President Discusses Tax Relief Impact in Springfield, Missouri
Southwest Missouri State University
Springfield, Missouri
9:48 A.M. CDT
THE PRESIDENT: Thanks for coming. Thanks for the warm welcome.
I'm honored to be here at the campus of this fine university. I'm
proud to be here in southwest Missouri. I love the values of the
heartland represented in this part of our country, the values of faith,
the values of family, the love of our country. I appreciate you coming
out to say hello. (Applause.) These are the values which make
Missouri a great state and make our nation a great nation. (Applause.)
I want to thank you for your friendship, I want to thank you for
your prayers, I want to thank you for your concern about our political
process. I appreciate your interest. I appreciate your willingness to
take a stand. And I am here in the state of Missouri to take a stand,
the best person running for the United States Senate is Jim Talent.
(Applause.)
I need him in the Senate to work with him. We've got some big
problems facing our country. But there's no doubt in my mind that we
can achieve anything we put our mind to. There's no doubt in my mind
that no matter how high the hurdle, the United States of America, when
we put our mind to something, can cross that hurdle. (Applause.)
Jim Talent shares my optimism about the future of this country,
because he knows what I know: This country is blessed with the finest
people on the face of the Earth. (Applause.) And that, by trusting
the people, and calling upon the best of America, we can achieve
anything, I mean anything we set our mind to. (Applause.)
I appreciate Jim Talent's values. He's a family man. He's got his
priorities straight. He's a man who doesn't need a focus group or a
poll to tell him what to think. (Applause.)
He's more than happy to stand on principle. He's more than happy
to say this is what I believe, and I'm not changing. And I appreciate
a man who's willing to take those values, the Missouri values and the
sense of purpose to Washington, D.C.
He's also got a record. See, he's already been up there once.
She's shown us what he can do. And when he was up there, he wasn't
afraid to take the lead. He is one of the key authors of one of the
most important pieces of social legislation in the last decade, and
that is the welfare reform bill that transformed millions of lives in
America, because he knows what I know, that dignity is found when you
find work, that work is the cornerstone of any life that has got
dignity. (Applause.)
I appreciate his I appreciate his understanding of small
business. See, he is an advocate for small business in Washington,
D.C. We need that kind of attitude up there. See, after all, our
economy is kind of bumping along; it's not as strong as it's going to
be. (Applause.) So long as we keep working on it, it's going to get
better.
But one of the things we've got to understand is that most new jobs
in America are created by small businesses. (Applause.) And therefore
we've got to have somebody in the United States Senate who understands
that and is willing to work on an environment that encourages the
growth of small businesses. Jim Talent's got a record, and he's got a
good record.
He also will work to change the tone in Washington. Listen, we're
proud Republicans, but we've got to serve something bigger than
political party in these times of -- these times of stress on our
country. It's important to put all this aside and focus on what's
right for the American people. And Jim Talent understands that.
(Applause.)
I'm proud to stand by his side. And we share something else in
common, we both married above ourselves. (Laughter.) He married
Brenda, I married Laura. And by the way, the First Lady, she sends her
love and her greetings. (Applause.) She's heading down to Texas
today, so -- (applause) -- you drew the short straw. (Laughter.)
She's doing great, though. I want to remind you that when I married
her, she was a public school librarian. (Applause.) Public school
librarians united for Laura. (Laughter.)
She didn't care for politics when I married her. She didn't
particularly care for politicians when I married her. (Laughter.)
Thank goodness she said, yes.
People have got to see why I asked her to marry me. She's calm,
she's steady, she cares deeply about our children. She loves
education, it's our top priority. A lot of people are still wondering
why she said, yes. (Laughter.) But nevertheless, she's doing great.
I can't tell you how proud I am of her. And I love her dearly.
(Applause.)
I want to thank the senior senator from Missouri for being here.
He's done a fabulous job on behalf of the citizens of Missouri. He is
a man whose judgment I trust, whose vote I can count on. He's a strong
ally. He's got the right instincts. He's got a great voting record.
And that is, Senator Kit Bond. (Applause.)
I appreciate so very much the fact that your congressman has joined
us today. Roy Blunt is effective, he's smart, he can count votes.
(Applause.) I appreciate his support, and I appreciate his
friendship.
