[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2004, Book I)]
[March 4, 2004]
[Pages 309-318]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks in a Discussion on the National Economy in Bakersfield, 
California
March 4, 2004

    The President. John, thanks. Thanks for 
having me. First, I want to thank your employees for putting up with my 
entourage. [Laughter] It's kind of grown since the last time I was here 
in Bakersfield. [Laughter]
    We are here to talk about the economy. I want to--I'm going to have 
some help here in talking about the economy, people on the frontlines of 
job creation, people on the frontline of raising their families. Before 
I do so, I do want to thank you,

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John, and your family for kind of setting such a great example of what 
it means to be close family and heralding the entrepreneurial spirit. 
One of the things I love about America is the entrepreneurial spirit, 
the fact that people can own their own assets, can start their own 
business, can realize such a hopeful future, because they own something. 
We're here at what we call a family-owned business. It's an integral 
part of America.
    When I heard I was coming for Rain for Rent--[laughter]--I was 
thinking about my days in west Texas. [Laughter] We were always looking 
for a little rain and were willing to rent it. [Laughter] But I do want 
to thank your mom and dad, Jerry and Mary, for welcoming me here, and I want to thank your whole 
family for turning out.
    I've spent some quality time in Bakersfield--1949. I don't remember 
much about it. [Laughter] But I was talking to old Number 41--that would 
be my dad--2 nights ago, and I told him I 
was going out to Bakersfield. And he said, ``Tell the folks out there 
that Barbara and I have got fond memories of 
our days living here.'' Good, decent, honorable, hard-working people in 
Bakersfield--that's the way it was then, and that's the way it is today. 
And we're glad to be here.
    I want to thank Sharon Thomas, the wife of 
a guy I call the Chairman; that would be Congressman Bill 
Thomas. Sharon, thanks for coming today. 
Bill Thomas is doing a really good job for the people of California and 
Bakersfield. He's doing a great job for the country. He is a strong 
leader. We've done a lot working together, some of which I'm about to 
discuss with you.
    I want to thank the mayor, Harvey Hall. 
He met me at the airport. He drove over in the limousine. Harvey, 
thanks. He said, ``Have you got any advice?'' I said, ``Yes, fill the 
potholes.'' [Laughter]
    We've got members of the State senate. Roy Ashburn is with us. I've known Roy for a while. He's a good 
fellow. State assembly--Bill Maze is with us. I 
thank Bill for being here. I want to thank all the local officials and 
all the citizens who have taken time out of your day to come by and to 
listen to what I hope is an educational dialog.
    I want to thank a lady named Dana Karcher, 
who came out to the airport. I don't know if you know Dana or not; you 
probably don't. But she is a volunteer in your community. You know what 
she's done? She's decided--she's involved with Keep Bakersfield 
Beautiful. She understands that if you're interested in the quality of 
life in the community in which you live, it starts at the grassroots 
level, that people have got to take responsibility for the lives and, in 
this case, the beauty of a place you love and call home. She's a 
volunteer.
    A lot of times we talk about the strength of the country in terms of 
our military. Make no mistake about it, we're going to keep our military 
strong in order to keep the peace. And we're going to talk here today 
about people working and people being able to have savings and wealth. 
But the true strength of the country lies in the hearts and souls of our 
citizens. That's what makes America really strong, the fact that we've 
got loving and decent and honorable citizens willing to help out at the 
local level, willing to take responsibility, willing to love a neighbor 
just like you'd like to be loved yourself.
    If you're a member of the army of compassion here in Bakersfield, 
California, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. If you're 
interested in serving your community, find a way to make somebody's life 
better, make a neighbor's life more hopeful, and you'll be making a 
great contribution to our Nation. So Dana, 
thanks for coming. Appreciate the example you've set. Keep doing what 
you're doing.
    This economy of ours is strengthening, and that's positive. See, we 
want people working here in America. We not only want people working in 
America, we want people

