[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2004, Book II)]
[July 9, 2004]
[Pages 1251-1266]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]
Remarks in a Discussion at Kutztown University of Pennsylvania in
Kutztown, Pennsylvania
July 9, 2004
The President. Thanks for coming. I'll be there in a minute. Please
be seated. Thanks for coming. It's an honor to be here in Kutztown,
Pennsylvania. Thank you for coming out to say hello. I appreciate it.
If you see some of your neighbors who were lining the road, waving
to us in the bus, tell them thanks too. It's great hospitality here in
this part of the world.
I'm here for a reason. I'm here to let you know that I want to serve
the people of this country for 4 more years. I'm here to let you know,
and I have a reason to ask for your help and your vote. I want this
country to be safer and stronger and better for every one of our
citizens.
I'm also the first to admit that I can't win without your help. So
I'm here to ask for your help. I would like for you all--not only am I
asking for the vote, I'm asking for you to register your friends and
neighbors to vote. And then when you ask--when you register them, you
might get them to vote for old George W., while they're at it.
I'm looking forward to the campaign. I'm looking forward to the
campaign. I've got plenty of energy to run a race. I know
[[Page 1252]]
who I want to lead this country, and I'm here to ask for your help.
One good reason to put me back in there for 4 more years is so that
Laura will be the First Lady. [Applause] Thank
you. I married well. What a fabulous woman she is. It's been a fantastic
experience to have her by my side for 3\1/2\ years serving this Nation.
She is a--she's come to know what I know, that we can make a difference
in people's lives, a positive difference in their lives. Laura has got
the capacity to touch people in a way that inspires them. Every time she
sees a teacher, she says, ``Thanks for teaching.'' And since she's not
here, I want to say thanks for teaching.
She loves books. When I married her, she was
a public school librarian. [Applause] Yeah! How are all you librarians
out there? She didn't particularly care about politics or politicians.
Now she's married to one. [Laughter] She's doing a great job. And by the
way, this is a special day for me. One of our daughters, newly graduate
of the University of Texas, is traveling with me. Jenna, thanks for coming. She's already given me good advice.
She said, ``Dad, change your shirt.'' [Laughter]
Today I want to talk about how to make sure America is safer,
stronger, and better. I'm going to talk to some of our fellow citizens
here. I'd like to answer some questions, if we have time. This is a
little different format than you're used to, as opposed to a guy just
sitting there lecturing. So what I try to do is get others involved in
the conversation, to help make the points about why I want to be your
President.
Before I do so, I want to say thanks to Arlen Specter for traveling with me today. He's on the ballot. I hope
he wins. Thank you for coming, Senator. Also, we managed to get old Rick
Santorum to come with us as well. I asked him
how all his kids were doing. He said, ``We only got six.'' [Laughter]
I want to thank very much Congressman Jim Gerlach for being here today. Congressman, thanks for coming.
Congressman Todd Platts is with us. There he
is. His mother made me some peanut butter fudge. [Laughter] She expects
me to eat it on the bus ride. [Laughter] I don't know. But anyway, tell
her thanks for the fudge. [Laughter]
I was traveling today with Charlie Dent.
He's a State senator from right down the road. I'm glad he's here. And
like Charlie, Scott Paterno is running for the
Congress. Appreciate you being here. I don't know about these guys with
famous fathers. [Laughter]
The job of the President is to confront problems, not to pass them
on to future Presidents and future generations. The job of the President
is to do the hard work so that people can grow up in a society which is
a safer society, a stronger society, and a better society.
You know, when I ran for office in 2000, I spent a lot of time in
Pennsylvania. And by the way, we're going to do a little better this
time than last time.
I never thought I'd be a war President. As a matter of fact, you
know, I was hoping I wouldn't be a war President. But the enemy attacked
us on September the 11th. It's an event that I will never forget. It is
a duty that I will honor, which is to keep America safe.
And there's a lot of people working hard to make sure the homeland
is secure. I picked a good man to run the new Department of Homeland
Security. You trained Ridge well. [Laughter] He's
doing a fine job. It's a hard task, when you think about it, to bring
all these agencies together in a seamless organization, all designed to
help protect the homeland. And there's a lot of really good people at
all levels of government who are doing everything they can to do our
collective duty, which is to protect you.
And so I want to thank all the first-responders who are here, the
firefighters, the police officers, the EMS teams that work hard on
behalf of the Pennsylvania citizens. As I tell them, as I've tried to
[[Page 1253]]
explain to the American people, we've got to be right 100 percent of the
time; the enemy only has to be right once. And it's a hard job. The best
way to defend America is to stay on the offense, is to use every asset
at our disposal and to hunt the terrorists down before they hurt
America. And that's what this administration is going to do. I am
determined. I am focused. I will not relent in my quest to make sure
America is safe and secure.
We must use all our assets, including the United States military.
When I got into office, along with the fine Vice President, Dick
Cheney, our military was underappreciated and
underfunded. We worked with the United States Congress to make sure the
military had the resources it needed. And today, nobody can question the
skill, the strength, and the spirit of the mighty United States
military. And it is my high honor to be their Commander in Chief.
Let me tell you a couple of lessons I learned from September the
11th. We face an enemy which has hijacked a religion. They're not
religious people. They've hijacked a religion. Secondly, therapy is not
going to work with them. You cannot negotiate with these people. You
can't discuss it. The only way to make sure America is more secure is to
bring them to justice. Thirdly, I learned about this enemy that they try
to find soft spots in the world. They try to find safe havens. They try
to burrow in and corrupt a government. They become parasitical. And
that's why I laid out a doctrine that said, ``If you harbor a terrorist
and feed one, you're just as guilty as the terrorist.''
