    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2007, Book I)]
    [February 26, 2007]
    [Pages 194-199]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks at the Republican Governors Association Gala
    February 26, 2007

        Thanks for coming. Thank you all for being here tonight. I am
    honored to join you. You might remember, I am a former member of the
    Republican Governors Association. And now I am a proud brother of
    another former member. Now he's out of office, I
    understand Jeb is spending a lot of time on Florida's beaches.
    [Laughter] He says people still recognize him; when he's out there in
    his Speedo, they come up and say, ``How you doing, Governor
    Schwarzenegger?'' [Laughter]
        He made a promise to me that when he left
    office, he'd make sure that he had a good man following him, and he kept
    his promise when Charlie Crist got elected
    Governor of the great State of Florida.
        And I also want to welcome some of the newly elected Governors:
    Governor Jim Gibbons of Nevada; Butch
    Otter of Idaho--he's out there getting
    a hors d'oeuvre--and Governor Sarah Palin of
    Alaska. And I thank my friends, the Governors, who have joined us. I
    really enjoyed our visit today. I appreciate the kindness you have shown
    to me, and I appreciate your hard work.
        I particularly want to pay tribute to the spouses of the Governors,
    the people who work hard to make sure the Governors are capable of doing
    their jobs. And speaking about spouses, Sonny
    took it a little far when he said Laura was a
    courageous person--I think he was referring to the fact that she was
    courageous when she said yes when I asked her to marry me. But I'm real
    proud of Laura. I love her dearly. I think she's a great First Lady for
    the country and I--[applause].
        And I thank Sonny Perdue and Mary. I appreciate my friend Matt Blunt
    and Melanie. You know, this is a
    record-setting

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    evening, and it took an extraordinary leader from a great State to
    convince you to contribute. And so I want to thank--say thanks to my
    friend and my Governor, Rick Perry and the first
    lady of Texas, Anita. I want to thank the
    members of my administration who have joined us today, and I appreciate
    you coming.
        I think the thing that's important for you all to realize is that we
    are the party of ideas. We're results-oriented people. That's how we got
    the majority, and that's what it's going to take to get the majority
    back--standing on principle, not worrying about polls and focus groups,
    but saying what you think is right and acting on it.
        In the battle of ideas, we stand with the American people. We
    believe in a strong national defense. We believe in less government and
    lower taxes. And we believe that you've got to trust the values and the
    good judgment of the American people.
        And I appreciate the innovative ideas that Governors--Republican
    Governors are pushing all around this country. And that's why, when I
    spoke to them today, I think I said, it's very important for this
    administration to work with our Governors. The States are laboratories
    for reform. The States are the place where some of the best innovation
    can take place to make sure the entire country benefits.
        I've set a big agenda here in Washington, DC. I want to share some
    of that with you. But my political agenda is this: more Republican
    Governors, take back control of the House and the Senate, and make sure
    we keep the White House in 2008.
        And I want to thank you all for helping make those goals become
    reality, and I appreciate you contributing of your hard-earned money. It
    means a lot to candidates who are running for office. It means a lot to
    the organizers, people like Sonny, who are going to recruit good people
    to run for office, to know that there's something besides the telephone
    call awaiting them; there's support. And you're making a big difference,
    and I appreciate it.
        We've got a lot to do here in Washington. The most important job for
    the Federal Government is to protect the American people from harm. And
    the best way to do that is to stay on the offense against these
    terrorists, is to defeat them overseas so we don't have to face them
    again here in America.
        And that's exactly what we're doing. Every single day, there are
    good and decent people in my administration and around the country who
    are securing this homeland. There are good, honorable people overseas
    chasing down these killers and bringing them to justice. Part of our
    strategy is to keep the pressure on them. The other part of our strategy
    is to defeat their hateful ideology by spreading freedom around the
    world. I believe that freedom is universal, and I believe it's in the
    interest of the United States to free people, so that the world will
    become a more peaceful place.
        There are two major theaters in this global war against these
    extremists. One is Afghanistan, and the other is Iraq. I'd like to spend
    a little time on the subject of Iraq. As you know, I recently announced
    a plan for victory in Iraq. I was confronted with a serious decision to
    make. Did I accept the status quo and hope that the capital of that
    young democracy would somehow be able to regain its footing? Or did it
    make sense for the United States to gradually withdraw from that
    country, before democracy was able to take hold? Or did it make sense to
    reinforce our troops then in the theater to make sure the capital city
    of Baghdad became secure? And I chose the latter because I think it
    gives us the best chance to achieve our objective, which is a democracy
    that can defend itself, sustain itself, and govern itself and serve as
    an ally in this war against these extremists.
        I made some changes, nominated a good man to lead the cause there in
    Baghdad: General David Petraeus. He
    recently went up for confirmation in the United States

