For Immediate Release
Office of the
Press Secretary
October 3, 2002
President Discusses Three Securities
Remarks by the President to Hispanic Leaders
Room
450
Dwight D. Eisenhower Executive Office Building
9:59 A.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all for coming and welcome to the White
House compound. It's my honor to represent -- to welcome you all
here, to thank you for serving your communities and thank you for
serving your nation.
Some of you are seeking office for the first time, and I think
you'll find this to be a fantastic experience. Some of you have
sought and won, and I want to congratulate you for that, and thanks
for serving. My job is, of course, to promote the diversity of
America, to herald the fact that one of the great strengths of
America is the fact that we're diverse; and that we welcome
diversity in this country and we welcome diversity and celebrate
diversity in all kinds of ways.
And one of the ways is that we've got Hispanic Heritage Month,
and we recognize Hispanic Heritage Month here at the White House.
And we do so in a variety of way. And one way, of course, is to
remind people that I picked some fabulous Americans who happen to be
Hispanic, to serve our country. Everybody has got to have a good
lawyer. (Laughter and applause.) Mi abogado es magnifico.
(Laughter.) And I want to thank Al Gonzales for his friendship.
There's no better advisor. He's a steady hand who knows the law, and
he's doing a great, great job for the country. (Applause.)
Ruben Barrales, who runs a very key department here in the White
House. I know you're going to hear from Ruben, if you haven't
already. He's a good, young star, and a fine guy. Rosario Marin is
the Treasurer of the United States. Rosario, thank you for coming. I
appreciate you being here. (Applause.) If you're interested in
finding good examples of people who have won and who have served
with distinction, you need to look no farther than two from Florida
and one from Texas -- (laughter) -- Congressman Henry Bonilla, who
is a fine, fine -- (applause) -- and of course, Lincoln Diaz-Balart,
y tambien, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen. I appreciate you all for coming.
(Applause.)
And I see you brought along Mario, tu hermano. (Laughter.) Mario,
it's good to see you again. Mario Diaz-Balart is a state rep out of
the state of Florida, a fine member of the delegation. He's a
popular -- not only a popular candidate, but a popular public
servant. And he takes his instructions from his brother. (Laughter.)
Actually from his mother. (Laughter.) Dora Irizarry is here. She is
a candidate for the Attorney General of the state of New York. Dora,
good luck, buneas suerte. Thanks for coming. (Applause.)
We've got a lot of other great candidates, none other than the
next governor of the state of New Mexico, Juan Sanchez. Thank you
for coming, John. (Applause.) I would spend all my time heralding
those of you in the legislative branch or in the executive branch,
but I've got some other things on my mind.
But before I do, I also want to make sure there is diversity in
the judicial branch. I have named a really good man to the bench,
the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, named Miguel Estrada. And I
expect the United States Senate to treat this man with respect. I
don't want to see the same thing that happened to some of my other
candidates, in that they distort his record. I don't want them to
distort his record like they did Ms. Owen's or Mr. Pickering. For
the sake of a good, strong federal bench, for the sake of
recognizing this man's intelligence and his capabilities, the Senate
needs to confirm Miguel Estrada. (Applause.)
Let me share some things that are on my mind, things that I've
spent a lot of time thinking about. First is jobs. I think a lot --
I spend a lot of time thinking about jobs here in America. I want
people to find work. I want people to be able to put bread on the
table. I want this country to continue to promote policies that
encourage job growth. That's what we ought to be asking here in
Washington, what can we do to encourage there to be job growth.
The economy is not like it should be. There are some encouraging
signs. Of course, interest rates are low, inflation is low,
productivity amongst our workers and producers is the best in the
world, and that's incredibly positive.
The foundation for growth is there. The foundation was somewhat
troubled by the fact that we had some of our corporate citizens
decide they weren't going to tell the truth, they fudged the numbers
to deceive shareholder and employee alike. We're taking care of
that. I've signed the most comprehensive corporate reform since
Franklin Roosevelt was the President. You might have noticed
yesterday, people are being brought to justice here in America. We
expect there to be corporate responsibility in America, and we will
enforce the law to make sure there is corporate responsibility in
America.
We're also dealing with things here in Congress to help people
have more money. We believe very strongly that when a person has
more money in his or her pocket, it is more likely to increase the
job base, because if you have more money, you demand a good or a
service. When you demand a good or a service, somebody will produce
the good or a service. And when somebody produces a good or a
service, somebody is more likely to find work.
