The Vice President: Thank you, Katie for that
memorable introduction.
(laughter)
And thank you Katie for your great leadership.
On the airwaves and in this administration, were
so grateful to you.
(applause)
On behalf of President Donald Trump and
First Lady Melania Trump it is my great privilege
today to welcome members of our cabinet and women
from across the country, business leaders, leaders
in academic life and public life, leaders in
your comminutes, friends all welcome to
the White House.
(applause)
It is great to be here during women's
history month, isn't it?
Participants: Yes!
The world has celebrated international women's day
on March 8th since 1911.
It was in 1980 that President Jimmy Carter
declared the week of March 8th National Women's
History Week and six years later the national women's
history project successfully petitioned
congress to expand national week into the
entire month of March.
And today here in the East Room of the White House
were continuing a celebration of women's
history month by really bringing together an
extraordinary group of women who are serving this
administration with incredible distinction.
(applause)
We welcome you all to this women's
empowerment panel here is - this event is really the
tail end of a month that culminates into a series
of activates where President Trump has sought
to honor women's contributions to the
United States of America.
He's held multiple listening sessions
dedicated to finding solutions to the unique
challenges the women face, in the work place and in
running businesses.
He signed legislation promoting education
employment for women in the sciences, and area
that we've been historically under
represented.
He signed a proclamation declaring that women's
quote "contributions to our nations life, culture,
history, economy and families have shaped us
and helped fulfill Americas promise" The
truth of this statement is evident for all to see.
And this may be women's history month but the fact
is that women in America make history
every single day.
(applause)
And today I'm really looking forward to
just sitting in.
You're going to hear today from some the
extraordinary women that President Trump has
brought in to help lead this administration.
Betsy DeVoss , one of the great, storied business
families from Michigan in America.
(applause)
Now the administrator of the Small Business Administration,
Betsy's already been on
road talking about how we get America moving again
for women entrepreneurs and of course one of my
two daughters favorites, she was a governor, now
she is the United States ambassador to the United
Nations, Nikki Haley who's with us today.
(applause)
As you can imagine my two daughters,
one in college, she's headed to law school next
year, and one who just started her career are not
impressed with people in politics but both of them
said to me a few years ago when Nikki passed through
a challenging time in the life of her state they
said "that Nikki Haley is really cool" And we are so
honored to have you in this administration.
(applause)
And the new administrator for the
center for medicade and medicare services and a
Hoosier Seema Verma is with us today.
(applause)
This is extraordinary group of
women and I'm looking forward to hearing their
thoughts today and you know, it really is the
greatest privilege of my life to serve as
Vice President to President Donald Trump.
(applause)
This is a President who has advanced
the interest of women and relied on women leaders in
crucial moments throughout his career.
Like when he named, a woman, to lead his
campaign for President and Kelly Anne Conway became
the first woman in American history to lead
successful Presidential campaign.
(applause)
The truth is, American women are making
a difference in our administration in our
economy and in our communities every single day.
They're driving our economy through
entrepreneurship and in innovation, in fact there
are more then 9.4 million women owned American business
that employ nearly 8 million Americans with
annual revenues now totaling 1.5 trillion
dollars, American women no doubt inspired by the
leaders like those gathered in this room
today are also graduating from college and post
secondary education in record numbers and women
leaders are defending our nation and wearing the
uniform of the United States of America.
(applause)
The President: Thank you very much.
What an amazing audience this is.
(Laughter.)
So many young faces that represent the
future of leadership in our country.
So true.
Melania and I are deeply honored to join you.
And, Melania, thank you for being here.
(Applause.)
So as you know, Melania is a very highly
accomplished woman and really an inspiration
to so many.
And she is doing some great job.
In fact, I shouldn't say this, but her poll numbers
went through the roof last week.
(Laughter.)
What was that all about?
Through the roof.
(Applause.)
She has to give us the secret, Mike, right?
(Laughter.)
Anyway, I appreciate it very much.
My Cabinet is full of really incredible women leaders.
Administrator Linda McMahon, who has been a
friend of mine for a long time --
(applause)
-- long time.
She's done an incredible job in business, by the way.
Administrator Seema Verma, Secretary Betsy DeVos,
and, of course, my good friend from South Carolina
who is a very tough competitor, I want to tell
you -- Nikki Haley, Ambassador.
She is doing fantastically well.
(Applause.)
And we're also joined, of course,
by Florida Attorney General, highly respected, Pam Bondi.
So I want to thank you, Pam.
Thank you.
(Applause.)
Elaine Chao, our Secretary of
Transportation, who's a real expert.
She was Secretary of Labor, but she said, I
really wanted to be Secretary of Transportation.
That's a real expertise, and she's doing incredibly.
She would have been here, but she's celebrating the
50th anniversary of the Department of
Transportation right now as we speak.
