For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
March 9, 2001
Remarks by the President in Sioux Falls, South Dakota Send Off
Joe Foss Field National Guard Hangar Sioux Falls, South Dakota
10:03 A.M. CST
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all very
much. I am glad to be here in South
Dakota. (Applause.) I was telling the good
Governor, the air may be a little chilly, but the people are awfully
warm. (Applause.)
I want to thank your warm
hospitality. I particularly want to thank those who were on
the road, waving to us as we came in, and those who have lined up
outside the hangar. It's really -- really makes me feel
great to be here. Thank you for your hospitality.
I'm so proud to be able to call your Governor
my friend. He's a good man,
Janklow. (Applause.) He's kind of hard to settle
down, sometimes. (Laughter.) But the thing I like about him
is he married well -- (laughter) -- he's honest and he loves the
people, and he loves the people. (Applause.)
Earlier today, we toured a community health
center here in Sioux Falls. And I was honored and so pleased
that the Minority Leader in the Senate, Tom Daschle, greeted
me. It's very thoughtful of him to do so. I
appreciate -- I appreciate the dialogues we have had. He
treats me with respect; I will treat him with
respect. (Applause.)
I'm also appreciative of the fact that we've
got two United States Congressmen on the stage with me
today. A very capable, strong, able man from South Dakota,
John Thune. (Applause.) And I've noticed you've
relaxed your border policy and allowed Congressman Mark Kennedy from
Minnesota to come today, too. (Applause.) I
appreciate these two men being here. It gives me a chance to
personally thank them for casting an important vote on behalf of the
American people yesterday, when they cast a vote to cut the taxes on
the people who pay the bills. (Applause.) I want
to thank you all.
I appreciate the Mayor, I appreciate the
former Senator, I appreciate my fellow citizens. I
appreciate the fact that you've given me a chance to get outside of
Washington -- (laughter) -- remember where I came from, to come to the
heartland of America. (Applause.) It's important
for all of us in the federal government to continue to come to the
heartland, because it's the land of good heart and the land of
common-sense people. (Applause.)
And I am here to talk about a common sense way
to budget in Washington, a common sense approach for what to do with
your money. I want you to understand, first and foremost,
all the talk about the surplus. The surplus is not the
government's money. (Applause.) The surplus is the people's
money, it's the hard-working people of America's money. (Applause.)
And I'm going to remind the good folks in the
nation's capital, some of whom don't need reminding, some of whom may
need to be occasionally reminded, that we work for you. And
it's your money we're talking about when it comes to setting
budgets. (Applause.)
It's important to be fiscally sound and
fiscally responsible with your money, which starts with setting
priorities, clear priorities. And so I want to share some of
the priorities that I've set.
First, educating our children is an important
priority for our nation. (Applause.) So we spend money on
public education -- but I always remember where I came
from. I hope you don't get too nervous, Governor, because I
have always believed and will always believe in local control of
schools. And so, while the government will spend money,
we've got to trust you to run your schools. (Applause.)
We got a good vote out of the Senate Education
Committee that passes power out of Washington, so the local folks can
chart the path to excellence for every child. Education is a
priority; but it must be a priority in the context of empowering local
folks and strong accountability measures, and trusting parents, and
always challenging failure. Because in our vision, there are
no second-rate children in this great land of ours; and there are no
second-rate dreams in America. (Applause.)
Health care is an issue, and it's a
priority. I believe we ought to double the amount of
patients we cover in community health centers, to make sure that the
poor and those on the outskirts of poverty are able to find primary
care.
I know we've got to make sure we take care of
our elderly, and so we've doubled the Medicare budget in my
budget. It says loud and clear to our seniors the promises
that we have made to you will be a promise we will keep. But
it also requires new thinking and new leadership. We must
reform Medicare, to give seniors more options, more choices, more
opportunities to tailor their health care programs to meet their needs,
all of which ought to include prescription drug benefits for our
seniors. (Applause.)
