[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 41, Number 4 (Monday, January 31, 2005)]
[Pages 115-116]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks to the ``Congress of Tomorrow'' Luncheon in White Sulphur 
Springs, West Virginia

January 28, 2005

    The President. Thank you all. Please be seated.
    Deborah, thanks for the kind introduction. I'm kind of warming up 
for the State of the Union--[laughter]--some verbal jumping jacks. 
Thanks for letting me come by. I'm going to have a few remarks, then 
I'll answer questions for a while.
    Mr. Speaker, thank you for your leadership. Thank you for your 
friendship. This country has had no better Speaker than Denny Hastert.
    Appreciate Senator Ted Stevens--thank you for your tenure and your 
leadership as well. I'm glad you're here. I thank my friend from the 
great State of Texas Tom DeLay for his leadership. I appreciate you, Mr. 
Leader. Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority whip--Senator McConnell, 
thank you, sir, appreciate you. Congressman Blunt, the House whip. Thank 
you, Congressman, glad you're here, appreciate you. How is your son 
doing?
    Representative Roy Blunt. He's doing great.
    The President. Good, huh?
    Representative Blunt. He's taking a page out of your book.
    The President. Yes, I like a guy who follows in his father's 
footsteps. [Laughter]
    Senator Kyl, who's the chairman of the Republican policy committee--
thank you, sir. Deborah Pryce, who you know, and Rick Santorum--thank 
you both for organizing this event. Thank the members of my Cabinet who 
are here, John Snow and Josh Bolten. I'm looking forward to working with 
you.
    As you know, David Hobbs has handled legislative affairs for my 
administration for a couple of years. He's worked very closely with the 
leadership and the Members of both the House and the Senate. He has 
decided to move on. He will be replaced by Candi Wolff. I know you look 
forward to working with Candi. She is a fine soul. And we're going to 
miss David Hobbs, and I appreciate him for his--I appreciate his long 
service.
    A couple points I'd like to make. First, I think we've proven to the 
country we know how to set an agenda and work together to achieve it. In 
other words, people ought to view this team we've put together, the 
relationship between the executive branch and the legislative branch, as 
people who are--come to Washington, DC, to solve problems. And we have 
done so over the last 4 years, and we will continue to do so for the 
next 4 years.
    I look forward to addressing the Nation. I will remind the country 
we're still at war. And I want to thank the Congress for providing the 
necessary support for our troops who are in harm's way. I will also tell 
the people once again that I strongly believe that the way to defeat 
hatred and terrorism is to spread freedom. And I believe everybody in 
the world deserves to be free.
    I look forward to discussing ways to keep this recovery going so 
people can find work. I look forward to talking to the country about the 
need to address big reforms like Social Security. I will continue to 
articulate the faith-based agenda, the compassion agenda so that people 
can find hope in our country. I'll remind the people we're a great 
nation. We can achieve anything we set our mind to. And I will tell them 
like I'm telling you, it's such an honor to be the President of the 
United States.

[[Page 116]]

    Thank you for letting me come. I look forward to answering your 
questions.

Note: The President spoke at 1:06 p.m. at the Greenbrier. In his 
remarks, he referred to Gov. Matt Blunt of Missouri, son of 
Representative Roy Blunt. The Office of the Press Secretary also 
released a Spanish language transcript of these remarks.