[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 40, Number 29 (Monday, July 19, 2004)]
[Pages 1237-1247]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks in Lancaster, Pennsylvania

July 9, 2004

    The President. Thank you all for coming. Thanks for having me. 
Please be seated, unless, of course, you don't have a seat. [Laughter] 
What a spectacular drive in here. As you know, we're on a bus, and it's 
hard to park a bus in a small parking lot, by the way. [Laughter] But we 
drove through this beautiful countryside and saw thousands of your 
fellow citizens there. They were so warm and gracious in their 
hospitality. I'm sorry they're all not here so I can thank them in 
person. Hopefully, somebody is recording this on a TV camera so they'll 
hear my thanks. But it is a really--what a special part of the world. 
And thanks for having me.
    I'm here to talk about the fact that I'd like to be reelected 
President for a reason. You know, I love holding the office. It's--got a 
nice airplane to fly on and--[laughter]--housing is good. [Laughter] But 
I want to serve for 4 more years because I want the country to be safer, 
stronger, and better. I have a reason to ask for your vote.
    And I'm going to spend a lot of time in Pennsylvania because I want 
to carry Pennsylvania this time. It's an important State. And we're 
going to--and we're going to.
    I'm sorry that Laura is not with me. She's a fabulous First Lady, a 
great wife, and a wonderful mother--of my daughter, Jenna, who is 
traveling with me today, University of Texas grad. How about that--in 4 
years. [Laughter] Laura sends her best. She's campaigning herself. She 
is a--she's come to realize what I know in that you can make a 
difference in people's lives in so many different ways in the positions 
that we're honored to hold.
    I remember the time she gave the Afghan radio address--radio 
address, my radio address, and talked about women in Afghanistan. And it 
was such a comforting and reassuring voice, I'm sure, for the women 
there who had been so brutalized by the Taliban to hear the First Lady 
speak. But the feedback from the radio address was really good. And 
she--I remember her coming back upstairs in the White House and saying, 
``Gosh, they heard me.'' People heard that somebody in America cares for 
them, that when we talk about young girls in America and our desire for 
them to be able to realize their dreams, we also said the same thing 
about young girls in Afghanistan. And that message resonated. And Laura 
was the messenger, and it made such a difference to those ladies and 
women in Afghanistan who heard her voice that it, in return, made a 
great difference for her. She knows what I know: One, it's a honor to 
serve our country; and secondly, you have an opportunity to affect 
people's lives in a positive way. And that's exactly what she's doing.
    I want to thank Joe Pitts for introducing me. Joe is a good, strong, 
solid United States Congressman with a lot of integrity and a lot of 
decency, and I'm proud to serve with him. I just want to thank you, Joe, 
very much.
    I'm traveling with the United States senior Senator Arlen Specter. 
I'm proud to be traveling with him. I hope he wins, and I'd like you to 
support him. We discarded Santorum somewhere up the road. [Laughter] 
Actually, he's off to York to greet us there, which is our next stop.
    I want to thank very much members of the statehouse who are here, 
particularly State Senator Noah Wenger. I'm honored you're here, 
senator. Thank you for coming. I also want to thank--thanks for being 
here. State Senator Charlie Dent, who has tossed his hat in the ring for 
the United States Congress, is traveling today, as is congressional 
candidate Scott Paterno. Thank you for coming, Scott, appreciate you 
being here.
    I know we've got some grassroots activists who are here. Those are 
the people who are actually going to turn out the vote and do all the 
work. My job is to set the vision and

[[Page 1238]]

