[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 43, Number 9 (Monday, March 5, 2007)]
[Pages 216-221]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at the Republican Governors Association Gala

February 26, 2007

    Thanks for coming. Thank you all for being here tonight. I am 
honored to join you. You might remember, I am a former member of the 
Republican Governors Association. And now I am a proud brother of 
another former member. Now he's out of office, I understand Jeb is 
spending a lot of time on Florida's beaches. [Laughter] He says people 
still recognize him; when he's out there in his Speedo, they come up and 
say, ``How you doing, Governor Schwarzenegger?'' [Laughter]

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    He made a promise to me that when he left office, he'd make sure 
that he had a good man following him, and he kept his promise when 
Charlie Crist got elected Governor of the great State of Florida.
    And I also want to welcome some of the newly elected Governors: 
Governor Jim Gibbons of Nevada; Butch Otter of Idaho--he's out there 
getting a hors d'oeuvre--and Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska. And I thank 
my friends, the Governors, who have joined us. I really enjoyed our 
visit today. I appreciate the kindness you have shown to me, and I 
appreciate your hard work.
    I particularly want to pay tribute to the spouses of the Governors, 
the people who work hard to make sure the Governors are capable of doing 
their jobs. And speaking about spouses, Sonny took it a little far when 
he said Laura was a courageous person--I think he was referring to the 
fact that she was courageous when she said yes when I asked her to marry 
me. But I'm real proud of Laura. I love her dearly. I think she's a 
great First Lady for the country and I--[applause].
    And I thank Sonny Perdue and Mary. I appreciate my friend Matt Blunt 
and Melanie. You know, this is a record-setting evening, and it took an 
extraordinary leader from a great State to convince you to contribute. 
And so I want to thank--say thanks to my friend and my Governor, Rick 
Perry and the first lady of Texas, Anita. I want to thank the members of 
my administration who have joined us today, and I appreciate you coming.
    I think the thing that's important for you all to realize is that we 
are the party of ideas. We're results-oriented people. That's how we got 
the majority, and that's what it's going to take to get the majority 
back--standing on principle, not worrying about polls and focus groups, 
but saying what you think is right and acting on it.
    In the battle of ideas, we stand with the American people. We 
believe in a strong national defense. We believe in less government and 
lower taxes. And we believe that you've got to trust the values and the 
good judgment of the American people.
    And I appreciate the innovative ideas that Governors--Republican 
Governors are pushing all around this country. And that's why, when I 
spoke to them today, I think I said, it's very important for this 
administration to work with our Governors. The States are laboratories 
for reform. The States are the place where some of the best innovation 
can take place to make sure the entire country benefits.
    I've set a big agenda here in Washington, DC; I want to share some 
of that with you. But my political agenda is this: more Republican 
Governors, take back control of the House and the Senate, and make sure 
we keep the White House in 2008.
    And I want to thank you all for helping make those goals become 
reality, and I appreciate you contributing of your hard-earned money. It 
means a lot to candidates who are running for office. It means a lot to 
the organizers, people like Sonny, who are going to recruit good people 
to run for office, to know that there's something besides the telephone 
call awaiting them; there's support. And you're making a big difference, 
and I appreciate it.
    We've got a lot to do here in Washington. The most important job for 
the Federal Government is to protect the American people from harm. And 
the best way to do that is to stay on the offense against these 
terrorists, is to defeat them overseas so we don't have to face them 
again here in America.
    And that's exactly what we're doing. Every single day, there are 
good and decent people in my administration and around the country who 
are securing this homeland. There are good, honorable people overseas 
chasing down these killers and bringing them to justice. Part of our 
strategy is to keep the pressure on them. The other part of our strategy 
is to defeat their hateful ideology by spreading freedom around the 
world. I believe that freedom is universal, and I believe it's in the 
interest of the United States to free people, so that the world will 
become a more peaceful place.
    There are two major theaters in this global war against these 
extremists. One is Afghanistan, and the other is Iraq. I'd like to spend 
a little time on the subject of Iraq. As you know, I recently announced 
a plan for victory in Iraq. I was confronted with a serious decision to 
make: Did I accept the status quo