Tax relief was incredibly important at this moment in our
American history. Tax relief will help stimulate job growth because
it helped stimulate the growth of small businesses. There are a lot
of Latino-owned small businesses in America. One of the great
success stories about our economy and about our nation is the fact
that a lot of people realize their dreams through owning their own
business. One of the fastest growing sectors of small business in
the country is Latino-owned businesses. And the tax relief plan was
really good for small businesses here in America. And the Congress
needs to make them permanent. (Applause.)
In order to make sure that we grow our economy, we've got to make
sure Congress doesn't overspend. The Senate doesn't even have a
budget. If you don't have a budget, it makes it hard to be fiscally
sound with the people's money. Sometimes here in Washington, people
forget whose money we spend. See, they think it's the government's
money. It's not; it's the people's money. And we've got to be sound
when we spend the people's money. We ought to fund priorities. But
as they head out of town, the Congress must not overspend. For the
sake of job creation and job growth, they must be realistic with the
people's money.
I submitted a budget that will get us to balance, a budget that
if there's fiscal discipline, we can get back to balance. And
Congress needs to not only remember whose money they spend, but
Congress must not overspend on their -- as they're trying to get out
of town.
And, finally, there are some things that we can do here to create
jobs for working people. We need to have a terrorism insurance
package. You see, there's a lot of folks that cannot get insurance,
a lot of construction programs that aren't going forward because
people can't get insurance, because of what the terrorists did.
It's estimated there's over 300,000 hard hats that could be
working, 300,000 hard hat jobs that are delayed. Those are our
fellow Americans who aren't getting the chance to employ their
skills. This afternoon, I'm going to be talking about this issue
more. But if Congress truly is interested in joining with me to do
everything we can to expand the job base, they need to get a
terrorism insurance package before they go home. It's good for the
hard hats of America. (Applause.)
The security of the country is on my mind, too. See, there's an
enemy which still hates America, and they want to hit us. It's just
reality. And, therefore, we've got to do everything we can to
protect the homeland. I spend a lot of time worrying about the job
security of the American people. I spend a lot of time worrying
about the homeland security of the American people as well. It's my
number one priority right now as the President, to protect our
homeland. (Applause.)
We must do everything we can to protect innocent life here at
home. I'm sure people have -- have asked you, you know, why -- why
would the enemy hate America? Your kids are probably saying, why
would they hate America? And you've got to tell them it's because
they hate us for what we love. We love freedom. We love the freedom
to worship the way we see fit. We love the freedom to speak our
mind. We love the freedom to campaign. We love the freedom of the
press. We love all our freedoms. We love our diversity. We love the
fact that God has created people equal. We love that. We value life
in America. Everybody is precious, everybody has worth, everybody
counts. And we're not changing our mind about those values and our
freedom.
The enemy hates freedom, they hate innocent life. They are
willing to take innocent life and, at the same time, hijack a great
religion. And so long as they are out there, we must do everything
we can to defend the homeland.
Which means I need the capacity here in Washington to assure the
American people that the good folks at the federal level are doing
everything they can to protect you. There's over a hundred agencies
involved with homeland security, and so I decided in order to make
the protection of the homeland the number one priority, that we
ought to bundle all those up to the extent possible and put them
under one agency, so that there is authority and responsibility; so
that we can set the legacy for future Presidents to be able to
better protect the homeland.
And we're having a pretty good debate here in Washington. The
House of Representatives thankfully passed a bill that is a good
bill. The Senate is still struggling with the bill. They need to get
it done before they go home. The -- let me just tell you what the
problem is, so you can get a sense of why I have some frustrations
with what is taking place in the Senate.
First of all, the frontline troops, the employees who are working
on your behalf, are really good people -- good, honorable,
hard-working people. And they are people that the morale of which is
going to be in the interest of any President or any Secretary of
Homeland Security. In other words, we've got to make sure that
morale is high in order for us to better do our jobs. So there
should be no question in any employee's mind about the intentions of
a President or a future President that we want people to have job
satisfaction in order to be able to do the job.
But we also need to have the authority necessary to succeed in
the critical mission. We've got to have the ability to put the right
people at the right place at the right time in order to protect
America.
Many of you come from border communities or border states. You
know full well that on our borders, there's three different agencies
involved with protecting the border. Agencies of good, hardworking
people, but sometimes agencies with different strategies and
different approaches. And sometimes those different strategies and
different approaches can promote gaps in security. And we've got to
have the capacity to do everything we can to protect the American
people from somebody who would want to bring a weapon into our
country, for example.
In other words, we've got to be able to let the hardworking
people in these agencies better do their job. We can't be
constrained by work rules that prevent us from doing a better job,
and that's the debate.
