白宫华盛顿哥伦比亚特区（Washington, D.C.）2021年2月19日东厅（East Room）美国东部标准时间上午11:17
总统：多谢大使先生。很高兴见到安杰拉（Angela）和伊曼纽尔（Emmanuel）。我们刚刚利用早上的一部分时间——按华盛顿当地时间——进行了交谈。但是我想对所有的人表示问候并感谢，你们———在慕尼黑会议（Munich Conference）主办这次特别会议。
如你所说，数十年来，我曾出席慕尼黑安全会议——作为美国参议员，与两院同事一起强调跨大西洋伙伴关系的重要性；3次作为美国副总统与会，包括在我们上任后最初几个月发表奥巴马-拜登（Obama-Biden）政府的第一个国际外交政策演说。
如你所说，两年前我在慕尼黑发表最后一次讲话，当时我是普通公民；我是一名教授，不是民选官员。但当年我曾说，“我们会再次回归。”我言出必行。美国已经回归。
今天我作为美国总统，在我的政府执政之初发表讲话，向全世界发出一个明确的信息：美国已经回归。跨大西洋联盟已经回归。我们不再回首既往；我们瞩望前程，同心协力。
归根结底，跨大西洋联盟是一个坚实的基础——坚实的基础——我们的集体安全和我们的共同繁荣都建立在这个基础上。依我之见，欧洲和美国的伙伴关系是，而且始终必须是我们希望在21世纪完成所有使命的基石，与我们在20世纪所做的一样。
我们今天面临的挑战有所不同。我们正处于一个转折点。与当年我作为参议员，甚至作为副总统发表讲话的时候相比，全球态势已经发生转变。新的危机要求我们高度警觉。我们不可仅关注可能分裂世界的国家之间的竞争，也不能仅关心如果我们不进行合作就可能一损俱损的全球性挑战。我们必须两者兼顾，与我们的盟国和伙伴步调一致。
为此，我需要消除任何现存的疑虑： 美国将与我们的欧洲联盟（European Union）伙伴和欧洲大陆各地的首都——从罗马（Rome）到里加（Riga）——一起应对我们共同面临的一系列挑战。
我们继续支持欧洲实现完整、自由与和平的目标。美国全面坚持对我们北约联盟（NATO Alliance）的承诺。我欢迎欧洲为保障我们共同防御的军事能力日益增加投入。
众所周知，对我和美国而言，对于我们而言，我们将坚守条款——我们将坚守第5条款（Article 5）。这是一个保证。对一国的进犯就是对全体的进犯。这是我们不可动摇的誓言。唯一援引第5条款的情况是9/11美国受到袭击的时候。你们，我们的盟国与我们共同打击“基地”组织（al Qaeda）。在阿富汗事务推进的过程中，美国坚持与我们的北约盟国和伙伴进行密切磋商。
我的政府强烈支持外交程序—— 目前为结束这场历经20年的战争正在进行的程序。我们仍然坚持要求阿富汗永远不再为恐怖主义对美国及我们的伙伴和我们的利益发动袭击提供基地。
我们的欧洲伙伴还与我们共同抗击伊斯兰国（ISIS）。 就在本星期，北约各成员的国防部长同意大幅度扩大在伊拉克的训练和咨询使命。这对于目前持续打击伊斯兰国的行动具有重要意义。我们不能允许伊斯兰国死灰复燃，卷土重来，威胁中东（Middle East）、欧洲、美国和其他各地的人民。
目前美国正在对我们本身在世界各地的军事态势进行全面审议，与此同时我已下令停止从德国撤回美国军队。我还撤销了前任政府对美国能够以德国为基地的军队人数实施的限额。
我知道——我知道过去几年我们的跨大西洋关系受到了压力和考验，但是美国决心——决心恢复与欧洲发展关系，与你们磋商，重新赢得我们有信誉的领导地位。
正如有关消息所说，今天早些时候，我出席了7国集团领导人第一次会议。我发表的讲话谈到迫切需要为抗击COVID-19疫情、全球经济危机和气候危机加剧等问题协调多边行动。
实现这些目标将取决于一个核心战略主张：美国必须恢复美国永恒的优势，从而可以使我们从实力地位抗击今天的各种挑战。这意味着重新更好地建设我们的经济基础；恢复我们在国际机构中的地位；提升我们国内的价值观，在世界各地为捍卫这些价值大声疾呼；使我们军队的实力现代化，同时发挥外交领导作用；再次振兴使全世界所有的人民更安全的美国的联盟和伙伴关系网络。
你们知道，我希望我们的民主同伴将和我们一道进行这项至关重要的工作。我们的伙伴关系经受过多年磨练和发展，因为它们根植于我们共同民主价值的富饶土壤中。它们不是交易性的。它们不是榨取性的。它们是基于对一个前景的展望，即每个人的声音都举足轻重，所有人的权利都受到保护，法治得到维护。
