For Immediate Release Office of the
Press Secretary October 5, 2002
Remarks
by the President in Manchester, New Hampshire Welcome
National Guard Armory Manchester, New Hampshire
10:32 A.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all very much. Please be seated, except
for those of you who don't have a chair. (Laughter.)
I've been here before. This was the site of the great pancake
flip-off. (Laughter.) A lot of time has passed since I was flipping
pancakes in this armory. (Laughter.) And I want to thank you all for
coming. I want to thank my fellow citizens for taking time out of
your day to give me a chance to come and talk about issues that
confront our country, and my strong desire to work with all who live
in America, to make America a safer, a stronger and a better place.
My dream is for this country to be a strong country. As
importantly, a safe country; and a country in which each of us who
live here realizes the great American potential belongs to
everybody.
I want to thank you for bringing your families out to say hello.
I want to thank you for sending some good people to Washington, D.C.
I'm proud to call Judd Gregg my friend. He's doing a great job as
the United States Senator. (Applause.)
I'm honored that Governor Shaheen is here today. I appreciate her
taking time out of her schedule to come and pay her respects to the
Presidency. (Applause.) I appreciate the Mayor of Manchester. I
appreciate members of the congressional delegation: Congressman
Charlie Bass and Congressman John Sununu, for joining us, as well.
(Applause.)
I'm glad -- I am glad that your mayor, the mayor of Manchester,
Mayor Baines is with us today. Mr. Mayor, thank you for coming, as
well. (Applause.) Ray Wieczorek is here, who is on the New Hampshire
Executive Councilor. I appreciate Ray. (Applause.)
But most of all, I appreciate my fellow citizens. (Applause.) I
appreciate those of you who are here to work hard to make your
community and New Hampshire a strong place.
I want to tell you one of the things on my mind, and it's I worry
about people being able to find work in America. Anytime anybody who
wants to work and can't find a job, says to me we've got a problem,
and we must do everything we can to grow our economy -- that all of
us together must work to do that which we can to enable our
environment, our economic environment, to prosper, so people can
find work. I want Americans to be able to put food on the table.
And we've got an issue here in the country, and we've got to work
together to solve it. Now, you've got to know something: I am
optimistic about our economic future. First of all, I understand the
American spirit. We've got the best workers in the world. We've got
the best entrepreneurs in the world. Our productivity is the best
there is. (Applause.)
Interest rates are low. Inflation is low. The foundation for
growth is solid. But it's not good -- going good enough. Yesterday,
we had a good report -- the unemployment rate dropped across the
country. It's still not good enough, and we ought to continue to do
that which is necessary to grow our economy. And I've got a couple
of ideas, and Congress can help. I readily concede my vision of
government is not to create wealth, but to create an environment in
which the small business can grow to be a big business, in which the
entrepreneur can realize his or her dreams, in which our producers
can find markets. The job of government is to create an environment
in which growth is possible.
That's why I am such a strong believer and strong advocate of
letting people keep more of your own money. (Applause.) You see, it
is when times are slow that you let people have money in their
pocket. When somebody has more money in their pocket, they're more
likely to demand a good or a service. And in the marketplace, when
somebody demands a good or a service, somebody is likely to produce
the good or a service. And when somebody produces a good or a
service, somebody is more likely able to find work.
Tax relief came at the absolute right time. (Applause.) But the
reason I'm still talking about it, the reason we have to talk about
it is because there is a quirk in the Senate rules. On the one hand,
they giveth; on the other hand, they taketh away. Because after ten
years the tax relief package ends. All the relief that had happened
resorts back to the way it was prior to last year. I know that's
hard to understand. That's one of those Washington things.
But for the sake of economic vitality, Congress needs to make the
tax cuts permanent. (Applause.) People need to be able to plan. Part
of an environment which will encourage economic growth means people
-- there's certainty. And there needs to be certainty in the tax
code. You can't have a tax code that's one way for a while and
reverts back. That's not certainty.
The tax relief plan is incredibly good for small businesses. Most
small businesses are sole proprietorships. Most small business are
limited partnerships, which means the small business pays taxes at
the income tax rate, personal income tax rates. And so, therefore,
when you reduce all rates, you inject needed capital into the small
business sector. Seventy percent of new jobs in America are created
by small business owners. For the sake of job creation, for the sake
of certainty, for the sake of the growth of our small business
sector, Congress needs to make the tax cuts permanent. (Applause.)