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who are working to be comfortable that their job is going to be here 
tomorrow.
    I'm an optimistic fellow about our economy because I've seen what 
we've been through. And I want to remind you right quick what this 
country has been through and the challenges this economy had faced over 
the last 3 years. First, we went through a recession. That means we were 
going backwards. We weren't growing. That means there was a lot of 
uncertainty for planners and small-business people. That meant people 
were losing their jobs.
    And we started to come out of that recession, and the enemy hit us 
on September the 11th, 2001. And the attack hurt us. The attack hurt our 
economy. The attack also changed our psychology in a way. See, we used 
to think oceans could protect us from harm, but we learned a tough 
lesson that day, which means whoever has the honor of holding the Oval 
Office must take every threat seriously, must deal with threats before 
they become imminent, must be firm with our resolve to keep America 
secure, must never relent to the enemies that would harm us because of 
what we love. And we began to recover from the attacks on September the 
11th because we're a strong people, we're resilient, because there's an 
ownership society, a culture of ownership in America.
    And then we had to deal with another problem here in America, and 
that is, we had some of our fellow citizens forgot what it meant to be a 
responsible citizen. Corporate CEOs didn't tell the truth to their 
shareholders and their employees. And that began to affect the 
psychology of the country. People think--people who invest began to say, 
``Well, I'm not so sure I believe these numbers,'' people who work 
beginning to wonder whether or not in big corporate America, that what 
they're being told is right. But we acted. We passed tough new laws. 
You're beginning to see the consequences of people making irresponsible 
decisions. They need to pay a price for their irresponsibility, and they 
will, in order to set a clear example. In America, we're not going to 
tolerate dishonesty in the boardrooms of our country.
    And then I made a tough decision to deal with Mr. Saddam 
Hussein. I saw--[applause]--I just want to, 
right quick, remind you that I looked at the intelligence and saw a 
threat. The Congress looked at the same intelligence, and they saw a 
threat. The United Nations Security Council looked at that intelligence, 
and it saw a threat.
    I took my message to the United Nations. I said, ``This is a world 
problem. Let's deal with it. You've given him resolution after 
resolution after resolution to disarm for a reason, because you saw a 
threat.'' And after September the 11th, it was time to disarm him so the 
threat wouldn't materialize. He said, ``Forget it.'' He chose defiance. 
Then I had a choice: Do I trust the word of a madman, or do I make the 
decision to defend America? I'll defend America every time.
    Laura reminded me one time about, on the TV 
screens, you started to see the banner ``March to War'' in the summer of 
2002. That's not very conducive for investing capital. If you're an 
employer, if you're a small-business owner and all of a sudden you're 
thinking about marching to war, it doesn't inspire a lot of confidence 
in the economy. We overcame that. Now we're marching to peace, by the 
way. The world is more peaceful.
    But we've overcome all that. And the economy is getting stronger. 
Inflation is low. Interest rates are low. Manufacturing is up. 
Homeownership is strong. The entrepreneurial spirit in America is alive 
and well, and one of the reasons why I think we're doing so good here in 
America is because of the tax relief we passed. It's because people have 
more money in their pockets.
    See, if you're interested in somebody finding work, you've got to 
put forth policies that encourage economic expansion, progrowth 
policies, progrowth in the private

