    [Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 37, Number 21 (Monday, May 28, 2001)]
    [Pages 791-794]
    [Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

    <R04>
    Remarks at a Republican National Committee Gala

    May 22, 2001

        Thank you all very much. Mr. Vice President, thank you for that kind
    introduction. Governor Gilmore, thank you very much for agreeing to
    become the chairman of the Republican Party. Our party will thrive under
    your leadership, and we appreciate you doing this, sir.
        I want to thank all the folks who worked so hard on this dinner
    tonight--Ann Wagner, Al Hoffman, Jeff and Nancy Marcus from the great
    State of Texas, all the table chairmen. Thank you so much for your
    generosity.
        I'm honored to be able to say--to introduce the Speaker of the House
    of Representatives, Denny Hastert. Mr. Speaker, you and your team are
    doing a fantastic job.
        I haven't seen Congressman Armey here, but I know Congressman DeLay
    is here, as are many other Members of the House of Representatives. I
    can assure you, knowing that we've got such a fine leadership team and a
    solid core in the House gives the Vice President and me a lot of
    comfort. And I can't tell you how joyous it is to work with this fine
    Speaker and the members of his team.
        I would like to have introduced Majority Leader Lott, but he and the
    other Senators are working as hard as they can to get a meaningful, real
    tax relief package out of the United States Senate. It is time for the
    Senate to stop delaying tax relief. It is time to move the package on,
    for the good of the American people.
        I'm so thankful that I did well at the altar. America is better off
    for it. We've got a fabulous First Lady in Laura Bush.
        We came to your dinner last year, and I remember the warm welcome in
    the middle of a hard-fought campaign. A lot of things have changed since
    then. Last year I had to fly halfway across the country to get here.
    Today it took me 5 minutes. [Laughter] For another thing, I was running
    against the Vice President. This time around I brought a fantastic Vice
    President with me. And of course, it's a great joy to welcome Lynn
    Cheney, as well. The best decision I made in 2000 was to ask Dick Cheney
    to be my running mate.
        I want to thank you all very much for your generous contributions so
    that my drive was only 5 minutes. [Laughter] I appreciate your support
    during the campaign, and I appreciate so very much your support to make
    sure our agenda gets advanced.
        As well, there are members of my Cabinet who are here. I'm really
    proud of the men and women who decided to serve our country. It's a
    diverse group of folks who are dedicated to one proposition, a hopeful
    America.

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    And if my Cabinet Secretaries would stand, I'd appreciate you
    recognizing them. [Applause]
        And finally, I've assembled one of the finest staffs a President has
    ever put together, headed by Andy Card and National Security Adviser
    Rice, Karen Hughes and Karl Rove. All these folks work harmoniously.
    They do what's right for America, and our Nation should be proud that
    such fine citizens are willing to dedicate their life to this great
    country.
        Laura and I have had the honor of living in the White House for 4
    months and 2 days. That's already one-twelfth of a term, and we haven't
    wasted a day. I have visited 28 States and two countries. I met with 46
    heads of state and more than 300 Members of the House and the Senate;
    four Cabinet meetings, one speech to Congress, not to mention a Cinco de
    Mayo festival, a gathering of Hall of Famers, celebrations for Saint
    Patrick's and Cuban Independence Day, and tee-ball.
        It's been a joyous time for us in the White House and a high honor.
    And it's been a busy time, and that's just the way I like it. I often
    said during the campaign that Dick Cheney and I were not going to
    Washington just to mark time. We came to make good on our commitments
    for the great people of America. We came to get something done. We
    weren't afraid to state our case, nor were we afraid to work with
    anybody who heard our cause. We came not to have Washington change us
    but for us to change Washington.
        And I think we started doing that in our own party. We welcome new
    faces, because ours is a philosophy that is conservative and
    compassionate. Ours is a philosophy that holds out hope for every single
    American, no matter what their background or their heritage may be.
        We're also a party of principle and optimism. We believe strongly in
    our soul not in the supreme wisdom of Washington but in the wisdom of
    the American people. Ours is an administration, as America is coming to
    learn, that is not afraid to take on the tough issues confronting our
    country; that we're willing to--[applause]. I can remember during the
    campaign, and perhaps you all do as well, about the collective yawn from
    members in the Fourth Estate about tax relief. People used to say,
    ``Well, he's just saying that because it might make good politics.'' No,
    Dick Cheney and I talked about tax relief because we thought it was
    right for the country. This Nation can afford tax relief, and we can't
    afford not to have it, with our economy slowing down.
        And we're making good progress. We're making good progress. I
    believe we convinced Congress to cut the rates on everybody who pays
    taxes. We've eliminated this business about the Congress getting to pick
    and choose who the winners and losers are in the Tax Code. Our
    philosophy was fair and decent, and it said loud and clear, ``if you pay
    taxes in America, you ought to get tax relief.'' We believe we ought to
    do something about the marriage penalty. And we believe, once and for
    all, we need to get rid of the death tax in the Tax Code. Again Mr.
    Speaker, I want to thank you for your--for working with us on this
    issue.
        Ours is an administration that's willing to talk openly about Social
    Security reform. Many candidates and politicians and others who have
    been elected to office never wanted to talk about Social Security. It
    was called the third rail of American politics. This is an
    administration that knows we'd better make sure Social Security is
    reformed, safe, and solvent for the older generation, around for the
    younger generation. And we'll seize the moment to get it done.
        Ours is an administration that recognized our Nation has an energy
    problem, and we laid out solutions to do something about it. I'm sure
    that maybe some other administration has talked about energy, but we put
    out a concrete, specific plan, with over 100 recommendations--100
    proposals--to ease the burden on the American working people.
        Our plan starts with wise conservation, the use of technology to
    make sure that we are better stewards of our energy. But California has
    taught us a lesson: The State with the second best record of
    conservation is a State which ran out of energy. And so we need
    additional supplies. We need reliable supplies. We need a balanced
    approach to our energy. We need clean coal technology and natural gas
    exploration, safe nuclear power, as well as alternative sources of
    energy.