Let me tell you something else about the Presidency--one other thing
about this job that I have is that when you say something, you need to
say it clearly so people will understand, and you better mean what you
say. And I meant what I said, and the Taliban in Afghanistan found out
exactly what we meant. Al Qaida no longer has the training bases and the
safe haven they had throughout most of Afghanistan. Oh, they try to get
in and out all the time, but now we've got an ally in Afghanistan.
And when people ask you about the decision, you remind them that it
was more than just upholding doctrine. My decision was more than just
routing out Al Qaida. See, I care deeply about the fact that young girls
were not allowed to go to school in Afghanistan. I care deeply about the
fact that there was a barbaric regime that was so dim in their view of
the world that they not only suppressed women; they suppressed young
girls. They would not allow for dissent. They did not believe in the
ideals we believe in. Today, thanks to the United States and our broad
coalition, Afghanistan is free, and they're going to have elections in a
couple of months.
Now, we have a duty to defend ourselves--we have a duty to defend
ourselves. I believe we also have a duty to work to free people from
tyranny.
I also said that--told the American people this: Another lesson of
September the 11th is that when you see a gathering threat, you've got
to deal with it before it materializes. Obviously, the first choice,
when I say ``deal with it,'' is diplomacy. The first choice is to try to
convince people to come to their senses if they're a threat. And that's
precisely why I went to the United Nations. I saw a threat in the form
of Saddam Hussein. Who wouldn't have seen a
threat? He's the guy who used weapons of mass destruction against his
own people. He's a person that harbored terrorists. Abu Nidal was a
known terrorist living in Baghdad. Zarqawi, the murderer who still kills innocent Iraqis, received
health care in Baghdad after getting wounded in Afghanistan. You don't
think Saddam Hussein knew he was there? It was a tyrannical society that
he was running.
This was a guy who attacked his own
neighborhood. It's a guy who professed hatred for America. He was a
threat, see. And I said, ``He's a threat.'' I went to the United Nations
and said, ``He's a threat.''
[[Page 1254]]
And they agreed with the fact that he was a threat, by a 15-to-nothing
vote in the United Nations Security Council. See, the world spoke. Not
only did* America speak, the world spoke. I looked at the intelligence.
Members of the United States Senate looked at the same intelligence and
saw a threat. And the United Nations saw the threat. They said,
``Disclose; disarm; or face serious consequences.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
*White House correction.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
See, I think when you say something you better mean it, in order to
make the world a more peaceful place. He said--and so what did Saddam
Hussein say to the world? He said, ``Forget
it. I'm not going to--we're going to play games with the inspectors.''
Intelligence clearly says that he was gaming the system. He wasn't going
to disclose. He wasn't about to show the world what he had. Inspectors--
like they had for years--were denied access. And so I had a choice to
make. I'm the President who was in office during September the 11th. I
remember the lessons well. The choice was to trust Saddam Hussein or to
make the decisions necessary to defend our country. And given that
choice, I will defend America every single time.
It's hard work. We've done hard work before. It's hard work to take
a country from tyranny to freedom. It's hard when you've got a society
in which people have been brutalized. It's hard to convince them that,
you know, ``Trust us. Freedom is a good thing.'' But it's happening.
It's happening day by day, and it's necessary work, because in the short
term, the best way to protect America is to stay on the offense; the
long term, the best way to protect America and others is to spread
freedom. We know that free societies are peaceful societies.
It's hard work, but we've done this kind of work before. You know,
right after World War II, there were a lot of doubters and skeptics as
to whether or not Germany could be rebuilt and become a democracy. You
can understand why. They were tyrannical and brutal and gassed millions.
People said, ``Well, you can't rebuild them.'' And there was a lot of
doubt, and there was a lot of skepticism and a lot of second-guessing of
the strategies. And the same in Japan. The skeptics were saying, ``Japan
can't possibly self-govern; after all, they're not Caucasian.'' But
fortunately the pessimists and the skeptics didn't have their day; did
they? My predecessors were strong in their faith for the capacity of all
people to self-govern. And as the result of adhering to the values we
hold dear to our hearts, today, German and Japan are free, and they're
allies with the United States in this war against terrorism.
It is hard work--it is hard work. We will complete our job. Iraq
will be free. The Middle East will see freedom in its midst, and America
will be better off.
A stronger America is an America where people are working. Now,
we've got some citizens here today that will help make my point. Listen,
we want everybody working. That's what we want. We want people going to
work. We want our people putting food on their table to feed their kids.
We want our entrepreneurs to feel like there's--feel so confident about
the future that they're willing to invest.
Things are getting better. A President must lead. Right after I got
in, we had a recession. That means we're going backwards. It means
people aren't working. It means the future looks a little cloudy. Then
we had an attack. That hurt our economy. Then we uncovered corporate
scandal. By the way, the message ought to be clear to everybody in
corporate America now that we're not going to tolerate dishonesty in the
boardrooms of America.
In spite of all that, this economy is strong. You know why--not
because of Government but because the spirit of the American people.
We've got great workers, hard-working people. We've got wonderful
entrepreneurs. Our small-business sector is vibrant and strong because
of the dreamers
[[Page 1255]]
who live here in America. And the job of Government is to inspire, is to
help. The role of Government is not to try to create wealth, but it's an
environment in which people are willing to take risk.
And that's why I was so strong on tax relief. Listen, when your
economy is going bad, you want people to have more of their own money in
their pocket, because when they have more of their own money in their
pocket, they will spend or invest. And when they spend or invest, it
means the economy is going to pick up. And sure enough, it has. The
numbers here in the State of Pennsylvania are strong. It wasn't all that
long ago that people were worried about unemployment here in
Pennsylvania. Today, the rate is 5.1 percent, as I understand it. There
was 44,700 jobs created in this State since last February. In other
words, people are going back to work.
It was great driving through this country. I'm telling you, I love
beautiful country. This is beautiful country, the farm country. The
farmers are doing well here in Pennsylvania. That's a good sign. It's a
good sign when you can stand up and say the farm economy is strong.
