pd07my01 Remarks at the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner...

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[Page 680-681]
 
Pages 679-711
 
Week Ending Friday, May 4, 2001
 
The President's Radio Address

April 28, 2001

    Good morning. You have probably seen the newspaper and television 
stories anticipating the 100th day of my administration. Ever since 
Franklin Roosevelt's time, the 100th day has been a media marker. But 
what we are marking is not 100 days of my Presidency; it is 100 days of 
Congress and the President working together for the American people.
    What have we accomplished so far? I think we're making progress 
toward changing the tone in Washington. There's less name-calling and 
finger-pointing. We're sharing credit. We are learning we can make our 
points without making enemies. Bitterness and divisiveness in Washington 
poison the mood of the whole country. On the other hand, a culture of 
respect and results in

[[Page 681]]

Washington can change the mood of the country for the better.
    We're also moving ahead with an important legislative agenda. There 
were some last summer who said there's no way anyone could possibly get 
a tax relief plan through the Congress. Yet the House and the Senate 
have now both endorsed significant tax relief and are headed toward a 
final vote. Tax relief is an important principle.
    The Federal Government is taking more money than it needs out of the 
pockets of the people, and we need to return some. Yet tax relief is 
also an important part of our economic strategy. It will accelerate our 
economic growth and create more jobs and more opportunity. This has 
nothing to do with me or my political party. It has everything to do 
with what is right for the country.
    The Senate committee responsible for education voted 20 to nothing 
in favor of a solid education reform bill. And we'll see results, too, 
from our initiative to welcoming charities and faith-based organizations 
into the work of helping Americans in need. We're at work on a plan to 
increase America's energy supply in the long term. At the same time, we 
are acting in a commonsense way to defend our environment. We are 
adopting new, scientifically sensible rules to discourage emissions of 
lead, to protect wetlands, to reduce the amount of arsenic in drinking 
water, to curb dangerous pesticides, and to clean the air of pollution 
from onroad diesel engines.
    Internationally, we are building a more peaceful and open world. Our 
relationship with China is maturing. There will be areas where we can 
agree, like trade, and areas where we won't agree--Taiwan, human rights, 
religious liberty. And where we disagree, I will speak frankly.
    But it's just as important for us to listen as it is to speak. A 
week ago, I attended the Summit of the Americas in Quebec City, where I 
met with the democratically elected leaders of Canada, Mexico, Central 
and South America, and the Caribbean. We talked about how we can handle 
common challenges--everything from education and the environment to 
drugs, energy, and trade. I said my piece, and I listened, as well. 
That's how good neighbors behave.
    In nearly 100 days, we have made a good start. But it's only a 
start. On a number of important issues, we have laid the foundation for 
progress. Now we need to turn a good start and good spirit into good 
laws. And I urge the Congress to join me in seizing the opportunities of 
the next 100 days and beyond.
    Thank you for listening.

Note: The address was recorded at 10 a.m. on April 27 at the Bush Ranch 
in Crawford, TX, for broadcast at 10:06 a.m. on April 28. The transcript 
was made available by the Office of the Press Secretary on April 27 but 
was embargoed for release until the broadcast.


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[Page 681-682]
 
Pages 679-711
 
Week Ending Friday, May 4, 2001
 
Remarks at the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner

April 28, 2001

    Thank you, Arlene. Laura and I are delighted to be here with all the 
major leaguers. [Laughter] Tonight I've decided to do something a little 
different. See, my mother, over the years, has put together at least 70 
scrapbooks about our life as a family. What I've done is pull out some 
of the actual, never-before-seen photos from these scrapbooks and create 
a little slide show. [Laughter] And so, Gordon, if everybody's cell 
phones are turned off--[laughter]--you can hit the lights.
    Tonight I present a Bush family album. What you may not realize is 
that I grew up at a time in Texas history when it was still a rough and 
tumble frontier. [Laughter] We were ranchers back then. [Laughter] This 
was my favorite horse. He was sure-footed, steady. I trusted that horse 
totally. And here's the really weird part: His name was Dick Cheney. 
[Laughter]
    But times were hard back then. [Laughter] This, of course, was 
during the great drought of 1953. [Laughter] Dad, Neil, Doro, Marvin, 
and Jeb--in my family, with all those kids in the tub, it's not arsenic 
in the water I'd be worried about. [Laughter] Personally, I've always 
preferred a private bath. [Laughter]
    This is my actual first-grade report card. Up top, it says, ``George 
W. Bush.'' And then notice the final grades on the right: Writing, A; 
Reading, A; Spelling, A; Arithmetic, A;