A priority is to work with states on important
development projects. And the Lewis and Clark Rural Water Project is a
project that will be in my budget, and something that we can work
together on. (Applause.)
Our retirement systems are a priority in the
budget. And so we've sent the clear message to the Congress
-- and it's being well-received, by the way, by both Republicans and
Democrats -- that the payroll taxes, all your hard-earned taxes, aiming
for Social Security, will be only spent on one thing, and that's Social
Security -- that we set aside, that money. (Applause.)
One of the biggest jobs I have is to serve as
the Commander-in-Chief, and I do so
proudly. (Applause.) I want to be the
Commander-in-Chief of troops that have got high standing and high
morale; people that have got a clear mission stated to them by the
Commander-in-Chief, which is to make sure that our military is properly
trained, ready to fight and win war and, therefore, prevent war from
happening in the first place. (Applause.) So a
priority is to make sure our military is better-paid, better-housed,
and better-trained. (Applause.)
Those are priorities of ours. We
grow what's called the discretionary part of the budget by 4
percent. That's greater than the rate of
inflation. That's a lot of money, by the way, when you're
talking in terms of billions. We grow the budget.
But if you listen to the voices of those who
would rather keep your money in Washington, D.C., they say we can't
meet the needs. I'm telling you, we can meet the needs with
the right kind of priorities. We can meet the needs with the
right kind of focus. (Applause.)
So we grow that budget. But the
problem is, some of the folks in Washington are used to spending
orgies. At the end of the last session, the discretionary
spending grew at 8 percent. I mean, it's like, let's have a
contest to see who can spend the most in order to get out of town.
Those days are over. We're going to bring some fiscal sanity
to the budget. (Applause.)
We can meet our priorities, and we can fund
them. And we can also pay down debt. I know a lot
of folks around America are worried about national debt, as am
I. We pay down $2 trillion of debt over the next 10 years.
That's all the debt that's available to be retired without having to
pay a premium for prepaying debt. That's a lot of debt
retirement. It will be the biggest repayment of debt in the
history of the world. And so we pay down debt.
In order to make sure that the American people
are comfortable with our plan, we also set aside a trillion dollars
over 10 years for contingencies, emergencies, money for the
unforeseen. So people say, what do you mean by
that. Well, I'm concerned about the agricultural sector here
in our country, the agricultural economy. (Applause.)
I want to increase demand for South Dakota
products. (Applause.) I believe that the South
Dakota farmer and rancher is the best in the world.
(Applause.) And, if given the opportunity, they can compete
with anybody in the world, so long as the opportunity is
fair. So my administration will work hard to increase demand
for South Dakota products. (Applause.)
When it comes time to negotiating trade
agreements, we're not going to leave the farmer behind. We
understand the significance. (Applause.) But we
may need some contingency money to help the farmers transition from the
old ways to the market-oriented approaches for agriculture.
And speaking about agriculture, let me
reiterate my commitment to value-added processing, to making sure that
ethanol is an integral part of the gasoline mixes in the United
States. (Applause.) It makes common sense to set
aside money for priorities and contingencies and debt. But
there is still money left over.
The people are working so hard, and long
hours, and are overtaxed -- that there's money left
over. And the fundamental debate that's taking place in
Washington, D.C. is what to do with the money. That's the
fundamental debate. And I'm here to make my
case: if the American people are overcharged, they deserve a
refund. They deserve some money back. (Applause.)
It's really a matter of who you
trust. It's a matter of trust. Once the
priorities are met, once debt is repaid, once the money is set aside in
case something goes wrong, it's who do you trust. And I want
to make it clear to the people of South Dakota: I trust you,
rather than the government, to spend your money. I trust
you. (Applause.)
I also don't trust the Congress to pick
winners and losers in the tax code. You're going to hear the
words, "targeted tax cuts." That means a group of folks get
to decide who is targeted in and who is targeted out. That's not my
view of government. My attitude is, if you pay income taxes,
you ought to get relief. Everybody who pays taxes ought to
get relief. (Applause.)
