[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2003, Book II)]
[July 24, 2003]
[Pages 919-925]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks in Livonia, Michigan
July 24, 2003

    Thank you for the warm welcome. Thanks for letting me come by to say 
hello. First, let me just say I appreciate the hard-working folks here 
at Beaver Aerospace for making sure that Air Force One functions 
properly. [Laughter] Otherwise, it might have been a long flight. 
[Laughter] I appreciate what you do for America's defense. I appreciate 
your hard work. I appreciate your talent. I appreciate you helping make 
this country strong.
    I want to thank Bill Phillips and 
his family for inviting me. You know, one of the great things about 
America is the entrepreneurial spirit of our country, and Mr. Phillips 
is an entrepreneur. And one of the things we've got to do in America is 
keep that entrepreneurial spirit alive and well. And Mr. Phillips knows 
what I know: You can be an entrepreneur, but without good workers, good, 
dedicated, hard-working people willing to run the machines and show up 
on time and work hard, the entrepreneurial spirit is kind of empty. And 
so, first of all, I want to not only thank the Phillips folks, I want to 
thank the people who work here in this facility. Thanks for making 
America go.
    And I am interested in making sure every one of our fellow citizens 
who wants to work can find a job, and that's what I want to talk about 
today. I want to talk about how to make sure this economy is strong and 
vibrant so our citizens can work and families can be hopeful for the 
future.
    First, I want to thank the Secretary of Commerce, Don Evans, my long-time friend. I appreciate his service. He's 
part of my economic team that is staying focused on economic vitality 
and growth.
    I appreciate so very much Jack Kirksey. 
He's the mayor here. Mr. Mayor, you've got a tougher job than I do. 
[Laughter] You've got to empty the garbage and fill the potholes. 
[Laughter]
    I appreciate the State attorney general, Mike Cox, for joining us today. He's right

[[Page 920]]

here from Livonia. I want to thank members of the legislative body, 
Senator Laura Toy and John Pastor, who have joined us today. I want to thank the chief of 
police, who's with us. I want to thank the 
president of the city council that's with us. I 
want to thank you all for coming. We've got quite a distinguished group.
    I want to share the name of one person you've probably never heard 
of. It's a fellow I just met when I landed at the airport, and his name 
is Walter Piper. Walter is right there. Walter 
has been an active member of what they call SCORE, which is Service 
Corps of Retired Executives. That should tell you two things or three 
things about Walter: One, he is retired--[laughter]--two, he was an 
executive, and three, he is in service. And what he has done is he's 
decided to provide counsel and advice to people who want to start their 
own small business. He is volunteering his time to try to make the 
community in which he lives a better place.
    The reason I bring that up is there's a lot made about how strong we 
are militarily. And we are strong militarily, and we will remain strong 
militarily. But the true strength of America is found in the hearts and 
souls of our fellow citizens. The true strength of our country is found 
in those hearts and souls that have heard the universal call to love a 
neighbor just like you'd like to be loved yourself. No, the strength of 
our country is the compassion of our fellow citizens, people like Walter 
who are willing to dedicate their time and talents to make somebody 
else's life better.
    My call to you is when you see a neighbor in need, when you see 
somebody who's hurt, don't turn your back but love them just like you'd 
like to be loved yourself.
    This country of ours has faced many challenges over the last couple 
of years, and I believe those challenges have brought out the best in 
America. Terrorists declared war on us. On September the 11th, a date we 
will not forget, people who hated our country, hate it for what we stand 
for, hated the fact that we love freedom, declared war on the United 
States of America, and war is what they got. We are hunting down the 
killers one at a time. We are slowly but surely dismantling the Al Qaida 
network, and we will continue to find them and to bring them to justice. 
We owe that to this generation of Americans and future generations to 
come.
    In Afghanistan, a cruel regime, a brutal regime, had turned that 
country into a training camp for terrorists. I declared as clearly as I 
could, ``If you harbor a terrorist, you're just as guilty as the 
terrorists.'' So we removed the Taliban from power and freed people from 
the clutches of a barbaric regime.
    In Iraq, a brutal dictator was arming to 
threaten the peace. This brutal dictator defied the demands of the free 
world. For years, he thumbed his nose at the United Nations Security 
Council, time and time again. We gave him plenty of time to disclose and 
disarm. He chose defiance, and the regime of Saddam Hussein is no more.
    Our brave troops still face danger in Iraq because there are people 
there who hate the thought of a free society. They can't stand freedom, 
and they're dangerous. But we're finding these terrorists as well, and 
we're bringing them to justice. As you know, earlier this week, two of 
the favorite henchmen of Saddam 
Hussein were brought to justice. They were 
discovered, and their violent careers ended in justice. These two sons 
of Saddam Hussein were responsible for hundreds and hundreds of people 
being tortured and maimed and murdered. And now the Iraqi people have 
seen clearly the intent of the United States to make sure that they are 
free and to make sure that the Saddam regime never returns again to 
Iraq.
    Our brave men and women serving to free--make sure Iraq is free are 
serving as well in the war on terror. A free and democratic and peaceful 
Iraq will not threaten America and our friends with illegal weapons. A 
free Iraq will not provide

