    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2004, Book I)]
    [March 11, 2004]
    [Pages 357-367]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks in a Discussion on the National Economy in Bay Shore, New York
    March 11, 2004

        The President. Thanks for having me.
        Vincent Trapani.  Any time, any time.
    You can make the call; we're here.
        The President. I've been looking for some auto parts.
        Mr. Trapani. I can hook you up real
    easy.
        The President. That's good, yes.
        Mr. Trapani. I know a guy. [Laughter]
        The President. You know a guy? Here's what we're--we're here to talk
    about how the economy works and how people can find work. We've got some
    challenges to face. And Vince, I want to
    thank you for giving me the chance to come and visit with people
    involved in this community. We've got some entrepreneurs, and we've got
    some hard workers, and we've got some educators and people helping
    people get education. And that's what we're going to talk about.
        First, I want to thank you, Vince, and
    your family for greeting me. Nothing like being in the presence of an
    entrepreneur, somebody who dreams big dreams, works hard, and ends up
    employing good, hard-working people to provide a product somebody wants
    to buy.
        Mr. Trapani. That's the American Dream.
        The President. That is the American Dream. I said, ``Did you buy
    this company?'' He said, ``No, I started it
    on a shoestring.'' And it's one of the most fantastic aspects about our
    society, and frankly, it's the entrepreneurial spirit that we're
    heralding today that is enabling us to overcome a lot of obstacles.
        Before I talk about the obstacles, I do want to say thanks to my
    friend Governor George Pataki, the great
    Governor of this State. He's a great buddy of mine, and he and
    Libby are great friends of Laura and me as well. And he's doing a good job. He's a
    solid, solid, smart, capable public servant.
        I also flew down on the airplane today with two fine Members of the
    United States Congress--Peter King, from this
    part of the world. Peter, thank you for coming. If he looks different,
    he just had some cataract surgery so he doesn't wear his glasses
    anymore. I said, ``You're looking more beautiful than ever,
    Congressman.'' [Laughter] And I appreciate my friend Vito
    Fossella is with us today. Where are you,
    Vito? Glad you're here. These are two strong leaders. They care deeply
    about the citizens of the communities which they represent. They were
    talking New York the entire way from Washington, DC, to here, and I
    appreciate calling them friends.
        I'm also proud that Jim Garner, the
    mayor of Hempstead--thank you for coming, big Jim. Jim, he's the
    president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors. That's a big deal. And I
    want to thank you for working with the administration on urban policy.
        I appreciate very much all the local and State officials who are
    here. I know there's

