[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 41, Number 24 (Monday, June 20, 2005)]
[Pages 995-999]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at the 2005 President's Dinner

June 14, 2005

    Thank you all for coming. Thank you for the warm reception. Thank 
you all. Thanks for coming. It's nice to have dinner with a group of 
friends. I appreciate you all coming here. This is a very important 
dinner because, through your generosity, we're going to keep control of 
the Senate and the House, and America will be better off for it.
    I really appreciate you being here. I am sorry that the First Lady 
is not here. She sends her love. Generally when I say that, people 
groan, and I take it to mean they wish she'd have come and not me. I 
understand that. I'll tell you something about Laura. She's quite the 
comedian, quite the diplomat. She's a heck of a First Lady and a great 
wife and mom. I love her dearly.
    I want to thank Senator Lamar Alexander for his leadership on this 
incredibly successful dinner. I appreciate Speaker Denny Hastert. He is 
one fine man. He's a great Speaker of the House. And through your 
generosity, he's going to stay Speaker of the House. I want to thank the 
majority leader of the United States Senate, Bill Frist. He too is a 
great leader, and I appreciate calling him friend.
    I want to thank Senator Elizabeth Dole, who is the NRSC chairman; 
Congressman Tom Reynolds, the NRCC chairman. Those are initials for, 
like, let's raise money and get the Senate in Republican--keep the 
Senate in Republican hands and House in Republican hands. Thank you for 
supporting these causes.
    I want to thank the Members of the Senate and Congress for working 
so hard. I want to thank the Members of the--all the Members of the 
Congress who've joined us tonight. I appreciate the members of my 
Cabinet who are here.
    I want to pay special tribute to the Republican National Committee 
chairman, Ken Mehlman, for the fantastic job he's doing on reaching out 
to people from all walks of life. I want to thank the President's Dinner 
leadership, especially Ken Thompson and his wife, Kathylee, for the 
fantastic job you all have done and everybody up here has done. I want 
to thank the Duke Ellington School of the Arts Show Choir for being here 
today.
    I'm proud to be the head of a party that has a positive and hopeful 
and optimistic vision for every single person who lives in this country. 
And I'm proud to be a head of a party that is driving the debate on all 
the key domestic and foreign policy issues. Because of our achievements, 
the American people see us as the party of reform and optimism and 
results, the party that is moving this Nation forward.
    All of us in Washington have a duty to the people who sent us here. 
Political parties can take one of two approaches. One approach is to 
lead, to focus on the people's business,

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to take on the tough problems. And that is exactly what our party's 
done.
    The other approach is to simply do nothing, to delay solutions, 
obstruct progress, refuse to take responsibility. Members of the other 
party have worked with us to achieve important reforms on some issues. 
Yet, too often, their leadership prefers to block the ideas of others. 
We hear ``no'' to making tax relief permanent. We hear ``no'' to Social 
Security reform. We hear ``no'' to confirming Federal judges. We hear 
``no'' to a highly qualified U.N. Ambassador. We hear ``no'' to medical 
liability reform. On issue after issue, they stand for nothing except 
obstruction, and this is not leadership. It is the philosophy of the 
stop sign, the agenda of the roadblock, and our country and our children 
deserve better.
    Political parties that choose the path of obstruction will not gain 
the trust of the American people. If leaders of the other party have 
innovative ideas, let's hear them. But if they have no ideas or policies 
except obstruction, they should step aside and let others lead.
    We're a party that's gotten things done. Because we acted to pass 
the largest tax relief in a generation, our economy is growing again. 
We've created more than 3.5 million new jobs during the last 2 years. 
More Americans are working today than ever before in our Nation's 
history.
    To keep this economy growing and creating jobs, we need to make the 
tax relief permanent. We need to get rid of the death tax forever. And 
we can do something else about taxes. I've appointed a bipartisan panel 
to examine our incoherent, out-of-date Tax Code. When their 
recommendations are delivered, I'm looking forward to working with the 
United States Congress to give this Nation a Tax Code that is progrowth, 
easy to understand, and fair to all.
    Our party is the party of economic growth, and our party is the 
party of spending restraint. I've submitted the first budget to actually 
cut nonsecurity discretionary spending since Ronald Reagan was the 
President. Now the Congress needs to act to hold nondiscretionary 
spending below last year's level. The budget we submitted adheres to an 
interesting principle. It says taxpayers' money should be spent wisely 
or not spent at all.
    We need to have a fiscally responsible highway bill that modernizes 
our roads and bridges and improves safety and creates jobs. We're on our 
way to cutting this deficit in half in 5 years, and I want to thank the 
Members of Congress for holding the line and doing what's right for the 
American taxpayer.
    In order to make sure this economy grows, we need an energy bill. 
Four years ago, I presented Congress with a comprehensive energy 
strategy that encourages conservation, renewable sources of energy like 
ethanol and biodiesel, that says we can use nuclear energy in a clean 
way, that recognizes the need to spend money on clean coal technology. 
It's an energy plan that will make us less dependent on foreign sources 
of energy. For the sake of national security, and for the sake of 
economic security, Congress needs to get a bill to my desk before the 
August recess.
    We're proudly the party of free and fair trade. During my 
administration and thanks to the good works of Congress, we've opened up 
markets for millions of consumers of U.S. products. And now we have an 
opportunity to continue to open up new markets with CAFTA, the Central 
American and Dominican Republic Free Trade act. Right now most of the 
goods coming from the Central American countries enter into our country 
duty-free. Yet our goods are not received in their countries duty-free. 
For the sake of free trade, for the sake of fair trade, for the sake of 
good jobs, for the sake of promoting young democracies in Central 
America, Congress must pass CAFTA.
    Ours is the party of the entrepreneur and small business. Ours is 
the party of litigation reform. We're the party that continues to free 
our entrepreneurs from needless regulations and protect honest job 
creators from junk lawsuits. I applaud the Speaker and the leader for 
getting bipartisan class-action reform and bankruptcy reform through the 
Congress. Now we need asbestos litigation reform. And to stop junk 
lawsuits that are running good doctors out of practice and running up 
the cost of medicine, we need Federal medical liability reform.
    Ours is the party that challenges the soft bigotry of low 
expectations, that worked to stop the practice of just shuffling kids 
through school, grade after grade, without

