[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 40, Number 28 (Monday, July 12, 2004)]
[Pages 1213-1216]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Satellite Remarks to the League of United Latin American Citizens 
Convention

 July 8, 2004

    Hector, thank you very much. I appreciate so very much the 
invitation to take part in your celebration of the 75th anniversary of 
LULAC. And I'm so honored to speak to members of America's oldest 
leading Latino civil rights organization.
    Listen, you picked a great place for your convention, Hector. San 
Antonio and Texas are--San Antonio is a wonderful city, and Texas, of 
course, is a great State. And thanks for giving me a chance to speak to 
you.
    I appreciate--listen, one of the reasons I enjoy working with LULAC 
so much is I appreciate your commitments to freedom and to 
entrepreneurship and to the values of familia y fe, which help to make 
our society a stronger place. And what I believe is those commitments 
deserve recognition and respect of all of our Americans. See, we share 
the same goal: We will keep working to make this Nation a welcoming 
place for Hispanic people, a land of opportunity para todos who live 
here in America.

[[Page 1214]]

    And so, thanks, Hector. I appreciate your leadership, and I want to 
thank your friendship. It is good to see you via video, and I appreciate 
you working closely with my administration. I want to thank Ken Cole for 
the introduction as well, and I want to thank you for sponsoring this 
important gathering of American leaders.
    I also want to thank people there who are representing my 
administration. I know that Tommy Thompson is with you. He's doing a 
fantastic job in running the Department of Health and Human Services. 
Thank you for being in Texas, Tommy, and thanks for the job you're doing 
on behalf of all America.
    I also see a great Texan and great American, a person who greeted me 
at the base of the stairs of Air Force One when I snuck off from Texas 
last Thanksgiving to go say thanks to our troops in Baghdad, Iraq, and 
that, of course, is General Rick Sanchez. General Sanchez, God bless 
you, sir, and thank you for your great service to America.
    You know, when I think of General--when I think of the story of Rick 
Sanchez, it reminds me that America is the Nation of the open door and 
must remain that way. Every generation of our history has brought new 
immigrants and new stories. And those immigrants have brought great 
strengths. When men and women arrive here ready to work hard or care for 
their families and honor the law, they make our country more, not less, 
American. And Rick Sanchez's history and his family history reminds me 
of that aspect of our country.
    You see, in the United States our aspirations matter more than our 
origins. And my administration is committed to this basic principle: El 
Sueno Americano es para todos. And all deserve a chance to achieve the 
American Dream.
    Success in America, of course, depends on personal effort. I believe 
that a compassionate Government should encourage and reward that effort. 
An opportunity society must educate every single child, encourage a 
spirit of enterprise, treat immigrants with fairness and respect. I 
believe America has made progress in all these areas, and I want you to 
know I look forward to working with LULAC to do more.
    The first commitment of an opportunity society is a good public 
school in every neighborhood. To succeed and rise in the world, a 
student must know the basics of reading and math. Parents are entitled 
to expect these basics from their schools. I believe strongly, every 
school has a duty to teach the basics.
    My judgment is, too many children in America have been just shuffled 
through the system without learning essential skills *. It's easy to 
quit on a boy or girl from an immigrant family. We've got to end that 
practice of social promotion. We've got to stop the practice of hearing 
only excuses from a bureaucracy. When it comes to our fundamental 
obligation to children, there is no excuse for failure, because I 
believe every child can learn. And that is why I proposed and signed the 
No Child Left Behind Act.
    * White House correction.
    We've increased Federal funding for Title I schools, which serves 
the poorer students, by 41 percent over the last 3 years. And in return, 
because I believe every child can learn, we're requiring schools to 
measure performance of all students to make sure every child is 
learning. And that is how you make sure that every child can read and 
write and add and subtract. That is how you can make sure the dreams of 
every parent in America can be achieved.
    We're measuring achievement in math and reading, and we're getting 
results. You see, when you raise the bar and call upon results, you can 
get results. The Council of Great City Schools released a study on the 
progress since the No Child Left Behind took effect. The study examined 
61 urban school districts and found that more than two-thirds of grades 
tested showed improvement in both reading and math amongst Hispanic 
students, and that's what we want. We want progress, substantial 
progress. And my pledge to you is I'm going to continue to work to bring 
about more progress so every child can have a chance to realize the 
great promise of a country.
    What I hope you do is join me in understanding that when politicians 
criticize testing and high standards, they do a disservice