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    a lot of members of the statehouse and the senate and the local
    governments. I appreciate you coming out to say hello. It's an honor
    that you would show up and say hi to the President.
        I'm also very proud of the fact that John DiGiano is here. Where are you, John? He's a buddy of mine.
    There you are. Hi, John. Is Mama with you--is your wife with you? There
    she is, oh, yes. John is just a good buddy. I had to say hello to him.
    He's a friend. He's one of the great Americans, and he's the dad of a
    great American family. And I'm proud you came, John. Thank you all for
    being here.
        Today at the airport, I met Rich McKeon.
    You probably never heard of Rich. Rich is a volunteer. He's a mentor.
    He's involved with Operation Hope, teaches youngsters about the--
    financial math, about how the economy works. He's been a member of Big
    Brothers and Big Sisters. The reason I bring up Rich is because a lot of
    times we talk about the strength of our country. One of the strengths,
    of course, is our military, and by the way, I'm going to keep it strong.
    Another strength is the fact that we've got--that we're a wealthy nation
    compared to others, and we intend to keep it that way. But the true
    strength is the hearts and souls of our citizens. That's really the
    strength of America.
        The strength of this country--you know, we can change the country
    one heart at a time when somebody takes time out of their lives to love
    a neighbor like you'd like to be loved yourself. And that happens. That
    happens in every neighborhood in America. It happens whether Government
    says, ``Do it,'' or not. People follow their heart because they hear a
    higher calling.
        Here's old Rich. He's working to make a
    living, and yet he's taking time out of his life to surround a child
    with love and to give a child a little extra knowledge. Where are you,
    Rich? Thank you for coming. I appreciate your service.
        My call is if you want to serve your country like Rich is, find a
    way to help somebody in need. Many of you probably are, and if you are,
    thanks a lot from the bottom of this Nation's collective heart.
        Listen, we've overcome a lot. See, I'm sitting here next to
    Vince, and he's optimistic about the future.
    He just told me he was. And I don't think you were faking----
        Mr. Trapani. There's no question about
    that.
        The President. See----
        Mr. Trapani. We live in a great country.
        The President. Well, that too. And--but I want you to remember what
    we've been through, just to keep this conversation in perspective, about
    why we should be optimistic about what this--the future of this country.
        First of all, we went through a recession. That means things were
    going backwards. The stock market started to decline--that affects
    people who had savings--in March of 2000. And then we had negative
    growth. And during negative growth, people who work for a living begin
    to wonder whether or not there's going to be a job. That's what that
    means. There's uncertainty. Business leaders and planners wonder whether
    or not the markets are going to be available for them to sell a product.
        And we started to recover, and then the enemy hit us. And you know
    what it meant to have the enemy hit us, particularly in neighborhoods
    like these. John knows what it meant to have
    the enemy hit us. It was a devastating blow. It was a blow to our
    psychology. It was a blow to our economy.
        By the way, this Nation rallied. It rallied, in large part, thanks
    to the citizens of the great State of New York, because they refused to
    be intimidated by terrorists and killers. It rallied because of the
    courage of the firefighters and police officers that people all around
    the country got to know via their television set. That's--it rallied.
    We're a strong nation.

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        And yet, that attack hurt us. It hurt us economically. They say over
    a million jobs were lost because of that attack. And then we started to
    recover, because we're a strong nation full of strong people. And then
    we found out some of the corporate citizens of America forgot what it
    meant to be a responsible citizen. In other words, they didn't tell the
    truth. They didn't tell the truth to their shareholders. They didn't
    tell the truth to their employees. But we passed tough laws. And by the
    way, that hurt the economy. If you can't have trust in the business
    leaders of an economy, the economy will suffer. It hurt. And so we
    passed tough laws. And so we're running them--these people are being
    held to account, let me put it to you that way. Justice is being
    delivered. We will not tolerate dishonesty in the boardrooms of America.
        And then I made a tough but necessary decision. The lesson of
    September 11th is this: We must deal with threats before they fully
    materialize. If you think there's a threat, you must deal with it early,
    before it is too late. That's the lesson of September the 11th. It's a
    lesson people must never forget.
        I looked at the intelligence in Iraq and saw a threat. The United
    States Congress looked at the same intelligence; they saw a threat. The
    United Nations Security Council, right up the road there, looked at the
    intelligence, and it saw a threat. And so I went to the U.N. and said,
    ``Look, let's deal with the man. He needs to
    reveal, disclose, and destroy weapons programs. That's what he needs to
    do.'' The world spoke, not just the United States of America. We spoke.
    He chose defiance. I had a choice to make at that point in time: Either
    trust the word of somebody who had deceived the world and had used
    weapons of mass destruction on his own people, or defend America. And
    given that choice, I will defend our country every time.
        The march to war hurt the economy. Laura
    reminded me a while ago that--she said, ``Remember what was on the TV
    screens''--she calls me George W.--``George W.'' I call her First Lady.
    No, anyway--[laughter]. She said, ``We said `March to War' on our TV
    screens.'' It's hard to run a business if you're marching to war. It's
    not conducive to capital investment. Marching to war is a negative
    thought, and if you're in the business world and you're trying to hire
    people or you're looking for work, it's not a conducive time to do so.
    Now we're marching to peace. We took the tough decision, but now we're
    marching to peace. We've overcome a lot, and our economy is growing.
        We've got robust growth in the last half of 2003. Inflation is low.
    Interest rates are low. Manufacturing activity is up. Homeownership is
    at the highest rate ever. Unemployment rate is at 5.6 percent. There's
    still more to do; don't get me wrong. There's still people looking for
    work. There's still people worried about the job they now hold. And I'm
    going to talk a little bit about that before we get to some of our
    participants.
        But let me remind you why I think we were able to overcome all we
    did. One, the entrepreneurial spirit is strong in America, and we intend
    to keep it that way. Two, the workers of America are the best in the
    world, the most productive, best, hardest working people on the face of
    the Earth. And three, we cut the taxes. If a family has more money to
    spend, it means they're going to demand an additional good or a service.
    And when they do, somebody is going to produce the good or a service.
    And when somebody produces it, somebody is going to work. That's what
    that means. When somebody goes and buys a car because of the extra money
    they've got in their pocket, they just might be buying a part for that
    car right from this shop right here. At least Vince wants them to.
        Mr. Trapani. That's okay by me.
        The President. And if they buy a part for the car manufactured here,
    it means

