[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 42, Number 49 (Monday, December 11, 2006)]
[Page 2128]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks Following a Meeting With Members of Congress

December 6, 2006

     I've just met with Members of Congress from both political parties. 
My message is this: I want to work with the Congress; I want to work 
with people in both parties, so that we can send a message to the 
American people that the struggle for freedom, the struggle for our 
security is not the purview of one party over the other. The American 
people want us to work together, and my intention is to do just that.
    Today the Baker-Hamilton Commission, the Iraq Study Group put out 
what I thought was a very interesting report. There's some very good 
ideas in there. Not all of us around the table agree with every idea, 
but we do agree that it shows that bipartisan consensus on important 
issues is possible--really important for the American people to know 
that there are people of good will here in town willing to set aside 
politics and focus on the security of this country and the peace of the 
world.
    And I want to thank you all for taking time out of your schedules to 
come. It means a lot to me, and I think it means a lot to the American 
people, to recognize that there are people in this town who are 
concerned more about the security of this country than they are about 
the security of their own political positions. And I'm proud to be with 
you. And I want to thank you for your thoughts. I take your comments 
very seriously. I take your ideas very seriously. And it's important to 
me that we continue to hear from the Congress as we fashion a way--a new 
way forward in Iraq, a new look, to achieve our objective of a country 
which can sustain itself, govern itself, defend itself, and be an ally 
in this war against extremism and terrorism.
    Thank you all very much.

Note: The President spoke at 3:27 p.m. in the Cabinet Room at the White 
House.