[[Page 682]]

Music, A; Art, A. So my advice is, don't peak too early. [Laughter]
    Here, I am with my fifth-grade science project. [Laughter] Built it 
myself. And it's still meeting our energy needs. [Laughter]
    I went on to college and graduate school, but somehow, the press has 
gotten the wrong idea, that I was a smart aleck party guy. [Laughter] 
This is an unfair perception. See, in college, I actually did a lot of 
independent reading. [Laughter]
    After graduation I joined the Texas Air National Guard. I'm the one 
who committed the State of Texas to defend Taiwan from attack. 
[Laughter] Speaking of pilots, I'm so proud and honored to welcome to 
our Nation's Capital, Lieutenant Shane Osborn and crewmember Lieutenant 
J.G. John Comerford. I hope you and your crew will be coming to the 
White House soon. I think you'll like it there. [Laughter] I know I've 
said this to you personally on the phone, but I'm proud to say it 
publicly, welcome back, Lieutenant.
    Some people wondered--and I'm sure there might have been a few out 
here--how I would handle the recent incident in China. Truth is, I have 
long been a serious student of the Orient. [Laughter] My mom and dad, of 
course, were in China when Dad was the U.S. liaison there. People have 
asked me, ``Is it difficult trying to follow in the footsteps of a man 
who was President, Vice President, U.N. Ambassador, a man who held so 
many other important jobs? Is it hard being such a man's son?'' Not 
really. [Laughter]
    Most people don't realize it, but Dad has had some tough times. 
[Laughter] Back in the fifties, he went through a period where he 
thought aliens were trying to contact him. [Laughter] So he built this 
contraption to receive their signals. [Laughter]
    As for my mom, after bearing six children she herself became a bit 
stressed. [Laughter] She took to acting very strangely. [Laughter] For a 
while, she thought she was too tall and walked like this. [Laughter] As 
if that weren't strange enough, next she wrote a book with that damn, 
mangy, ill-tempered dog. [Laughter] I hated that dog. [Laughter] My 
mother treated the dog better than she treated me. [Laughter] She never 
helped me write my book. [Laughter]
    I will say this, however, my mom always stuck up for us kids. Here's 
Mom replying to a reporter's question about something Barbra Streisand 
said recently. [Laughter]
    Fortunately, I've got great brothers and a great sister. Some people 
have asked me, however, if the vote recount left any hard feelings 
between my brother Jeb and me? Not a bit. In fact, here's a picture of 
the Governor of Florida. [Laughter]
    All this brings me to a seriouser point. [Laughter] Eventually, I 
met a woman named Laura Welch. She changed my life. She has given me as 
an adult what I enjoyed as a child, and that is a loving family. The 
defining moments in the Bush family are not when my father was elected 
President or when I was elected President. The defining moments have 
been family moments. Ladies and gentlemen, I've been blessed with a 
family that is full of love, and I pray the same for you.
    Good evening.

Note: The President spoke at 8:30 p.m. in the Ballroom at the Washington 
Hilton. In his remarks, he referred to his parents, former First Lady 
Barbara Bush and former President George Bush, brothers Neil Bush, 
Marvin Bush, and Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida, sister, Dorothy Bush Koch; 
Arlene Dillon, president, White House Correspondents' Association; 
Assistant Press Secretary Gordon Johndroe; and entertainer Barbra 
Streisand.


