Remarks at Truman High School in Independence, Missouri

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, August 27, 2001

August 21,2001

Thank you all. Good morning. Thanks for that warm welcome. Mary Alice, thank you very much for your great introduction. And I want to thank the residents of the John Knox Senior Village for inviting me to come to Independence, Missouri. I'm glad I accepted.

It is exciting to be here. It's good to get out of the seat of power, Crawford, Texas -- [laughter]--and come to Missouri. Speaking about Missouri, I want--it's important for all Presidents to remember what Harry Truman said. He said, "I try never to forget who I was and where I've come from and where I was going back to." That's one thing that Crawford, Texas, reminds me. [Laughter] It reminds me of where I came from. And after my service for this great country, where I'm going back to.

I want to thank you for giving me the chance to come and talk about a couple of subjects dear to my heart. I want to thank my friend, the Senator from the State of Missouri, Kit Bond, for the invitation and for his great service to Missouri and the United States. I want to thank United States Congressman Sam Graves for being here. Thank you for coming, Sam. I want to thank the United States Congresswoman from this district, Karen McCarthy. Thank you, Karen, for being here. I appreciate your time. Also here is the former Congressman from Missouri; Jim Talent is with us today, as well.

I wish my wife were with me. [Laughter] Like Harry Truman, I married well. [Laughter] She would love to be here at this school. I want to thank the school administrators, the principals. I want to thank the students who are fixing to start school tomorrow for giving us a chance to come to your beautiful campus.

To the students, let me say as plainly as I can: Your Government's important. You've got to pay attention to your Government. I don't care whether you're Republican or Democrat; you need to be involved in democracy in America. You need to take your vote seriously.

And having been in public service for a while, I can tell you, it's a noble profession. It's an important way to serve your country and your community. And you can do so without being the President, by the way. You can be a Congressperson; you can serve in the statehouse; you can work hard to get people elected; or you can serve your community by loving a neighbor like you'd like to be loved yourself. And that's one of the most important initiatives that we're working on.

And that's one of the most important initiatives we're working on in Washington, DC. It's called a Faith-Based and Community Initiative. It passed the House of Representatives, for which I'm grateful. We're now trying to get it out of the United States Senate. It's part of the unfinished business for this year.

Let me explain to you briefly what we're trying to do. We're trying to make sure that welfare is extended in a positive and compassionate way. We recognize in America there are some who hurt, some who have needs beyond the reach of Government, some who simply need love and compassion from a fellow American. There are children in our country who wonder whether or not the American Dream is meant for them, children whose mom or dad may be in prison. What this Nation needs is a Government that stands squarely on the side of the soldiers of the armies of compassion, those wonderful citizens who put their arm around a neighbor in need, and say, "I love you, brother," or love you, sister. What can I do to help make your life better?" Government should not fear faith in America. We ought to welcome faith-based programs.

And we're making big progress on important issues, like health. For the last couple of legislative sessions in Washington, the Patients' Bill of Rights got stalled over in a partisan wrangling. I'm pleased to report that a bill passed out of the House of Representatives that I can live with. It's a bill that encourages, fosters, nourishes, the relationship between patient and doctor.

But it's also a piece of legislation that will not encourage or enhance frivolous lawsuits that will drive people out of medical care. We want more people with health insurance, not less. We want fewer lawsuits threatening our providers, rather than more, and we want to make sure our patients have got direct access to important health care. There's a good Patients' Bill of Rights that, if Congress comes together, they can get on my desk, that I look forward to signing this fall, after Congress comes home.

We're also making progress in changing the tone in Washington. One of my promises is, I said I'd go up to Washington and try to focus more on the people and less on partisanship. We need to focus more on the lives of our citizens and remember who sent us up there in the first place.

During the course of the campaign, I told the American people, if you gave me the great honor of serving as your President, I would set priorities for our budget. And if we had money left over after the priorities, we would remember who sent it to Washington in the first place. The money up in Washington is not the Government's money; it's the people's money.