这一切都尚未充分实现——我们任何人都尚未完全实现这个愿景。我们继续朝着这个方向努力。而且在许许多多地方，包括在欧洲和美国，民主进程正在受到攻击。
我已经认识——我已经认识你们当中的许多人很久了，你们知道我是有话直说。所以让我与你们各位直截了当：我们正处在一场有关世界的未来与走向的根本辩论中。我们正位于一个转折点，一方面是一些人提出，鉴于我们面前的所有这些挑战——从第四次工业革命到全球疫情——独裁体制是走向未来的最佳途径，这是他们所提出的；另一方面则是一些人，他们理解民主为战胜那些挑战所必须。
历史学家将会把这个时刻作为一个转折点——如我所说——加以审视和著书立说。我相信——我全身心相信——民主将而且必然得胜。我们必须显示，在这个变化了的世界里，民主国家仍然能为我们的人民发挥作用。这一点，我认为，是我们振奋人心的使命。
民主不会偶然发生。我们必须捍卫它，为它而战，巩固它，振兴它。我们必须证明，我们的模式不是我们的历史遗物；它是重振未来希望的唯一最佳途径。如果我们与我们的民主伙伴一道努力，有力量，有信心，我知道我们将会战胜每一个挑战，超过每一个挑战者。
你们知道，我们必须共同为与中国的长期战略竞争作准备。美国、欧洲和亚洲如何一道努力，确保和平，捍卫我们的共同价值观，并且促进太平洋各地的繁荣，将是我们进行的最有重大影响力的努力之一。同中国的竞争将是激烈的。这在我的期待之中，也是我所欢迎的，因为我相信欧洲和美国连同我们在印度-太平洋地区的盟友过去70年来所努力打造的全球体系。
我们能够掌握通向未来的赛跑。但是，要做到这点，我们必须对它所需要的有历史意义的投资与合作关系有明确认识。我们必须保护——我们必须保护发明创造的空间、知识产权的空间以及能够通过开放和民主社会中的思想自由交流而蓬勃发展的创新天才。我们必须确保发展增长的好处得到普遍的和平等的分享，而不是仅仅让少数人受益。
我们必须反击有损于国际经济体系根基的中国政府的经济违规和胁迫行为。每一个国家——每一个国家——都必须按同样的规则行事。
美国和欧洲公司都必须把企业管理——企业管理结构——公布于众，并且遵守防腐败和防垄断的法规。中国公司应受同样标准的要求。
我们必须制定针对网络空间、人工智能、生物技术领域中的技术发展和行为规范的管理规则，从而使之用于让人们得到提升而不是受到压制。我们必须挺身维护民主价值，因为是它们让我们能够成就这一切，并反击那些希望实行垄断和将压制常态化的势力。
要知道，这也是——这也是我们将如何迎接来自俄罗斯的威胁。克里姆林宫（Kremlin）攻击我们民主国家，将腐败武器化，企图以此破坏我们的执政体制。俄罗斯领导人想让人们认为，我们的体制比他们的更腐败或与他们的同样腐败。但是世界知道，那不是事实，包括俄罗斯人——俄罗斯自己的公民。
普京（Putin）力图削弱欧洲——欧洲项目和我们的北约联盟。他想动摇跨大西洋的团结和我们的决心，因为对克里姆林宫来说，欺辱和威胁单个国家比同一个强大和紧密团结在一起的跨大西洋共同体打交道要容易得多。
这就是为什么——这就是为什么站出来捍卫乌克兰的主权和领土完整继续是欧洲和美国的一个极其重要的关注。这就是为什么对肆无忌惮——对俄罗斯的肆无忌惮及其对美国、欧洲和世界各地电脑网络的入侵作出应对，对保护我们的共同安全变得十分重要。俄罗斯的挑战也许与中国的挑战不同，但它们同样真实。
这不是要将东方与西方对立。这不是我们想要冲突。我们希望有一个所有国家都能自由决定自身道路而不受暴力威胁或胁迫的未来。我们不能也绝不要回到冷战那种本能对抗和僵硬的集团状态。竞争决不能关闭在影响我们所有人的问题上的合作。例如，如果我们要在所有地方战胜2019冠状病毒病，我们就必须合作。
我的第一份总统国家安全备忘录着重于大幅增加卫生和人道主义应对措施以战胜COVID-19，并更好地预防及准备应对下一次疫情。
今天，我宣布美国承诺向COVID-19疫苗全球获取机制（COVAX）提供20亿美元，并允诺再追加提供20亿美元以敦促其他方面也加紧努力。
然而，即便在我们力争摆脱这场疫情的利齿时，埃博拉（Ebola）在非洲的再次爆发严酷地提醒我们必须同时做到最终能为卫生安全提供资金；增强全球卫生体系；并建立预警系统以便预防、发现及应对未来的生物威胁，因为它们将不断出现。我们必须共同努力，加强并改革世界卫生组织（World Health Organization）。我们需要一个着重于应对生物威胁的联合国体系，能够迅速采取措施来激发行动。