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    that this workforce is more stable. That's what that means. Tax relief
    worked.
        And you hear a lot of talk in Washington about tax relief and taxing
    the rich and all that business. Let me tell you something. First, good
    policy says you cut the taxes on everybody who pays taxes, not try to
    pick and choose. Secondly, we increased the child credit to $1,000 per
    child to help families, and you're going to hear about some families who
    have been helped by this. The other thing we did is we reduced the
    marriage penalty. I mean, it doesn't seem to make much sense to penalize
    marriage when you're trying to encourage marriage in our society, yet
    the Tax Code did. And we made that better.
        But you know what else we did--and this is important for people to
    understand when you hear this talk about the Tax Code. When you cut the
    taxes on individuals, you really reduce the taxes on small businesses as
    well, because most small businesses are sole proprietorships and
    Subchapter S corporations. And you see, when you cut the taxes on a
    small business, it gives that small-business owner more money to invest.
    And when that person invests, it means somebody is more likely to keep a
    job. Make no mistake about this: That tax cut was good for the small
    businesses of the United States of America, and that's one of the
    reasons why this economy is so strong.
        A couple of other things, if you don't mind.
        Mr. Trapani. Any time. [Laughter]
        The President. Thank you, sir.
        I told you there's more work to do. Let me tell you some of the
    things that we need to do. These tax cuts expire, which means taxes are
    going up on people. That's what that means. When you hear, ``We're going
    to repeal the tax cuts,'' that's Washington, DC, code for ``I'm fixing
    to raise your taxes.'' That's what that means. It doesn't make any sense
    to raise taxes on people who are beginning to employ people. If you're a
    small business, we shouldn't be raising the taxes on the small-business
    owners. We shouldn't be raising taxes on the hard-working families. It
    makes no sense to take money out of the pockets of the people that are
    driving this economy forward, and so we need to make the tax cuts
    permanent. Congress needs to listen to the voices of the people.
        There's too many junk lawsuits in our society. We need tort reform
    in order for people to be--expand their businesses. You hear talk about
    outsourcing; I'm as concerned about outsourcing as the next person. But
    the way to deal with outsourcing is to make America a better place to do
    business, not a worse place. Raising taxes will make it harder to create
    jobs. Lawsuits make it harder to create jobs. We need an energy policy
    so people can plan their businesses around a solid supply of energy. We
    need to be less dependent on foreign sources of energy if we want to
    make sure jobs stay here.
        You know how else you make sure that jobs stay home, is you have a
    health care policy that's reasonable and the prices are--and we do
    something about the high cost of health care for employees and
    employers. There's three things, the practical things we can do: one,
    associated health care plans to allow small businesses to pool risk in
    order to be able to have affordable health care for their employees;
    health savings accounts, which will help employees and employers better
    afford health care; and national medical liability reform to stop the
    junk lawsuits which are running up the cost of health care for these
    businesses.
        One other thing we need to make sure of, we need to make sure we
    don't become isolated from the world. It's what I call economic
    isolationism. It's beginning to creep into the dialog. People are
    saying, ``Well, we'll stop jobs from going overseas by making sure we
    put up walls and barriers between the United States and the rest of the
    world.'' That's lousy policy. You're about to hear a businessowner that
    relies upon exports. People work for him

