    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2001, Book II)]
    [August 25, 2001]
    [Pages 1028-1029]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    [[Page 1028]]

    The President's Radio Address
    August 25, 2001

        Good morning. Congress will shortly return to Washington to make its
    final spending decisions for 2002. A new budget report released this
    past week shows that despite the economic slowdown that began in the
    third quarter of last year, the Federal budget is strong, healthy, and
    in balance. In fact, the 2002 budget surplus will be the second biggest
    surplus in American history.
        The report also shows we are funding our Nation's priorities,
    meeting our commitments to Social Security and Medicare, reducing taxes,
    and still retiring record amounts of debt. This is a great achievement,
    and it happened because Congress worked with me this spring to agree to
    a responsible total level of spending.
        Congress also worked with me to cut income taxes for the first time
    in a generation, the right policy at exactly the right time to boost our
    sagging economy. The faster our economy grows, the stronger the Federal
    budget will be.
        The greatest threat to our budget outlook is the danger that
    Congress will be tempted this fall to break its earlier commitments by
    spending too much. The old way in Washington is to believe that the more
    you spend, the more you care. What mattered was the size of the line in
    the budget, not the effect of that line on real people's lives. My
    administration takes a new approach. We want to spend your hard-earned
    money as carefully as you do. And when we spend the people's money, we
    insist on results.
        Today my Office of Management and Budget is releasing a report
    identifying 14 long-neglected management problems in the Federal
    Government and offering specific solutions to fix them. For example, the
    United States Government is the world's single largest purchaser of
    computers and other technologies for gathering and using information. In
    2002 we will spend $45 billion on information technology. That's more
    than we've budgeted for highways and roads. Yet so far, and unlike
    private sector companies, this large investment has not cut the
    Government's cost or improved people's lives in any way we can measure.
        Another example: The General Accounting Office has, year after year,
    found that the Federal student aid programs are run in ways that make
    them vulnerable to fraud and waste. And year after year, virtually
    nothing has been done to make sure that Federal aid intended for needy
    students goes only to the needy.
        With the help of congressional leaders like Senator Fred
    Thompson, we are going to take on these
    problems, and others like them, with a focused, targeted reform agenda.
    We'll introduce greater competition into Government and make Government
    more attentive to citizens.
        Americans demand top-quality service from the private sector. They
    should get the same top-quality service from their Government. I've
    asked Cabinet Secretaries and agency heads to name a chief operating
    officer who will be held accountable for the performance of that agency.
    These officers will make up the President's Management Council, to build
    a leadership team that listens, learns, and innovates.
        Taxpayers work hard to earn the money they send the Government.
    Government should work equally hard to ensure that the money is spent
    wisely. I will work with Congress to build a Government that is
    responsive to the people's needs and responsible with our people's
    money.
        Thank you very much for listening.

    Note: The address was recorded at 4:03 p.m. on August 23 at the Bush
    Ranch in Crawford, TX, for broadcast at 10:06 a.m. on August 25. The
    transcript was made available by the Office of the Press Secretary on
    August 24

    [[Page 1029]]

    but was embargoed for release until the broadcast. The Office of the
    Press Secretary also released a Spanish language transcript of this
    address.