Full Transcript of Bush Speech to Congress
Feb. 27 -- Mr. Speaker, Mr. Vice President, Members of Congress:
It is a great privilege to be here to outline a new budget and a new approach for governing our great country.
I thank you for your invitation to speak here tonight. I want tothank so many of you who have accepted my invitation to come to the White House to discuss important issues. We are off to a good start. I will continue to meet with you and ask for your input. You have been kind and candid, and I thank you for making a new President feel welcome.
The last time I visited the Capitol, I came to take an oath. On the steps of this building, I pledged to honor our Constitution and laws, and I asked you to join me in setting a tone of civility and respect in Washington. I hope Americais noticing the difference. We are making progress.
Together, we are changing the tone of our Nation's capital. And this spirit of respect and cooperation is vital -- because in the end, we will be judged not only bywhat we say or how we say it, but by what we are able to accomplish.
America today is a nation with great challenges -- but greaterresources. An artist using statistics as a brush could paint two verydifferent pictures of our country. One would have warning signs:increasing layoffs, rising energy prices, too many failing schools,persistent poverty, the stubborn vestiges of racism. Another picture wouldbe full of blessings: a balanced budget, big surpluses, a military that issecond to none, a country at peace with its neighbors, technology that isrevolutionizing the world, and our greatest strength, concerned citizenswho care for our country and for each other.
Neither picture is complete in and of itself. And tonight I challenge
and invite Congress to work with me to use the resources of one picture to
repaint the other -- to direct the advantages of our time to solve the
problems of our people.
Some of these resources will come from government -- some, but notall. Year after year in Washington, budget debates seem to come down to anold, tired argument: on one side, those who want more government,regardless of the cost; on the other, those who want less government,regardless of the need.
We should leave those arguments to the last century and chart adifferent course. Government has a role, and an important one. Yet toomuch government crowds out initiative and hard work, private charity and
the private economy. Our new governing vision says government should be
active, but limited, engaged, but not overbearing.
My budget is based on that philosophy. It is reasonable and it is
responsible. It meets our obligations and funds our growing needs. We
increase spending next year for Social Security and Medicare and other
entitlement programs by $81 billion. We have increased spending for
discretionary programs by a very responsible 4 percent, above the rate of
inflation. My plan pays down an unprecedented amount of our national debt,
and then when money is still left over, my plan returns it to the people
who earned it in the first place.
A budget's impact is counted in dollars, but measured in lives.
Excellent schools, quality health care, a secure retirement, a cleaner
environment, a stronger defense -- these are all important needs and we
fund them.
The highest percentage increase in our budget should go to our
children's education. Education is my top priority and by supporting this
budget, you will make it yours as well.
Reading is the foundation of all learning, so during the next 5 years,
we triple spending, adding another $5 billion to help every child in
America learn to read. Values are important, so we have tripled funding
for character education to teach our children not only reading and writing,
but right from wrong.
We have increased funding to train and recruit teachers, because we
know a good education starts with a good teacher.
And I have a wonderful partner in this effort. I like teachers so much, I
married one. Please help me salute our gracious First Lady, Laura Bush.
Laura has begun a new effort to recruit Americans to the profession
that will shape our future: teaching. Laura will travel across America,
to promote sound teaching practices and early reading skills in our schools
and in programs such as
Head Start.
When it comes to our schools, dollars alone do not always make the
difference. Funding is important, and so is reform.
So we must tie funding to higher standards and accountability for results.
I believe in local control of schools: we should not and we will not
run our public schools from Washington. Yet when the Federal Government
spends tax dollars, we must insist on results.
Children should be tested on basic reading and math skills every year,
between grades three and eight. Measuring is the only way to know whether
all our children are learning -- and I want to know, because I refuse to
leave any child behind.
Critics of testing contend it distracts from learning.
They talk about "teaching to the test." But let us put that
logic to the test. If you test children on basic math and reading skills,
and you are "teaching to the test," you are teaching ... math and reading.
And that is the whole idea.
As standards rise, local schools will need more flexibility to meet
them. So we must streamline the dozens of Federal education programs into
five and let States spend money in those categories as they see fit.
Schools will be given a reasonable chance to improve, and the support
to do so. Yet if they do not, if they continue to fail, we must give
parents and students different options -- a better public school, a private
school, tutoring, or a charter
school. In the end, every child in a bad situation must be given a better
choice, because when it comes to our children, failure is not an option.
Another priority in my budget is to keep the vital promises of
Medicare and Social Security, and together we will do so. To meet the
health care needs of all America's seniors, we double the Medicare budget
over the next 10 years.
My budget dedicates $238 billion to Medicare next year alone, enough
to fund all current programs and to begin a new prescription drug benefit
for low-income seniors. No senior in America should have to choose between
buying food and buying prescriptions.
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