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them being able to read and write. Ours is the party that set high 
standards, believes in local control of schools, and insists that every 
child learn to read and write, so no child is left behind in America.
    We set a clear agenda to make health care more affordable and to 
give American families greater access to coverage and more control over 
their health decisions. In 2003, we strengthened Medicare by giving 
seniors more choices and adding a prescription drug benefit. We have 
kept our commitment to our Nation's seniors, and now we must move 
forward with more community health centers to help the poor, improved 
health information technology, expanded health savings accounts and 
association health plans, so that small businesses can pool risk and buy 
insurance at the same discount that big companies are able to do.
    Ours is the party that set the goal to encourage ownership in 
America. We want more people owning their own business. I'm proud to 
report more people own a home than ever before in our Nation's history, 
and more minority families are owning a home today than ever before.
    We need to expand ownership to our retirement system. Recently, I've 
been spending time talking about an important issue, and that's Social 
Security reform. And the reason I have is because I believe the job of 
the President is to confront problems and not pass them on to future 
Presidents and future generations. We've got a problem when it comes to 
Social Security. No, you don't have a problem if you're getting your 
check now or if you were born prior to 1950. You'll get your check. The 
problem is for a younger generation of Americans who are paying payroll 
taxes or getting ready to pay payroll taxes into a system that is going 
broke.
    Let me give you the math right quick, let you know why I'm talking 
about it all across the country. There's a lot of us getting ready to 
retire. We're called baby boomers. As a matter of fact, my retirement 
age is 2008--[laughter]--quite convenient. There are about 73 million 
baby boomers getting ready to retire. There are 40 million people 
retired today; another 33 million will be retired when the baby boomers 
fully retire. And we're living longer, and we've been promised greater 
benefits by Congress. And the real problem is there's fewer people 
paying into the system. Today, there's 3.3 workers per beneficiary. 
Soon, there will be two workers per beneficiary. In 2017, the system 
goes into the red. In 2027, it's $200 billion short. In 2041, it's 
bankrupt.
    It is not right to sit here in Washington, DC, knowing the system is 
going bankrupt for younger Americans and not do anything about it. So 
I'm going to keep talking about it and keep putting ideas out. I've laid 
out some plans that would nearly fix all of the Social Security problem.
    I'll tell you another idea we need to do is we need to give workers 
the option that Congress has given itself, and that is to be able to 
take some of their own money, some of their own payroll taxes and set it 
aside in a personal savings account they call their own, a personal 
savings account that will let them earn a better rate of return on their 
money, a personal savings account they can leave to whomever they want, 
a personal savings account the Government cannot take away or spend on 
special programs.
    Ours is the party that believes in ownership. We want to extend the 
so-called investor class to all walks of life. We believe everybody 
should have an asset they can call their own. And we have a fantastic 
opportunity to strengthen and save Social Security for a generation of 
Americans to come and to give more Americans the great pride of owning 
something they call their own. Congress needs to act on this issue. 
Strengthening Social Security requires honesty and courage, and the 
party I'm proud to lead will do our duty. Our children's retirement 
security is more important than partisan politics.
    Our party will continue to support the faith-based and community 
groups that bring hope to harsh places. We'll continue to promote a 
culture of life in which every person is valued and every life has 
meaning. And we will defend the institution of marriage from being 
redefined forever by activist judges.
    And speaking about judges, the American people made it clear they 
want judges who faithfully interpret the law, not legislate from the 
bench. I applaud Senator Frist and Senator Specter and Senator Hatch and 
other