And so, yesterday, the Congress did the right
thing. They heard the call that if we're going to have tax
relief, reduce all rates. And we have done
so. We've made the code -- we're trying to make the code
more simple. We dropped the bottom rate from 15 percent to 10 percent
and increased the child credit from $500 to $1,000 per
child. (Applause.)
And there is a reason, and the Congress must
hear the reason. It's because we want the code to be more
fair. That if you're living on the outskirts of poverty and
you're struggling to get ahead, today's tax code penalizes hardworking
people. I want you all to remind folks who need to be
reminded, that if you're making about $22,000 a year and you're a
single mom raising two kids -- which I know and many of you know is the
toughest job in America, that's the hardest work in this
country. (Applause.)
For every additional dollar under this code --
under this code that some label progressive, for every additional
dollar, that hardworking lady earns, she pays nearly 50 percent
tax. The way the code is structured, she loses part of her
earned income tax credit. She pays the 15 percent
bracket. She's paying her payroll taxes. She pays
more on the margin than Wall Street bankers do. And that's
not right. And that's not fair. And we're going
to do something about it in the tax code. (Applause.)
We're also dropping the top rate from 39.6
percent to 33 percent. There's a lot of hollering about
that. A lot of people -- you know, they like the targeted
tax cut; we're going to try to pick and choose the
winners. But I want you all to remember
this: that an integral part of America is the small business
owner. (Applause.) The small business owner not
only provides many of the new jobs we create, but the entrepreneur and
the small business owner represents the best of America. It
talks about the American Dream and the American experience of starting
and owning your own business. (Applause.)
There are a lot of folks who have come to this
country, whether or not America is meant for them, and they start their
business and they work hard, and they own a piece of the
future. That's what America is about. And I want you to
remind the skeptics and the naysayers and the doubters that many small
businesses are unincorporated, many are what they call Sub-chapter S,
and they pay the highest marginal rate in the tax code. And
by dropping the top rate from 39.6 percent to 33 percent, we provide
capital infusion into the small business sector of
America. This is a plan that is good for the entrepreneur
and small business people. It makes sense to be that
way. (Applause.)
And, by the way, there is a need to make this
happen quickly. We've got an issue with our
economy. It's beginning to sputter. It's
beginning to get a little shaky. And one way to make sure
that we provide a second wind to the economy is to give people their
own money back. That's called economic
recovery. (Applause.)
And so I appreciate so very much the Congress
working with the White House to make the tax relief
retroactive. In other words, when we pass the bill, it will
be as if it went into effect on January 1st of this year, to get money
in your pockets quicker. (Applause.)
I also want to thank those 10 Democrats who
voted with us yesterday. (Applause.) People are beginning
to hear from the people. People are beginning to
hear. The elected members are beginning to hear from the
people. That's why I'm here. I want to remind you
that you all have an incredibly positive effect. You can help a lot
and I appreciate so very much -- (interruption). As I said,
you can have a positive effect. (Laughter and applause.)
It's a sign from
above. (Applause.) I'll keep an eye
on it. (Laughter.)
Let me say one thing, quickly. I am
concerned about our economy. And therefore, today, in order
to make sure our transportation hubs continue to flourish and we
continue to fly, I'm issuing an executive order to protect the flying
public in a time when Northwest Airlines and the mechanics are having
trouble resolving differences, and they need time to do
so. This order that I signed today will prevent any
disruption of air service for the next 60 days. (Applause.)
It is significant to the people living in
South Dakota that I do this. Northwest is the first airline this year
to reach a critical point in labor/management
negotiations. Several other negotiations involving other
national carriers face deadlines within the next few weeks and I am
concerned about their impact, concerned about what it could mean to
this economy. And I intend to take the necessary steps to
prevent airline strikes from happening this
year. (Applause.)