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and hope that the capital of that young democracy would somehow be able 
to regain its footing; or did it make sense for the United States to 
gradually withdraw from that country, before democracy was able to take 
hold; or did it make sense to reinforce our troops then in the theater 
to make sure the capital city of Baghdad became secure? And I chose the 
latter because I think it gives us the best chance to achieve our 
objective, which is a democracy that can defend itself, sustain itself, 
and govern itself and serve as an ally in this war against these 
extremists.
    I made some changes, nominated a good man to lead the cause there in 
Baghdad, General David Petraeus. He recently went up for confirmation in 
the United States Senate. He received a fair hearing and was approved 
unanimously by the Senators, and I appreciated them for their strong 
support. During his testimony, General Petraeus strongly supported the 
idea of sending reinforcements into Baghdad to help the capital city, to 
help this new Government find breathing space necessary to do the 
reconciliation necessary after years of tyranny. And yet, shortly after 
his unanimous confirmation, the House of Representatives passed a 
symbolic resolution that expressed disapproval of the very plan that he 
thought was necessary to accomplish our objective.
    I have no problems with debate; as a matter of fact, one of the 
healthy things about our society is the right for people to express 
their opinion. I never question anybody's patriotism who disagrees with 
me. But soon the United States Congress will have to make a decision 
that will have real consequences, whether or not to fund the troops we 
have sent into harm's way. Our men and women in uniform risk their lives 
to carry out our plan to support this new democracy and to secure 
Baghdad. And wherever Members may stand on my decision, we have a solemn 
responsibility to give our troops the resources and the flexibility they 
need to prevail.
    This is tough work, but it's necessary work. It's necessary to help 
this young Government survive, because, you see, if we were to leave 
Iraq before the job is done, the enemy would follow us here. Failure in 
Iraq would invite chaos, would embolden those who would do us harm 
again, would enable them to recruit more of their fanatics that are 
willing to kill the innocent. Failure in the Iraq would cause the 
extremists to rejoice and those who hunger for a better way of life to 
wonder about the resolve of the United States of America. Failure in 
Iraq is unacceptable. It would affect generations of Americans to come. 
And that is why I made the decision I made, a decision that will help us 
secure the peace for our children and our grandchildren.
    Our foreign policy is more than war and diplomacy. I believe to whom 
much is given, much is required. And we're a blessed nation. Therefore, 
it is in our national interests to defeat disease and hunger and poverty 
as best as we can. I will continue to call upon the United States 
Congress to fund the HIV/AIDS initiative on the continent of Africa, so 
we can save life. Do you realize as a result of your generosity and the 
support of the Congress, the PEPFAR initiative has now delivered 
antiretroviral drugs, lifesaving drugs, to more than 800,000 people in 
less than 5 years?
    A robust foreign policy that reflects the heart of the American 
people is one that recognizes that we can eliminate malaria in countries 
around the world. And I thank Laura and others in this audience for 
leading the fight against malaria, and I call upon other free nations of 
the world to join the United States to do our duty, to save lives no 
matter where they may be. We will challenge corruption where we find it. 
We will insist for freedom where we can insist, in places like Cuba and 
Belarus and Burma. And we will always remember that this great Nation 
not only must take care of the unfortunate in our own land but help 
others realize the great blessings of freedom. I'm proud of our foreign 
policy, and for the next 2 years, I will conduct it with all the--with 
all my soul and with all my might, because I believe it is in the best 
interests of the United States of America.
    Here at home the most important thing the Government can do is to 
create the conditions for the entrepreneurial spirit to flourish. Oh, I 
know they don't talk too much about it, but I am--and that's the 
economy. And it's cooking, and we intend to keep it that way. We believe 
government doesn't create wealth but the environment in which

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small businesses can grow to be big businesses, an environment where 
people can realize their dreams. And the best way for the Federal 
Government to create that environment is to cut taxes and to keep them 
low, which is precisely what we did.
    If the Congress wants to continue this economic vitality, the best 
gesture they can make is to make the tax cuts we passed permanent. Oh, I 
know you'll hear them say up here in Washington, ``Well, you cannot 
balance the budget unless you raises the taxes on the American people.'' 
We're proving them wrong. I set the goal of cutting the deficit in half 
in a 5-year period of time, and we exceeded that goal by 3 years. You 
know why? Because when the economy is strong, it yields more tax 
revenues for the U.S. Treasury. And so when you combine that with fiscal 
austerity, we're on our way to balancing the budget. And I just 
submitted a budget to the United States Congress that says, we'll 
balance the budget in 5 years, so long as they keep taxes low to keep 
the economy going and they're wise about how we spend your money.
    We've got a slight problem up here, what's called earmarks. And I 
intend to do something about it, and I intend to work with Congress to 
do something about it. An earmark is a special-interest item. It gets 
stuck into one of these appropriations bills. A lot of times they never 
even see the light of day. In other words, they don't debate them; they 
don't vote on them; they just show up on my desk. Those days have got to 
end if we're going to make sure we're wise about how we spend your 
money. You know what Congress needs to do? They need to give me the same 
power these--many of these Governors have, and that's the line-item 
veto.
    I'm looking forward to working with both Republicans and Democrats 
on doing something about Social Security and Medicare. It's tough--it's 
tough political work up here to do that. A lot of people don't want to 
deal with that issue. My advice and my call is for people to bring their 
ideas to the table. Come to the table with how best to save a generation 
from high taxes or reduced benefits. You bring your ideas to the table, 
and so will I, and we'll see if we can't do something good for the 
American people, set aside politics and solve the Social Security issue 
once and for all.
    I'm looking to working with my friends, the Governors, on health 
care. I believe some of the most innovative ideas on health care are 
being proposed by our Governors. Michael Leavitt, who is head of HHS, is 
asking Congress to give affordable grants--in other words, the 
flexibility of that Federal money we're spending in the States so that 
these Governors can design programs all aimed at making sure our 
uninsured can afford private insurance. And I emphasize ``private 
insurance.'' Some in Washington believe the best way to solve the health 
care issue is for the Federal Government to solve it. I don't believe 
that. I believe the best solution in health care is to empower consumers 
to make choices. The best way to do that at the State level is to have 
flexibility in Federal funding so they can design programs for basic 
health insurance, coupled with this reform: I believe that there ought 
to be a $15,000 standard deduction--if you're married--off your income 
taxes and payroll taxes to help you afford insurance.
    If you're working uninsured or if you're working for a small 
business who has no health insurance, you pay with after-tax dollars, 
and if you work for a corporation, you can get your insurance free, and 
that is unfair. The Tax Code needs to be reformed.
    Congress needs to pass association health plans to let small 
businesses pool risk across jurisdictional boundaries so our small-
business owners can better afford health insurance. We need to continue 
to promote health savings accounts. We need medical liability reform in 
Washington, DC, to keep good docs in the practice and keep the cost of 
medicine reasonable. We need information technology. In all I'm telling 
you, the best policy for health care is to make sure that it's doctors 
and patients making the decisions, not bureaucrats and insurance 
companies.
    I'm looking forward to working with our Governors on No Child Left 
Behind. That bill comes up for reauthorization in Congress, and Congress 
needs to reauthorize it, and here's why. I believe strongly States ought 
to have flexibility. I believe strongly in local control of schools. But 
I believe in