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    because he's able to export. One in five factory jobs in America exist
    because they're selling products somewhere else. Six million people in
    this country work as a result of somebody saying, ``This workforce of
    ours is so good, I'm going to build a plant''--like Honda right outside
    of Cleveland, Ohio, for example. Consumer prices will go up if we wall
    ourselves from the rest of the world. Economic isolationism is bad
    economic policy, and it will cost people jobs. It will make it harder
    for you to keep your work.
        So what I want to do is, I want to take a different tack. You see,
    our markets are pretty open for other people. And what we're going to do
    is tell other people, ``If our markets are open for you, you open yours
    for us.'' You see, we want to have trade, but trade that is fair.
    Level--we want a level playing field. We can outcompete with anybody.
    See, pessimistic people say, ``America can't compete.'' An optimistic
    person says, ``We can compete with anybody, just let's make sure the
    rules are fair and the playing field is level.''
        No, this plan of ours is a plan that says we're not going to have
    outsourcing because we want to make sure we've got better jobs right
    here at home--better, high-paying, high-quality jobs. And the way to do
    that is have an optimistic, progrowth economic policy. And that's what I
    intend to put forth to the United States Congress.
        You ready to go? I've been talking too much. And if there appears to
    be a lot of hot air in here, it's probably because of me. [Laughter]
        Robert Silverstein is with us today.
    Let me just say, Robert does not make a living by talking too much, like
    I do. Robert is an entrepreneur. He's got a very interesting little
    business. And Robert, do you mind telling us what you do?

    [At this point, Robert Silverstein, president, Orelube Corp., made brief
    remarks.]

        The President. Yes. Let me ask you, how many employees have you got?
        Mr. Silverstein. We've got 13
    employees right now.
        The President. So first of all, we're talking to a small-business
    owner. You know how many businesses like Robert's are around the
    country? We're talking thousands and thousands and thousands of people
    who employ 20 people or less. It's really the backbone of the economy,
    when you think about it, isn't it? Small businesses, vibrant small
    businesses all over.
        Did you hire anybody recently?
        Mr. Silverstein. We just hired
    somebody this past November, and we just hired somebody this past
    February. That's two in the last 4 months, 5 months. And we plan this
    year to hire--a technology hire to boost the technology base of our
    company so we could expand our sales even further as well into these new
    countries that we're selling to now, as well as new countries.
        The President. So he's gone from,
    like, 12 to 15. I heard the other day somebody kind of belittling that,
    that--oh, they were talking about a small business that only increased
    their employees by two or three people. You see, a country is vibrant
    when you've got small businesses who are optimistic and excited and are
    willing to take on additional employees. It's not the three--just three
    employees of Robert. There are thousands of Roberts who are hiring
    people. Most new jobs in America are created by small-business owners.
    And good Government policy, good tax policy rewards entrepreneurs like
    Robert.
        So, Robert, I want to thank you for
    coming. I want to thank you for employing people. I want to tell you
    something: If we fall prey to economic isolationism, the jobs that he
    now has in his company are going to be vulnerable. If he can't export,
    if there's trade wars, if people throw up barriers, his people won't be
    working. We need to be confident in this country. We need to say, ``If
    you're going to accept--if we're going to accept your product, you

