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Skriven 2007-03-01 23:31:10 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (070301f) for Thu, 2007 Mar 1
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Vice President's Remarks to the Conservative Political Action Conference
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For Immediate Release Office of the Vice President March 1, 2007

Vice President's Remarks to the Conservative Political Action Conference
Omni Shoreham Hotel Washington, D.C.



7:44 P.M. EST

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Thank you. (Applause.) Mercy. (Laughter.) Well, thank
you very much, Dave, thanks for the kind words -- and, as always, for
giving me the chance to join in this gathering of so many friends from
across America. Let me thank the distinguished guests at the head table and
everyone who's worked so hard to put this 34th conference together.

I especially want to recognize Ambassador John Bolton, who did a superb job
for America at the United Nations. (Applause.) Your master of ceremonies,
Michael Steele, who has a great future in American politics. (Applause.)
And Roy Innis, a man of character, receiving the Courage under Fire Award.
(Applause.) Tonight you're also presenting an award for conservative
leadership that's named for my old friend and House colleague from Ohio,
the late John Ashbrook. And it's most fitting the Ashbrook Award goes to a
legend of the conservative movement, the former publisher of National
Review, William A. Rusher. Congratulations, Bill. (Applause.)

As you might have heard, I've just been out of the country -- which, in
some quarters, is considered a good thing. (Laughter.) I got back yesterday
morning after more than a week overseas, on a trip that took me to several
countries. In Japan and Australia I had very good discussions with leaders
of two of our great allies -- Prime Minister Abe in Japan, and Prime
Minister John Howard in Australia. And on the last part of the trip I
visited Pakistan and Afghanistan to review progress in the war on terror
with Presidents Musharraf and Karzai.

On the journey I also spent time, as I always try to do, with members of
the American Armed Forces -- on the deck of the carrier USS Kitty Hawk in
Tokyo Bay, at Andersen Air Force Base on Guam, and at Bagram Air Force Base
in Afghanistan. I think it's important to remind the troops that we believe
in them, we believe in what they're doing, and we're going to back them one
hundred percent. (Applause.)

Let me also, on behalf of all of us here tonight, as our host, Dave Keene,
to thank his daughter, Lisa, for what she's done for all of us. She spent
the last year in the United States Army serving in Iraq. (Applause.)

So after traveling around the world, it's good to be home again, and I'm
delighted to be part of the 34th annual Conservative Political Action
Conference. Dave assured me that I was welcome to give a speech even though
I'm not running for office. (Laughter.) I'm probably the last non-candidate
you'll see this weekend. (Laughter.) But I always do appreciate the warm
reception I receive at CPAC, and I bring personal greetings to all of you
from our President, George W. Bush. (Applause.)

You've come to Washington at an eventful time, with a new Congress at work
and some very consequential debates underway. With a divided government and
strong feelings on both sides of the aisle, getting things done is a bit
more of a challenge than it was before. But the American people expect
results, and the President and I are committed to working with Congress for
the good of the country. What we will not do is abandon the conservative
principles we ran on in 2000 and 2004. (Applause.) President Bush's
policies have revived this nation's economy, improved the quality of the
federal courts, and protected the American people from great dangers. None
of these outcomes came about by accident. We've worked hard for the
prosperity and the security of the American people, and we have no
intention of letting it slip away. (Applause.)

As conservatives, we believe, as Ronald Reagan did, that government should
"work with us, not over us; to stand by our side, not ride on our back.
Government," said President Reagan, "can and must provide opportunity, not
smother it; foster productivity, not stifle it."

That wisdom is the key to creating a healthy, growing economy -- and by
most any measure, that is what we have today. America has now seen five
years of uninterrupted economic growth -- in a recovery that has generated
nearly 7.5 million new jobs. When people across the world look at America's
economy they see low inflation, low unemployment, and the fastest growth of
any major industrialized nation. Wages are rising, too -- allowing American
families to meet their budgets and build a better future.

We recognize that nobody can sit in an office in Washington, D.C. and
decide to make America prosperous. Our job is to preserve the freedoms that
gave birth to this nation, to encourage free enterprise, and to give people
confidence that their hard work will be rewarded, not punished. And that
begins with leaving more money in the hands of those who earn it.
(Applause.)

For that reason, at the start of our administration, President Bush asked
Congress to pass significant, broad-based tax relief. The House and Senate
responded with historic pro-growth legislation. We reduced taxes for every
American who pays income taxes. We doubled the child tax credit, reduced
the marriage penalty. And in 2003, we accelerated the rate reductions; we
created new incentives for small businesses to invest. And in order to
lower the cost of capital, and to encourage firms to expand and hire new
workers, we reduced the tax rate on capital gains and dividends.
(Applause.)

Now the evidence is coming in -- and the Bush tax relief has proven to be
exactly the right policy for our country. If you think of all that's
happened in the last six years -- the recession we inherited, terrorist
attacks, corporate scandals, natural disasters, a tripling in the price of
oil -- it's remarkable how resilient this economy has been. In fact, since
2001, our GDP has grown by 16 percent. Let me just put it in perspective:
In only six years' time, the American economy has expanded by an amount
greater than the entire economy of Canada. (Applause.)

