[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 40, Number 6 (Monday, February 9, 2004)]
[Pages 177-179]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks to the 2004 Congress of Tomorrow Luncheon in Philadelphia, 
Pennsylvania

January 31, 2004

    Thanks for coming. I thought I would give the State of the Union 
again. [Laughter] Actually, I'll spare you. I do want to thank the 
leadership for the House and the Senate, first and foremost, for being 
such good friends and great Americans. Speaker Denny Hastert is doing a 
fabulous job on behalf of the American people, and I want to thank 
Majority Leader Bill Frist for doing a fabulous job as well. I 
appreciate your leadership. The country is better off by having these 
two good souls leading the Congress.
    I want to thank McConnell, Santorum, and Kyl, DeLay, Blunt, and 
Deborah Pryce as well for sitting up here with me and for your 
leadership. I appreciate it very much. I'm proud to work with you. I 
want to thank my friend Dennis Miller, who is here. I'm honored that he 
is here. He's a solid American who--[applause]. And of course, like you, 
I was most impressed by the vocalist this morning, Tim Kelly. Thank you, 
Tim.
    I know that a member of my Cabinet is here. Is that an accurate 
statement? Where's Elaine? Elaine, thanks. You're doing a great job. I 
appreciate so much your service. Your service is great. Your choice of 
husbands is somewhat questionable. [Laughter] That's not right--I mean, 
what the heck. [Laughter] I really appreciate what you've done.
    I want the people--as you travel around the country, please remind 
people that one of the jobs of the President is to find really good 
folks to serve our Government, people from all walks of life, honorable, 
decent people who have put country ahead of self-interest. And I have 
done just that. And Elaine is an example of the really quality people 
that are serving our country in my Cabinet, and I want to thank you for 
being here.
    And finally, I want to thank Jerry Clymer for hosting this event and 
making sure it runs well.
    I think one of the things I was thinking about what to tell you 
here, when I was flying in from Washington, was that we're serving in 
historic times. And first I want to thank you for your service during 
these historic times. It's not easy to serve in the Congress or the 
Senate. It's a tough life when you come and you work hard and you 
represent your constituencies, and then you fly home. I see Thomas of 
California or Heather of New Mexico, some people who are traveling a 
long way to serve the country. And so the first thing I want to tell you 
is, I'm proud

[[Page 178]]

of your service and appreciate your willingness to serve our country.
    And I also want to thank your spouses as well; I want to thank your 
family members. When you swear in, you never know what's going to 
happen, and you better be ready to respond. And this Congress, in 
working with this administration, can say, ``We have responded to the 
challenges of our time. We have met the tests.''
    As we look back on the last 3 years, we've gone to war to uphold the 
most solemn duty of Government, and that is to protect its people. We 
have dealt with national emergency. We not only responded to the 
emergency; we all worked together to help heal the psyche of the country 
that had been damaged.
    We dealt with recession. The economy was negative in growth for the 
first three quarters of 2001, yet we responded. Instead of trying--
sitting around committee rooms or White House conference tables trying 
to figure out what to do, we figured it out. And we acted quickly, and 
we responded. Instead of the economy still languishing as a result of 
some incredible problems we face, it's now growing, and it's getting 
stronger.
    We had some people that didn't tell the truth in America, these 
corporate CEOs that forgot what it meant to be a responsible citizen, 
and we responded. The Congress and the White House worked together to 
pass meaningful legislation that sends clear signals to our fellow 
citizens: Regardless of their party or where they live, we expect people 
who are running corporations in America to tell the truth. We responded.
    What I'm telling you is, history has dealt us a hand, and we're 
playing it well for the American people. And I want to thank you for 
that, very much.
    These are historic times, because we're at war. You're a war 
Congress. And this upcoming year we will continue to make sure our 
troops have what it takes to fight and win the war against terror--and 
not only make sure we fight and win the war against terror but to make 
sure we continue to promote our values of freedom and, therefore, peace 
in parts of the world where people long for freedom and peace, where 
people are desperate for freedom.
    See, what we believe is that freedom is not America's gift to the 
world; freedom is the Almighty God's gift to each person who lives in 
this world. And America--no question, we will win the war on terror by 
staying on the offensive. This administration and this leadership is 
committed to making sure that we stay on the offensive against the 
terrorists. And we will be.
    But as well, we've got to make sure we continue to protect the 
homeland. And I want to thank the Members of Congress for working to 
implement a plan that is now being executed to better protect the 
homeland, to take lessons learned and to look at flawed systems and 
coordinate better, so we can tell the American people as best as we 
possibly can, ``We're working together to make sure the homeland is 
secure.'' I want to thank you for your understanding of that solemn 
obligation and for your willing to work to make sure the homeland 
security programs are funded and implemented.
    At home, we've got to make sure that the economy keeps growing. And 
one of the things we've shown the American people is we understand how 
the economy works. The economy doesn't work by growing Government. The 
economy works by growing people's wallets so they can spend, save, or 
invest. The tax cuts we passed are working. I look forward to taking the 
case to the American people and explain as clearly as I possibly can: 
This Congress heard the needs of the people looking for jobs; it 
responded; the tax cuts are working; and now we need to make them 
permanent.
    There's a lot on--there's a lot involved with making sure the 
economy continues to grow, and that's cost containment of health care, 
controlling the costs of health care to citizens and small businesses 
and large businesses. And we've got to continue to make sure we're a 
trading nation and open up markets for our entrepreneurs--less 
regulation. There's a lot of things we can do together to keep the 
economy growing. But one clear signal we need to send to the American 
people and the markets is, we're going to be wise when it comes to the 
expenditure of the people's money.
    And we submitted a budget that says just that, and we look forward 
to working with

