[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2003, Book II)]
[August 19, 2003]
[Pages 1031-1033]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]
[[Page 1031]]
Remarks and an Exchange With Reporters in Crawford, Texas
August 19, 2003
Proposed Energy Legislation/Power Blackout
The President. Good morning, everybody. How are you? Last night I
talked to Pete Domenici and Billy
Tauzin. Pete is the chairman of the
Senate committee dealing with energy and Billy is the chairman of the
House committee dealing with energy. Pete believes they can get the
conference up and running in 20 days to deal with this very important
energy bill. Both Members are very optimistic about reaching agreement,
obviously, on infrastructure modernization but, as importantly, other
issues related to energy.
One thing is for certain. There is--very confident they'll have
mandatory reliability standards in the energy bill. What that means is
that companies transmitting energy will have to have strong reliability
measures in place; otherwise, there will be a consequence for them.
There will be incentives in the new bill to encourage investment in
energy infrastructure.
So I'm very pleased with the attitude of the two Members, their desire to
get a bill done quickly and get it to my desk. I have been calling for
an energy bill for a long time. And now is the time for the Congress to
move and get something done.
I also talked to Energy Secretary Abraham. Tomorrow the joint inquiry with the Canadians will
begin. I don't know how long it's going to take to find out what went
wrong, but I know it's not going to take long to get the meeting started
to determine what went wrong.
I'll answer a couple of questions; then I've got to get moving.
Former Vice President Taha Yasin Ramadan
of Iraq
Q. They've just captured Saddam's Vice President. Does that give you
hope that we're closer to catching Saddam?
The President. Well, I don't know the facts of where he was, what
was going on. I'm really pleased that we've captured the Vice President.
Slowly but surely, we'll find who we need to find. It's just a matter of
time. Listen, we've got a lot of brave people doing a lot of hard work
in Iraq. And it's--because Iraq was terrorized and dominated by a
dictator, it's going to take a while to get this country to understand
what's necessary to be a free country. But we'll find him, and we'll
bring him to justice.
Stevenson [Richard Stevenson, New York Times].
Proposed Energy Legislation
Q. Sir, I realize it's early to find out what went on with the
blackout, but do you know enough at this point to be able to say whether
there's anything new or different that you would like in the energy bill
beyond what you proposed----
The President. Well, listen, I thought the energy bill was very
comprehensive. We particularly liked the House--a lot of the House bill.
The Senate, as you know, in order to get out of town, expedited a piece
of legislation. The House bill is a very comprehensive bill. And I'm
confident the two bodies can work out differences. If they do what's in
the--if they do what's in the House bill, for example, and what's in
the--a lot in the Senate bill, we'll get us a good bill.
Situation in the Middle East
Q. Sir, the cease-fire by the Palestinians runs out in a few weeks.
Do you think it should be extended, and why?
The President. Well, you know, look, here's my view on cease-fires
and--I'm happy there's calm, and I think that's important. But the most
important thing is to--for the parties that care for their--for
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peace to dismantle terrorist organizations that want to kill. That's how
we're going to achieve a peaceful settlement in the Middle East. Calm is
good. The fact that people aren't dying is good. But the ultimate
solution--and this can happen quickly, in my judgment--is to find those
who would--who believe killing is the best approach to dealing with the
very difficult problems in the Middle East.
Q. Sir, Israel has kind of eased off of their request for actual
dismantling the terrorists, and they're putting their faith in the
Palestinian Authority to contain these guys. Do you have----
The President. I don't want to put words in the Israelis' mouth, but
I can assure you that they're interested in dismantling organizations
such as Hamas.
Q. But do you think that the Palestinian Authority right now can
contain these----
The President. I think that the Palestinian Authority needs to
continue to work with the United States and others who are interested in
dismantling terrorist organizations and ask for the help necessary so
they can go and do what they need to do, which is dismantle and destroy
organizations which are interested in killing innocent lives in order to
prevent a peace process from going forward.
Tax Cuts/National Economy
Q. Mr. President, your budget director gave an interview to the Wall
Street Journal suggesting that there won't be any corporate tax cuts to
deal with this World Trade Organization trade dispute--about $100
billion in tax cuts making its way through Congress. Are we done with
tax cuts for the foreseeable future?
The President. Well, we'll see. As I said the other day, as we stand
right now, I believe the tax relief packages we have in place are doing
their job. But I'm a flexible person. I want to make sure that the
conditions for economic growth and vitality are strong. But we'll take a
look and see. I'm pleased the markets have responded. I'm pleased that
there's economic vitality and growth. But until everybody finds a job
who wants one--today--and can't find one, is able to work, then I'm
going to continue working on the economy.
Coalition Operations in Iraq
Q. Sir, given the decreasing likelihood of there being another
United Nations resolution on Iraq, should the American people be
prepared for a longer and larger deployment of American forces there?
The President. Well, one of the things that's happening is that
international forces are now coming into Iraq. There's a significant
reconstruction effort going on in which other nations besides the United
States and our initial coalition partners are participating.
In other words, there is an international effort going on that will
help Iraq reconstruct itself and help Iraq develop into a peaceful,
democratic country. And that's in our country's interest, that Iraq
become a peaceful, free, democratic country. Part of the war on terror
is to promote freedom in the Middle East. I like to remind people that a
free Iraq will no longer serve as a haven for terrorists or as a place
for terrorists to get money or arms. A free Iraq will make the Middle
East a more peaceful place, and a peaceful Middle East is important to
the security of the United States.
Listen, I've got to go. Thank you. I hope you all have a wonderful
morning.
First Lady Laura Bush/President's Vacation
Q. How's the First Lady?
The President. She's great. Thanks. She actually suggested maybe
bringing the press corps out to the ranch. Her idea.
Q. Good idea.
The President. What?
Q. Good idea.
The President. Well----
Q. What is she keeping busy with?
The President. You know, she's--you'll see, if you ever get out
there, that she's got a lot of wildflowers. And she's restoring
[[Page 1033]]
a lot of the area around the house, the native grasses. By the way,
we've got quail back--bobwhite quail has now returned around our house.
It wasn't there when we first bought the place. And because the grasses
have been restored, we've got a nice little family of bobwhites. It's a
fantastic experience to hear them call in the morning.
My friend Blossman caught
about a 6-pound bass yesterday. So the bass are growing, and they're
getting healthy. Life out there at the ranch is just fine. It gets a
little toasty about 3:00 p.m. in the afternoon, though.
Thank you all.
Note: The President spoke at 6:40 a.m. at the Fina gas station. In his
remarks, he referred to former President Saddam Hussein of Iraq; and
Jack A. ``Jay'' Blossman, Jr., commissioner, Louisiana Public Service
Commission. A reporter referred to Office and Management and Budget
Director Joshua B. Bolten. A tape was not available for verification of
the content of these remarks.