[[Page 1215]]

to our schools, to the parents, and to the students. In other words, 
what they're saying is they're choosing bureaucracy over our children. 
Instead of undermining standards, we're striving to meet those standards 
in every part of America. I made a promise to LULAC and to others to 
improve the Nation's public schools. I'm delivering on that promise.
    Secondly, the commitment of an opportunity society is a healthy and 
growing economy in which entrepreneurs are encouraged to take risks and 
to build their businesses and to hire new workers. I believe that starts 
with a respect for the earnings of those who pay the taxes.
    And so, in order to get this economy moving after a recession, an 
emergency, and an attack, we've given tax relief to every person who 
pays Federal income taxes. And by leaving more money in the hands that 
say--that spend and save and earned, our economy is strong and getting 
stronger.
    And one reason why is because tax relief has helped millions of 
small-business owners and entrepreneurs who pay taxes at the individual 
income tax rate. You see, if you're a small-business owner, you're 
likely to be what they call a Subchapter S corporation or a sole 
proprietorship, and therefore, you pay taxes at the individual income 
tax rate. And because new jobs or most new jobs are created by small 
businesses, I thought it was wise to cut taxes on small businesses to 
encourage economic growth. And we're seeing the results of this tax 
relief and the stimulus for small businesses.
    America has had now 10 consecutive months of job growth. Since last 
August, our economy has added more than 1.5 million jobs. The 
unemployment rate today is lower than the average rate in the 1970s, 
1980s, and 1990s. But most importantly, and I think one of the most 
important statistics of all, is that there are millions of new small 
businesses owned by members of the Hispanic community. And that doesn't 
surprise me, because the entrepreneurial tradition is strong amongst 
Americans--Hispanic men and women.
    According to the most recent data, Hispanic-owned companies employ 
about 1.4 million Americans and carry a payroll of nearly $30 billion. 
And what I'm here to tell you today is our economy is stronger, our 
society is better off because Hispanic-owned businesses are thriving and 
creating jobs all across America.
    We have many issues to discuss, but I want to end on this important 
issue. The third commitment of an opportunity society is a policy of 
fairness and justice toward those who have come to America to live and 
work. Our country must confront this basic fact: Jobs being generated in 
our growing economy are not being filled by American citizens, and these 
jobs represent an opportunity for workers who come from abroad, who want 
to put money on the table for their children. Yet current law says to 
those workers, ``You must live in a massive, undocumented economy.''
    And so we've got people in America working hard who live in fear and 
who are often exploited. And this system isn't fair, and it's not right. 
So I proposed reforms that will match willing foreign workers with 
willing American employers when no Americans can be found to fill the 
jobs, a system that would grant legal status to temporary workers who 
are here in the country working, that will increase the number of men 
and women on the path to American citizenship.
    The reason I do so is because I know this proposal is good for our 
economy, because it would allow needed workers to come into the country 
under an honest, orderly, regulated system. And the reason I made this 
proposal is because it's humane. It would bring millions of hard-working 
people out of the shadows of American life. This proposal reflects the 
interest and best values of America, and Congress should pass it into 
law.
    As a citizen of Texas and the Governor of Texas, I have been 
privileged to see the many contributions of Latinos to our economy, to 
our State, to our culture, and to our Nation. As President and Commander 
in Chief, I've seen other great contributions. Some 85,000 Latinos have 
served in Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom. More 
than 100 have given their lives. Over 400 have been injured in combat. 
Our Nation will never forget their service and their sacrifice to our 
security and to our freedom.

[[Page 1216]]

    I want to tell you about one of the most meaningful moments of my 
Presidency, if you've got a minute. I had the privilege of meeting 
Master Gunnery Sergeant Guadalupe Denogean. Sergeant Denogean was an 
immigrant from Mexico who had served in the Marine Corps for more than 
26 years. He was wounded in combat in Iraq. When he was brought home for 
treatment, they asked the Sergeant if he had any special requests. He 
said he had two. First, he wanted a promotion for the Corporal who had 
helped to rescue him, and second, he wanted to become an American 
citizen. And I was privileged to be right there at the Bethesda Naval 
Medical Center the day he raised his right hand and took the oath of 
citizenship. I'm proud to be the Commander in Chief of this good 
Sergeant, and now I'm proud to call him fellow citizen.
    You see, brave Americans like Sergeant Denogean are sacrificing for 
the cause of our country, and America has needed that sacrifice. Our men 
and women in uniform have removed two terrorist regimes that threatened 
our people and are now helping the Iraqi and Afghan people get on the 
path to democracy and self-government. By fighting the terrorists abroad 
they have made American people more secure here at home. By standing for 
the cause of freedom, they're making our world more peaceful, and by 
acting in the best traditions of duty and honor, they're making our 
country proud.
    This country of ours has been through challenging times in the past 
few years. We're overcoming those challenges, thanks to the courage and 
the character of the American people. We're ready to meet every 
challenge that comes our way and, of course, to seize new opportunities. 
And as always, America looks to the future with confidence.
    Once again, I appreciate the good work of LULAC and of your members 
and of your leadership. Thank you so very much for having me. Que Dios 
los bendiga, y que Dios bendiga a los Estados Unidos. Gracias.

Note: The President spoke by satellite at 2:20 p.m. from the Map Room at 
the White House to the convention meeting in San Antonio, TX. In his 
remarks, he referred to Hector M. Flores, national president, League of 
United Latin American Citizens; Kenneth W. Cole, vice president, 
government relations, General Motors Corp.; and Lt. Gen. Ricardo S. 
Sanchez, USA, commander, Multi-National Force - Iraq. The Office of the 
Press Secretary also released a Spanish language transcript of these 
remarks. A portion of these remarks could not be verified because the 
tape was incomplete.