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[Page 682-683]
 
Pages 679-711
 
Week Ending Friday, May 4, 2001
 
Proclamation 7430--National Day of Prayer, 2001

 April 27, 2001

 By the President of the United States

 of America

 A Proclamation

    Turning to prayer in times of joy and celebration, strife and 
tragedy is an integral part of our national heritage. When the first 
settlers landed on the rocky shores of the New World, they celebrated 
with prayer, and the practice has continued through our history. In 
1775, the Continental Congress asked the citizens of the colonies to 
pray for wisdom in forming a Nation. General George Washington, encamped 
at Valley Forge, also sought God's guidance as Americans fought

[[Page 683]]

for their independence. The faith of our Founding Fathers established 
the precedent that prayers and national days of prayer are an honored 
part of our American way of life.
    Continuing in that tradition, many of the men and women who have 
served at the highest levels of our Nation also have turned to prayer 
seeking wisdom from the Almighty. President Lincoln, who proclaimed a 
day of ``humiliation, fasting, and prayer'' in 1863, once stated: ``I 
have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction 
that I had nowhere else to go. My own wisdom, and that of all about me, 
seemed insufficient for the day.'' Today, millions of Americans continue 
to hold dear that conviction President Lincoln so eloquently expressed. 
Gathering in churches, synagogues, mosques, temples, and homes, we ask 
for strength, direction, and compassion for our neighbors and ourselves.
    The theme of the 2001 National Day of Prayer is ``One Nation Under 
God.'' In a prayer written specially for the occasion, Americans are 
asked to pray for ``a moral and spiritual renewal to help us meet the 
many problems we face.'' Special observances are scheduled for all 50 
States, with local volunteers planning a variety of activities including 
prayer breakfasts, concerts, rallies, and student gatherings. These 
events will bring people of all faiths together, each according to his 
or her own beliefs, to give thanks to the Almighty and to ask for 
strength and guidance.
    The Congress, by Public Law 100-307, has called on our citizens to 
reaffirm the role of prayer in our society and to honor the religious 
diversity our freedom permits by recognizing annually a ``National Day 
of Prayer.''
    Now, Therefore, I, George W. Bush, President of the United States of 
America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and 
laws of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim May 3, 2001, as 
a National Day of Prayer. I encourage the citizens of our Nation to pray 
each in his or her own manner, seeking God's blessings on our families 
and government officials and personal renewal, moral awakening, and a 
new spirit of harmony across our land. I urge all Americans to join in 
observing this day with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and 
activities.
    In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-seventh 
day of April, in the year of our Lord two thousand one, and of the 
Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and twenty-
fifth.
                                                George W. Bush

 [Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 9:07 a.m., May 1, 2001]

Note: This proclamation was released by the Office of the Press 
Secretary on April 30, and it was published in the Federal Register on 
May 2.


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[Page 683-684]
 
Pages 679-711
 
Week Ending Friday, May 4, 2001
 
Remarks at the First Hundred Days Congressional Luncheon

April 30, 2001

    Thank you all. Thank you for coming. I appreciate you bringing such 
nice weather. It's good to see members of my Cabinet who are here. Mr. 
Secretary, thank you for being here.
    Today marks our hundredth day of working together for the American 
people. We've had some good debates. We've made some good progress, and 
it looks like we're going to pass some good law.
    I've now met with most of you, and here's what I think. I think 
America is lucky to have such distinguished citizens coming to 
Washington to represent them. I've been impressed by the caliber of the 
person; I've been impressed by the conviction that you brought to the 
Oval Office.
    Oh, I know we always don't agree. But we're beginning to get a 
spirit here in Washington where we're more agreeable, where we're 
setting a different tone. So when the good folks of this country look at 
our Nation's Capital, they see something they can be proud of.
    I want to thank you all very much for your service to the country. I 
want to thank your families for the sacrifice they make. I also want to 
thank you for the constructive spirit in which we've conducted the 
people's business. I know this: That whatever your views on a particular 
issue are, that we share a common goal, and that is to serve our 
country.

[[Page 684]]

And it's okay sometimes to share a meal, and that's why we're here. 
[Laughter]
    So I want to thank you for being here. If you will join me in the 
East Room, I think we've got some pretty good food for you.
    Thanks for your service. God bless.

Note: The President spoke at 11:45 a.m. in the Rose Garden at the White 
House.


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