For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
January 7, 2002
President Meets with Economic Advisors and Fed Chairman Greenspan
Remarks by the President in Photo Opportunity with His Economic Advisors and Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan
The Cabinet Room
THE PRESIDENT: I want to thank Chairman Greenspan for
coming. He's here to offer his independent advice and
counsel about the state of our economy. I want to thank my
economic team for keeping me abreast of what we're learning during our
Christmas break. I look forward to a substantive discussion
about how to wisely put policy in place that will help this economy
recover.
I'm -- we're making good progress in winning the war in
Afghanistan, and we've got to make good progress about helping people
find work. The cornerstone of any good policy is going to be
to take care -- help people help themselves, and take care of those who
may have lost their job as a result of 9/11, but always remember the
most important thing for those who have lost their job is to be able to
find work. And so the question I'm going to ask, and the
question I hope Congress asks, is how best to create
jobs. What can you do to encourage economic growth so that
people who want to work can find work?
I'm optimistic that 2002 is going to be a better year than
2001. And we will discuss ways here to make -- to figure out
how government can make that happen. One thing I will do,
after the course of these discussions and some discussions later on
this week, will put in my budget an economic stimulus package.
And speaking of that, I hope that when Congress comes back they
will have listened to their constituents and that Congress will realize
that America, like me, is tired of partisan bickering; that we ought to
come together, we ought to unify around some sensible policy, and not
try to play politics with tax relief or, for that matter, economic
stimulus packages.
I'll be glad to answer a few questions. Fournier.
Q Mr. President, can you increase funding for the military
and homeland security without dipping into the Social Security and
Medicare accounts? And, Chairman Greenspan, if I could --
THE PRESIDENT: Well, wait. I promised him
that he could come. He's an independent soul, and he can
have a press conference elsewhere. But one of the things
we're not going to do is drag the Chairman into a press
conference. Otherwise, he won't come back -- (laughter) --
to the White House.
Q I'm sure he would --
THE PRESIDENT: Well, you can find him at his place of
business. Sorry to tell you how to do -- it's a new
year. (Laughter.) I plan to be much more
assertive with the press.
Q -- going to ask him if he thought the recession was over,
that's all.
THE PRESIDENT: Okay. I said to the American
people that this nation might have to run deficits in time of war, in
times of national emergency, or in times of a recession. And
we're still in all three. We had a national emergency; we're
trying to win a war; and we're in a recession. So I have no
problem figuring out ways to win the war, figuring out ways to protect
the homeland, and those will be the priorities of my budget -- and at
the same time -- and spending the money necessary to do both -- and at
the same time, recognizing that we may not balance the budget for this
year.
It makes sense to spend money necessary to win the
war. It makes sense to spend money necessary to protect the
homeland. And we're in a recession. There are
some talk about raising taxes. That would be a disaster, to
raise taxes in the midst of a recession. Even -- I think
you'll find that to be -- most economists agree with that point of
view. Certainly, if they're fair about it, they will say
that.
And so I -- as I said out there, somebody must be reading a
different kind of economics textbook here in Washington. And
most of the people that I spoke to in California and Oregon understood
that we shouldn't be raising taxes in a recession.
Yes.
Q Mr. President, given that there was real progress on a
stimulus package in December -- will your package, your proposal take
effect more quickly than the one you proposed in
December? And in addition to that, do you think, in the
meantime, further interest rate cuts might be a way to provide an
immediate boost?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, first in terms of monetary policy,
I'll leave that in the hands of our Chairman, Chairman
Greenspan. He's done a fabulous job in running the Federal
Reserve. And for that, America should be grateful.
Secondly, we did make very good progress on an economic stimulus
package. We had a bill come out of the House of
Representatives, and there was a bill that could have passed the United
States Senate. There was enough votes had the bill been
brought up on the floor that it would have passed. It took
good features from the Republican point of view; it took good features
from the Democrat point of view. We brought it together and
made a very good package. That's pretty darn good progress.
Except, along the way, there was an attitude that said, well, maybe
we don't need a package. I happen to believe we do need one,
and there was a good one that could have passed.
Stretch. I mean, Little Stretch. (Laughter.)
Q Thank you for that -- (laughter.)
THE PRESIDENT: That's your new name, by the way.
Q Oh, it is? Okay, good. Thank you.
THE PRESIDENT: It's a new year.
Q New year. Why does everything have to be so
black and white? Is there not room to maybe phase in the tax
cut in the out-years more slowly to protect the government's bottom
line -- don't start laughing yet. And the second thing is,
what will you say as elements of a new stimulus package? Do
you think there's a way to break this logjam?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, first of all, the logjam was broken
in December of this year. Republicans and Democrats realized
it was time to act. We came together and something would
have passed the Senate. In terms of finding a solution that
bridged good ideas from both parties, that's happened.
And your first question was, Little Stretch?
Q Why does it have to be so black and white on the issue of
raising taxes? Couldn't you --
THE PRESIDENT: Because a tax cut is part of the
prescription for economic recovery. By reducing taxes at a
time when our economy was slowing down, the Congress, working with the
administration, did the absolute right thing to provide a
stimulus. And to change in the midst of the phasing-in of
the tax relief plan would send the absolute wrong signal to the
economy. It would say we weren't real about it, we weren't
serious about tax relief. Tax relief is a part of the
economic recovery plan.
Listen, thank you all very much -- yes, a couple
more. It's a new spirit.
Q Which one?
THE PRESIDENT: You're after Steve, I promise.
Q Does it appear that war has been averted between Indian and
Pakistan, and has Pakistan done enough to crack down on terrorists?
THE PRESIDENT: I think it's very important for President
Musharraf to make a clear statement to the world that he intends to
crack down on terror. And I believe if he does that and
continues to do what he's doing, it will provide the -- it will provide
relief, pressure relief, on a situation that's still
serious. I don't believe the situation is diffused
yet. But I do believe there is a way to do
so. And we're working hard to convince both the Indians and
the Pakis there's a way to deal with their problems without going to
war.
Q Mr. President, during the holidays you stood by your Secret
Service agent. And American Airlines has come out with a new
statement today saying that he was bitter and hostile. What
are your thoughts about the situation with your Arab American agent now
as it pertains to him trying to --
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I know there's an investigation
going on, and I look forward to see the findings. But as I
said, if he was mistreated because of his ethnicity, I'm going to be
plenty hot. That means angry. And I know the
man. I am most appreciative of his service to me and my
wife. He is an honorable fellow. But I don't know
enough about the details of this particular incident, but I know
there's an investigation going on and I look forward to seeing it.
I would be surprised if he was hostile. But I wasn't
there, so it's hard for me to comment on something which I did not
see.
Listen, thank you all for giving me a chance to visit with you.