Audience member. Come visit our farm!
The President. What do you grow?
Audience member. Corn and--[inaudible].
The President. There you go. I may just do that, but when you ask
for that, just remember, 400 policemen, 8 buses, an entire press corps--
[laughter].
No, this tax relief is working. And the thing that is necessary to
make sure it continues to work is not to raise your taxes. That's going
to be--this is an issue in the campaign, see. You have a person who's
willing to lay out a bunch of new ideas that cost a lot of money. And
the campaign is just getting started. There's no telling how much
they're going to promise by the time this is over. And therefore, you're
going to have to ask the question, how are they going to pay for it?
Yes, it's going to be a lot of money. They're going to say, ``Oh,
only--all we're going to do is tax the rich.'' It doesn't work that way.
You can't raise enough money by taxing the rich to pay for all the
programs. So guess who's going to pay? You are. It's the wrong time to
be raising taxes on the American people. This economy is strong; it's
growing stronger; and we ought not to be raising taxes.
A couple of other points. See, my job is to be thinking down the
road. This economy is strong. It's growing stronger. I want it strong 10
years from now as well. And then we need to do some things to make sure
that people are comfortable hiring people. We need an energy policy. You
got coal in this State. We ought not to be afraid to use it, and we
ought to be using technologies to make sure it burns cleanly. Someday
we're going to figure out to use that corn you're growing more
efficiently, so you can grow energy on your farm. And so we're spending
our research and development money.
See, we got some fuel here at home that we need to use, but
technology is going to enable us in the long run to do what we need to
do, which is to become less dependent on foreign sources of energy.
That's what we need to do.
A couple other points I want to make right quick. We have a changing
economy too. I mean, this is a growing economy, and it's changing. And
you're going to hear from some people who changed jobs and actually made
more money when they changed jobs. One of the things we got to make sure
is that we educate people for the jobs which will actually exist in the
21st century. That's why I'm such a big believer in the community
college system. I think the community college system really works well
because community colleges are available; they're accessible; they're
affordable; and they change curricula to meet the changing times. If you
got--a business walks in and says that, ``We need to hire''--a health
care business, for example, says,
[[Page 1256]]
``We need to hire health care technicians,'' the community college
system is able to design a curriculum to train those folks for the jobs
which exist. In order to make sure we're competitive, we've got to be
wise about our education policy.
In order to make sure we're competitive, we've got to make sure
health care costs are reasonable. You talk to these small-business
owners here in America, and they will tell you the cost of health care
makes it awfully hard to expand their job base. So I've got some
practical suggestions, all of which make sure that the Federal
Government doesn't run the health care system. I don't want people in
Congress running your health care system.
Health savings accounts--those are tax incentive savings accounts
for people to put money aside with a catastrophic health care plan. This
is a good idea. This is a new product. One of my jobs is to make sure
people know they're available, and people ought to look into them. You
ought to look into them, Mr. Businessowner. Association health care
plans allow small businesses to pool risk, just like big businesses get
to do and, therefore, lower the cost of insurance for small businesses.
But I'll tell you what else Pennsylvania needs to do and America
needs to do in order to make sure health care costs are reasonable; you
need medical liability reform in this State. You need to make sure--
everybody ought to have their day in court. Everybody ought to have
their day in court if they get hurt, but these frivolous and junk
lawsuits are running up the cost of medicine. They're driving docs out
of business. They're making it harder for small businesses to hire new
people. I'm telling you, the lawyers in Washington, DC, are blocking
progress for medical liability reform.
I want to thank these two Senators for joining me on this important
issue. I wish you lived in another State where they had a Senator that
was blocking it. You'd let them know, wouldn't you?
I met Roger Schmidt. Thank you, Roger.
He's a business guy here. He's about to tell you what he does, at least
what his business does. He runs the business. I've asked him to come
because I want you to understand clearly what this tax relief has meant
for the small-business sector of America.
Most people don't know this, but this is a fact. By far, the vast
majority of small businesses pay tax at the individual income-tax level.
Now, people don't know that, but it's true. See, if you're a sole
proprietorship or, in Roger's case, a
Subchapter S corporation, your business pays tax at the individual
income-tax rate. And so when you hear us talking about cutting
individual rates, make sure you understand, when you think about it and
your neighbors talk about it, that they understand we're really
stimulating the small-business sector when we do so.
Now, why would you do that? Well, 70 percent of new jobs in America
are created by small-business people--70 percent. And if one of the
things you're worried about is job creation, it's a logical conclusion
to say, ``Let's stimulate growth in the small-business sector,'' which
is precisely what we did.
Roger, welcome. Thank you for coming.
Roger Schmidt. Thank you, Mr. President.
The President. I just had coffee with Roger down the road. I want you to know I picked up the tab.
[Laughter]
Mr. Schmidt. Thank you.
The President. No problem. [Laughter] It is an election year.
[Laughter] Anyway, what do you do, Roger?
Mr. Schmidt. I work at E.J. Breneman.
We're a 62-year-old highway construction firm working in the Eastern
United States.
The President. Good. He's a Subchapter S
corporation. I've asked him to come because he's one of millions of
Subchapter S corporations around America, which means when you pay tax
you pay at the----
[[Page 1257]]
Mr. Schmidt. The highest rate, individual
rate, yes, sir.
The President. That's called leading the witness. [Laughter]
Mr. Schmidt. I'm a good follower.
[Laughter]
The President. You have got--okay, so you hired people this year,
have you not?
Mr. Schmidt. Yes, sir. We've put new--
eight hires to work this year so far.
The President. Yes. If you have confidence in the future--like,
you're a business guy, you have confidence in the future, guess what you
do when your business is growing? You hire people. So one of the things
I ask when I travel around the country, I ask the small-business owners,
``Are you hiring?'' It's a good sign when they are. You know, it's not
easy to hire people.
