[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 43, Number 11 (Monday, March 19, 2007)]
[Pages 338-342]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at the National Republican Congressional Committee Dinner

March 15, 2007

    Thank you all. Please be seated. Thanks for the warm welcome. I had 
the honor of representing our great country over the past week in five 
different countries in our neighborhood--but I must tell you, it sure is 
good to be home. And it sure is good to be with you all. I'm proud to be 
standing with strong leaders like John Boehner and Roy Blunt. I thank 
you all for recognizing that it's in the best interest of the United 
States of America that John Boehner become the next Speaker of the House 
of Representatives.
    Some of you may not know about my early political career--I ran for 
the United States Congress in 1978 in west Texas. I came in second 
place--in a two-man race. [Laughter] The campaign obviously didn't turn 
out the way I hoped it would, but things worked out okay in the end. The 
key is to learn from

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every election and to come back stronger. And with your help, that's 
exactly what we're going to do in 2008.
    I appreciate the character of the men and women on the Republican 
side of the United States House of Representatives. I've gotten to know 
them well over the last 6-plus years. But tonight I think it's 
appropriate we remember the life of a good man and a devoted public 
servant, Congressman Charlie Norwood. He fought lung cancer; he's in our 
thoughts and prayers; and we send our very best to Gloria and their 
family.
    I appreciate the fact that you invited Laura, John. It's a smart 
move to invite her--actually, she was Boehner's first choice. [Laughter] 
She is still traveling, but she sends her love and her respect. I know 
I'm not very objective, but I firmly believe Laura, in all due respect 
to my mother, is the finest First Lady our country has ever had. Well, 
mom was pretty good too--mom was pretty good too. She's still telling me 
what to do, for all you mothers out there.
    I want to thank Congressman Tom Cole, who is the chairman of the 
NRCC. I've known Tom a long time. He comes from right north of Texas. 
The NRCC has got one competent, smart, able person in Tom Cole, and I 
appreciate you serving, Tom. I really thank Devin Nunes, from 
California, for his leadership in this dinner tonight. Devin, it's good 
to see you; thank you for being here. I know I mentioned his name once; 
I'm going to mention it again, the House Republican whip, Roy Blunt from 
Missouri, is doing a fine job. I appreciate you, Roy. I'm proud to be 
with Cantor, Putnam, Granger, McCotter, Carter, and all the rest of the 
Members of the House of Representatives. Thanks for coming; appreciate 
you being here.
    But most of all, thank you all for supporting this good group of 
folks. Obviously, it takes support like yours to get us back in the 
majority, but it also takes good ideas and takes people who are willing 
to stand on principle; people not driven by polls or focus groups, but 
people who stand for what they believe no matter what the critics may 
say. We believe in a strong national defense. We believe in less 
government and lower taxes. And we believe that government ought to 
trust the American people to make the best decisions for their lives.
    Ours is an optimistic agenda, and ours is a realistic agenda. And by 
pushing good ideas and standing strong for what's right, I believe that 
we can retake the Senate and the House and hold the White House in 2008.
    The biggest challenge we face is to protect the American people from 
harm. You know, I recognize that after September the 11th, it would be 
easy for our Nation to let down its guard. I knew that the farther we 
got away from that tragic event, the more likely scenario would be that 
people would say, ``Well, maybe the enemy is not there.'' And frankly, 
that's okay. It's not okay, however, if your Federal Government forgets 
their responsibility. And I just want you to know that every day, I 
think about and my administration thinks about our most important task, 
and that is to defend you. And the best way to do so is to stay on the 
offense and defeat the enemy overseas so we do not have to face them 
here at home.
    We are chasing down the enemy by using good intelligence and by 
deploying some of the finest citizens our country has ever produced. And 
we will defeat the enemy in the long term by defeating their hateful 
ideology with an ideology of hope, based upon the universal concept of 
liberty.
    This war on terror is fought on many fronts: in Afghanistan; in 
places like the Philippines; and around the globe. But the central front 
in this war--the central front, and our need to protect the American 
people, is being fought in Iraq. We're pursuing a new strategy in Iraq, 
a plan that demands more from Iraq's Government; a plan that brings 
security to Baghdad, as our top priority; and a plan that gives our 
troops the reinforcements they need to carry out their mission.
    In Washington, we also have important decisions to make on Iraq. And 
the most pivotal question is whether the United States Congress will 
stand behind our new commander, General David Petraeus, and give our 
commanders the flexibility they need to do their jobs and our troops the 
support they need to carry out their mission.
    Next week, the House will begin debate on an emergency war spending 
bill. Some

