[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2003, Book II)]
[August 21, 2003]
[Pages 1034-1038]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks at a Bush-Cheney Luncheon in Portland, Oregon
August 21, 2003

    Thank you all. Thanks for coming. Please be seated. Thanks for the 
warm welcome and the cool day. It seems the temperature is a little 
better here than it is in Crawford. [Laughter] But I want to thank you 
all for coming. I am so honored that we have set a record today, a 
record fundraiser, which indicates the depth of support here in Oregon, 
for which I am most grateful. I want to thank you for what you have 
done; I want to thank you for what you're going to do, which is to 
energize the grassroots all across this important State, to put up the 
signs and to mail out the mailers, but most importantly, to remind 
people that I have a vision that includes everybody, a vision that is 
hopeful and optimistic, a vision that believes in the best of America.
    I want you to know that I'm getting ready for the coming campaign. 
I'm loosening up. [Laughter] But there's going to be ample time for 
politics, because I've got a job to do. I got a lot on the agenda. But I 
want you to know that I will continue to work hard to earn the 
confidence of every American by keeping this Nation secure and strong 
and prosperous and free.
    My main regret for coming here is the fact that I'm not traveling 
with the First Lady. She is a great First Lady. I 
love her dearly. I'm proud to call her wife, and I already miss her. But 
she's in San Antonio, Texas, today. She's honoring a friend of ours, and 
she's working on a library event. But I'll be with her on the ranch 
Friday night and continuing our period of

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relaxation before we get back to the Nation's Capital. But it's a great 
comfort to have her by my side.
    I'm also proud to call Gordon Smith friend. 
He's a great United States Senator. And I appreciate so much working 
with my friend Congressman Greg Walden as well.
    After this event here, we're going to a different part of your 
beautiful State to talk about a Healthy Forest Initiative, a commonsense 
policy to do everything we can to thin out the forest beds so that we 
can prevent the catastrophic forest fires that seem to be occurring all 
over the West. I'm proud to have two commonsense conservatives with whom 
I can work to bring some sense to the forest policy of the United States 
of America.
    I thank my friend Mercer Reynolds from 
Cincinnati, Ohio, who is with us today. He's the national finance 
chairman for this campaign. I appreciate Bill McCormick, who is the Oregon State chairman for the Bush-Cheney 
2004 campaign. Sorry we're not using your restaurant. I appreciate Kevin 
Mannix, who is the chairman of the Republican 
Party here in the State of Oregon.
    It was such an honor to be able to shake hands once again with a 
fine American, a great Oregonian, Senator Mark Hatfield. I appreciate you coming, Senator.
    I want to thank so very much the leadership of the University of 
Portland for opening up this beautiful campus. But most of all, I want 
to thank you all for coming. I'm proud to have you as supporters. I'm 
proud that we're on the same team, working hard to do what's right for 
America.
    See, I ran for office to solve problems, not to pass them on to 
future Presidents and future generations. I'm serving to seize 
opportunities, and that's what we're doing. I believe you can tell your 
neighbor that this administration is meeting the tests of our time.
    Terrorists declared war on the United States of America, and war is 
what they got. We've captured or killed many key leaders of the Al Qaida 
network, and the rest of them know we're on their trail. In Afghanistan 
and Iraq, we gave ultimatums to terror regimes. Those regimes chose 
defiance, and those regimes are no more. Thanks to the United States of 
America and friends, 50 million people in those 2 countries once lived 
under tyranny, and today they live in freedom.
    Two-and-a-half years ago, our military was not receiving the 
resources it needed, and morale was beginning to suffer. We increased 
the defense budget to prepare for the threats of a new era. And today, 
no one in the world can question the skill and the strength and the 
spirit of the United States military.
    Two-and-a-half years ago, as Gordon 
mentioned, we inherited an economy in recession. And then we had attacks 
on our country and scandals in corporate America as well as a war, which 
affected--all affected the people's confidence. But we acted. We took 
action. We passed tough new laws to hold corporate criminals to account. 
And to get the economy going again, I have twice led the United States 
Congress to pass historic tax relief for the American people.
    Here's what I believe, and here's what I know, that when Americans 
have more take-home pay to spend, to save, to invest, the whole economy 
will grow, and people are more likely to find a job.
    I also understand whose money we spend in Washington, DC. It's not 
the Government's money. It's the people's money. We're returning more 
money to the people to help them raise their families. We're reducing 
taxes on dividends and capital gains to encourage investment. We're 
giving small businesses incentives to expand and to hire new people. 
With all these actions, we are laying the foundations for greater 
prosperity and more jobs across America so that every single person in 
this country--every person--has a chance to realize the American Dream.

