    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2005, Book I)]
    [April 20, 2005]
    [Pages 633-639]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks to the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Legislative
    Conference
    April 20, 2005

        Thank you all. Thank you all for the warm welcome. Please be seated.
    Thank you. Thank you, Al, for your kind introduction. I've had this good
    man by my side for quite a while. When I was the Governor of Texas, we
    worked together. [Applause] There you go. [Laughter] And now as the
    President of these United States, I'm proud to serve with Al
    Gonzales as our Attorney General.
        I want to thank you for allowing me to come and speak to the United
    States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. It's an honor to be here. I see a
    lot of friends--I was going to say a lot of old friends, but--
    [laughter]--some of you are younger than I am.
        I appreciate your hard work and your commitment to the
    entrepreneurial spirit of America. You know, one of the great things
    about our country is, the entrepreneurial spirit is strong. The dream of
    owning your own business is alive. The willingness for people to take
    risk is an important part of our society, and as a result, small
    businesses are being created throughout all our society, and the job
    base is increasing as a result.
        I look forward to working with you the next 4 years to keep the
    prosperity of our country going. We share a common goal to make sure the
    American Dream is available for all. El Sueno Americano es para todos.
    [Laughter] This is the land of opportunity, and it must remain the land
    of opportunity, where our origins matter less than our aspirations. And
    this country's success depends not on accident of birth but on personal
    effort and drive and determination. And so I'll continue to work with
    you to create a society where personal effort is rewarded and
    opportunity is within the reach of every one of our citizens.
        In order to make sure opportunity is within the reach of every one
    of our citizens, we've got to have an economy that continues to grow and
    expand. Today I have come to talk about ways to make sure our economy
    continues to grow and expand, with special emphasis on an energy policy.
    To create jobs and prosperity in a new century, energy must be abundant
    and affordable for all our citizens. That means we've got to become less
    dependent on foreign sources of energy.
        I appreciate Hector Barreto
    joining us today. He's been the Administrator of the Small Business
    Administration. Thanks for your good work. I want to thank the
    leadership of the chamber. Thank you all for having me. I appreciate the
    chance to come and talk about a really important part of making sure
    America stays competitive and jobs continue to grow, and that's a sound
    energy policy. I want to thank the members of the Hispanic Chamber for
    allowing me and Al to come by to say
    hello.
        You see, one of the things I do want to share with you is we've got
    an ambitious agenda to keep the country safe and prosperous and free.
    The war on terror continues. We're still at war. There is an enemy that
    still would like to harm America, an enemy which hates what we stand
    for. I can assure you that this administration will be relentless,
    untiring in our efforts to bring the enemy to justice. We will work with
    our friends and allies to keep the pressure on these people. Our most
    important job in America is to keep this country secure, and that's
    exactly what we'll work hard to do.
        I'll work with Al and other members
    of my Cabinet to make sure that we do everything we can to improve the
    security at home. But I want you to know what I think. I think in the
    long run, the best

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    way to protect America, the best way to spread the peace, the best way
    to leave a legacy for our children and grandchildren is to spread
    freedom around the world. I do not believe freedom is America's gift to
    the world. You've just got to know that about our foreign policy. I do
    believe that freedom is a gift from the Almighty to each person in this
    world. And I know that free societies will be peaceful societies.
        At home, we'll continue to pursue progrowth economic policies so
    that America is the best place in the world to risk capital and do
    business. Listen, we have faced a lot; you know it just as well as I
    have. You have been on the frontlines of job creation. You understand
    what this economy has been through. We've been through a stock market
    decline. We have been through corporate scandals. We've been through a
    terrorist attack. We've been through a recession and an ongoing war. But
    we have confronted the challenges head-on. This economy of ours today is
    the fastest growing of any major industrialized nation. Economists see
    solid growth for the years ahead, and that's positive.
        I don't know if you know this or not, but we've now added more than
    3 million jobs over the past 22 months. Today, more Americans are
    working than any time in our Nation's history. The unemployment rate
    amongst Hispanics has dropped to 5.7 percent--a figure still too high,
    but that is down from 8.4 percent over the past 2 years. Today, more
    Hispanics own their own homes than ever before in our Nation's history.
    The Small Business Administration is lending to Hispanic-owned companies
    a lot. The lending has nearly doubled since I took office in 2001. The
    thing about the Hispanic community that I know well--I was taught this
    by a lot of my friends in Texas--is that the entrepreneurial spirit is
    strong in the Latino community. There are a lot of great businessowners
    and risktakers, people who know what they're doing when it comes to
    running a business and creating jobs.
        And so one of the things that you must ask about people in
    Washington, DC: One is, do you understand that; and two, if you do, how
    are you going to make sure opportunity continues to grow? What are you
    going to do to make sure that our economy is strong today and strong
    tomorrow? It's hard to be a successful entrepreneur if the economy is in
    the doldrums.
        So here are some ideas that I want Congress to listen to. One, in
    order to help small businesses, Hispanic small businesses grow, we've
    got to make sure small businesses are allowed to pool risk, come
    together and to join in associations across jurisdictional boundaries,
    so small businesses can buy insurance at the same discounts that big
    businesses are able to do.
        Senator Jim Talent from Missouri, who is
    one of the leading advocates of association health plans, plans that
    will enable small businesses to better afford health care, was to be
    here; he got called away for a vote. I excuse him--[laughter]--so long
    as he votes the right way. [Laughter]
        Many small businesses are organized as subchapter S corporations or
    limited partnerships and therefore pay tax--income tax on the personal
    scales--personal income tax scales. So when we reduce personal income
    taxes, we reduce the taxes on many Latino-owned businesses around the
    country. And in order to make sure this economy continues to grow, we
    have got to keep taxes low on the job creators of America.
        We'll continue to work to protect small business from needless
    regulation and from the burden of junk lawsuits. We need an immigration
    reform plan that does not grant amnesty but does match willing foreign
    workers with willing American employers when no Americans can be found
    to fill the job.
        We need to continue to knock down trade barriers across the world so
    we can open up new markets for America's entrepreneurs. To create jobs
    and to strengthen democracy in our hemisphere, the Congress

