For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
January 22, 2002
President Calls on Congress to Pass Economic Security Package
Remarks by the President to the Employees of Cecil I. Walker Machinery Company
Cecil I. Walker Machinery Company
Charleston, West Virginia
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all very much. Thank
you for that warm welcome. Steve, I appreciate the fact that
everybody who works here has got a uniform on with my middle
name. (Laughter.) I don't know if he'll claim me
as a relative, being a Walker. (Laughter.) But
hearing how you like to sing at parties in West Virginia, I'm not so
sure I want to claim you. (Laughter.)
But I'm honored you all would have me. I appreciate
small business owners, entrepreneurs, people who work hard, people who
build a team. I want to thank the workers here for such a
warm greeting. I also appreciate you for your high-quality
work. You know, American workers are the best in the world,
and Walker employees are some of the best workers in the world,
too. (Applause.)
I can't think of a better place to talk about economic security
than at a place that works hard to create jobs and helps people keep a
job, and makes sure that people who work here are treated well, treated
with respect.
At its core, an economic security plan for every American has got
to be the goal of our government. And it begins with a good
education, and ends with secure retirement. And in between,
much of one's life depends on being able to find work -- good, steady
work. And that's how I approach decisions about our
economy. I ask, are we creating an environment in which
people can find work.
My economic plan is summed up in one
word: jobs. And that's what all of us in
Washington ought to be asking: how do we create jobs for
people who want to work in America. (Applause.)
I want to thank members of the West Virginia delegation who are
with me. Shelley traveled with me from
Washington. We flew down together, we had a good
visit. Every time I talk to her she constantly talks about
West Virginia. Every time I talk to her, she doesn't
necessarily do everything I tell her to. She's got kind of a
West Virginia independent streak to her. (Laughter and
applause.) But I'm proud to call her friend, and I'm also
proud to call Jay Rockefeller friend. He and I are different
political parties, but that's okay. We both love America.
The other day I had the honor of signing a piece of legislation at
the White House, called the Safe and Stable Families
Act. It's a really good piece of
legislation. It's legislation that promotes adoption;
legislation that helps foster care children. It's a
legislation sponsored by Republicans and Democrats. Senator
Rockefeller was one of the sponsors, and I sung his praises there, and
I'm happy to come on his home turf and sing his praises here for this
piece of legislation.
So, thank you, Senator Rockefeller, for doing
it. (Applause.)
Every job begins with one decision, and that is the decision by
somebody to say, I want to hire you. It comes as a surprise
to some in Washington, though, when you think about that, that most of
the hiring does not take place at the government level. Of
course, we create jobs by hiring people at the government
level. Most hiring takes place at small
businesses. Most hiring takes place when an employer in the
private sector says, I need you to work for me. And so the
job of the government, if you think about it, is not to try to create
wealth. That's not the job of the government. The
job of the government is to create an environment in which more people
are willing to hire more workers.
If jobs are the most important part of one of my jobs, then I'm
going to insist that people ask the question, how do we encourage
people to hire more people. That's what we ought to be
asking. And that's the role of Washington, D.C.
It starts with making sure everybody is
well-educated. Every new product, every new service starts
with a good idea. And then that needs to be carried out by
talented, skilled, educated people. With a better educated
work force, our businesses, small and large, all across America are
going to be able to innovate and make improvements. A better
educated work force will mean America is more productive, and higher
productivity means more jobs and higher paychecks.
So we've got to get it right when it comes to
education. And I'm proud to report this is one issue where a
handful of us in Washington decided to put aside our political parties
and focus on what was right for America. I had the honor of
signing a very good piece of education legislation, sponsored by, of
all people, in the Senate, Ted Kennedy. Now, look, I
traveled the country saying the guy is not a bad
guy. (Laughter.) I think I put him in
shock. (Laughter.) I know I put the people in
Crawford, Texas coffee shop in
shock. (Laughter.) But on this issue we worked
well together. Republicans and Democrats. We
showed the country that, party is all right -- I'm a proud Republican
-- it's not nearly as important as the education of our
children. (Applause.)
One of the roles of government is not only to create an environment
that is good for jobs, but to remove obstacles, if they exist, for
people having jobs. One of the obstacles that exists in our
society is a public school system that simply shuffles children through
the schools. It's so much easier to quit on a child, one
that's supposedly hard to educate. And in some schools, in
some school districts, and in some states, we've had the practice of
just moving children through.
And that's not right in America. It is not right to quit
on kids. And so now, as a result of this piece of legislation that
both of the members here voted for, we asked -- we say, look, if you
get federal money -- and we're going to spend money, by the way, on
certain areas in education out of the federal government -- but if you
get it, you've got to show us whether or not the children can read and
write and add and subtract.