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    Senate. He received a fair hearing and was approved unanimously by the
    Senators, and I appreciated them for their strong support. During his
    testimony, General Petraeus strongly supported the idea of sending
    reinforcements into Baghdad to help the capital city, to help this new
    Government find breathing space necessary to do the reconciliation
    necessary after years of tyranny. And yet, shortly after his unanimous
    confirmation, the House of Representatives passed a symbolic resolution
    that expressed disapproval of the very plan that he thought was
    necessary to accomplish our objective.
        I have no problems with debate; as a matter of fact, one of the
    healthy things about our society is the right for people to express
    their opinion. I never question anybody's patriotism who disagrees with
    me. But soon the United States Congress will have to make a decision
    that will have real consequences: whether or not to fund the troops we
    have sent into harm's way. Our men and women in uniform risk their lives
    to carry out our plan to support this new democracy and to secure
    Baghdad. And wherever Members may stand on my decision, we have a solemn
    responsibility to give our troops the resources and the flexibility they
    need to prevail.
        This is tough work, but it's necessary work. It's necessary to help
    this young Government survive, because, you see, if we were to leave
    Iraq before the job is done, the enemy would follow us here. Failure in
    Iraq would invite chaos, would embolden those who would do us harm
    again, would enable them to recruit more of their fanatics that are
    willing to kill the innocent. Failure in the Iraq would cause the
    extremists to rejoice and those who hunger for a better way of life to
    wonder about the resolve of the United States of America. Failure in
    Iraq is unacceptable. It would affect generations of Americans to come.
    And that is why I made the decision I made, a decision that will help us
    secure the peace for our children and our grandchildren.
        Our foreign policy is more than war and diplomacy. I believe to whom
    much is given, much is required. And we're a blessed nation. Therefore,
    it is in our national interests to defeat disease and hunger and poverty
    as best as we can. I will continue to call upon the United States
    Congress to fund the HIV/AIDS initiative on the continent of Africa, so
    we can save life. Do you realize as a result of your generosity and the
    support of the Congress, the PEPFAR initiative has now delivered
    antiretroviral drugs, lifesaving drugs, to more than 800,000 people in
    less than 5 years?
        A robust foreign policy that reflects the heart of the American
    people is one that recognizes that we can eliminate malaria in countries
    around the world. And I thank Laura and others in
    this audience for leading the fight against malaria, and I call upon
    other free nations of the world to join the United States to do our
    duty, to save lives no matter where they may be. We will challenge
    corruption where we find it. We will insist for freedom where we can
    insist, in places like Cuba and Belarus and Burma. And we will always
    remember that this great Nation not only must take care of the
    unfortunate in our own land but help others realize the great blessings
    of freedom. I'm proud of our foreign policy, and for the next 2 years, I
    will conduct it with all the--with all my soul and with all my might,
    because I believe it is in the best interests of the United States of
    America.
        Here at home the most important thing the Government can do is to
    create the conditions for the entrepreneurial spirit to flourish. Oh, I
    know they don't talk too much about it, but I am--and that's the
    economy. And it's cooking, and we intend to keep it that way. We believe
    government doesn't create wealth but the environment in which small
    businesses can grow to be big businesses, an environment where people
    can realize their dreams. And the best way for the Federal Government to
    create

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    that environment is to cut taxes and to keep them low, which is
    precisely what we did.
        If the Congress wants to continue this economic vitality, the best
    gesture they can make is to make the tax cuts we passed permanent. Oh, I
    know you'll hear them say up here in Washington, ``Well, you cannot
    balance the budget unless you raises the taxes on the American people.''
    We're proving them wrong. I set the goal of cutting the deficit in half
    in a 5-year period of time, and we exceeded that goal by 3 years. You
    know why? Because when the economy is strong, it yields more tax
    revenues for the U.S. Treasury. And so when you combine that with fiscal
    austerity, we're on our way to balancing the budget. And I just
    submitted a budget to the United States Congress that says, we'll
    balance the budget in 5 years, so long as they keep taxes low to keep
    the economy going and they're wise about how we spend your money.
        We've got a slight problem up here, what's called earmarks. And I
    intend to do something about it, and I intend to work with Congress to
    do something about it. An earmark is a special-interest item. It gets
    stuck into one of these appropriations bills. A lot of times they never
    even see the light of day. In other words, they don't debate them; they
    don't vote on them; they just show up on my desk. Those days have got to
    end if we're going to make sure we're wise about how we spend your
    money. You know what Congress needs to do? They need to give me the same
    power these--many of these Governors have, and that's the line-item
    veto.
        I'm looking forward to working with both Republicans and Democrats
    on doing something about Social Security and Medicare. It's tough
    political work up here to do that. A lot of people don't want to deal
    with that issue. My advice and my call is for people to bring their
    ideas to the table. Come to the table with how best to save a generation
    from high taxes or reduced benefits. You bring your ideas to the table,
    and so will I, and we'll see if we can't do something good for the
    American people, set aside politics and solve the Social Security issue
    once and for all.
        I'm looking to working with my friends, the Governors, on health
    care. I believe some of the most innovative ideas on health care are
    being proposed by our Governors. Michael Leavitt, who is head of HHS, is asking Congress to give affordable
    grants--in other words, the flexibility of that Federal money we're
    spending in the States so that these Governors can design programs all
    aimed at making sure our uninsured can afford private insurance. And I
    emphasize ``private insurance.'' Some in Washington believe the best way
    to solve the health care issue is for the Federal Government to solve
    it. I don't believe that. I believe the best solution in health care is
    to empower consumers to make choices. The best way to do that at the
    State level is to have flexibility in Federal funding so they can design
    programs for basic health insurance, coupled with this reform: I believe
    that there ought to be a $15,000 standard deduction--if you're married--
    off your income taxes and payroll taxes to help you afford insurance.
        If you're working uninsured or if you're working for a small
    business who has no health insurance, you pay with after-tax dollars,
    and if you work for a corporation, you can get your insurance free, and
    that is unfair. The Tax Code needs to be reformed.
        Congress needs to pass association health plans to let small
    businesses pool risk across jurisdictional boundaries so our small-
    business owners can better afford health insurance. We need to continue
    to promote health savings accounts. We need medical liability reform in
    Washington, DC, to keep good docs in the practice and keep the cost of
    medicine reasonable. We need information technology. In all I'm telling
    you, the best policy for health care is to make sure that it's doctors
    and patients making