Mr. Schmidt. No, sir.
The President. And you hired them, why?
Mr. Schmidt. Why? Because our business is
expanding.
The President. Expanding. It's like, they tell me, ``Expand, Mr.
President.'' Expand, Roger. [Laughter]
[At this point, Mr. Schmidt made brief remarks.]
The President. Let me stop him there.
That's called investment. And when you hear somebody say, ``I'm
investing,'' it's important to say, really what's happening is they're
creating jobs. You know why? You just heard him say, ``I'm buying a new
piece of equipment.'' Well, somebody has got to make the equipment,
right? So when Roger says, ``We're buying equipment,'' somebody is
producing the equipment he's buying, which means somebody is likely to
at least keep a job. And if there's more Rogers around, they may have to
add somebody to make more equipment. That's how the economy works.
When he says he's investing, doubling his
investment, that investment creates jobs. Not only does it create jobs
from the person that he's purchasing the equipment from, he's going to
need somebody else to either maintain or drive that equipment.
Mr. Schmidt. Correct.
The President. That's how job expansion works.
And so one of the key ingredients of the tax relief plan was to say
to Roger and small businesses all over
America, ``Not only are you going to keep more of your own money as you
make money, but when you make investments, we're going to provide a
little extra tax break for you.'' It's called bonus depreciation. What
we're trying to say, good tax policy is, ``Feel comfortable making an
investment. Here's a little extra in your pocket when you do so.'' And
so the bonus depreciation aspect of the tax plan was equally important
to cutting all the tax rates.
Roger, how's your business like? I mean,
so you sit around the table; you're saying good future, bad future?
Mr. Schmidt. Right now, Mr. President, we
are very optimistic. We'll probably have the best year this year that
we've had in the last 5.
The President. There you go. Keep working. Keep hiring. Thanks for
coming.
Good tax policy affects businesses, but most importantly, it affects
families and individuals. You know, we had a big debate in Washington
about tax relief. My attitude on tax relief is that if you're going to
cut tax rates, you cut them on everybody who pays taxes, not just a few,
not those who are the political favored. You say, if you're going to
have relief, ``Everybody pays. Everybody gets relief.'' It's the only
fair way to do something like that. And it's been effective. It's
working. It really is working.
One of the reasons it's working is because--people like Dale and Sharon Stump, who are with
us. Thank you all for coming. I had coffee with them as well.
Dale Stump. Thank you, Mr. President.
The President. You do what for a living?
Mr. Stump. I'm a self-employed builder/
remodeler for 20 years.
[[Page 1258]]
The President. Great. And Mom is a teacher.
Sharon Stump. Yes. I was in the insurance
industry for a number of years but retired to be a full-time mom and
wife, and we home-school our three children now.
The President. That's fantastic. Thank you for doing that.
The Stumps saved
$2,200 in 1903--I mean, 2003. [Laughter] That would have been a lot in
1903. [Laughter]
Mr. Stump. I'm not that old. [Laughter]
The President. They saved $2,200 in 2003. Now, I know that doesn't
sound like a lot of money to the folks in Washington, DC, who are
talking in huge numbers, but it's a lot to them. That's $2,200 of their
own money, by the way, that they get to keep to decide what they want to
do with it. You see, my attitude is, once Government sets priorities,
people ought to have more of their own money to put in their pocket. I
always say--and I believe this firmly--that the
Stumps can spend their money far better than
the Federal Government can.
What did you spend it on? None of my business but--[Laughter]
Mr. Stump. Well, since we're home-schooling,
we did purchase some curriculum. We have to do that every year, so we
did that. And we also were able to purchase with part of it a property
in northern Pennsylvania to----
The President. Okay--landowner.
Mr. Stump. Landowner.
The President. Nothing better. By the way, every day is Earth Day if
you own your own land. [Laughter]
The reason they got tax relief is we dropped all rates. We created a
low--a new 10-percent bracket, which makes sense. We raised the child
credit to $1,000 per child. They've got three children. That helps a lot. A guy with children is
nodding his head. We reduced the marriage penalty. If one of the things
you're trying to do in America is encourage families and marriage, it
doesn't make any sense to tax marriage, does it? I just don't
understand--``marriage penalty.'' Why would you want to penalize
marriage? We want to be encouraging marriage in America.
These parts of the tax relief are set to expire. This is one of
these--they giveth, and they taketh away. And I've been working with the
Congress and the Senate to make it clear that they're not--what they're
doing is they're taking money out of the Stumps' pocket. That's what
they're doing, just as the economy is coming back. If they don't make
sure this tax relief stays in place, they're really raising their taxes.
They'll have--their tax burden will increase by $1,000 in '05 if
Congress doesn't act.
And the reason I've asked them to stand here in front of you: this
is a great American story. He's self-employed. In
other words, he's taking a risk. Mom stays home
and teaches the kids. They're doing their duty as a mom and a dad, which
is the most sacred duty anybody has got in America. And here the
Government--and the Government is fixing to take $1,000 out of their
pocket. And it doesn't make sense.
Thank you for coming. I appreciate you all being here. Good job.
Mr. Stump. Thank you, Mr. President.
The President. We've got the
Griesemers with us today. Thank you all for
coming. We're proud you're here. Debbie is with us, and Jim. Tell us
your story, Jim.
[Jim Griesemer made brief remarks.]
The President. I was talking to him over
coffee. I had a lot of pretty good coffee experience today--[laughter]--
except for getting stuck with the tab. Anyway--[laughter]--it must have
been miserable for you. Here's a guy who is maybe over 40, but barely.
And he's laid off, you know. It must be a miserable experience, and he
said it was. And then he told me what a joyous experience it was to be
in an economy or a part of the world where the economy is strong. He's
now working.
