    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2002, Book II)]
    [October 12, 2002]
    [Pages 1784-1785]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    The President's Radio Address
    October 12, 2002

        Good morning. This week both the House and Senate passed strong
    bipartisan measures authorizing the use of force in Iraq if it becomes
    necessary. Our country and our Congress are now united in purpose.
    America is speaking with one voice: Iraq must disarm and comply with all
    existing U.N. resolutions, or it will be forced to comply.
        Confronting Iraq is an urgent matter of national security. America's
    economic security, especially the creation of good jobs, is also an
    urgent matter requiring Presidential and congressional action. For that
    reason, I acted on Tuesday to reopen our Pacific coast ports which had
    been shut down for more than a week due to a labor dispute. The crisis
    in the western ports was costing our economy up to a billion dollars a
    day in lost business and lost jobs, hurting truckers and rail operators
    who transport goods across America, workers on assembly lines, cashiers
    in retail stores, and manufacturers and farmers who sell across the
    world.
        An auto plant in Fremont, California, was forced to shut down its
    assembly line for 2 days, keeping about 5,100 employees off the job
    after it ran out of parts. A company that manufactures televisions and
    VCRs had to stop production and lay off 150 workers in Vancouver,
    Washington. Produce from America's farms was stuck on docks, unable to
    be sold overseas. Retailers across the country were worried about having
    enough merchandise for the holiday season.

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        The American people have been working hard to bring our economy back
    from recession. We simply cannot afford to have hundreds of billions of
    dollars a year in potential manufacturing and agricultural trade sitting
    idle. The action I took this week will help keep our economy moving and
    allow labor and management more time to resolve their differences. I
    expect the port operators and worker representatives to bargain in good
    faith and reach a final agreement as quickly as possible. Reopening the
    ports got people back to work.
        Another important step in putting America's hardhats back on the job
    is passing a terrorism insurance bill. Congress is close to a final
    agreement, and I look forward to signing this good piece of legislation
    if and when it gets to my desk.
        After September the 11th, many insurance companies stopped covering
    builders and real estate owners against the risk of terrorist attack.
    The lack of terrorism insurance has hurt the growth of this economy and
    cost American jobs. The lack of terrorism insurance has delayed or
    canceled more then $15 billion in real estate transactions. The $15
    billion worth of delay has cost 300,000 jobs, jobs to carpenters and
    joiners, bricklayers, plumbers, and other hard-working Americans.
        This terrorism insurance legislation will cost us nothing if we
    experience no further attacks. Yet it will mean thousands of new jobs
    for America's hardhats and billions in new investment. And if we do face
    another attack, we'll be able to compensate victims quickly and limit
    the economic damage to America.
        This week leaders of Congress put partisan differences aside to
    confront a grave danger to our country. Clearly, we're able to get
    things done in Washington when we focus on getting results, rather than
    scoring political points. For the good of the economy, for the good of
    workers who needs jobs, Senators should again put politics aside and
    take one last step to reach a final agreement on terrorism insurance.
        Congress is still in session next week. There's still time to reach
    an agreement. Our workers have waited a year. It's past time for
    Congress to finish the job.
        Thank you for listening.

    Note: The address was recorded at 2:10 p.m. on October 11 in the Cabinet
    Room at the White House for broadcast at 10:06 a.m. on October 12. The
    transcript was made available by the Office of the Press Secretary on
    October 11 but was embargoed for release until the broadcast. The Office
    of the Press Secretary also released a Spanish language transcript of
    this address.