I appreciate the fact that former Congressman Mel Hancock is here.
I want to thank Congressman Hancock for coming. (Applause.)
You've got yourself a hot Senate race -- state senate race. This
race matters, it matters a lot. You've got a good man running, a good,
down-to-earth fellow who's going to tell you what he thinks, he's going
to do in office what he said he's going to do, and that's Dan Clemens.
(Applause.)
I've got a great Cabinet. I've asked people from all across our
country to serve our government in my Cabinet. You trained one of the
best ones in my Cabinet. (Applause.) Yesterday morning, I met with
the Attorney General. He said, you make sure you remind my folks at
home that I haven't forgot where I came from. (Applause.) John
Ashcroft is doing a great job for America. (Applause.)
And finally, and finally, I appreciate you letting some of my
fellow Texans cross the state line. (Applause.) They must have not
checked these boys' backgrounds before they came. (Laughter.) I've
known the Gatlin Brothers for a long time, and I really appreciate the
three brothers coming. I'm -- Larry is my good buddy. He is a fine,
fine, fine American. And Steve and Rudy are as well. I hope you're
enjoying them as much as I've enjoyed knowing them. And I'm real proud
their here. I want to thank the Gatlin boys for coming today.
(Applause.)
Now, I've got some things on my mind that I want to share with
you. I've got some issues I want to discuss with you. I've got some
reasons to be here besides just politics. I need somebody to help me
deal with our economy. Now, listen, the foundation for growth is
strong. Interest rates are low, inflation is low. We've got the best
workers in the world. Productivity is high in America. The
entrepreneurial spirit is strong in this country. The foundations for
growth are strong.
But so long as somebody is looking for work can't find work, I
think we have a problem. And so therefore, we need to put people in
the United States Senate who wants to think about -- when it comes to
the economy -- how to create jobs.
The role of government is not to create wealth; the role of
government is to create an environment in which small businesses can
grow to be big businesses, in which the entrepreneur can flourish, in
which anybody who's got a dream can work hard and realize that dream.
Most jobs, as I mentioned, are created by small businesses. For the
sake of economic vitality, for the sake of job creation, we've got to
have people in the Senate who understand that when a person has more
money in his or her pocket, it will serve as a stimulus to job growth.
You see, here's the page of the textbook which we've read. It says
that when a person has more money, he or she is likely to demand a good
or a service. And when you demand a good or service in our economy,
somebody is likely to produce that good or a service. And when
somebody produces the good or a service, somebody is more likely to
find work. For the sake of job creation, for the sake of making sure
our people can find work, the tax relief came at the absolute right
time in American history. (Applause.)
But here's why we're still talking about it. Because of a quirk in
the rules in the United States Senate, after a 10-year period, the tax
relief plan we passed goes away, unless the Congress makes it
permanent. And that's the issue.
The tax relief plan over the next decade for the people of
Missouri, if permanent, would mean there is $27 billion in income tax
relief and death tax relief in your pockets. That's more money for you
to have to make decisions about. It's your money to begin with, by the
way. (Applause.) There's $4 billion there's $4 billion additional
money in your pocket because of the tax relief on the child credit.
There's a $1.5 billion money in the Missouri people's pockets
because we're doing something about the marriage penalty. See, what we
think is that the tax code ought to encourage marriage. (Applause.)
It's like the Senate giveth and then the Senate taketh away.
(Laughter.) In this case, the Senate giveth and the Senate taketh away
over $32 billion that would help economic expansion and growth.
There's no question in my mind that Jim Talent understands what I'm
talking about, that in order to make sure our economy is strong so
people can plan, so the entrepreneurial spirit remains strong in
America, we need to make the tax cuts permanent. (Applause.)
One of the worst taxes that we have on the books that we're trying
to get rid of, and won't get rid of unless we have a senator and
senators who vote to make it permanent, is the death tax. This death
tax hurts Missouri farmers. This death tax, it hurts small business
owners. It's a bad tax. Don't take my word for it. Let me quote some
of citizens in your neighborhoods, a guy named Jim Staley. He's a
fourth generation family farmer in Willard, Missouri. He wants to pass
his farm on some day to his children. That makes sense. The guy's
working the land. He's got some kids. He says, I want my kids to be
able to work the land, too. I want the family farm to survive.