The Senate and some members of the Senate want to deny this
President and future Presidents the authority of -- the ability to
protect our national security; the ability in some cases to suspend
collective bargaining for the sake of national security. That
ability has been granted from Jimmy Carter on. President Kennedy had
the authority. Jimmy Carter was President when they codified it into
law.
It doesn't make any sense, in a time of war, to take away that
part of the Presidential authority. It just doesn't make any sense
to me. It's very important that the President have the capacity to
determine that vital national security interests take priority over
standard rules governing management and labor relations.
What's really interesting is that if this authority is not
applied to the Department of Homeland Security, it still will be
applied to departments such as the Department of Education, or the
Department of Agriculture. Those are vital departments -- but does
it make sense to allow the authority to exist in the Department of
Agriculture, but not in the new Department of Homeland Security? Of
course it doesn't make any sense. And that's why the Senate must be
realistic and reasonable as it approaches this very important issue
about how to leave a legacy of homeland security in place.
I will not accept a rollback in the authority that other
Presidents have had. And the Senate must understand that. The Senate
must understand that I have a duty not only to protect the American
people, but a duty to protect the prerogatives of the President. If
it's good enough for the Department of Agriculture, if this
authority is good enough for the employees of the Department of
Education or HHS, it certainly should be good enough for the
Department of Homeland Security. (Applause.)
We need flexibility to deal with emerging threats. The Customs
Service, for example, decided to require inspectors at the nation's
301 ports to wear radiation-detection devices. The world changed; we
are worried about weapons of mass destruction coming into our
country. And so the Customs Service said, why don't we have our
folks wear radiation-detection devices to be able to pick up any
possible signal?
The devices work, and they're an important part of somebody being
able to do their job. Under the rules that some Senators support,
the union that represents the Customs would be able to say, you
can't do that, that must be voluntary. For the -- that doesn't make
any sense to me, that we not -- that we have to work through a
process that would enable our hardworking Customs officials to be
able to do that which they think is necessary to protect America.
And we can't afford sitting around for a year debating whether or
not wearing devices ought to be voluntary or not.
Collective bargaining is important, I support the idea of workers
being able to have collective bargaining. But we need to be able to
manage the new agency, so that we can best protect the American
people. And I call upon the Senate to understand the importance of
what I just said. (Applause.)
The best way to protect America is to hunt the killers down, one
at a time. And that's what we're going to do. This is a different
kind of war. It is a war which is not going to be measured in terms
of territories gained or tanks destroyed or flotilla destroyed. It's
a war in which we're going through an international manhunt, one
killer at a time, and bringing people to justice.
Which means it's essential we continue to uphold the doctrine
that says: either you're with us or you're with them. And that
doctrine still stands, and there's a lot of really fine countries,
with good leaders, working with us to find these killers and to
bring them to justice. And we're just doing just that. Sometimes
you'll read about it, sometimes you won't read about it. That's the
kind of war this is. Sometimes there's achievements that they'll be
blasting out over the cables, and people will be talking about it
forever, and sometimes you just won't know what's taking place. But
you've got to know, we're making progress.
We've hauled in over a couple of thousand of these. We got a guy
the other day who popped his head up, and is now no longer a threat
to America. He's the one that was going to be the 20th hijacker, and
he's no longer available for action with the enemy. (Applause.) It
takes a lot of work, it takes a lot of work. It takes a strong
military. And for those of you who have got loved ones in the
military, you've got to know, I've got great confidence in our
troops. And I want to thank you for your service and I want to thank
you for their service.
And the United States Congress must get a defense appropriations
bill to my desk before they go home. I asked for the largest
increase in defense spending since President Reagan was the
President, because I want our troops to have the best pay, the best
training, and best possible equipment. And I want to send a message
to the world: when it comes to the defense of our freedom, there's
no artificial time line. When it comes to defending America,
civilization, the ability for our children to grow up in a free
society, it doesn't matter how long it takes. This great nation will
stay the course. (Applause.)
So I expect there to be a defense bill on my desk. I know that
members of the House and Senate are working hard to reconcile their
differences and I appreciate that. There needs to be a bill on my
desk before they go home. There's going to be an important message
to determine -- important message we send to the world.
And so we're making progress on that front of the war against
terror. But there are other fronts on the war against terror that we
must deal with. We must deal with countries run by people who are
some of the world's worst leaders, who harbor, develop, want to hurt
us with the world's worst weapons. That's a form of terror.
The war on terror is more than just al Qaeda. The war on terror
is to deal with nations who have terrorized their own people and
have intention to terrorize us. See, oceans no longer protect us.
There's a new era in America. There's a new threat that faces us.
