For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
January 15, 2002
President Talks Trade in New Orleans
Remarks by the President on International Trade
The Port of New Orleans
New Orleans, Louisiana
Working for America
9:23 A.M. CST
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all very much. It's
great to be back in what they call the Big
Easy. (Applause.) As you might remember, I grew
up in Texas, and spent some quality time here in New
Orleans. (Applause.) I forgot how good the food
is. I'm going to have to spend about a week working off that
baked Alaska that I had at Antoine's. (Laughter.)
I didn't have any pretzels last night for
dinner. (Laughter.) I learned my lesson -- always
listen to your mother, who told me, chew your pretzels before you
swallow. (Laughter.)
But thank you all for coming. It is a beautiful day in a
great city and an important part of our economy, and that is the Port
of New Orleans. I want to thank Gary LeGrange who is the
Executive Director of this facility. I want to thank the
Secretary of Commerce Don Evans, who is traveling with me. I
want to thank the Chairman of the Port of New Orleans Board of
Commissioners. I want to thank Dave Wagner. I
want to thank Jim Campbell, who is the President of the International
Longshoremen Association Number 3,000. I want to thank all
the hardworking longshoremen who are here to help make America grow.
I want to thank my friend, the Governor of the great state of
Louisiana. What a piece of work that guy
is. (Applause.) That's why they love you,
Mike. (Laughter.) He knows how to tell the truth,
he speaks plainly, and he's doing a heck of a good job for the people
of Louisiana. (Applause.)
I want to thank Congressman David Vitter who's here
today. (Applause.) I want to thank Congressman
John Cooksy who is without us, as well. Thank you both for
coming. (Applause.)
And I want to thank you all for coming out to say
hello. It's a great way to end my trip throughout America's
heartland. I started yesterday in Moline, Illinois, at a
factory that makes harvesting equipment for John Deere. I
told them I was coming down to New Orleans, and I said, I'm going to
come to the place where much of the equipment you manufacture is
shipped out when you sell overseas.
And then I went to see some farmers in Missouri. And I
told them that I was coming down to New Orleans in Louisiana, which
ships out a lot of the product that they grow. The reason
I'm here is because I want America to understand how our economy
works. We're worried about jobs in our
country. We want everybody who wants to find work to be able
to have work. Everybody who wants a job should be able to
provide for their family. I'm worried about the loss of
jobs.
Our economy is interconnected. What happens in Moline,
Illinois and in Missouri affects the people who work here in New
Orleans, in the port. And, therefore, good public policy
recognizes that. And good public policy asks the
questions: How do we make sure that what affects one affects
the other in a positive way? How do we make sure people can
find jobs as we head into the year 2000?
The best way to make sure that our economy recovers from the attack
-- I think one of the most important things I can do is to make sure
that they don't hit us again. (Applause.) We
suffered a lot on September the 11th, and one of the things that we
suffered was the lack of confidence in the future. But as
every day goes by, the American people are getting more and more
confident in our ability to protect ourselves and the ability for our
government to respond in a positive way to make sure that families are
safe in America.
I fully understand the enemy still lurks out there and the enemy
still would like to hit us. But America has changed since
September the 11th. We're now more alert. We've
got a Coast Guard that's now actively patrolling our coasts, trying to
make sure nobody comes in to hurt us. We've got an FBI --
major function now is to prevent further attack. We've got
better intelligence-sharing around the world to make sure that we find
people before they come to our country.
We're on full alert. I'm so proud of the law enforcement
officials all across America who are working endlessly -- (applause) --
who are working endlessly to make sure that we're safe.
This is a strong country. It's an alert
country. And it's a patient country when it comes to
achieving the ultimate objective, which is keeping America safe by
finding terrorists where they live and bringing them to
justice. (Applause.)
And that's exactly what's happening in the first theater in the war
against terror. I have unleashed a mighty military, and the
mighty military of America -- (applause) -- is making us
proud. (Applause.)
For those of you who where our uniform, I want to thank
you. For those of you who have got families -- family
members of those who wear the uniform -- (applause) -- I hope you're as
proud of them as I am.
We set a clear objective -- several clear
objectives. One of them was is that if you harbor a
terrorist, if you hide a terrorist, if you feed a terrorist, you're
guilty. (Applause.) That's the
doctrine. The objective was to make sure that the Taliban no
longer harbored al Qaeda. The Taliban no longer rules in
Afghanistan. (Applause.) We met that
objective. And in so doing, we liberated a group of people
that had been terrorized. We liberated women and
children. I'm so proud of the United States
military. (Applause.)
It brings me such joy -- such joy -- to know that not only are we
pursuing the objective, and that is to bring the murderers to justice,
but this great nation is liberating people and feeding
people. We're not only a tough nation, but we're a
compassionate nation. And the world has seen the greatness
of America as we pursue our objective.