explain to people what I want to do for 4 more years. And the grassroots 
activists' jobs are to find those who are willing to vote. I think 
there's a lot of potential voters here, at least it seems like it. There 
was a lot of signs on the road--[laughter]--a lot of friendly waves. So 
I hope you garner them up and remind them that we all have a duty to do 
in a democracy and get them to the polls, turn them out, register 
people. We've got a web site, georgewbush.com, which is a place where 
you can sign up and get some marching orders and gives you something to 
do if you're interested in helping in the campaign.
    I spend a lot of time thanking people who are campaigning on our 
behalf because I know it's hard work and it takes time out of your busy 
lives. And so the first thing I want to do is, for those who are willing 
to help Dick Cheney and me, I want to thank you very much for what 
you're doing. It makes a difference. And I'm confident--I'm confident 
our work will pay off come November 2d of this year.
    You're probably wondering why would you--I mean, I imagine we could 
have drawn thousands of people. As a matter of fact, tonight in York, we 
are going to have a giant crowd. But why would you forgo a big crowd to 
come to this entrepreneurial haven to talk about the issues confronting 
the country? And the answer is, is because this is a perfect example of 
what I try to talk about when it comes to the economy. That's why I'm 
here. I'm here because our country's economy is strong, because the 
entrepreneurial spirit is strong. And the entrepreneurial spirit is 
alive and well in this company, see. This is a small business that 
succeeds because the owners and the fellow workers work hard to make it 
succeed. It doesn't succeed because of business--I mean Government. It 
succeeds because of the business acumen of the people running this 
enterprise.
    And so I want to thank very much the Lapp family for their 
hospitality. I am honored that you would host me today. It's not easy to 
host people called President. [Laughter] It's just about--5 buses, 4 
vans, 200 policemen, and here we are. [Laughter]
    I want to thank Greg and Tim. Those are the Lapp boys. They bought 
the business from their dad, who is with us as well, and Mom. Thank you 
all for being here. It was a wise decision. There's nothing wrong with a 
couple of brothers following in a father's footsteps. [Laughter]
    I told you one of the things I'm running for is to make the country 
stronger. A strong country really starts with having a country which 
economy is healthy. That's a strong country. If you got a strong 
economy, you've got a strong country. It means people are able to work.
    We had a tough time for a while, because the country was in 
recession. That means it wasn't growing. It means it was going 
backwards. It means employees were wondering whether or not they were 
going to be working the next day. It means small-business owners are 
wondering whether or not they want to invest capital at all. In other 
words, you don't grow unless you invest capital. People were nervous 
during the recession.
    Then we got attacked, and I'm going to talk a little bit about 
making America safer. But we got attacked on September the 11th. It hurt 
our economy. In other words, you're in a recession; then we have an 
attack. And the attack cost us a lot. It cost us dollars. It reminded us 
that the world has changed dramatically from the world that we thought 
we lived in. It was a tough moment in the history of this country. Yet 
it was a moment that we were able to overcome, because the great 
strength of America is the people of the country. They refused to be 
intimidated by terrorists. The entrepreneurs of our country, although 
set back some, still had that spirit within them, the desire to grow 
their businesses and to provide employment opportunities for people.
    Then we discovered something else which hurt us, and that was that 
some of our citizens forgot to tell the truth, that they were given 
positions of responsibility and they weren't responsible citizens. And 
we uncovered corporate scandals. And we acted, by the way. Instead of 
wringing our hands trying to figure out what to do, we got together with 
the Congress, passed tough laws. The message is clear now that we will 
not tolerate dishonesty in the boardrooms of America, that we expect 
responsible behavior for those who are in positions of responsibility.

[[Page 1239]]

    And then another subject I'll talk about here in a minute: I made 
some tough decisions to defend the country, and we went to war. During a 
period of war, it's hard for the economy to grow because people don't 
feel confident. The concept of war is negative, not positive. I don't 
know if you remember, but we used to have on our TV screens ``March to 
War.'' And if you're a small-business owner or a big-business owner, 
when you're thinking you're marching to war, there's a sense of 
uncertainty with that. People don't want to invest in an uncertain 
environment.
    All these became hurdles for our economy. We overcame them. I'm 
confident one of the reasons we overcame them is because we cut the 
taxes on the people who work in America. We let people keep more of 
their own money. I say we overcame them--you'd expect me to say that; 
it's an election year. But others say it too. After all, the economy is 
strong right now. It's growing and getting stronger. Obviously, there's 
more to do, but it's growing. Listen, we added 1.5 million jobs since 
last August. That's a good sign.
    Pennsylvania's unemployment rate is 5.1 percent. That's good news 
for people who are trying to find jobs. Obviously, the unemployment rate 
can go lower. We expect it to go lower because the entrepreneurial 
spirit is strong. Manufacturing is up.
    One of the great statistics in America is the fact that more 
people--the homeownership rate in the country is the highest ever. And 
that includes amongst minority citizens. I'll tell you why that's great. 
It's because when people own something, they have a vital stake in the 
future of the country. We want people owning things in America. The idea 
of somebody owning their own home is just a fantastic part of making 
sure the future of the country is a bright and hopeful future. I mean, I 
love the idea--think about people from all walks of life being able to 
say, ``Welcome to my home. This is my piece of property. I own this.'' 
And today the homeownership rates are the highest they've been ever. And 
I know that's good for the homebuilders. It's also good for the 
homeowners. And that's a positive sign. In other words, times are good. 
But there's more we can do--there's more we can do.
    Let me tell you one of the--some of the reasons I have made the 
decisions I made on the economy. And the best way to do it is to start 
with the Lapp boys. That's what I call them, at least. [Laughter] When 
you cut taxes, it means people have more money to spend. And first of 
all, principle one is that it's not the Government's money; it's your 
money to begin with. And the second principle is that when you have more 
of your own money to spend, you'll demand an additional good or a 
service. And when you do that, somebody has to produce the additional 
good or a service. That's the way the marketplace works. And when 
somebody produces the additional good or a service, it means somebody is 
likely to find a--keep a job, and as those additional--as demand 
expands, people are going to need to expand their businesses--in other 
words, hire more people--in order to meet the demand. That's how I think 
the economy works; others do as well. As a matter of fact, that's what 
the tax relief is showing us, that the economy works that way.
    One of the key components of economic vitality is the small-business 
sector of America. Now, two points on this. One, most small businesses, 
just like Lapp Electrical, pay individual income tax rates. A lot of 
Americans don't know that. This company pays taxes at the individual 
income tax rate because they are what they call a Subchapter S 
corporation. Or many small businesses are what they call sole 
proprietorships; they, too, pay tax at the individual income tax rate. 
So when you hear me talk about cutting taxes, it is very important for 
people to connect that to small businesses. Most small businesses pay 
taxes at the individual income tax rate.
    Secondly, most new jobs in America are created by small businesses. 
Therefore, it makes sense to put economic policy in place that 
stimulates the growth in the small-business sector. If you're interested 
in creating jobs, if you're interested in people being able to find 
work--and most new jobs are created by small businesses--it makes sense 
to have economic policy focus on small businesses. And that's exactly 
what our tax relief plan did.
    Now, there was a debate in Washington as to who ought to get tax 
relief. My attitude