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    needs to pass the Central American Free Trade Agreement.
        To guarantee Americans a secure and dignified retirement--I'm
    talking about younger Americans, not baby boomers like me and you; we're
    fine when it comes to Social Security--but to make sure that younger
    Americans aren't saddled with enormous tax burdens, to make sure that
    there is--that unfunded liabilities don't loom over the capital markets,
    we need to modernize the Social Security system for our children and our
    grandchildren.
        As we grow the economy, we need to be responsible stewards with your
    tax--with your money, see. And that's why I submitted a disciplined
    Federal budget. Both the House and the Senate have passed budget
    resolutions. Congress needs to get together and iron out their
    differences and sends me a budget that meets priorities, restrains
    Federal spending, and keeps us on track to cut the deficit in half by
    2009.
        Here's what I think--and I think it makes sense; as taxpayers, you
    should think it makes sense--a taxpayer dollar must be spent wisely or
    not at all.
        To keep this economy growing, we need to ensure our Nation has an
    affordable, reliable, and secure supply of energy. Today, millions of
    American families and small businesses are hurting because of higher
    gasoline prices. If you're trying to meet a payroll or trying to meet a
    family budget, you know that even small changes at the pump can have a
    big impact on your bottom line. If you're a businessowner who has to
    make the choice between adding a new worker or paying a higher energy
    bill, you're going to be doing a lot less hiring.
        Last week, I had the honor of paying tribute to some of our troops
    in Fort Hood, Texas. I sat down at a table with a bunch of the enlisted
    personnel, and we were talking about what's on their mind. A guy said,
    ``Why don't you lower gasoline prices, Mr. President?'' [Laughter] I
    said, ``I wish I could. I wish I could simply wave a magic wand and
    lower gas prices tomorrow. I'd do that.'' Unfortunately, higher gas
    prices are a problem that has been years in the making. One of the
    things we can do to try to help in the immediate term: We can encourage
    oil-producing countries to maximize their production overseas; we can
    make sure consumers are treated fairly, that there's not price gouging.
    But we must act now to address the fundamental problem. Our supply of
    energy is not growing fast enough to meet the demands of our growing
    economy.
        Over the past decade, America's energy consumption has increased by
    more than 12 percent, yet our domestic production has increased by less
    than one-half of 1 percent. That means that our Nation is more and more
    reliant on foreign sources of energy. At the same time, the global
    demand for energy is growing faster than the global supply, which has
    contributed to a steep rise in the price of crude oil, which is the
    feedstock for gasoline. Because our foreign energy dependence is
    growing, our ability to take actions at home that will lower prices for
    American families is diminishing. Our dependence on foreign energy is
    like a foreign tax on the American Dream, a tax our citizens pay every
    day in higher gas prices, higher cost to heat and cool their homes, a
    tax on jobs. Worst of all, it's a tax increasing every year.
        For the sake of American workers and families, we have got to reduce
    our dependence on foreign sources of energy. It's a matter of economic
    security, and it's also a matter of national security. When America
    depends on only a handful of countries for nearly 60 percent of our oil,
    the danger of major energy disruption grows. Some of you are old enough
    to remember the seventies, when we rationed gasoline. The President of
    the United States and Congress have a responsibility to make sure
    America never returns to those days, and we've got to meet that
    responsibility.
        Here in Washington, we have got to meet the responsibilities before
    us and not