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Members of the United States Senate in confirming some outstanding 
nominees who have waited a long time for a vote, Priscilla Owen and 
Janice Rogers Brown and Bill Pryor. I'll continue to urge the Senate to 
fulfill its constitutional responsibility by giving every judicial 
nominee an up-or-down vote on the Senate floor.
    And speaking of confirmations, the Senate must promptly confirm John 
Bolton, my nominee to be our Ambassador to the United Nations, so we can 
get on with the business of reforming that institution.
    My most solemn duty and the most solemn duty of those of us in 
Government here in Washington is to protect the American people. Our 
strategy is clear: We will be relentless; we will never tire in chasing 
down the terrorists; we will confront them abroad so we do not have to 
face them here at home.
    We carried out the largest reorganization of Government in a half-
century to form a single Department with a single mission, protecting 
America from attack. The tireless efforts of the men and women of the 
Department of Homeland Security and Federal and State and local first-
responders--protecting our Nation and making this country more secure. 
And as they do so, they need to have all the tools to be able to help 
defend this country. And that is why I call upon the United States 
Congress to renew all the provisions of the PATRIOT Act.
    The PATRIOT Act is an important piece of legislation. It gives those 
folks who are on the frontline of fighting terror the same tools, many 
of the same tools that are used to track down drug kingpins or tax 
cheats. If those tools are good enough to track down drug kingpins, they 
ought to be good enough in this war on terror to give to our law 
enforcement so we can better defend this country.
    And we're making progress. Since September the 11th, 2001, we've 
closed down terrorist networks. We brought to justice many of the key 
leaders of Al Qaida. We're disrupting their finances. There is no place 
they can hide from the United States of America and our allies and 
friends.
    The best way to secure this country in the long run, though, is to 
spread democracy and freedom. We believe everybody deserves to be free. 
We believe everybody has a deep desire in their heart to live in a free 
society. We believe mothers all around the world want to raise their 
children in a free and peaceful world.
    And the people of Afghanistan showed clearly the desire of those who 
have lived under tyranny to take the risks necessary to live in a free 
society. Think about how far that country has come in a brief period of 
time. We enforced doctrine that said, ``If you harbor a terrorist, 
you're just as guilty as the terrorist.'' And by removing the Taliban, 
America and the free world are safer. But at the same time, we gave the 
Afghan people a chance to live in a free and democratic society. And for 
the first time in the history of that country, for the first time in 
thousands of years, millions of people went to the polls to vote. And 
the first voter was a 19-year-old girl in Afghanistan.
    Freedom is on the march from the Ukraine to Afghanistan to the 
Palestinian Territory to Lebanon and to Iraq. By removing Saddam Hussein 
from power, America and the free world are safer. By removing Saddam 
Hussein from power, the people of Iraq have a chance to live in a free 
society. And the United States of America will stand squarely with that 
new democracy as it grows and flourishes and becomes a free society in 
the heart of the Middle East.
    I know many of you here have got relatives and friends who are 
serving in the United States military. I can't tell you how proud I am 
to be the Commander in Chief of such a great group of folks. America is 
more secure, the world is more free, the foundations of peace are being 
laid because of the brave men and women who wear the uniform of the 
United States military.
    The United States has a special obligation, in my view, to work with 
freedom fighters all around the world, to stand squarely with the 
reformers. I believe it's important for generations to come, because I 
understand that democracies don't fight each other, that democracies are 
the way to defeat hatred, that democracies provide the best hope for men 
and women around the world. There's no doubt in my mind the policies 
that this administration has taken will make the world more peaceful for 
generations to come.

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    The American people have entrusted us with the leadership of this 
great country at an historic moment. We've set big goals, and they're 
not always easy to achieve. Otherwise, they'd have been done already. 
But we're going to continue to be the party that sets the big goals, the 
party that's idealistic, the party of reform. We'll continue to lead, no 
matter how tough the challenge might be. You see, the American people 
have given us their trust. But the good news for the American people is, 
in our policies we trust them. We trust their values. We trust their 
judgment. We trust them with their own money. So long as we stay true to 
our values and our ideas, we will do what Americans have always done. We 
will build a better world for our children and our grandchildren.
    It is such an honor to be the President of such a great nation. 
Thank you for coming tonight. May God bless your families, and may God 
continue to bless our country. Thank you all.

Note: The President spoke at 7:30 p.m. at the Washington Convention 
Center. In his remarks, he referred to Ken Thompson, dinner chairman, 
2005 President's Dinner, and his wife, Kathylee Thompson; and former 
President Saddam Hussein of Iraq.