    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2005, Book I)]
    [June 14, 2005]
    [Pages 989-993]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks at the President's Dinner
    June 14, 2005

        Thank you all for coming. Thank you for the warm reception. Thank
    you all. Thanks for coming. It's nice to have dinner with a group of
    friends. I appreciate you all coming here. This is a very important
    dinner because, through your generosity, we're going to keep control of
    the Senate and the House, and America will be better off for it.
        I really appreciate you being here. I am sorry that the First Lady
    is not here. She sends her love. Generally when I say that, people
    groan, and I take it to mean they wish she'd have come and not me. I
    understand that. I'll tell you something about Laura. She's quite the comedienne, quite the diplomat. She's a
    heck of a First Lady and a great wife and mom. I love her dearly.
        I want to thank Senator Lamar Alexander
    for his leadership on this incredibly successful dinner. I appreciate
    Speaker Denny Hastert. He is one fine man.
    He's a great Speaker of the House. And through your generosity, he's
    going to stay Speaker of the House. I want to thank the majority leader
    of the United States Senate, Bill Frist. He too
    is a great leader, and I appreciate calling him friend.
        I want to thank Senator Elizabeth Dole,
    who is the NRSC chairman; Congressman Tom Reynolds, the NRCC chairman. Those are initials for, like, let's
    raise money and get the Senate in Republican--keep the Senate in
    Republican hands and House in Republican hands. Thank you for supporting
    these causes.
        I want to thank the Members of the Senate and Congress for working
    so hard. I want to thank the Members of the--all the Members of the
    Congress who've joined us tonight. I appreciate the members of my
    Cabinet who are here.
        I want to pay special tribute to the Republican National Committee
    chairman, Ken Mehlman, for the fantastic
    job he's doing on reaching out to people from all walks of life. I want
    to thank the President's Dinner leadership, especially Ken
    Thompson and his wife,
    Kathylee, for the fantastic job you all
    have done and everybody up here has done. I want to thank the Duke
    Ellington School of the Arts Show Choir for being here today.
        I'm proud to be the head of a party that has a positive and hopeful
    and optimistic vision for every single person who lives in this country.
    And I'm proud to be a head of a party that is driving the debate on all
    the key domestic and foreign policy issues. Because of our achievements,
    the American people see us as the party of

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    reform and optimism and results, the party that is moving this Nation
    forward.
        All of us in Washington have a duty to the people who sent us here.
    Political parties can take one of two approaches. One approach is to
    lead, to focus on the people's business, to take on the tough problems.
    And that is exactly what our party's done.
        The other approach is to simply do nothing, to delay solutions,
    obstruct progress, refuse to take responsibility. Members of the other
    party have worked with us to achieve important reforms on some issues.
    Yet too often, their leadership prefers to block the ideas of others. We
    hear ``no'' to making tax relief permanent. We hear ``no'' to Social
    Security reform. We hear ``no'' to confirming Federal judges. We hear
    ``no'' to a highly qualified U.N. Ambassador.
    We hear ``no'' to medical liability reform. On issue after issue, they
    stand for nothing except obstruction, and this is not leadership. It is
    the philosophy of the stop sign, the agenda of the roadblock, and our
    country and our children deserve better.
        Political parties that choose the path of obstruction will not gain
    the trust of the American people. If leaders of the other party have
    innovative ideas, let's hear them. But if they have no ideas or policies
    except obstruction, they should step aside and let others lead.
        We're a party that's gotten things done. Because we acted to pass
    the largest tax relief in a generation, our economy is growing again.
    We've created more than 3.5 million new jobs during the last 2 years.
    More Americans are working today than ever before in our Nation's
    history.
        To keep this economy growing and creating jobs, we need to make the
    tax relief permanent. We need to get rid of the death tax forever. And
    we can do something else about taxes. I've appointed a bipartisan panel
    to examine our incoherent, out-of-date Tax Code. When their
    recommendations are delivered, I'm looking forward to working with the
    United States Congress to give this Nation a Tax Code that is progrowth,
    easy to understand, and fair to all.
        Our party is the party of economic growth, and our party is the
    party of spending restraint. I've submitted the first budget to actually
    cut nonsecurity discretionary spending since Ronald Reagan was the
    President. Now the Congress needs to act to hold nondiscretionary
    spending below last year's level. The budget we submitted adheres to an
    interesting principle. It says taxpayers' money should be spent wisely
    or not spent at all.
        We need to have a fiscally responsible highway bill that modernizes
    our roads and bridges and improves safety and creates jobs. We're on our
    way to cutting this deficit in half in 5 years, and I want to thank the
    Members of Congress for holding the line and doing what's right for the
    American taxpayer.
        In order to make sure this economy grows, we need an energy bill.
    Four years ago, I presented Congress with a comprehensive energy
    strategy that encourages conservation, renewable sources of energy like
    ethanol and biodiesel, that says we can use nuclear energy in a clean
    way, that recognizes the need to spend money on clean coal technology.
    It's an energy plan that will make us less dependent on foreign sources
    of energy. For the sake of national security and for the sake of
    economic security, Congress needs to get a bill to my desk before the
    August recess.
        We're proudly the party of free and fair trade. During my
    administration and thanks to the good works of Congress, we've opened up
    markets for millions of consumers of U.S. products. And now we have an
    opportunity to continue to open up new markets with CAFTA, the Central
    American and Dominican Republic Free Trade act. Right now most of the
    goods coming from the Central American countries enter into our country
    duty-free. Yet our goods are not received in their countries duty-free.
    For the sake of free trade, for the sake of fair trade, for the sake of
    good