We're making some progress against al Qaeda. We're
hunting them down, one man at a
time. (Applause.) I just want to tell you that
I'm patient and our military is patient; that I don't care how long it
takes, I don't care where they hide, we're after
them. (Applause.) And we're after them, and will
remain after them until they're brought to justice.
Oh, I know there are some who are saying, gosh, I wish this ended
yesterday. But that's not how this is going to
work. You see, we've got people who send youngsters to
suicide missions and they, themselves, hide in caves. Those
are the kind of people we're dealing with. But there's not
going to be enough caves in the world to hide
them. (Applause.)
Some may tire, some in our coalition may get tired of this effort,
or some in our country may tire. But I can assure you, I'm
not. Because I view this as a moment, a defining moment in
history, a moment when we must defend freedom, a moment when we must
defend civilization itself, a moment when this great nation -- in which
this great nation must lead the world -- must lead the world -- to make
sure our children and grandchildren can grow up in a peaceful and
secure society. (Applause.)
In order to make sure people can find work, we better make sure we
educate the people of our country. I had the real privilege
last week of traveling the country, touting a good education bill, a
bill that is going to make sure every child gets educated and no
children get left behind.
One of the things that I really, really appreciate about Governor
Foster is that he understands that we better hold people accountable in
education; otherwise, some are going to get left behind. I'm
real proud of the education reforms that Mike Foster has put in
place. (Applause.)
I believe strongly, every child in America can learn. I
believe that. And I believe our public school systems can
teach every child in America how to read and write and add and
subtract.
And I took that message up to Washington and worked with both
Republicans and Democrats to get a good bill out that sets high
standards; that says, if you take money, you need to show us whether or
not children can read and write and add and subtract; a good bill
that focuses on making sure every child is literate; a bill that helps
teachers teach reading using a curriculum that works; and a bill that
says the good folks of Louisiana can run their schools better than
bureaucrats in Washington, D.C. (Applause.)
And one of my traveling mates was Ted Kennedy, the Senator from
Massachusetts. I've said good things about
him. (Laughter.) He nearly fell
out. (Laughter.) So did the boys at the Crawford
Coffee Shop. (Laughter.) But I said it because he
worked hard to get a good bill; he worked with a Republican
administration to get a good piece of education reform. We
showed what can happen in Washington when you put your political
parties aside and focus on what's best for the United States of
America. (Applause.)
And that's what's got to happen on this issue of
trade. One of the reasons I'm traveling down the spine of
America and on the mighty Mississippi is because I want to remind our
fellow citizens how important trade is. It's important to
these workers that we trade. The people who are loading
these ships load them because we're trading around the
world. The farmers who are selling product can sell more if
we trade. And if the farmers sell more of their product, we
can sell more of the machines made in Moline, Illinois, so the good
folks up there, the UAW workers, can work.
I'm worried about jobs. And I believe if you trade more,
there are more jobs available for hardworking
Americans. (Applause.) There are some who play
politics with the trade issue. They want to shut down
trade. I like to remind people, those who shut down trade
aren't confident. They're not confident in the American
worker; they're not confident in the American entrepreneur; they're not
confident in American products.
I'm just the opposite. I know we've got the best workers
in the world; I know we can make the best products in the
world. And therefore, we ought to have free and fair trade
around the world. (Applause.) I'm not the only
one that feels that way. Some of the longshoremen that I met
coming in said, we need trade so I can keep working. I got a
nice letter from your Mayor. He said, you know, he's sorry
he couldn't see me because he's on a trade mission to Mexico
City. However, I want you to know that I fully support your
efforts to pass legislation giving your administration fast track
authority to negotiate trade agreements. (Applause.)
This isn't a Republican issue, this isn't a Democrat
issue. Trade is a jobs issue. And the United
States Senate needs to hear the voices of the working people and get me
a bill I can sign. (Applause.)
And you know what else the United States Senate needs to
do? They need to pass an energy
bill. (Applause.) One of the great things about
our agriculture sector is we grow enough food to feed
America. And, therefore, we're secure when it comes to
food. Gosh, I would hate to be the President of a country
that has to import a lot of food. It would mean you're
beholden to somebody else's farmers to feed your people.
We grow a lot of food. We can feed our
people. We grow enough that we can put it on the ships here
and send it around the world, and we ought to be feeding the world, as
well. But that's not the case for energy. We
receive a lot of our energy, over 50 percent of it, from other parts of
the world. Sometimes they like us, sometimes they
don't. (Laughter.) And it's those times when they
don't like us that makes me nervous as the President of the
country. (Laughter.) It's in our national
interest to have a national energy plan. It's in Louisiana's
interest to have a national energy plan; it's in America's interest to
have a national energy plan. (Applause.)