I urge the National Mediation Board to make
sure that the parties work toward a solution and negotiate in good
faith. It's important for our economy but, more important,
it's important for the hardworking people of America to make sure air
service is not disrupted. (Applause.)
I'm watching. And I'm winding down,
but I want to do one other thing. I want to remind you that tax relief
is good for families. It's good for our
families. (Applause.) And it is going to be
better for families when we do something about the marriage penalty in
the tax code. (Applause.) The tax code is unfair to farmers
and small business people. We need to get rid of the death
tax in the tax code. (Applause.) There's a lot of
talk about taxes. I want to put a face on
taxes. I want people to understand that tax relief is real
for people.
We've got the Hagen family
here. You all stand up, Scott -- and their family, Tiffany
and Christian and Austin and Kyler. This is a hard-working
family. They're raising their three
children. They now pay $1,500 in federal income
taxes. When it's all said and done, after the Congress
passes its plan and when it's all said and done, they'll end up paying
zero in federal income taxes. (Applause.)
No, I know they're going to say, and you'll
hear them say in some of the parlors around the country, you know,
$1,500, that's not much. Just ask the
Hagens. Just ask the working families who have energy bills
that are high. Ask the people -- (applause) -- I want the
skeptics to ask the question to people, what it's like to have huge
consumer debt.
There's a lot of talk about debt at the
national level. We need to worry about debt in the
communities all around America. (Applause.) No,
that $1,500 -- $1,500 may not mean a lot to some; it means a lot to the
Hagens, and there's a principle involved. And the principle
is, we trust them to spend the $1,500 the way they see
fit. It's their money to begin with. (Applause.)
And so I'm here to thank you for your support,
thank you for your friendship, and ask for your help. You're
just an e-mail away from making a difference in somebody's
attitude. (Applause.) It's the right thing to
do. This is common-sense approach to your
money. It's a common-sense approach. It requires
some discipline. It requires reordering priorities. And the
priority with your money is not to grow the federal government -- the
priority of your money is so you can grow your own families and meet
your own needs and meet your own
responsibilities. (Applause.)
And that, after all, is what's important about
America: responsibility. We have a
responsibility. Those of us elected to office have a high
responsibility -- responsibilities that I will keep. But it
doesn't just start in Washington, D.C. It starts in
neighborhoods. At the community health center today,
I had the honor of meeting people who assume the
responsibility of not only providing health care, but of saying to a
neighbor in need, what can I do to help? They call it the
heartland because people have got good hearts in this part of the
world. People care about neighbors. (Applause.)
We can argue about budgets, but that's not the
greatness of America. The greatness of America is our people, the fact
that we've got people who care about somebody. And so I urge
you, become a Boy Scout or Girl Scout leader to teach a youngster right
from wrong. (Applause.) I urge you -- I urge you,
don't hope that Washington fixes schools, don't hope that the federal
government waves some magic wand to make the schools
better. Get involved with your education systems at the
local level. Thank a teacher, thank a principal for their hard
work. (Applause.)
If your church, your synagogue or mosque,
you're looking for something to do, find a program that will help
mentor a child. Put your arm around somebody; it says, we
love you. America is meant for -- you know, the greatness of
this country lies in the hearts and souls of our
citizens. My job will be to argue smart
budgets. My job will be to represent you when it comes to
making sure you've got your money back. My job will be to
keep the peace.
But my job will also be to call upon the best
of America, to lift this nation's spirits, to set our sights high, to
call upon the goodness and kindness of
America. (Applause.) To remind the moms and dads
of our country, if you're fortunate to be a mom or dad, love your child
every day, love them with all your heart and all your
soul. (Applause.)
And that's why it's such an honor to be here,
an honor to be your President. I'm so optimistic, with the
right focus, the right attitude, the right approach, that this great
nation can achieve anything we set our minds to.
Thanks for coming out today. God
bless. God bless America. Thank you
all. (Applause.)
END
10:33 A.M. CST
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