[[Page 1240]]

is everybody ought to get tax relief. If you're going to have any tax 
relief at all, the only fair thing to do is to give everybody tax 
relief. I really don't think you want a Government that's fixing to cut 
tax rates say, ``Only these kind of people deserve it.'' That means 
politics is getting to decide. Our policy said, if you're paying taxes, 
all rates are reduced. And it's helped Lapp Electric, and that's 
important.
    I'll tell you why it's important: Because they've added five workers 
since January. That's what I'm interested in. I'm interested in people 
working. And so I come into this business, and the two Lapp boys say to 
me, ``I've added--we've added five workers. Your tax relief helped us. 
It enabled us to grow.'' And the definition of growth is five new 
workers working here. And that's good news--guess for who: the five 
people that are working.
    Part of the tax relief plan also enabled people to have what they 
call bonus depreciation. In other words, it encourages people to make 
investment. And so one of the reasons I came is to try to connect 
investment to their decisionmaking to jobs. Greg and Tim told me they're 
going to invest $80,000 this year. Part of it is because they see a 
better tomorrow; part of it is because the Tax Code said, ``If you do 
so, you'll get a little extra, a little extra help in the Tax Code.'' 
And they're going to buy new mezzanines, budget trucks, and service 
vans. That's called investment. In other words, they set aside $80,000, 
and they're going to do something with the 80,000.
    Now, the way the economy works is that as they make a purchase with 
the 80,000, somebody has to manufacture or fix up or take care of the 
product they're buying--in this case, a mezzanine or a bucket truck or a 
service van. Somebody has to make that for them, which means somebody is 
going to work as a result of the investment. So when you hear people say 
investment equals jobs, that's what that means. They're making an 
investment. Somebody has to manufacture the product that they're 
purchasing, which means as the economy grows, more people are going to 
find work. And the tax relief we passed said to them, ``If you make an 
investment, you get additional tax relief.'' That's how it works. That's 
why the tax relief we passed is so vitally important to economic 
vitality and growth.
    Remember, they're a Subchapter S corp. This is important because 
there is talk in Washington about raising taxes.
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. Oh yes. I know. But that's just the way they think 
over there sometimes. [Laughter] In other words, when you hear them say, 
``Tax the rich in order to spend for--in order to pay for bigger 
spending programs,'' I want people to think about Lapp Electrical. 
They're talking about raising the top rates; they're taxing small 
businesses. The economy is strong. It's getting stronger. Now is not the 
time to be taxing small businesses in America. Now is not the time to be 
raising taxes at all.
    Here's what Greg said about tax relief: ``It helped us pull out of 
the lull quicker than we would have.'' That's positive, isn't it? In 
other words, they were in a lull. It's called recession. Actually, in 
his case, it was like neutral. ``Now, we're so ridiculously busy,'' says 
Greg, ``that we need to hire more people to get everything done.'' 
That's exciting news. There's a lot of Gregs all over America who are 
ridiculously busy that they see a better future, that they're confident, 
that they're willing to invest $80,000. See, things are getting better 
in America. The spirit is strong. The great entrepreneurial spirit of 
America is vibrant, and we intend to keep it that way.
    With us as well is Tim King. Thanks for coming, Tim. Tim is sitting 
next to Jenna. He was a telecommunications technician, served in the 
United States Air Force, lost his job last year. That's hard when that 
happens. It's not easy, wondering what's going to go on. Fortunately, 
the economy is growing. Fortunately, things are such that Lapp Electric 
was willing to hire Tim. He's gainfully employed here. In other words, 
the tax relief not only encourages nice statistics, but here's a fellow 
here whose life that I can say to you directly has been improved. He 
said, ``It's an excellent work atmosphere here. I have a larger variety 
of work to do.'' He's working here because the economy is getting 
better. I think he's working here because the tax relief we passed has 
made a difference in stimulating economic growth and vitality.