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sector, not policies that grow the Federal Government but policies that 
grow the small-business sector of our economy. Most new jobs in America 
are created by small businesses.
    And so the plans that Chairman Thomas 
and I worked on all had in mind helping our individuals as well as 
helping small-business owners. See, we cut the taxes on everybody. We 
said, ``If you're going to have tax relief, everybody who pays taxes 
ought to get relief.'' We're not going to have people in Washington say, 
``Okay, you get tax relief, and you don't.'' We had tax relief that was 
fair because everybody got it. And what's interesting about the tax 
relief, not only did it help families--and we're about to hear from some 
families who it helped--but it really helped small businesses. See, most 
small businesses are either sole proprietorships or Subchapter S 
corporations, which means they pay tax at the individual income-tax 
level. And so when you cut taxes on the individuals, in many cases 
you're cutting taxes on the small businesses as well. And we want our 
small businesses to be strong. We want them to have more money to 
invest. We want them to have more money to expand. And the tax relief we 
passed is working because it invigorated the small-business sector of 
America.
    A couple other things I want to tell you, and then we're going to 
hear from others. I'm not filibustering. [Laughter] It's a long 
Washington word, isn't it? [Laughter] We did some other positive things.
    If you're raising a family in America, it's hard to do, and so we 
increased the child credit to $1,000 per child. We doubled the child 
credit to help families.
    We reduced the marriage penalty. It seems like to me you want the 
Tax Code to encourage marriage and not penalize it.
    We reduced taxes on capital gains and dividends. That's important 
for savers, particularly important for our seniors, many of whom rely 
upon income from their investment portfolio.
    We put the death tax on its way to extinction. Listen, the death tax 
is bad. It's bad for small businesses. It's bad for farmers. It is bad 
for ranchers. It makes no sense to tax a family's assets twice, once 
while you're making money and the next time after you die.
    So we've overcome a lot, and the policy we've passed is good policy. 
There's more to do. I want to share some thoughts with you right quick 
about what we need to do to make sure people can find a job or are 
comfortable about the job they have. We need an energy policy in 
America. We need to make sure our electricity systems are modern, and we 
need to become less dependent on foreign sources of energy.
    We need to make sure we don't become isolated from the world. We 
don't need economic isolation. We need to have trade policy that treats 
America fairly. People can sell their products here. We want to be able 
to sell our products there. If you're good at something, you want to 
open up markets. Listen, we're really good at growing things. We want to 
sell our food overseas; we want to sell our beef overseas. We want to 
have a trade policy that is fair. We must fight off economic 
isolationism for the sake of American consumers, American entrepreneurs, 
and American workers.
    We need less regulation. These small-business owners will tell you, 
many times they fill out too much paperwork. They ought to be focused on 
helping people find work instead of spending hours on paperwork that 
probably is never read.
    We need tort reform in America. We need to make sure that--frivolous 
lawsuits make it hard for people to hire; they just do.
    Health care costs are rising. We need to do something about health 
care costs. We need what we call associated health care plans that allow 
small businesses to pool risk so their employees get reasonably priced 
health care. We need to expand health savings accounts, which is a 
fantastic

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opportunity, by the way, for small-business owners and employees to be 
able to have health care at affordable price--health insurance at 
affordable prices.
    We need national medical liability reform. Frivolous lawsuits drive 
up the cost of health care. The Congress passed a good bill. It is stuck 
in the Senate. The most powerful lobby in Washington, DC, in some 
estimates, are the trial lawyers. We need to make sure that doctors 
don't get run out of business and health care costs don't get run up 
because of these frivolous and junk lawsuits. Congress has got to pass 
medical liability reform.
    And finally, we need to make sure the tax cuts are permanent. See, 
the tax cuts are set to expire. That's what a lot of people don't 
understand. This is an important part of the dialog in Washington, DC, 
now, is how to make sure the economy continues to grow. These job 
creators need certainty in the Tax Code. You can't have taxes go down 
one year and up the next. They need certainty when it comes to planning. 
They need to be able to have certainty when it comes to their investment 
deductibility. That's what they need.
    And yet aspects of the Tax Code are set to expire. Interesting 
enough, in the year '05, the child credit is going to go back down 
unless Congress acts. That means a tax increase on these hard-working 
people. If Congress doesn't step up and act, the child credit is going 
to go down, which means these good folks are going to pay greater taxes 
next year. The marriage penalty relief, it goes up, which means if 
you're married, you're going to pay higher taxes in '05. The expansion 
of the 10-percent bracket no longer will exist. It's going to be 
changed, which means people are going to pay higher taxes.
    It doesn't make any sense to be paying higher taxes in 2005. This 
economy is strengthening. It will weaken our economy unless Congress 
acts. Members of Congress must hear this message loud and clear: We need 
tax permanency. At the very least, they must make permanent the tax--
child credit, the tax relief from the marriage penalty, the tax relief 
from the expanded 10-percent bracket. For the sake of American families, 
for the sake of jobs, Congress must not raise the taxes on the hard-
working people of America.
    And so we're here to talk about the economy. And I'm pretty well 
talked out--[laughter]--much to your pleasure. [Laughter] John, why don't you tell us what it's like to run a family-
owned business. Obviously, it is capital-intensive. By ``capital-
intensive,'' I mean it costs a lot to have one of those pumps there. He 
has to buy it, and then he goes out and rents it. And so it's a business 
that--obviously, you've got good, hard-working people you rely upon. But 
it's a business that requires, you know, some strong asset management. 
And so, why don't you tell us what it's like to run your own business. 
Somebody may be out there listening that wants to start their own 
business. And it's an opportunity for people to learn the great joy and 
the frustrations and the responsibility of being an entrepreneur here in 
America.
    John W. Lake. Well, I'll give it a shot.
    The President. I'm not worried about you. [Laughter]