[[Page 921]]

harbor and money to terrorist organizations which would like to hurt 
America. A free Iraq will not destabilize the Middle East. A free Iraq 
can set a hopeful example for the entire region. And as the pursuits of 
freedom replace hatred and resentment and terror in the Middle East, the 
American people will be more secure, and the world will be more 
peaceful. We owe a significant debt of gratitude to the men and women 
who wear the uniform of the United States of America.
    Our Nation has responded to challenges here at home as well. Think 
about what we've been through. As I was showing up into office, the 
stock market had been falling for nearly a year, and the country was 
headed into recession. And then after the recession came the attacks of 
September the 11th, a significant attack on our homeland. It caused the 
economy to sputter. It significantly affected our capacity to generate 
jobs.
    And then we found out that some of our fellow citizens forgot what 
it means to assume responsibility. They didn't tell the truth. Corporate 
CEOs around this country didn't tell the truth to their shareholders and 
their employees, and that shook the confidence of America. And then, of 
course, the drumbeat of war shook the--began to affect the ability for 
this economy to grow strong.
    We've overcome a lot because we acted. First and foremost, in 2001, 
I worked with Congress to pass tax relief, and history will show that 
the recession we're in is one of the shallowest recessions our country 
has had. We passed tough laws that say to a corporate criminal, if you 
lie, cheat, or steal, you will be held to account.
    Last year, when it looked like the economy was still sputtering and 
wasn't strong enough, when we realized too many Americans were still 
struggling to find work and too many families were having trouble 
meeting their monthly bills or saving for their child's education, we 
acted again, and I convinced the Congress to pass the Jobs and Growth 
Act.
    And that's a significant development in terms of economic vitality, 
because the more money people have in their pockets, the more they will 
demand a good or a service. And when somebody demands a good or a 
service, in this economy of ours, somebody will produce a good or a 
service. And when somebody produces that good or a service, it means 
somebody is more likely to find work.
    The jobs-and-growth plan came at the exact right time in our 
history. Part of that jobs-and-growth plan is to increase the child 
credit from $600 to $1,000 per child. But I thought it was necessary to 
act quickly, so I asked Congress to make it retroactive to January 1st 
of this year, and they agreed.
    Today I went to Philadelphia. I saw firsthand the checks that are 
being printed, that are fixing to be sent to the people who have got 
children who qualify for the child credit. That is, $13 billion is going 
out the door to be in the pockets of our fellow citizens; $13 billion 
for more money for people to save or to spend but to do with it which 
you want to do with it. After all, we're talking about your money, not 
the Government's money.
    Part of the Jobs and Growth Act continue to bring down the marriage 
penalty. Seems like to me that the Tax Code ought to encourage marriage, 
not discourage marriage. I don't know why you want to penalize marriage. 
But part of the Jobs and Growth Act also reduced the overall tax rates 
people pay. It cut the individual tax rates across the board. You're 
going to have more money in your pocket. That's what we want. That's 
part of the economic jobs-and-growth plan.
    The interesting thing about reducing taxes as well, it helped a lot 
of small businesses. And the cornerstone of any good jobs plan is to 
encourage small-business growth. A lot of small businesses pay tax

[[Page 922]]