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setting high standards for children, and I believe it is important to 
measure to determine whether or not our children can read and write and 
add and subtract early. And if they can't, there ought to be special 
help. And when they do, we ought to thank our teachers and thank our 
Governors and thank the legislature for adequately funding education. 
But one thing we can't do is we can't leave children behind by just 
guessing whether or not they're learning. The best policies are to 
measure, and when we find schools that will not change, then we've got 
to give parents different choices so that no child is left behind in the 
United States of America.

    We need an immigration policy that holds the values of the United 
States of America. We'll enforce our borders, but we need more than 
that. We need a temporary-worker program that will enable willing 
workers to do jobs Americans are not doing, so that we can get the 
pressure off the border and uphold the values of the United States of 
America.

    I can keep going--[laughter]--but Laura is giving me the hook.

    I do want to talk about one other subject, though, before I leave, 
and that is energy. This country--and that's going to sound odd for a 
Texan to say--this country is too dependent on oil, and we need to do 
something about it right now. You see, dependency on energy from foreign 
sources is a national security problem. Sometimes we get that oil from 
countries that don't like us. Dependency on oil is a economic problem. 
When a country like China demands more oil, relative supply, the price 
of crude oil goes up and so does the price of gasoline at the pump. 
Dependency on oil means we're not being good stewards of the 
environment. And therefore, we have spent $12 billion thus far in my 
Presidency to promote new technologies to enable us to say, we're 
becoming less dependent on oil.

    And I want to share with you a novel idea I threw out for the 
Congress and asked for their passing. I believe that we can reduce the 
gasoline we use by 20 percent over the next 10 years. And I believe we 
can do so by promoting hybrid batteries and ethanol. And so I laid out a 
mandatory fuel standard of 35 billion gallons of alternative fuels by 
2017. It is a bold initiative; it is a necessary initiative; and it's a 
practical initiative because of the technological advances this country 
is going to make.

    We can only feed--we can only fuel our automobiles with so much 
ethanol from corn; after a while the hog growers begin to get nervous 
when that price of corn gets up. And so, therefore, we're spending a lot 
of your money, and so is the private sector, on developing ways to make 
ethanol out of wood chips or switch grass or agricultural refuse. The 
whole purpose is for this Congress to work with this administration to 
make the difficult decisions now to fund technologies that will enable 
us to say that we're less dependent on oil, we're better stewards of the 
environment, and we're conscious about our national security. And that 
day is coming.

    Good policy drives good politics. And the best policy is based upon 
solid principles--principles like the marketplace, principles like low 
taxes, principles like trusting people to spend their money, principles 
like a strong national defense is necessary to protect generations that 
are coming, principles like the power of freedom to make the world a 
better place. I'm looking forward to working with the United States 
Congress on principled policy.

    I've got to tell you, I'm really optimistic about our country. I 
believe our future is a bright future. And the reason I do is because I 
know the character and nature of our citizens. We're a decent land, a 
courageous land, and a compassionate land, and it is my honor to be the 
President of such a fine group of people.

    Thanks for coming, and may God bless you.

Note: The President spoke at 6:50 p.m. at the National Building Museum. 
In his remarks, he referred to former Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida; Gov. 
Arnold Schwarzenegger of California; Gov. Sonny Perdue of Georgia; Gov. 
Matt Blunt of Missouri; and Lt. Gen. David H. Petraeus, USA, commanding 
general, Multi-National Force--Iraq.

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