[At this point, Mr. Lake, president, Rain for Rent, made brief remarks.]

    The President. How much are you going to spend next year, do you 
think?
    Mr. Lake. About $30 million buying capital 
assets for rent.
    The President. Yes. See, when he says he's 
going to spend $30 million, that means somebody or a group of people are 
going to go out there and manufacture $30 million worth of products, 
which means somebody is going to find work. See, if we increase demand 
through tax policy--in other words, demand means I want an additional 
good or a service. In this case, he's saying he wants $30 million worth 
of goods. The way our economy works is that in response to that demand, 
somebody is going to

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produce something. And when they produce it, it means somebody is going 
to work.
    So when you hear about economic policy and you hear about investment 
and you hear people say investment equals jobs, think about John. John is buying $30 million worth of equipment, which 
means somebody in Ardmore and Wichita Falls, Texas, is more likely to 
have a job. And that's how this economy works.
    And I appreciate that very much, you explaining that. Let me ask you 
something, are you going to hire anybody this year? [Laughter]
    Mr. Lake. Yes, sir. Right now we're looking 
for 46 more people. And actually, we've grown 24 percent since 9/11.
    The President. Well, that's fantastic. That's great.

[Mr. Lake made further remarks.]

    The President. Let me tell you something about what we need to do to 
make sure people are employable, is to get people educated in the first 
place, make sure the Bakersfield school systems teach people how to read 
and write and add and subtract, make sure there is job training for the 
jobs which actually exist. We've got some really good people who want to 
work; they just need the skills. That's why the community college system 
here in California, all around the country, is an important part of job 
training, so that you can match desire to work with the skills necessary 
to work.
    And so John is looking for 34. There's a 
lot of Johns around this country who are looking for workers. See, 34 
workers here, 50 there, 2 or 3 here, and this job base is beginning to 
expand. The economy is strengthening because of the decisionmaking that 
is taking place. Part of those decisions that he made was the result of 
tax policy. He's what you call a Subchapter S corporation. When we cut 
the taxes on individuals, it helps this. You heard him say he didn't 
have dividends for a while. You know what he's doing? He's putting the 
money back in the company for the sake of the workers.
    That's one of the wonderful things about the entrepreneurial spirit 
here in America. These owners understand that they've got to have good 
workers and take care of their workers. And I suspect working here for 
this great company is a pleasure.
    All right. You did a good job. [Laughter]
    Mr. Lake. Thank you, sir.
    The President. Les, tell us about 
yourself. Victory Circle company.

[Les DenHerder, president, Victory Circle, Inc., made brief remarks.]

