For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
April 11, 2001
Remarks by the President at Greenville, North Carolina Welcome Event
East Carolina University Greenville, North Carolina
5:40 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you
all. Thank you very much. (Applause.)
Okay. Richard, thank you very much for your kind
hospitality. (Applause.) I'm proud -- I am proud to be an
honorary member of the East Carolina Baseball
Team. (Applause.) I am proud to be on this
campus. (Applause.) I am proud to be in East
Carolina. (Applause.) And I'm proud I've got so
many friends in this great state. (Applause.)
It is such an honor to be here, and I want to
thank you all for coming. I understand that some good folks
spent the night last night to be
here. (Applause.) I promise not to speak so long
so you will fall asleep. (Laughter.) But I'm really
thankful that you're here. I'm thankful to be out of
Washington, D.C. -- (applause) -- with the good, hard-working people of
this part of our country. (Applause.)
And I'm pleased to report -- I'm pleased to
report that a commercial charter airplane is close to landing on Hainan
Island. (Applause.)
AUDIENCE: USA! USA! USA! USA! (Applause.)
THE PRESIDENT: The plane is
expected to leave that island in a couple of hours, bound for Guam and
then for Hawaii. (Applause.) Earlier today I had
the privilege and honor to meet fellow North Carolinians, Bob and
Sandra Blocher, the parents of one of the 24 crew members, Petty
Officer Third Class Steven Blocher. They are, of course, as
you can imagine, thrilled to know that the servicemen and women are
returning home. (Applause.)
These have been difficult days for all the
families. And these days are a reminder of the sacrifices
all our men and women in uniform and their family make every single day
for freedom. (Applause.) And so we're proud and
thankful for the service of folks, we're proud and thankful for their
parents, and we can't wait for them to get home. (Applause.)
I am pleased -- I am pleased to be here with
the Senior Senator from the great state of North
Carolina. (Applause.)
AUDIENCE: Jesse! Jesse! Jesse! Jesse! (Applause.)
THE PRESIDENT: He's a strong ally
in the United States Senate.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Big time.
THE PRESIDENT: I am pleased to be
here -- (laughter.) Quit quoting the Vice
President. The man yelled, "big
time." (Laughter.)
I am pleased to be here with your Congressman,
Walter Jones. (Applause.) As well as Congressmen from
around your state: Howard Coble, Robin Hayes, Charles
Taylor. (Applause.)
Let me tell you -- now, you all may be aware
that I laid out a budget recently. (Applause.) I
like to call it, the people's budget. (Applause.) Because
it says first and foremost, in Washington, we understand that we're not
spending the government's money, we are spending the people's
money. (Applause.) And the five people I just
introduced stood strong with the people of North Carolina when they
voted for a responsible budget. (Applause.) I
can't say that was the case for every member of the North Carolina
delegation.
AUDIENCE: Booooo!
THE PRESIDENT: I just want to
remind you as these votes keep coming down, when we get to choose
between bigger government and the people, you're only one e-mail away
of reminding reluctant members of the Congress that your point of view
matters. (Applause.)
And mark my words, having been up there for a
period of time, I can assure you that there is a struggle between whose
money it is and where it ends up.
I want to describe to you the budget I laid
out, just to put your mind at ease. We increase
discretionary spending in the budget -- that means programs other than
entitlement programs -- by 4 percent. Many of you work hard
to get along, and you haven't had a 4 percent pay raise lately.
Inflation is lower than 4 percent. So I thought it would be
reasonable to ask the federal government to live on a 4 percent
increase in the discretionary spending
account. (Applause.) Four percent increase in
discretionary spending increases federal assistance to North Carolina
education programs to more than $947 million a
year. (Applause.)
A 4 percent discretionary budget means that
North Carolina's Head Start programs will receive $127 million a
year. (Applause.) The budget provides $78 million
in funding for water resource projects along North Carolina rivers and
waterways. (Applause.) It provides a 366 percent
increase of federal monies to help conserve North Carolina natural
resources. It expands the number of community health centers
all across the country.
A 4 percent increase -- a 4 percent increase
doubles the Medicare budget, so that we fulfill the promise to the
elderly. (Applause.) A 4 percent increase helps
keep priorities to the military. We must pay our military
folks more money. (Applause.) A 4 percent
increase means we're going to spend $100 billion additional dollars
next year. That's a lot of money. But for those who want to
increase the size and scope of the federal government, it's not
enough.
Now, I want you all to understand where the
trade-offs come when it comes to budgeting. The money either
ends up in federal programs or it ends up in the people's
pocket. And my point of view I make in Washington, and that
I want you to help me on is, we can meet priorities: we can
fund education and good conservation programs; we can fulfill our
commitment to the elderly; we can make Social Security is safe and
secure today and around tomorrow for the younger folks. We
can do all that -- (applause) -- by growing the discretionary account
at 4 percent and still have meaningful tax
reductions. (Applause.)
