For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
August 22, 2003
Remarks by the President After Meeting Local Economic Leaders
Boeing Field King County International Airport
Pasco, Washington
12:50 P.M. PDT
THE PRESIDENT: It's a pleasure to be here in beautiful Seattle. I
just met with members of the congressional delegation; also members of
the business community, both large and small businesses, to talk about
the fact that this economy here in Washington State is not as strong as
it should be.
I'm fully aware that the unemployment numbers here are some of the
highest in the country, and that's of concern. This is a resource-based
state with a significant high-tech component, and both those sectors
have been hit very hard by the economic downturn. And so we talked
about ways to stimulate growth.
The first thing I talked about was the fact that the tax plan that
the Congress passed and I signed, the most recent tax plan, is now
kicking in. People are getting their child tax credits, which will be
positive. It will be positive for the people of this state. People are
getting more money back, and the more money they have, the more money
they will have to spend. And that's good news.
I talked about trade policy which will help the high-tech industry
here in the state of Washington. We talked about the Healthy Forest
Initiative, which is a common-sense plan to make sure that we save our
forests before they get destroyed by catastrophic fire.
Yesterday I choppered over the fire in Oregon and saw the effects
of a backward forest policy, a policy that has allowed for undergrowth
to develop and provide the kindling necessary for explosive fires. I
saw some interesting signs that -- save our mature large trees. I
agree. I also saw the fires destroy the mature stands of large trees.
It's unbelievable how powerful these fires raged throughout. And we've
got to do something about it. A healthy forest initiative will help
protect the resources of a resource-based economy.
I talked today -- we talked today about energy. The good folks in
the state of Washington, or the capital -- people who spend money on
capital investment know that we need to have an energy policy. Today, I
talked about something that made eminent sense to me, and that is when
you've got good, clean sources of energy like hydropower, you don't
destroy those sources, particularly with the nation short of energy.
And so we had a very good discussion about ways to create the
conditions of economic vitality and growth.
The federal government can help, and the state of Washington has
got to also set the conditions necessary for people to want to be here.
I mean, one of the things we can do at the federal level is pass
medical liability reform. It's a national issue. I mean, it makes sense
for us to have medical liability reform. If the state of Washington
needs to send a message that this will be a good place to do business,
they may -- ought to have the legislature pass liability reform, or
workers compensation reform. There's a lot of things the state of
Washington can do, as well.
And we had a very vital discussion. And the reason why I wanted to
have this discussion is I'm concerned about the size of the
unemployment rate here in this important state.
I'll answer a couple of questions, then I've got to go to another
event. Jennifer.
Q Thank you, sir. I'm want to ask you about the Middle East.
THE PRESIDENT: Middle East, yes.
Q Palestinians militants have promised more suicide bombings.
Israel itself has talked about more pinpoint strikes on militants. What
can you do to make sure that the progress in recent months doesn't get
destroyed?
THE PRESIDENT: Yes, well, we'll just keep working the issue, of
course, hard and reminding people of this important fact, that if
people want there to be peace in the Middle East, if the Palestinians
want to see their own state, they've got to dismantle the terrorist
networks.
You just opened your question by saying that some in the
Palestinian territories have announced there's going to be more suicide
bombings. Suicide bombings are acts of terror. Suicide bombings kill
innocent people. Children, women -- they don't care, they're
indiscriminate. They just kill for the sake of killing. Those people
who conduct suicide bombings are not interested in the vision that I
have outlined, and that is a Palestinian state living side-by-side with
Israel in peace.
What the United States will continue to do is to remind those who
love peace and yearn for freedom in that part of the world to join
together and to battle those few who want to destroy the ambitions of
many. I will continue to work with leaders in the neighborhood to
encourage them to cut off the money and the aid and the help that goes
to these terrorist organizations, all of which aim to destroy any hope
for peace.
I am, and will continue to work the issue. I think it's important
for us to -- for the United States to stay very much engaged, and I
will.
Randy.
Q Mr. President, it seems like the conflict in Iraq is becoming
more of a guerrilla war directed against the West, or international
institutions. How important is it that more countries contribute troops
to Iraq? And are you willing to give more political authority to the
United Nations to achieve that goal?
THE PRESIDENT: Yes, well, look, that's a very interesting question.
It's -- the way I view this is Iraq is turning out to be a continuing
battle in the war on terror. You know, it's one thing to remove the
Saddam Hussein regime from power in order to protect America and our
friends and allies, which we did. And then there are -- we found
resistance from former Baathist officials. These people decided that,
well, they'd rather fight than work for peaceful reconstruction of Iraq
because they weren't going to be in power anymore.
I also believe there's a foreign element that is moving into Iraq
and these will be al-Qaeda-type fighters. They want to fight us there
because they can't stand the thought of a free society in the Middle
East. They hate freedom. They hate the thought of a democracy emerging.
And therefore, they want to violently prevent that from happening. And
it's hard to characterize what kind of movement it is since this is the
-- this is one of the major battles of the first war of the 21st
century.
