[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 8]
[Senate]
[Pages 10456-10457]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF THE LAST FOUR YEARS

  Mr. ALLARD. Madam President, I thank the Senator from Texas for 
yielding.
  I want to talk a little bit about what has happened during the last 4 
years after the President assumed office, and after we have had a 
Republican Congress.
  I think there were problems within the world and within this country 
that nobody wanted to admit were happening.
  For example, when this President took office, the economy was going 
down. The previous President--President Clinton--didn't want to admit 
that, but it was a fact. And that is an accepted fact today which 
everybody understands.
  Look at what the economy was doing when President Bush assumed 
office. The economy was going down. This President and this Congress, 
instead of putting the problem off to future generations and putting 
out a lot of rhetoric, did something. We cut the tax burden to 
stimulate this economy, and today the economy is doing much better. 
Employment is growing. We have a strong economy; it is getting 
stronger. People are being productive. We are getting people into 
homes. Right now, we have the highest home ownership rate in the 
history of this country, which means people of all races and ethnic 
backgrounds are getting an opportunity to own a piece of America. That 
is where the strength of this country is.
  Because of this President and this Congress working on those kinds of 
issues, there is a real difference in people's personal lives.
  The other thing that was not recognized and which some people wanted 
to ignore is the fact that we are much more secure today than we were 4 
years ago. We didn't realize, 4 years ago, the threat that was 
happening as far as America.
  I recall an opportunity where I was interviewed on BBC. This was an 
interview that happened a couple or 3 years back. There was an 
individual on the other side who was from the Middle East.
  He said: Senator, what you don't realize is that you have been at war 
in America for 5 years already because of what is happening in the 
Middle East. They have already declared war on you.
  If you look at it historically, we had a few terrorist attacks on 
small areas that were rather insignificant. We ignored them. Then we 
had terrorist attacks on our embassies. We ignored them. We had a 
terrorist attack on Khobar Towers, and we ignored it. We had the attack 
on the USS Cole, and we ignored that. Then we had the World Trade 
Center in New York, and basically that was ignored. Finally, it took 
the attacks by terrorists on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon of the 
United States for people to wake up, and this President and this 
Republican Congress stepped to the plate and we dealt with those 
security issues. We provided the money to make this a modern military. 
This President said we needed a more modern military; that is, more 
mobile because times are changing.
  Our threat is terrorism throughout the world. We need to be prepared 
to address that. This President and this Congress didn't put that off 
to the next generation. We didn't put it off until somebody else would 
make a decision--some future Congress or some future President. We 
addressed that problem immediately. We got after it. We are continuing 
to get after it. We still have a concern.
  I am excited about the fact that we are now talking about sovereignty 
for Iraq where they are going to be their own leaders. That doesn't 
mean necessarily that we are going to have less involvement as far as 
the conflict is concerned.
  But we need a leader in this world who is trying to promote world 
peace. And we need a leader who is trying to secure the economic health 
of this country and the world, too.
  If we look back at the accomplishments of the last 4 years, there is 
a lot to be proud of. I am glad we had some real leadership in the 
White House. I am glad we had some real leadership in both the House of 
Representatives and the Senate that took on those issues. They are not 
easy issues. They are difficult issues.
  But the good message to the rest of the world is, America is stepping 
to the plate.
  I am looking forward to continuing the fight and the work with my 
other Members to make sure we have a strong economy. That is a 
challenge.
  We need to make sure those tax cuts we provided are stimulating our 
economy and economic growth; make that economic engine go so we have a 
free market system which is working; and make sure those incentives are 
out there so Americans who work hard are justly rewarded and they can 
keep the benefits of their hard work in their own pockets and it 
doesn't have to be sent to the Federal Government for it to spend; they 
get to spend it themselves in their own communities to meet there own 
needs. That means less government. It means we can rely more on 
individuals to assume responsibility. We need to work to make sure we 
create opportunities for everyone.
  That is the challenge we have ahead of us. Tax cuts are expiring. One 
of the challenges we are facing in the Senate is the budget deficit. We 
have to be sure we reduce the deficit. Our economy is responding to the 
tax cuts. I don't think anybody can say tax cuts didn't help. We have 
to keep our country strong for our security.
  We still have challenges, we recognize that. But we have to face up 
to those challenges and not push them off to future generations.
  I happen to believe you have to stand up to terrorism. We learned the 
hard lesson. We learned if you ignore terrorism, it doesn't go away. We 
learned that you have to stand up to the terrorists. If you do not, 
with each success

[[Page 10457]]

the recruitment of terrorist groups goes up. We saw that. With each 
success, the terrorist groups get more money, they get better 
financing, and they are a greater risk.
  I compliment this President. I am proud to be a part of a body which 
has over the last 4 years made a difference in this country. That is 
not to say we do not have a lot of challenges; we certainly have a lot 
of challenges. But we are off to a good start. We need to continue.
  I look forward to working with this President for another 4 years 
because I think he has done a good job in leadership. I think this 
country needs him.
  I think this Congress has some challenges ahead of it, and we need 
good, strong leadership.
  I yield the floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Texas.
  Mrs. HUTCHISON. Madam President, how much time remains?
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. There is 18 minutes remaining on 
the Republican side.
  Mrs. HUTCHISON. Madam President, I would like to be notified at the 
end of 5 minutes, after which I will yield the remainder on our side to 
the Senator from New Mexico.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

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