[[Page 1259]]
Go ahead, put the mike closer. As Debbie says, put the mike up----
Mr. Griesemer. I'm sorry, I missed what
you said, sir.
The President. I said you're doing well.
Mr. Griesemer. Yes. Yes, yes.
The President. You're working.
Mr. Griesemer. Yes, at C.H. Briggs
Hardware. It's an expanding economy. With that company, it's been
tremendous.
The President. Making a little more money now than you were?
Mr. Griesemer. Oh, yes, yes.
The President. Yes, you see, one of the things that's really
important is to hear people are making more money. After-tax disposable
income--that means money you have in your pocket after tax--has gone up
by 11 percent since 2001. See, we want Jim
having more money in his pocket. The economy does better. Families do
better when you have more of your own money in your pocket.
Debbie, what do you do?
Debbie Griesemer. I'm executive
assistant to the president of a manufacturing firm, SFS Intec.
The President. Good. You growing?
Mrs. Griesemer. Yes, it's growing--
record sales through the second quarter this year.
The President. Manufacturing firm with record sales--that's a pretty
interesting thought, isn't it?
You left because there was a better--you left your old job.
Mrs. Griesemer. Yes. Yes, better
opportunity, more responsibility, better--optimistic future.
The President. A little more pay?
Mrs. Griesemer. A little more pay,
doesn't hurt.
The President. Look, the reason I've asked them to come by is
because it's important for the fellow citizens in this area to
understand people who have been laid off are getting back to work.
That's what's happening. People that were worried about their future--
they can say it, not me.
But thank you all for coming. We're proud you're here.
[The discussion continued.]
The President. Marcie Hartman is with us.
Thanks, appreciate you. Hey, Marcie, thanks for coming. Tell us your
story.
Marcie Hartman. I just recently switched
positions to ServiceMaster by Round the Clock. It's a better-paying job.
I'm a commissioned salesperson, and obviously, the economy is doing
better because I'm getting commissions.
The President. There you go, yes. See, people are--in a growing
economy--one of the things that's important for our citizens to
understand, in a growing economy, when there's a sense of optimism about
the future, when people are investing, new job opportunities come along.
People are able to change jobs to embetter themselves. She worked in one job--voluntarily left, I think you told
me.
Ms. Hartman. Yes, I did.
The President. That's always the best way--[laughter]--and is now
making more money.
Ms. Hartman. Yes, I am.
The President. And keeping more money.
Ms. Hartman. No, I'm spending more.
[Laughter]
The President. Oh, well, that's good for the person you're
spending--for the store you're spending it in. That's what we like.
That's how the economy works. It's an interesting point she just made. She just gave us an economic lesson, didn't
she? She's making more money. Instead of keeping more money, she's
spending more money. That's what we want. See, the economy works when
she decides, ``I've got a little extra money in my pocket. I'm going to
demand an additional good or a service.'' Somebody has got to produce
the good or service to meet her demand in the way our economy works.
She made the point about how tax relief
works. That's why Congress must make
[[Page 1260]]
sure they don't raise the taxes on people like this good lady.
Here's your chance. You got anything else?
Ms. Hartman. No, nothing else.
The President. All right, thanks for coming.
A stronger America is an America in which people are working.
They're working here. And the question is, how do you make sure they're
working not only this year but next year and in the following years. I
got a plan to do that. I understand the proper role of Government. And I
understand the need to make sure our small-business sector is strong.
When you hear them talking about taxing the rich, just remember the
lesson we heard today about the Subchapter S corporation. That's who
they're taxing. They're going to be taxing people who are creating jobs,
because Subchapter S corporations, small businesses who are sole
proprietorships, pay tax at the individual income-tax level.
Now, I want to talk about a better America right quick, and then I'm
going to answer some questions. A better America means every child is
educated; every child has a dream. This system that says if your--color
of your skin is a certain color or your parents don't speak English as a
first language, and therefore, you're going to move them through because
they're too hard to educate, is ending in America. I refuse to accept
low standards for every child. When you lower expectations, you get
lousy results. See, what we're doing is challenging what I call the soft
bigotry of low expectations, because I know every child can learn--every
child can learn. And so we're insisting on raising the standards.
We've increased Federal money a lot since I've been the President,
for mainly Title I students. The key thing--when you hear that, you
probably cringe. You say, ``Well, not only are you doing that, but then
you're going to try to run the schools.'' No, quite the opposite. I
strongly believe in local control of schools. I believe the local folks
can manage their schools far better than the people in Washington, DC,
can.
But here's the thing. For the first time, the Federal Government
says, ``In return for money, show us whether or not the children can
read and write and add and subtract. You, the State of Pennsylvania,
design the system on accountability, but show us.'' We want to know. It
seems like a reasonable request. ``Can you read at fourth grade? If you
can't read at fourth grade, you're not going to read at eighth grade. If
you can't read at eighth grade, you've just been shuffled through the
system as if you don't count.'' That's not what I believe. I believe
every child can read by grade level in the fourth grade, and I want the
schools to show me. That's what I want to see.
That's how you determine whether or not the curriculum being used at
the local level is working.
We've got a fantastic reading initiative started here. It says,
``We're going to use curriculum that works.'' It's working. I'm telling
you, the test scores are going up all across America--most importantly,
for some groups of children that people say, ``Well, they could never
learn to read,'' you know, and it's happening. America is going to be a
better place because we've got high standards, strong accountability,
and local control of our public schools.
America is going to be a better place as well because I think I've
got a proper perspective of Government and its relations to the people.
The great strength of America is in the hearts and souls of our
citizens. That's an important principle which we're trying to help
deliver help to people who hurt. See, if you believe that the great
strength of America is in the hearts and souls of our citizens, then it
makes sense for Government to encourage those loving citizens to help
save lives, doesn't it?
