have a thick book of regulations which
    will hamstring this administration and future administrations from
    dealing with an enemy that could care less about thick books of
    regulations. Unfortunately, some in the Senate, not all in the Senate,
    want to take away the power that all Presidents have had since Jimmy
    Carter. And I'm not going to stand for it. The Senate must hear this,
    because the American people understand it: They should not respond to
    special interests in Washington, DC. They ought to respond to this
    interest--protecting the American people from future attack.
        I see Senator Gramm from Texas here. I want
    to thank Senator Gramm, Republican, Senator Zell Miller, Democrat from Georgia, for proposing a good piece of
    legislation. I urge the Senate to support this legislation. It is right
    for America. You see, we have a chance to leave a legacy behind. And
    that legacy could be found in the Gramm-Miller bill. I support it
    strongly. I urge all the Senate to support this good piece of
    legislation.
        The best way to secure the homeland of America, however, is to hunt
    the killers down, one person at a time, and bring them to justice, which
    America will do.
        It's a different kind of war. It used to be you could count progress
    against an enemy by the number of tanks he had or the number of
    airplanes he had or the number of ships he was able to float. We're
    fighting against people who hide in caves, people who kind of find dark
    corners and lurk around them, and at the same time, boldly send
    youngsters to their own suicidal death. Those are the kind of people we
    fight. They don't require much money. But if they're trying to get
    money, we're cutting it off.
        What it requires is a United States that is firm in our resolve,
    determined in our efforts, a United States who is willing--which is
    willing to uphold doctrine. One doctrine is: Either you're with us, or
    the enemy. And that doctrine still stands today. The other doctrine is:
    If you harbor a terrorist, if you feed a terrorist, if you hide a
    terrorist, you're just as guilty as the terrorists who murdered
    thousands of Americans.
        And we're making progress. We're making progress in this first war
    of the 21st century. Just ask the Taliban. [Laughter] I want you all to
    remind your children about the great strength and heart of this country.
    Not only do we do what we say we're going to do, but we went into
    Afghanistan not to conquer anybody but to liberate a nation from the
    clutches of one of the most barbaric regimes in the history of mankind.
    Thanks to the United States and our friends and allies, young girls now
    go to school for the first time in Afghanistan.
        And we're not leaving. There's more work to do. There are Al Qaida
    killers lurking around the neighborhood. But they must understand there
    is no cave deep enough, there is no corner dark enough for the long arm
    of justice of the United States and our friends and allies. We've

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    arrested over a couple of thousand of them. Got one the other day, one
    of the ones kind of bragging about he thought he was going to be the
    20th--20th killer on September the 11th.
    He poked his head up, and we found him. He's no longer a threat to
    freedom. And there's a lot of them like him. Slowly but surely, we're
    hunting them down.
        And we've got a lot of work to do. There's a lot more effort that's
    going to go into securing America and our friends and defending our
    freedom. And that's why I asked the Congress to pass the largest
    increase in defense appropriations since Ronald Reagan was the
    President. I did so because I firmly and strongly believe that anytime
    we send one of our youngsters into harm's way, they deserve the best
    pay, the best training, and the best possible equipment. We owe it to
    them, and we owe it to their loved ones.
        It also will send a message--this defense appropriation increase
    will send a message to friend and foe alike that the United States is
    not going to quit when it comes to our freedom, that no matter how long
    it takes, no matter how tough the task, this Nation will defend our
    freedoms. History has put the spotlight on us. And the world must
    understand that we're not going to blink; we're not going to tire. We
    will do whatever it takes to make the homeland secure and to make
    freedom reign across the world.
        And so my call to Congress is to get the defense appropriations bill
    to my desk before you go home. For the sake of the national security,
    for the sake of sending the right messages around the world, we need to
    get the defense bill complete.
        Not only will we pursue Al Qaida one person at a time, not only will
    we resist terror wherever it lurks, we will also deal with madmen who
    harbor and develop and want to use weapons of mass destruction.
        I made a decision to call upon the international community to join
    us in holding Saddam Hussein to account. I
    did so at the United Nations because I want the United Nations to be an
    effective body. I remember what happened with the League of Nations. For
    the sake of security, for the sake of peace, the United Nations must not
    become the League of Nations. The United Nations must have backbone. The
    United Nations must be willing to uphold resolution. The United Nations
    must be strong enough to hold Saddam Hussein to account.
        After all, he's defied the United Nations
    for 11 years. He's thumbed his nose at the world. He must be laughing
    when he hears about the United Nations and its resolutions, and that's
    not good for the health of the world. He's a man who poisoned his own
    people. He's a man who invaded two countries twice--two countries, once
    each time. He's a man who has got weapons of mass destruction, yet lies
    to the world. He's a man who needs to be brought to justice.
        And the choice is his to make, and the
    choice is the United Nations to make. He must destroy his weapons of
    mass destruction. He must stop his deceit. He must stop his lying. He
    must stop torturing his own citizens. And the United Nations must uphold
    its resolutions. The choice is theirs. But if they choose not to, for
    the sake of our future, for the sake of our freedom, we will not let the
    world's worst leader threaten us, blackmail us, or hurt us with the
    world's worst weapons.
        And I want to thank Members of Congress of both political parties
    for coming together to send a strong message to the world that this
    Nation loves freedom--members of both parties coming together to send a
    clear word to friend and foe alike that the United States is united in
    our resolve to defend that which we hold dear, that when we see a
    problem, we will deal with it. We owe it to our children. We owe it to
    our children's children to defend freedom, to free people from the

