[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 37, Number 35 (Monday, September 3, 2001)]
[Pages 1237-1239]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at a Steelworkers Picnic in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania

August 26, 2001

    The President. Thank you all very much. Governor, you don't look a 
day over 60. [Laughter]
    I appreciate my friend Tom Ridge. I really care for him a lot. He's 
a really decent man, and I know the people of Pennsylvania are going to 
miss him when he retires from the Governor's office. He's done a good 
job--a good, even-handed fellow who, like me, married really well. 
[Laughter]
    I'm thrilled that my wife has traveled with me today. We came up 
from Crawford, Texas. I was wondering what that wet stuff coming out of 
the air was for a while. [Laughter]
    But I can't tell you how proud I am of Laura. When I married her, 
she was a public school librarian. [Applause] There's always one in 
every crowd. [Laughter] But like that public school librarian, she not 
only loves books; she loves children. And one of the things she is going 
to work with me on is to make sure that every child--I mean every 
child--in America gets a first-rate education by starting with making 
sure every child in America learns to read.
    Thank you for coming, Laura.
    We both grew up in Midland, Texas. She remembers me--I think she 
remembers me as a Little League baseball player, so she is somewhat in 
shock over the fact that I'll be inducted into the Little League Hall of 
Fame this evening. [Laughter]
    It's an honor to be here in Pennsylvania. I'm proud that two of my 
Cabinet officials are here. My long-time friend from Texas Don Evans--
one thing about old Don, and even Leo will admit this, he'll answer the 
phone call from the people who work in the steel industry. When you 
call, he'll be on the other end of the line.
    Audience member. [Inaudible]
    The President. Come on.
    And Elaine Chao, I'm proud of her representing the working people of 
America in my Cabinet. She's smart; she's capable; and she brings a lot 
of dignity to her office, as well. Thank you for being here, Elaine.
    I've enjoyed working with Senator Santorum and Melissa Hart and Bob 
Ney from Ohio. Every time I see them, they say, ``Steel--Mr. President, 
you must understand steel and its woes.'' You've got three great 
advocates for the steel industry and its workers in those three elected 
officials who took time out of their day to be here. Congress is on 
vacation; the country has never run better. [Laughter] But I appreciate 
them coming over to say hello.
    I want to thank Tom Usher and congratulate the folks at U.S. Steel 
for 100 years of productivity for America. I want to thank Leo. I was 
sitting there watching during the speeches. Leo was sitting there 
working the Secretary of Commerce the whole time. [Laughter] He never 
misses a moment to say what's on his mind, and I appreciate a 
straightforward fellow, a fellow who you know where he stands.
    And I was asking the folks at the table I was at, ``How is Leo 
doing?'' They said, ``We like him. He represents us well.'' And I 
appreciate your service, Leo, and we look forward to working with you to 
do what's right for the steelworkers and the steel industry of America.
    I got to say something about Ross. Where are you, Ross? There he is. 
He's my table host. Ross made sure I got through the line in a record 
time, 45 minutes. [Laughter] It's not that he stopped and ate every dish 
along the way, but he was gracious in letting me say hello to as many 
people as I could.

[[Page 1238]]