I believe America--I know--I don't believe, I know America can
change, one heart at a time. And I also know, amongst
[[Page 1261]]
our plenty, there are people who hurt. There are people who, you know,
totally addicted to alcohol and drugs, who need help and love. There are
children whose moms and dads are in prison, who wonder whether or not
there is any future for them in America. There are people who are
homeless, looking for help. And there's the hungry. And the best way, in
my judgment, to heal the hurt, is to call upon those who have heard the
universal call to love a neighbor just like they'd like to be loved
themselves and empower them to do just that, is to surround the lonely
with love, is to mentor the children who need help, is to say to the
faith-based institutions in America, whether you be Christian, Jewish,
or Muslim: ``The Federal Government does not fear your works, but we
welcome your works. We love your compassion.''
We should not ask the question, what is the process involved in
providing help? We ought to ask the question, can you save a life? Can
you save a life? If you take the alcoholic, you know, sometime a
Government counsel can make a difference. But a lot of times it requires
somebody to put his arm around him and say, ``There's a higher power.
And I'm going to help you change your heart, and when you change your
heart, you're going to change your habits.'' No, Government ought to
say, ``Are you able to save lives?'' And if so, these programs ought to
be able to access the billions of dollars we spend on social services. A
better America will happen when we understand the proper role between
the Federal Government and the true strength of America, the hearts and
souls of the American citizens.
And so when you hear me talk about ``safer, stronger, and better,''
that's what I mean. And I know how to get us there. And I'm looking
forward to have your help so I can work together with you to make sure
the country is safer and stronger and better.
I'm honored you're here. Let me take a couple of questions. I
haven't had a press conference in a while. [Laughter] Just last week, I
think it was. Any questions? Yes, sir.
Senate Report on Intelligence
Q. Mr. President, I recently read, I think yesterday or the day
before, in the Philadelphia Enquirer that the--I think it was the Senate
Intelligence Committee was going to release a report that highlighted
the fact that the CIA had given wrong information on Iraq prior to both
you and the Congress. And I was wondering if you might comment on that.
The President. Yes, thanks. I think the--first of all, I appreciate
the Senate's work, and I'll tell you why--because one of the key
ingredients to winning the war on terror is to make sure that our
intelligence agencies provide the best and possible intelligence to the
Chief Executive, to the executive branch, as well as to the legislative
branch. And so the idea that the Senate has taken a hard look to find
out where the intelligence gathering services went short is good and
positive, and I commend the chairman of the committee for doing that.
We need to know. I want to know. I want to know how to make the
agencies better, to make sure that we're better able to gather the
information necessary to protect the American people. One of the key
ingredients and one of the vital ingredients of keeping us safe is to
gather the best intelligence we can gather.
And so this is a useful report. There's going to be a lot of talk
about reform in Washington, reforms of the agencies. And I look forward
to working with Members of Congress to put out reforms that will work. A
couple of ideas that I think make sense: One, we need to bolster human
intelligence. In other words, one of the best ways to figure out what
the enemy is thinking is to get to know the enemy firsthand, I guess is
the best way to put it--is to have as much human intelligence as
possible, good, quality intelligence and enough
[[Page 1262]]
human intelligence agents, assets, out there so that we can cover the
globe.
Secondly, one of the key ingredients is to use our technologies to
listen and look better. And so we've got to always make sure our
intelligence agencies are on the cutting edge of change.
And thirdly, there are quite a few intelligence gathering agencies
within Washington, and there needs to be better coordination between the
agencies.
Now, having said that, I want--I haven't seen the report yet. I know
it's quite critical. It's very important for our fellow citizens to know
there's some really good people working hard in our intelligence
gathering agencies, taking risks for their lives, doing the very best
job they can. I will remind them that there has been some failures.
Listen, we thought there was going to be stockpiles of weapons. I
thought so. The Congress thought so. The U.N. thought so.
I'll tell you what we do know. Saddam Hussein. had the capacity to make weapons. See, he had the
ability to make them. He had the intent. We knew he hated America. We
knew he was paying families of suiciders. We knew he tortured his own
people, and we knew he had the capability of making weapons. That we do
know. They haven't found the stockpiles, but we do know he could make
them. And so he was a dangerous man. He was a dangerous man. The world
is better off without Saddam Hussein in power. America is safer.
I want to know the truth. I want to know the facts. I appreciate the
factfinders working hard, and I want to work to make it the very best
system we can possibly have, because we've got a duty to do for the
American people. This war goes on. There's a mighty ideological struggle
taking place. Remember, it is really--the better way to describe what's
happening is, this is a war against an ideology which stands exactly
opposite of what we believe. It's an ideology that can--if you just
think, remember the Taliban--it's an ideology that brutalized people
because of what they thought. It brutalized people because of how they
worshiped. It brutalized people because of their gender. It's the exact
opposite of what America stands for.
You see, we believe that you're as big a patriot if you worship the
Almighty as if you don't. You have the freedom to do so, and if you
choose to worship, whether it be as a Christian, Jew, or Muslim, you're
equally as patriotic as your neighbor. That's what we believe. You have
the freedom to worship as you see fit in America.
That's the exact opposite of the dim view of the people who are
trying to cause us harm. They use terror as a tool. So this is really a
ideological struggle where the enemy is willing to use terror as a tool.
And they kill innocent life because they know our good hearts break
every time we see an innocent soldier die and an innocent citizen die.
They know the compassion we all feel. Forget political parties. All
Americans grieve when we see a son or a daughter, a husband or wife, go
down in combat. We weep when we see that. We care when suiciders bomb
innocent children inside Iraq. That's the nature of our soul, and they
know that.
And see, they want to use terror as a tool to drive us out. They
want us to forget our duty. They want us to get scared and pale in the
face of their horrific acts. They do not understand the American people.
