[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 39, Number 34 (Monday, August 25, 2003)]
[Pages 1082-1084]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks and an Exchange With Reporters in Crawford, Texas

August 19, 2003

Proposed Energy Legislation/Power Blackout

    The President. Good morning, everybody. How are you? Last night I 
talked to Pete Domenici and Billy Tauzin. Pete is the chairman of the 
Senate committee dealing with energy and Billy is the chairman of the 
House committee dealing with energy. Pete believes they can get the 
conference up and running in 20 days to deal with this very important 
energy bill. Both Members are very optimistic about reaching agreement, 
obviously, on infrastructure modernization but, as importantly, other 
issues related to energy.
    One thing is for certain. There is--very confident they'll have 
mandatory reliability standards in the energy bill. What that means is 
that companies transmitting energy will have to have strong reliability 
measures in place; otherwise, there will be a consequence for them. 
There will be incentives in the new bill to encourage investment in 
energy infrastructure.
    So I'm very pleased with the attitude of the two Members, their 
desire to get a bill done quickly and get it to my desk. I have been 
calling for an energy bill for a long time. And now is the time for the 
Congress to move and get something done.
    I also talked to Energy Secretary Abraham. Tomorrow the joint 
inquiry with the Canadians will begin. I don't know how long it's going 
to take to find out what went wrong, but I know it's not going to take 
long to get the meeting started to determine what went wrong.
    I'll answer a couple of questions; then I've got to get moving.

[[Page 1083]]

Former Vice President Taha Yasin Ramadan of Iraq

    Q. They've just captured Saddam's Vice President. Does that give you 
hope that we're closer to catching Saddam?
    The President. Well, I don't know the facts of where he was, what 
was going on. I'm really pleased that we've captured the Vice President. 
Slowly but surely, we'll find who we need to find. It's just a matter of 
time. Listen, we've got a lot of brave people doing a lot of hard work 
in Iraq. And it's--because Iraq was terrorized and dominated by a 
dictator, it's going to take a while to get this country to understand 
what's necessary to be a free country. But we'll find him, and we'll 
bring him to justice.
    Stevenson [Richard Stevenson, New York Times].

Proposed Energy Legislation

    Q. Sir, I realize it's early to find out what went on with the 
blackout, but do you know enough at this point to be able to say whether 
there's anything new or different that you would like in the energy bill 
beyond what you proposed----
    The President. Well, listen, I thought the energy bill was very 
comprehensive. We particularly liked the House--a lot of the House bill. 
The Senate, as you know, in order to get out of town, expedited a piece 
of legislation. The House bill is a very comprehensive bill. And I'm 
confident the two bodies can work out differences. If they do what's in 
the--if they do what's in the House bill, for example, and what's in 
the--a lot in the Senate bill, we'll get us a good bill.

Situation in the Middle East

    Q. Sir, the cease-fire by the Palestinians runs out in a few weeks. 
Do you think it should be extended, and why?
    The President. Well, you know, look, here's my view on cease-fires 
and--I'm happy there's calm, and I think that's important. But the most 
important thing is to--for the parties that care for their--for peace to 
dismantle terrorist organizations that want to kill. That's how we're 
going to achieve a peaceful settlement in the Middle East. Calm is good. 
The fact that people aren't dying is good. But the ultimate solution--
and this can happen quickly, in my judgment--is to find those who 
would--who believe killing is the best approach to dealing with the very 
difficult problems in the Middle East.
    Q. Sir, Israel has kind of eased off of their request for actual 
dismantling the terrorists, and they're putting their faith in the 
Palestinian Authority to contain these guys. Do you have----
    The President. I don't want to put words in the Israelis' mouth, but 
I can assure you that they're interested in dismantling organizations 
such as Hamas.
    Q. But do you think that the Palestinian Authority right now can 
contain these----
    The President. I think that the Palestinian Authority needs to 
continue to work with the United States and others who are interested in 
dismantling terrorist organizations and ask for the help necessary so 
they can go and do what they need to do, which is dismantle and destroy 
organizations which are interested in killing innocent lives in order to 
prevent a peace process from going forward.

Tax Cuts/National Economy

    Q. Mr. President, your budget director gave an interview to the Wall 
Street Journal suggesting that there won't be any corporate tax cuts to 
deal with this World Trade Organization trade dispute--about $100 
billion in tax cuts making its way through Congress. Are we done with 
tax cuts for the foreseeable future?
    The President. Well, we'll see. As I said the other day, as we stand 
right now, I believe the tax relief packages we have in place are doing 
their job. But I'm a flexible person. I want to make sure that the 
conditions for economic growth and vitality are strong. But we'll take a 
look and see. I'm pleased the markets have responded. I'm pleased that 
there's economic vitality and growth. But until everybody finds a job 
who wants one--today--and can't find one, is able to work, then I'm 
going to continue working on the economy.

Coalition Operations in Iraq

    Q. Sir, given the decreasing likelihood of there being another 
United Nations resolution on Iraq, should the American people be

[[Page 1084]]

prepared for a longer and larger deployment of American forces there?
    The President. Well, one of the things that's happening is that 
international forces are now coming into Iraq. There's a significant 
reconstruction effort going on in which other nations besides the United 
States and our initial coalition partners are participating.
    In other words, there is an international effort going on that will 
help Iraq reconstruct itself and help Iraq develop into a peaceful, 
democratic country. And that's in our country's interest, that Iraq 
become a peaceful, free, democratic country. Part of the war on terror 
is to promote freedom in the Middle East. I like to remind people that a 
free Iraq will no longer serve as a haven for terrorists or as a place 
for terrorists to get money or arms. A free Iraq will make the Middle 
East a more peaceful place, and a peaceful Middle East is important to 
the security of the United States.
    Listen, I've got to go. Thank you. I hope you all have a wonderful 
morning.

First Lady Laura Bush/President's Vacation

    Q. How's the First Lady?
    The President. She's great. Thanks. She actually suggested maybe 
bringing the press corps out to the ranch. Her idea.
    Q. Good idea.
    The President. What?
    Q. Good idea.
    The President. Well----
    Q. What is she keeping busy with?
    The President. You know, she's--you'll see, if you ever get out 
there, that she's got a lot of wildflowers. And she's restoring a lot of 
the area around the house, the native grasses. By the way, we've got 
quail back--bobwhite quail has now returned around our house. It wasn't 
there when we first bought the place. And because the grasses have been 
restored, we've got a nice little family of bobwhites. It's a fantastic 
experience to hear them call in the morning.
    My friend Blossman caught about a 6-pound bass yesterday. So the 
bass are growing, and they're getting healthy. Life out there at the 
ranch is just fine. It gets a little toasty about 3:00 p.m. in the 
afternoon, though.
    Thank you all.

Note: The President spoke at 6:40 a.m. at the Fina gas station. In his 
remarks, he referred to former President Saddam Hussein of Iraq. A 
reporter referred to Office and Management and Budget Director Joshua B. 
Bolten. A tape was not available for verification of the content of 
these remarks.