I'm asking the simple question, are we getting results with your
money? (Applause.) And if not, do something
different. If we're spending money, we expect children to
learn to read. And if they can't, you'd better change; or
otherwise we're going to give parents different options, so that there
is no child trapped in a school that will not teach, and will not
change.
I want to assure you, I remembered where I came from. I
trust the people of West Virginia to run the schools of West Virginia,
so we passed power out of Washington to the states. But we
expect high standards, and high accountability and
results. If what we're worried about is jobs, we've got to
remove the obstacles for people finding good work by educating every
child who lives in America.
But education doesn't just stop at the elementary school level or
high school or college. This nation has got to understand,
as technology changes, we've got to make sure the work force changes
with it. And that's why I strongly support local job
training programs.
We're increasing -- significantly increasing the amount of job
training in our -- in the budget I submit to Congress. It
recognizes there are a lot of good, hardworking people in America who
received an education, that were skilled in one area, but the job base
has shifted and, therefore, we better educate people to make sure that
they can shift with the technologies. And, as well, my 2003
budget increases funding for Job Corps, which is an effective program
that will help disadvantaged young people learn how to work.
So one thing we can do to make sure that people find a job is to
make sure our education system works well throughout its
entirety. Another thing to make sure there's an opportunity
to create more jobs is to have good tax policy that allows people to
keep more money, more of their own money, that you can put more of your
own money in your own pocket and you can spend
it. (Applause.)
When workers have more money -- and, by the way, it's your money to
begin with; it's not the government's money. Somebody said
the other day, well, the government is giving back the
money. Well, it's not the government's money, it's the
people who work for a living's money. (Applause.) If you
have more of your own money, it means you're going to spend
more. And if you spend more, somebody is going to have to
make more of what you're spending it on, which means it's more likely
somebody is going to find work. That's how the economy
works.
The same with Walker. I want the Walkers to have more
money to reinvest in their business. I want the Walkers to
be able to have more cash flow so they can upgrade the equipment which
the workers here use. It means it's more likely that
somebody is going the find a job for the long-term.
Now, there is kind of a wacky economic theory going around
Washington. It says, the more they take in your taxes, the better off
you'll be. (Laughter.) It doesn't make any economic
sense. It doesn't make any dollars and cents. And
here in West Virginia, like they do elsewhere, they've got to know this
is nonsense. (Applause.)
This economy started slowing down last March. And so the
tax cut we put in place for everybody who pays taxes came right at the
right time. If you want to encourage an economy to recover,
you let people keep more of their own money. If you want to
slow down an economy, you stop tax cuts. You, in essence, take money
away from people. And that's not right, folks. I'm worried
about job security. The more money people have, the more
likely it is you're going to be able to find work.
Now, I'm also worried about people who have lost work because of
the evil ones who attacked us. And I look forward to working
with members of both political parties to extend unemployment benefits
to those who lost their job, and to help them with health
care. Surely, we can come together to do that.
But any good economic stimulus plan must ask the question, how do
we create more jobs. And one way to do that is to accelerate
tax relief for workers. And the other way to do that is to
make sure the tax code doesn't punish companies like
Walker. We ought to allow them to accelerate the
depreciation schedule so that it is more likely they will buy more
equipment. And we've got to reform a tax code that makes
them pay more taxes even though their profits are going
down. (Applause.)
And it is time for a vote. It's time for people to set
aside who's going to benefit on the nightly news, you know, whose
picture is going to look the best. Let's get a vote
up. Let's pass this bill. Let's quit talking
about it, and let's get the bill going. Congress is coming
back tomorrow, and I'm confident, if they listen to the people out
there, they'll know it's time to get a piece of legislation moving that
will help create jobs, and help workers who got affected as a result of
9/11.
The next opportunity is to make sure that this nation has an energy
policy. This nation needs an energy
policy. (Applause.) Jobs depend on affordable
energy. If there's a price spike or a disruption in supply,
people may not have work. And it's also in our nation's
national security interests that we become less dependent on foreign
sources of energy. (Applause.)
And we're dependent. We're dependent on energy from some
parts of the world where sometimes they like us, and sometimes they
don't. And we need to do something about it. We
need an energy bill. We passed one out of the House of
Representatives, and it's now time for the United States Senate to pass
a good bill.
It's one that says, of course, we'll conserve more. All
of us want to have new technologies that will make conservation a part
of our life. And we can do a better job in
America. One of these days, we're going to be driving
automobiles that are fueled differently. And that's going to
be exciting times for America. In other words, there's new
technologies coming down, and we can encourage those
technologies. So conservation and technological development
have got to be an integral part of energy.
But folks, we need more supply. You know, I'm walking
back here in the back, and they said, I'm now repairing a machine that
digs for coal. We need to use coal. We've got a lot of it,
and we need to make sure that we've got coal. (Applause.)