at the individual tax rate. They're Subchapter S's, or they're what they 
call sole proprietorships. And so when you hear us talking about rate 
reduction, I also want you to think about your neighbor who is a small-
business owner. And their taxes are going down, and that will have a 
positive effect on economic vitality and growth.
    We also changed the policy on taxes on dividends and capital gains. 
And let me talk about what that means. It means many companies have now 
decided to pay a dividend to the people who own the company, the 
thousands of shareholders all across our country. Many others have 
increased their dividend. And as a result, there are billions of dollars 
of cash now going into the economy, to the people, to the shareholders, 
large and small, and that will encourage savings and investment and 
spending.
    Now, let me talk about the jobs act in terms of small business. Not 
only will it affect small businesses by reducing the income taxes on 
small businesses, we allowed small businesses to deduct more money up 
front when they buy new equipment. And that's important. We want people 
to buy more equipment. You know why? Because somebody has got to make 
the equipment. When there's an incentive for small businesses across the 
country to buy a new piece of machinery to make their business more 
productive, it means somebody has got to make that machine. And when 
somebody makes that machine, it means somebody is going to be working, 
making the machine.
    Here at Beaver, you're going to save about $70,000 on taxes, and 
that means more money that goes into research to develop new products. 
And that's important. If I were a worker here, I'd want to be on the 
cutting edge of new products. I'd want the people who run this company 
being--thinking about how best can I use my talent and my skills to 
build a new product to stay competitive. As Bill Phillips said, ``It gives us the money to do some 
research.''
    But he also said, ``It gives us some 
money to build new products.'' He's already hired 14 workers this year. 
He says to me, the tax relief will enable him to hire 10 more workers. 
That's 10 more people working. There are small businesses--see, we're 
not talking about just this company here. There are companies all across 
the country like this company. And if you have 10 hired here and 10 
hired there and 10 hired over there, and all of a sudden those 10 start 
adding up and our fellow citizens are getting back to work. And that's 
what we're here to talk about, how to get Americans back to work.
    Mike Gendich is here with us. I had a 
chance to visit with Mike. He owns a company called Metalmite. He makes 
parts for Beaver Aerospace. He had a backlog of orders of only 2\1/2\ 
weeks over the past 3 years. His orders are picking up. That's a good 
sign. See, when the small-business guy's orders begin to pick up, he 
begins to get a little confidence, a little bounce in his step. And the 
backlog is now 2\1/2\ months. He's added three workers in the last 2 
months. And now, with $22,000 of tax relief, he's decided he can afford 
a vertical milling machine to keep those three workers busy, to make 
sure they're more productive.
    But somebody has got to build that vertical milling machine. And so 
there's some person out there whose job is more secure, or perhaps a new 
job, thanks to the fact that Mike is taking 
advantage of the tax relief. And that's what's important for our fellow 
citizens to know. There's a ripple effect throughout our economy. And as 
people make decisions, whether you're a consumer or whether you're a 
small-business owner trying to buy a machine, it affects economic 
vitality and growth. It affects more than just one life. And that's the 
whole purpose of the tax plan, was to have a ripple effect throughout 
the economy that's positive and far-reaching.
    Nevin Groce is with us. He's from Grand 
Rapids. He owns L&G Industrial Products.

[[Page 923]]

He said times are a little slow. But all of a sudden, he's beginning to 
see action being taken, and he sees a better future for his company. 
He's going to save $20,000 under the 2003 tax relief act.
    He says that what he's thinking about doing 
is buying a large industrial saw. In other words, here's a guy whose 
business isn't quite the way he wants it to be, but he's getting 
optimistic because he's got a little more money in his pocket--more than 
a little money, $20,000, which is a lot of money for a small business. 
And so he's thinking positively. He's thinking about making new 
investments.
    Dennis Orlewicz is here. He's a small-
business owner, Magnum Manufacturing. He's an S corp. That means he pays 
taxes at the individual income tax rate. We've reduced the taxes on his 
business by $3,500. It will save him $8,000--individually and then 
$8,000 in his business, excuse me. He's thinking about buying a $250,000 
machine. His quote is, ``Tax relief makes investment more enticing.''
    Here's what I'm telling you. We've got to focus on small businesses, 
first and foremost. Most new jobs in America are created by 
entrepreneurs and small-business people. The plan I'm describing to you 
creates incentive for people to make investments to make their small 
business more competitive, to make their workers more productive. And 
when they make investment, it helps somebody else who has to make the 
machine in the first place. The jobs-and-growth bill is important for 
economic vitality in America.
    I want to make sure the jobs-and-growth bill extend to all our 
citizens. The child credit must be given to low-income Americans as 
well. They passed a bill in the Senate. They passed a bill in the House. 
They need to get the differences resolved and to my desk. I want the 
benefits of tax relief all across the spectrum of our society. 
Economists were saying this economy is picking up. They're feeling 
positive about America and its economic future. They know what I know: 
We've been through a lot, and we're strong.
    Interest rates are down. That makes it easier for a person to buy 
their house. If you got your house and interest rates are down, it means 
it makes it profitable to refinance your house, put a little extra money 
in your pocket. Inflation is low, which is positive. Productivity is up. 
No, signs after sign after sign says we're poised for growth so people 
can find work.
    But there is more to do. I want to share some other thoughts with 
you. First, we need an energy policy in America. We need a policy that 
recognizes we can do a better job of conservation, that we can do a 
better job of developing technologies that will enable us to develop 
energy sources in a cleaner way. But I'm worried about natural gas. See, 
the demand for natural gas is going up but the supply isn't, which means 
it's going to start affecting people's pocketbooks. We've got to do 
something about that. We need an energy plan. We need to be less 
dependent on foreign sources of energy. The House passed a bill; the 
Senate--is stuck in the Senate. They need to get moving and get a bill 
to my desk.
    We need to make sure that we have--diminish the number of frivolous 
lawsuits in our society--pushing hard for class-action reform. The House 
passed a bill. The Senate has got to act. It's junk lawsuits that are 
affecting the cost of your health care. Listen, if you got hurt by a bad 
doc, you've got to have your day in court. But what we don't need is 
lawyers fishing for a rich settlement all across the country, which 
means you're either driving up the cost of health care or you're driving 
the docs out of business. One of the things we ought to make sure in 
America is health care is affordable and accessible.
    When you're good at something, you ought to make the environment 
such that you can move product. If you're good at manufacturing, you 
want to sell it all around the world. If you're good at growing crops, 
we want to be able to sell our crops