同样地，我们不能再拖延或仅仅采取最低限度的行动来应对气候变化了。这是一场全球性的生存危机，而且我们都将受害——倘若失败我们就都将受害。
我们必须极快地加速我们大力遏制我们的排放的承诺，并相互问责，以达到我们的目标并增强我们的魄力。
正因为如此，作为总统，我立即重新加入了《巴黎协议》（Paris Agreement），而且今天，美国已经正式地重新成为《巴黎协议》的一方，而这项协议是我们帮助制定的。
在地球日（Earth Day），我将主持一次领导人峰会，帮助调动最大的排放者采取更大胆的行动，其中包括在美国这里的国内气候行动。
我感谢——我对欧洲过去4年来在气候问题上的持续领导作用表示感谢。我们应当携手努力，投资于技术创新，这将驱动我们的清洁能源未来，并将使我们能构建全球市场的清洁能源解决方案。
核扩散的威胁也继续要求我们必须认真地展开外交及合作。我们需要有透明度和沟通交流，以便将战略误解或错误的风险降至最低。正因为如此，美国和俄罗斯，尽管有其他竞争，在我来到——在我就职后——马上将《削减战略武器新条约》（New START Treaty）再延长了4[5]年。
正因为如此，我们已经表示准备好重新参与同“五常加一”（P5+1）就伊朗核项目进行谈判。我们还必须应对伊朗在整个中东地区破坏稳定的活动，而且我们将在向前推进的过程中同我们的欧洲及其他合作伙伴密切合作。
我们还将共同努力控制裂变及放射性物质，以制止恐怖主义团伙获取或使用它们。
请看，欧洲和美国必须共同应对的一系列挑战是广泛而复杂的。我渴望听到——我渴望听到——我渴望听到接下来我的好朋友以及杰出的领导人，默克尔总理（Chancellor Merkel），来谈谈她对共同前进的道路的看法。
让我以此作为结束语：我们不能让自我怀疑来妨碍我们相互接触或同更广泛的世界接触的能力。过去的4年曾是艰难的。但欧洲和美国必须再次自信地发挥领导作用，怀着对我们的能力的信心、对我们自身复兴的承诺、相互的信任以及对欧洲和美国为共同保障我们的未来而应对任何挑战的能力的信任。
我知道我们能够做到。我们曾经做到过。就在昨天——在历时7个月的长达3亿英里的旅程之后——美国国家航空航天局（NASA）成功地让毅力号漫游器（Perseverance Rover）登陆火星（Mars）。它正在执行一项探索使命，其中包含我们的欧洲合作伙伴的贡献，寻求我们的星球之外可能存在生命的证据以及宇宙之谜。
在今后几年——昵称是“Percy”的（听不清）——但毅力号将从红色星球（Red Planet）各处收集样本，然后将它们集中以来，以便由另一项使命和另一个漫游器，预期将是美国国家航空航天局和欧洲太空机构（European Space Agency）的联合努力，将这些科学奇迹的宝藏取回并带回来给我们所有人。
这就是我们共同努力所能做到的。如果将我们送往火星并返回的无限能力能说明什么的话，那就是我们能够应对我们会在地球上面临的任何挑战。我们已有所需的一切。而且我希望你们知道美国将做——我们将尽我们的力量。我们将同你们站在一起。我们将为我们共同的价值观而奋斗。我们将应对这个新的历史时刻的挑战。
美国已经回归。让我们团结一致并向我们的子孙后代展示，让他们看到，民主——民主——民主能够发挥职能和效力，只要共同努力，就没有什么是我们做不到的。因此，让我们着手工作吧。
非常感谢你们。谢谢大家。

East Room
11:17 A.M. EST
THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you, Mr. Ambassador.  And it’s great to be with Angela and Emmanuel.  We just spent part of — from Washington’s perspective — the morning together.  But I want to say hello to everyone and thanks, you — at the Munich Conference for hosting this special session.