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    make sure you accept ours.'' We can compete with anybody. Robert's
    showing you he can do that.
        And I want to thank you for being a good business leader,
    Robert, and thanks for coming.
        All right, Vince. I met your dad. Yes,
    I've got a good one too--and mother, by the way. Are you still telling him what to do?
    Yes. Bar is still telling me what to do too. [Laughter]
        Listen, so Vince started his own
    business. By the way, Robert's
    grandfather started his. It's pretty neat, isn't it, to be talking to
    the grandson of an entrepreneur who had enough faith to leave it to the
    dad, and the dad passed it on to Robert.
        One of the problems we have, in order for families to leave
    businesses, is the death tax. The death tax is a bad tax. The death tax
    means we're going to tax a person's assets twice, once when they're
    living and the second time after they're not. And it is a bad tax. It
    makes it hard for entrepreneurs to build up their companies and leave
    their assets to whom they want to leave them to. The Congress started
    passing that--getting rid of the death tax, and we just got--one of the
    reasons why we need to make the tax cuts permanent is so the death tax
    is gone, so dreamers can leave their assets to whomever they want.
        Mr. Trapani. Fine by me.
        The President. Yes, I'm ready. Tell us about how you started. I
    mean, here you are, a good-looking guy, wondering what you're going to
    do with yourself.

    [Mr. Trapani, president, U.S.A. Industries, Inc., made brief remarks.]

        The President. First of all, you're getting it a little backwards.
    Government doesn't create wealth. All Government does is create an
    environment for you who has got a good idea and willing to work to
    succeed. That's the difference between different visions of Government.
        Okay, he's a Subchapter S corporation,
    which means he pays tax at the individual income-tax rate. And so when
    you hear him talking tax for the rich, here he is. He's a small-business
    owner. They're trying to run his taxes up as a businessowner. It doesn't
    make any sense to be raising taxes on small businesses.
        Are you hiring anybody?
        Mr. Trapani. Well, let's put it this
    way: Last year we were fortunate enough to have 208 great employees. Now
    we're fortunate enough to have 221 employees. We're looking at the
    possibility--and we're out here discussing things with our real estate
    agent--about the possibility of another 30,000 square feet of
    manufacturing potential, which would possibly create another 20 to 25
    new jobs and, pray to God, more.
        The President. See, he's hiring people.
    Why do we want to take money out of his pocket when he's hiring people?
    We don't.
        Now, let me tell you another thing. Part of the Tax Code said that
    if you make an investment, you get a tax incentive to make the
    investment. In other words, we accelerated depreciation. That's a long
    word for saying we're trying to encourage the Vinces of the world to go
    out and buy some equipment. That was part of the tax plan. Some
    businesses need additional equipment--additional computers, additional
    software, and there was an incentive to go out and purchase them.
        Did you buy any equipment?
        Mr. Trapani. Oh, yes. [Laughter]
        The President. Could you share with us what it was? [Laughter]
        Mr. Trapani. It would be my pleasure. We
    spent a lot of our money basically in technology. It's technology, where
    we've spent our money in machinery and things like that--enable us to
    compete. We compete against----
        The President. What kind of machine?
        Mr. Trapani. We went out and we bought
    some heavy-duty air conditioning compressors, things like--not air
    conditioning--air compressors. And the reality of our air compressors,
    they're enabling us