A stronger America, a stronger America is one in which people can
find work. We have got a problem when it comes to construction
projects in America. The terrorists hit us, and now lot of folks who
want to put steel in the ground can't get insurance. We need the
Congress to act on terrorism insurance. We need to have Congress act
as a stopgap for those who want to put construction projects
forward. There's over $15 billion of construction projects which are
now on hold because we can't get terrorism insurance done. They've
been talking about it, but we can't get it out of the -- can't get
it out of what they call the conference committee. Fifteen billion
dollars' worth of projects are stalled, which means 300,000 jobs.
My call to Congress, before they go home: for the sake of jobs,
for the sake of putting hard-hats back to work, for the sake of
letting people have a chance to put food on their table, we need a
terrorism insurance package which does not reward trial lawyers, but
does reward the hard-hats of America. (Applause.)
Like you, I'm concerned about the fact that 401(k)s are being
affected, that people's savings have been eroded. I'm concerned
about that. We need to create an environment in Washington which
promotes growth and certainty.
One thing that will send a good message to markets and to our
fellow Americans is if Washington can show some fiscal discipline.
And that starts with understanding whose money we spend in
Washington. We're not spending the government's money, we're
spending your money in Washington, D.C. (Applause.)
See, we need to set priorities. We need to set clear priorities
-- winning this war on terror, and protecting the homeland, making
sure our kids get educated. We ought to set priorities. But we ought
not to spend beyond those priorities. And here's the danger. There
is no budget in the United States Senate. You see, if you don't have
a budget, guess what can happen? Particularly in an environment in
which every idea sounds like a great idea. See, in Washington, every
idea is -- sounds wonderful. The problem in that town is, is that
the price tag usually runs in the billions. Without a budget, there
is a danger that the Congress will overspend.
I submitted a budget that shows us getting back to balance in a
reasonable period of time if there's fiscal sanity in Washington.
For the sake of job creation, for the sake of improving the economic
environment here in America, the United States Congress must fund
our priorities, must not try to get re-elected with extraneous
spending, and must remember whose money we spend in Washington, and
it is the people's money. (Applause.)
I will continue to work -- I will continue to work to make
America a stronger country by working hard to improve our economy --
by working hard to help people find work, by working hard to bring
confidence back into the American system.
And by the way, that started with me having the honor of signing
the most significant corporate reforms since Franklin Roosevelt was
the President. Here's the message: if you're running a corporation
in America, we expect you to be open, we expect you to be honest, we
expect you to treat your shareholders with respect, we expect you to
treat your employees with respect. If you break the law, we're going
to come and get you; you're going to spend hard time. (Applause.)
And we're going to work hard to make sure America is a stronger
place, but my most important job is to make America a safer place.
I'm reminded of that every time I come and give a speech and see the
little ones here. I'm also reminded, since some of them are going to
sleep, to keep my speeches shorter. (Laughter.)
I want you to know that I say we have to work to make America a
safer place because there is still an enemy out there who hates
America. And they hate us because of what we love. They hate us
because we love freedom in America. (Applause.)We love freedom to
the point we will never back down and relinquish our freedoms. We
love the idea of anybody in America being able to worship an
almighty God anyway he or she sees fit. (Applause.)
We love the fact that in our society there is discourse about
elections and politics, a free society has open debate -- we love
that. We love a free press. We love everything about our freedoms.
And that's why the enemy hates us.
It's hard for some youngsters to understand that. But you've just
got to know there are people that don't value life, either. See,
that's one of the things that differentiates us. America says,
everybody counts, everybody matters, every life has worth, everybody
is precious in the eyes of the Almighty. And our enemy is willing to
hijack a great religion and murder innocent life without caring. And
so long as they're out there, we must do everything we can as a
nation, as governments -- at the federal, state and local level --
to protect the American people. It is our most important and solemn
job.
And I take it seriously. I want you to know there are a lot of
good people working incredibly hard on your behalf. We're doing a
much better job of sharing information than we had in the past. I
mean, after all, we now know that America is a battlefield. Any time
we get a hint, any time we get an idea that somebody might be trying
to do something to some American somewhere, we are moving, we're
acting on it. We take every threat seriously. We are on alert as a
nation. Times have changed and you just need to know we have changed
with the times.
Now, I have asked Congress to join me on creating what I call a
Department of Homeland Security, and I want to share right quickly
why I did that. There's over a hundred agencies in Washington
involved with securing the homeland, or a hundred agencies involved
with some aspect of doing their job that I expect them to do.
But the problem is, is that with so many agencies scattered
around it's hard to align authority and responsibility. It's hard to
have accountability. It's hard to make sure the cultures of the
agency are aligned properly. It's hard to make sure their number one
job is to protect you. And so, therefore, I said, let's create this
department so that we can say to the American people, we're doing
everything we can to protect you.