He remembers when his daddy died, he had trouble trying to make
sure the farm stayed in the family and didn't go to the government. He
remembers those times. So he's worried about it. Here's what he
says: It's a shame that Americans are taught that if you work hard all
your life, you can pass it along to your family and they can work to
make it better. But when it comes down to it, the government ends up
taking it away. That's what the death tax does. It's a bad tax. It's
a bad tax. (Applause.)
It's a bad tax because it taxes assets twice. It's a bad tax
because it prevents somebody who owns something from passing the asset
on to whoever he or she chooses.
Fellers Fixtures, right here in Springfield, Missouri, Carl
Fellers, here's what he thinks. First of all, he says he thinks he
pays enough taxes already. (Applause.) See, most small businesses pay
tax at the individual income tax level, because you're a sole
proprietorship or a limited partnership. When you reduce rates on
people, you're also reducing rates on small businesses. But he doesn't
believe that he ought to pay more taxes than he also already when he
dies. And neither do his children.
No, we need to make sure, for the sake of economic vitality, for
the sake of job creation, that you elect you a United States senator
who makes sure the tax relief plan is permanent. (Applause.)
Jim talent will be a senator who's committed to making sure we have
an education system that we're proud of. I signed a great piece of
education reform. It challenges the soft bigotry of low expectations.
It holds people to a high standard.
It says in return for receiving federal money and we cranked up
the level of federal money, by the way, for education spending but
in return for receiving federal money, you've got to show us, just like
you say in your state motto, show me whether or not the money is being
well spent. Show me whether or not our children are learning to read
and write and add and subtract. We ask that question because we want
to make sure not one single child gets left behind in America.
(Applause.)
Jim Talent knows what I know, that medicine has changed and
Medicare hasn't; that medicine is modern and Medicare is stuck in the
old ways. We need a senator up there who can work with people in both
parties to make sure that we modernize Medicare for the sake of our
seniors. Modernizing Medicare means that we've got to have a
prescription drug plan for our seniors. (Applause.)
One of my most important responsibilities is to put good people on
the federal bench. (Applause.) Our definition of good people
obviously are people who are honest, who know the law, who are there to
serve something other than themselves, who won't use the bench as a
legislator might use the bench from which to write new law, but to
strictly interpret the Constitution of the United States. (Applause.)
And the Senate has got a lousy record when it comes to my judges.
Look at the percentage that they've approved. It's the worst
record in modern history. It's worse than how the Senate treated
President Clinton, President Bush 41, President Reagan. They're
holding up the nominees. And when they put some of my good nominees
forward, they're not telling the truth about their records; they're
distorting their records. They're playing shameless politics with the
judges I put forward.
You need to have a United States senator like Jim Talent who will
not play shameless politics with the judges I've put forward.
(Applause.) No, there's a lot of things we can do.
We're going to work together to make sure America is a strong
country by having a good economy and making sure we fulfill our
promises to our children and to our seniors. I know I can work with
this man.
I also will be working with the next Congress to protect America.
We learned a sad lesson on September the 11th, 2001, and that is that
we're no longer immune from attacks from an enemy which hates us, that
oceans no longer protect us like we used to think they could. It's
changed the dynamics. The battlefield is here at home.
People must understand that there's still an enemy which lurks and
desires to hurt. They do it because of what we love. They hate what
we stand for. We love freedom. We love the fact that people can
worship an Almighty God anyway he or she chooses. (Applause.)
We love every aspect about our freedoms. We love our free press
and we love the discourse and -- a political discourse in a free
society, and we hold those freedoms dearly. (Applause.) And we're not
changing. No matter how they try to terrorize, how they try to
threaten, we're not changing. And so long as we don't change, we have
to do everything we can to protect America in the new realities we
face.
It's a dangerous world, but nobody's going to cause us to retreat
from this world. Obviously, my job is not only to deal with threats
that we find in these dark caves, but also to anticipate threats. I
want to thank the United States Congress for speaking with one voice
about a tyrant and a dictator who has constantly defied the world, who
refuses to disarm -- (applause) who, in the new reality serves as a
true and real threat, not only to the United States, but a threat to
our friends in the Middle East, a threat to other freedom-loving
countries.
