[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2007, Book I)]
[January 26, 2007]
[Pages 68-71]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks to the House Republican Conference in Cambridge, Maryland
January 26, 2007

    Thank you. I appreciate the warm applause. Thank you very much. It's 
good to be with you again; twice in 1 week, and I'm better off for it. 
[Laughter] Laura sends her very best to those of 
you who've run and won and to your families. I want to say something 
about the families. I know how hard it is to be in a political family, 
and I know the sacrifices that the spouse and children make. And so on 
behalf of a grateful nation, I thank you for standing by your loved one 
as he or she serves a

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noble cause, and that is the cause of democracy here in the greatest 
country on the face of the Earth: the United States.
    I am glad to be among friends. I count a lot of you as personal 
friends. I particularly count the leadership as friends. I've gotten to 
know John Boehner and Roy Blunt over the past 6 years. I value their friendship; I look 
forward to working with them. And I know that the Republican Party is in 
good hands in the House of Representatives with these fine leaders.
    I, of course, have known Kay a long time. She and I were blessed, like old Judge 
Carter, to be raised in Texas. For those of 
you from Texas, you know what I'm talking about, being blessed to be 
raised there; for the rest of you, come on down and visit us sometime. 
[Laughter]
    I've come to admire Adam Putnam. You call 
him Adam; I call him ``Red.'' [Laughter] But, nevertheless, he is a 
strong leader and a good friend. I appreciate Tom Cole and Thaddeus McCotter as 
well. These two gentlemen are new to the leadership, but I'm confident 
they'll be able to provide a lot of good direction to the caucus. And so 
I'm looking forward to working with you all, and I appreciate you taking 
on big responsibilities.
    I want to spend a little time talking about the state of the Union. 
I want to remind you that as a result of our philosophy, this economy of 
ours is strong. I said to the country the other night, we're a country 
with low inflation, low unemployment, and increasing wages. We've got 
people working, and they're putting more money in their pocket. And one 
of the reasons this economy is strong is because we had the wisdom to 
cut the taxes on the working people. And we need to keep them low.
    I'm looking forward to working with you on balancing the budget. 
Your old colleague Rob Portman, who is 
now the head of the OMB, will be submitting a budget that shows we can 
balance this budget within the next 5 years without raising taxes on the 
American people.
    I want to work with you on earmarks. I know many of you are 
concerned about these spending items that just show up in bills that you 
didn't vote on and you didn't discuss. I want to work with you on 
entitlement reform. There's a lot of discussion about the budget, and 
there ought to be. There's focus on whether or not we can balance the 
budget in the short term, but the truth of the matter is, the bigger 
problem we've got is unfunded liabilities inherent in programs like 
Medicare and Social Security. And in my judgment, now is the time to fix 
this problem and not pass them on to future Congresses and future 
Presidents.
    I know it sounds counterintuitive for a Texan to say that we're too 
dependent on oil, but we are. And we need to do something about it. And 
the amazing thing is, we're on the verge of technological breakthrough 
that will enable us to power our cars in different ways, starting with 
ethanol derived from corn and, eventually, ethanol derived from wood 
chips, cornstalks, all kinds of stuff. It's called cellulosic ethanol. 
And I ask you to join me in continuing to spend taxpayers' money on 
research that will be necessary to develop new technology so we become 
less dependent on foreign sources of oil.
    I want to work with you on health. I'm a big believer in No Child 
Left Behind. I think it needs to be reauthorized. I want to work with 
you on immigration reform, and I want to work with you on health care 
reform. These are big ideas, and it's going to require us working 
together to get the job done on behalf of the American people.
    And I also appreciate your understanding that we're still a nation 
at war. You know, when I talked to the country the other night, I wish I 
could have reported differently. But it's not the truth, and it's not 
the reality. There's an enemy out there that would still like to strike 
us. And as I said-- and I know most of you believe--the best way to 
defend this country is to stay on

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the offense and bring the enemy to justice before they hurt us again.
    I talked about the progress and the advance that democracy was 
making around the Middle East, and then the fact that the enemy struck 
back. And they struck back against these young democracies, because they 
cannot stand the thought of freedom. You see, the best way to defeat 
totalitarianism in the long run is to offer a more hopeful ideology. And 
that's what we offer through the ideology based on human rights and 
human dignity, the central theme of which is all people desire to be 
free. And it's in the interests of the United States to not only defend 
ourselves against the enemy in the short term, but it's in the interests 
of our children and grandchildren to spread freedom so that we can live 
in peace in the long term.
    I've spent time talking about Iraq, and I'll talk with you a little 
bit later on. But my message to the American people was, I thought about 
all kinds of ideas about Iraq. And I told the American people, I fully 
understand there are differences of opinion. But one of the things I 
have discovered is, in Washington, DC, most people understand the 
consequences of failure. And if failure is not an option, then it's up 
to the President to come up with a plan that is more likely to succeed. 
And I spent a lot of time on the subject, because I understand how 
serious the issue is. And the plan I outlined to the American people is 
one that I believe can succeed.
    Today I had the honor of welcoming David Petraeus to the Oval Office. He had just been confirmed by the 
United States Senate without one dissenting vote. And as I looked at 
that general, who is willing to go back into the war zone to represent 
our country, it reminded me, as the President, I must make sure he has 
everything he needs--that he thinks he needs to succeed in the mission 
that we have sent him on. And I look forward to working with you to make 
sure that our generals and our troops that we put into harm's way have 
the support of the United States Congress.
    I talked about the need to have a foreign policy that's more than 
just military, a foreign policy that's got active diplomacy, which we do 
all around the world. I mentioned in my speech that the United States 
does not stand alone. As a matter of fact, our troops are in Iraq based 
upon a United Nations mandate. We're working with the countries in the 
neighborhood to support this young democracy, and making it clear the 
stakes of the ideological struggle we're in.
    I talked about the fact that we've encouraged and worked with NATO 
to be an active participant in Afghanistan--it's the first time that 
alliance has deployed outside of Europe in the history of its existence. 
I talked about the fact that we will never forget the importance of 
freedom, whether it be in our hemisphere, in Cuba, or in Burma, or in 
Belarus. And when we call a human tragedy ``genocide,'' like in Darfur, 
we'll continue to rally the world to solve the problem.
    I want to thank Members of the Congress for supporting the HIV/AIDS 
initiative on the continent of Africa. It gave me great pleasure to tell 
the American citizens that because your actions--because you acted, 
50,000 people--what was once 50,000 people receiving lifesaving drugs 
has increased to 800,000 people in 3 short years. I firmly believe what 
I said: ``To whom much is given, much is required.'' A lot has been 
given to the United States, and it's in our interests to help people who 
suffer from disease and hunger. And I thank you for your support. And 
the next great initiative is to eliminate malaria in countries on the 
continent of Africa, and I ask you to join me.
    I said, finally, introducing the people that were there, something I 
believe: I believe the state of this Union is strong, and it's strong 
because the character and decency of the American people remain strong.

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    And so I'm looking forward to serving with you this year and next 
year. I thank you for your sacrifices. I have confidence in the future 
of this country, because we're a country full of such decent and 
courageous and loving people.
    Thanks for having me.

Note: The President spoke at 12:26 p.m. at the Hyatt Regency Chesapeake 
Bay. In his remarks, he referred to Gen. David H. Petraeus, USA, 
incoming commanding general, Multi-National Force--Iraq.