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around the world. If you're good at growing cows, we ought to be selling 
our cows around the world. One way to make sure that we can increase 
jobs is to get some of these countries to open up their markets to 
United States' products. We're competitive. We've got the best workers 
in the world.
    Well, these are some of the things we can do to make sure this 
economy grows. I'm interested in helping people find work. I want it so 
that everybody in America who wants to work and can't find a job today 
can work. I also know that we've got to help people who are trying to 
find work. Sometimes technology races ahead of the workforce. Sometimes 
people can't find work, even though they want to.
    So what I proposed to the Congress is they create what they call 
unemployment accounts for people that are seeking jobs that are hard to 
find a job. This basically says that you get $3,000 to help yourself 
find a--to help find a job. If you need--and you can use the money the 
way you see fit. For example, if you need child care, it will help you 
pay for the child care or if you need extra job training or if you need 
to move to a community in which there's a job. And part of the incentive 
in there is that if you can find a job within 13 months, you get to keep 
the balance of the money from what you've spent to help yourself find a 
job and the $3,000 as a reemployment bonus. We've got to help our 
workers be ready to work and find work.
    Now, I know you've heard talk about the deficit in Washington, DC. 
Yes, we've got a deficit. We've got a deficit for a couple of reasons. 
The main reason is, is that when you're in a recession, less money is 
coming into the Treasury. When the economy slows down, there's less tax 
revenue coming into the U.S. Treasury, and we've been going through slow 
economic times.
    Another reason we've got a deficit, because I asked Congress to 
spend enough money to make sure our troops had the best equipment 
necessary to fight and win war. Any time this Nation puts one of our 
youngsters into harm's way, we'd better--and we will--make sure they get 
the best training, the best equipment, the best possible support.
    And so we got a deficit. But I've got a plan to cut the deficit in 
half over the next 5 years. It starts with making sure this economy 
grows. First thing you want to do in trimming the deficit is to make 
sure you get more revenues into the Treasury. The best way to get more 
revenues in the Treasury is not raise taxes, slowing down the economy; 
it's cut taxes to create more economic growth. That's how you get more 
money into the U.S. Treasury.
    And the other way is you make sure Washington doesn't overspend, 
that there be fiscal discipline. I got the Congress to support a 4-
percent increase in discretionary spending. That's about the size of the 
average household budget will increase this year. If it's good enough 
for the households in America, it ought to be good enough for the House 
of Representatives. They agreed to the budget of a 4-percent increase in 
discretionary spending, and now we intend to make them--hold them to 
their word. There's going to be budget discipline in Washington. That's 
how you deal with the deficit.
    The main--my main focus is making sure our citizens can find a job, 
and I believe it's going to happen. See, I believe in the future of the 
country in all aspects because I know the character of our people. This 
country has been through emergencies and scandals and war and recession, 
and we have responded. We're a strong country because we're full of 
strong people. We've got people of character. We've got determined 
people. We've got people who understand values. We've got people who 
understand service to something greater than yourself. This is a 
fabulous land, and I am so honored to be the President of the greatest 
country on the face of the Earth.

[[Page 925]]

    Thank you for coming. Thank you for giving me a chance. May God 
bless. Thank you all.

Note: The President spoke at 3:29 p.m. at Beaver Aerospace and Defense, 
Inc. In his remarks, he referred to William T. Phillips, chairman, 
Phillips Service Industries, Inc.; State Attorney General Mike Cox, 
State Senator Laura M. Toy, and State Representative John Pastor of 
Michigan; Mayor Jack E. Kirksey, Chief of Police Peter Kunst, and City 
Council President Jack Engebretson of Livonia, MI; and Uday and Qusay 
Hussein, sons of former President Saddam Hussein of Iraq, who were 
killed July 22 by U.S. military forces in Mosul, Iraq.