A lot of people don't realize that good energy policy means
jobs. Bad energy policy means we might lose
jobs. Good energy policy means we can create jobs.
I was with Jimmy Hoffa the other day, of the Teamsters, in his
headquarters. I know, I mean, people just don't expect a
Republican to be hanging out with the
Teamsters. (Laughter.) But he and I share
something in common. We worry about people who want to
work. He worries about it, as the head of a mighty
union. I worry about it as the President.
See, I'm the President of everybody, not just a few. I'm
the President of people whether they voted for me or
not. I'm the President of union and
non-union. I'm the President of Republicans and Democrats
and independents. And I share something in common with
Jimmy, and that is how best to get jobs. That's why he and I
both know that the energy bill ought to make sure we can explore for
natural gas and crude oil in Alaska. It's good for
jobs. (Applause.) He knows what I know, that
means work for people.
There's going to be a lot of work. And he knows what I
know as well, that we can do so in an environmentally friendly way;
that we can have a footprint in this vast tundra that will not affect
the environment and, at the same time, make us less dependent on
foreign sources of energy.
Listen, finding oil and gas and coal in our own hemisphere, and
nuclear power, for that matter, in our own hemisphere is in our
national security interest. And I ask the Senate to put
aside all the politics and get me a good energy bill. It's
in the best interests for people trying to find work and it's in the
best interests of the United States of America. (Applause.)
We can create more opportunities by selling more products
overseas. I spent a lot of time as the governor of Texas
with the farmers. The agricultural sector is an incredibly
important part of our economy. And one of the benefits we
have as a nation is we can feed ourselves. That's good for
the national security interest, by the way. But we produce
more food than we need. We ought to be selling it
overseas. The more markets available for U.S. products, the
more likely it is somebody is going to find work.
It is so important for America to understand that we're good at
what we do. We can compete with anybody in the
world. We've got the most productive work force on the face
of the Earth; therefore, let's open up markets to sell our
products. (Applause.) The Senate has got to give
me the ability to do that. It came out of the House; it's
bottled up in the Senate. I ask them to pass that bill,
called the Trade Promotion Authority.
In order to create good jobs, we've got to have a legal system
that's fair and balanced. I want people who have got a good
case to be able to make their case in court. But I'm going
to tell you, the Walker boys fear frivolous and junk
lawsuits. I don't know them that well, but I can guess they
do. (Laughter.) And we don't need a lot of
regulation either. The federal government ought to be wise
about how we enforce standards, but not overregulate those who are
trying to create work. (Applause.)
We can do some smart things in Washington to create
jobs. One of the things the government needs to do is to
spend money on research and development. The more research
and development there are, the more likely it is we'll find interesting
answers to energy problems or health problems or national security
issues. And that translates into jobs.
And so my budget for 2003 spends $110 billion on federal research
-- on grants for research and development. It makes
sense. The more we know today about the future, the more
likely it is we're going to be able to have a work force that's
steadily employed.
And finally, we've got to make sure that we have retirement
security; that if part of a secure economic environment begins with
education, it's got to end with making sure that our Medicare system
works well, that people are given options, that it's a modern system
that reflects the modern ways of medicine; and that we have a Social
Security system that fulfills the promise to the elderly, but
recognizes we better reform it for the younger workers so that they
will have a Social Security system -- one that says if you're relying
upon Social Security today, nothing changes. The promise we have made
you will be a promise this government will keep.
But if you're a younger worker, we've got to trust you to manage
your own money, if that's what you choose to do. You see,
ownership is a part of what it means to have a society that is vibrant,
that is a society based upon economic security. I want
people to own their home, and so we've got plans to encourage ownership
from renters. I want people to be able to manage their own
money. I want people to be able to own and start their own
business. I want them to be able to pass their farm or ranch
or business from one generation to the next. That's why I
was so insistent we get rid of the death tax in the tax code.
Ownership is what makes America unique and
different. And if we're asking about how to make sure we
have a secure environment for workers and families, let's encourage
people to own their own home and business and their own retirement
accounts. And we can do that.
As a matter of fact, I'm confident in our economy, confident in --
because I'm confident in the American way of life. You know,
they hit us on 9/11, but Walker was running before 9/11 and it's
running after 9/11. I mean, some certainly have gotten
affected as a result of the attacks. But they didn't
diminish the entrepreneurial spirit of America. They didn't
diminish the drive by small business owners to expand and grow and to
create jobs.
We've got -- the underpinnings of growth are with
us. And our job in Washington, D.C., is to encourage that
growth, and to always remember that jobs are the cornerstone of good
economic policy.