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    Two-and-a-half years ago, there was a lot of talk about education 
reform, but there wasn't much action in Washington, DC, so I called for 
and the Congress passed the No Child Left Behind Act. With a solid 
bipartisan majority, we delivered the most dramatic education reform in 
a generation. We're bringing high standards and strong accountability 
measures to every public school in America. In return for Federal 
dollars, we now expect every school to teach the basics of reading and 
math. This administration is finally challenging the soft bigotry of low 
expectations. The days of excuse-making are over. We now expect results 
in every classroom so that not one single child in America is left 
behind.
    We reorganized the Government and created a Department of Homeland 
Security to better safeguard our borders and ports and to protect the 
American people. We passed trade promotion authority to open new markets 
for Oregon's farmers and ranchers and entrepreneurs and manufacturers. 
We passed budget agreements that is helping to maintain much needed 
spending discipline in Washington, DC. On issue after issue, this 
administration has acted on principle, has kept its word, and has made 
progress for the American people.
    And the United States Congress shares in this credit. I've got a 
great relationship with Speaker Denny Hastert and Majority Leader Bill Frist. 
I appreciate being able to work with them and, as I mentioned, 
Greg and Gordon. We'll 
continue to work hard to try to change the tone in Washington, DC, to 
focus on results, not petty politics.
    And those are the kind of people I've attracted to my 
administration. I have assembled a great team of people to serve the 
American people. People in my administration are results-oriented 
people. They asked the question, what's best for the American people? 
And they're doing a great job. There has been no finer Vice President of 
the United States than Dick Cheney. Mother may have a different opinion. [Laughter]
    In 2\1/2\ years, we've come far. In 2\1/2\ years, we've done a lot. 
But the work is only beginning. I have set great goals worthy of a great 
nation. First, America is committed to expanding the realm of freedom 
and peace for our own security and for the benefit of the world. And 
second, in our own country, we must work for a society of prosperity and 
compassion, so that every citizen has a chance to work and to succeed 
and to realize the great promise of this country.
    It is clear that the future of freedom and peace depend on the 
actions of America. This Nation is freedom's home and freedom's 
defender, and we welcome--we welcome--this charge of history, and we are 
keeping it. Our war on terror continues. The enemies of freedom are not 
idle, and neither are we. This country will not rest; we will not tire; 
we will not stop until this danger to civilization is removed.
    Yet our national interest involves more than eliminating aggressive 
threats to our safety. Our greatest security comes from the advance of 
human liberty, because free nations do not support terror. Free nations 
do not attack their neighbors, and free nations do not threaten the 
world with weapons of mass terror. Americans believe that freedom is the 
deepest need and hope of every human heart. And we believe that freedom 
is the right of every person, and we believe that freedom is the future 
of every nation.
    America also understands that unprecedented influence brings 
tremendous responsibilities. We have duties in the world. When we see 
disease and starvation and hopeless poverty, we will not turn away. On 
the continent of Africa, this great, strong, and compassionate Nation is 
bringing the healing power to medicine to millions of men and women and 
children now suffering with AIDS. This great land, America, is leading 
the world in the incredibly important work of human rescue.

