    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2005, Book I)]
    [January 28, 2005]
    [Pages 107-108]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks to the ``Congress of Tomorrow'' Luncheon in White Sulphur
    Springs, West Virginia
    January 28, 2005

        The President. Thank you all. Please be seated.
        Deborah, thanks for the kind introduction. I'm kind of warming up
    for the State of the Union--[laughter]--some verbal jumping jacks.
    Thanks for letting me come by. I'm going to have a few remarks, then
    I'll answer questions for a while.
        Mr. Speaker, thank you for your leadership. Thank you for your
    friendship. This country has had no better Speaker than Denny
    Hastert.
        Appreciate Senator Ted Stevens--
    thank you for your tenure and your leadership as well. I'm glad you're
    here. I thank my friend from the great State of Texas Tom DeLay for his leadership. I appreciate you, Mr. Leader. Mitch
    McConnell, the Senate
    majority whip--Senator McConnell, thank you, sir, appreciate you.
    Congressman Blunt, the House whip. Thank you,
    Congressman, glad you're here, appreciate you. How is your son doing?
        Representative Roy Blunt. He's doing great.
        The President. Good, huh?
        Representative Blunt. He's taking a page out
    of your book.

    [[Page 108]]

        The President. Yes, I like a guy who follows
    in his father's footsteps. [Laughter]
        Senator Kyl, who's the chairman of the
    Republican policy committee--thank you, sir. Deborah Pryce, who you know, and Rick
    Santorum--thank you both for organizing this event. Thank the members of
    my Cabinet who are here, John Snow and Josh
    Bolten. I'm looking forward to working with
    you.
        As you know, David Hobbs has handled
    legislative affairs for my administration for a couple of years. He's
    worked very closely with the leadership and the Members of both the
    House and the Senate. He has decided to move on. He will be replaced by
    Candi Wolff. I know you look forward to
    working with Candi. She is a fine soul. And we're going to miss David
    Hobbs, and I appreciate him for his--I appreciate his long service.
        A couple points I'd like to make. First, I think we've proven to the
    country we know how to set an agenda and work together to achieve it. In
    other words, people ought to view this team we've put together, the
    relationship between the executive branch and the legislative branch, as
    people who are--come to Washington, DC, to solve problems. And we have
    done so over the last 4 years, and we will continue to do so for the
    next 4 years.
        I look forward to addressing the Nation. I will remind the country
    we're still at war. And I want to thank the Congress for providing the
    necessary support for our troops who are in harm's way. I will also tell
    the people once again that I strongly believe that the way to defeat
    hatred and terrorism is to spread freedom. And I believe everybody in
    the world deserves to be free.
        I look forward to discussing ways to keep this recovery going so
    people can find work. I look forward to talking to the country about the
    need to address big reforms like Social Security. I will continue to
    articulate the faith-based agenda, the compassion agenda so that people
    can find hope in our country. I'll remind the people we're a great
    nation. We can achieve anything we set our mind to. And I will tell them
    like I'm telling you, it's such an honor to be the President of the
    United States.
        Thank you for letting me come. I look forward to answering your
    questions.

    Note: The President spoke at 1:06 p.m. at the Greenbrier. In his
    remarks, he referred to Gov. Matt Blunt of Missouri, son of
    Representative Roy Blunt. The Office of the Press Secretary also
    released a Spanish language transcript of these remarks.