    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2006, Book I)]
    [June 19, 2006]
    [Pages 1172-1177]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks at the President's Dinner
    June 19, 2006

        Thank you all very much. Thank you. Please be seated. Thanks for the
    warm welcome.
        Jim, thanks very much for your
    introduction. Thanks for your leadership for this incredibly successful
    dinner. Thank you all for coming.
        I told Laura, I said, ``I'm going to the
    President's Dinner.'' She said, ``Cook it yourself.'' [Laughter] She's
    doing great, by the way. She is a--I'm a lucky man that she said yes
    when I asked her to marry me. She is a fabulous mom, a great wife, and
    she's doing a wonderful job as the First Lady of the United States.
        She sends her best. She, like me, understands
    that we're going to keep the House and we're going to keep the Senate
    thanks to you all. And there's a reason why we got to keep the House and
    the Senate. We got a fabulous Speaker and
    leadership team in the United States House of Representatives and a
    great leader in Bill Frist in the United States
    Senate.
        We're here for a reason. We're here to solve problems and not pass
    them to future Congresses and future Presidents. We're making a
    difference for the people of the United States of America. When we see
    problems, we solve them. The Democrats are good talkers; we're good
    doers. We get the job done. We understand the stakes to the world in
    which we live. We understand the most important responsibility we have
    in Washington is to defend the people of the United States, and that's
    exactly what we're doing.
        I appreciate the members of my Cabinet here tonight. Thank you all
    for coming. Don't stay too long; you got to get back to work. [Laughter]
        I'm thrilled that Speaker Denny Hastert is here, and Leader Bill Frist.
    [Applause] I want to thank the--must have a lousy seat. [Laughter] I
    want to thank Elizabeth Dole and
    Lamar Alexander. I want to thank Congressman
    Tom Reynolds. I want to thank Mitch
    McConnell. I want to thank
    John Boehner. I want to thank all the
    Members of the House and the Senate who've joined us tonight. I
    appreciate your service to our country, and I'm proud to serve with you.
        These are historic times in which we live, and these are times that
    require people to make hard decisions. I'm proud to be serving with
    people, here in Washington, DC, who make decisions on what's right, not
    what the focus groups say and what the polls say. And what is right is
    doing

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    what it takes to defend the United States of America from attack again.
        I'm proud to be serving with people who understand the lessons of
    September the 11th. And here's what I've learned. I've learned that we
    must look at the world the way it is, not the way we hope it is. I've
    learned that in order to do our duty to protect the American people, we
    must understand the nature of the enemy we face. We face coldblooded
    killers who would like nothing more than to strike the United States of
    America again, and the only way to defeat them is to stay on the offense
    and bring them to justice before they hurt America again.
        When the President speaks, he better mean what he says, and when I
    said, ``If you harbor a terrorist, you're equally as guilty as the
    terrorist,'' I meant exactly what I said. And when the Taliban refused
    to cough up Al Qaida, we acted. In the United States Congress, we're
    strong supporters of upholding that doctrine. And as a result of our
    action, America is safer, Al Qaida no longer has training camps, and 25
    million people now live in freedom.
        I'm proud to be working with a Speaker
    and the leader of the Senate and Republican
    Members of the House and the Senate who understand the stakes of the
    world in which we live. I am proud to be working with clear-eyed
    realists who understand that we can give no quarter to an enemy that
    would like to do us harm again.
        One of the lessons of September the 11th is that when this country
    sees a threat, we must deal with it before it fully materializes. When a
    lot of us were coming up, we thought oceans could protect us from harm,
    but the lesson of September the 11th is, oceans can no longer protect
    the United States.
        The best way to protect the United States is to take care of threats
    before they come to hurt us. In Iraq, Republicans and Democrats saw a
    threat. We saw Saddam Hussein who terrorized
    his neighbors, Saddam Hussein who killed his own people, a Saddam
    Hussein who used weapons of mass destruction, a Saddam Hussein who had
    funded terrorists, Saddam Hussein who defied U.N. resolution after U.N.
    resolution. And when he defied his last U.N. resolution, we removed him
    from power, and the world is better off for it.
        And I'm proud to be serving with Members of the United States
    Congress and the United States Senate who stand by their convictions,
    who don't try to change history in the midst of hard work. And that's
    what this world requires; it requires hard work by the United States of
    America. And right now we're doing hard work in Iraq. Iraq is the
    central front on the war on terror. And it's important we succeed.
        You know I just recently went to Baghdad, had an interesting
    experience there. I met the new Prime Minister and the new Cabinet of a unity government. And here's what I
    saw: I saw people dedicated to living out the--to living out the desires
    of the 12 million people who went to the polls in defiance of the car
    bombers and the killers. I saw people from different groups in that
    country coming together to say, ``We want to succeed.'' And I saw people
    wondering whether the United States would have the nerve to stay the
    course and help them succeed.
        I went to Iraq, and I said, ``It's up to you. It's up to you to
    seize this moment.'' But I also told them this, ``When America gives its
    word, America will keep its word.'' And we will help this good country
    of Iraq become a thriving democracy in the heart of the Middle East.
        Now, we're going to win the war on terror if we don't lose our
    nerve. We will win the war on terror by bringing the terrorists to
    justice. We will win the war on terror by defeating the terrorists in
    Iraq, and we will win the war on terror by defeating their hateful
    ideology with freedom.
        You see, I want you to understand something loud and clear. I make
    my decisions based upon principles that just aren't going to change, and
    I'm proud to be standing