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    We face challenges at home as well, and our actions will prove that 
we're equal to those challenges. I understand there's a lot of people 
hurting in the State of Oregon. Your unemployment rate is too high. I 
will continue to try to create the conditions necessary for job 
creation, so long as there's anybody who's looking for work.
    And we have a duty as well to keep our commitment to America's 
seniors by strengthening and modernizing Medicare. The Congress took 
historic action to improve the lives of older Americans. For the first 
time--for the first time--since the creation of Medicare, the House and 
the Senate have passed reforms to make the system work better, to give 
our seniors more choices, and to provide coverage of prescription drugs. 
It's now time for both Houses to iron out their differences and to get a 
bill to my desk as soon as possible, so that we can say to our seniors 
of today and those of us who are going to be seniors tomorrow, we have 
kept our commitment in Washington, DC.
    And for the sake of our health care system, we need to cut down on 
the frivolous lawsuits which increase the cost of medicine. People who 
have been harmed by a bad doctor deserve their day in court, yet the 
system should not reward lawyers who are fishing for rich settlements. 
Because frivolous lawsuits drive up the cost of health care, they affect 
the Federal budget. Medical liability reform, therefore, is a national 
issue that requires a national solution. The House of Representatives 
have passed a good piece of legislation. The bill is stuck in the United 
States Senate. The Senate must act on behalf of the people. They must 
understand that no one has ever been healed by a frivolous or junk 
lawsuit. If Gordon has his way, he would 
unstick it in the Senate.
    I have a responsibility as your President to make sure the judicial 
system runs well, and I have met that duty. I have nominated superb men 
and women for the Federal courts, people who will interpret the law, not 
legislate from the bench. Yet, some Members of the United States Senate 
are trying to keep my nominees off the bench by blocking up-or-down 
votes. Every judicial nominee deserves a fair hearing and an up-or-down 
vote on the Senate floor. It is time for some of the Members of the 
United States Senate to stop playing politics with American justice.
    The Congress needs to complete work on a comprehensive energy plan. 
We had a good bill pass the House, bill pass the Senate. They need to 
come together and get an energy plan, an energy bill to my desk as soon 
as possible, an energy bill which will encourage the modernization of 
the electricity infrastructure of America. I have proposed such a plan. 
We need an energy bill that will encourage energy efficiency and promote 
conservation, an energy bill which will encourage the use of 
technologies to help us explore for energy in environmentally sensitive 
ways. For the sake of economic security, for the sake of national 
security, this Nation must become less dependent on foreign sources of 
energy.
    Our strong and prosperous Nation must also be a compassionate 
nation. I will continue to advance our agenda of compassionate 
conservatism, which means we'll apply the best and most innovative ideas 
to the task of helping our fellow citizens who hurt or fellow citizens 
in need.
    There are still millions of men and women in our country who want to 
end their dependence on Government and to become independent through 
work. We must build on the success of welfare reform to bring work and 
dignity into the lives of more of our fellow citizens.
    Congress should complete the ``Citizen Service Act'' to encourage 
more Americans to serve their communities and their country. Both Houses 
should finally reach agreement on my Faith-Based Initiative to support 
the armies of compassion that are mentoring our children, who are caring 
for

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the homeless, that offer hope to the addicted. This Nation of ours 
should not be fearful of faith. We ought to welcome faith to help solve 
many of the Nation's seemingly intractable problems.
    A compassionate society must promote opportunity for all, including 
the independence and dignity that come from ownership. My administration 
will constantly strive to promote an ownership society all across 
America. We want more people owning a home. We have a minority 
homeownership gap in America. I have laid before Congress a plan to 
solve it. We want people owning their own health care plan. We want 
people owning and managing their own retirement accounts. And we want 
more people owning a small business because, you see, we understand that 
when a person owns something, he or she has a vital stake in the future 
of the United States of America.
    In a compassionate society, people respect one another, and they 
take responsibility for the decisions they make. You know, it seems like 
to me, I'm confident--not just seems like, I am confident that we're 
changing the culture of America from one that has said, ``If it feels 
good, just go ahead and do it,'' and ``If you've got a problem, blame 
somebody else,'' to a culture in which each of us understands that we 
are responsible for the decisions we make in life.
    If you are fortunate enough to be a mom or a dad, you're responsible 
for loving your child with all your heart and all your soul. If you're 
concerned about the quality of the education in your community, you're 
responsible for doing something about it. If you're a CEO in America, 
you're responsible for telling the truth to your shareholders and your 
employees. And in this new responsibility society, each of us are 
responsible for loving our neighbor just like we'd like to be loved 
ourselves.
    We can see the culture of service and responsibility growing around 
us, particularly after September the 11th, 2001. Shortly after September 
the 11th, I started what's called the USA Freedom Corps to encourage 
Americans to extend a compassionate hand to somebody who hurts. And the 
response has been terrific. Our faith-based groups and our charities are 
vibrant and strong, because people understand it's important to serve 
something greater than yourself in life. After all, that's what 
policemen and firefighters and people who wear our Nation's uniform 
remind us on a daily basis. Our children once again believe in heroes 
because they see them every day in America.
    In these challenging times, the world has seen the resolve and the 
courage of America. I've been privileged to see the compassion and the 
character of the American people. All the tests of the last 2\1/2\ years 
have come to the right nation. We're a strong country, and we use that 
strength to defend the peace. We're an optimistic country, confident in 
ourselves and in ideals bigger than ourselves.
    Abroad, we seek to lift whole nations by spreading freedom. At home, 
we seek to lift up lives by spreading opportunity to every corner of 
this country. This is the work that history has set before us. We 
welcome it. And we know that for our country and for our cause, the best 
days lie ahead.
    May God bless you all.

Note: The President spoke at 12:08 p.m. in the Chiles Center at the 
University of Portland. In his remarks, he referred to former Senator 
Mark O. Hatfield of Oregon.