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    duck behind partisan politics. And the problem is clear. This problem
    didn't develop overnight, by the way, and it's not going to be fixed
    overnight. But this problem--to solve the problem, the Nation has got to
    make a decision. Members of Congress must decide: Do we want to continue
    growing more dependent on other nations to meet our energy needs, or do
    we want to take the necessary steps to achieve greater control of our
    economic destiny? Those are the questions before us.
        I have my opinion. I believe America should not live at the mercy of
    global trends and the decisions of other nations. For more than a
    decade, this country has not had a comprehensive national energy policy,
    and now is the time to change it.
        That's why one of the first things I did when I came to office 4
    years ago was to develop a national energy strategy. My first month in
    office, I sent Congress a plan to put America on the path to greater
    energy security. For 4 years, Congress has discussed and debated, but
    they haven't achieved any results. Today Members of Congress began
    debating an energy bill, and this time they need to give us one. The
    summer travel season is fast approaching. Gas prices are on the minds of
    millions of Americans. Members of Congress can send an important signal
    that they are serious about solving America's energy problems by getting
    a bill to my desk before the summer recess.
        The Congress needs to send a sound energy bill that meets four
    important objectives. First, the energy bill should encourage the use of
    technology to improve conservation and efficiency. Today, the average
    American home loses between 10 to 50 percent of its energy through
    inadequate insulation and inefficient lights and appliances. Think about
    that: We lose 10 to 50 percent of its energy through inefficiencies.
        The energy bill Congress is now considering would extend the Energy
    Star program that encourages the sale and production of energy-efficient
    products like super-efficient refrigerators that use less energy than a
    75-watt light bulb. It would encourage energy efficiency and renewable
    energy research that would one day lead to zero-energy homes that
    produce as much energy as they consume.
        If we want to become less dependent on foreign sources of energy,
    we've got to conserve better. And we know from experience we can do
    this. Over the last 25 years, our economy has grown by 110 percent,
    while our energy consumption has grown by only 24 percent. We have
    become more efficient as a nation, and there's more we can do. And the
    bill in front of Congress encourages conservation and efficient use of
    energy.
        Secondly, as we promote conservation, the energy bill must also
    expand domestic energy production in environmentally sensitive ways. We
    have the most innovative economy in the world. America must put its
    innovative spirit to work to make sure we can find and use resources in
    a better way. And we can begin by making sure we can use our most
    abundant energy source in a smart way.
        Our most abundant energy source is coal. We have enough coal to last
    for 250 years, yet coal also presents an environmental challenge. The
    energy bill now being considered before Congress would help us make
    cleaner use of this resource by authorizing more than a billion dollars
    for the Clean Coal Power Initiative, a program that will encourage new
    technologies that remove virtually all pollutants from coal-fired
    powerplants.
        To achieve greater energy security, we have got to harness the power
    of clean coal. We should also open up new areas to environmentally
    responsible exploration for oil and natural gas, including the Arctic
    National Wildlife Refuge.
        The Department of Interior estimates that we could recover more than
    10 billion barrels of oil from a small corner of ANWR

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    that was reserved specifically for energy development. ANWR consists of
    19 million acres of land. Technology now makes it possible to reach
    ANWR's hydrocarbons by drilling on just 2,000 acres of the 19 million
    acres of land. That's just one-tenth of 1 percent of ANWR's total area.
    And we can reach ANWR's oil deposits with almost no impact on land and
    local wildlife. It's important for our citizens to understand how much
    technology has changed. Developing this tiny section of ANWR could
    eventually yield up to a million barrels of oil a day. Do you realize
    that that's more than half of what we import each day from Venezuela,
    for example? The more oil we can produce at home in environmentally
    sensitive ways, the less dependent we are on foreign sources of energy.
        With oil at more than $50 a barrel, by the way, energy companies do
    not need taxpayers-funded incentives to explore for oil and gas. To
    expand domestic energy production, we need to expand our use of nuclear
    power. Today, nuclear power provides about 20 percent of our Nation's
    electricity. It produces without pollution or greenhouse gases. Congress
    needs to send me an energy bill. If we're serious about diversifying
    away from foreign sources of energy, Congress needs to send me a bill
    that includes liability protection and regulatory certainty for nuclear
    powerplants.
        Third, as we increase domestic production of existing resources, an
    energy bill should also help us diversify our Nation's energy supply by
    developing alternative sources of energy. If future generations can
    count on energy in different forms, they're going to be less vulnerable
    to price spikes or shifts in supply of any one form of energy.
        The energy bill should encourage greater use of ethanol. And I like
    the idea of people growing corn that gets converted into energy.
    Somebody walks into the Oval Office and says, ``There's a lot of corn
    being grown, Mr. President.'' Hopefully, that one day will mean we're
    less dependent on foreign sources of energy. The more corn there is, the
    more we have to eat. The more corn there is; the more energy there is.
    And so the bill includes moneys for research to make sure we use
    ethanol. Incredibly enough, we may be able to get ethanol from municipal
    waste dumps or forests.
        In our budget, we've got $2.5 billion in tax credits for the
    purchase of hybrid vehicles. In other words, we're beginning to
    diversify away from old habits. Hybrid vehicles are a part of becoming
    less dependent on foreign sources of energy.
        An energy bill should also help advance another vital project, the
    project I outlined in the State of the Union Address, the hydrogen fuel
    initiative. Two years ago, we launched a crash program to develop
    hydrogen-powered fuel cell vehicles. We've dedicated $1.2 billion over 5
    years to this effort. We know that when hydrogen is used in a fuel cell,
    it has the potential to power anything from a car to a cell phone to a
    computer, that emits pure water instead of exhaust fumes.
        The energy bill, if they get it to my desk, will authorize vital
    funds to help move hydrogen-powered cars from the research lab to the
    dealership lot. With investment now, we can make it possible for today's
    children to take their driver's test in a completely pollution-free car.
        An energy bill should also provide tax credits for renewable power
    sources such as wind and landfill gas. By harnessing innovative
    technologies, we can ensure a cheaper, cleaner, more abundant supply of
    energy for all Americans.
        Fourth, as we diversify our energy supply, we need an energy bill
    that will help us modernize our domestic energy infrastructure. In some
    parts of the country, homes and businesses are receiving 21st century
    power through infrastructure built decades ago. Transmission lines and
    pipelines and generating facilities are deteriorating here in America.
    Different regions