The late Milton Friedman said that "Most economic fallacies derive from the
tendency to assume that there is a fixed pie -- that one can gain only at
the expense of another." We've shown once again that the right policies can
make the pie a lot bigger, and that the gains can be widely shared. We've
also disproved maybe the biggest, most persistent fallacy in Washington --
and that's the idea that pro-growth tax cuts are inconsistent with fiscal
responsibility.

The fact is that pro-growth tax cuts once again have helped to drive an
economic expansion and generated higher than projected revenues. You might
also recall that back in 2004, President Bush set a goal of cutting the
deficit in half by 2009. This pledge was greeted with skepticism, to put it
mildly. Yet we met that target in 2006, three years ahead of schedule.

All told, federal tax receipts have gone up by more than $520 billion in
the last two fiscal years. That's the largest two-year increase in history.
By now it's time for even the skeptics to admit that a lower federal tax
burden is a powerful driver of investment, growth, and new jobs for
America's workers. (Applause.) And that increased economic activity, in
turn, generates revenue for the federal government.

Despite the growth in revenues, we still have to hold the line on spending
-- and on that score there's still a lot to do. Last month the President
submitted a budget that continues reducing the deficit each year, and
balances the budget by 2012 without new taxes. To meet that goal, we need
to set the right priorities and hold to them. The first priority is to
remember that we're a nation at war, and we must not cut any corners on
homeland security or defense. (Applause.)

Setting priorities for the budget also means dealing with the matter of
congressional earmarks -- those not-so-little items that somehow get
slipped into spending bills at the last minute. By one estimate, there were
more than ten thousand of them in 2005 alone. And 90 percent of earmarks
never make it to the floor of the House or Senate -- they're simply dropped
into the committee reports that aren't even part of the legislation.
Congress did not pass them into law. The President did not sign them into
law. Yet somehow they get treated as having the force of law. The time has
come to reform the budget process, and to get earmarks under control.
(Applause.)

On the revenue side, we're going to keep working on a low-tax policy that
promotes growth and keeps government within its proper limits. Under
present law, many of the Bush tax cuts are still set to expire over the
next few years. We feel strongly that Congress should make all the tax cuts
permanent -- and that includes ending the federal death tax. (Applause.)

I know we've got some Democrats with big ideas for taxes they want to
raise. They ought to realize that no nation has ever taxed its way to
prosperity. (Applause.) And if they try that, they're going to find out
what the rest of America already knows -- that President Bush is a man of
principle and a man of his word. (Applause.)

If the United States is to remain the world's largest economy, the world's
number one innovator, and the world's biggest exporter, we also have to
make certain this country is always the world's best place to do business.
And one place we can start is health care. Americans are fortunate to have
the most advanced and innovative health care system in the world. But
health care spending is on the rise -- which makes it harder for workers
and employers to afford private health insurance, and places a growing
burden on taxpayers, because government's share of health care costs is
also growing. Newly released estimates show that, without reform, taxpayers
will shoulder nearly half of all health care spending within a decade.

One of the reasons health care is so expensive today is that the tax code
penalizes Americans who are not covered at work, and subsidizes people who
choose the most expensive plans. So the President is asking Congress to
pass tax reform legislation to help make private insurance more affordable
and accessible. We're proposing a standard deduction for every worker who
has private health insurance, no matter where they get it. Under the
President's plan, more than 100 million Americans now covered by
employer-provided insurance would actually have lower tax bills.
(Applause.)

This reform would also level the playing field, so those who buy health
insurance on their own get the same tax advantage as those who get health
insurance through their jobs. This would be a positive step toward covering
millions in our country who aren't covered at work and struggle to afford
it on their own. We believe changing the tax code is absolutely necessary
to getting private coverage to more Americans, and to getting a handle on
the rising costs of health care, without government trying to run the
system. (Applause.)

America's strength and success have long relied on stable, affordable
supplies of energy. As the President told Congress in January, it's in the
country's vital interest to diversify America's energy supply. The way
forward is through technology, and the President recently proposed to
enhance our energy security by setting aggressive goals for renewable fuels
and vehicle fuel economy. It's also very important to increase domestic oil
production in environmentally-responsible ways, in places like the Alaska
National Wildlife Refuge and on the shores of willing states. (Applause.)

We've been pushing the Congress now to open ANWR for six years now; had
they passed legislation when we asked, this nation would be well on its way
to receiving up to 1 million barrels per day of new supplies. This would be
an enormous quantity of oil, equal to about 10 percent of our current
imports, and nearly 20 percent of the nation's crude production. And we're
asking Congress to double the current capacity of our Strategic Petroleum
Reserve. (Applause.)

Prompt action is also required when it comes to filling positions on the
federal bench. We've got a lot of vacancies on the bench, and the elected
branches of government have a duty to fill those vacancies. Divided
government is no excuse. During President Clinton's last two years in
office, the Republican Senate confirmed dozens of district judges and 15
appellate judges. The current Democratic majority should proceed in that
same spirit. (Applause.) The President recognizes his responsibilities, as
well. He will continue to submit well qualified, mainstream nominees like
Justice Sam Alito and Chief Justice John Roberts. (Applause.)

