[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 7 (Tuesday, February 5, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Pages S347-S348]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         PRESIDENTIAL MESSAGES

  The following presidential messages were laid before the Senate, 
together with accompanying papers, reports, and documents, which were 
referred as indicated:

       PM-69. A message from the President of the United States, 
     transmitting, pursuant to law, the Economic Report of the 
     President along with the Annual Report of the Council of 
     Economic Advisers for 2002; to the Joint Economic Committee.

                    Economic Report of the President

To the Congress of the United States:
  Since the summer of 2000, economic growth has been unacceptably slow. 
This past year the inherited trend of deteriorating growth was fed by 
the events, the most momentous of which was the terrorist attacks of 
September 11, 2001. The painful upshot has been the first recession in 
a decade. This is cause for compassion--and for action.
  Our first priority was to help those Americans who were hurt most by 
the recession and the attacks on September 11. In the immediate 
aftermath of the attacks, my Administration sought to stabilize our air 
transportation system to keep Americans flying. Working with the 
Congress, we provided assistance and aid to the affected areas in New 
York and Virginia. We sought to provide a stronger safety net for 
displaced workers, and we will continue these efforts. Our economic 
recovery plan must be based on creating jobs in the private sector. My 
Administration has urged the Congress to accelerate tax relief for 
working Americans to speed economic growth and create jobs.
  We are engaged in a war against terrorism that places new demands on 
our economy, and we must seek our every opportunity to build an 
economic foundation that will support this challenge. I am confident 
that Americans have proved they will rise to meet this challenge.
  We must have an agenda not only for physical security, but also for 
economic security. Our strategy builds upon the charter of Americans: 
removing economic barriers to their success, combining our workers and 
their skills with new technologies, and creating an environment where 
entrepreneurs and businesses large and small can grow and create jobs. 
Our vision must extend beyond America, engaging other countries in the 
virtuous cycle of free trade, raising the potential for global growth, 
and securing the gains from worldwide markets in goods and capital. We 
must ensure that this effort builds economic bonds that encompass every 
American.
  America faces a unique moment in history: our Nation is at war, our 
homeland was attacked, and our economy is in recession. In meeting 
these great challenges, we must draw strength from the enduring power 
of free markets and a free people. We

[[Page S348]]

must also look forward and work toward a stronger economy that will 
buttress the United States against an uncertain world and lift the 
fortunes of others worldwide.
                                                      George W. Bush.  
The White House, February 2002.

                          ____________________