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    basically to do things more efficient. So besides the fact that the
    benefit of what the proposal in the tax plan was, we were able to save
    money on our utility costs. Now we're even more energy efficient.
        The President. See, there's a lot of talk about productivity
    increases. It means his workers are more
    productive. They can make more products in the same amount of time as
    before. That means they're more productive. And the reason they're more
    productive is because he bought some equipment. And one of the reasons
    why he bought some more equipment is because the Tax Code encouraged him
    to do so. Congress will take that away unless they make the tax cuts
    permanent, by the way.
        Let me tell you something else that's interesting, so that everybody
    understands. When he goes out and buys an
    air compressor, somebody has to make the air compressor. And when
    somebody makes the air compressor, it means somebody is more likely to
    find a job. The economy works when you stimulate small-business owners
    and consumers. It works as the result of people meeting demand. And
    that's what we tried to do. We tried to create more demand. We wanted
    Vince to say, ``I need a new compressor,'' and encourage him to buy it,
    and he did. His workers are more productive, he's more competitive, and
    somebody had to make the compressor. And that's the way the U.S. economy
    works with good Government policy.
        The problem is, is that when you're raising people's taxes and
    you're increasing their regulations and you're walling off America, you
    make it more difficult for Vince to be
    aggressive in creating more jobs. And that's why I'm glad you invited me
    here. Keep hiring people.
        Mr. Trapani. We intend to keep hiring
    people. But you have also created the environment. We have interest
    rates that enable us to go out and borrow, that--my parents don't
    remember how successful this here situation has become. So with the
    situation and the opportunities of lower interest rates, and more than
    anything, the tax savings--the tax savings that come back to people,
    that come back to America. My accountants are in the audience. They're
    happy.
        The President. Yes, good. I'm glad they're happy. Wait until you get
    their bill. [Laughter] Then you won't be happy.
        Okay. Pedro Ramos. Como esta, Pedro?
        Pedro Ramos. Bien.
        The President. Pedro works here. He's--how
    many children you got? Cuantos ninos?
        Mr. Ramos. I've got two children. I've got a
    wife. I've got a house. I own a house. I've been working for him almost
    14 years. I've been doing--he's been doing great for me. He's the best
    boss that I could have in this country. I think that I live in a very
    good country. We have such good opportunities in this country. I want to
    focus to get a better future for my children. My refund taxes, I always
    use it in my house, to fix my house. I invest all the money, my refund,
    in my house.
        The President. Pedro, where were you born?
        Mr. Ramos. I born in El Salvador.
        The President. El Salvador. Got a great President, by the way. Paco
    Flores is one of my good friends.
        Mr. Ramos. He said that you're good friends.
        The President. Yes, he's a good
    fellow. [Laughter] You worked here catorce anos?
        Mr. Ramos. Yes.
        The President. Fourteen years he's worked
    here?
        Mr. Ramos. Fourteen years, yes.
        The President. How old are your children?
        Mr. Ramos. The older one is 9.
        The President. Donde? Oh, there.
        Mr. Ramos. They're sitting right there. My
    wife is right there, also.
        The President. Oh, thanks.
        Mr. Ramos. The second one is 6 years old.
        The President. Six years old.

    [[Page 364]]

        Mr. Ramos. Yes. I'm so proud of my children
    and my wife and my boys.
        The President. I want you to listen to what he said. He said, ``I took the tax relief and worked on my
    house.'' There's two things I want to share with you on that. One,
    there's nothing better than a society which encourages people to own
    something, isn't there? Either to own your own business--how about the
    fact that this is a fellow who was born in El Salvador, comes here to
    our country, and now owns his own home. Isn't that one of the
    spectacular aspects?
        The tax relief we passed--his family saved
    $1,900 in taxes. Now, that doesn't sound like a lot to people in
    Washington, probably. I know it sounds a lot to the Congressmen who are
    here. But that's a lot to Pedro. Think about that $1,900, what that can
    mean. That's, by the way, because of the child credit and the marriage
    penalty and reducing the 10-percent tax bracket. His family has 1,900
    more dollars of their own to spend.
        And so he made a decision. He said, ``I'm
    going to fix up my house.'' Well, you can't fix it up out of air. He's
    got to go buy things to fix it up with. I bet you bought some paint.
        Mr. Ramos. That's correct, yes.
        The President. Paint?
        Mr. Ramos. Yes, paint.
        The President. So somebody had to make the paint.
        Mr. Ramos. And this year I plan to use my
    refund to do my fence. I want to do all my--the outside of my house.
        The President. So that's good. That's how the economy works. Pedro
    takes the extra money in his pocket, and he
    goes--Home Depot? Where did you go?
        Mr. Ramos. I go to Home Depot. Right, yes.
    [Laughter]
        The President. See? Now you do. [Laughter] So he goes to Home Depot, and he buys something. Somebody had
    to make the product. The economy works when people demand things, and we
    increased demand. Let me tell you the problem: Congress needs to make
    the child credit and the marriage and the 10-percent bracket reductions
    permanent. Right now these are the parts of the Tax Code that begin to
    expire. They need to make all taxes permanent, and they need to start
    with these three. Otherwise, this good fellow pays $913 more in taxes
    next year. If they don't make the tax cuts permanent, it's a tax
    increase on Pedro. He pays more taxes. It makes no sense to be taxing
    this good family, right now, more money. It makes no sense. Congress
    needs to make the child credit and the marriage penalty and the 10-
    percent bracket, as a beginning, make them permanent this year, so Pedro
    has got more money to spend.
        Good job. Good job.
        Okay, Maureen White is with us. This is a
    really interesting story here that we're about to hear. It is a--it is
    innovative and compassionate. Maureen is senior vice president-chief
    nurse--chief nurse executive--even better--[laughter]--of the North
    Shore Long Island Jewish Health System. She is here with Maria
    Rais. What? Yes, exactly--Maira Rais. [Laughter]
    As I was saying, Maira Rais, yes. But why don't you tell us about your
    program, about your vision, and maybe introduce Maira? Thanks.

