[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2003, Book I)]
[May 12, 2003]
[Pages 464-470]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]
[[Page 464]]
Remarks in Bernalillo, New Mexico
May 12, 2003
The President. Thank you all very much. Claudine, thanks for those wonderful words. It is--let me just
put it this way, we've had a great weekend here in the Land of the
Enchanted.
I want to thank the good folks of Santa Fe for their warm
hospitality. I particularly want to thank Governor Bill
Richardson, not only for being here but for
being so kind to my wife Laura at a fantastic reception Friday night in
Santa Fe. Thank you very much, Governor, for doing that. I'm sure the
New Mexican people are going to thank you for cutting their taxes too.
You know, we had a great weekend. I'm here in Albuquerque today to
talk about a big decision which is now before the United States Congress
and the fact that you can help them make the right decision. I'm here to
remind not only you all but our fellow Americans that when you raise
your voices, the people in Washington tend to listen.
And I hope you'll join me in raising your voices to make sure that
Congress enacts an economic stimulus plan big enough to help people who
are looking for work, a plan big enough to encourage economic growth.
You see, the reason we're here at this small business is most new
jobs in America are created by small businesses. And so the plan I've
submitted understands that. A significant part of any good economic
stimulus plan must focus on the entrepreneur in America. In order to
make sure people can find work in this country, Congress must pass a
plan which invigorates the small-business owner and the small-business
dreams of America.
I want to thank the Martinez
family for their hospitality and their
invitation. I also want to thank the dad for not only being such a good
dad but for having a dream and working hard to achieve the dream. We're
standing in the midst of what we call the American Dream. The Martinez
family is living that dream. They own their own business. And when you
own something in America, it means you have a stake in the future. What
we want to do is promote the ownership society around America by
encouraging the entrepreneurial spirit to remain strong in this country.
I'm proud to be here with Senator Pete Domenici. Senator Domenici is one of the giants of the United States
Senate. I'm also proud to be here with Heather Wilson and Steve Pearce, two fine
Members of the Congress. I want to thank all the other State officials
who are here along with the Governor. I appreciate the local officials
who are here. I want to thank you for your warm hospitality.
I appreciate Hector Barreto, Jr.
who's the Administrator of the Small Business Administration, for
joining us today. Thank you for coming, Hector. It just so happens the
Deputy Secretary of the Department of Energy is here, Kyle
McSlarrow. I appreciate his service to our
country. And recently, I nominated a fine New Mexican citizen to become
the Secretary of the Navy, and that would be Colin McMillan. I appreciate you coming, Colin, and thank you for
your service to your country.
I want to thank the chamber of commerce members who are here. I want
to thank small-business owners who are here. I want to thank the MCT
employees and family members who are here as well. Thank you for letting
me come by to say hello.
And finally, I met a fellow named William O'Leary. Let me tell you what William does; he works with
individuals to help them find loans and financial support they need. In
other words, he is a volunteer to be a part of a program to help people
realize their dreams.
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You know, there's been a lot said about the might of our country,
and we are a strong country. We're strong militarily. But our greatest
strength is the heart and soul of our individual citizens. The greatest
strength is the fact that we're a compassionate country who care deeply
about neighbors. And when you--William works
with people here, and if somebody's got an idea and they want to learn
how to advance that idea, he's willing to help. And if you find a
neighbor in need or somebody needs help, I urge you to do so.
The compassion of America sets us apart in many ways. We're strong
because a lot of people in this country have heard that universal call
to love a neighbor just like you'd like to be loved yourself. Many of
you in this audience have heard that call. We thank you for your
compassion, and we thank you for your decency.
This has been a time of testing for America. It's been a time of
interesting testing.
Audience members. [Inaudible]
The President. But we have the strength and we have the confidence
to meet every single challenge.
For 20 months--for 20 months we have waged a relentless campaign
against global terror. An enemy struck us because they hate what we
stand for. They hate the fact that we have freedom of speech in America.