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in the Congress are using this bill as an opportunity to micromanage our 
military commanders or to force a precipitous withdrawal in Iraq or 
threaten vital funding for Iraqi security forces and fund projects that 
have nothing to do with the war on terror. I believe the Members of 
Congress are sincere when they support our troops. And now is the time 
for them to show that support. Our men and women in uniform are risking 
their lives, and they need the firm support of the United States 
Congress.
    Today the United States Senate wisely rejected a resolution that 
would have placed an artificial timetable on our mission in Iraq. And I 
thank the Republicans and Democrats who voted down that resolution. Many 
of those Members know what I know, that if American forces were to step 
back from Baghdad now, before the capital city is more secure, the scale 
and scope of attacks would increase and intensify; a contagion of 
violence could spill out across the entire country and, in time, the 
entire region. The enemy would emerge from the chaos emboldened, with 
new safe havens and new recruits and new resources and an even greater 
determination to harm the United States of America. If we were to leave 
Iraq before the job is done, the enemy would follow us to the United 
States of America, and we're not going to let it happen.
    We've got work to do to make sure this economy continues to stay 
strong. Our principle is that if we trust you with your money, if the 
American people have more of their own money to save and spend and 
invest, the economy flourishes. And so we cut the taxes on the American 
people. We cut taxes for everybody who pays taxes in America. And our 
plan is working--this economy of the United States is strong.
    America--not government, but America--has created more than 7.5 
million jobs in the past 3\1/2\ years. Unemployment is low; inflation is 
low; wages are rising. This economy is on the move, and the best way to 
keep it moving is to make the tax cuts we passed permanent.
    Oh, I know you'll hear the argument here that you've got to raise 
taxes to balance the budget, but we're proving them wrong. I set a goal 
that we would cut the deficit in half in 5 years; we completed that goal 
years ahead of schedule. Why? Because when the economy grows, tax 
revenues increase. And the other reason why is because I worked with 
Republican leaders to bring fiscal sanity to the United States Congress. 
The best way to balance the budget is to grow the economy and not 
overspend the people's money. So I'm looking forward to working with 
John and Roy and the other Members of the House to pass a budget that 
can eliminate the Federal deficit within the next 5 years without 
raising taxes on the American people.
    We need to come together to solve hard problems. One of the hardest 
problems in Washington is to reform Social Security and Medicare. There 
are a lot of baby boomers, like me, getting ready to retire. As a matter 
of fact, my retirement age of 62 is right around the corner, which will 
be a convenient time. [Laughter] And there are a lot of people like me. 
There are a lot of baby boomers who have been promised greater benefits 
than the previous generation, but the problem is, there are fewer people 
paying into the system and the system cannot be sustained.
    My attitude--now is the time for Republicans and Democrats to come 
together, to put their ideas on the table, to reform Social Security and 
Medicare to save a future generation from onerous taxes. Now is the time 
to act; now is the time to put politics aside; and now is the time to do 
the hard work the people of the United States of America expect us to 
do.
    We believe strongly that this country needs to remain competitive so 
that we can remain the economic leader in the world. And one of the best 
ways to remain competitive is to make sure our youngsters get a good, 
sound education. I believe strongly in local control of schools, but I 
also believe in raising standards and holding schools accountable for 
achieving results.
    I don't see how you can solve a problem unless you diagnose a 
problem. And that's precisely the spirit behind the No Child Left Behind 
Act. Because we're measuring and because we're holding people to 
standards, test scores are rising all across the United States of 
America. We're getting better test