Yes, we'll weep, but we will never cower in the face of killers and
thugs. [Applause] Thank you all.
Okay. Anybody got a question? Other than the United States
Senators--their questions are always too hard. [Laughter]
Yes, sir.
President's Memoirs
Q. Thank you--[inaudible]--and I was wondering, there's a lot of
talk right now about memoirs being written with the former President.
After you are elected in 2004, what will your memoirs say about
[[Page 1263]]
you, what will the title be, and what will the main theme say?
The President. I appreciate that. [Laughter] There is a painting on
my wall in the Oval--first of all, I don't know. I'm just speculating
now. I really haven't thought about writing a book. My life is too
complicated right now trying to do my job. [Laughter] But if--there's a
painting on the wall in the Oval Office that shows a horseman charging
up a steep cliff, and there are at least two other horsemen following.
It's a Western scene by a guy named W.H.D. Koerner called ``A Charge To Keep.'' It's on loan, by the way,
from a guy named Joe O'Neill in
Midland, Texas. He was the person--he and his wife, Jan, introduced--reintroduced me and Laura in his backyard in July of 1977. Four months later, we
were married. So he's got a--I'm a decisionmaker, and I can make good
decisions.
And so we sang this hymn--this is a long story trying to get to your
answer. [Laughter] This is not a filibuster. [Laughter] That's a Senate
term, particularly on good judges. Anyway, the hymn was sung at my first
inaugural church service as Governor. Laura and I
are Methodists. One of the Wesley boys wrote the hymn. The painting is
based upon the hymn called ``A Charge To Keep I Have.'' The hymn talks
about serving something greater than yourself in life--I--which I try to
do, as best as I possibly can.
The book--I guess one way, one thing to think about it is--one of
the themes would be, I was given a charge to keep. And I gave it all my
heart, all my energy, based upon principles that did not change once I
got into the Oval Office.
Secretary of State Powell
Q. Mr. President, my name is Craig----
The President. Hi, Craig.
Q. How are you? I just wondered, when you defeat your opponent this
fall, Jane Fonda's poster boy--[laughter]--are you going to be able to
keep Colin Powell on your team?
The President. That's going to be up to him. He is a--thank you for
bringing up Colin. He is a fabulous Secretary of State. He's done a
really good job. [Applause] Thank you.
It's really important for a President to surround himself with
smart, capable, strong people. I like being around smart, capable,
strong people. I've got a great Cabinet. These are good, decent,
experienced Americans who know what they're doing. Colin Powell is one
such person. And it's hard work to work in Washington. It's asking a lot
for people to serve their country. It's a tough town, and the hours are
really long--really long. And I'm really grateful for people who have
served our country who work with me.
The other interesting thing about Colin is that he is the kind of
person that gives you his honest opinion, and that's what you want. I
mean, you want somebody to be able to march inside that Oval Office,
``Here's what I think.'' And I get a lot of opinions, and that's good,
because I need to hear them. But you also got to know about me: I can
make a decision. And when I make a decision, people in this
administration said, ``Yes, sir, Mr. President. We're with you all the
way.'' And Colin Powell was such a man as well.
Manufacturing Jobs
Q. Mr. President, my name is Don Snyder. I left the legislature in
Pennsylvania 3 years ago to head up a community college in this region.
The President. Well, thanks.
Q. And thank you for the support. My question to you is, the
community colleges are certainly trying to provide the workforce
training that's so necessary. So one of the things we are working with
is the manufacturing industry, and Pennsylvania has always been a leader
in manufacturing. Besides the tax policies that you've already enacted
that certainly have helped, what
[[Page 1264]]
is the additional agenda to keep manufacturing jobs not only staying in
the United States but expanding?
The President. Yes. First of all, let's start with making sure that
the workers are trained to do the jobs which exist. If you can't find
a--if you're a manufacturing person, and you can't find the workers with
the skills necessary to work at your plant, they're going to go
elsewhere. It's as simple as that. That's why not only are we making
sure that the community college system retains flexibility, that we
restructure our WIA programs, Workforce Investment Act programs, which
are way too bureaucratic--we spend too much on overhead and not enough
on helping people--plus additional $250 million going to the direct
relationship between the community college and those people looking for
workers.
Secondly, you can't be a manufacturing society if you don't have
good, reliable sources of energy. You ask some of these Pennsylvania
manufacturers what it's like to have their electrical supplies cut off,
and they're going to tell you it's a lousy place to try to do business.
If you can't have reliable electricity and you're running a
manufacturing company, you can't compete. And therefore, when I talk
about good energy policy, really what I'm talking about is keeping jobs
here at home.
The best way to prevent jobs from going overseas is to make sure our
manufacturers have got reliable sources of energy. We need to get an
energy bill out of the United States Congress. I proposed one 2 years
ago. It encouraged more conservation, which makes sense. It encouraged
using our own--being able to explore for oil and gas in our own country.
I know that makes some nervous. We can do so in environmentally friendly
ways. It makes no sense not to do so.
We need to be using coal. We've got ample reserves of coal, but we
need to use technology as well, combined with coal. That's why I'm a big
backer of clean coal technology. And there are a lot of things we can
do, sir, to make sure that the energy--and we need to, by the way, get
new rules for the electricity grids in America. I mean, like, these are
really old rules, written during the Depression. They need to be
modernized so more capital flows in to modernize your electricity grids.
The blackout we suffered should be a reminder that we ought to
modernize, and that's how you keep jobs here at home.
Thirdly, if the tort laws of America are not changed, job creators
are going to say, ``I'm tired of getting sued. I'm going elsewhere.''
There are some practical things. We're good at things here in America,
by the way. There's a lot of talk about what they call economic
isolationism. That basically says, ``We're going to wall ourselves off
from the rest of the world.'' I think it's a big mistake to think that
way. If you're good at something, you ought to be confident about
competing.