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    with Members--Republican Members of the House and Senate who stand on
    the very same principles. We believe in the universality of freedom. We
    believe everybody desires to be free. And we believe that the spread of
    freedom will yield the peace this world wants. It is important to have
    Members of the United States Congress who will not wave the white flag
    of surrender in this war on terror.
        There is a debate here in Washington, and there should be. And I
    welcome the debate, and we should welcome the debate. But I want to
    remind you of the consequences if those who want to withdraw from Iraq
    happen to prevail in the debate. An early withdrawal would be a defeat
    for the United States of America. An early withdrawal would embolden the
    terrorists. Talk about a deadline before we've done the job sends chills
    throughout the spines of Iraqi citizens who are wondering whether or not
    the United States has the capacity to keep its word.
        An early withdrawal would embolden Al Qaida and bin Laden. An early withdrawal, before we completed the
    missions, would say to the United States military, ``Your sacrifices
    have gone to vain.'' There will be no early withdrawal so long as we run
    the Congress and occupy the White House.
        I want to thank the Members of Congress, Republican Members of
    Congress, for supporting the United States military. It's really
    important for our military to know that the United States of America
    supports them in Iraq. I'll tell you one of the things that just struck
    me when I was there in Baghdad. I looked in the eyes of our civilians
    who were there and I looked in the eyes of our troops, and I saw brave
    and honorable and decent and courageous souls. I saw the best of
    America. And this Congress and this White House will give them what it
    takes to win the war on terror.
        And here at home, Republicans in the House and the Senate, working
    with the White House, have dealt with some pretty tough times for our
    economy. I know it seems like a long time ago, but it wasn't all that
    long ago that we had to deal with a recession and a stock market
    correction and corporate scandals and attacks on our country and two
    wars and two major invasions as a part of the war on terror and natural
    disasters and high energy prices. Yet instead of talking, we acted, and
    we acted on principle.
        We Republicans believe that when you have more of your own money in
    your pocket to save, spend, or invest, it can overcome tough economic
    times. We believe that we ought to trust you with your money, and not
    trust Government on how to spend your money. And as a result of our
    progrowth economic policies, this economy is strong, and we intend to
    keep it strong.
        Our economy grew at 3.5 percent last year, and that's faster than
    any other major industrialized nation in the world. We added 5.3 million
    new jobs since August of 2003. The national unemployment rate is 4.6
    percent. That's below the average for every decade since the 1960s. The
    entrepreneurial spirit is strong in America because of Republican
    progrowth economic policies.
        And there is a clear record on this issue. And as people start going
    to the polls next November, I want them to remember who cut the taxes
    and who was against the tax cuts. Every single tax cut was opposed by
    the Democrat leadership, every tax cut: tax cuts for child--children,
    families with children; tax cuts to get rid of the death tax; tax cuts
    on capital gains and dividends; tax cuts for everybody who pays taxes;
    tax cuts for small businesses. We're the party of tax cuts, and we're
    the party of economic growth. And we intend to keep it that way by
    making the tax cuts permanent.
        If you want your taxes raised, vote Democrat. If you want your taxes
    low, keep Denny Hastert and Bill
    Frist as leaders of the House and the Senate.

