    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2008, Book II)]
    [January 13, 2009]
    [Pages 1564-1565]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks Following a Cabinet Meeting
    January 13, 2009

        I want to thank an extraordinary group of American citizens who have
    served our country as members of my Cabinet. Everybody around this table
    here could have taken the easy road and stayed home and worried about
    their own comforts, but instead they answered the call to service. And
    the country is lucky to have folks like this step up and serve.
        I have thanked them here at my last Cabinet meeting not only for
    their service, but for helping President-elect Obama transition. And we wish the President-elect and his
    team all the very best. It is our genuine wish that they do well.
        We also reviewed our record, and this administration has had a good,
    solid record. And I'm very proud of it. I tell people I leave town with
    a great sense of accomplishment and my head held high. We reformed
    education, and test scores for minority students are up. We reformed
    Medicare, and seniors have now got prescription drug coverage. We
    lowered taxes for everybody who pays taxes. We transformed our military
    to make it be able to deal more effectively with the threats of the 21st
    century. And the Secretary transformed the
    State Department so it can deal with the threats of the 21st century as
    well.
        We changed how we deliver aid around the world to--through the
    Millennium Challenge Account. I put good judges on the bench. Drug use
    for teenagers is down in America by about 25 percent. The air is
    cleaner. The water is purer. The armies of compassion are more
    invigorated than ever before. Free trade agreements have been signed.
        We dealt with an economic meltdown with strong action so that our
    successor has a better chance of dealing with the economic fallout from
    the credit crisis.
        Most of all, we protected this country from harm. And we did so by
    providing tools and--for our professionals as well as asking our
    military to do hard work, which they have done time and time again.
    Concurrent with that, we've promoted the freedom agenda. Fifty million
    people are now free in Afghanistan and Iraq because of action taken by
    the United States and our coalition.
        But when I talk about the freedom agenda, I talk about more than
    just freedom from tyranny. I talk about freedom from hunger--and we've
    had a substantial aid program to help people who are hungry--and freedom
    from disease. I'm very proud of the efforts out of the State Department

    [[Page 1565]]

    to--on PEPFAR, which is the AIDS initiative on the continent of Africa,
    as well as our malaria initiative.
        All in all, this administration has relied upon the great compassion
    of the American people, the sacrifice of those who wear the uniform. And
    so we leave town honored to have served and proud of the job we have
    done. Thank you very much.

    Note: The President spoke at 10:14 a.m. in the Cabinet Room at the White
    House. The Office of the Press Secretary also released a Spanish
    language transcript of these remarks.