[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 37, Number 22 (Monday, June 4, 2001)]
[Pages 817-819]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at a Memorial Day Breakfast

May 28, 2001

    Thank you. Well, Tony, thank you very much. I appreciate so very 
much the fine work you are doing on behalf of the veterans for America. 
I knew that I made a pretty good selection when I picked Tony. I didn't 
realize that so many would agree with me so quickly, and I thank you 
very much for taking on such a tough assignment.
    I am also honored that the Secretary of Defense is here. Mr. 
Secretary, thank you, and thanks for bringing your great wife, as well. 
I'm pleased to know that Mel Martinez and his wife are here, another 
Cabinet Secretary, as well as Ann Veneman and Tommy

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Thompson, head of Health and Human Services. Thank you all for being 
here today. Jeni, thank you for your kind prayer.
    Senator Dole, it's great to see you, sir. I'm really pleased you 
brought your better half. [Laughter] Elizabeth is one of our all-time 
favorites. I know you've worked hard for this moment, and I want to 
thank you for being here. I see Freddie Smith, as well, who--you did a 
fine job of twisting his arm to take over the head of the World War II 
Memorial Fund. And thanks, Fred, so much for your hard work.
    I'm glad Members of the Congress who are here--I thought most of you 
were trying to escape town, but some of you stayed behind to help 
celebrate this occasion. Senator Hutchinson from the great State of 
Arkansas is here. Thank you very much, Tim, for being here. Senator Bob 
Smith, thank you, sir, for coming. Senator Ted Stevens, I appreciate so 
very much, you being here. And of course, the chairman, John Warner, 
thanks for coming. Members of the House--Cass Ballenger and Ralph 
Regula, Ike Skelton and Chris Smith--are here, as well. Thank you all 
for coming.
    I've got to say something about an ex-Congressman. I just saw Sonny 
Montgomery sitting here, and Sonny, you may not be in the House but a 
lot of people wish you still were, and thanks so much for being here.
    I want to thank the members of the Joint Chiefs who are here. I also 
want to thank all the World War II vets who are here. And if you 
wouldn't mind standing, I wish you would, please. [Applause]
    William Schmidt, an ex-POW, and Joseph Alexander, a Defender of 
Bataan & Corregidor, are here. You just stood, but I want to thank you 
two gentlemen for coming, as well.
    I want to welcome everybody to the White House. Laura and I are so 
honored you are here this morning. Later today I will lay a wreath at 
the Tomb of the Unknowns, one of the many acts of remembrance that will 
mark this day. Many of you will be there. Thank you for coming, not only 
here but there, as well.
    Each of you is not only a veteran in this room, but each of you is a 
servant to other veterans, and for that our Nation is grateful. 
America's veterans have earned not only honors but specific benefits, 
and those only become more necessary with the years.
    My administration will do all it can to assist our veterans and to 
correct oversights of the past. My budget provides a significant 
increase for health care at the Department of Veterans Affairs, where 
Senator Principi is very much in charge. We are making considerable 
progress on implementing the Veterans Millennium Health Care Act. And 
the Secretary--did I say Senator Principi? [Laughter] Always worried 
about that balance of power. [Laughter] Secretary Principi has begun a 
top-to-bottom review of VA claims processing in order to identify 
weaknesses and areas of improvement. These are good first steps, but 
they are only first steps.
    We must also improve the way the VA and the Department of Defense 
work together to provide care to those who have served in uniform. I am 
today announcing the creation of a Presidential task force to recommend 
major reforms in the delivery of health care to veterans and military 
retirees.
    I have asked two distinguished Americans to lead it. Dr. Gail 
Wilensky is a prominent expert on health policy and a faithful friend to 
veterans. She will work with Gerry Solomon, who is a long-time advocate 
for veterans and a former Congressman. One might be tempted to call him 
an ex-marine, but we all know there is no such thing as an ex-marine. 
[Laughter] I'm honored that both have agreed to serve. I am honored they 
are both here. Please stand. [Applause] Thank you for coming.
    America really has been given so much. Yet, of all our assets, 
resources, and strengths, none have counted more than the courage of our 
young soldiers in the face of battle. They have cleared the seas, 
crossed the rivers, charged the hills, and covered the skies, and they 
have never let America down.
    I know that those who have seen war are rarely eager to look back on 
it, and the hardest memories of all concern those who serve their 
country and never live to be called veterans. Yet, memory is our 
responsibility. We are in their debt more than a lifetime of Memorial 
Days could repay. Their sacrifices left

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us with a duty that goes on through the generations, to honor them in 
our thoughts and our words and in our lives.
    We have been given that opportunity this morning. On your way to 
Arlington National Cemetery you will pass The Mall, where our Nation 
raised up memorials to Washington, Lincoln, and those lost in Vietnam. 
That same Mall will soon be the site of the World War II Memorial.
    The generation of World War II defeated history's greatest tyranny, 
leaving graves and freedom from Europe to Asia. Our Nation must always 
remember their heroism and humility and terrible suffering. And that 
memory must be and will be preserved on the Washington Mall.
    The World War II Memorial has been in the works for a long time. The 
Congress of the United States has acted to remove the obstacles and 
begin the project. What is required now is a signature, and I am glad to 
give it. In the 60th year after Pearl Harbor, it is my huge honor to set 
my name on this bill, ordering construction of a monument that will 
stand for the ages. Not only will I sign the bill, I will make sure the 
monument gets built.
    Thank you all for coming.

Note: The President spoke at 8:40 a.m. in the East Room at the White 
House. In his remarks, he referred to Secretary of Veterans Affairs 
Anthony J. Principi, who introduced the President; Kitty Rumsfeld, wife 
of Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld; Joyce Martinez, wife of 
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Mel R. Martinez; Jeni Cook, 
Director of Chaplain Services, Department of Veterans Affairs; former 
Senator Bob Dole, national chairman, and Frederick W. Smith, cochairman, 
World War II Memorial Campaign; and Elizabeth Dole, former Secretary of 
Transportation. Following his remarks, the President signed H.R. 1696, 
to expedite the construction of the World War II Memorial, assigned 
Public Law No. 107-11.