    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2004, Book I)]
    [January 31, 2004]
    [Pages 167-170]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks to the 2004 Congress of Tomorrow Luncheon in Philadelphia,
    Pennsylvania
    January 31, 2004

        Thanks for coming. I thought I would give the State of the Union
    again. [Laughter] Actually, I'll spare you. I do want to thank the
    leadership for the House and the Senate, first and foremost, for being
    such good friends and great Americans. Speaker Denny Hastert is doing a fabulous job on behalf of the American
    people, and I want to thank Majority Leader Bill Frist for doing a fabulous job as well. I appreciate your
    leadership. The country is better off by having these two good souls
    leading the Congress.
        I want to thank McConnell, Santorum, and Kyl, DeLay, Blunt,
    and Deborah Pryce as well for sitting up here
    with me and for your leadership. I appreciate it very much. I'm proud to
    work with you.
        I want to thank my friend Dennis Miller,
    who is here. I'm honored that he is here.

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    He's a solid American who--[applause]. And of course, like you, I was
    most impressed by the vocalist this morning, Tim Kelly. Thank you, Tim.
        I know that a member of my Cabinet is here. Is that an accurate
    statement? Where's Elaine? Elaine, thanks.
    You're doing a great job. I appreciate so much your service. Your
    service is great. Your choice of husbands is somewhat questionable. [Laughter] That's not
    right--I mean, what the heck. [Laughter] I really appreciate what you've
    done.
        I want the people--as you travel around the country, please remind
    people that one of the jobs of the President is to find really good
    folks to serve our Government, people from all walks of life, honorable,
    decent people who have put country ahead of self-interest. And I have
    done just that. And Elaine is an example of
    the really quality people that are serving our country in my Cabinet,
    and I want to thank you for being here.
        And finally, I want to thank Jerry Clymer
    for hosting this event and making sure it runs well.
        I think one of the things I was thinking about what to tell you
    here, when I was flying in from Washington, was that we're serving in
    historic times. And first I want to thank you for your service during
    these historic times. It's not easy to serve in the Congress or the
    Senate. It's a tough life when you come and you work hard and you
    represent your constituencies, and then you fly home. I see
    Thomas of California or Heather of New Mexico, some people who are traveling a long
    way to serve the country. And so the first thing I want to tell you is,
    I'm proud of your service and appreciate your willingness to serve our
    country. And I also want to thank your spouses as well; I want to thank
    your family members.
        When you swear in, you never know what's going to happen, and you
    better be ready to respond. And this Congress, in working with this
    administration, can say, ``We have responded to the challenges of our
    time. We have met the tests.''
        As we look back on the last 3 years, we've gone to war to uphold the
    most solemn duty of Government, and that is to protect its people. We
    have dealt with national emergency. We not only responded to the
    emergency; we all worked together to help heal the psyche of the country
    that had been damaged.
        We dealt with recession. The economy was negative in growth for the
    first three quarters of 2001, yet we responded. Instead of trying--
    sitting around committee rooms or White House conference tables trying
    to figure out what to do, we figured it out. And we acted quickly, and
    we responded. Instead of the economy still languishing as a result of
    some incredible problems we face, it's now growing, and it's getting
    stronger.
        We had some people that didn't tell the truth in America, these
    corporate CEOs that forgot what it meant to be a responsible citizen,
    and we responded. The Congress and the White House worked together to
    pass meaningful legislation that sends clear signals to our fellow
    citizens: Regardless of their party or where they live, we expect people
    who are running corporations in America to tell the truth. We responded.
        What I'm telling you is, history has dealt us a hand, and we're
    playing it well for the American people. And I want to thank you for
    that, very much.
        These are historic times, because we're at war. You're a war
    Congress. And this upcoming year we will continue to make sure our
    troops have what it takes to fight and win the war against terror--and
    not only make sure we fight and win the war against terror but to make
    sure we continue to promote our values of freedom and, therefore, peace
    in parts of the world where people long for freedom and peace, where
    people are desperate for freedom.
        See, what we believe is that freedom is not America's gift to the
    world; freedom