[[Page 1241]]

I appreciate you letting me use you as an example, and I'm glad you're 
back at work. I'm glad you're here.
    There are about 900,000 small-business owners in Pennsylvania that 
enjoy a lower tax burden, thanks to the work we did. That's good news. 
Tax relief also has an effect on American families. A lot of times in 
Washington, we just--well, we seem to overlook what tax relief has meant 
for people. We talk about it. But what I like to do is let people's own 
stories carry the philosophy.
    Tim and Dawn Martin are with us today from Lancaster. Thank you for 
coming. I see you've got your two lads. I appreciate you bringing them. 
As you can see, they're a young family--Nathaniel and Ian. Because of 
tax relief, the Martins saved $1,700 off their taxes last year. Now, I 
know for a lot of them there in Washington, 1,700 doesn't seem like 
much. Just ask the Martins what it feels like, though. That's what 
matters. It doesn't matter what people think in Washington. What matters 
is what these people think. It's their money. It's 1,700 more dollars in 
their pocket. Here's what he said. He said, ``It makes us feel more 
comfortable.'' That's important. You know, confidence has a lot to do 
with whether an economy grows. When you're comfortable, you're confident 
or more likely to be confident. ``We're able to put money aside for our 
children's future education.''
    One of the things the Martins know is that their most important 
duty, their most important responsibility as a mom or a dad, is to love 
their children with all their heart and all their soul. And I appreciate 
that spirit of prioritizing your children's education. The tax relief we 
passed enables them to do so. It makes a lot of sense.
    By the way, part of the tax relief is the fact we raised--comes from 
the fact we raised the child credit to $1,000. Part of it happened 
because we created a new 10-percent bracket, and part of it happened 
because we're beginning to reduce the negative effects of what they call 
the marriage penalty. I've always been slightly perplexed by why do you 
have a Tax Code that penalizes marriage. I mean, it seems like one of 
the things that we ought to be doing in America is encouraging marriage, 
not penalizing marriage.
    All those three tax relief packages are getting ready to expire. 
See, Congress passed it, but in order to make the numbers work, they 
said, ``Well, some of it will expire.'' My attitude is that it ought not 
to expire because if it expires, it raises taxes on the people like the 
Martins. They're comfortable now. They're going to be not so comfortable 
when the Government gets back in their pocket for some of the money that 
they expect is coming their way. I'm calling on the Congress once again 
to make sure that these aspects, at the very minimum, these parts of the 
tax relief plan, remain permanent, that they don't go away, that they 
don't raise the taxes.
    No, I'm upbeat about this economy of ours. But my job is not only to 
think about today, but it's to think about what life is going to look 
like 5 years from now or 10 years from now. We have an opportunity to do 
some things today to make sure that America is the most competitive 
place in the world to do business so that people can find work. Let me 
give you a couple of ideas right quick.
    First of all, I'm concerned about what health care costs do to 
companies like Lapp Electrical. Premiums are going up. There's some 
smart things we can do. One, we have passed what's called health savings 
accounts, which will enable consumers to be able to save tax-free and 
have a better relationship--for your medical expenses--and better afford 
catastrophic care and which, by the way, will keep the link between 
patient and doctor intact.
    There is a philosophical debate going on in Washington about who is 
the best decisionmaker for health care. A lot of them up there think 
that it's the Federal Government. Of course, I don't. I think it's the 
consumers. I think it's the people. I think it's the patients that 
should be empowered to make the decisions for what is best for them.
    I believe in association health plans. This is kind of a fancy word 
for allowing small businesses to pool with other small businesses to be 
able to spread risk so that their premiums are lower for their 
employees. You can't do that today. The Federal Government needs to 
allow Lapp Electrical to team up with the equivalent in Texas so that 
there's purchasing power for small businesses. That

[[Page 1242]]