For decades, as you pointed out, I’ve participated in the Munich Security Conference — as a U.S. senator, joining my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to affirm the importance of the transatlantic partnership; three times as the Vice President of the United States, including delivering the first international foreign policy address of the Obama-Biden administration in the first months we were in office.
And two years ago, as you pointed out, when I last spoke at Munich, I was a private citizen; I was a professor, not an elected official.  But I said at that time, “We will be back.”  And I’m a man of my word.  America is back.
I speak today as President of the United States at the very start of my administration, and I’m sending a clear message to the world: America is back.  The transatlantic alliance is back.  And we are not looking backward; we are looking forward, together.
It comes down to this: The transatlantic alliance is a strong foundation — the strong foundation — on which our collective security and our shared prosperity are built.  The partnership between Europe and the United States, in my view, is and must remain the cornerstone of all that we hope to accomplish in the 21st century, just as we did in the 20th century.
The challenges we face today are different.  We’re at an inflection point.  When I spoke to you as a senator and as even as Vice President, the global dynamics have shifted.  New crises demand our attention.  And we cannot focus only on the competition among countries that threaten to divide the world, or only on global challenges that threaten to sink us all together if we fail to cooperate.  We must do both, working in lockstep with our allies and partners.
So let me erase any lingering doubt: The United States will work closely with our European Union partners and the capitals across the continent — from Rome to Riga — to meet the range of shared challenges we face.
We continue to support the goal of a Europe whole and free and at peace.  The United States is fully committed to our NATO Alliance, and I welcome Europe’s growing investment in the military capabilities that enable our shared defense.
You know, to me and to the United States, and to us, we’ll keep article — we’ll keep faith with Article 5.  It’s a guarantee.  An attack on one is an attack on all.  That is our unshakable vow.  And the only time Article 5 has been invoked was after the United States was attacked on 9/11.  You, our allies, joined us to fight al Qaeda, and the United States committed to consulting closely with our NATO Allies and partners on the way forward in Afghanistan.
My administration strongly supports the diplomatic proc- — process that’s underway and to bring an end to this war that is closing out 20 years.  We remain committed to ensuring that Afghanistan never again provides a base for terrorist attacks against the United States and our partners and our interests.
Our European partners have also stood with us to counter ISIS.  Just this week, NATO Defense Ministers endorsed a significantly expanded training and advisory mission in Iraq, which will be vital to the ongoing fight against ISIS.  We cannot allow ISIS to reopen and regroup and threaten people in the Middle East, in Europe, in the United States, and elsewhere.
And while the United States is undergoing a thorough review of our own force posture around the world, I’ve ordered the halting of withdrawal of American troops from Germany.  I’m also lifting the cap imposed by the previous administration on the number of U.S. forces able to be based in Germany.
I know — I know the past few years have strained and tested our transatlantic relationship, but the United States is determined — determined to reengage with Europe, to consult with you, to earn back our position of trusted leadership.
Earlier today, as was referenced, I participated in the first meeting of the G7 leaders, where I spoke about the dire need to coordinate multilateral action to address COVID-19, the global economic crisis, and the accelerating climate crisis, and so much else.
Achieving these goals is going to depend on a core strategic proposition, and that is: The United States must renew America’s enduring advantages so that we can meet today’s challenges from a position of strength.  That means building back better our economic foundations; reclaiming our place in international institutions; lifting up our values at home, and speaking out to defend them around the world; modernizing our military capabilities while leading with diplomacy; revitalizing America’s network of alliances and partnerships that have made the world safer for all people.
You know, I hope our fellow democracies are going to join us in this vital work.  Our partnerships have endured and grown through the years because they are rooted in the richness of our shared democratic values.  They’re not transactional.  They’re not extractive.  They’re built on a vision of a future where every voice matters, where the rights of all are protected and the rule of law is upheld.
None of this has fully succeeded in this — none of us has fully succeeded in this division [vision].  We continue to work toward it.  And in so many places, including in Europe and the United States, democratic progress is under assault.