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    jobs, for the sake of promoting young democracies in Central America,
    Congress must pass CAFTA.
        Ours is the party of the entrepreneur and small business. Ours is
    the party of litigation reform. We're the party that continues to free
    our entrepreneurs from needless regulations and protect honest job
    creators from junk lawsuits. I applaud the Speaker and the leader for
    getting bipartisan class-action reform and bankruptcy reform through the
    Congress. Now we need asbestos litigation reform. And to stop junk
    lawsuits that are running good doctors out of practice and running up
    the cost of medicine, we need Federal medical liability reform.
        Ours is the party that challenges the soft bigotry of low
    expectations, that worked to stop the practice of just shuffling kids
    through school, grade after grade, without them being able to read and
    write. Ours is the party that set high standards, believes in local
    control of schools, and insists that every child learn to read and
    write, so no child is left behind in America.
        We set a clear agenda to make health care more affordable and to
    give American families greater access to coverage and more control over
    their health decisions. In 2003, we strengthened Medicare by giving
    seniors more choices and adding a prescription drug benefit. We have
    kept our commitment to our Nation's seniors, and now we must move
    forward with more community health centers to help the poor, improved
    health information technology, expanded health savings accounts and
    association health plans, so that small businesses can pool risk and buy
    insurance at the same discount that big companies are able to do.
        Ours is the party that set the goal to encourage ownership in
    America. We want more people owning their own business. I'm proud to
    report more people own a home than ever before in our Nation's history,
    and more minority families are owning a home today than ever before.
        We need to expand ownership to our retirement system. Recently, I've
    been spending time talking about an important issue, and that's Social
    Security reform. And the reason I have is because I believe the job of
    the President is to confront problems and not pass them on to future
    Presidents and future generations. We've got a problem when it comes to
    Social Security. No, you don't have a problem if you're getting your
    check now or if you were born prior to 1950. You'll get your check. The
    problem is for a younger generation of Americans who are paying payroll
    taxes or getting ready to pay payroll taxes into a system that is going
    broke.
        Let me give you the math right quick, let you know why I'm talking
    about it all across the country. There's a lot of us getting ready to
    retire. We're called baby boomers. As a matter of fact, my retirement
    age is 2008--[laughter]--quite convenient. There are about 73 million
    baby boomers getting ready to retire. There are 40 million people
    retired today; another 33 million will be retired when the baby boomers
    fully retire. And we're living longer, and we've been promised greater
    benefits by Congress. And the real problem is there's fewer people
    paying into the system. Today, there's 3.3 workers per beneficiary.
    Soon, there will be two workers per beneficiary. In 2017, the system
    goes into the red. In 2027, it's $200 billion short. In 2041, it's
    bankrupt.
        It is not right to sit here in Washington, DC, knowing the system is
    going bankrupt for younger Americans and not do anything about it. So
    I'm going to keep talking about it and keep putting ideas out. I've laid
    out some plans that would nearly fix all of the Social Security problem.
        I'll tell you another idea we need to do is we need to give workers
    the option that Congress has given itself, and that is to be able to
    take some of their own money, some of their own payroll taxes and set it
    aside in a personal savings account they call their own, a personal
    savings account