But these are unique times in America, which means we've got to
really deal with the problem that came upon our shores. The
truth of the matter is, the best thing I can do for the economy is to
make sure the enemy doesn't hit us again. And I'm proud of
the -- (applause). Every morning I wake up, walk into the
great Oval Office. Well, first I take Barney and Spot
outside. (Laughter.) But I go into this fabulous
office -- by the way, it is just a -- it's a shrine to our great
democracy -- and I read a threat assessment. You know the
intentions of the enemy are to hit us again. And I make a
vow every morning that I will do everything in my power and encourage
those of us in positions of responsibility not to let that happen.
You need to know our government is on full alert, and I hope you
are, as well. People say, what does that
mean. Well, if you see something odd happening, let somebody
know. Something out of the ordinary. It's just
like that stewardess on the airplane that time when the shoe man showed
up. She saw something was odd. (Laughter.) She
thought something was different and she brought him
in. That's what Americans must do now as a result of the
evil ones hitting us. We've got to be on our toes.
The FBI has changed its culture. The FBI is now focused
on preventing another attack. We've got agents all across
the country working day in and day out to sniff out any lead, any
idea. Because our biggest job is to prevent them from coming
at us. They may come at us, but they're not going to get
us. (Applause.)
I want to thank the local law enforcement officers here in West
Virginia who are working hand in hand with state officers and working
with our federal people, too. But the truth of the matter
is, the best way to make sure that we secure our homeland is to find
the enemy where they hide and bring them to justice. And
that's exactly what we're going to do. (Applause.)
Many of you have got relatives in the military, and I want to thank
you. And you thank them on behalf of their
Commander-in-Chief. Put the military to a task, and the
military is preforming brilliantly. (Applause.)
We told the world -- I told the world -- our government has told
the world, our country has told the world, that this compassionate,
generous nation will not let terror stand; that wherever we find
terror, we will deal with it. We put a great coalition
together, people who understand that this is an historic opportunity
and a moment in which those who love freedom must not blink and must
not tire. That -- I made it clear that if you harbor a
terrorist, if you feed a terrorist, we're going to treat you like a
terrorist.
And the Taliban learned that lesson because of our United States
military. (Applause.) They're not in
power. And by routing them out of power, this great nation
not only defended freedom, not only sent a clear message about our
intention, but this great nation liberated a people. We
liberated women and children. We freed people from
incredible oppression. What a proud moment for America, that we stood
for what we believe, and in so doing, gave people a better chance for
life.
I want to thank you all, and thank the American people for your
patience. If we tire, the world will tire. If we
get impatient, the terrorists win. Yet our great nation is
bound by such a love for freedom, and the desire not for revenge, but
for justice, that we're not going to tire; that we will stay the
course. (Applause.)
Families in America have suffered the greatest sacrifice of all,
the loss of a loved one. But in this case, the cause is
noble, and it is just. We fight for freedom and the ability for our
children and grandchildren to grow up in a peaceful world, one that
does not fear murderers coming to our shore and killing through acts of
terror.
This country must not yield. We must seize this moment
of history. It is this generation's calling, and we are not going to
let the world down. We're ready, we're steady, we're
resolved. And we will rout out the terrorists, no matter
what cave they think they can hide in, and bring them to
justice. (Applause.)
You know, I was floored to think about the attitudes of the enemy
when they thought we were soft. I couldn't figure out which
TV show they had been watching. (Laughter.) I
mean, can you imagine somebody saying the great United States won't
respond, or the great United States really doesn't care, won't commit
the resources necessary to rid the world of evil? But, my,
oh, my, did they make a huge mistake.
They also didn't understand the character of the
country. They don't understand how good we
are. They don't understand America's values -- the values of
freedom of worship, no matter what religion you choose; freedom to
speak; freedom to run for office; freedom to vote; freedom to be -- to
work for your family so your family can live in a peaceful
world. They don't understand that. They must not
understand it.
I'm asked all the time, what can I do to help. Well,
what you could do to help for a while was to travel, and it looks like
we're getting better. Airlines are filling up and people are
going to different destination places. But the truth of the
matter is, if you want to fight evil -- and make no mistake about it,
this is good versus evil -- if you want to fight evil, do some good.
If you're interested in fighting evil, tell your children you love
them every day this year. If you want to fight off evil, get
involved in the school system and make it as good as it can
be. Teach a child to read. If you want to fight evil, go to
your church or synagogue or mosque and start a program that will love a
neighbor. If you want to fight evil, go see a shut-in and
say, what can I do to help.
You see, the great character of America is not defined necessarily
by our military actions, although that counts. The great
character of America is defined by millions of acts of decency and
kindness that take place every day all across our
country. (Applause.)
The evil ones struck, but out of this will come incredible
good. The world will be more peaceful when we accomplish our
mission. And this country will be more compassionate and
more decent and more loving.
It's such an honor to be the President of a land that has achieved
so much, but with much more to do. Thank you for giving me
the chance to come, and thank you for giving me the chance to be your
President. May God bless you all. (Applause.)