I have known for — I’ve known many of you for a long, long time, and you know that I speak my mind, so let me be straightforward with you all: We are in the midst of a fundamental debate about the future and direction of our world.  We’re at an inflection point between those who argue that, given all the challenges we face — from the fourth industrial revolution to a global pandemic — that autocracy is the best way forward, they argue, and those who understand that democracy is essential — essential to meeting those challenges.
Historians are going to examine and write about this moment as an inflection point, as I said.  And I believe that — every ounce of my being — that democracy will and must prevail.  We must demonstrate that democracies can still deliver for our people in this changed world.  That, in my view, is our galvanizing mission.
Democracy doesn’t happen by accident.  We have to defend it, fight for it, strengthen it, renew it.  We have to prove that our model isn’t a relic of our history; it’s the single best way to revitalize the promise of our future.  And if we work together with our democratic partners, with strength and confidence, I know that we’ll meet every challenge and outpace every challenger.
You know, we must prepare together for a long-term strategic competition with China.  How the United States, Europe, and Asia work together to secure the peace and defend our shared values and advance our prosperity across the Pacific will be among the most consequential efforts we undertake.  Competition with China is going to be stiff.  That’s what I expect, and that’s what I welcome, because I believe in the global system Europe and the United States, together with our allies in the Indo-Pacific, worked so hard to build over the last 70 years.
We can own the race for the future.  But to do so, we have to be clear-eyed about the historic investments and partnerships that this will require.  We have to protect — we have to protect for space for innovation, for intellectual property, and the creative genius that thrives with the free exchange of ideas in open, democratic societies.  We have to ensure that the benefits of growth are shared broadly and equitably, not just by a few.
We have to push back against the Chinese government’s economic abuses and coercion that undercut the foundations of the international economic system.  Everyone — everyone — must play by the same rules.
U.S. and European companies are required to publicly disclose corporate governance — to corporate governance structures and abide by rules to deter corruption and monopolistic practices.  Chinese companies should be held to the same standard.
We must shape the rules that will govern the advance of technology and the norms of behavior in cyberspace, artificial intelligence, biotechnology so that they are used to lift people up, not used to pin them down.  We must stand up for the democratic values that make it possible for us to accomplish any of this, pushing back against those who would monopolize and normalize repression.
You know, this is also — this is also how we’re going to be able to meet the threat from Russia.  The Kremlin attacks our democracies and weaponizes corruption to try to undermine our system of governance.  Russian leaders want people to think that our system is more corrupt or as corrupt as theirs.  But the world knows that isn’t true, including Russians — Russia’s own citizens.
Putin seeks to weaken European — the European project and our NATO Alliance.  He wants to undermine the transatlantic unity and our resolve, because it’s so much easier for the Kremlin to bully and threaten individual states than it is to negotiate with a strong and closely united transatlantic community.
That’s why — that’s why standing up for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine remains a vital concern for Europe and the United States.  That’s why addressing recklessness — Russian recklessness and hacking into computer networks, in the United States and across Europe and the world, has become critical to protecting our collective security.  The challenges with Russia may be different than the ones with China, but they’re just as real.
And it’s not about pitting East against West.  It’s not about we want a conflict.  We want a future where all nations are able to freely determine their own path without a threat of violence or coercion.  We cannot and must not return to the reflective [reflexive] opposition and rigid blocs of the Cold War.  Competition must not lock out cooperation on issues that affect us all.  For example, we must cooperate if we’re going to defeat COVID-19 everywhere.
My first presidential national security memorandum focused on surging health and humanitarian responses to defeat COVID-19 and to better prevent and prepare for the next pandemic.
Today, I’m announcing that the United States is making a $2 billion pledge to COVAX, with the promise of an additional $2 billion to urge others to step up as well.
Yet, even as we fight to get out of the teeth of this pandemic, the resurgence of Ebola in Africa is a stark reminder that we must simultaneously work to finally finance health security; strengthen global health systems; and create early warning systems to prevent, detect, and respond to future biological threats, because they will keep coming.  We have to work together to strengthen and reform the World Health Organization.  We need a U.N. system focused on biological threats that can move quickly to trigger action.
Similarly, we can no longer delay or do the bare minimum to address climate change.  This is a global, existential crisis, and we’ll all suffer — we’ll all suffer the consequences if we fail.
We have to rapidly accelerate our commitments to aggressively curb our emissions and to hold one another accountable for meeting our goals and increasing our ambitions.
That’s why, as President, I immediately rejoined the Paris Agreement, and as of today, the United States is officially once again a party to the Paris Agreement, which we helped put together.