    The President. You are a Subchapter S corporation.
    Mr. DenHerder. Yes, we're a Subchapter S.
    The President. Okay, if I can just remind everybody, that means he 
pays taxes at the individual income-tax rate at the corporate level. In 
other words--I shouldn't say ``the corporate level.'' The taxes paid at 
the corporate level flow through to the individual income tax--to the 
individual, so therefore individual income taxes affect his small 
business, a better way to put it.
    Mr. DenHerder. Absolutely. And not only 
that, with capital investment, we're able to make use of some of the tax 
credits there. This year we're planning on spending probably around 
$50,000 for additional equipment, and that will probably save us, like, 
7,000 because of the tax laws.
    The President. Yes. See, the new tax laws said if he invests, he 
saves $7,000. So it encourages people to invest. What are you going to 
buy? Do you know yet?
    Mr. DenHerder. Some more welders and pipe-
bending equipment.
    The President. Yes, so somebody has got to make it. That's how the 
economy works. He makes a decision. It affects 
a lot of people, the decision you make. So when you hear ``tax relief,'' 
I hope people connect tax relief with decisionmaking and decisionmaking 
to jobs. That's what we're talking

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about. That's why the tax relief was important for job creation.
    Okay, I'm going to be looking for your product the next time I start 
a NASCAR race. [Laughter]
    Mr. DenHerder. That's good.
    The President. It was unbelievable. Thanks for coming. How many--any 
chances of hiring anybody this year?
    Mr. DenHerder. We're probably going to 
hire two to three people this year.
    The President. That's good, see. And you've got how many now?
    Mr. DenHerder. We've got 14 now.
    The President. There are a lot of companies, a lot in America, with 
20 or fewer employees. And when he says he's 
going to hire two more, that's really good news. A lot of people are 
feeling confident and optimistic about our future, so they can say, 
``I'm going to hire two more.'' They can sit here and tell the President 
in front of all the cameras, ``I'm going to hire two more people.'' 
[Laughter] That's confidence.
    All right, Chris, tell us your business.

[Chris DiSalvo, president, GMC Roofing and Building Paper Products, 
Inc., made brief remarks, mentioning his wife, Wilma, and concluding as 
follows.]

    Mr. DiSalvo. So in February----
    The President. I got a good wife too. 
[Laughter]

[Mr. DiSalvo made further remarks, mentioning his operations manager, 
Leo Martin, and concluding as follows.]

    Mr. DiSalvo. He's 
watching the plant.
    The President. He's working. [Laughter]
    Mr. DiSalvo. Exactly.
    The President. Leo is doing the right thing.

[Mr. DiSalvo made further remarks.]

    The President. How did the tax relief help you?

[Mr. DiSalvo made further remarks.]

    The President. Isn't it a fabulous story? Forty-nine, were you?
    Mr. DiSalvo. Yes, sir.
    The President. Forty-nine, yes, really young-sounding. [Laughter] 
He starts his own business. He has a desire to 
own something. The job of Government is to create an environment that 
encourages and enhances the entrepreneurial spirit. The job of 
Government is not to create jobs but to create an environment in which 
people feel comfortable about taking risk to realize their dreams.
    I love the stories about your granddad working his way through the 
Depression and feeling confident enough to start this business and that 
you and your dad have had the great privilege of growing it and 
modernizing it and diversifying it to meet the new challenges of our 
economy.
    I love the idea of a guy buying his company and turning it into 
something. And I love the idea of somebody saying, ``I want to own my 
own company. I want to start it.'' It's such an important part of our 
American story. And I intend to keep the entrepreneurial spirit as 
strong as possible because I understand that when the small-business 
sector of our economy is vibrant and confident and optimistic, people 
are more likely to find a job. Now--good job, guys, really good job.
    Okay, Ismael Diaz is with us. He is a 
manager. Ismael, tell us about yourself.
    Ismael Diaz. Well, I'm--technically, I just 
work in the engineering department. [Laughter] I'll let my boss know I 
got a promotion.
    The President. Well, I just made you a manager. Yes. 
Congratulations, you got a promotion. [Laughter]
    Mr. Lake. Congratulations, Ismael. 
[Laughter]
    The President. Yes.