Finally, as someone who has the honor of working beside the President every
day at the White House, I can assure you that he will never relent in his
number one obligation as President: to protect the freedom and security of
the American people. (Applause.)

The fact that we've defeated all attempts to strike the United States again
for the last five and a half years does not mean that we won't be hit in
the future. But the record is testimony not just to good luck, but rather
to urgent, competent action by a lot of very skilled men and women, and a
lot of important decisions by the President. We've improved our security
arrangements, reorganized our intelligence capabilities, found ways to
surveill and to interrogate the enemy, and worked closely with friends and
allies across the world.

Above all, we've stayed on the offensive -- going after terrorists and
terror-sponsoring states. We've confronted dictatorships that defied the
demands of the civilized world. We've helped liberate peoples to establish
free governments. We've stood by those governments in the effort to
consolidate democratic gains, to achieve security, and to improve the
long-term prospects of freedom and security in the broader Middle East.

We have faced all these challenges with resolve. And we recognize there's
still a great deal of work to be done. In Afghanistan, we'll continue the
reconstruction and security assistance we've promised, and this spring U.S.
and NATO forces will lead an offensive against Taliban and al-Qaeda forces.
(Applause.)

In Iraq, our goal remains a democratic nation that upholds the rule of law,
respects the rights of its people, provides them security, and is an ally
in the war on terror. But for this to happen, Baghdad must be secured. To
that end, we're pursuing a new strategy that brings in reinforcements to
help Iraqi forces secure the capital. As we meet tonight, Iraqi and
coalition forces are at work in the nine sectors of Baghdad, carrying out
joint operations to track down terrorists, insurgents, criminals, and the
roaming death squads that have tormented people in that city. It's a tough
enterprise -- and it's absolutely essential to moving that nation forward,
turning the political process toward reconciliation, and completing our
mission in Iraq.

Recently, the United States Senate, by unanimous vote, confirmed a superb
officer to lead the new strategy in Iraq -- Army General David Petraeus.
(Applause.) At a hearing of the Armed Services Committee, General Petraeus
was asked flat-out if he could do his job without the troop reinforcements
that have been requested by the President. He said no. Yet some of the very
Senators who voted to send him to the Iraqi theater tried to pass a
resolution opposing the reinforcements. And the House of Representatives,
of course, did pass such a resolution.

The House resolution was nonbinding -- just a statement expressing the
views of the members. But the fact is that every statement we make has
multiple audiences. The American people listen. Our soldiers, airmen, and
Marines listen. The enemy listens, and so do the Iraqi people. Friendly
governments pay attention, and hostile governments take note as well. And
they all wonder about America's commitment to this cause.

A watching world needs to know that the United States is determined to
prevail because we're a nation that keeps its word -- and because we
understand the consequences of failure. (Applause.) If our coalition
withdrew before Iraqis could defend themselves, radical factions would
battle for dominance. The violence would likely spread throughout the
country, and be very difficult to contain. Having tasted victory in Iraq,
jihadists would look for new missions. Many would head for Afghanistan to
fight alongside the Taliban. Others would set out for capitals across the
Middle East, spreading more discord as they eliminate dissenters and work
to undermine moderate governments. Still others would find their targets
and victims in other countries, on other continents. Such chaos and
mounting danger does not have to occur. It is, however, the enemy's
objective.

In these circumstances it's worth reminding ourselves that, like it or not,
the enemy we face in the war on terror has made Iraq the primary front in
that war. To use a popular phrase, this is an inconvenient truth. (Laughter
and applause.) In bin Laden's words, and I quote, "Success in Baghdad will
be success for the United States. Failure in Iraq is the failure of the
United States. Their defeat in Iraq will mean defeat in all their wars."
End quote. That makes one thing, above all, very clear: If you support the
war on terror, then it only makes sense to support it where the terrorists
are fighting us. (Applause.)

Very soon both Houses of Congress will have to vote on a piece of
legislation that is binding -- a bill to provide emergency funding for the
troops. And I sincerely hope the discussion this time will be about winning
in Iraq, not about posturing on Capitol Hill. (Applause.) Anyone can say
they support the troops, and we should take them at their word. But the
proof will come when it's time to provide the money and the support. We
expect the House and Senate to meet those needs on time, and in full.
(Applause.)

Before I leave you, ladies and gentlemen, I want to thank you again for
your commitment -- not just to the principles we share, but to the ideal of
active citizenship. In the audience tonight we have entrepreneurs,
engineers, doctors, writers, and educators. All of you lead busy lives and
have many responsibilities of your own. And yet you make the time, here and
in your communities, to get involved in the political process and to make
your voices heard. Your efforts make a difference. You give strength to our
democracy. And the success of CPAC, year after year, is another indicator
that conservatism remains the leading intellectual and political movement
in the United States. (Applause.) That's something all of us can be proud
of, and it's a credit to each and every one of you. I am deeply grateful to
you, and it's been an honor to be in your company tonight. (Applause.)

END 8:07 P.M. EST

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