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Skriven 2005-06-02 23:33:08 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (050602e) for Thu, 2005 Jun 2
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President's Remarks at Talent for Senate Dinner
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For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
June 2, 2005

President's Remarks at Talent for Senate Dinner
The Millennium Hotel St. Louis
St. Louis, Missouri



6:05 P.M. CDT

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all for coming. (Applause.) Thanks for the warm
welcome. Please be seated. (Applause.) My arm still hurts from the last
time -- or one of the last times I came to St. Louis. I tried to fire a
90-mile-an-hour fast ball on opening day -- (laughter) -- got up there
about 60, maybe. (Laughter.) But I love coming to your town. Thanks for
having me. Thank you all, those of you who have traveled -- (applause) -- I
want to thank those of you who traveled from outside this great city of St.
Louis to come to support Talent.

The "Show Me State" -- my attitude is, show me a good senator and I'm going
to back him. And we've got a great senator in Jim Talent. (Applause.) I
appreciate his spirit; I appreciate his working with the White House. He's
an independent enough guy to tell us if we're not doing right. In other
words, he is the kind of person you want from a state of strong,
independent people -- tough, principled, unwilling to yield when he stands
for -- when he believes he's correct. And that's the way Jim Talent is.
Every time I'm with him he's always talking about the citizens of Missouri.
I say, what about Texas? He says, well, they're all right down there.
(Laughter.)

So I'm proud to stand here with him. And I think the people of Missouri
will be wise to send this good man back to the United States Senate.
(Applause.)

And Talent married well. (Laughter.) Brenda, I appreciate you being here.
(Applause.) It's good to meet your mother-in-law. It's a smart thing to
bring the mother-in-law through the photo op line. (Laughter.) Not only is
he a good senator, he's a smart son-in-law. (Laughter.) I was also thrilled
to meet Michael and Kate and Chrissy, Jim and Brenda's children. See,
what's important to the Talents is putting their family first. That's what
I like about Jim Talent. He's got his priorities absolutely straight --
faith, family, and the United States of America. (Applause.)

He married well, and so did I. And Laura sends her love to all our friends
here in Missouri. (Applause.) You might have noticed that she's become
quite a comedian. (Laughter.) More importantly, she's a great First Lady. I
was proud of her trip recently to the Middle East. She's sending a strong
message as part of the freedom movement, and that is, you can't be free
unless women have a free role in society. (Applause.) So not only is she a
great comedian, she's a great diplomat. But more importantly, she's a
wonderful mother, wonderful wife, and a great First Lady for the United
States. (Applause.)

And I want to thank the senior Senator -- that's appropriate to call you
senior, but you are a little older than Talent, at least. (Laughter.) Kit
Bond has served this state with great distinction for a long time. He's a
great friend and a great man. I appreciate you being here, Kit, and his
wife, Linda Bond. (Applause.)

And I'm proud of your Governor. It still amazes me that you are old enough
to meet the age requirement. (Laughter.) He's the youngest-looking governor
in America. It turns out he's a young-looking man who can a lot done. And I
appreciate your leadership in the Statehouse, Matt. Good job. (Applause.)
And the Lt. Governor is with us, Pete Kinder. I've known Pete a long time,
and I appreciate your serving, Pete, and joining Matt and making this state
be all that it can be.

I want to thank Congressman Kenny Hulshof, as well, and his wife, Renee.
Kenny is a bright star in the House of Representatives from the great state
of Missouri. I love talking to Kenny. He's a thoughtful fellow. Every time
I see him he says, "soybeans." (Laughter and applause.)

I thank Mike Gibbons, and his wife, Liz. Mike is the State Senate President
Pro Tem. I want to thank Rod Jetton, the Speaker of the Statehouse, and his
wife, Cassie. Thank you all for coming. I want to thank all of you all who
serve.