will enable the owners of this business to be able to have a more 
affordable health insurance for their employees.
    Finally, I'll tell you, in order to make sure we've got reasonable 
health care costs, we've got to do something about the frivolous and 
junk lawsuits. Listen, we're too--there's too many lawsuits here that 
are running up the--these lawsuits--look, if you're hurt, you ought to 
have your day in court, no question about it. But lawsuit after lawsuit 
after lawsuit is running up the cost of medicine, and it's running 
doctors out of practice. You've got an acute problem here in 
Pennsylvania, as you know. I remember coming to your State and talking 
to doctors and hearing their stories about not being able to heal here. 
And they want to. They want to practice their trade. They want to help 
people. But they can't afford to stay.
    When I first got to Washington, I looked carefully at this issue. As 
a former Governor, I thought it was a State issue, and then I realized 
how much it cost our Federal Government. The defensive practice of 
medicine costs the Federal Government billions because of--we're 
providing a lot of money for Medicare and Medicaid and veterans' health 
benefits. These junk lawsuits are costing the taxpayers once at the 
State level and another time at the Federal level. So I decided it was a 
Federal issue and, therefore, called upon a Federal--for a Federal 
solution.
    We got it out of the House. Of course, it's stuck in the Senate--
[laughter]--stuck in the Senate. A lot of the tort reform is stuck in 
the Senate. I don't think you can be pro-small-business and pro-trial-
lawyer. You've got to pick. I'm pro-small-business.
    A couple of other points I want to make right quick. In order for 
the Lapp Electricals of the world to be able to grow or any other 
business in Pennsylvania to be able to grow, we've got to have a 
reasonable energy policy. I mean, people talk to me about the 
manufacturing sector a lot, and obviously I want manufacturing jobs to 
be--to stay here and for the manufacturing sector to grow, which it's 
now doing, by the way. But it's going to be hard for the country to 
maintain a manufacturing base if we don't have reliable supplies of 
energy. Imagine trying to run a manufacturing company with sophisticated 
equipment, and you're not certain whether or not the electricity you 
turn on is going to be available. Remember, we had a blackout, and it 
wasn't all that long ago. We need to modernize our electricity grids if 
we expect to stay competitive.
    We're very dependent on foreign sources of oil and natural gas. It 
seems like to me it make sense to encourage conservation, to use 
research and development to find alternative sources of energy, but also 
to use the resources we have in an environmentally friendly way. Listen, 
we've got a lot of coal; we need to be burning coal. We've got the 
ability to find natural gas in our own continent. We can do so in an 
environmentally friendly way. For the sake of economic security and for 
the sake of national security, this country must be wise about its 
energy policy and become less dependent on foreign sources of energy.
    We have been working on this for a couple of years. It's stuck in 
the Senate. Well, actually it's stuck in conference--that's not fair. 
But the Congress needs to get together and get a bill to my desk. They 
just need to.
    Trade is a big issue. I know people are concerned about trade. 
Here's the issue. Most Presidents prior to me agreed that we ought to 
open up U.S. markets for foreign goods. You know why? It's good for 
consumers. It's good for the American people. If you have more choice in 
products, you're bound to get better quality at better price. That's 
just the nature of the way the economy works. In other words, if there's 
more choice for consumers, prices will be better, as will quality.
    The issue really has been whether or not other countries are opening 
up their markets like we have ours. That's the issue, as far as I'm 
concerned. And so my job is to say to China, ``Open up your markets.'' 
My job is to say to Europe, ``Open up your markets.'' And we're making 
progress. Just ask the farmers here in Pennsylvania what it's like in 
the farm economy today. You know why? We're selling a lot of farm 
product overseas. Look, we're good at something--we're good at growing 
things--we ought to be selling things everywhere around the world. My 
job is to say, ``Open up your markets. If ours is open, yours needs to 
be open.'' Just give us

[[Page 1243]]

a chance to compete, and America can out-compete anybody, anytime, 
anywhere.
    And so we've got to reject economic isolationism. It just doesn't 
make any sense for the future of this economy of ours. If we want people 
working in America, let's be confident. Let's just make sure the playing 
field is level, give our workers a chance. We've got the most productive 
workforce in the world. And a fair chance to compete means America wins, 
as far as I'm concerned.
    Finally, this economy of ours is also a changing economy. I don't 
know if Tim found that or not, but there's different types of jobs that 
are now becoming available. And therefore, we better have the ability to 
train workers for the jobs which actually exist. A lot of times, we've 
got great, decent people willing to work, but they don't have the 
skillset necessary to fill the jobs of the 21st century.
    I'm thinking about, for example, when I was in North Carolina seeing 
textile workers--[applause]--there you go. Thank you, sir--[laughter]--
seeing textile workers now working in the health care field because they 
got the training necessary to change skillset. And one place to make 
sure that that is effective, that we're able to have that job training 
effectively, is at the community college system.
    Community colleges are available. They're affordable. And the best 
thing of all is they're flexible. In other words, when the health care 
system of a particular town says, ``Gosh, I need nurses,'' the community 
college ought to say, ``Let me--design the curriculum with me so I can 
train workers.'' One of the key components of whether or not we're going 
to be able to survive in the 21st century is whether we've got a 
workforce trained for the jobs of the 21st century. And that's a great 
challenge of our country. And we've got the assets in place to do it. 
I'm willing to put up money from the Federal level to see to it that the 
community college programs are vibrant and alive and active and well for 
training these good folks for the jobs which actually exist.
    So here are some ideas as to how to make sure America is 
competitive, the best place in the world to do business, the best place 
where the entrepreneurial spirit can continue to flourish and be strong.
    I also told you I want to be President again because I want to keep 
America safer. That's my solemn duty, is to protect the American people. 
It was a solemn duty that really became so evident on September the 
11th, 2001. I mean, the enemy hit us in a way that was nearly impossible 
for anybody to dream that they would attack us, using our own airplanes 
to kill thousands of innocent people, a sudden attack. It says a couple 
of things about the nature of these people. They are coldblooded 
killers. They're not religious people. They've hijacked a great 
religion. They think they're religious, but they're not. Their hearts 
are filled with evil. They are--you can't negotiate with them. There is 
no peace treaty you can sign with these kind of people. They've got a 
dim vision of the world.
    I resolved then that I will do whatever it takes to defend America. 
My duty is to do everything I can to protect our country. I called a 
good man into action named Ridge. You might remember him. His job is to 
see to it that the Homeland Security Department functions well, and he's 
doing a great job. And it's not easy--it's not easy. For the first-
responders who are here--that would be your firefighters and your police 
and your EMS teams--I thank you for the job you're doing. We're all 
working together. We're on the frontlines.
    We're communicating better. We're sharing information better. We've 
now got the FBI and the CIA sharing information. We've got divisions 
within the FBI sharing information. Before September the 11th, we 
couldn't have the criminal division and the intelligence division of the 
FBI even talking to each other about certain cases. No wonder 
information slipped through the net. That's why we passed what they call 
the PATRIOT Act.
    So--by the way, let me say something about the PATRIOT Act. Nothing 
happens without court order. The same rules that we're using to catch 
drug lords is now--we're finally starting to apply to terrorists. It's 
essential that these tools stay in place if we expect to be safe.
    Anyway, I decided then and there that I'd do everything to defend 
the country, so we