    [Maureen White made brief remarks.]

        The President. Yes, you're doing great. Thank you. Very good job.
    Unbelievably articulate.
        Yes, Maureen was--first of all, is really
    well-spoken. [Laughter] I could take a lesson or two from you.
    [Laughter]
        A couple of points that I think are important: One, there are jobs.
    There are jobs that need workers. They need nurses. Oftentimes people
    don't have the skills necessary to be a nurse. This hospital, an
    incredibly responsible group of people, said, ``We'll train. We'll help.
    We'll pay for the training.'' And then the Nassau Community

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    College stepped up and provided the curriculum, provided the trainers.
        We've got an issue in front of Congress, by the way, that will boost
    job training through the community college system. You hear people
    talking about--worrying about outsourcing and jobs moving overseas, and
    one reason why is because they don't have the skills necessary to take
    the jobs of the 21st century. We have an obligation in society to help
    train the people for the jobs which exist. And so job training has got
    to focus in smart, practical ways.
        Maureen talked about a really practical
    job training program. I want to thank the Nassau Community College
    people, if any are here, for being flexible and available to work with
    the hospital system to help people train to become nurses, to help them
    become skilled in the jobs which actually exist.
        I'll tell you one quick story, and then we're going to go to
    Maira. I was out in Arizona at a community
    college, and a woman who worked for a graphic artist--as a graphic
    design artist for 15 years, I believe it was, 12 or 15 years--a lot--and
    she went back to Mesa Community College and took a program to give her
    some additional skills in technology. And she stayed there for 6
    months--got paid by, by the way, worker displacement money that Congress
    has provided as the result of trade policies. If somebody loses a job
    because of trade, you can get money necessary to learn the skills for a
    new job. And she made more money in her first year of her new job,
    having gone to get new skills and to be more productive, than she did
    after 15 years of being a graphic artist. So not only does getting new
    skills help you find a job, it helps you find a higher paying job.
        And that's why, Maureen, I want to thank
    you for sharing your story. I want you to tell your hospital people
    thanks. I know my friend Fred Wilpon is on the
    board. I wish him all the best for the Mets this year--[laughter]--but
    tell him, as importantly, he's done a good job in the hospital.
        Maira, tell us about your story.

    [Maira Rais, nurse assistant, North Shore Long Island Jewish Health
    System, made brief remarks.]