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    the decisions, not bureaucrats and insurance companies.
        I'm looking forward to working with our Governors on No Child Left
    Behind. That bill comes up for reauthorization in Congress, and Congress
    needs to reauthorize it. And here's why: I believe strongly States ought
    to have flexibility. I believe strongly in local control of schools. But
    I believe in setting high standards for children, and I believe it is
    important to measure to determine whether or not our children can read
    and write and add and subtract early. And if they can't, there ought to
    be special help. And when they do, we ought to thank our teachers and
    thank our Governors and thank the legislature for adequately funding
    education. But one thing we can't do is, we can't leave children behind
    by just guessing whether or not they're learning. The best policies are
    to measure, and when we find schools that will not change, then we've
    got to give parents different choices so that no child is left behind in
    the United States of America.
        We need an immigration policy that holds the values of the United
    States of America. We'll enforce our borders, but we need more than
    that. We need a temporary-worker program that will enable willing
    workers to do jobs Americans are not doing, so that we can get the
    pressure off the border and uphold the values of the United States of
    America.
        I can keep going--[laughter]--but Laura is
    giving me the hook.
        I do want to talk about one other subject, though, before I leave,
    and that is energy. This country--and that's going to sound odd for a
    Texan to say--this country is too dependent on oil, and we need to do
    something about it right now. You see, dependency on energy from foreign
    sources is a national security problem. Sometimes we get that oil from
    countries that don't like us. Dependency on oil is a economic problem.
    When a country like China demands more oil--relative supply--the price
    of crude oil goes up and so does the price of gasoline at the pump.
    Dependency on oil means we're not being good stewards of the
    environment. And therefore, we have spent $12 billion thus far in my
    Presidency to promote new technologies to enable us to say, we're
    becoming less dependent on oil.
        And I want to share with you a novel idea I threw out for the
    Congress and asked for their passing. I believe that we can reduce the
    gasoline we use by 20 percent over the next 10 years. And I believe we
    can do so by promoting hybrid batteries and ethanol. And so I laid out a
    mandatory fuel standard of 35 billion gallons of alternative fuels by
    2017. It is a bold initiative, it is a necessary initiative, and it's a
    practical initiative because of the technological advances this country
    is going to make.
        We can only feed--we can only fuel our automobiles with so much
    ethanol from corn. After a while, the hog growers begin to get nervous
    when that price of corn gets up. And so therefore, we're spending a lot
    of your money, and so is the private sector, on developing ways to make
    ethanol out of wood chips or switchgrass or agricultural refuse. The
    whole purpose is for this Congress to work with this administration to
    make the difficult decisions now to fund technologies that will enable
    us to say that we're less dependent on oil, we're better stewards of the
    environment, and we're conscious about our national security. And that
    day is coming.
        Good policy drives good politics. And the best policy is based upon
    solid principles: principles like the marketplace, principles like low
    taxes, principles like trusting people to spend their money, principles
    like a strong national defense is necessary to protect generations that
    are coming, principles like the power of freedom to make the world a
    better place. I'm looking forward to working with the United States
    Congress on principled policy.
        I've got to tell you, I'm really optimistic about our country. I
    believe our future is a bright future. And the reason I do is

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    because I know the character and nature of our citizens. We're a decent
    land, a courageous land, and a compassionate land, and it is my honor to
    be the President of such a fine group of people.
        Thanks for coming, and may God bless you.

    Note: The President spoke at 6:50 p.m. at the National Building Museum.
    In his remarks, he referred to former Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida; Gov.
    Arnold A. Schwarzenegger of California; Gov. George E. ``Sonny'' Perdue
    of Georgia; Gov. Matt Blunt of Missouri; and Gen. David H. Petraeus,
    USA, commanding general, Multi-National Force--Iraq.