Somebody told me they thought Ambassador Danforth would be here tonight. I
hope so. I do want to say that he represented our country so well -- Jack,
thanks for coming and thanks for serving. (Applause.) Thanks for serving so
admirably in the United Nations. As well, thanks for taking on a tough
assignment. I asked Jack Danforth from the state of Missouri to help
resolve the Sudan civil war, the conflict between north and south. And,
unfortunately, Darfur has obscured the great progress that Ambassador
Danforth made on behalf of -- on behalf of peace. And when it's all said
and done, Jack, your contribution to helping solve that problem will go
down in history as one of the great humanitarian gestures by our country,
led ably by you. Thank you, sir. (Applause.)

I want to thank all the folks who helped put on this fundraiser. It's an
incredibly successful evening and -- which speaks not only to your hard
work, but also to the admiration that your Senator has earned by the people
of Missouri.

We got a lot to do in Washington. One of the things I like about Talent is
he understands that our job in Washington is to confront problems, not pass
them on to future Congresses. In my case, to confront problems and not pass
them on to future Presidents. That's our job. That's what the American
people expect from those of us who have been elected. And we've got some
problems we got to solve.

Now, we dealt with one of our problems, and that is our economy. We had
some tough times for a while because of the enemy attack and the down cycle
of our economy. I don't know if you know this or not, but the last two
years we've added over 3.5 million new jobs. More Americans are working
today in our country than in the nation's history. (Applause.) And I
appreciate the fact that Jim understands we can't rest, that the job of
government isn't to create the wealth, but an environment in which people
are willing to risk capital; an environment in which there's a reasonable
chance for America to stay competitive in the world.

And one way to do that is to make sure we finally get an energy policy out
of the United States Congress. When I first got to Washington I recognized
that our country was too dependent on foreign sources of energy. And so I
went to the Congress and said, here is a strategy that will encourage more
conservation; a strategy that will use research and development dollars to
make it more likely we'll have more renewable sources of energy; a strategy
that says we can explore for oil and gas in environmentally friendly ways
in America; a strategy that recognizes we need to use nuclear power; a
strategy that says we need clean coal technology; a strategy that says we
can use soybeans to refine biodiesel. It's a smart strategy. (Applause.)

But it's been stuck. There's too much politics in Washington, D.C. It's
been stuck. They got it out of the House, and thanks to Jim Talent's
leadership, and Kit Bond's leadership, they're going to get a good bill off
the Senate floor, I'm going to sign a bill. For the sake of national
security and for the sake of economic security, Congress needs to get me a
good energy bill by the recess -- by the summer recess break this year.
(Applause.)

Jim Talent knows what I know: Smart policy will enable us to grow out of
our hydrocarbon society, which we're going to have to do. I went to a
refinery in Virginia the other day -- it's an unusual kind of refinery;
it's a refinery that refines biodiesel -- and saw a new Cat engine that can
burn a hundred percent biodiesel with no exhaust. See, technology is going
to enable us to diversify away from our old habits, which will be good for
our country, good for our economy. And the United States Congress can help
that diversification process through wise policy. Jim Talent understands
that, and I'm going to keep pushing hard to make sure the rest of the
United States senators understand that. (Applause.)

I appreciate the fact that we passed a good, tough budget out of the United
States Senate. I hope you appreciate that, as well. We've got to show the
people of this country that we can be wise about how we spend your money.
Notice I didn't say the government's money -- how we spend your taxpayers'
money. And so I said to them, here's a way to cut our deficit in half, meet
our priorities, but it requires fiscal discipline. And I want to thank Jim
Talent for his understanding that you can't be all things to all people
when it comes time to spending the taxpayers' money. You have to set
priorities; you have to have goals; and you must show fiscal discipline.

We passed a good budget. I'm looking forward to working with this good
Senator to make sure the appropriation process stays stuck to the budget.

I'm also working on Social Security -- for a reason. The reason is that
there is a huge problem looming for a younger set of Americans. I just came
from Hopkinsville, Kentucky -- Hopkington, [sic] Kentucky, and I told the
people there what I've been telling folks all across the country, that if
you get your check, you have nothing to worry about. I mean, the Social
Security system is just fine for people receiving their check. But because
baby boomers like me are getting ready to retire -- see, my retirement age
shows up at 2008 -- (laughter) -- which is a convenient year. (Laughter.)
But the problem for younger workers is more than just me retiring; there's
a whole slew of us called baby boomers. As a matter of fact, about 73
million of us are set to retire.

