Governor Rick Perry (R-TX)

Conservative Political Action Conference

Washington, DC

February 10, 2006

Note: the governor often deviates from prepared text.

Thank you Bill [Lauderback]. It is always nice to be introduced by such a good friend. It is a great honor to speak to this distinguished audience and to be in the presence of those who are the heart and soul of the conservative movement.

25 years ago an important beachhead was established to take back America from the hands of those who advocated tax and spend politics and failed social policies. The day Ronald Reagan became president was a day that changed America and a day that would ultimately change the world.

Throughout the 80s, conservative Democrats across the country, including this farmer and rancher from West Texas, joined the Reagan Revolution and joined the Republican Party. But as we remember the great events of 25 years ago, and the remarkable changes that have occurred since the fall of communism, the election of the Republican Congress, and the export of both our ideas and ideals we cannot objectively say that all is well with the Republican majority.

In fact, after seeing deficits explode spending rise to unprecedented levels entitlement programs take control over more of our federal budget and our border left neglected and unprotected it seems as if conservatives won the war at the ballot box, and then let the opposition keep most of the land.

The one thought I want to leave you with today is this: having built a Republican majority, it is time to build a conservative majority. America needs more leaders willing to govern and not just campaign as conservatives.

Today we find liberals campaigning as conservatives to get elected, and conservatives governing as liberals in order to be liked. Either way, the end result is the same: they spend too much.

We need to return to our conservative roots rather than redefine them. We have already won the debate of ideas.

The other side cannot even admit what they are. They have to run around calling themselves progressives, or “the new mainstream” or moderates because it sells a lot better than being called a liberal. Conservatives don’t have to engage in that nonsense we just say what we are because that is what the people have elected.

The debate has been won. Let’s stop trying to defend our victory and accept it. And most importantly, let’s do something with it. I say let’s start by returning to our roots on the issue of spending.

I know something about this subject.

In 2002, I ran for a full term with the knowledge that Texas would have a large budget shortfall because of the downturn in the economy. The only problem was that a $5 billion challenge became a $10 billion record deficit when the comptroller revised her estimate two months after the election. Now, I could have stood up to the people of Texas and said “I know I promised not to raise your taxes, but I didn’t know how bad it really was.”

Kind of like when Bill Clinton promised a middle class tax cut and then delivered the largest tax hike in American History. I had a lot of people urging me to do that; virtually every editorial board in the state for example. And quite frankly, that’s what some Republican governors did that year. It was the easy thing to do.

When you raise taxes the editorial writers will say nice things about you. The advocates for big spending will call you courageous. Governing Magazine might even put you on their cover.

What we did was harder. We hauled every state agency before the Legislature and asked them where they could cut. We demanded immediate reductions for the rest of Fiscal Year 2003 followed by proposed spending reductions for fiscal years 2004 and 2005.

It was interesting to watch the coverage of that. As legislators agonized over spending cuts, there were hundreds of stories about the potential victims and little ink about the plight of those who pay the taxes. Somehow, when government programs get debated, the people receiving the services get all the attention and the folks paying for those services get forgotten.

But those are the exact people Ronald Reagan never forgot the quiet majority that pays the taxes, grows the economy and expects government to approach spending like a family: cutting back during tough times instead of simply expecting a raise from the boss.

In good conscience, I couldn’t ask taxpayers to give government a raise. I had made them a promise. And we kept our promise, cutting state general revenue spending by $2.6 billion. It was the first time general revenue spending had been reduced in Texas since World War II.

We won that battle, but the war goes on.

As one of my old Democrat opponents, John Sharp, used to say “both Democrats and Republicans will spend every dime they can get their hands on. The only difference is that Republicans will tell you they feel bad about it.” I’m starting to think John was right.

But there is one other fundamental difference. The public expects Democrats to spend every dime in the treasury and then ask for more because that’s what Democrats do. On the other hand, they elect Republicans to stop that from happening and if Republicans keep spending like Democrats, the public will elect the real thing.

Like President Reagan, I believe the cause of conservatism is not to dismantle government, but make it work. It is about making the right investments in the right priorities, recognizing government cannot be all things to all people. And I will be the first to say some priorities deserve more money, not less.

Border security is a prime example. I wonder how many more border patrol agents we could place on the border if Congress lived with just 13,000 earmarks instead of the 14,000 contained in legislation in 2004?

And then there are entitlement programs which if not reformed will smother future prosperity.

Take Medicaid for example. From 1994 to 2005, Medicaid expenditures in Texas grew from $8.5 billion to $17 billion. More than half of all childbirths in Texas today are paid for by Medicaid. In Texas, we don’t have a lot of optional populations on Medicaid. Our program is leaner than most. But if Washington doesn’t address this crisis, Medicaid will bankrupt every state in the nation. That’s because the costs are largely outside our control because of federal mandates. That’s why I have made the case that states need flexibility in managing their Medicaid populations and controlling prices.

Entitlement reform should be a top priority of members of Congress and not the political whipping post it has become. Avoiding the problem only worsens the outcome.

If there is any issue we cannot avoid, it is one I just mentioned: It is time to enforce the sovereign laws of this nation and protect our borders.

In the last two months my office has dedicated $10 million to Operation Linebacker an effort led by local Texas sheriffs. We are helping them to increase patrol hours providing rapid deployment teams of state troopers increasing investigators and funding new technology and infrastructure.