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    that will let them earn a better rate of return on their money, a
    personal savings account they can leave to whomever they want, a
    personal savings account the Government cannot take away or spend on
    special programs.
        Ours is the party that believes in ownership. We want to extend the
    so-called investor class to all walks of life. We believe everybody
    should have an asset they can call their own. And we have a fantastic
    opportunity to strengthen and save Social Security for a generation of
    Americans to come and to give more Americans the great pride of owning
    something they call their own. Congress needs to act on this issue.
    Strengthening Social Security requires honesty and courage, and the
    party I'm proud to lead will do our duty. Our children's retirement
    security is more important than partisan politics.
        Our party will continue to support the faith-based and community
    groups that bring hope to harsh places. We'll continue to promote a
    culture of life in which every person is valued and every life has
    meaning. And we will defend the institution of marriage from being
    redefined forever by activist judges.
        And speaking about judges, the American people made it clear they
    want judges who faithfully interpret the law, not legislate from the
    bench. I applaud Senator Frist and Senator
    Specter and Senator Hatch and other Members of the United States Senate in
    confirming some outstanding nominees who have waited a long time for a
    vote, Priscilla Owen and Janice
    Rogers Brown and Bill Pryor. I'll continue to urge the Senate to fulfill
    its constitutional responsibility by giving every judicial nominee an
    up-or-down vote on the Senate floor.
        And speaking of confirmations, the Senate must promptly confirm John
    Bolton, my nominee to be our Ambassador to
    the United Nations, so we can get on with the business of reforming that
    institution.
        My most solemn duty and the most solemn duty of those of us in
    Government here in Washington is to protect the American people. Our
    strategy is clear: We will be relentless; we will never tire in chasing
    down the terrorists; we will confront them abroad so we do not have to
    face them here at home.
        We carried out the largest reorganization of Government in a half-
    century to form a single Department with a single mission, protecting
    America from attack. The tireless efforts of the men and women of the
    Department of Homeland Security and Federal and State and local first-
    responders--protecting our Nation and making this country more secure.
    And as they do so, they need to have all the tools to be able to help
    defend this country. And that is why I call upon the United States
    Congress to renew all the provisions of the PATRIOT Act.
        The PATRIOT Act is an important piece of legislation. It gives those
    folks who are on the frontline of fighting terror the same tools, many
    of the same tools that are used to track down drug kingpins or tax
    cheats. If those tools are good enough to track down drug kingpins, they
    ought to be good enough in this war on terror to give to our law
    enforcement so we can better defend this country.
        And we're making progress. Since September the 11th, 2001, we've
    closed down terrorist networks. We brought to justice many of the key
    leaders of Al Qaida. We're disrupting their finances. There is no place
    they can hide from the United States of America and our allies and
    friends.
        The best way to secure this country in the long run, though, is to
    spread democracy and freedom. We believe everybody deserves to be free.
    We believe everybody has a deep desire in their heart to live in a free
    society. We believe mothers all around the world want to raise their
    children in a free and peaceful world.
        And the people of Afghanistan showed clearly the desire of those who
    have lived under tyranny to take the risks necessary to live in a free
    society. Think about how

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    far that country has come in a brief period of time. We enforced
    doctrine that said, ``If you harbor a terrorist, you're just as guilty
    as the terrorist.'' And by removing the Taliban, America and the free
    world are safer. But at the same time, we gave the Afghan people a
    chance to live in a free and democratic society. And for the first time
    in the history of that country, for the first time in thousands of
    years, millions of people went to the polls to vote. And the first voter
    was a 19-year-old girl in Afghanistan.
        Freedom is on the march from the Ukraine to Afghanistan to the
    Palestinian Territory to Lebanon and to Iraq. By removing Saddam
    Hussein from power, America and the free
    world are safer. By removing Saddam Hussein from power, the people of
    Iraq have a chance to live in a free society. And the United States of
    America will stand squarely with that new democracy as it grows and
    flourishes and becomes a free society in the heart of the Middle East.
        I know many of you here have got relatives and friends who are
    serving in the United States military. I can't tell you how proud I am
    to be the Commander in Chief of such a great group of folks. America is
    more secure, the world is more free, the foundations of peace are being
    laid because of the brave men and women who wear the uniform of the
    United States military.
        The United States has a special obligation, in my view, to work with
    freedom fighters all around the world, to stand squarely with the
    reformers. I believe it's important for generations to come, because I
    understand that democracies don't fight each other, that democracies are
    the way to defeat hatred, that democracies provide the best hope for men
    and women around the world. There's no doubt in my mind the policies
    that this administration has taken will make the world more peaceful for
    generations to come.
        The American people have entrusted us with the leadership of this
    great country at an historic moment. We've set big goals, and they're
    not always easy to achieve. Otherwise, they'd have been done already.
    But we're going to continue to be the party that sets the big goals, the
    party that's idealistic, the party of reform. We'll continue to lead, no
    matter how tough the challenge might be. You see, the American people
    have given us their trust. But the good news for the American people is,
    in our policies we trust them. We trust their values. We trust their
    judgment. We trust them with their own money. So long as we stay true to
    our values and our ideas, we will do what Americans have always done. We
    will build a better world for our children and our grandchildren.
        It is such an honor to be the President of such a great nation.
    Thank you for coming tonight. May God bless your families, and may God
    continue to bless our country. Thank you all.

    Note: The President spoke at 7:30 p.m. at the Washington Convention
    Center. In his remarks, he referred to Ken Thompson, dinner chairman,
    2005 President's Dinner, and his wife, Kathylee Thompson; and former
    President Saddam Hussein of Iraq.