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        Oh, you hear all kinds of excuses for raising taxes here in
    Washington. The classic is, ``We need to raise the taxes to balance the
    budget.'' That's not how Washington works. I've been here 5\1/2\ years;
    I can tell you how it works. See, they're going to raise your taxes, and
    then they'll figure out new ways to spend your money.
        The best way to balance the budget is to be fiscally wise with your
    money and to keep progrowth economic policies in place, which is exactly
    what we're going to do. We're on our way to cutting this deficit in half
    by 2009, because our economy is strong as a result of low taxes and
    because we're working together to make sure we're wise about how we
    spend your money. I'll tell you one thing about spending your money,
    though. So long as we have got any soldier in harm's way, I look forward
    to working with the Congress to make sure he or she gets all the
    equipment, all the training, all the pay necessary to win this war on
    terror.
        We're willing to deal with tough issues, and we got a tough issue
    with immigration. This is an important debate for the United States of
    America, but I want all of us to remember one thing: We are a nation of
    immigrants, and we will treat people with respect, no matter what
    country they're from.
        The American people expect us to secure our borders, and we will. We
    will increase the number of Border Patrol agents, and I want to thank
    the Congress for passing strong measures to do just that. We will
    provide new technologies for our borders, to help our Border Patrol
    agents. We will end catch-and-release, so when we catch somebody trying
    to sneak in our country, they're going to go back home. We will send a
    clear message to people trying to sneak across our borders: The United
    States will secure our borders. But I also want you to understand that
    to secure our borders, we need a comprehensive immigration plan.
        We need a plan that says, instead of trying to sneak across our
    borders, you can come and work in our borders--in our country, on a
    temporary basis, for jobs Americans aren't doing. We need a temporary-
    worker plan in order to make sure this border of ours is secure. We need
    to give those temporary workers a chance to come here and then go back
    home after they work, and give them a card, see. They need to have a
    tamper-proof card. And that's how you begin to have true enforcement.
        It's against the law to hire somebody who's here--who is illegally
    here, and we intend to make sure we uphold the laws against employers
    who are hiring illegal immigrants. We oppose amnesty. Amnesty is wrong
    for the United States of America. Amnesty sends the wrong signal to
    people here by--playing by the rules. On the other hand, it is
    unrealistic to expect the United States of America can deport 11 million
    people. And so my plan is, is that if you pay your fine, pay your dues,
    learn English, you can get at the end of the citizenship line, not ahead
    of those who are here legally.
        And finally, during this debate I want us to remember that this
    country has had an amazing capacity to assimilate people from different
    walks of life, and so a part of a comprehensive plan will not only be to
    secure our borders but to have an orderly work plan to be responsible on
    how we treat people who have been here--but as well as to help people
    learn English and learn the customs and habits of the United States of
    America.
        I love a country where someone can go from picking onions to owning
    the grocery store, when somebody can go from sweeping the floor of an
    office to running the office. I love a country where somebody can come
    and work in a small business and own the small business. America is one
    Nation under God, and the Republican Party must always stand for that.