[[Page 1244]]

set up this Department of Homeland Security. But we've got to be 100 
percent correct here at home; they've got to be right once. And 
therefore, the best way, really, to defend the country is to stay on the 
offensive, is to find these killers before they get here, is to use 
every asset we have, everything at our disposal to hunt down these 
evildoers and bring them to justice, which is exactly what I will 
continue to do as your President.
    We're making progress. Two-thirds of the known Al Qaida leaders 
are--have been brought to justice, and we're slowly but surely, 
methodically, finding them and bringing them to justice. It's hard work, 
and we've got some really fine people working hard, really fine people. 
A lot of them wear the uniform of the United States military.
    Politicians make a lot of promises, I know, and I've tried to do 
everything I can to meet them. One of the promises I did make is that 
help is on the way. When I--2000, Dick Cheney and I were campaigning, we 
used to go to see the military--go to a military base or talk to 
military families. Our pledge was, help is on the way. Help has 
happened. Our military is strong, vibrant, skilled. They're getting paid 
better, and they're getting housed better. They're getting all they 
need, and that's what they deserve.
    Listen, I--as the Commander in Chief, I've got to be able to tell 
the husbands and wives and the moms and dads, we're doing everything we 
can, everything we can to make sure you've got what you need to help us 
do our duty, which is to protect America.
    A second lesson in all this business is that when a President says 
something, he better mean it. In order to make the world more peaceful, 
the President must speak clearly and mean what he says. I said, ``If you 
harbor a terrorist''--I said the first thing is we will find--we will 
stay on the offense and bring Al Qaida to justice. And then I said, ``If 
you harbor a terrorist, you're just as guilty as the terrorist.'' In 
other words, I was sending a message to those who felt like that they 
could maybe give Al Qaida safe haven and maybe we would just ignore it. 
But that's not how you make sure America is secure. You not only have to 
deal with Al Qaida and their affiliates and friends, but you have to say 
to people, ``Don't provide safe haven for them.'' In other words, you've 
got to keep them on the run.
    As you might recall, the Taliban in Afghanistan were providing safe 
haven for these people. We gave them an ultimatum. They, of course, 
didn't believe it. And we went in. And we went in to not only eliminate 
the training bases and the safe havens for Al Qaida, to protect 
ourselves; we also went in to liberate the people of Afghanistan from 
the Taliban.
    These people, as I mentioned to you earlier, are barbaric people. 
America weeps when they know that young girls are brutalized by a 
government. And that doesn't--that's not our value system. We care about 
human suffering. This is a compassionate country. And we also understand 
that when people are free, they're going to be peaceful.
    And so we did a couple of things in Afghanistan. One, we liberated 
the people. Secondly, we got rid of Al Qaida safe havens. And thirdly, 
Afghanistan is now on the road to democracy, and Afghanistan is an ally 
and a friend in our task to make America more secure.
    And then, as you know, I looked at intelligence and facts, and I 
came to the conclusion that Saddam Hussein was a threat to America. You 
see, because the other lesson of September the 11th is when we see a 
gathering threat, that we've got to deal with it--sooner, rather than 
later; that we can't hope that a gathering threat just goes away. That's 
the lesson of September the 11th.
    And, therefore, I went to the United Nations and said, ``Listen, 
I've looked at this intelligence, and it says he's a threat.'' I also, 
during my talk, reminded them that the guy had actually used weapons of 
mass destruction on his own people and that he had harbored terrorists. 
Abu Nidal is a terrorist. As you might recall, he killed an American. 
This guy Zarqawi got hospital aid there in Baghdad when Saddam Hussein 
was in power. He was the guy running a poisons factory in northeast 
Iraq. He's still in Iraq. He's the guy killing a lot of innocent people, 
ordering suiciders, bragging about it, cutting people's heads off. He's 
an Al Qaida affiliate. In other words, it was a safe haven. And the 
Congress looked at the very same intelligence I did, the exact same 
intelligence, and came to the