The House passed a good bill. The Senate is still debating it.
And here's the issue. The issue is whether or not the Senate is
going to micromanage the executive branch and future Presidents, or
whether or not this President and future Presidents and the Cabinet
Secretaries will be able to move the right people to the right place
at the right time to protect the American people. The question is
this: are we going to have rules, civil servant rules which will
make the process so cumbersome that we can't respond?
I'll give you an example. The Customs Service thought it
appropriate that our inspectors wear radiation detection devices on
their belts. That makes sense. If you're worried about weapons of
mass destruction coming into America, you want your inspectors to
have the tools necessary to do their job. The union said that they
needed to have a negotiating session, they needed to go to
collective bargaining as to whether or not the inspectors ought to
be told to wear this, whether or not it would be involuntary or
voluntary. That would take a long time to settle.
Nothing wrong with collective bargaining rights, I'm all for
them. But what I'm not for is work rules that prohibit us from doing
the job of protecting the American people. (Applause.)
This is a chance for people of both parties to come together and
leave behind a legacy. Because this enemy isn't going away any time
soon. And protecting the homeland is going to be an important job of
future Presidents. So for the sake of the security of our country, I
ask the Senate to be reasonable, to be realistic and to understand
their job is to leave a legacy behind that will allow those of us
who have gotten the position you've elected us to, to do the jobs
you expect us to do.
But the best way to secure the homeland in the short term and in
the long term is to chase the killers down, one person at a time,
and bring them to justice. (Applause.)
And that is what we're going to continue to do. This is a
different kind of war. We're not used to this kind of war we fight.
In the old days, it used to be you could destroy an enemy's tanks or
airplanes or ships and you're making progress. The people we fight
don't have tanks, or airplanes. These are cold-blooded killers who
hide in caves, or the dark recesses of certain cities, and send
youngsters to their suicidal deaths. That's why I say our job is to
hunt them down one at a time.
The doctrine that says either you're with us or you're with the
enemy still stands. (Applause.)
And as a result -- as a result, there's still a coalition of
freedom-loving countries that are after the killers. And we're doing
a good job. Sometimes you'll see the progress on your TVs, and
sometimes you won't, in this new war.
The other day, you saw progress when this fellow named bin
al-Shibh, he popped his head up. (Laughter.) He's no longer a threat
to the United States and our friends and allies. (Applause.) He was
the man who thought he was -- wanted to be the 20th hijacker,
bragged about the fact that he wanted to be one that was able to
kill thousands of our citizens.
We're calling them in one at a time. I bet you we've captured
over a couple of thousand of them. And a like number haven't been as
lucky. (Applause.) And like number weren't as lucky because we have
got a fantastic United States military. (Applause.) I want you to
know I have great confidence in the men and women who wear the
uniform of the United States. I have great respect for the men and
women who wear the uniform. For the loved ones of those who wear the
uniform, I thank you as well, for your sacrifice, along with theirs,
on behalf of a grateful nations. (Applause.)
I submitted to the United States Congress the largest increase in
defense spending since Ronald Reagan was the President. I did so for
two reasons. One, anytime we send our youngsters into harm's way,
they deserve the best pay, the best training, and the best possible
equipment. (Applause.) And secondly, I wanted to send a clear
message to friend and foe alike that when it comes to the defense of
our freedoms and values we hold dear, the United States is in for
the long haul. (Applause.) There is no calendar on my desk -- there
is no calendar on my desk that says by such-and-such a date, we
pretty well had it, time to quit.
When it comes to the defense of that which we love, which is our
country; when it comes to doing our duty, which is to protect the
future for our children and our children's children; when it comes
to the defense of the peace, the United States of America will stay
the course. (Applause.)
I have sent that bill to the Congress. It hasn't made it to my
desk yet. We are at war; I expect to get the Defense bill, the
Defense appropriations bill, on my desk before the Congress goes
home. For the sake -- for the sake of sending the right message,
Congress should not play politics with the Defense appropriations
bill. (Applause.)
Our job is to keep the peace. Our job is to make the world a more
peaceful place. And sometimes it's a pretty steep hill to get there.
Sometimes we're going to have to cross some hurdles. Sometimes we're
going to have to anticipate problems before they become so acute
that it will be difficult to keep the peace. One such area, where
the nation is now beginning an important national discourse, is with
Iraq. This is a country which, eleven years ago, promised the world
they would have no weapons of mass destruction. And yet, for eleven
years they have lied and deceived the world community.