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    share electricity over unreliable transmission lines. And these strains
    on the system are leading to higher prices, bottlenecks in delivery, and
    inefficient use of energy, which we can no longer afford. And just when
    one piece of the power grid fails, the result can be darkness across the
    map, as we learned a couple of years ago. And that hurts small
    businesses. It makes it harder to risk capital. It affects job creation.
    The problems can be solved. Congress needs to act.
        Current law makes it optional, rather than mandatory, for power
    companies to ensure reliability across the electricity grid. Most of you
    consider it mandatory for a light to come on when you flip the switch.
    The Congress should too. [Laughter] An energy bill should repeal
    outdated rules that discourage investment in new power infrastructure,
    should encourage the development of new technologies such as super-
    conductive power lines to make the grid more efficient. In other words,
    we're dealing with old laws that need to be changed and modernized for
    the sake of job creation and job growth.
        And to keep local disputes from causing national problems, Federal
    officials should have the authority to site new power lines. We have
    modern interstate grids for our phone lines and highways. It's time for
    America to save energy by building a modern electricity grid as well.
        The energy bill now before Congress contains the elements of the
    strategy I just outlined. But it's 4 years behind schedule, and now it's
    time for Congress to pass it. I met yesterday with leaders from both
    parties who are going to shepherd the energy bill through the House and
    the Senate. I appreciated the bipartisan discussion we had. I
    appreciated the spirit of trying to get something done. I urged the
    House and the Senate to get the bill by August. I also told them that we
    would help them work out differences, come up with reasonable
    compromises on an issue such as MTBE. In other words, I said I
    understand how important it is to get this moving, and so does Congress
    need to understand how important it is to get this bill moving.
        All measures that I've discussed with you today are designed with
    one overriding goal, to address the root causes of higher energy prices
    and to address our dependency upon foreign sources of energy.
        We're in a situation today because for more than a decade, our
    Nation has not had a comprehensive energy strategy. And we need one now,
    and passing the bill is the first step. An energy bill wouldn't change
    the price at the pump today. I know that, and you know that. It will
    help us make better use of the energy supplies we have. It will make our
    supply of energy more affordable and more secure for the future.
        I've set big goals for this policy; I understand that. You think
    about how comprehensive the strategy is I outlined to you. There's a lot
    we can and will do, and I'm confident we can meet those goals. History
    has shown us, the American innovative spirit is never in short supply.
    And I know we can harness this spirit in this new century. What I'm
    talking about is making sure that we leave our children and
    grandchildren a cleaner, healthier, and more secure America, an America
    that is less dependent on sources of energy from overseas.
        And to achieve these goals, I'm going to need your help. As you work
    the Halls of Congress--and I know you're pretty darn good at it--
    [laughter]--I would like very much for you to visit with the Congress
    and urge them to get an energy bill passed, urge them to rise above the
    kind of partisan bickering that sometimes dominates Capitol Hill and
    focus on this country's interests. And it is in this interest to get me
    an energy bill I can sign by August of this year.
        Thank you for giving me a chance to come by to visit with you. Que
    Dios los bendiga. Thank you all.

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    Note: The President spoke at 1:11 p.m. at the Ronald Reagan Building and
    International Trade Center. The Office of the Press Secretary also
    released a Spanish language transcript of these remarks.