As I told the American people after 9/11, one, I would never forget
9/11 and the lessons learned about protecting the security of this
country, but also that we were facing a different kind of war. And
having said that, we do need and welcome more foreign troops into Iraq,
and there will be more foreign troops into Iraq. And what that will do
is that will enable many of those troops to guard the infrastructure.
If you notice what's happening, of course, is as the life of the
average Iraqi begins to improve, those who hate freedom destroy the
infrastructures that we've been improving. It's part of their strategy.
So we'll get more people guarding that.
And in the meantime -- and that will help free up our hunter teams.
We're getting better human intelligence. Every day that goes by, we're
getting more solid evidence from Iraqi citizens about the whereabouts
of certain former thugs -- or current thugs of a former regime, is a
better way to put it, like Chemical Ali. And we're winning.
And it's -- we've been there for 120 days since major operations,
or something like that. We've haven't been there a long time. And these
people -- let me finish. Just getting warmed up. (Laughter.) These
people have been subjugated for years and years and years. Torture
chambers were prevalent throughout the Iraqi society. Mass graves -- we
discovered mass graves of innocent people whose lives were slaughtered
because they didn't agree with Saddam Hussein. And you can imagine the
psychology of a country that has been through a -- life under Saddam.
Slowly but surely, people are now beginning to develop the habits
necessary for a free society to emerge.
We're going to stay the course. Now, your other question was the
United Nations. Well, I've always said the United Nations ought to have
vital role, and they were playing a vital role in Iraq, such a vital
role, that the killers decided to destroy the very people that were
providing food for the hungry and medicine for the afflicted.
Now, what kind of mind-set is that? That's -- it is that type of
mentality that we must defeat if we expect the world to be secure and
peaceful.
And so, yes, there will be a vital role for the U.N. As a matter of
fact, we're discussing regulation -- I mean, resolutions now about how
to encourage other nations to participate in the process.
And, let me -- one more. Ryan.
Q Thank you, sir.
THE PRESIDENT: Fine, Ryan. Is this a short question? If it is a
short question, I can call on Bennett. If it's not a short question, he
gets filibustered.
Q Sir, three tax cuts, two wars, and now, a new military role in
Liberia. And your administration is now projecting deficits up near a
trillion dollars this year and next. Meanwhile, a major jobless
recovery as you've just mentioned here today in Washington, and Wall
Street is becoming more and more nervous about the effect of these
deficits in the long-term economy. Can this economy sustain long-term
deficits?
THE PRESIDENT: We'll have the deficit in half over a five-year
period of time if Congress holds the line on discretionary spending.
And one of my jobs is to make sure they do. I proposed reasonable
budgets on discretionary spending, and I expect Congress to join me on
those budgets.
Let me remind the people that -- to whom you're writing, this
erudite article -- what caused the deficit. It was caused by the lack
of revenues coming into the treasury because of a recession. Half of
the deficit was because of the recession that took place in the first
quarter -- first three quarters of 2001.
And remember, the stock market started to decline in March of 2000.
That caused a lack of revenue coming into the treasury. Then the
country went into recession. And recession by its very nature means
less business activity, less money in circulation, less monies coming
into the treasury.
And then, we were at war. And I decided to request from Congress
enough money to fight and win the war. That's what the American people
expect. They expect a Commander-in-Chief to support the troops. And
that's what I did, and will continue to do.
Part of the deficit is also caused by the fact that Congress passed
the tax relief I asked for. But the reason I asked for the tax relief
is to stimulate economic growth. And so, the -- those who are worried
about the deficit must first worry -- I hope would worry first about
people being able to find work, like in Washington state. I am more
concerned about somebody finding a job than I am about numbers on
paper.
But having said that, I want to repeat that we've got a plan to
reduce the deficit in half in five years.
Final question, Bennett of the Houston Chronicle. I've known him
for a long time. For those of you who don't know him, he's a fine lad.
(Laughter.)
Q I have sort of a Texas-related question. Mr. President, next week
there's going to be a report issued on the Space Shuttle Columbia
that's expected to be highly critical of NASA. Do you support the
resumption of manned-space flights? Do you think the program should be
better funded and restructured? Where do you see the future?
THE PRESIDENT: Let me first -- I've been a strong supporter of
NASA. I want to look at the report before I comment. You may have seen
the report; I haven't, in which case, I want to look at it. I do
believe that a space program is important for a country that is trying
to stay on the leading edge of technological change. But let me look
and first see what the report says, how critical it is, what it says,
what it means. And I'll answer -- try to answer that very question
after I've had a chance to enrich my knowledge about a pending report.
Thank you all.
Q It's her birthday.
THE PRESIDENT: Today is your birthday?
Q No. (Laughter.)
Q Yes, it is.
THE PRESIDENT: You shouldn't be so shy in front of national
cameras. (Laughter.)
Q I'd rather it not be a topic, thank you. (Laughter.)
THE PRESIDENT: Would you like for your compadres to break out in a
"Happy Birthday" here on TV?
Q They've already done that, thank you.
THE PRESIDENT: They have? Should we have the business community
sing? (Laughter.) Happy birthday.
Thank you all.
END 1:03 P.M. PDT
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