So when somebody tells you, when you hear the
excuse, oh, we're not meeting our needs, you need to get them to look
at the numbers; you need to get them to understand what a 4 percent
growth means. You also ought to remind them that if they do
what some in the Senate want done -- which is to grow the budget 8
percent -- we're going to roar right through any projected surplus.
If we grow that budget 8 percent, we come from
the school of thought that it's going to serve as a huge drag on our
economy. You see, there's trade-offs that have to be
realized. The trade-off -- the fundamental trade-off,
though, is who do we trust? Who do we trust with
the money? Do we trust the government, or do we trust the people?
AUDIENCE: The people!
THE PRESIDENT: That's what this
debate is about. That's what the fundamental debate is
about. (Applause.)
Now, I can remember campaigning all across the
states like Carolina, and people kept saying during the course of the
campaign, oh, he's just talking, because there's not going to be any
tax relief, people don't want tax relief. I kept saying,
well, you may be talking to different people I
am. Everywhere I went, once I can convince the people that
we meet the basic needs of government, people seem to understand that
they'd want some of their money back. That's what they seem
to understand. (Applause.)
But the skeptics, they weren't
listening. The skeptics weren't listening. But
let me tell you where we are. Because of the hard work of
the North Carolina congressional delegation, we passed $1.6 trillion of
tax relief. (Applause.) The Senate is at $1.2
trillion of tax relief. Now, they are trying to reconcile
the differences, but either way you cut it, tax relief is on the
way. (Applause.)
And I want to remind you all, it has nothing
to do about me. It's everything to do about the
people. That's what this is all about.
(Applause.) This is the people's budget. It's the
people's budget. The tax relief plan that I hope is finally
adopted must incorporate these principles: one, anybody who
pays taxes ought to get relief. (Applause.)
Some of the good folks in Washington, D.C.,
they support what they call targeted tax relief.
AUDIENCE: Booooo!
THE PRESIDENT: That means some
people targeted in and some people are targeted out. The
fairest way -- the fairest way -- the fairest way is to say that if you
pay taxes, you get relief. (Applause.)
So I hope the plan that says everybody pays
taxes gets relief is what ends up on my desk. I think it
will, with your help. I think it will.
(Applause.) We need to drop -- I want to tell you something
about the current tax code, to make sure you understand the facts.
First of all, if you're struggling to get
ahead in America, this tax code is unfair. It's unfair to
people at the bottom end of the economic ladder, because our code is
structured this way. For example, if you're a single mother
in the state of North Carolina, trying to raise two children -- first
of all, you've got the toughest job in your
state. (Applause.) It's the hardest work in the state of
North Carolina.
And, by the way, for all you folks who go to
East Carolina University -- (applause) -- if you're fortunate enough to
become a dad, you love your children with all your heart and all your
soul. (Applause.) The most important job you'll ever have is
to be a dad. (Applause.) If that lady is making
$22,000 a year, she's living on the outskirts of
poverty. Under the code we have today, for every additional
dollar she makes or earns, she pays a higher marginal rate than someone
who is Wall Street successful. And that's not right,
folks. That's not what America is about as far as we're
concerned.
Our code ought to say, the harder you work,
the more money you have in your
pocket. (Applause.) This is a tax code that ought
to make it easier for people to realize their dreams, not
harder. And so, therefore, we drop the bottom rate from 15
percent to 10 percent, and increase the child credit from $500 to
$1,000 per child. (Applause.)
We need to make the code more
fair. We also need to make the code more fair to small
businesses. (Applause.) There are 488,000 small
businesses in your state of North Carolina who will benefit from tax
relief when you cut marginal rates. Because the truth is, by
far, the vast majority of small businesses -- who, by the way, create
75 percent of the new jobs in America -- they don't pay corporate
income taxes, they pay personal income taxes, because they're either
sole proprietorships or Subchapter S corporations. That's
reality.
Reality is small business people pay personal
income tax rates. And so, when we drop the top rate from
39.6 percent to 33 percent, really what we're saying is, we want to
encourage the growth of the small business sector in
America. (Applause.)
Oh, I've heard all the rhetoric about how only
certain people benefit. But the Congress must understand the
importance of small business in America, and the Congress must
understand that by dropping that top rate, we stimulate growth in the
private sector. The role of government is not to create
wealth, the role of government is to create an environment in which the
entrepreneur can flourish in America. (Applause.)
Ours is the tax code that penalizes
marriage. And that's not fair. And that's not
right. That's bad public policy. We ought to
reward marriage and family in
America. (Applause.) And the current tax code --
the current tax code taxes people's assets twice. You see,
we've got a system where folks work all their life and they dream about
passing their farm or their ranch or their small business on to a son
or daughter.
And, yet, the tax code -- and, yet, the tax
code makes it difficult to do so. There are thousands of
farmers and ranchers who worry about having to sell their farm or their
ranch early because of the death tax. Folks, we need to get
rid of the death tax in America. (Applause.)
You'll hear every excuse in the book about why
we can't drop all rates or why the death tax, you know, can't be
eliminated. But you know how I view those
excuses? I view those excuses -- I view those as excuses to
keep your money in Washington. That's what I
view. I view those as excuses to expand the size of the
federal government.