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    clutches of barbarism. We owe it to civilization, itself, to remain
    strong and focused and diligent.
        And as we work to make America a stronger and safer place, we've
    also got to remember to make it a better place too, a better place, for
    all our citizens. Many Senators here joined me in working on an
    education bill. It was the most constructive piece of education reform
    in a long time. See, we believe every child in America can learn. We're
    willing to challenge the soft bigotry of low expectations. We also trust
    the local people to chart the path to excellence in our public schools
    in America.
        And for the first time, thanks to Senator Gregg and others, we're starting to ask the question in
    America, ``Can our children read and write and add and subtract?'' You
    see, if you believe every child can learn, it's a legitimate question to
    ask. And we find our children trapped in schools which will not teach
    and will not change. We will demand--we will demand something else
    happens. No child in America should be left behind.
        For a better America, Congress must remember that those on welfare
    want to work. Work ought to be the cornerstone of the welfare
    reauthorization. In work, people find dignity. In work, people find hope
    for the future. As we debate a welfare reauthorization bill, let us not
    forget the successes of the past, and let's make sure work is the
    cornerstone of a responsible tomorrow for every citizen in our country.
        A better tomorrow means a modern health care system for all, but
    particularly for our seniors. Medicine has changed; Medicare hasn't. For
    the sake of a better tomorrow, we must have a prescription drug benefit
    and a modern Medicare system.
        And finally, a better tomorrow understands that in our faith-based
    and charitable institutions, we find great compassion and hope and love.
    Washington, DC, should not fear faith-based programs. We ought to
    welcome them in the lives of citizens who hurt.
        I say a better tomorrow depends upon programs that emanate from our
    churches and synagogues and mosques as well as charitable organizations,
    because I understand the true strength of the country. And the true
    strength of the country lies in the hearts and souls of our fellow
    citizens.
        Right after September the 11th, after we shed our tears and mourned,
    I was absolutely convinced that out of the evil done to America can come
    great good. And I still believe it today. I believe that if our country
    is steadfast and strong, we can achieve peace.
        You need to tell your youngsters that behind the rhetoric of war is
    a strong desire for a peaceful world; that I long for peace, not just
    for Americans, but because our country values each life, everybody has
    importance. I long for peace around the world. I believe by being tough
    and strong and determined, that we can achieve peace in places in the
    world where people have quit on peace. I firmly believe peace is
    possible in the Middle East. I believe peace is possible in South Asia.
    No, out of the evil done to America can come incredible good if we stay
    the course and if we remain strong.
        And here at home, the evil done to America can yield some great good
    as well. We must remember there are pockets of despair and hopelessness
    and loneliness in America. The Government can hand out money, and we do
    a pretty good job of it here in Washington. But what Government cannot
    do is put hope in people's hearts. It can't put a sense of purpose in
    people's lives.
        Government can't say to a lonely child, ``I love you.'' That happens
    when a fellow American chooses to be more than just a citizen--a self-
    serving citizen. It happens when people understand that the definition
    of a patriot today in America is somebody who's willing to serve
    something greater than yourself in life.

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        That example came home most vividly on Flight 93. It's a story that
    I hope will remain etched in the minds of our fellow Americans and
    written in the history books of our country. I think it was a turning
    point of a culture which used to say, ``If it feels good, do it,'' and
    ``If you've got a problem, blame somebody else.'' These citizens showed
    the strongest sense of personal responsibility you could possibly
    imagine. After all, they were on an airplane thinking they were flying
    across the country. They heard reports about what was taking place on
    the ground. They told their loved ones goodbye. They told them they
    loved them. History will record that they said a prayer. They asked for
    guidance. One guy said, ``Let's roll.'' They took the plane in the
    ground to serve something greater than self in life.
        It's a vivid example of what America must realize in order to fight
    evil. In order to fight evil, do some good. Love your neighbor like
    you'd like to be loved yourself. Mentor a child. Start a Boys or a Girls
    Club. Be involved with Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts. Feed the hungry. Find
    shelter for the homeless.
        And that's what's happening in this country. No, the enemy thought
    that we might file a lawsuit or two. But instead, they found a
    determined nation, a nation which longs for peace, and a nation which is
    willing to work to save America one heart, one soul, one conscience at a
    time.
        There is no question in my mind that we will succeed as a country.
    After all, we're the greatest nation, the greatest nation on the face of
    the Earth, full of the most loving, hard-working, decent people.
        Thank you all for coming tonight. May God bless you all, and may God
    bless America.

    Note: The President spoke at 6:59 p.m. at the National Building Museum.
    In his remarks, he referred to Karyn Frist, wife of Senator Bill Frist;
    entertainer Michael W. Smith, and his wife, Debbie; Ramzi bin al-Shibh,
    an Al Qaida operative suspected of helping to plan the September 11,
    2001, terrorist attacks, who was captured in Karachi, Pakistan; and
    President Saddam Hussein of Iraq.