To put that in perspective, there's something like 42 million retirees
today. And I don't know about the rest of you baby boomers here, but I plan
on living longer than the previous generation. As a matter of fact, I'm
trying to exercise on a daily basis so that I do live longer. And not only
that, but we have been promised greater benefits than the previous
generation. So you got a lot of baby boomers living longer, getting greater
benefits, with fewer people paying into the system.

In 1950 -- I don't know if you know this, or not -- but 16 workers paid for
every retiree. Today there's 3.3 workers paying for every retiree. Soon
there will be 2 workers paying for every retiree. So we got a problem,
folks. It's not a problem for people who receive their check; it's a
problem for people coming up. It's a problem not for the grandparents, but
the grandchildren.

And so I think now it's time to do something about it. And so does Jim
Talent. And I've laid out some proposals. One of them is, why don't we just
slow down the growth rate of benefits for some of the wealthier citizens.
Their benefits will grow, but not quite as fast as Congress of the past
thought they ought to grow. It's called progressive indexing, which, by the
way, will get most of the problem solved.

I also think younger workers ought to be allowed to take some of their own
payroll tax and set up in a voluntary personal savings account. You know
why? Right now the government gets a whopping 1.8 percent on your money
when we hold it in the payroll tax. With a conservative mix of bonds and
stocks, you can get at least 4.5 percent. You compound that difference over
time, somebody is going to have a pretty sizable nest egg they can call
their own. (Applause.)

The reason I like Jim Talent is because he wants to promote an ownership
society in America. He and I reject this business about the investor class
only pertains to a certain group of people. We believe everybody in this
country ought to own assets. We believe everybody ought to have the ability
to pass on their assets to whomever they choose. We know that when you own
something you have a vital stake in the future of the United States of
America. Now is the time to not only fix Social Security for generations to
come, but to make Social Security a better deal for all Americans.
(Applause.)

And when we get that done we're going to reform the tax code. (Laughter and
applause.) I put together a group of Democrats and Republicans to make some
recommendations. I'm looking forward to seeing what those recommendations
are. But I'll tell you one thing: I know I will have a strong ally in Jim
Talent in making sure the tax code is more fair, is less large, and
accomplishes the mission, and that is to collect revenues for our
government in a fair, honest way.

Do you realize that -- I read a report the other day where some person
estimated from the IRS that there's about $325 billion a year in people
avoiding taxes. That just isn't right. And part of it has to do with the
complexities of the tax code. For the sake of an economy that grows, and
for the sake of a better America, we've got to reform the tax code of the
United States, and we will. (Applause.)

I've got a good ally in Jim Talent when it comes to legal reform. One sure
way to make sure this country isn't competitive is to allow these frivolous
and junk lawsuits to continue to plague people who are trying to run
businesses. We got too many lawsuits in America, plain and simple.
(Applause.) I want to congratulate Matt for getting good legal reform out
of the legislature. We got to do the same thing in Washington. We got a
good class-action reform bill out, and I want to thank Jim for his work on
that. I think we're going to get an asbestos bill out here pretty quick,
which would be good news. Got a good bankruptcy bill out.

We need one other bill that's really important. You know, when I went to
Washington, I said, well, most of these legal matters can be solved at the
state level -- until I began to look at the effect on the federal budget of
these junk and frivolous lawsuits against docs. Because of these lawsuits,
doctors either get run out of business, or the premiums go up, which cost
you or the taxpayers more money, or they practice defensive medicine in
order to stay out of the courts. It's estimated that these lawsuits cost
the federal government about $28 billion a year. That's a lot -- even for
all the money we spend, that's a lot. (Laughter.) And it's not necessary.
We want people to have their day in court if they get injured by a lousy
doc; but we got to do something about these frivolous lawsuits.

I proposed a good piece of legislation that's now stuck in the United
States Senate. Jim Talent is a strong backer for medical liability reform
at the federal level, and I want to thank him for his support. (Applause.)