I'm here to tell you I've looked at the
numbers: we've got enough money to meet
priorities. But as important, we've got enough money to let
you keep your own money. (Applause.) And we need
to do so for two reasons. The first reason has to do with
our economy. It's slowing down a little bit. And
one way for us to give our economy a second wind is to give people
their own money back so they can spend it in the private
sector. (Applause.) Is to cut the rate so small
businesses have more cash flow to invest. Is to understand
that more money circulating in the private sector will create economic
growth. And so tax relief is important for economic
purposes.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Retroactively.
THE PRESIDENT: But there is --
retroactively, too. (Applause.) It sounds like
we've got an economist in the crowd -- a right-thinking kind of
economist. What the man is saying is, we need to get money
in your pockets as quickly as possible, and we agree. (Applause.)
But there is a second reason why we need tax
relief -- a second reason why. And this comes to the heart
of the debate. It has to do with people and who do we trust,
and families. Today, I'm proud to be joined by Larry and
Kristi Bryan, right up there. (Applause.) And
Jennifer and Jeffrey and Katie
June. (Applause.) Calm
down. (Laughter.) You didn't tell me you were
going to bring your whole neighborhood.
Let me tell you why I asked them to
come. Because, you know, oftentimes in the political arena,
we're always talking about numbers and budgets and growth and all that
business. But behind tax relief are real-life
families. That's what this is all about. I hope
that's the reason why everybody who decides to run for office does so,
to help families, to understand the importance of people in our
society.
These good folks now pay $3,570 in federal
income taxes. Under the plan that passed the House and the
plan that I submitted, they would save $1,830 when this tax relief is
fully implemented. (Applause.)
Oh, I know for some of the sophisticates, they
say that's nothing. But for this family, it's a lot. And
the fundamental question that I want the members of the Congress to
address when we start dealing with the people's money is, who do we
want to spend that extra $1,830? That's what this debate is
about, folks. Who should our government
trust? And I'm going to tell you as plainly as I
can. I'd rather the Bryans be spending that money than the
federal government. (Applause.)
Oh, I know some of the projects -- remember,
this is money after we've met basic needs. This is money
after we've grown the 4 percent discretionary
spending. There will be some high-falutin' words and great
programs. But the fundamental question is, who should our
government trust. And we need to trust the people, because
the people are the great strength of America -- the people of this
country. (Applause.)
It is the people of this country that make
America great. I love getting outside of Washington and
traveling to places like Greenville, Sou -- North Carolina, because I'm
able. I'm able.
AUDIENCE: Boooo!
THE PRESIDENT: I caught
you. (Laughter.) I love coming to see the people
-- the people that line the roads, the people that are waving. That's
what I love. Because it reminds me of how strong this
country is. (Applause.) It reminds me -- it reminds me --
it reminds me that in Greenville, North Carolina, good people
live. (Applause.)
And why is that important? I'll
tell you why it's important. Because the great hope for the
country comes when people turn to a neighbor and says what can I do to
help, turns to a neighbor in need. That's the strength of
America. Our great strength is not necessarily found in our
halls of government, it's found in hallways and schools, where teachers
dedicate themselves to teaching a child. (Applause.)
It is found in hallways of churches and
synagogues where folks hear -- (applause) -- where folks hear the
universal call to love a neighbor just like they would be loved
themselves. (Applause.) No, the strength of this
country -- the strength of this country in the hearts and souls of our
people. It's when a Boy Scout leader says to a young child
-- says to a young child, you know, there's right decisions to make and
wrong decisions, and I want to help you understand a right
decision. (Applause.)
It happens when somebody -- somebody takes
time out of their life to mentor a child. I hope -- I hope
when you hear of a mentoring program right here in Eastern North
Carolina that you say, I'd like to help. There are some
children in our society who wonder whether or not the American Dream is
meant for them. And that's going to require a loving soul,
putting their arm around that child and saying, somebody cares about
you, somebody wants you to know -- (applause) -- somebody wants you to
know that there is love in our society. (Applause.)
The problem is, everybody expects the federal
government to do it. But the governments can't make people love one
another. No, government can hand out money, but we cannot
put love in people's hearts, or hope in people's
lives. That's done when loving citizens take time out of
their lives to help make their communities and their neighborhoods as
strong as it possibly can be.
This debate in Washington, D.C. on taxes is
fundamental to the country. It not only talks about economic
vitality, but it really speaks to we ought to trust the
people. We ought to trust the people with their own money,
and we ought to trust the people of America to provide the compassion
necessary to make sure this great land fulfills its promise for every
citizen who is lucky enough to be an American
citizen. (Applause.)
I'm honored that you let me come and share my
hopes for our country with you. I call upon you that when
senators start to vote, for example, on budgets, you might remind them
of whose money they're spending. (Applause.)
And I want to conclude by telling you what a
huge honor it is to be the President of the greatest land on the face
of the earth. Thank you for coming. God
bless. And God bless America. (Applause.)
END
6:07 P.M. EDT
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