For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
October 24, 2001
Economy an Important Part of Homeland Defense
Remarks by the President to Employees of the Dixie Printing Company
Dixie Printing Company
Glen Burnie, Maryland
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all very
much. Please be seated. Newth, thank you very
much. And Ray, and Susan Blavett, (phonetic) -- thank you
for being here, as well. I'm glad my SBA Director is here --
Hector Barreto is in charge of the Small Business
Association. And, Hector, thank you for coming. I
want to thank the employees of Dixie Printing, and my fellow
Americans. (Applause.)
Some might ask why, in the midst of war, I would come to Dixie
Printing. They say, here you are conducting a campaign
against terrorists, and you take time to come to a small
business. And the answer is, because we fight in the war on
two fronts. We fight a war at home; and part of the war we
fight is to make sure that our economy continues to grow.
When the terrorists struck our homeland, they thought we would
fold. They thought our economy would crater. That's what
they wanted. But they don't understand
America. They don't understand the entrepreneurial spirit of
our country. They don't understand the spirit of the working
men and women of America. They don't understand that small
business owners all across our country are saying, we're not going to
allow you to terrorize us. We're going to make sure our --
(applause.)
I am here to report that we're doing well on both
fronts. Overseas, our diplomatic efforts are
strong. Nations all across the globe have bound with the
United States to send a clear message that we'll fight terrorism
wherever it may exist.
Recently I was in China. I had an interesting meeting,
as you can imagine, with the President of Russia, the head of China,
Mexico, Chile -- were all represented. And to a leader, from
all kinds of nations -- some Muslim, some not -- the people said, we
stand with America. We stand with America in our noble goal
of finding the evildoers and bringing them to justice.
As you know, I have asked our military to take an active role in
the campaign. I set out a doctrine to America that said the
following: Not only will we hold terrorists accountable for
their activities, we will also hold those accountable, those nations
accountable that harbor them, that hide them, that try to feed
them. And that's exactly what we're doing in Afghanistan.
I gave the Afghan government, the Taliban government, plenty of
time to respond to the demands of the United States. I said,
you must hand over the al Qaeda leadership which hides in your
country. I said, you must free those who you illegally
detain in your country. And I said, you must destroy the
camps that have been used to train the terrorists. And they
had time to respond, and they didn't respond positively, and,
therefore, they're paying a price.
Our military is conducting a campaign to bring the terrorists to
justice, not to harm the Afghan people. While we are holding
the Taliban government accountable, we're also feeding Afghan
people. You need to be proud of the United States
military. It's doing its job. It is slowly, but
surely, encircling the terrorists so that we'll bring them to justice.
We're patient. We're firm. We have got a strategy
that is going to work. And make no mistake about it, justice will be
done. (Applause.)
But there is another front in this war, and the front is here at
home. It's something that, obviously, we're not used to in
America. We've had oceans which have protected us over our
history. Except for Pearl Harbor, we've never really been
hit before. And yet, on September 11th, this great land came
under attack. And it's still under attack as we
speak. Anybody who puts poison in mail is a
terrorist. Anybody who tries to affect the lives of our good
citizens is evil.
I'm oftentimes asked by our friends in the press, do I know if
there's a direct connection between what took place on September the
11th and what's happening today. I have no direct evidence,
but there are some links. Both series of actions are
motivated by evil and hate. Both series of actions are meant
to disrupt Americans' way of life. Both series of actions
are an attack on our homeland. And both series of actions
will not stand.
It's important for the American people to know our government is
doing everything we can on both fronts of this war. On the
home front, we've got an Office of Homeland Security, the job of which
is to organize and coordinate our functions of government in such a way
as to disrupt and find those who would harm our
citizens. We've got thousands of FBI agents scouring the
information, asking questions, following up leads, all aimed to raise
the risk of someone who would harm our citizens.
And, as well, we've responded to every incident that has occurred.
Our nation has responded with bravery and courage. I'm proud
of our health officials who responded so quickly to the incidents that
took place. And, unfortunately, we lost life, and our
prayers are with anybody who lose life in America. But I
firmly believe their quick actions saved many lives, as well.
We're learning about terror and evil, and our country is responding
forcefully. The American people have got remarkable spirit
and remarkable resolve. We are strong, we are united, and we
are determined to prevail. (Applause.)
One of the effects of the attacks has been on our
economy. Make no mistake about it: September 11th
affected economic growth, and our government must respond in an
effective way. And so I'm here to talk about an important
part of the home front security, and that is our economy.
First of all, the bases for economic growth are very
strong. The entrepreneurial spirit is really strong in
America. We're the haven for small business opportunity in
our country. I mean, more jobs are created through small
business owners and the entrepreneurs of America than they are through
large corporate America. And so, as we think through how to
encourage economic growth, we've got to always keep in mind the small
business and the medium-sized businesses of America.