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    is the Almighty God's gift to each person who lives in this world. And
    America--no question, we will win the war on terror by staying on the
    offensive. This administration and this leadership is committed to
    making sure that we stay on the offensive against the terrorists. And we
    will be.
        But as well, we've got to make sure we continue to protect the
    homeland. And I want to thank the Members of Congress for working to
    implement a plan that is now being executed to better protect the
    homeland, to take lessons learned and to look at flawed systems and
    coordinate better, so we can tell the American people as best as we
    possibly can, ``We're working together to make sure the homeland is
    secure.'' I want to thank you for your understanding of that solemn
    obligation and for your willing to work to make sure the homeland
    security programs are funded and implemented.
        At home, we've got to make sure that the economy keeps growing. And
    one of the things we've shown the American people is we understand how
    the economy works. The economy doesn't work by growing Government. The
    economy works by growing people's wallets so they can spend, save, or
    invest. The tax cuts we passed are working. I look forward to taking the
    case to the American people and explain as clearly as I possibly can:
    This Congress heard the needs of the people looking for jobs; it
    responded; the tax cuts are working; and now we need to make them
    permanent.
        There's a lot on--there's a lot involved with making sure the
    economy continues to grow, and that's cost containment of health care,
    controlling the costs of health care to citizens and small businesses
    and large businesses. And we've got to continue to make sure we're a
    trading nation and open up markets for our entrepreneurs--less
    regulation. There's a lot of things we can do together to keep the
    economy growing. But one clear signal we need to send to the American
    people and the markets is, we're going to be wise when it comes to the
    expenditure of the people's money.
        And we submitted a budget that says just that, and we look forward
    to working with you on it. You spend. I propose. Together, we're
    responsible. And this is going to be a challenging year for making sure
    we spend the people's money wisely, and I sent up an initiative to do
    just that. It cuts the deficit--the plan cuts the deficit in half over
    the next 5 years. And we look forward to working with you to make sure
    we meet that important goal, so that we can say to the American people,
    ``We've set priorities. We understand whose money we spend, and we're
    going to cut this deficit in half through wise policy.''
        And finally at home, it's important for us to kind of play to the
    strength of the country, to remember the true strength of America. It's
    not our military--and by the way, we'll keep the military strong--and
    it's not the size of our wallets, although we want to make sure our
    wallets all across the country are healthy. The strength of the country
    is the hearts and souls of the American people. That's where we find our
    true strength. See, we understand the proper relationship between
    Government and the people. It's the people's Government we represent.
        And as well, we shouldn't be afraid to empower those organizations
    that are serving our fellow citizens in an incredibly important and
    efficient way. They're serving because of love, first and foremost.
    They're following their hearts to mentor a child or to feed the hungry
    or to help the addicted. Congress understands--I know the leadership
    does, and I know you do as well--the true strength of America is the
    American people. We must listen to them. We will trust their judgments,
    and we must empower them to love their neighbors just like they'd like
    to be loved themselves.
        Oh, '04 is going to be an unusual year for us all. It's an election
    year, and the people are probably saying, ``Well, they're going to play
    politics with our time.'' That's

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    not my attitude, and I know it's not the leadership's attitude. Working
    together, like we have done over 3 years, working together to accomplish
    important things for the people, we can show the cynics and the critics
    that we're capable of doing the people's business, election year or not.
        And I look forward to working with you. I appreciate your
    friendship. I'm proud to be serving with such a fine group of people
    during historic times. And there's no doubt in my mind, we're making a
    significant difference for this country's security, prosperity, and
    freedom.
        God bless you all.

    Note: The President spoke at 11:25 a.m. at the Loews Philadelphia Hotel.
    In his remarks, he referred to Senators Mitch McConnell, Rick Santorum,
    and Jon Kyl; Representatives Tom DeLay, Bill Blunt, Deborah Pryce,
    William M. Thomas, and Heather Wilson; comedian Dennis Miller; and 10-
    year-old Timmy Kelly, who sang the national anthem.