And we've got to deal with these threats. I made the decision to
deal with these -- the threat of Iraq in an international community.
I've called upon other nations to join us, and there will be other
nations joining us to help disarm Iraq.
We'll determine whether or not the U.N. Security Council wants to
live up to its obligations. After all, for 11 long years the
dictator in Iraq, the man who has gassed his own people, gassed
people in his neighborhood, the man who's expressly -- expressed his
hatred for America and our friends and allies -- we'll see whether
or not the United Nations will be the United Nations or the League
of Nations when it comes to dealing with this man who for 11 years
has thumbed his nose at resolution after resolution after resolution
after resolution.
My intent, of course, is for the United Nations to do its job. I
think it'll make it easier for us to keep the peace. My intent is
for the world to understand that the obligation is up to Saddam
Hussein to disarm like he said he would do. My intent is to put
together a vast coalition of countries who understand the threat of
Saddam Hussein.
The military option is my last choice, not my first. It's my last
choice. But Saddam has got to understand, the United Nations must
know, that the will of this country is strong.
Yesterday, I had the honor of standing on the steps of the White
House, at the Rose Garden. Republican leader and Democrat leader
alike -- Speaker Hastert and Leader Gephardt, Trent Lott and Joe
Lieberman, John McCain and Evan Bayh, member after member -- who
have committed to join with the administration to send a clear
signal that when it comes to defending our freedom, the United
States of America will stand united and stand strong.
The choice is up to the United Nations to show its resolve. The
choice is up to Saddam Hussein to fulfill its word -- his word. And
if neither of them acts, the United States, in deliberate fashion,
will lead a coalition to take away the world's worst weapons from
one of the world's worst leaders. (Applause.)
I say that because I have a deep desire for peace, peace in
America, peace in the Middle East. I believe peace is possible. I
believe that out of the evil done to America can come some really --
some good. And one of the good is international peace, I believe
that.
And, therefore, I will continue to speak clearly about good and
evil, continue to renounce terrorism in any form, continue to lead
the world toward peace, peace not only for ourselves, but because we
value all human life, peace in parts of the world that have given up
on peace.
I know at home we can be a better country, too. The great country
of ours must recognize there are pockets of despair and hopelessness
in America. Amongst our plenty, there are people who hurt. So long
as any of us hurt, we all should hurt. But I believe that this
country can solve any problem put in its path, and one of those is
to help inspire all Americans to understand the greatness of this
country.
One way to do so, to make a better country, is to make sure that
everybody is educated. I passed a really good bill with the
Congress, and signed a really good bill. They passed it, I signed
it. (Laughter.) I worked with them. And it says this, every child
can learn, see. Every child can learn. And this country will
challenge the soft bigotry of low expectations. (Applause.) This
plan recognizes it's so easy to quit on children whose parents may
not speak English as a first language. It's easy just to shuffle
them through, say, you know, these kids can't learn, move them
through.
We insist upon strong accountability. If you receive federal
money, you've got to measure, because we believe every child can
learn. (Applause.) And therefore, we want to know, we want to know.
We must have the courage as citizens of the country to blow the
whistle on failure when we find our children trapped in schools
which will not teach and will not change.
A better America is one that takes care of our seniors, with a
good health care system. Medicine has changed, Medicare hasn't.
Medicine has changed, and yet the old system hasn't changed with it.
And we've got to change Medicare. For the good of our seniors, we
need prescription drug benefits for our seniors. We need a modern
Medicare system.
But the best way to change America is for America to really rely
upon the true strength of the country, which is the people of the
country. See, government can hand out money, but it cannot put love
in people's hearts, or a sense of purpose in people's lives. That is
done when one of our fellow citizens finds somebody who hurts and
puts their arm around him or her, and says, I love you, what can I
do to help you, what can I do to make sure you understand the
American Dream is meant for you? That could be mentoring a child,
teaching a child to read, that could be running a Boy Scout or Girl
Scout troop, teaching a child values, that could be making sure
somebody has got food if they're hungry.
See, the great strength of America is the heart and soul of the
people of this country. And so what's happened is, and it seems like
to me, is that the evil ones hit us -- america took a step back, and
said, in order to fight evil, we all must do some good. And my call
to the fellow -- my fellow Americans is, love somebody just like
you'd like to be loved yourself; that if you're interested in
fighting the evil done to us, it doesn't take much, just a small act
of kindness and generosity on a daily basis.
And it's that gathering momentum of the millions of acts of
kindness and generosity and compassion which takes place in America
that truly defines the character of this nation.
I want to thank you all for serving this nation. May God bless
you all and may God bless America. (Applause.)
END 10:25 A.M. EDT