[Mr. Diaz, engineer/project manager, Rain for Rent, made brief remarks.]

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    The President. How many of your--how many in your family had ever 
been to college prior to you?
    Mr. Diaz. None.
    The President. Yes.
    Mr. Diaz. So we're the first generation to 
go.

[Mr. Diaz made further remarks, concluding as follows.]

    Mr. Diaz. I never particularly paid 
attention to taxes until I had kids, was married, had a mortgage 
payment.
    The President. 'Til you started to pay some.
    Mr. Diaz. Exactly. [Laughter]

[Mr. Diaz made further remarks, concluding as follows.]

    Mr. Diaz. I have a 3-year-old and a 1-year-
old with my wife, America, who is out in the audience. And--she's out 
there.
    The President. Can you imagine if my name were America? [Laughter]
    Mr. Diaz. It makes for some interesting 
conversation.
    The President. That's right, yes.
    Mr. Diaz. It's an icebreaker.
    The President. It is. [Laughter]

[Mr. Diaz made further remarks, concluding as follows.]

    Mr. Diaz. When you go in one year paying a 
thousand bucks to the next year getting a $3,000 refund, that's a pretty 
quick flip-flop from one year to the next.
    The President. Yes.
    Mr. Diaz. And what it allowed us to do was 
have my wife start working full-time. She's a schoolteacher, and I 
understand you're fond of schoolteachers.
    The President. Thank you. Appreciate you doing that.

[Mr. Diaz made further remarks, concluding as follows.]

    Mr. Diaz. And we'd take the refund money, 
invest it in college funds for our two little kids.
    The President. Fantastic.
    Mr. Diaz. If we have any more, we'll do the 
same for them.
    The President. That's good.
    Mr. Diaz. It's up to her. [Laughter]
    The President. I don't think we want to go there, Ismael. [Laughter]
    Mr. Diaz. So I know it's--if taxes do go up, 
we'll feel that impact immediately.
    The President. Yes. Listen, here's--what he's saying is--and it's a fundamental argument about 
taxes--obviously, we got to meet priorities. We got a war to win. We got 
things to do in Washington. But I always felt that with the economy 
slowing down, we want the Ismaels of the world to have more money to 
make their life easier, to increase demand. And I would argue with 
people that this good man can spend his money far more wisely than the 
Federal Government can spend his money.
    He said he had $3,150 in tax savings. That's 
a lot of money for a young family. That's a lot of security. Notice what 
he said, he said, ``We're beginning to set money aside for our kids.'' I 
oftentimes say it's important for us to have a culture of personal 
responsibility, and it starts with moms and dads loving their children 
with all their heart and all their soul. And that's what Ismael has 
signaled to us.
    If Congress doesn't act, his taxes go up by $2,000. It's a $2,000 
tax increase. Congress must listen to the voices of people like Ismael. 
Two thousand less dollars in his pocket is going to make a difference to 
his family. So when you hear, ``Oh, I don't want to make the tax cuts 
permanent,'' you translate to that, ``We're to raise Ismael's taxes.'' That's what they're saying.
    Now, we got with us as well Theresa--oh, 
let me say something about Ismael's dad. Where is his dad? Is he here? 
There he is. Thanks for coming, sir. He came here and worked hard, and 
he stood in line and became a citizen. And that's what needs to happen 
with immigration policy. Look, we need to--we don't need blanket amnesty 
here in America. What we need