Secondly, our tax structure has been improved. In other
words, we're giving people more of their own money back. And
that's an important part of economic growth. We just
finished distributing about $40 billion in rebate
checks. Maybe some of you have received a $600 or $300
check. (Applause.) That's part of encouraging
growth. And, by the way, those tax cuts that have just begun
will continue next year, and the year after that, as
well. (Applause.)
And we've acted confidently and quickly to spend money necessary to
help the country recover from the attacks. We spent money on
helping rebuild New York City and the Pentagon. We have
spent money to stabilize our airline industry, which was the industry
most directly affected by the attacks of September the
11th. We've spent money to take care of workers who have
lost jobs, and that's necessary and that's important.
And we've taken enough money -- spending money to make sure we
defend our country and accomplish our mission overseas. That
spending has amounted to about $60 billion, above and beyond our
budget. That money will help with job creation and will help
our economy grow. It's necessary to spend that kind of money
in a time of emergency, and we're in times of emergency.
But I strongly believe it's time to balance this amount of spending
with additional tax relief. My judgment, we've provided a
lot of money in the short run, and in order to encourage and stimulate
our economy, we ought to offset that money with additional tax relief
-- and I want to describe some of what that means.
First, we need to accelerate the tax relief that is already going
to happen. In other words, instead of waiting for next
year's tax relief to happen, let's put it into this year, to bolster
consumer spending. We want you to have more money to spend,
particularly as we head into the Christmas season. We want
our consumers feeling confident.
One way to feel confident is for the people to know there's a
strong homeland security initiative and strategy, that our country is
doing everything we can to succeed. And there's nothing like
boosting confidence than a little extra money in the pocket,
too. (Applause.)
I also believe we ought to have rebates for low- and
moderate-income workers, people who might have filed an income tax
return, but didn't get any rebate last time. Those good
folks have been particularly hard-hit as a result of September the
11th. And that ought to be a part of our consumer confidence
package.
And then there's the business side, and I want you to know that
we've thought very carefully about how to stimulate economic vitality
and growth. And it's a package that will help small business
America. It's a package that will do two
things: One, encourage more investment, immediate investment
in plant and equipment, and, therefore, one that will help small
businesses not only retain their work force, but, hopefully, expand
their work forces.
And, therefore, we need to reform the corporate income tax to get
rid of the alternative minimum tax, which so severely affects small
businesses like Dixie. (Applause.) As well, we
need to allow businesses to deduct more of the cost of new investments
immediately. We need to say to the Dixie Printings of
America, if you invest in equipment now, you're rewarded for that
investment. To me, that makes common sense. It's
a good way to make sure that we enhance the employment opportunities of
America.
The terrorists wanted our economy to stop. It
hasn't. They wanted to diminish the spirit of
America. It didn't. They thought the government
wouldn't be able to react. The government is going to react
with an economic stimulus package that is good for
workers. The House is getting ready to vote on that
package. I urge them to pass it. And then I urge
the Senate to act quickly to make sure that the American people
understand that at this part of our homeland defense, our country and
the Congress is united. (Applause.)
You know, I said early on that through my tears I see opportunity.
And I believe my faith teaches that out of evil can come
good. And there's been a lot of good that has come out of
this terrible situation. By the way, there's a spirit of
cooperation in Washington that is very positive. We've got Republicans
and Democrats talking to each other. (Laughter.) That's
good. It's very important during this time in our history
that we in Washington, D.C. show that we can work together.
I don't know if you know this or not, but I'm now having a weekly
breakfast with the leaders of the House and the Senate, both
Republicans and Democrats. And I can report that there is no
party that has got a lock on patriotism. The Democrats, just
like Republicans, want to win this war. And we're talking about how to
best solve the problems with which we're confronted.
But there's also a lot of other good, too. We've got
moms and dads reassessing values, recognizing there are things that are
so precious in life, like their children and their marriage and their
family, and their church and their synagogue and their
mosque. Values are strong in America. Those who struck our
country didn't realize -- didn't realize because they're so evil and so
dark and so negative, they couldn't realize that there's going to be
such good that comes out of what took place in America.
We're resolved. We are strong. We're
determined. We're patient. And this nation is going to do
whatever it takes. You see, my attitude is, is that how the
Dixie Printings behave, and how the workers behave here, and how the
citizens of Maryland behave are incredibly important. How
you respond to these attacks are incredibly important, not only to help
win the war today, but to set the example for future generations of
Americans.
It's important that we win today, place that flag of freedom
squarely in the world. Because this is the first battle of
the 21st century, and it's a battle we must win -- we have no choice --
for our children and our grandchildren. And it means that
the country is going to have to do what it takes.
And I'm here to report, we are. We are going to do
it. (Applause.)
So I want to thank you for giving me a chance to drop in to say
hello. I am so honored to be the President of this great nation -- and
I mean, great. What a fabulous land we have. And
the reason why is because we've got such fabulous citizens.
Thank you for letting me come by. God
bless. (Applause.)