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        And finally, we must face up to the problem that we're having
    problems getting energy from the powerplant to the light switch. We need
    to modernize our infrastructure. No, ours is an administration that
    won't simply look at a problem; we'll address it in a concrete, specific
    way.
        We need to have better language when it comes to energy. I mean, the
    people of this country have somehow been told that you're either for the
    environment and against energy policy, or you're for an energy policy or
    against the environment. That's the old way of thinking. That's stale,
    old-style politics. You and I know it's not either/or; with good, sound
    policy, it's both. We can increase our energy supplies so the people can
    find work, and we can protect our environment at the same time.
        Ours is an administration that's also pushing a compassionate
    conservative vision. It starts with making sure that every child is
    educated in America. We've laid out a bill that we're working on in the
    Congress right now that talks about sound, solid principles to make sure
    that not one child gets left behind. It begins by setting high standards
    for every child.
        Ours is an administration that believes that every child can learn.
    And we refuse to accept low standards, because we understand low
    standards means lousy results for children all across the country. Ours
    is an administration that trusts the local people to chart the path to
    excellence.
        And ours is an administration that insists upon results. We want to
    know. We want to know whether our children are learning to read and
    write and add and subtract. And if they are, we'll praise the teachers.
    But if not, we'll demand something else happens for those children.
    There are no second-rate children in this great land of ours, and there
    are no second-rate dreams, as far as we're concerned.
        We've taken on a different task when it comes to welfare reform. I
    strongly believe that this Nation must rally the armies of compassion
    which exist in every neighborhood in America. The reason I believe that
    is because I understand the true strength of our country. It's not in
    the halls of Government; it's in the hearts and souls of loving
    citizens. I understand cultures and societies change one heart, one
    soul, one conscience at a time. And government can fund, but what
    government can't do is cause people to love one another.
        Perhaps the most important initiative of all of the Bush/Cheney
    administration is to push a Faith-Based Initiative that says loud and
    clear, ``government will never fund religion, but government will stand
    side by side with the soldiers in the armies of compassion to make sure
    lost souls are found, to make sure wanting children have somebody to
    love them in the form of a mentor.''
        No question, this is an ambitious agenda, but it's exactly what the
    Vice President and I told the American people we would do. You know,
    Washington is a place with many temptations, and one of them is to
    settle in and just go along and forget about the commitments you made
    during the course of a campaign. But this is an administration which
    will keep its word, and we expect others to do so, as well. We may not
    always agree, but hopefully, we can be honest with each other and
    respect each other and change the tone of Washington, DC, so that when
    people look at the Nation's Capital, they will be proud of what they
    see.
        Changing the tone of our Nation's Capital hasn't been easy. I
    realize that in politics, old ways die hard. Washington at times has got
    a plenty sharp edge to it. The only thing I can do and the only thing
    Dick Cheney and others in our administration can do is to control our
    own responses. When I hear my policies and my nominees attacked in a
    hostile and partisan way, I simply hear the echoes of an era behind us.
    I'm not going to take the bait. I'm going to lead this country to a new
    level of respect. I came to this town to change the tone of the Capital,
    and I'm not going to quit.
        You know, Mark Twain used to say, ``Always do right. This will
    gratify some of the people and astonish the rest.'' [Laughter] We're
    going to do the right thing. We're going to pass an agenda that focuses
    on the American people. We will share credit for success, because we
    understand the best politics is good public policy.
        I think our good party will have a strong record of accomplishment
    to run on. The

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    people of this country will be able to say, ``We elected them. They went
    to Washington. They did what they said they were going to do, and the
    people are better off for it.''
        I also think the people of our country will be able to look at their
    Nation's Capital and begin to see a group of folks working hard to usher
    in a period of personal responsibility, a period in our country when
    everybody understands that each of us are responsible for the decisions
    we make in life. It starts with those who are fortunate enough to be a
    mom or a dad--that each of us must understand our primary job, our
    primary focus must be to love our children with all their hearts and all
    our souls.
        The responsibility era says that each of us must be responsible for
    what we say and what we do. And a period of personal responsibility
    understands that we must love a neighbor just like we'd like to love
    themselves. I'm absolutely convinced we're on our way to ushering in
    this new culture, and I believe America will be better for it. And I'm
    honored to be the President during the period of time when this Nation
    will realize its full potential.
        Thank you all for having me. God bless you all, and God bless
    America.

    Note: The President spoke at 7:53 p.m. at the D.C. Armory. In his
    remarks, he referred to Gov. James S. Gilmore III of Virginia, chairman,
    Ann Wagner, cochair, and Al Hoffman, Jr., finance chair, Republican
    National Committee; and Jeff Marcus, gala chair, and his wife, Nancy.