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Skriven 2007-03-15 23:31:36 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (0703156) for Thu, 2007 Mar 15
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Remarks by the President at the National Republican Congressional Committee
Dinner
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For Immediate Release Office of the Press Secretary March 15, 2007

Remarks by the President at the National Republican Congressional Committee
Dinner Washington Hilton Hotel Washington, D.C

˙˙White House News

.

6:39 P.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT: 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. (Applause.) 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. (Applause.)

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. (Applause.) The
key is to learn from every election and to come back stronger. And with
your help, that's exactly what we're going to do in 2008. (Applause.)

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 six-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. (Applause.) 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. (Applause.)

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. (Applause.)

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. (Applause.) 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. (Applause.) 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. (Applause.) I'm proud to be
with Cantor, Putnam, Granger, McCotter, Carter and all the rest 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.
(Applause.) 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. (Applause.)

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
re-take the Senate and the House and hold the White House in 2008.
(Applause.)

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. (Applause.)

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. (Applause.)

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. (Applause.)

Next week, the House will begin debate on an emergency war spending bill.
Some in the Congress are using this bill as an opportunity to micro-manage
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.
(Applause.)

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. (Applause.) 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.
(Applause.)

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. (Applause.)

America -- not government, but America -- has created more than 7.5 million
jobs in the past three-and-a-half 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. (Applause.)

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 five 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 over-spend the
people's money. (Applause.)

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 five years without raising taxes on the American people.
(Applause.)

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.
(Applause.)

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. (Applause.)

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 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. (Applause.)

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. (Applause.) We believe in clean coal
technology. (Applause.) 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.
(Applause.)

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 decision-makers for health care are the
providers and the patients. (Applause.)

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.
(Applause.)

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. (Applause.)

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. (Applause.)

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 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. (Applause.) 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. (Applause.)

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. (Applause.)

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. (Applause.)

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. (Applause.)

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. (Applause.)

END 7:03 P.M. EDT

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