Remarks at the Safe Harbor Water Power Corporation in Conestoga, Pennsylvania

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, May 21, 2001

May 18, 2001

Thank you very much. Please be seated. Well, Governor, thank you very much. It's an honor to be back in your beautiful State. I'm glad you told me you were overseas recently; I thought you might have been boycotting my last visit to your State-[laughter]--which was Monday. [Laughter]

Laura and I consider Tom and Michelle close, personal friends, as well as political al lies. And I know the people of Pennsylvania consider him to be an excellent Governor, because he is one.

I want to thank you all for coming. And I also want to thank the hundreds of citizens that lined the road as we came in, to wave. It makes a fellow feel pretty good to see all the flags and the salutes. This is a wonderful place to come, not only because it speaks volumes about the policy that I'm going to address today, but it also reminds me of how wonderful our country is, how good and solid the people are that inhabit the great land called America. So if you see any of them that were on the road coming in, tell them the President says, thanks a lot for the hospitality.

I'm also honored to be traveling today with Members of the United States Congress. The United States Senator-I was going to say, the senior Senator, but I'm looking for some votes from him--[laughter]-but that's Arlen Specter, who is doing a great job for the people of Pennsylvania; and the younger Senator, Senator Rick Santorum, as well; as well, a friend of mine from the great State of Alaska is with us, chairman of the Energy Committee, Frank Murkowski. I think old Frank must be looking for a cup of coffee somewhere. [Laughter]

We also have the Congressman from this area, Congressman Todd Platts. Where are you, Todd? There you go, thank you, buddy. And Congressman Joe Pitts and Congressman George Gekas, as well, from the State of Pennsylvania.

And we're pleased, as well, to have a Member of the United States Congress from the West who, like Murkowski, takes great interest in energy policy, and that's Congressman Jim Hansen from the State of Utah. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to thank Marshall Kaiser and the hard-working employees of Safe Harbor who made our visit so special. Thank you for making all the arrangements, and thanks for setting up this spectacular place to deliver a few remarks and to sign some important documents.

You know, when I ran for office, I told the people of our country that I would put together a Cabinet of some of the finest Americans that would be-who would be willing to serve. And I did so. I'm blessed with a great Cabinet, and two of the fine Cabinet members are here with us: Spence Abraham and Christie Todd Whitman. And I thank them so much for their leadership.

I was pretty plainspoken about what I intended to do, should I be fortunate enough to become the President. And when I put my hand on the Bible that day, right afterwards, I intended to get to work. I said, it's time to get after it, time to do in office what I said I would do. And that's what's taken place in Washington.

First, I said if I happened to be the President, I was going to fight for meaningful, real tax relief to make sure the working people got to put some of that surplus in their pockets, and we're about to have tax cuts for the American people. And my call to Congress is to get it done before Memorial Day, to get the money to the people before the great Memorial Day holiday, so people have got more money to spend and save and more money in their pockets to take care of some of these energy prices that exist as a result of the failure to have an energy plan for America.

Secondly, I said, give us a chance, and we have put together a group of Congressmen and Senators to pass meaningful, real reform of our education system; one that would empower local folks, to give more power at the local level-because we recognize one size does not fit all when it comes to the education of the children-but also one that says if you receive Federal money, show us whether or not children are learning to read and write and add and subtract, because we want to know.

We want to know whether or not the very faces of our future are learning and, if they're not--if they're not, we won't sit idly by in America. When we find youngsters who can't read, we'll correct the problems early, before it's too late, because our motto is, "Not one single child will be left behind in America."

I told the people of our country we would boost the morale of the military by having a clear mission and also making sure our troops were better paid and better housed. And my budget reflects that commitment to the military.

And I told the people during the campaign that we've got a problem with energy in America. Our demand is going up, and the supplies aren't going up with demand, and therefore, there is pressure on price. I said it in the campaign and I'm saying it to you now: This Nation must adopt a national energy plan to make sure our consumers and workers and entrepreneurs have the capacity to realize the visions of a better life that we all have for America.