This is a country run by one of the most brutal dictators in
modern history. On Monday night, I will make the case to the country
on TV yet again, but I want to share some of my thoughts with you
here.
I want you to remember that this is man who kills his opponents
in cold blood. This is a person who suppressed people. This is a
person who has used weapons of mass destruction on his own citizens.
This is a person who has used weapons of mass destruction on people
in his neighborhood. This is a person who hates America, and yet
still possesses weapons of mass destruction.
At one time, inspectors had a free hand in Iraq, like they should
have, and they determined that had this man not been checked in the
early 90s, he would have had possession of a nuclear weapon. He
still wants to have a nuclear weapon. This is a man who has used
weapons of mass destruction. This is a man who hates so much, he's
willing to kill his own people, much less Americans. This is a man
who would be a tremendous threat to world peace and security if he
ever were to have and possess a weapon of mass destruction as
devastating as a nuclear weapon.
I went to the United Nations the other day because I wanted to
make it clear, a couple of things. One, I want the United Nations to
be successful. We face a new threat for world peace. We're dealing
with these treacherous terrorist organizations who have designs and
desires to hook up with nations such as Iraq that have developed
weapons of mass destruction. See, old Saddam might not have to show
up, but he might get a surrogate who could do it for him.
In order to deal with those new threats, in order to deal with
the reality that America is no longer protected by two vast oceans,
it seemed like sense to me that we should give the United Nations to
be an effective peace-keeping body, somebody who would keep the
peace, somebody who was strong enough. Well, I've told the United
Nations: either you can be the United Nations or you can be the
League of Nations, your choice. (Applause.)
Sixteen different times the United Nations, an important world
body, has said: you must disarm. Sixteen times, and he's defied them
all sixteen times. He's lied, and he's deceived. And so now the
choice is the United Nations' to make. The choice is also Mr. Saddam
Hussein's to make. See, there's no negotiations; there's nothing to
talk about. We don't want you to have weapons of mass destruction.
You agreed to that, you said you would agree to that. Now you've got
to show the world you don't have them. It's up to you, Mr. Hussein.
Nobody likes war in America. We're a peaceful nation. Nobody
wants there to be war. On the other hand, a lot of folks --
Republicans and Democrats, people who could care less about
political parties -- now are beginning to understand the true
threat. In order to keep the peace, Mr. Hussein and the world
community must work to disarm him. And if they won't, I will lead a
coalition of nations, like-minded nations to send the world that we
long for peace -- send a message, we long for peace in this world
and we will not let the world's worst leaders threaten, blackmail,
hurt America, our friends and allies with the world's worst weapons.
We owe this to our children. We owe it to peace. We owe it for a
peaceful world to deal -- to deal with the threats we see. We cannot
ignore history. We must not ignore reality. We must do everything we
can to disarm this man before he hurts one single American.
(Applause.)
I am proud -- I was proud the other day to stand in the Rose
Garden with members of both political parties who agreed that this
man is a threat -- both political parties. We had the Speaker, and
we had Dick Gephardt. From the Senate we had Trent Lott and Joe
Lieberman and John McCain and Evan Bayh. Republicans and Democrats
alike. We're working on a resolution so this country can speak with
one voice when it comes to the defense of our freedoms and our
desire for peace.
This is not an issue of political parties. This is an issue of
national concern. I look forward to hearing the debate. I welcome
the voices on all sides. I understand -- I understand the need for
there to be a good and honest and open discourse on peace and
security and freedom.
And as we work to secure the peace and to make the country a
stronger and safer place, we've always got to remember to make
America a better place, too. A better place for every, single
citizen who lives in this country. That starts with making sure that
every child in America gets an education -- not some, but every
child. (Applause.)
I was honored to work with Judd and Ted Kennedy. Believe it or
not -- (laughter) -- it's amazing what can happen when people put
their minds to do what's right for America and cast aside all the
nonsense of the politics and focus on what's right. I signed a
really good education bill. I want to share it with you because it's
your responsibility, by the way, to make sure the citizens in this
community get educated. See, I believe in local control of schools;
Bill said that. But let me tell you two other things it said.
(Applause.)
It said two other things that are really important. It said, in
America, we believe each child can learn. And therefore, we must set
high standards and high expectations. As a nation, if we want
America to be a better place, we must challenge the soft bigotry of
low expectations. (Applause.)
And you see, if you believe every child can learn, if you believe
that -- you've got to believe it; you just can't say it, you've got
to believe it. You've got to believe our inner city kids can learn.
You've got to believe that a child whose parents may not speak
English as a first language can learn. You have to believe it.