They hate the fact that we have freedom of religion in America. They
hate the fact that we love freedom, and so they attacked us. And they
thought we had quit.
Audience members. No-o-o!
The President. They thought we were soft.
Audience members. No-o-o!
The President. But we love our freedoms.
Audience members. Yes!
The President. Our biggest job is to make sure the American homeland
is secure. We've done a lot here to protect the American homeland by
creating a Department of Homeland Security. But the best way to secure
the homeland is to hunt the killers down one by one and bring them to
justice, which is what we'll do.
In bringing people to justice, we freed the people of Afghanistan
from one of the most brutal regimes in the history of mankind. Thanks to
the United States of America, young girls now go to school for the first
time in their lives. We've got more work to do to make sure that's a
free society. We will stay in Afghanistan to help the people of
Afghanistan help themselves.
We've hunted down and found Al Qaida members in places other than
Afghanistan. They just need to know that so long as they want to hurt
our country, there is no cave deep enough for them to hide.
We're working with many nations around the world to cut off their
money and disrupt their finances, to share intelligence to make sure
that we can protect our people. And as part of the war on terror, we
liberated the people of Iraq from a brutal dictator. We made America more secure by making sure he does not
use weapons of mass destruction.
Two weeks ago, on the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln, I shook hands with
Navy Petty Officer Damian Lopez. Damian lives
50 miles from here. Sailors and officers of the Abraham Lincoln
represent the best of our country. These folks, like many others,
sacrificed on behalf of their Nation. Here's what he said. He said,
``When we needed to be serious about our job, everybody did their part.
I had a part in freeing a nation and serving my country.'' Our Nation is
grateful to this young man from New Mexico, and we're grateful to all
the people who've sacrificed on our country's behalf, the people who
wear the uniform of the United States military.
We have a lot of work to do in Iraq. We have a lot of work to do in
Iraq. Haven't been there very long, by the way--less than 60 days ago
that we started our mission. And in that period of time, not only did we
remove a regime which threatened our security and held the American
people hostage, not only did we remove
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a regime that brutalized their own people, but we will stay to make sure
that the Iraqi people have got the security necessary, the food
necessary, the medicines necessary, the conditions necessary to have an
Iraq of--we will stay as long as necessary to make sure that the Iraqi
people have a Government of, by, and for the Iraqi people, and then
we'll come home.
We have faced big challenges in this country. But because of the
actions we have taken and the sacrifices many have made, America is more
secure, the world is more peaceful, and many people are more free.
And as we make sure that America is secure, we've also got to make
sure we have job security in America. Too many of our people here aren't
working. The inflation--I mean, the unemployment rate hit 6 percent.
That should serve as a warning signal for the reluctant Members of the
United States Congress that we need to hear the voices of those who are
looking for work. And so we've got challenges here at home. I'm
optimistic we can meet those challenges. After all, we've been through a
lot here in this country, and yet we're still growing.
I want to review the history right quick. In March of 2000, the
stock market started to decline. In January of 2001, we were in a
recession, which meant three quarters of negative growth, and then it
looked like we were kind of starting to come out. And then the enemy hit
us. And they killed thousands of our citizens, and it affected the
psychology of this country. We weren't used to being attacked. The
people are resolved and strong, and we overcame that.
And then we found out some of our citizens forgot what it means to
be a responsible citizen. They cooked the books. They didn't tell the
truth to their employees and shareholders alike. They're now being taken
to account and held to account. We expect honest bookkeeping in America.
And it's important for CEOs of big, publicly held corporations to
understand that we expect them to learn the lessons of the past; that
shareholders, that employees, that Americans will insist they be held to
account if they ever lie, cheat, and steal.
We're overcoming that. We've overcome those obstacles. And yet, too
many of our people aren't working. We're growing, but we're not growing
fast enough. We're growing. Inflation is low, which is good. We're
growing because interest rates are low. Energy prices are coming down,
which is kind of like tax relief. [Laughter] But the greatest asset we
have in America is the productivity of our workforce. We've got the
finest workers in the world here in America.
