Remarks in Sioux Falls, South Dakota

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, March 12, 2001

March 9, 2001

Thank you all very much. I am glad to be here in South Dakota. I was telling the good Governor, the air may be a little chilly, but the people are awfully warm.

I want to thank your warm hospitality. I particularly want to thank those who were on the road, waving to us as we came in, and those who have lined up outside the hangar. It's really--it really makes me feel great to be here. Thank you for your hospitality.

I'm so proud to be able to call your Governor my friend. He's a good man, Janklow. He's kind of hard to settle down, sometimes. [Laughter] But the thing I like about him is he married well--[laughter]--he's honest, and he loves the people--and he loves the people.

Earlier today, we toured a community health center here in Sioux Falls. And I was honored and so pleased that the minority leader in the Senate, Tom Daschle, greeted me. It's very thoughtful of him to do so. I appreciate--I appreciate the dialogs we have had. He treats me with respect; I will treat him with respect.

I'm also appreciative of the fact that we've got two United States Congressmen on the stage with me today. A very capable, strong, able man from South Dakota, John Thune. And I've noticed you've relaxed your border policy and allowed Congressman Mark Kennedy from Minnesota to come today, too. I appreciate these two men being here. It gives me a chance to personally thank them for casting an important vote on behalf of the American people yesterday when they cast a vote to cut the taxes on the people who pay the bills. I want to thank you all.

I appreciate the mayor; I appreciate the former Senator; I appreciate my fellow citizens. I appreciate the fact that you've given me a chance to get outside of Washington--[laughter]--remember where I came from, to come to the heartland of America. It's important for all of us in the Federal Government to continue to come to the heartland, because it's the land of good heart and the land of commonsense people.

And I am here to talk about a commonsense way to budget in Washington, a commonsense approach for what to do with your money. I want you to understand, first and foremost, all the talk about the surplus. The surplus is not the Government's money. The surplus is the people's money; it's the hardworking people of America's money.

And I'm going to remind the good folks in the Nation's Capital, some of whom don't need reminding, some of whom may need to be occasionally reminded, that we work for you. And it's your money we're talking about when it comes to setting budgets.

It's important to be fiscally sound and fiscally responsible with your money, which starts with setting priorities, clear priorities. And so I want to share some of the priorities that I've set.

First, educating our children is a important priority for our Nation. So we spend money on public education--but I always remember where I came from. I hope you don't get too nervous, Governor, because I have always believed and will always believe in local control of schools. And so, while the Government will spend money, we've got to trust you to run your schools.

We got a good vote out of the Senate Education Committee that passes power out of Washington, so the local folks can chart the path to excellence for every child. Education is a priority, but it must be a priority in the context of empowering local folks and strong accountability measures and trusting parents and always challenging failure. Because in our vision, there are no second-rate children in this great land of ours, and there are no second-rate dreams in America.

Health care is an issue, and it's a priority. I believe we ought to double the amount of patients we cover in community health centers, to make sure that the poor and those on the outskirts of poverty are able to find primary care.

I know we've got to make sure we take care of our elderly, and so we've doubled the Medicare budget in my budget. It says loud and clear to our seniors, the promises that we have made to you will be a promise we will keep. But it also requires new thinking and new leadership. We must reform Medicare, to give seniors more options, more choices, more opportunities to tailor their health care programs to meet their needs, all of which ought to include prescription drug benefits for our seniors.

A priority is to work with States on important development projects. And the Lewis and Clark Rural Water Project is a project that will be in my budget and something that we can work together on.

Our retirement systems are a priority in the budget. And so we've sent the clear message to the Congress--and it's being well-received, by the way, by both Republicans and Democrats--that the payroll taxes, all your hard-earned taxes, aiming for Social Security, will be only spent on one thing, and that's Social Security--that we set aside that money.

One of the biggest jobs I have is to serve as the Commander in Chief, and I do so proudly. I want to be the Commander in Chief of troops that have got high standing and high morale; people that have got a clear mission stated to them by the Commander in Chief, which is to make sure our military is properly trained, ready to fight and win war, and therefore, prevent war from happening in the first place. So a priority is to make sure our military is better paid, better housed, and better trained.