[[Page 1245]]

same conclusion: He's a threat. Interestingly enough, so did the United 
Nations.
    Remember, I went to the United Nations and said, ``We've got a 
problem here. As a matter of fact, it's such a problem that I think you 
probably have passed over a dozen resolutions saying he's a problem, and 
yet nothing has happened.'' And so I said, ``Why don't we pass one and 
really mean what we say.'' And so with a 15-to-nothing vote, the United 
Nations Security Council did just that--15 to nothing--said, ``He's a 
threat.'' ``Disclose, destroy, or face serious consequences,'' is what 
the United Nations said, a collection of nations.
    So we all felt the same thing back there. And of course, Saddam 
Hussein defied, and he just ignored what the free world had to say once 
again. Now, once you say something, you better mean it. At least that's 
the way I think. And we said ``serious consequences.'' We meant serious 
consequences. I had a choice to make: Either trust this madman, who 
clearly hated America, who had--was fooling around with terrorists, who 
had used weapons of mass destruction and we had thought had weapons of 
mass destruction--take his word for it, or defend the country. Given the 
lessons of September the 11th, I chose to defend the country. And that's 
exactly what I would do again. America is a more secure place because 
Saddam Hussein is no longer in power.
    The Senate is looking at intelligence failures, and should. We all 
ought to welcome an investigation about where we went right and wrong 
with our intelligence-gathering. You know why? Because it's important 
for a President and the Congress to get the best intelligence possible 
in this war against these terrorists. One of the key components of 
finding out who is going to hurt us is good intelligence. And there are 
a lot of really good people working in our intelligence-gathering, by 
the way--dedicated, solid, fine Americans. They too want the 
intelligence services to be as effective as possible. So I welcome their 
investigation. I really do.
    And like Members of the Senate and the House, we thought there would 
be stockpiles of weapons. We haven't found them yet. We do know, 
however, and I just want you to remember this, that the man had the 
capacity to make weapons. He had the ability to make weapons. He had the 
intent and the capability, which is why I say I would have done it 
again, because he's a dangerous person.
    The work is hard in Iraq right now. It's really hard because we're 
trying to take people from a society run by a tyrant to a free society. 
We've done this kind of work before, though. I want our fellow citizens 
to remember that. After World War II, we helped to rebuild Germany and 
Japan. And that wasn't easy. If you go back and look at the history, 
you'll find that there was articles written about how the reconstruction 
effort wasn't properly planned, why the societies were still violent, 
how maybe Japan couldn't conceivably self-govern because of its past 
history. There were a lot of skeptics and pessimists about the ability 
of liberty to have a transforming effect on societies. And I can 
understand that. It's hard work.
    But fortunately, my predecessors didn't listen to the skeptics. And 
today, I'm able to sit down with the Prime Minister of Japan and discuss 
key issues like North Korea. In other words, a former enemy--former 
enemies sit at a table together and say, ``How can we work to keep the 
peace,'' because there were people that preceded me that had great faith 
in the ability of freedom to change societies.
    The Iraqi people want to be free. We've got a good leader there 
named Alawi. He's a tough guy. He's a strong guy. He's dedicated to a 
pluralistic, self-governing society. He's courageous enough to get them 
there. He just needs America to stand by his side. The terrorists have 
got--they've got an advantage over us: They don't have hearts, and we 
do. They kill in the hope that we--our hearts will be so full with 
sorrow, like they are every time, that we'll forget our promise and that 
we'll leave. We're not leaving. We will stand.
    Let me tell you an interesting story. I'm probably going on--am I 
going on too long? [Laughter] Either Laura or Jenna will give me the 
hook. [Laughter] Let me tell you an interesting story. They said that 
they've got some people from Iraq coming to see you. The door opens up 
in the Oval Office--which, by the way, is a fantastic place. It's a 
shrine to democracy. It's a powerful office.

[[Page 1246]]