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is, we need to help people find work in a legal way.
    Your dad did it the legal way. He came and worked because he wanted 
to be a good dad, and he earned a living. And he stood in line in a 
legal way and then became a citizen of this country. I put forth a 
plan--we were talking to these employers; they don't know whether 
they're hiring somebody here who's legally or not. We need a temporary-
worker plan. That is not an amnesty plan; it's a worker plan to make 
sure the employers here in America are able to find the laborers that 
other Americans won't do, in a legal way. We need to make sure we treat 
people humanely in this country. And I want to thank you for the 
example. Think about that, how American is that: The guy works all his 
life so his son can go to college.
    Theresa is with us. Theresa Avila is the 
sales representative.
    Theresa Avila. Yes.
    The President. Is that an accurate assessment?
    Ms. Avila. That's correct, Mr. President.
    The President. Would you like to--would you like a promotion? 
[Laughter]
    Ms. Avila. Yes, sir, I would.
    The President. The tax cuts weren't big enough for all--[laughter]. 
Thank you, Theresa. Please.

[Ms. Avila, sales representative, Rain for Rent, made brief remarks, 
concluding as follows.]

    Ms. Avila. My daughter Amanda, she's 16. 
She goes to Liberty High School.
    The President. Does she have her driver's 
license?
    Ms. Avila. Almost. She's begging for it.
    The President. Yes. [Laughter] I've been through that before. 
[Laughter]
    Ms. Avila. And my daughter Alexandra, who 
is 9, she's a fourth grader. She's over there. She's in----
    The President. I see her. Hi, Alexandra.
    Ms. Avila. ----elementary.
    The President. She's a beautiful girl.
    Ms. Avila. Thank you.
    The President. She has a great smile.
    Ms. Avila. Thank you.

[Ms. Avila made further remarks, concluding as follows.]

    Ms. Avila. And I hope that with your help 
and your continued support, that we will be a successful family, a 
successful American family.
    The President. Yes, well, you are successful already. And I can tell 
that, listening to you.
    Ms. Avila. Thank you.
    The President. You're really successful, successful because you love 
your kids more than anything else, successful because you--you set 
education as priority for your family. This good family saved about 
$3,400 because of the tax relief. If Congress doesn't go up--act, their 
taxes are going up by $3,100, see?
    What's happening, by the way, is that people all of a sudden are 
going to be thrust into the alternative minimum tax bracket. Those are 
long words, but just trust me, it means you got a tax increase coming 
unless Congress acts. They need to make the child credit permanent. They 
need to make the marriage penalty relief permanent. They need to make 
sure the 10-percent bracket stays permanent. And they need to deal with 
the alternative minimum tax so these good, hard-working people don't pay 
more taxes in the year 2005.
    Is there anything else you want to say? Okay, well, listen, thank 
you all for coming. I hope this has been helpful in understanding how 
the economy works, how people make decisions, how families make 
decisions.
    You just heard Theresa say they helped--
they did some work on their home. Well, somebody had to come and do it. 
When she took the tax relief, she had to go get somebody to come and do 
it. And the person who came to do it had to buy more supplies in order 
to make sure

[[Page 318]]

the house got fixed. That's how the economy works. There's a lot of 
decisionmaking that goes on. It's the millions of decisions by consumers 
and producers to meet the demand of those consumers that really makes a 
marketplace economy function. And Government can have a good role in 
encouraging the vitality of economy. And that's what the tax relief plan 
did. And that's why we've got to make sure that the benefits of tax 
relief don't go away. That's why we got to make sure that we're not 
raising the taxes on the people of this country.
    I'm optimistic about America because I understand the character of 
our people. We're people who work hard, dream big dreams, people who are 
responsible for the decisions we make, people who love our families. 
It's a fabulous country. We've overcome a lot, and the reason we have is 
because of the character of the American people.
    It's my honor to be here in the great city of Bakersfield, 
California. Thank you all for coming. May God bless you all. May God 
continue to bless our country.
    Good job, John.
    Mr. Lake. Thank you.
    The President. Good job.

Note: The President spoke at 9:40 a.m. at Rain for Rent. In his remarks, 
he referred to Mayor Harvey L. Hall of Bakersfield, CA; Roy Ashburn, 
California State senator; Bill Maze, California State assemblyman; and 
former President Saddam Hussein of Iraq.