[[Page 179]]

you on it. You spend. I propose. Together, we're responsible. And this 
is going to be a challenging year for making sure we spend the people's 
money wisely, and I sent up an initiative to do just that. It cuts the 
deficit--the plan cuts the deficit in half over the next 5 years. And we 
look forward to working with you to make sure we meet that important 
goal, so that we can say to the American people, ``We've set priorities. 
We understand whose money we spend, and we're going to cut this deficit 
in half through wise policy.''
    And finally at home, it's important for us to kind of play to the 
strength of the country, to remember the true strength of America. It's 
not our military--and by the way, we'll keep the military strong--and 
it's not the size of our wallets, although we want to make sure our 
wallets all across the country are healthy. The strength of the country 
is the hearts and souls of the American people. That's where we find our 
true strength. See, we understand the proper relationship between 
Government and the people. It's the people's Government we represent.
    And as well, we shouldn't be afraid to empower those organizations 
that are serving our fellow citizens in an incredibly important and 
efficient way. They're serving because of love, first and foremost. 
They're following their hearts to mentor a child or to feed the hungry 
or to help the addicted. Congress understands--I know the leadership 
does, and I know you do as well--the true strength of America is the 
American people. We must listen to them. We will trust their judgments, 
and we must empower them to love their neighbors just like they'd like 
to be loved themselves.
    Oh, '04 is going to be an unusual year for us all. It's an election 
year, and the people are probably saying, ``Well, they're going to play 
politics with our time.'' That's not my attitude, and I know it's not 
the leadership's attitude. Working together, like we have done over 3 
years, working together to accomplish important things for the people, 
we can show the cynics and the critics that we're capable of doing the 
people's business, election year or not.
    And I look forward to working with you. I appreciate your 
friendship. I'm proud to be serving with such a fine group of people 
during historic times. And there's no doubt in my mind, we're making a 
significant difference for this country's security, prosperity, and 
freedom.
    God bless you all.

Note: The President spoke at 11:25 a.m. at the Loews Philadelphia Hotel. 
In his remarks, he referred to Senators Mitch McConnell, Rick Santorum, 
and Jon Kyl; Representatives Tom DeLay, Bill Blunt, Deborah Pryce, 
William M. Thomas, and Heather Wilson; comedian Dennis Miller; and 10-
year-old Timmy Kelly, who sang the national anthem.