Just being in there is such an honor. And in walk seven people who have 
had their right hands cut off by Saddam Hussein. These were small-
business guys. And not only did they have their right hands cut off, 
they had X's carved on their foreheads by the Hussein henchmen. The 
currency of the country had devalued, and he needed a scapegoat, so he 
found seven small merchants to blame the currency devaluation on and 
punished them by cutting off their right hands.
    I asked one guy, ``Well, why you?'' He said, well, he was a jeweler, 
and he sold dinars to buy--I think it was either dollars or euros so he 
could get gold to use as a product for his jewelry. And they round him 
up--of course, no jury, no press looking after human rights, nothing.
    He cut off seven hands off. Interestingly enough, a documentary was 
made of these seven guys, and the documentary was seen by a Houston 
newsman named Marvin Zindler. He is the--I don't know if you ever saw 
``The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas,'' the play. He's the guy, the 
newsman, that discovered this place in central Texas--anyway, famous in 
Texas, at least. [Laughter] But he started a foundation years ago to 
help people. And he saw the story, and he flew them over.
    And so these seven guys walk in with new hands as well, because in 
Houston they had been outfitted because of the compassion of this 
American. In other words, what a contrast, isn't it, the brutality of a 
tyrant and the compassion of an individual citizen.
    And they came in, and one guy took his new hand--they're just 
learning to use their hands--and he wrote ``God Bless America'' in 
Arabic. I nearly broke out in tears right there, it was such an 
emotional--I said, ``Welcome to the Oval Office.'' I said, ``I'm glad 
you're here.'' I said, ``You don't have to worry about America. When we 
say we're going to do something, we'll do it, and we will stand with you 
so your children can grow up in a free society, which will make us more 
secure.''
    See, a free Iraq, free societies in the Middle East are in the long-
term interest of America. In the short term, we get after them with 
every asset we got. In the long term, we defeat terror and darkness with 
the light of democracy and freedom. That's what we believe. Look what 
happened in Japan and Germany. And I'm telling you, it can happen.
    Anyway, I told these guys, I said, ``It's good you're in the Oval 
Office because I want to tell you something about our society. The 
office of the President is bigger than the person. This is a great place 
to meet because it's a chance to remind you that in your new country, 
when you've survive, the institutions you put in place will be bigger 
than the people, and therefore, your society will be stable, and you're 
more likely to be free.''
    Now, finally, I want your vote because I want to make America a 
better place--a better place. There's a lot of ways we can do so. I want 
to make sure the education system works well. I'm telling you, the No 
Child Left Behind Act is a good piece of legislation. We spent more 
money than we ever have at the Federal level. At the same time, we said 
we trust local people to make decisions for their schools, and we did 
something else that I thought was very wise. We said, ``Show us the 
results.'' For too often we'd just spend money and hope for the best, 
and guess what would happen? Kids whose parents didn't speak English as 
a first language just get shuffled through the system--the hard-to-
educate, inner-city kids--``Just move them through. Maybe they'll learn; 
maybe they won't.'' That's not good enough for the 21st century, and 
it's certainly not good enough for me.
    And so we've raised the bar. And we said, ``You're going to get more 
money, but now you're going to devise accountability tests to show us 
whether the kids can learn,'' to read, for example. We want every child 
reading at grade level by the third grade. That's what we want, right? 
Seems like a reasonable national goal to me. That's not too hard to ask 
in America, to say, ``How about just reading at the 3d grade level? And 
if you don't, there will be remedial help, and the parents will get more 
choice.'' In other words, there needs to be accountability.
    And it's working. We've raised the bar. We're saying, ``Show us 
whether or not the kids can read and write and add and subtract.'' We're 
paying for curriculum that works. Listen, some reading programs work;

[[Page 1247]]

some of them don't. You know what I'm talking about. And the best way to 
determine whether yours does is to measure. And that's what we're doing 
with local control of schools. See, we called it the No Child Left 
Behind Act. That's exactly what I mean. I don't want any children left 
behind in America. I want everybody to be able to realize their full 
potential. And so a better America is going to come when our public 
schools get better, and they are. They are.
    Another way to make sure America is a better place is to surround 
people with love. The Government is not a loving organization, however. 
[Laughter] Government is law and justice. Love comes from the hearts and 
souls of our fellow citizens. Love is found in our churches and mosques 
and synagogues. Love is found in those kind of daily acts of kindness 
that take place all the time not because of governmental law, because--
many times because of a higher law. And it happens in America every 
single day. The strength of this country is the hearts and souls of the 
American people, and a President must understand that.
    And so we started what I call the Community and Faith-Based 
Initiative, which says we're going to open up Federal monies to 
applications for grants from faith-based organizations. I mean, if you 
want somebody to quit drinking, sometimes you have to change his heart 
and therefore change his behavior. Not every time--it doesn't have to 
happen every time. But a lot of times, if you change a person's heart, 
good chance they're going to change their behavior. And faith-based 
organizations are pretty good at changing hearts. That's why they exist, 
isn't it? And so Government must be willing to allow faith-based 
programs to access Federal money without causing the faith-based program 
to change their mission. How can you practice to be a faith-based 
program if you cannot practice your faith?
    And so what I'm telling you is, is that part of a changing and 
better America is for Government to understand--or for the person, for 
the President to understand the true strength of the country and be 
willing to rally that strength. We're going to change America one heart 
at a time, one soul at a time, because the American people are so loving 
and so caring and so decent. And one of my jobs is to call upon that 
decency and to rally the armies of compassion.
    Listen, I am honored that you came out and given me a chance to 
share with you my vision for a safer, stronger, better America. I'm here 
asking for the vote. I'm working for the vote, because I have something 
to do. I've got a reason to serve. There are things I want to do to make 
this country the greatest country it can possibly be. It's a honor to 
serve America. Thank you for coming, and may God bless you all.

Note: The President spoke at 3:16 p.m. in the warehouse at Lapp 
Electrical Service, Inc. In his remarks, he referred to Charles W. Dent 
and Scott Paterno, candidates for Pennsylvania's 15th and 17th 
Congressional Districts, respectively; former President Saddam Hussein 
of Iraq; Palestinian terrorist Abu Nidal, who was found dead in Baghdad, 
Iraq, on August 19, 2002; senior Al Qaida associate Abu Musab Al 
Zarqawi; Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi of Japan; and Prime Minister 
Ayad al-Alawi of the Iraqi Interim Government. This item was not 
received in time for publication in the appropriate issue.