[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2006, Book II)]
[October 6, 2006]
[Pages 1790-1793]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]
Remarks at a Reception Celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month
October 6, 2006
The President. Thank you. Hola. Please be seated.
Audience member. Viva Bush!
The President. Shhh. [Laughter] Bienvenidos. We are glad you're
here. Thanks for coming. Laura sends her best.
She, like me, greets you to come--to welcome you to the Casa Blanca--
[laughter]--la casa de todos. We are glad you're here. I am glad that so
many of you joined us for Hispanic Heritage Month. Today we honor the
contributions of Hispanic Americans to our country, to our culture, and
to our national character.
We celebrate the values de la familia y fe. After all, those values
are at the heart of the Hispanic American community. We welcome the
diversity that enriches our lives, a diversity that makes America a
stronger and better country. Thanks for coming.
I am proud to welcome a friend of my family's, His Royal Highness
Prince Felipe de Borbon, the Crown
Prince of the Kingdom of Spain. Thank you for coming. His Royal Highness
is here to help celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month, which I think is a
kind gesture and a noble gesture from a very important country. We're
proud you're here, sir. Thank you for coming. Please give your best to
His Majesty and your mom. And I will do the same on behalf of you to my
father and her majesty, my mother. [Laughter]
I am proud to be here with the Attorney General of the United
States, Alberto Gonzales. The U.S.
Treasurer, Anna Cabral--Anna, thank you
for coming; y su esposo, Victor. Welcome,
Victor. Good to see you.
Today we've got a special guest, Ana Cristina, who will perform two songs after I finish speaking, which
probably means you want me to finish speaking soon, so that Ana can come
up here. We're proud you're here, Ana. I want to thank my friend Emilio
Estefan for arranging for the
entertainment today. He's a great buddy of ours from Miami. It's good to
see you, sir.
I am proud to be here with Lieutenant Colonel Consuelo
Kickbusch. She's the winner of
the Hispanic Heritage Award 2006. Interesting name, Kickbusch.
[Laughter] It sounds like the political campaign. [Laughter]
Congratulations.
I appreciate all the Ambassadors who are here. Thanks for coming.
We've got Ambassadors from neighboring countries. I like to remind
people that the best foreign policy is to make sure that we've got good
foreign policy in our own neighborhood. And so we're glad you're here.
Thanks for coming.
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We've got distinguished members from the IDB, USO, all kinds of
organizations. And I'm proud you're here. Thanks for coming.
We are a blessed nation to have thousands of people who claim
Hispanic heritage. I firmly believe that. I know that to be true. I
think our citizens must recognize the great contribution of Hispanic
Americans to our country. Hispanic Americans are hard-working people.
They're entrepreneurial people who dream big dreams. They're people who
love their God and especially love their families. But most of all, they
love their country, America.
As we celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month, we've got to recognize we
have responsibilities in Government to make sure that all in this
country can realize the American Dream. In the 21st century, the best
way to do that is to make sure every child gets a good education--not
just a few children--but every single child must receive a quality
education.
I believe strongly that every child can learn regardless of the
color of their skin or whether their parents speak English as a first
language. And I know that in order to make sure every child gets
educated, we've got to set high standards. And we've got to measure to
determine whether or not schools are achieving that which we expect. And
when we find a child cannot read at grade level, then that child
deserves extra help to make sure that we make--to make sure that we meet
a national objective, and that is, no child should be left behind.
I'm pleased to report that Hispanic students, in reading and math,
are scoring higher, and an achievement gap in our country is beginning
to close. We're making progress, but I assure you we will not rest until
every child receives a quality education in our country.
I believe that America should remain the land of the entrepreneur,
and that ours is a country that benefits when people have a dream and
work hard to achieve that dream. The small-business community is strong
here in America. It's strong because we have entrepreneurs in our midst.
And the role of government is to encourage the entrepreneurial spirit.
Government doesn't create wealth, but government can create an
environment in which people who dream dreams have a chance to realize
those dreams.