A national energy plan will help us conserve more and produce
more. It will make us less reliant upon foreign sources of
energy. And it will help us create more jobs. The
people of Louisiana understand that energy equals jobs. So
do a lot of other people in America. This bill is bottled up
in the United States Senate. It's about time they focused on
creating jobs in America and get me a trade bill and an energy bill for
the good of the American people. (Applause.)
The good news is, I think we've got a United States Senator -- I
know we've got one from Louisiana -- who understands that -- John
Breaux understands. (Applause.) He understands
jobs. And I appreciated him supporting me on the tax cut.
And that's another good piece of legislation that passed out of
Washington, and it came just at the right time, just at the right
time. You see, our economy started slowing down
significantly in March of 2001. And when the economy begins
to slow down, one of the best remedies is to let people keep more of
their own money; is to take less of the money from the working
people. (Applause.)
When a longshoreman is able to keep more of his own
money, his family has more money to spend. And as
they spend that money, somebody obviously has to produce the product
for them to buy. And as they produce the product, it creates
jobs. And in order to stimulate the economy, one of the good
ways to do so is to have tax relief. We passed meaningful,
real tax relief that says finally our government trusts people with
more of their own money so that people can make the right decisions for
their families.
You know, there are some in Washington, however, who seem to be
indicating that in order to come out of a recession, you should raise
taxes.
AUDIENCE: Noooo!
THE PRESIDENT: I don't know what economic textbook
they've been reading -- (laughter) -- but it's not the one that most
Americans have read. They understand tax relief is the best
way to encourage an economic recovery in
America. (Applause.)
Now, we can help, and should help, those workers who lost their
jobs as a result of the September the 11th tax. We should
work together to extend unemployment -- insurance employment
benefits. We ought to help pay for health care for workers
that have been laid off; that's something we ought to
do. But most Americans don't want an unemployment check,
they want a paycheck. And we ought to figure out ways to
increase jobs.
An energy plan will help create jobs, a trade bill will create
jobs. And we need a stimulus plan that says, let's be smart,
let's encourage entrepreneurs and people who buy equipment, and let's
accelerate the tax relief so that this economy will grow, so that
people who want to work can find work. There is no reason why we can't
work together to get a good bill done for the American
people. (Applause.)
I like my job a lot. It's a huge honor to live in the
White House. And I want to report that Laura is doing a
fabulous job. What a great, great First
Lady. (Applause.) She's happy, and that's really
important. (Laughter.) And it's an honor to
represent you in Washington. But I really enjoy traveling
our country, as well. I like to get out. I like
to move around, because it is, one, it reminds me of the true strength
of America.
And the true strength of our country is not in our capital. We've
got a great system; no question about it. We've got a
fantastic Constitution. But the true strength of America
really are the American people -- is the American
people. That's the true strength. The true
strength is the American citizens, people of good
heart. (Applause.)
The enemy didn't understand our country. You know, they
thought we were so materialistic that we were soft. They
thought we cared more about ourselves than we cared about something
greater than ourselves. But they were wrong. They
didn't understand the character of America. They don't know
how tough we can be -- they didn't realize how tough we could be if we
decided to be tough. They thought we would be impatient, and
they're wrong. They thought we'd get tired
early. They don't understand us.
A lot of people say, well, what can I do to help fight the war on
terror. Well, one, be alert. If you see something
happening that's unusual, report to the local law
enforcement. Let them know. But the other thing
is, is that in order to fight evil, I think one way you do it is to
fight it with good, acts of kindness and decency. In order
to fight the evil ones and not let their way of life stand, one thing
Americans can do is to love a neighbor. (Applause.)
I want to not only unleash our military and the might of our
military, I also want to help unleash the compassion of the American
people. A soldier in the war on terror is somebody who
mentors a child. Or somebody who walks across the street to
a shut-in neighbor and says, how can I brighten your day, what can I do
to love you?
A soldier in the war on terror is a mom or a dad who surrounds --
who hugs their children on a daily basis and says to the child, I love
you more than anything in life. Somebody who wants to fight
evil with goodness is somebody who wants to get involved in their
school system and praises the teacher, or helps the
education. Somebody who goes to a church or a synagogue or
mosques and says, how can we form a faith-based program to help change
people's lives by changing their hearts?
The enemy has awakened a mighty nation. They made us
angry, but they've also made us hopeful -- because we fully understand
the true strength of our country lies in the hearts and souls of a
wonderful, fantastic group of people.
It is my honor to be your President. It's my honor to be
here in New Orleans. May God bless you all, and may God
bless America. Thank you very
much. (Applause.) Thank you all.
END 9:44 A.M. CST
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