        The President. You know something, the story you just heard from
    Maira is--it's a hard story. There's a lot of
    people that say, ``Well, I can't possibly go back to school and learn
    skills for the new jobs.'' But this economy of ours is in transition.
    There's fantastic opportunities. In some cases, however, people are
    going to need to go learn new skills in order to take advantage of the
    situation.
        And it's hard, I fully understand, if you're a mom and you're kind
    of wondering whether or not it makes sense. But I want anybody out there
    listening to listen to Maira's story, that you
    can improve yourself, that you can go back to school, and it can make a
    huge difference in your life. I would--am I putting words in your mouth
    to say it's making a big difference in your life?
        Ms. Rais. No, no, no, it's the truth. And I'm
    hoping when I graduate, work for North Shore, and I know my salary is
    going to be twice as much. So I'm looking forward for that. [Laughter]
        The President. Yes, she's got the chance to
    have three times her current salary as a result of having gone to
    school, paid for by her potential employer. And it's an amazing
    opportunity. And the reason why I'm so thrilled you all are here is that
    there are opportunities like that all over New York and the country.
    There's fantastic opportunities to gain new skills and become more
    productive, to take advantage of the new jobs of the 21st century.
        It's unsettling when the economy changes. I fully recognize that.
    But in the midst of a changing economy, there are fantastic
    opportunities. And here is a great story of Maira Rais, newly arrived to America--well, not newly arrived, been
    here

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    since 1980--but nevertheless is seizing the moment, is taking advantage
    of the opportunity. And her salary is going to go up three times--and
    this good lady is going to have a better employee as a result of the
    training.
        By the way, their family saved $1,200 in tax relief. So when
    Congress starts thinking about whether or not to let those taxes go back
    up on the people, think about Maira. I'm not
    worried about the two Congressmen over here, by the way. [Laughter] They're solid. But I
    want people to think about Maira. That $1,200 means a lot to Maira and
    her family. I know it doesn't sound like a lot in Washington, DC, terms,
    but it's a lot to her.
        Ms. Rais. I can tell you what I did with
    those $1,200.
        The President. Well, why don't you tell us then.
        Ms. Rais. I really--because I have my son who
    is in college. He's graduating this May.
        The President. You don't look old enough to have a son in college.
        Ms. Rais. Yes.
        The President. He's graduating in May? Fantastic.
        Ms. Rais. Yes, but he's going to transfer--
    he's looking forward to transfer to another college to complete his
    degree in business administration.
        The President. Fantastic.
        Ms. Rais. My daughter--two excellent students, honor students, so
    I'm proud of them and my whole family.
        The President. And so you're going to use the money to help your
    son?
        Ms. Rais. Well, I really did, because when I
    got the tax refund money, I used it for his books, my books that I had
    to pay for. It helped a great deal.
        The President. Now, see, the tax relief helped her go back to school
    so she can make three times the amount of money,
    possibly, than she was making. The tax relief helps average Americans.
    Congress needs to make the tax relief permanent; otherwise, she's going
    to be paying more taxes. It makes no sense to raise the taxes on Maira
    or Pedro or any of the entrepreneurs up here.
    We're doing good things with the--the people are doing good things with
    their own money. They're making this economy grow.
        Listen, I want to thank them for coming, and I want to thank you all
    for coming. I hope you get a--share the same sense of optimism I do
    about the future of our country. When you hear about the entrepreneurial
    stories, you've got to be optimistic. These guys are hiring people. They
    believe the future is going to be better. When you hear the story of
    compassion coming out of the local hospital, it's got to make you
    optimistic about the decency of the people of this country. And then
    when you hear about the stories of these hard-working citizens of our
    country who have got big dreams for their families, and willing to
    achieve those big dreams, it's got to make you optimistic. I really am.
        Listen, the strength of this country is in the hearts and souls of
    our citizens. I want to thank the citizens up here today for sharing
    your hearts and for sharing your souls. May God bless you all, and may
    God continue to bless America.

    Note: The President spoke at 1:32 p.m. at U.S.A. Industries, Inc. In his
    remarks, he referred to Libby Pataki, wife of Gov. George E. Pataki of
    New York; President Francisco Flores Perez of El Salvador; and Fred
    Wilpon, owner, New York Mets.

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