I'm proud to report that the number of Hispanic-owned businesses is
growing at three times the national rate. And that's positive,
particularly if you're a fellow like me who worries about whether or not
people can find work, because the truth of the matter is, 70 percent of
new jobs in our country are created by small businesses. And so when the
small-business sector is growing, the job base is growing. And equally
importantly, when the small business is growing, it means ownership is
growing, and the more owners we have in the United States of America,
the more hopeful country we will have for all of us.
We take pride in the service of Hispanic Americans. When we
celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month, it's time to thank our fellow
citizens for serving the country. I thank our Attorney General for
serving the country. I thank the Secretary of Commerce, Carlos
Gutierrez, for serving the country. They're in my Cabinet. These are men
who serve at the highest councils of Government and can walk in the Oval
Office any time they feel like it and say, ``Mr. President, here is
what's on my mind.'' I appreciate their counsel in helping me make good
decisions on behalf of our country.
We've got Hispanic Americans all across the country who serve our
country by loving a neighbor like they'd like to be loved themselves.
Thousands of our fellow citizens feed the hungry or find shelter for the
homeless or put their arm around a child who needs love in order to help
create a society that is welcoming to all. And for those of you who are
involved in our faith-based communities and charitable
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communities, I thank you on behalf of a grateful nation.
The Hispanic community is also known for its willingness to serve in
the United States military and protect our freedoms. Today, we have over
200,000 Hispanic Americans wearing the uniform of the finest military on
the face of the Earth. Today, we've got members of the Hispanic
community who wear our uniform with us, representing those 200,000, and
I want to thank you for your service.
These fine Americans, like the other Americans in our military, are
working hard to secure this country. They're answering the call to
history. They have volunteered to serve in an historic time, a time when
this United States will do what it takes to defend ourselves from people
who spread evil by killing the innocent; at a time when the United
States understands that in order to spread the peace, we will stand with
those who long for liberty. I'm proud to be the Commander in Chief of
such a fantastic group of men and women.
And as we renew our commitment to our Hispanic Americans, we also
must renew our commitment to make sure we're a welcoming society. We are
a land of immigrants, and as we debate immigration policy, we must
always keep that important fact in mind. One of the important things
about our country is that we provide hope, and that we recognize that
we're a stronger nation when we're bound together under one God--when we
bind together under one God, different cultures and different heritages.
We will conduct this debate on immigration in a way that is
respectful to our heritage. We are a nation of law, and we will enforce
our law. But at the same time, we must remember that in order to secure
our borders, in order to make sure we fulfill our heritage, immigration
reform must be comprehensive in nature. We must understand that you
can't kick 12 million people out of your country; that we must figure
out a way to say to those that if you're lawful and if you've
contributed to the United States of America, there is a way for you to
eventually earn a citizenship.
Nobody in our land wants to grant automatic amnesty. But everybody
in our land understands these people must be treated with respect and
dignity. There are citizenship lines for people from our neighborhood.
People ought to be given a chance to get at the back of the citizenship
line and have a chance. And so I assure my friends here that I will--we
will enforce the border as people expect us to do. But as we do so,
we'll do so in a humane way, in a way that honors that great tradition
of the United States of America, one Nation under God.
And so on this day that we recognize the contributions of our
Hispanic Americans, we renew the great--our faith in the greatness of
our country. I welcome you to the White House. I'm honored, Royal
Highness, that you have joined us
today. I thank you for serving the United States of America. And I now
welcome to the stage Ana Cristina.
Note: The President spoke at 2:29 p.m. in the East Room at the White
House. In his remarks, he referred to King Juan Carlos I and Queen Sofia
of Spain; Victor G. Cabral, husband of U.S. Treasurer Anna Escobedo
Cabral; Cuban American singer Ana Cristina Alvarez; Emilio Estefan, Jr.,
president, Estefan Enterprises, Inc.; and Lt. Col. Consuelo Castillo
Kickbusch, USA (Ret.). The Office of the Press Secretary also released a
Spanish language transcript of these remarks. The National Hispanic
Heritage Month proclamation of September 14 is listed in Appendix D at
the end of this volume.
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