[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: GEORGE W. BUSH (2001, Book I)]
[February 7, 2001]
[Pages 61-63]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks at the Tax Family Reunion and an Exchange With Reporters
February 7, 2001

    The President. Well, Debora, thank you 
very much. I'm so honored to see you. And thank you for bringing your 
son and daughter here. The Vice President and I have been looking 
forward to this family reunion--tax family reunion. The nice thing about 
this reunion is, you don't have any annoying relatives to deal with. 
[Laughter] But we're glad to welcome you to the White House.
    One of the best parts of the campaign was to meet the hard-working 
Americans who really make up the backbone of our country. I'd go to the 
different cities around our great Nation and get off the airplane, and 
there'd be a tax family. And it was our way to put a face on a piece of 
important public policy. It was our way to say, behind all the numbers 
we were talking about and the talk about budget, there were real, live 
Americans who will benefit.
    And I want to thank you all for coming back. I look forward for you 
to--look forward to thanking you in person. I look forward to you to see 
the people's house, the place that Laura and I are now fortunate enough 
to call home.
    I have one message for all the folks that were our tax families and 
all the folks from across the country: You helped me make my case, and 
now I intend to make good on my promise. I want it to be said that ours 
is a plan that fulfills a campaign promise. And that's important. A lot 
of people look toward the political process and say, ``Oh, these 
candidates just say something and really don't mean it.'' When I 
campaigned for meaningful tax relief, I meant it. And tomorrow I'll 
submit a plan based upon exactly what I said on the campaign trail. I 
look forward to working with Congress to get the plan passed.
    During the course of the campaign, I said it's as if our Nation had 
erected a toll booth right in the middle of the road of the middle 
class, making it hard for people to access the middle class, making it 
hard for hard-working Americans to realize more money for their own. And 
so we're going to start dismantling that toll booth, brick by brick.
    It begins by simplifying the code. We'll reduce the rates from five 
to four.
    It recognizes that our Tax Code is unfair. It is unfair to people 
who struggle to get ahead. It is unfair for the single mom who lives on 
the outskirts of poverty, who's working hard to provide for her family. 
For every additional dollar she makes above $25,000, she pays a higher 
marginal rate on that dollar than someone who's wealthy. And that's not 
right, and it's not fair. It's not what America is all about, as far as 
I'm concerned. Our tax code makes the code more fair.
    It is also fair that everybody who pays taxes should receive relief, 
and that's why we drop all rates. We drop the top rate, and we drop the 
bottom rate, and we expand the child credit from $500 to $1,000. Under 
our plan, a family of four making $50,000 a year will receive a 50 
percent cut in the taxes they pay to the Federal

[[Page 62]]

Government. The average tax load will decrease by $2,000--from $4,000 to 
$2,000.
    As Debora said, she calculated our plan, and she saved $1,000. Maybe 
for some, the number 1,000 doesn't mean much, and maybe for some, 2,000 
doesn't mean much. But for thousands of Americans it means a lot.
    I want to assure my friends the tax families who are here that we 
will submit a budget as expected to the United States Congress, a budget 
that sets aside all the payroll taxes for Social Security, a budget that 
sets clear priorities, a budget that pays down the national debt, and a 
budget that has got room for a meaningful, substantial tax reduction.
    And there's a lot of talk about debt in this town, and it should be 
talked about--national debt. And our plan pays down debt. But I also 
want the Members of Congress to understand that there are a lot of folks 
struggling to get ahead who have got high consumer debt. There's a lot 
of people who are burdened by credit card debt in America. And when you 
couple that debt overhang with high energy prices, more and more of the 
backbone of this country struggle to save and struggle to get ahead.
    So this tax relief package not only is a way to make sure our 
economy remains strong; it's a package that understands people need to 
have more of their own money. It says that with strict budgeting and 
prioritizing our budget, that when we have surpluses, we must remember 
who pay the bills in America. And it's these folks who pay the bills in 
this country. And they deserve relief.
    And so I call upon Congress, when they think about tax relief, to 
think about the members of our tax family who represent all the people 
of our country, who work hard to get into the middle class and to stay 
in the middle class.
    It's an honor to be your President. I'm so thrilled you all are here 
to say hello to us. I can't wait to greet you inside.
    Thanks for coming, and God bless you all.

Tax Relief Legislation

    Q. Mr. President, Republican leaders are pushing for an even larger 
tax cut, sir. Do you think that's advisable?
    The President. The tax cut is the right size. I believe it's the 
right size. And I think it's going to be very important for us and the 
Members of Congress to work together. But I'm going to make my case that 
the size of the tax relief package I propose is right.
    Q. So you're saying it would be inadvisable, in your judgment, based 
on looking at the numbers of the surpluses, et cetera?
    The President. I think for those who want to diminish the size of 
the tax cut, that would be inadvisable, and for those who want to 
increase the size of the tax cut would be inadvisable. It's the right 
size.

Office of National AIDS Policy

    Q. Could you tell us how it is, sir, that your Chief of Staff didn't 
know what your plans were for the Office of National AIDS Policy and the 
President's Initiative for One America?
    The President. We're going to have a--we're concerned about AIDS 
inside our White House, make no mistake about it. And ours is an 
administration that will fight for fair, just law in the country.
    Last question.

Middle East

    Q. Mr. President, how concerned are you about the outbreak of 
violence following the election of Ariel Sharon? And also, can you tell 
us how you might take a different approach than President Clinton and 
his administration when it comes to Middle East peacemaking?
    The President. We're going to play the hand we've been dealt. And 
we're going to play it well, with one thing in mind, that we promote 
peace in the Middle East. And I've talked to leaders in the Middle

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East, urging calm, and so has the Secretary of State.
    And I just got off the phone with Prime Minister Barak and told him he fought the valiant fight, and he assured 
me he would support the Government's attempts to bring calm in the 
region. And we will continue to reach out to the parties in that region 
to promote an environment of stability and calm, to give the 
Sharon government a chance to do what he said 
he was going to do, which was to try to form a unity government and 
reach out to the parties to promote peace in the region.
    See you.

Note: The President spoke at 9:37 a.m. on the South Lawn at the White 
House. In his remarks, he referred to Debora Meskauskas, a single mother 
who met the President during the Presidential campaign, and her 
children, Bridget and Mark; and Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Prime 
Minister-elect Ariel Sharon of Israel.