But in spite of the good news, people are looking for work. And as
long as our fellow citizens are looking for work, we must act. So long
as families are struggling to pay the bills, we must act here in
America. So long as small businesses are hesitant to expand and to
create new jobs, we must act. And the ``we'' in this case is the United
States Congress.
I have made my proposal, strongly supported by Senator
Domenici, strongly supported by Congressman
Wilson and Congressman Pearce. And my proposal is based upon this principle: If your
economy is too slow, you need to increase demand for goods and services.
And the best way to create demand for good and services is let the
people keep more of their own money.
When you got more money in your pocket, it means you're likely to
demand a good or a service. And in our society, when somebody demands a
good or a service, somebody is going to produce that good or a service,
and when somebody produces the good or a service, it means somebody is
more likely to find work. The best way to stimulate this economy is to
have robust tax relief for the American people.
And the thing I like about Pete and
Heather and Steve
is, they know what I know. When we're up there in Washington, we're not
talking about the Government's money. If you listen closely to some of
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the rhetoric from some of the elected officials, they say, ``Well, we're
going to do this with the Government's money, or we're going to do that
with the Government's money.'' Folks, we're not talking about the
Government's money in Washington. We're talking about your money.
One of the central elements of this plan is to accelerate the tax
rate reductions which Congress has already passed. You see, in 2001, I
went in front of the Congress, said, ``We've got an economic issue.
Let's have tax relief for the American people.'' And they passed
substantial tax relief, but the problem was the tax relief plan was
phased in over 3, 5, or 7 years. We don't need it phased in over 3, 5,
or 7 years. We've got people looking for work today. We want to help
people today. We want to expand that economy today. If tax relief is
good enough 7 years from now, it's good enough today.
This plan will reduce all taxes immediately. It will reduce the
marriage penalty immediately. After all, we want the Tax Code to
encourage marriage and not discourage marriage. As well, it will
increase the child credit from $600 to $1,000 per child, retroactive to
January of this year.
I just met Leanne Montoya.* She's a
hardworking lady. She's got two kids--sons--
who Jr. are here. Right? They're somewhere
here. [Laughter] There they are. They're little guys. She--her husband
died unexpectedly. She's got the toughest job in America, being a single
mom, raising two little guys that she loves dearly. This plan will let
her keep $800 of her own money per year. Now, that may not sound like a
lot to some of the folks in Washington, but it's darn sure a lot for her
and her two boys. And it's not $800 for 1 year; it's $800 every year.
And it gives her a chance.
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*White House correction.
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Pam and Robert Lucero are with us. And by the way, these good folks shared
with me some of their stories. And the reason they're here is I want the
American people to understand we're not talking about theory; we're not
talking about numbers; we're talking about what the tax relief plan does
to help our citizens survive these difficult period of time. Pam and
Robert, they've got two little kids; they'll save $1,100 a year. It
means a lot to them, because it's $1,100 for every year. And all of a
sudden now, it means they've got more of their own money to decide what
to do for their families. They get to decide, not the Government. They
get to decide what to do with the $1,100.
Oh, you'll hear the talk about how this plan, you know, only helps
the rich people. That's just typical Washington, DC, political rhetoric,
is what that is. That's just empty rhetoric. This plan for a family of
four making $40,000 a year would see their tax bill go from $1,178 a
year to $45 a year.
This is a good plan because it makes a difference to all kinds of
people, people who could use that extra money. And this economy could
use the fact that people have got a little extra money, and that's
important for our fellow citizens to understand.
The cornerstone of the plan, however, focuses on small business.
It's an important part of the plan. It's an integral part of the plan. I
told you earlier, most new jobs are--in America--are created by small-
business owners, which makes it--see, if you're interested in expanding
the job base and you go to the origin of job creation, it seems like to
me--and the origin of job creation is a small-business owner.
Now what's interesting about America is most small-business owners
pay business tax at the individual income-tax rate. And the reason why
is they're a limited liability corporation or an S corp or a sole
proprietorship. And therefore, when you reduce the individual tax rates,
you're really pumping capital into the treasuries of the small-business
owners across America. It is important for Congress to know, a robust
relief plan helps the entrepreneur in this country.
