    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2005, Book II)]
    [August 10, 2005]
    [Pages 1320-1322]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks on Signing the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient
    Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users in Montgomery, Illinois
    August 10, 2005

        Thank you. Please be seated. Thanks. Thanks for the warm welcome.
    It's such an honor to be here at Caterpillar. I want to thank the men
    and women who build the machinery here. I want to thank you for your
    hard work. I want to thank you for your--for putting out a great
    product.
        And I'm here to sign the highway bill because I believe by signing
    this bill, when it's fully implemented, there's going to be more demand
    for the machines you make here. And because there's more demand for the
    machines you make here, there's going to be more jobs created around
    places like this facility. So thanks for letting us come.
        I was telling some of the fellows I met behind the stage that
    there's a Cat working on the ranch right now. [Laughter] And I'm not
    driving it. [Laughter]
        I'm honored to be here with Denny Hastert. The best words that I've recently heard were these:
    Denny Hastert is running for office again. Denny Hastert is a great
    Speaker of the House of Representatives. He also loves his district, and
    he loves the people in his district. He was telling me the other day--
    other day, just a second ago, that he finished in the top 55 in his high
    school class. [Laughter] And the high school was right around the
    corner. He also mentioned that there was only 55 people in his class.
    [Laughter] He's been here a long time, and he's seen this district grow
    and change and--but he's always had a heart for the people here. And I'm
    thrilled his wife, Jean, and his family is with
    us today as well. Thank you all for coming.
        Somebody said the Governor may be here. Governor, if you're here,
    thanks for being--there he is. Governor Blagojevich, I'm honored you're here. I appreciate you coming. Last
    time I saw you was at the Lincoln Library opening, and you were kind to
    be there then, and you're kind to be here today. I'm proud you're here.
        With me today is the Secretary of Transportation, Norm
    Mineta. Norm is doing a fantastic job as
    our Secretary of Transportation.
        We've got key Members from the United States Senate and the United
    States House

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    who are here to witness this bill signing. Senator Jim Inhofe from the State of Oklahoma is with us today. He flew
    down--up from Texas. He and Senator Kit Bond from Missouri were the main leaders in the United
    States Senate to get this bill done. I'm proud they're here. Thank you
    for coming.
        Congressman Jim Oberstar from
    Minnesota is with us. Congressman Tom Petri
    from Wisconsin is with us--two key members on the committee. And you
    don't know the next one, but we do, and we know him well. He's a man of
    great accomplishment. He's the chairman of the House Ways and Means. He
    was very instrumental in getting the highway bill out of the House and
    out of the conference, and that's Congressman Bill Thomas.
        I want to thank the members of the Illinois delegation that are here
    today: Senator Dick Durbin, Senator Barack
    Obama, Congressman Jerry Costello, Congressman Bobby Rush,
    Congressman Ray LaHood, Congresswoman Judy
    Biggert, Congressman Rahm
    Emanuel, Congresswoman Melissa Bean. Thank you all for coming.
        Somebody said His Honor may be here. There he is. Mr. Mayor, thank
    you for coming. I have gotten to know Mayor Daley over the last 5 years. I got to know him in the 2000
    campaign in a way that wasn't all that pleasant, frankly. [Laughter] Let
    me just say, you want him on your side. [Laughter] But since I have
    become the President, he has been on the side of doing what he thinks
    right for Chicago. He is a great mayor of a great city, and I'm proud
    the mayor is here.
        Last 4 years, this economy has been through a lot. You know what I'm
    talking about. We've been through a recession, the stock market
    declined, corporate scandals. We had an attack on the homeland, and
    we've had the demands on our ongoing war against the terrorists. To grow
    the economy and help the American families, we acted. We passed
    significant tax relief. And the economic stimulus plan we passed is
    working. Thanks to the efforts of our workers and entrepreneurs, this
    economy is strong, and it is getting stronger.
        Real disposable personal income is up. Homeownership is at an
    alltime high. Small businesses are flourishing. And last week, we
    learned that we've added over 200,000 new jobs in the month of July. The
    national unemployment rate is 5 percent. Since May of 2003, we've added
    nearly 4 million new jobs. More Americans are working today than ever
    before in our Nation's history.
        But we recognize in Washington, more needs to be done. That's one of
    the reasons I signed an energy bill. In order to keep this economy
    growing, we've got to become less dependent on foreign sources of oil.
        And that's why I'm proud to be here to sign this transportation
    bill, because our economy depends on us having the most efficient,
    reliable transportation system in the world. If we want people working
    in America, we've got to make sure our highways and roads are modern.
    We've got to bring up this transportation system into the 21st century.
    I mean, you can't expect your farmers to be able to get goods to market
    if we don't have a good road system. You can't expect to get these
    Caterpillar products all around the United States if we don't have a
    good road system.
        This road system that we have is going to be modernized through the
    Transportation Equity Act. It provides more than $286 billion over 6
    years to upgrade our Nation's network of roads and bridges and mass
    transit systems. The Transportation Act will finance needed road
    improvements and will ease traffic congestion in communities all across
    this country.
        Here in Illinois, as the Speaker
    mentioned, one of the key projects that he's been talking to me about
    for quite a while is what they call the Prairie Parkway. I thought that
    might be in Texas, but, no, it's right here in Illinois. [Laughter] Good
    folks understand what that means to the quality of life around here,
    when you have a highway that will connect Interstate 80

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    and Interstate 88. The Prairie Parkway is crucial for economic progress
    for Kane and Kendall counties, which happen to be two of the fastest
    growing counties in the United States.
        In other words, this bill is going to help modernize the highway
    system and improve quality of life for a lot of people. And these
    projects will require workers. Highways just don't happen; people have
    got to show up and do the work to refit a highway or build a bridge. And
    they need new equipment to do so. So the bill I'm signing is going to
    help give hundreds of thousands of Americans good paying jobs.
        This bill upgrades our transportation infrastructure, and it will
    help save lives. The bill establishes a safety belt incentive grant
    program, which will provide incentives for States to adopt laws that
    increase seat belt usage. Under this bill, the National Highway Traffic
    Safety Administration will set stability standards to help prevent
    vehicle rollovers.
        In other words, this is more than just a highway bill; it's a safety
    bill. The American people expect us to provide them with the safest
    possible transportation system, and this bill helps fulfill that
    obligation. This law makes our highways and mass transit systems safer
    and better, and it will help more people find work. And it accomplishes
    goals in a fiscally responsible way. We are not raising gasoline taxes
    in order to pay for this bill.
        Our Secretary of Transportation, Norm Mineta, will work to ensure
    that taxpayers get the most from this bill and that projects are
    delivered on time and on budget.
        The United States Congress can be proud of what it has achieved in
    the Transportation Equity Act, and I'm proud to be right here in Denny
    Hastert's district to sign it.
        Thank you all for coming. May God bless you.

    Note: The President spoke at 10:39 a.m. in the Caterpillar-Aurora
    Facility. In his remarks, he referred to Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich of
    Illinois; and Mayor Richard M. Daley of Chicago, IL. H.R. 3, approved
    August 10, was assigned Public Law No. 109-59.