On Earth Day, I will host a leaders summit to help drive more ambitious actions among top emitters, including domestic climate action here in the United States.
I am grateful — I’m grateful for Europe’s continued leadership on climate issues over the last four years.  Together, we need to invest in the technological innovations that are going to power our clean energy futures and enable us to build clean energy solutions to global markets.
The threat of nuclear proliferation also continues to require careful diplomacy and cooperation among us.  We need transparency and communication to minimize the risk of strategic misunderstanding or mistakes.  That’s why the United States and Russia, notwithstanding other competition, extended the New START Treaty for an additional four [five] years once I came — I was sworn in.
That’s why we have said we’re prepared to reengage in negotiations with the P5+1 on Iran’s nuclear program.  We must also address Iran’s destabilizing activities across the Middle East, and we’re going to work in close cooperation with our European and other partners as we proceed.
We’ll also work together to lock down fissile and radiological material to prevent terrorist groups from acquiring or using them.
Look, the range of challenges Europe and the United States must take on together is broad and complex.  And I’m eager to hear — I’m eager to hear — I’m eager to hear next from my good friends and outstanding leaders, Chancellor Merkel, about her thoughts on the way forward together.
So let me conclude with this: We cannot allow self-doubt to hinder our ability to engage each other or the larger world.  The last four years have been hard.  But Europe and the United States have to lead with confidence once more, with faith in our capacities, a commitment to our own renewal, with trust in one another and the ability of Europe and the United States to meet any challenge to secure our futures together.
I know we can do this.  We’ve done it before. Just yesterday — after a seven-month, 300-million mile journey — NASA successfully landed the Perseverance Rover on Mars. It’s on a mission of exploration, with elements contributed by our European partners to seek evidence of the possibility of life beyond our planet and the mysteries of the universe.
Over the next few years — “Percy” is (inaudible) call — but Perseverance will range and collect samples from the Red Planet and pile them up so another mission and rover, envisioned as a joint effort between NASA and the European Space Agency, will retrieve this trove of scientific wonders and bring it home to all of us.
That’s what we can do together.  If our unbound capacity to carry us to Mars and back don’t tell us anything else, they tell us we can meet any challenge we can face on Earth.  We have everything we need.  And I want you to know the United States will do — we’ll do our part.  We’ll stand with you.  We’ll fight for our shared values.  We’ll meet the challenges of this new moment in history.
America is back.  So let’s get together and demonstrate to our great, great grandchildren, when they read about us, that democracy — democracy — democracy functions and works, and together, there is nothing we can’t do.  So let’s get working.
Thank you all very much.  Thank you, folks.
Q    Mr. President, (inaudible) the Texas governor’s request for a major disaster declaration?
THE PRESIDENT:  Yes, I had a chance to speak with the governor again last night, and I asked him whether he was about to ask for another effort to — because the circumstances Texas finds itself in — whether he was going to seek additional assistance.  And we talked — I talked with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA — the administrator.  This afternoon, I’m going to ask him to accelerate our response and request for, quote — it’s a different declaration — a “Major Disaster Declaration” so that we can get everything done that we need that’s possible to get done with federal government help.
FEMA is already there and providing support — generators, diesel fuel, water, blankets, and other supplies.  But I’ve directed Health and Human Services — HHS — Housing and Urban Development, U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Department of Defense to identify other resources — other resources that can provide and address the growing needs of the folks in — in Texas.
And as a little bit along the lines I was just talking about, when any state — as I said when I ran, I’m going to be a President for all of America — all — red, blue; there’s no red or blue.  It’s all about commitment to — the American people make to one another.  And so we’re going to sign that declaration once it’s in front of me.  And God willing, it will bring a lot of relief to a lot of Texans.
And so thank you all so very much.
Q    Do you have any plans to visit Texas, Mr. President?
THE PRESIDENT:  Say again.
Q    Do you have any plans to visit Texas?
THE PRESIDENT:  It depends.  The answer is yes.  The question is, I had planned on being in Texas the middle of next week, but what I don’t want to be is a burden.  When the President lands in any city in America, it creates — there’s a — it has a long tail.  And they’re working like the devil to take care of their folks.  If, in fact, it’s concluded that I can do it without creating a burden for the folks on the ground while they’re dealing with this crisis, I plan on going.  But I’ll — we’ll know that — we’ll make that decision probably the beginning of next week.
Okay?  Thank you.
11:38 A.M. EST