And if you do believe that, like I believe it, then you want to
know. Then you want to know whether or not the children are
learning. And therefore, in return for federal money we have said,
show us, New Hampshire. You show us. You show us whether our
children are learning to read and write and add and subtract. You
chart the path to excellence, and you measure. In return for the
biggest increase in education spending in a long, long time, we
expect every child to be educated. And when you find children in
schools which will not teach and will not change, in order to make
sure no child is left behind, you've got to demand something
different. You've got to demand excellence in your schools for every
single child. (Applause.)
A better America is one that says we're going to help people in
need, but we want them to work. Any good welfare reauthorization
must have work as its central component. We'll help you, fine. We'll
train you. But work leads to dignity. Work gives people a hopeful
future. (Applause.)
A better America is one that recognizes that medicine has
changed, but government programs like Medicare haven't. Medicine is
modern, Medicare isn't. For the sake of a better America, our
seniors need to be treated with a Medicare program that includes
prescription drugs and is a modern program. (Applause.)
But see, one of the things that you've got to understand about
government, government can hand out money. But what government
cannot do is put love in a person's life. What government cannot do
is put hope in hearts. And that's why, in order to make sure that
America is a better place, we've got to really unleash the great
strength of America. And the great strength of this country is the
people of this country. The great strength of America lay in the
hearts and souls of our fellow Americans.
Today, we are honored -- and I was honored at the airport there
-- to greet Bonnie Monahan and Patrick Fraser. They are two of our
fellow citizens: Bonnie is the Vice President of the Timberland
Company, and Patrick works for the City Youth -- City Year Youth
Service Corps.
And the reason I bring them up is there's two examples about what
I'm talking about, about the great strength of the country.
Timberland offers employees 40 hours of paid leave to volunteer in
their communities. This good company, this company which is doing
their best to look at the bottom line also understands the bottom
line is more than just dollars and cents. The bottom line is being a
good citizen. They provide paid leave for people to be involved with
helping our community be a better place. They've got City Year Youth
Service Corps where Freedom Corps volunteers -- kids who understand
we can save America one heart and one soul at a time -- working in
Timberland. (Applause.) I want to thank the City Corps and I want to
thank Timberland for coming. (Applause.)
I want to thank you all for being here. See, it's an important
signal that one person can't do everything, but one person can do
something to be a part of changing America. People have often asked
me, what can I do to help in the war against terror? You can join
the war against terror and fight evil by loving your neighbor just
like you'd like to be loved yourself. (Applause.)
A better America -- a better America is an America which
understands that in the midst of our plenty, there are people who
hurt. There are pockets of despair. There's loneliness. Some
communities you say, hey, American Dream -- and they go, what does
that mean? I don't know what you're talking about.
If one of us hurts, we all hurt. And, therefore, we must do
everything we can to make this country a better place, a more
optimistic place. And it starts with each of us. If you want to be a
part of a change of America, all you've got to do is put your arm
around a neighbor in need and say, I love you. Mentor a child. Start
a Boy and Girls Club. Feed the hungry. Help house the homeless.
(Applause.)
And it's happening in America. The amazing thing about September
the 11th -- a day in which we still grieve as a nation, we still
send our prayers to those whose lives were completely disrupted --
but this nation is so strong and so confident and so good, instead
of being cowed by the enemy, we rose up. Out of the evil done to
America is going to come some incredible good. I don't know what was
in the mind of the enemy. They must have thought we were so selfish
and materialistic and self-absorbed that when they attacked us we
might file a lawsuit or two. (Laughter.)
Instead, what they're finding out about this country is we love
our freedom. And if we remain strong and focused and tough when we
need to, if we continue to speak clearly about right from wrong and
defend the values -- which are not American values, but God-given
values -- we can achieve peace. We can achieve peace in the world,
we can achieve peace for our citizens. (Applause.)
And here at home -- and here at home, if we remember the
definition of a patriot as something more than just putting your
hand over your heart, the definition a patriot is something more
than just putting your hand over your heart. The definition of a
patriot in the face of the evil done to America is to serve
something greater than yourself in life; is to help somebody in
need; is to love a person one at a time, as we remember that --
which I know we will.
The enemy will have hit us, but America will be a stronger, more
compassionate, better place for all of us. There's no question in my
mind that we can meet our goals, that we can meet this challenge.
Because, my fellow Americans, this is the greatest nation, full of
the finest people, on the face of the earth.
Thank you for coming. May God bless you all, and may God bless
America. (Applause.)
END 11:12 A.M. EDT
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