I remember when Jim ran for the Senate, he said he would be Missouri's
health care Senator, and he has kept that promise. We worked together to
strengthen Medicare by giving seniors more choices, and by modernizing the
system to include a prescription drug benefit. Talent understood what I
know -- what kind of system is it where we pay for surgery from a heart
attack, but not the medicine to prevent the surgery from being needed in
the first place? It was an antiquated, outdated system that needed market
incentives in the program and needed to be brought up to date for the sake
of our seniors. The Medicare bill that Jim helped pass out of the United
States Senate is a good piece of legislation that will mean better quality
of life for our seniors in America. (Applause.)

And finally, an issue I know is dear to his heart is association health
plans. You know, too many small businesses can't afford health insurance
for their employees. And there's a practical way to deal with the problem,
and that is to allow small businesses to pool risk across jurisdictional
boundaries so they can buy insurance at the same discounts that big
companies get to do. It is a sensible approach to helping deal with health
care costs. It makes a lot of sense. Talent is the author of that idea on
the Senate floor, and I look forward to working with him to get association
health care plans past. And I want to thank you for your leadership on that
issue. (Applause.)

There's a lot of issues that we could be talking about here, and he said,
when I got up here, he said, make sure you keep it relatively short, these
people paid a lot of money. (Laughter.) I do want to talk about a couple of
other things, though. Because of Jim Talent's leadership and steadfast
support, our party will continue to support faith-based and community
groups as a way to help heal hurt in America.

You know, I gave a speech the other day at Calvin College and I talked
about Alexis de Tocqueville. He had interesting observations about America
in 1832. He talked about the strength of America being in the souls of our
citizens, and that people were able to find -- find great comfort and
solace and strength through civic organizations, voluntary organizations
where people come together to help heal the hurts of society. That was true
in 1832, and it's darn sure true today in 2005. The strength of this
country lies in the hearts and souls of our citizens. And the federal
government should not fear -- should not fear -- the presence of faith to
help deal with social problems, as a matter of fact, ought to welcome faith
programs and to help deal with social problems. (Applause.)

I appreciate Jim's willingness to join me in promoting a culture of life in
America. I want to thank Jim for helping defend the institution of marriage
from being redefined by activist judges. (Applause.) And speaking about
judges -- (laughter) -- I want to thank both Senators from Missouri for
understanding that every nominee a President sends up must have a fair
hearing in the Judiciary Committee, an expeditious hearing in the Judiciary
Committee, and then an up or down vote on the floor of the United States
Senate. (Applause.)

I nominated a fantastic woman named Priscilla Owen over four years ago to
the bench, 5th Court. She's a fantastic lady, tops in her law school class.
In our state you got to run for Supreme Court, and she ran for Supreme
Court, got endorsed by Republicans and Democrats, won something like 80
percent of the state -- because she's a great judge. For four long years
her nomination was held up for pure partisan reasons. Four years, and
finally, as a result of never giving up and being steadfast and strong, she
got her vote. I want to thank Senators Talent and Bond for supporting this
great woman. (Applause.)

We got another confirmation that needs to get done, too. It's time for the
United States Senate to stop playing pure politics, stall politics, and
give John Bolton an up or down vote on the Senate floor. (Applause.) People
look at the government and say, what's going on with all this
filibustering? Why can't people come together and do what's right for the
country? Listen, the United Nations needs reform, and I've got a man who
can go up there and reform it. And John Bolton needs a vote. People are
tired of this. And I appreciate the folks in Missouri sending a strong
message to Washington, focus on the people's business, stop playing
politics, get something done for the good of the country. And that's the
attitude Jim Talent brings to the Senate floor, and I appreciate that a
lot. (Applause.)

Jim Talent also understands the war on terror goes on. He's a strong,
strong supporter of our military. And I want to thank you for that. You
know, we have a duty to make sure these troops get the best possible
equipment and the best possible training. And we're fulfilling that
obligation. You know, our strategy is clear on the war on terror; we're
going to find them overseas so we don't have to find them -- face them here
at home. We will defeat them there in order to protect the homeland. The
only way to defend America is to stay on the offense against these people,
and that's exactly what the United States of America will continue to do.
(Applause.)