    I love people, and I love the American citizens. It doesn't matter 
whether you're Republican, Democrat--don't care about political parties. 
I love representing this great country because it's a people full of 
good and decent, honorable folks.
    Ross told me he's been in power for 30 years. Tell me how you do it, 
Ross. It's not because of your looks. [Laughter]
    Well, at any rate, thank you all for coming. I have been on what 
they call a working vacation. I've been at our place in Crawford, Texas, 
and then I've been traveling out of the place to go to what I call a 
heartland tour, which is really a way for me to herald the great values 
of our country.
    See, Washington passes laws, but it doesn't pass values legislation. 
Values exist in the hearts and souls of our citizens. And I am here to 
trumpet one of the great values of America. That's the enterprise of the 
American worker, the hard-working American citizens who make this 
economy go. And those are the steelworkers of America. I appreciate what 
you do for our country.
    I've had the honor of traveling the world. We're the envy of the 
world in many ways, and one reason why is because of our work ethic. 
People work hard in America, and they're not afraid to do so. And one of 
the reasons we're as strong as we are is because of the productivity 
based upon the hard-working American citizen. And I appreciate you for 
your work.
    There's another value I herald when I travel the country, and that's 
the value of family. I want to thank all the families who are here, the 
moms and dads who have brought their children out. I love the American 
family. And I understand how important family is to our country. I like 
to remind our fellow citizens, if you're a mom or a dad, the most 
important job you'll ever have is not going to take place inside this 
building; the most important job you'll ever have is to tell your 
children you love them with all your heart and show them you love them 
with all your mind and all your soul.
    We're a great land because of the values we hold dear. And there's 
another reason to get outside of Washington, because there's a lot of 
common sense outside of the Nation's Capital. And it makes common sense 
to be secure. One of my jobs as the Commander in Chief is to make sure 
our defenses are strong, and the Nation is secure. It's common sense to 
make sure that we have an energy policy that becomes less reliant upon 
foreign sources of energy. I want to appreciate and thank the U.S. Steel 
and its workers for a good conservation policy. That's part of a good 
energy policy. But the other part is to make sure we've got ample coal 
and natural gas, found right here in our own hemisphere, to fuel our own 
plants so our workers can have jobs, and we can have good product for 
the American people.
    It also makes sense not to be reliant--if you're the Commander in 
Chief, it makes sense, common sense, not to be heavily reliant upon 
materials such as steel. If you're worried about the security of the 
country and you become over-reliant upon foreign sources of steel, it 
can easily affect the capacity of our military to be well supplied. 
Steel is an important job issue; it's also an important national 
security issue. And that is why we took the actions we took in this 
administration.
    I'm upbeat, and my spirits are high. But I must confess I'm worried 
about the fact that our manufacturing sector in our economy is a lot 
slower than I would hope. As a matter of fact, our economy has grown at 
a paltry one percent for the last 12 months, and that worries me. It 
worries me, first and foremost, for the effect that's going to have on 
the families all across America. I worry about--I worry about our 
citizens who work. And we're taking action.
    We're paying down record amounts of debt to ease the pressure on 
interest rates. We've got a trade policy that's going to have a level 
playing field as its component. And the other thing we've done at the 
administrative level is we sent money back to the people who pay the 
bills in America.
    We said that there's obviously a role for the Federal Government, 
and let's fund our priorities. Educating our children is a priority; 
national defense is a priority; helping people who cannot help 
themselves is a priority. But folks, when the economy slows down, it's 
time to understand how to get it started again. And one way to help is 
to give people their own money back.

[[Page 1239]]

    You see, there's a big debate in Washington about the money in 
Washington. Sometimes, folks up there lose sight about whose money it 
is. That money is not the Government's money; it's the people's money. 
And we did the right thing with sharing that money with the people who 
pay the bills.
    We've taken action. As you can see, this is an administration that, 
when we see a problem, we move. We don't stick our finger in the air 
trying to figure out which way the wind is blowing. I don't need a poll 
or focus group to tell me what to think. I do what I think is right for 
the American people. And we'll just let the political chips fall where 
they may. And the right thing to do was to cut the taxes.
    But really, the right thing for me to do is to travel our land, come 
to places like the Mon Valley, and thank you all very much for what you 
do; thank you for your hard work; thank you for loving your families; 
thank you for helping a neighbor in need; thank you from the bottom of 
my heart for walking across the street when you see somebody in your 
neighborhood who needs a helping hand; thank you for going to your 
places of worship and rallying the good faith and good charity inherent 
in programs all aimed at helping somebody help themselves.
    Now, this is a great land. It's a great land because we're blessed 
with the greatest people on the face of the Earth. It's my honor to be 
amongst such people today.
    Thank you for having me. May God bless you all, and may God bless 
America. Thank you all.

Note: The President spoke at 3:05 p.m. at the Irvin Plant facility of 
U.S. Steel's Mon Valley Works. In his remarks, he referred to Gov. Tom 
Ridge of Pennsylvania; Leo W. Gerard, international president, and Ross 
McLellan, Local 2227 president, United Steelworkers of America; and 
Thomas J. Usher, chairman and chief executive officer, USX Corp.