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There is today a limitation on what a small business can deduct when
they invest in new equipment, and that limitation is at $25,000. In
other words, it puts a cap on investment, so to speak, because of the
tax plan--tax incentives or the lack thereof. This plan that Congress is
now looking at, strongly supported by your Senator and the two Congresspersons
here, would raise the cap from $25,000 to
$75,000 a year.
And here's why that's important. Phil Archuletta is here with us today.
Audience member. Yeah!
The President. Phil and his one
friend. [Laughter] He started P&M Signs with his sister in 1991. He went
from 1 employee, or maybe 2, to 19. He told me that he is going to
expand. He told me that if this new cap goes in, he's more likely to
invest in plant and equipment so he can expand his business.
The plan makes--incensed Phil to make
the decision to make a capital investment. And if he makes that
decision, it means somebody is going to have to make the machinery that
he purchases. It means that when he purchases the machinery, his
employees become more productive. In other words, the effect of creating
incentives is that jobs will more likely be created from the supplier to
Phil's business, and as Phil's business becomes more productive, it is
more likely somebody is going to find employment from his business.
You see--and it's not just Phil who
will be making a decision. Jay Walton of Jay
Walton Automotive is here. Perhaps you've had your tires aligned there.
Well, he started 29 years ago with three employees. He's kind of like
the Martinezes here in Albuquerque. They start small, but they grow big.
He's got 24 people. That's a big increase. That means people are working
because of Jay's vision. He is a Subchapter S. So when you hear them
talking about tax relief, it means the taxes on his business are going
down.
But as well, he's interested in expanding. He
wants more space for his shop. He wants to add on to his facility. He
wants to be able to accommodate consumer demand by expanding his plant
and facility. And when he does, it means somebody is going to have to
build the plant, which means there's an additional job there. He might
buy a hydraulic pump. That means somebody is going to have to
manufacture the additional hydraulic pump. Somebody is going to work
somewhere else.
The point I'm making to you is, is that when Phil makes the decision he makes and Jay
makes the decision to expand their businesses, there are thousands like
them all around America. And it's those cumulative acts of increased
capital expenditure which makes it more likely one of our fellow
citizens, or additional citizens, are going to be able to find work.
The final aspect of the plan says that we ought to get rid of the
double taxation of dividends in America. First of all, there's just a
simple fairness issue on the double taxation of dividends. Listen, we
should be taxing corporate profits, and we do. But in this country, not
only do we tax corporate profits; when part of those profits are
distributed to the owners of the companies, small and large alike, it
gets taxed again. And who are those owners? Well, 50 percent----
Audience members. [Inaudible]
The President. Yes, you're right. [Laughter] We are becoming an
ownership society when it comes to stock ownership. Thousands of people
own their own--they own equities directly. But thousands as well own
equities through their pension plans. If you're a teacher, you own
equities. If you're a policeman, you own equities. A lot of people in
this country own equities. And therefore, the more the plan focus--or
any plan focuses on helping the market, the more we're helping our
average citizens realize wealth.
And that's what we want. We want our citizens to be wealthier, not
poorer. Any plan has got to say, how do we help our citizens have more
wealth in their pockets?
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It doesn't make any sense, in a country that is trying to attract
capital to increase the job base, to have a shareholder receive about 40
cents on every dollar of profit on his or her investment. That doesn't
make any sense. That provides a disincentive from people investing. And
we need investment. I've told you the effect of capital investment in
our society. The easier it is for companies to attract capital, the more
likely it is somebody is going to be able to find work.
I want to talk about two other aspects of the dividend plan. Thirty-
one thousand seniors here in New Mexico rely upon dividends to meet
their financial needs. We get rid of the double taxation of dividends,
that means 31,000 seniors in this good State are to have more money in
their pocket. And that's good public policy, it seems like to me.