Now, here's the issue on trade. Presidents prior to me have said,
``Let us open up our market to other countries, because it's in our
consumers' interest.'' Think about what I'm saying there. This is what
they said. Because if you get more product coming in--in other words,
consumers have more choices--a consumer will end up with a better price
and better quality. That's how the marketplace works. And so
administrations have said, ``We'll open up our markets for the sake of
the consumers.''
Now, the problem has been, is that we haven't said forcefully enough
to other countries, ``Our markets are open. You open up yours. See,
we've opened up ours, so let's make sure yours are open.'' And that's
what this administration is doing. We're filing suits against countries
that we think are dumping wrongly in our country. I've made action on
the steel industry, because I felt like the steel industry needed some
breathing room because of--for competitive reasons. In other words, what
we've got to do is to make sure that countries treat us like we treat
them, and it will
[[Page 1265]]
make it more likely manufacturers will be able to compete here at home.
I want to--appreciate your question. Thanks for running the
community college system. It's a vital part of making sure people are
trained.
Yes, what you got? Let her go. Just yell it out. If I don't like the
question, I'll change it. [Laughter]
Same-Sex Marriage
Q. I was wondering what your plans are for banning gay marriages in
the 50 States?
The President. Yes. He asked about gay marriage. This is, first of
all, a very sensitive issue that people need to take a deep breath and
debate with the ultimate of respect, for starters. I believe in the
sanctity of marriage. I believe that marriage is a--I believe a marriage
is an important part of the future of families, the traditional
definition of marriage. I think it's--history has shown us that marriage
between men and women has served society well, and any redefinition by
itself will weaken marriage.
Secondly, this is a subject which ought not be decided by courts.
This is a decision which ought to be decided--this is too important a
decision to have defined by four judges in a State, say, like
Massachusetts. And therefore, I believe the people ought to be
encouraged to participate in the process.
Thirdly, one of the interesting issues that we're confronted with
here in the country is that if a State decides to redefine marriage,
people who were then married in that State can come to a State like
Pennsylvania, and Pennsylvania must accept that marriage. Now, that is,
right now, protected--what's called the Defense of Marriage Act, signed
by President Clinton. But there's a lot
of legal experts who tell me that that act is going to be struck down in
the court of law, which would then mean that a court could decide,
redefine marriage--a court--the people would get married, and they'd
come to another State and say, ``You must accept me as a married--us as
a married couple,'' which then redefines the marriage in the new State.
Now, this is a sensitive issue that the people ought to decide, and
the best way they ought to decide, in my judgment, is to be--is to have
a constitutional process go forward that must be ratified by the State
legislatures. That's how you get the people involved. And I repeat to
you--my own view is, is that if a State--if people decide to--what they
do in the privacy of their house, consenting adults should be able to
do. This is America. It's a free society, but it doesn't mean we have to
redefine traditional marriage.
She's coming right behind you.
2004 Election/War on Terror
Q. As a mother of two, my greatest concern is national security.
What is your biggest fear with, if you'll excuse me, a Kerry
administration?
The President. No, I'm--that's up to the voters to decide. Thanks
for asking that. But my job is to lay out what I am going to do and talk
about what I believe. My greatest fear is we're going to get attacked
again. That's my greatest fear. And we're just working hard to stop it
from happening. I am worried that there's--the enemy watches and sees
other parts of the world kind of cower in the face of their barbaric
behavior and, therefore, draw the wrong lessons from it. That's my
worry.
And you've just got to know there's a lot of people--I mean, there's
a lot of really good people working as hard as they possibly can to
uncover any information that would give us an indication of something
that might happen, and they're fully prepared to respond. They're ready
to make a move.
This is a different kind of war. I remember, right after September
the 11th, saying to the American people that this is a different kind of
war. This is something that's just beyond our--the way we have thought
before about how war goes. First of all, nobody likes war. You just got
to know
[[Page 1266]]
that about me. I love peace. I long for peace. But I also understand the
nature of this enemy. And I told the American people that sometimes
you'll see action and it will look like things are normal, but beneath
the surface will lurk this enemy. And that's just the way it is. And I
want the American people to live a normal life. It's my job to worry
about it. It's your job to go about your business. If you see something
strange, of course, let the local authorities know. But it is a--this is
a--we're in this for a while. And I fully understand the fatigue that
comes with being told information as best as we know it that something
might happen, but it's my duty. I've got to be as open with the American
people as I can and realistic in my assessment about the realities of
the world.
And I will repeat what I said, then I've got to get on the bus and
head on out. But I will repeat what I said to Lancaster. Let me say what
I said before about this--about the world we live in. We have a capacity
to leave behind a better world. I say ``we''--my--our generation, those
of us who have been given the responsibility of assuming the duties of a
civil society. We have a chance--and we will leave behind a better world
for future generations of America, by sticking to what we believe, by
understanding the great power of liberty in societies, of believing that
credo that all people, regardless of their faith or the color of their
skin, have the capacity to self-govern.
You see--let me end on this note. I understand and most Americans
understand that liberty and freedom are not America's gift to the world;
freedom is the Almighty God's gift to every man and woman in this world.
We will defend America--we will defend America. We will be unrelenting
in our defense of this country, by finding the enemy before they find
us. Listen, we want to whip them in Iraq before we have to face them
here at home. We want to--but ultimately, we will prevail, ultimately
prevail, because of the great values, the great universal values that
this country lives by.
Listen, thanks for coming. Thanks for your help. God bless, and God
bless America. Thank you.
Note: The President spoke at 11:25 a.m. In his remarks, he referred to
former President Saddam Hussein of Iraq; Palestinian terrorist Abu
Nidal, who was found dead in Baghdad, Iraq, on August 19, 2002; senior
Al Qaida associate Abu Musab Al Zarqawi; and Pat Roberts, chairman,
Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.