The world has been put on notice, Mr. Saddam Hussein is now on
notice. We expect him to disarm. We expect him to live up to the
obligations that he has told the world that he would meet. We expect
the United Nations to be the United Nations, not the League of
Nations. We expect them to join us in keeping the peace, by holding
this dictator to account. That's what we expect. (Applause.)
No, the threats are real. It's a different era. And this country
will deal with these threats in an open way and a firm way and a
resolved way, because we love our freedoms. We understand the biggest
obligation we have, at least the biggest obligation I have, is to do
everything I can to protect the homeland. There are a lot of good
people working hard to protect the homeland. Any time we find a hint
about something that might be done to America, we're moving on it. Any
time we find any evidence that somebody might be thinking about harming
our country -- there are a lot of folks on the case -- we're
disrupting, we're denying, we're doing everything we can in our power,
and within the United States Constitution, to protect the homeland.
And that's why I went to the United States Congress, and asked them
to create a department of homeland security, so I can tell the American
people and future Presidents can tell the American people that we're
doing everything we can to protect you, everything we can. You see,
there's over 100 agencies involved with the protection of our
homeland. It means they're kind of scattered about. If the number one
priority of America is to protect the homeland, it seems to make sense
to me to put them under one agency, so we can make that the number one
priority that everybody involved with homeland security must meet.
(Applause.)
And we're having a big debate up there about it. Sometimes in our
nation's capital, they talk to much -- (laughter) -- and do too
little. (Applause.) Sometimes they do too much when they should be
talking. (Laughter.)
The House passed a good homeland security bill. The House heard my
call to have a bipartisan approach to protecting the homeland. The
House heard the call to put aside politics and not let interests -- be
interested in special interests, but to focus on the American people,
not only today, but down the road. And the House passed a bill.
They're stuck in the Senate. The Senate can't get it done right now,
it's stuck.
And here's the issue. The Senate is saying, sure, Mr. President,
you can have a homeland security bill, but there's going to be a
price. And here's the price. They want to roll back an important
authority that every President since John F. Kennedy has had, and that
authority is this: For 40 years, a President has had the capacity to
suspend labor rules in every department of government when the national
security is at stake. The President has had the capacity to be able to
change rules in order to protect America.
One example of what I'm talking about, just so you'll know clearly,
is that Customs agents, we thought, ought to be wearing radiological
detection devices, just in case somebody tried to smuggle a weapon of
mass destruction into America. We thought that made sense for them to
wear these. The head of the union said, uh-uh, that must be voluntary,
you can't make anybody do that, and therefore let's have a collective
bargaining session over it, which might have taken a year's time.
See, we don't have time for that kind of thing. The Senate wants
to roll back my authority. The Senate wants to say, you can have that
authority, Mr. President, to suspend workers' rights or workers' rules,
in the case of a national emergency, in the Agriculture Department, but
not for the homeland security. And that's not right.
Jim Talent understands what I'm talking about. You put him in the
Senate, we'll get us a good homeland security bill, which will make it
easier for Presidents to protect America. (Applause.)
I need to be able to put the right people at the right place at the
right time. And that's what the Senate must hear, loud and clear. And
one way they can hear it, is they can hear it from the people. You can
express yourselves, right in the ballot box. That's the way you can
send a message loud and clear about the importance of having a homeland
security department that will work today, that will work tomorrow, and
will work for decades to come, because this threat, folks, is real for
a while.
And that's why the best way to protect the American homeland is not
to hope these fellows change their mind, not to hope that they go get
therapy to make them think different, but it's to hunt them down, one
by one, and bring them to justice, what America is going to do.
(Applause.)
We are in a different kind of war, and we're still at war. We're
in a war unlike the past. See, the past you used to say, well, we're
making progress because we've blown up a couple of tanks or we sunk a
ship or their air force isn't as strong anymore. These people hide in
caves and send youngsters to their suicidal deaths. See, they don't
appreciate the value of life like we do. In America, we believe every
life is precious, everybody has worth. (Applause.) These people don't
value life, and they hijack a great religion and murder in the name of
that religion.
They just did that recently in Indonesia, and we'll be joining our
friends in Australia in a day of mourning for the terrible tragedy that
took place. We lost lives, they lost a lot of lives. Listen, these
are killers, nothing but cold-blooded killers, and we're going to treat
them that way, and we're going to hunt them down, one person at a
time. (Applause.)