Two weeks ago, because of Operation Linebacker, authorities in Hudspeth County near El Paso came across a drug smuggling operation and chased three vehicles to the border. One vehicle was abandoned with 1,445 pounds of marijuana. Another vehicle got stuck in the river. So individuals in Mexican Military uniforms armed with military rifles in a Humvee pulled the drugs out of that vehicle and set it on fire.

Since then, two deputies and a deputy’s wife have been threatened by Mexican criminal operatives. When confronted, Mexican authorities stated that the drug smugglers often use Mexican military uniforms to discredit their government. Later, the preposterous claim was made by a Mexican official that it was possible these were U.S. smugglers taking drugs into Mexico.

The boldness of these narco-terrorists is increasing. In certain segments on the Mexican side of the border, they maintain operational control. I have asked the Texas Rangers to work with local sheriffs to investigate illegal incursions.

And yesterday I announced the launch of Operation Rio Grande a new state effort to use intelligence available state law enforcement resources and a new command and control structure to secure our border from Brownsville to El Paso.

It is bad enough that our porous borders are being infiltrated by drug traffickers but they are also being eyed by the terrorists who seek to wage war on the streets of cities like New York, Los Angeles, Houston and Washington, D.C. We know from intelligence reports that al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations believe the Texas border is an entrance of opportunity to move people and weapons into the United States.

And yet, if someone is picked up for illegally entering Texas, and they are an OTM—industry terminology for “Other Than Mexican”—there remains a pretty good chance because detention space is limited that they will get placed on a bus and dropped off a hundred miles inland. Then they will be asked to show up for a court hearing a month later, but until then they are free to wander our streets. They ought to play the Southwest Airlines “ding” sound when they walk off the bus because they are free to move about the country!

This is simply unacceptable.

I appreciate the Administration announcing plans to increase detention space by 6,700 beds invest in new technology and put an additional 1,500 border patrol agents on the border. It’s a step in the right direction. But these investments will take time that we frankly don’t have.

The threat today is real, and it grows each day.

My friends, this is the most serious of public policy matters. And it is an important front in a multi-front war.

I’m convinced this President’s legacy long after he is gone will be that he showed bold leadership in taking the War on Terror onto enemy soil, saving countless American lives. The War on Terror is a great validation of the idea that a strong America is the vital link to a safer world. It is working. And hearts and minds in those regions have been greatly been impacted.

For instance, two weeks ago I visited the area of Pakistan left destitute by an earthquake. Before USAID and the military started providing relief the sight of an American aircraft would have likely drawn gunfire. Now that wave upon wave of American aircraft has brought relief supplies, do you know what the most popular gift for children is in that part of Pakistan? Small models of the Shinook helicopter with a smiley face on the front.

The troops in Iraq, Kuwait, Afghanistan and Pakistan that I visited all told me the same thing: tell the American People the critics have it wrong: we’re changing these troubled regions and we are winning this war.

A strong America is a safer America. And an America with a strong presence in the world will make for a safer world for our children.

But how can we fight this war on foreign fronts while leaving the front door to our nation vulnerable? Securing our border is about securing our future and our freedom. And as Ronald Reagan once pointed out, diplomacy may require compromise, but our future and our freedom are never up for negotiation.

Why do Americans elect conservatives? Because they expect we will make them more secure from foreign threats and more secure in the economic marketplace. We do the will of the American people when we restrain spending fight over-regulation and over-taxation and ensure America pursues foreign policy from a position of strength.

The cure to what ails Republicans is not going to be found in focus groups or finely orchestrated photo ops but in pursuing the path of principle though it be long, dusty and less traveled.

You can build a majority on backlash but you can only keep it with substance. And if we pursue substance, the discerning eye of the public will figure out who is playing to their emotions, and who is protecting their future.

No issue demands this more than public education reform. The scare tactics of the left cannot prevail over time because they lack substance. Nothing we do will revolutionize the classroom more than performance pay for teachers.

With few exceptions, the unions are dead opposed. One union official recently said performance pay was divisive but admitted that teachers in the schools set to receive grants from the Texas pilot program will warmly receive the money.

I am confident that performance pay will work because it already has more than 200 years it’s called the American Enterprise system. If you pay excellence the same as mediocrity you make mediocrity its own incentive and you drive away the best teachers who see no reward for their extra effort and innovation.

I will continue to fight for another fundamental reform in education: giving parents and students the option of attending the public, private or religious school of their choice.

When you give parents a choice, you give children a chance. The children left in the shadows of opportunity are often poor and of minority descent. They deserve better than being sentenced to a lifetime of failure or mediocrity to further a narrow social agenda.

Opponents will say schools just need more money. In Texas, public schools have gotten more money $10 billion more since 1999. If money were the only answer, then Washington, D.C. would have the best schools in the nation. It’s not merely a matter of providing more money for education; we need more education for our money.

We have to fight for our principles: that money alone is not the answer to every challenge and that freedom should not only be exported to foreign countries, but imported to our inner city children and that the compassion in our hearts is not measured by the size of our government.

Those ideas must be more than campaign slogans they should be the foundation of conservative governance.

Any elected group or class that values being elected or liked more than pursuing their principles will achieve neither for very long.

We have won the debate. Now let’s begin to reclaim our ground. And let the conservative revolution begin.

Thank you, God bless you and God bless America.

Political advertising paid for by Texans for Rick Perry, PMB 217, P.O. Box 2013, Austin, TX.

Dr. Richard A. Box, Treasurer.