Remarks in a discussion at Southridge High School in Beaverton, Oregon

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, August 23, 2004

We've changed Medicare. You remember all the talk about Medicare. Campaign after campaign after campaign, they'd come and tell you, "We'll strengthen Medicare." We got the job done in Medicare. Seniors can now sign up for drug discount cards. If you're a senior and eligible, I urge you to do so. You'll save money.

In '05, for the first time, Medicare is going to provide preventative screenings. It makes sense, doesn't it? If we're spending your money, we ought to be able to look at a problem early and solve it before it becomes acute. And in '06, seniors will have choices in the Medicare policy, including prescription drugs. It makes no sense, folks, to have a system that pays $100,000 for heart surgery and not one dime of pharmaceuticals to prevent the heart disease from occurring in the first place.

We'll use technology to help modernize health care. I mean, health care is like in the old ages. I mean, when you think about it, you carry your file from room to room, and it's handwritten, and most doctors can't write. [Laughter] We need to modernize the system to reduce costs and to reduce medical errors, and we will continue to do so.

I'll tell you what else we need in this country. To make sure these good folks can afford health care for their people, to make sure you can afford health care, we need medical liability reform. You cannot be pro-doctor and pro-patient and pro-trial-lawyer at the same time. You have to choose. My opponent made his choice, and he put him on the ticket. I made my choice. I stand with the docs, the patients, the small-business owners. We need medical liability reform now.

Finally, in order to make sure we keep jobs here, we've got to be wise about trade policy. There's economic isolationists in our country that would like to wall us off from the rest of the world. That would be wrong. Presidents before me have decided to open up our markets for goods from overseas. You know why? If you're a consumer and you have more goods to choose from, you're likely to get a better quality good at a better price. That's the way the market works. And what we ought to be doing in trade is saying, "We treat you this way; you treat us equally as well. Open up your markets to U.S. products."

I've told the people of this State, if I got to be the President, I would work hard to open up markets for Oregon farm products, and we delivered. The agricultural sector of America is strong because people are eating Oregon wheat--that's why. And they're eating it from all over the world. Good trade policy will keep jobs here. We've got to be confident about our ability to compete. We can compete with anybody, anytime, anywhere so long as the playing field is level.

What I'm telling you is, I've got a reason for running, to keep the country stronger. I've got an idea--I've got ideas to make sure that people can find work. I've got ideas to make sure the entrepreneurial spirit is strong in America, The role of Government is not to create wealth. The role of Government is to create an environment in which the entrepreneurial spirit is strong, in which people feel confident about starting their oven business and growing their small business to a larger business. And we've got some people on stage who represent the entrepreneurial spirit of America.