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scores in reading and math, and most importantly of all, our minority 
students are beginning to close the achievement gap. The No Child Left 
Behind Act is working, and the United States Congress needs to 
reauthorize that good piece of legislation.
    We believe that dependency on oil from overseas is a national 
security and economic security risk. You see, when you import a lot of 
oil from parts of the world that may not care for the United States of 
America, that's a national security risk. Or when you import a lot of 
oil from parts of the world where supply could be disrupted by a 
terrorist attack, that is a national security risk. We live in a global 
world, and as demand for crude oil rises in emerging economies like 
China and India, it causes the price of crude oil to go up, which raises 
the price of gasoline for you. And therefore, reliance upon oil is an 
economic security risk. And therefore, I look forward to continuing to 
work with the United States Congress to diversify our way out of 
dependency on oil.
    And we're making good progress. We have got a comprehensive policy 
to do so. We believe in nuclear power. We believe in clean coal 
technology. We believe in solar and wind energy. And we believe in 
spending taxpayers' money to develop technologies that will change the 
way we--change how we power automobiles. We're spending a lot of your 
money to develop new batteries so that within a short period of time, 
there will be plug-in hybrid batteries--which means if you're living in 
a city, you can drive the first 20 miles on electricity and not on 
gasoline. And I also strongly believe that it makes sense to empower our 
farmers to grow crops that can be converted into energy, like ethanol 
and biodiesel.
    We're on the verge of important technological breakthroughs here in 
America, technological breakthroughs that will enable a future President 
and future Congresses to say, ``We have done our duty for national 
security reasons, for economic security reasons--all of which, as well, 
will enable us to be better stewards of our environment.''
    We have got an issue with health care in the United States of 
America. If you're running a small business, you understand the 
pressures you feel as a result of growing health care costs. But I 
caution you in this debate to remember, there is a philosophical divide 
in Washington between those who believe that government is the best 
provider of health care and those of us who believe that the best 
decisionmakers for health care are the providers and the patients.
    Government has got a responsibility to the poor, and we're meeting 
that responsibility. We've got a responsibility to the elderly. And 
thanks to the leadership of people like John Boehner and Roy Blunt, we 
modernized Medicare by doing something unusual in medicine--we actually 
interjected marketplace forces; we included the marketplace. We said, 
our seniors should be allowed to make choices about what's best for 
them. Costs projected for Medicare are lower than expected. The market 
works. And the reforms we passed for Medicare are good, solid reforms 
for America's seniors.
    We've got a strong record to run on, and we're going to make it 
stronger by passing association health plans. If you're a small 
business, you should be allowed to pool risk across jurisdictional 
boundaries so you can buy insurance at the same discount that larger 
companies are able to buy insurance.
    We believe strongly in health savings accounts, which empowers 
consumers to shop in the marketplace for--to meet their health care 
needs. But we also understand that there must be transparency in health 
care for pricing and quality. We strongly believe in interjecting 
information technologies into health care--all aimed to hold down the 
cost of health care without inviting more government into your lives.
    And finally, if you're interested in controlling health care costs 
and if you want to make sure health care is available, elect people who 
will vote for medical liability reform. There are too many lawsuits 
running too many good doctors out of practice in America.
    I'm looking forward to working with the United States Congress on an 
idea that we put forward that will make private health insurance more 
affordable and more accessible to more of our citizens, and that is to 
change the Tax Code. I believe strongly that we ought to create a 
standard tax deduction for

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health insurance like the standard tax deduction for dependents. A 
family with health insurance would get a $15,000 deduction from incoming 
payroll taxes, whether they buy coverage on their own or get it from 
their employer. If you're single, you get a $7,500 deduction. The whole 
purpose of the plan is to level the playing field to give those who buy 
insurance on their own the same tax advantage as those who get insurance 
through their jobs.
    I know I'm not talking to Senators here--[laughter]--but I do want 
to assure you all that I will continue to fulfill my obligation to put 
people on our benches who will strictly interpret the law and not 
legislate from the bench.
    We've got a full agenda, and we're working well together. Ours is an 
agenda based upon solid philosophy that we don't need more government, 
but we need more trust in the American people. Ours is an agenda that 
says, if you have more of your own money, the country benefits. And ours 
is an agenda that recognizes our primary responsibility is to stay 
steady and focused and defeat the enemy of the United States of America 
and leave behind a more secure America for generations to come.
    The greatest honor of being the President is to represent a group of 
decent, honorable folks. And those are the people of the United States. 
I cannot tell you what a joy it is to travel our country and to meet 
quiet, compassionate people who, on a daily basis, love their neighbor 
just like they'd like to be loved themselves.
    Oftentimes, I'm asked to define the strength of the country--and, 
sure, our military is strong, and we're going to keep it that way; and, 
yes, our wallets are fat, and hopefully, they get fatter for all of us. 
But the great strength of the United States of America, the true 
strength of this country is the fact that there are millions of fellow 
citizens who, on a daily basis, reach out to somebody in need; they 
reach out to say, ``How can I help you, brother? What can I do to make 
your life better?'' People who say, ``If you need a little love in your 
life, you can count on me.'' This country is changing one heart and one 
soul and one body at a time because we've got millions of our fellow 
citizens who love our country and love their neighbors.
    I'm optimistic about this country. You've got to know something 
about your President: I am some kind of optimistic about where we're 
headed. We're a great nation, and we intend to keep it that way. And I 
thank you for your help.
    May God bless you. May God bless your families. And may God bless 
the United States of America.

Note: The President spoke at 6:39 p.m. at the Washington Hilton Hotel. 
In his remarks, he referred to Gloria Norwood, wife of former 
Representative Charles W. Norwood, Jr.; and Gen. David H. Petraeus, USA, 
commanding general, Multi-National Force--Iraq.