And we're making progress, thanks to a great United States
military, and thanks to friends and allies, we're making progress.
(Applause.) One reason we're making progress is because of the
doctrine that says, either you're with us or you're with them, still
stands. (Applause.) It's still relevant.
Our coalition is still rounding people up. It's a different kind
of war. Sometimes you'll see progress, and sometimes you won't. The
other day, a guy named Bin al-Shibh, he popped his head up. He's no
longer a problem. (Applause.) He was significant, because he was to
have been the twentieth hijacker. And he was still plotting and he was
still planning.
I bet you we've captured over a couple of thousand of them, maybe
up to nearly 3,000 by now. Like number, they weren't as lucky. We're
going to deny them sanctuary, we're going to find them, we're going to
put them on the run.
It doesn't matter how long it takes, my fellow Americans, when it
comes to our freedom, it doesn't matter how many years it takes, the
United States of America will stay the course, because we will defend
America, no matter the cost. (Applause.)
I'm going to sign a defense bill next week. The Congress has
gotten it to my desk, and I appreciate that. That is the largest
increase in defense spending since Ronald Reagan was the President, for
two reasons. I want to -- I asked for that request, one, any time we
put our troops into harm's way, they deserve the best training, the
best possible pay, and the best equipment. We owe that to our troops,
and we owe it to their loved ones. (Applause.)
And the other message is, the other message to friend and foe alike
is that we take our responsibilities seriously, that we love our
freedoms, we love our country. And we're not quitting. There's not a
calendar that says, well, gosh, it must be time to haul in, it must be
time to shut her down. That's just not the way I think, and that's not
the way America thinks.
I can't imagine what was going through the mind of the enemy. They
must have thought that America was so selfish, so materialistic, so
self-absorbed that after 9/11/2001, we might have filed a lawsuit or
two. (Laughter.) That's not us.
I want you to know that out of the evil done to America can come
some incredible good, that that's what we believe as a nation. And one
of the -- what's going to happen, I believe, by being strong and firm,
and being clear in our resolve, is that we can achieve peace. It's my
dream, is to achieve peace. I want there to be peace for the American
people. Since we value every life, and everybody counts, no matter
where they live, we want there to be peace in parts of the region that
have quit on peace. I believe it can happen, I do.
I believe by being strong and resolved and standing on principle,
and understanding freedom belongs to everybody, not just a few, that we
can have a peaceful and more hopeful world.
And here at home, the evil done to America can help us deal with a
serious problem. There are people in our country who hurt. There is
loneliness and despair. Amidst our plenty, there are pockets of
addiction, there are people who aren't loved, there are people who
wonder whether the American experience is meant for them.
So long as any of us hurt, we all hurt. We must step back from our
materialism and ask the question, what can I do to help America? And
the best way that you can help America is by loving a neighbor like
you'd like to be loved yourself. (Applause.)
No, the enemy hit us. Today the enemy hit us, but today we're a
stronger nation because we refuse to back down, but also because we've
redefined patriotism as somebody who does more than put their hand over
their heart. A patriot is somebody who is willing to put their arm
around somebody who hurts, somebody in need, somebody who says, I love
you.
I want you to be one of those people. One of us can't do
everything in society, but one of us can do something to help somebody
who needs a hand, somebody who needs love, somebody -- somebody who
knows or somebody who cares about them. Today we've got Erin Bryant,
who goes right here to school here. She's an active member of the
Student Community Action Team at Southwest Missouri State. She spends
time volunteering to make somebody's life better. She's involved with
people who want to feed those who are hungry and house those who are
homeless.
Be a Boy Scout leader, be a Girl Scout leader. Do something. And
it's the gathering momentum of the millions of acts of kindness and
decency which will allow this great land to stand squarely in the face
of evil. No, the enemy hit us. They didn't know who they were
hitting. They hit the greatest nation on the face of the earth. And
we will show the world why. (Applause.)
There's no question in my mind that even though there's hurdles
ahead of us, we can achieve a lot. We can achieve peace, and we can
make sure the light shines brightly, the light of hope, in every corner
on this great land. I say that with confidence because this is the
greatest nation, full of the finest people, on the face of the earth.
May God bless you all, and may God bless America. (Applause.)