[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 37, Number 10 (Monday, March 12, 2001)]
[Pages 415-416]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks to Employees at the Department of the Treasury

March 7, 2001

    Thank you. I'm glad the Secretary invited me back. It's always nice 
to call on your neighbors. And as you know, we're neighbors. I get to 
look at this majestic building every day, and I was looking forward to 
the opportunity to come over and thank all the folks who work here.
    We're in this deal together. Our job is to make sure that this great 
country fulfills its promise for everybody. And I know a lot of times 
people don't give you the proper--your proper due, your proper thanks 
for working on behalf of the American people. So from the 43d President, 
thank you for what you do for America. I appreciate your hard work.
    I hope you're as excited about your job as I am--[laughter]--about 
mine. [Laughter] It's a huge honor to be your President. It really is. 
And it's a huge honor to be the President of the people. As you know, 
I'm taking to the road on occasion. Tomorrow I'm going to Fargo, North 
Dakota, and South Dakota and Louisiana. I decided to drop in on my own 
home State of Texas for the weekend. But it is so refreshing to be able 
to take a message to the people that in Washington we listen to you, 
that we understand we're the servants of the people.
    So I look forward to going to work every morning here, but I also 
look forward to taking the message that I'm--the particular message that 
I'm dealing with at the moment to the people. Right now we're talking 
about

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tax relief and tax reform. I've got a good partner in this effort in 
your Secretary.
    By the way, you'll find him to be a pretty darn unusual man. 
[Laughter] He is successful. He thinks outside the box in a positive 
way. When given a task, he's performance oriented. He's going to expect 
the same of you all, but he'll be eminently fair. He will listen. He 
will work to build a team. That's the kind of man he is. But first 
things first--I got to see this first hand when I swore him in--he's got 
his priorities straight. He loves his family. His wife and children and 
grandchildren are his priority. And that's important--that's important.
    We'll spend a lot of time talking about taxes right now, and by the 
way, I feel like we're going to have a pretty good day in the House of 
Representatives tomorrow. The message is slowly but surely getting out 
that we've got enough money coming into the Treasury to meet important 
obligations, but we've also got enough money to remember who paid the 
bills in the first place, and those are the working folks, the people 
who pay the taxes.
    And I think we're going to have a good day tomorrow. And there will 
be other issues we'll be talking about: of course, the Treasury 
Department, and many of you work on issues relating to trade and 
collection; law enforcement. There's a lot of issues that take place 
here. But there's no bigger issue than to remember priorities in life. 
There's no bigger issue--the way I like to put it is this: There's no 
bigger issue for the President to remind the moms and dads of America, 
if you happen to have a child, be fortunate to have a child, your 
biggest priority is going to be to love your children. There's no bigger 
responsibility.
    Some might say, ``Well, that message just doesn't seem to fit in the 
Treasury Department.'' [Laughter] No, it fits everywhere. It fits all 
departments, because our jobs are to not only represent the people, but 
our job is to work on the collective will of the country, to uplift this 
country, to make sure the best is available for all who are willing to 
work for it. And it starts with teaching our children right from wrong.
    If you find a neighbor in need, I know inside the walls here, people 
go out of their way to mentor. And I want to thank you for that. If 
you're in your neighborhood, in your community, and you find a neighbor 
in need and you turn to that neighbor and say, ``What can I do to 
help,'' I want to thank you for that. The greatness of America really is 
as a result of the collective hearts of decent, caring people.
    At any rate, I love being your President. I'm honored to be on the 
same team that you're on. And I'm so pleased that you've got a really 
good man running this Department, a man who will remind you on a 
constant basis--a man who will remind you, and probably remind me on 
occasion, that it's the results that matter, that working hard is good, 
but that we all stand here to represent the American people.
    Thank you for your hard work, and God bless you all.

Note: The President spoke at 2:10 p.m. outside Treasury Secretary Paul 
H. O'Neill's office.