    [[Page 1176]]

        You know, ours is the party that came here to Washington, DC, and
    saw a Medicare system that wasn't working. The Democrats were great
    about talking about making Medicare work; they could never get anything
    done. And we did. People say, ``What did you care about Medicare for?''
    I cared about it because the Government has made a commitment to the
    elderly to provide good health care. And once--my view is, once you make
    a commitment, you got to honor the commitment. And I saw a Medicare
    system that wasn't working, and so did a lot of the Republicans in the
    United States Congress.
        I'll give you an example of why it wasn't working. We had a Medicare
    system that would pay $25,000 for surgery but not one single dime for
    the prescription drugs that could prevent the surgery from being needed
    in the first place. The system was old. It was tired. It wasn't working.
    And Republicans came together to make sure we had a Medicare system that
    delivered modern medicine for our seniors. And if you're a poor senior
    in America, we give you help. The days from choosing between an
    electricity bill and medicine are over, thanks to the Republican Party.
        There is more work to be done when it comes to making sure health
    care is available and affordable. That's why we support association
    health plans to help small businesses be able to afford health
    insurance. That's why we support health savings accounts, so you're in
    control of the health decisions. That's why we support the advent of
    information technology to help bring excess costs out of the systems.
    And in order to make sure health care is available and affordable, we
    strongly support medical liability reform. We got to make sure these
    junk lawsuits stop running good doctors out of practice and stop running
    up your bills.
        Ours is the party that understands we got to have a comprehensive
    energy plan to make us less dependent on foreign sources of oil. We
    strongly support conservation measures. We strongly support clean coal
    technologies and nuclear power. We strongly support hybrid vehicles, new
    battery technologies, ethanol. Ours is a party that is willing to work
    hard to say to the American people, soon, that we're less dependent on
    foreign sources of oil, and that's good for national security, and that
    is good for economic security.
        What I'm telling you is, we stand for some things, and we get things
    done for the American people. We stand on principles. We believe in
    human dignity of each and every person. We stand for a culture of life.
    We strongly stand for families in America. And we believe it is
    essential to make sure that we have a judiciary that understands its
    proper role in society.
        I want to thank the United States Senate for confirming two
    fantastic Supreme Court Justices in John Roberts and Sam Alito. And our
    pledge to you is that I will continue to nominate good judges, good
    honorable men and women, who will interpret the law and not legislate
    from the bench.
        Ours is a party that understands that Government can hand out money
    but cannot put hope in a person's heart or a sense of purpose in a
    person's life. And therefore we strongly support--we strongly believe in
    supporting faith-based and community programs that all exist to put an
    arm around a brother who is lost or a sister who needs help, and says,
    ``I love you.'' We strongly believe that Government ought to support
    programs of faith in order to help lift the souls and the spirits of
    those who need something much greater than Government can provide.
        Ours is a party that believes in limited government and empowering
    the people of the United States. There's no question that this country
    of ours can accomplish anything we set our minds to. We can win the war
    on terror, and we will. We can make sure people are able to find work
    all around our country. We can help the homeless, help the addicted. We
    can help feed the hungry. We can lift up the souls of every person who
    is lucky enough to

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    be a citizen of this great country, and we will.
        I want to thank you for your help. I want to thank you for giving us
    a chance to lead this great country. I want to thank you for helping
    make sure that Denny Hastert and Bill
    Frist remain in their positions in the Senate and
    the House, and I assure you of this: We will continue to lead this
    country with an optimistic, hopeful, positive vision that says to every
    American, opportunity belongs to you as much as your neighbor.
        May God bless you all, and may God bless the United States of
    America.

    Note: The President spoke at 7:50 p.m. at the Washington Convention
    Center. In his remarks, he referred to Rep. James O. McCrery III of
    Louisiana; Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki of Iraq; and Usama bin Laden,
    leader of the Al Qaida terrorist organization.