There are two ways to stay on the offense. One is through good intelligence
and good movement of troops and good work with the allies. And there's
another way to stay on the offense against the terrorists, and that's to
spread freedom. There's nothing that frightens these ideological killers
more than democracy. It scares them a lot. They can't survive in a
democracy. They can survive in places where tyrants have discouraged hope,
suppressed people. They can't survive in an open society. See, they can't
stand the light of freedom.

And so our strategy is twofold: One, we'll be tough as heck and stay on the
offense. But we will also have great faith in the capacity of freedom to
transform hateful societies to hopeful societies; to transform the
conditions that create hate to the conditions that create hope. And that's
what you're seeing around the world. It's a fantastic period in American
history.

If you've got young children, I hope you explain to them what they're
seeing. Think about the people in Afghanistan. It wasn't all that long ago
that those poor people lived under the barbaric clutches of the Taliban.
These people were so barbaric that young girls weren't even allowed to go
to school, and if their mothers dared speak out, they were taken to the
public square and whipped.

We liberated Afghanistan for our own sake. Remember, Afghanstan was the
home of al Qaeda and its training camps. I laid out a doctrine that said,
if you harbor a terrorist, you're as guilty as the terrorists. And we told
the Taliban to get rid of al Qaeda and they wouldn't do it, and so it's
important that when you say something, you mean it. It's important that
when you say you're going to do it, that you go ahead and do it, for the
sake of peace. And we did. But as importantly, 25 million people were
liberated in Afghanistan. It's fantastic to think about that. (Applause.)

I've had a lot of friends go over to Afghanistan and Karen Hughes was there
early on after the liberation, and she went again. And Laura has been over.
And they say that the change is noticeable, life is coming back and people
are excited. I'll tell you a great American story. My barber was raised in
Afghanistan. And she came over here to -- there was a revolution or civil
war, or whatever you want to call it, and she decided to stay in America;
raised her three kids here, and used her great talents and enthusiasm for
her country to raise money to build two schools. Think about that. What
kind of a country is it where you got a barber to the President working
hard, using her influence and her contacts and her friends to raise money
-- quite a bit of money, by the way -- to build schools in a faraway
country -- spectacular country that encourages compassion not only at home,
but abroad. Afghanistan is changing for the better. And is does, the world
will be more peaceful.

Listen, we got rid of Saddam Hussein in Iraq. Saddam Hussein was a threat
to peace. (Applause.) Iraq is changing. I'm sure you were amazed, as was
much of the world, at the 8.5 million people who defied the car bombers and
the killers and the suiciders to say as loud as they possibly can, you will
not prevent us from voting and exercising our rights as free citizens. What
a spectacular moment in history. (Applause.)

And now we're standing with the government as they struggle against these
suiciders. But they're getting there. And our mission is clear there, as
well, and that is to train the Iraqis so they can do the fighting; make
sure they can stand up to defend their freedoms, which they want to do. And
then our troops are coming home, with the honor they earned. And the world
will be better off with a free Iraq and a free Afghanistan in the broader
Middle East.

Ukraine had a freedom revolution; Lebanon is now having a freedom
revolution. Listen, freedom is on the march. And the role of the United
States of America is to stand with freedom lovers and reformers and
believers in the power of democracy. And when we do so, and as we do so,
we'll leave a foundation of peace behind for our children and
grandchildren.

We're living in a fantastic period in world history. And I want to thank
Jim Talent for understanding the great opportunities America has to leave
the world a better place for generations coming up.

Again, I want to thank you for supporting this good man. He's -- like we
used to say in -- when you find a good one, keep him. You got a great
senator in Jim Talent. I thank you for recognizing his talents; I thank you
for contributing to his campaign. I thank you for talking up his good work
in the coffee shops all around the state of Missouri. You don't have to
worry about him, he'll be out right behind you, working hard to make sure
that in this reelection campaign, the citizens of this state do the right
thing.

It's an honor to be your President. I'd like to stay a little longer, but
I'm headed to Crawford. (Applause.) I appreciate your warm reception. God
bless you, and God bless our great country. (Applause.)

END 6:33 P.M. CDT
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