The other thing that's important to know is we just went through a
period of time in American corporate history where folks said, ``Would
you invest in my company because, you know, the sky is the limit. I may
not have any cashflow, but I've got a heck of a good tale.'' [Laughter]
``Nobody seems to be buying my product, but I've got a good story. After
all, we're in a new economy.'' The problem is the new economy was fine,
but old accounting practices still mattered. And when you ran out of
cash, you're broke.
Well, in a dividend society, in a dividend-paying society, the pie-
in-the-sky pronouncements no longer hold water. Because if your
competitor is paying a dividend, you can only pay dividends when you
make cash, when you generate enough cash to send to the owners. A good
corporate reform would be to have a dividend-paying society, so that the
investors, shareholders, small and large alike, will know whether the
company is real or not, on whether they get that check every month or
every quarter, whether that dividend is coming in.
Dividend--getting rid of the double taxation of dividends will
encourage more companies to pay dividends, will encourage more
ownership, will help ease the cost of capital, and will serve as good
and positive corporate reform in America. Congress needs to get rid of
the double taxation of dividends.
So this is the plan. And we're making progress. I want to thank the
House of Representatives for passing a plan to the tune of $550 billion.
And as the Senate debates this plan, they've got to remember what drives
this economy. The small-business owner drives this economy. Investment
drives this economy. And as the Senate talks about this plan, I hope
they hear the voices of those looking for work. The more robust the
plan, the more likely it is somebody is going to find a job here in
America.
Now, you're going to hear a lot of talk about the deficit as an
excuse not to cut taxes. And I am concerned about the deficit. But let
me explain to you why we have a deficit. We have got a deficit because
this economy went into a recession, which means less revenues were
coming into our Treasury. The country slowed down, and as a result,
there was less taxes coming into Washington, DC.
We have got a recession because we went to war, and I told the
American people, ``If we're going to commit our troops into harm's way,
we're going to spend whatever money is necessary to make sure we win.''
Yes, we've got a deficit, but we can deal with that two ways. One is to
make sure Congress does not overspend. And I want to thank
Pete and Heather
and Steve for joining with me on a budget which
restricts discretionary spending to 4 percent. In other words--and I
will continue to do my part, I assure you, to make sure Congress does
not overspend on the expense side.
I fully recognize that some people up there, when they hear--have
the word ``appropriator'' by their name, appropriate. [Laughter] My job
is to encourage them
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to appropriate but in a wise way, and I will continue to do so. But if
we hold down spending, the way to deal with the deficit is to encourage
revenue growth in the Treasury, and the way to deal with--encourage
revenue growth is to stimulate this economy. The best way to deal with
the recession is to have an economic growth plan that will cause
economic vitality.
Yes, I'm worried about the deficit. I'm worried about the deficit,
but I'm more worried about the fellow looking for work. I'm worried
about the deficit, but I'm more worried about the single mom who's
worried about putting food on the table for her children, so she could
find work. And that's where the focus of this administration is going to
be.
There's no doubt in my mind this Nation will rise to the challenges
which we face. There's absolutely no doubt in my mind that the world is
going to be more peaceful because of the actions taken by the United
States of America and our friends. There are no doubt in my mind this
Nation is going to be more secure because of the resolve and will of the
American people.
And there is no doubt in my mind with the right policy out of
Washington, DC, that the entrepreneurial spirit of this country is going
to remain strong, the productivity of our workers is going to be high,
and this economy is going to come back so our fellow citizens can find
work. And there's no doubt in my mind I feel that way, because I'm a
fortunate man. I'm the President of the greatest nation on the face of
the Earth.
Thank you all for coming. God bless, and God bless America.
Note: The President spoke at 9:35 a.m. in the president's office at MCT
Industries. In his remarks, he referred to Gov. Bill Richardson of New
Mexico; Ted R. Martinez, president, MCT Industries, and his daughter
Claudine, who introduced the President; former President Saddam Hussein
of Iraq; and Phil T. Archuletta, chief executive officer, P&M Signs, and
his sister, Mabel.