And we're going to work on infrastructure and we're
going to put up one of the big and great
infrastructure bills of all time.
(Applause.)
We're going to get our infrastructure
fixed in our country, and we're going to rebuild our
country, and that's what we need.
Lots of jobs, also.
(Applause.)
And I want to thank Ford -- you saw their big
announcement yesterday.
And so many others are announcing tremendous
numbers of jobs.
(Applause.)
They're not leaving our country anymore, folks.
They're not leaving; they're staying and
they're building right here.
So we really have these incredibly strong and
dedicated leaders, and they're with me and
they're with us.
And I'm very happy about it.
And I want to thank you as being representative, very
much, of our group.
Thank you all very much.
Thank you.
(Applause.)
And I'm so proud that the White House and our
administration is filled with so many women
of such incredible talent.
This week, as we conclude Women's History Month, we
honor a great woman of American history.
Since the very beginning, women have driven -- and I
mean each generation of Americans -- toward a more
free and more prosperous future.
Among these patriots are women like the legendary
Abigail Adams -- right?
-- (applause) --
who, during the founding, urged
her husband to remember the rights of women.
She was very much a pioneer in that way.
We've been blessed with courageous heroes like
Harriet Tubman, who escaped slavery --
(applause)
-- and went on to deliver hundreds of
others to freedom, first on the Underground
Railroad, and then as a spy for the Union Army.
She was very, very courageous, believe me.
(Applause.)
And we've had leaders like Susan B. Anthony
-- have you heard of Susan B. Anthony? --
(laughter)
-- I'm shocked that you've heard
of her -- who dreamed of a much more equal and fair
future, an America where women themselves, as she
said, "helped to make laws and elect the lawmakers."
And that's what's happening more and more.
Tough competition out there, I want to tell you.
From the untamed frontiers of the Western Plains to
the skyscrapers of Manhattan, American women
in every generation have shown extraordinary grit,
courage, and devotion.
Our present generation stands on the shoulders of
these titans -- and that's what they were
and are -- titans.
Only by enlisting the full potential of women in our
society will we be truly able to -- you have not
heard this expression before -- make America
great again.
(Laughter and applause.)
It's a good expression.
(Applause.)
Thank you.
Thank you, everybody.
Thank you.
It's been a lot of fun.
(Laughter.)
And we didn't get that one from Madison
Avenue, right?
(Laughter.)
My administration will work
every day to ensure that our economy is a place
where women can work, succeed, and thrive
like never before.
That includes fighting to make sure that all mothers
and all families have access to
affordable childcare.
(Applause.)
We want every daughter in America to
grow up in a country where she can believe in
herself, believe in her future, and follow her
heart and realize her dreams.
(Applause.)
And we want a country that celebrates
family, that celebrates community, and that
creates a safe and loving home for every child --
every child.
That's what we want.
(Applause.)
Earlier this year, I met with a
remarkable group of leaders.
They were women entrepreneurs from all
across the country.
They started their businesses from absolutely
nothing, and today have grown them into successful
enterprises that employ hundreds -- and in certain
cases, even thousands -- of people.
Just think of what our country could achieve if
we unleashed the power of women entrepreneurs
nationwide.
Think of that.
(Applause.)
So, as a man, I stand before you as President.
But if I weren't President, I wouldn't be
happy to hear that statement.
That would be a very scary statement to me because
there's no way we can compete with you.
(Laughter.)
So I would not be happy.
(Applause.)
Just wouldn't be happy.
One of the business owners I met, Lisa Phillips,
used to be homeless.
She now is the owner of an event-planning company,
and she trains homeless youth in Baltimore for
good-paying jobs.
Lisa had a message for all of us.
As she put it, "This is a country of chances...if
you're willing to work hard, you'll get the
chance." And she means it, and she's become
very successful.
She's terrific.
Lisa is right -- but we have to fight to ensure
that more people have the chance to succeed.
To do that, we must believe in each other, and
we must dare to dream of a better, brighter, and more
prosperous future for all of our citizens.
We have no choice.
That's what we have to do.
And to be honest, whether you're a woman or whether
you're a man, you have that same dream: You want
to be able to dream.
You just have a big advantage over us.
(Laughter.)
You know why?
Right there.
(Applause.)
There's a lot of truth to that, Mike, right?
That's what I want for each and every one, and
each and every one of our daughters and
our granddaughters.
And I know, together, we will get there.
I want every young person in the audience today, and
watching from home -- and they're all over the
place; those cameras are all over --
(laughter)
-- to know that the future truly belongs to you.
We are Americans, and we will not stop until we
have achieved our dreams.
I want to thank you very much for being here.
It's my great honor, I will tell you, to be here.
In fact, Melania said, this is something I just
have to be at.
She feels so strongly about it.
(Applause.)
So thank you, God bless you, and God
bless America.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
(Applause.)