[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2006, Book II)]
[September 4, 2006]
[Pages 1597-1599]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks on Labor Day in Piney Point, Maryland
September 4, 2006

    The President. Thank you all. Please be seated. Happy Labor Day.
    Audience members. Happy Labor Day.
    The President. Yes, thanks. Listen, I'm thrilled that Michael invited me to come and visit with you this Labor Day. 
But this isn't the first time he invited me. [Laughter] He invited me 
for last year, and I committed. And then we had a terrible storm hit, 
and I hope you understood--understand why I needed to be there than up 
here last year.
    Now he invited me again. And I couldn't 
wait to say yes and couldn't wait to come here. I must confess, Michael, 
I didn't realize how strong your facility--facilities are here. I wasn't 
sure what to expect, but this is a fantastic facility. It speaks to your 
leadership and the leadership and the importance of your union. And so 
here on Labor Day, I say to the union members who are here, happy Labor 
Day, and thanks for supporting leadership that is progressive, smart, 
capable, and has your best interests at heart.
    I'm proud to be here with the family members. Michael, thanks for inviting family members. As you know, I 
think family is an important part of life, and that--invite the family 
here--families here today was a smart thing to do. And I look forward to 
shaking as many hands as I can this morning.
    Today on Labor Day, we honor those who work. And we honor those who 
work because, in so doing, we recognize that one of the reasons why 
we're the economic leader in the world is because of our workforce. And 
the fundamental question facing the country is, how do we continue to be 
the economic leader in the world? What do we do to make sure that when 
people look around the world next year and 10 years from now, they say, 
``The United States is still the most powerful economy in the world''? I 
think that's an important goal to have, because when we're the most 
powerful economy in the world, it means our people benefit. It means 
there's job opportunities. That's what we want. We want people working. 
We want people to realize their dreams.
    And so the best thing to do is to keep progrowth economic policies 
in place as the first step to making sure we're the most powerful 
economy in the world. And I think that means keeping those taxes low, 
letting you keep more of your own money. See, when you have more money 
in your pocket, you get to spend the money. You get to make the 
decisions. And the fundamental question facing government is, who best 
to spend your money, you or the government? I believe you ought to do 
it.
    So we ought to make the tax relief permanent. I like it when people 
are working for a living, having more after-tax money in their pocket. 
That's what I like. And I think that ought to be a policy of the United 
States Government. So to make sure that we're the economic leader of the 
world, we got to keep taxes low.
    But we also got to do some other things that's smart, and it starts 
with making sure our workers have the skills necessary to compete in the 
21st century. And that's one of the primary reasons I came to this 
facility.
    Now, I just happened to be over here at the training building, and 
they put me behind the wheel of a Coast Guard cutter in Baltimore 
Harbor, and they made the boat rock a little bit. [Laughter] And I got 
slightly discombobulated. [Laughter] It's one of the most amazing 
training tools I have ever seen. But it shows this union's commitment, 
along with industry's commitment, to making sure that those who pilot 
the boats, those who are engineers on the

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boats, have the absolute best training possible. See, as we constantly--
as the world constantly changes, we better make sure that our workforce 
has the skills necessary to compete if we want to be the world's leading 
economy.
    And so I applaud the Seafarers Union, and I applaud the employers 
working together to make sure that those who work for a living have what 
it takes to be competitive. And we got to make sure that's the case 
throughout all the workforce. And we got to make sure that our community 
colleges are accessible to people who need to gain new skills of the 
21st century. See, as the workforce stays productive--in other words, if 
you keep getting a good education, it increases your standard of living, 
but also helps this country remain strong economically.
    A couple of other things we need to do as well. We got to do 
something about energy in order to make sure that we're competitive, 
that this economy will remain strong, that people are able to find work. 
By the way, the unemployment rate is 4.7 percent. That's a good sign if 
you're somebody looking for a job. It means people are working here in 
the United States.
    But one thing is clear, is that dependence on foreign oil 
jeopardizes our capacity to grow. I mean, the problem is, we get oil 
from some parts of the world and they simply don't like us. And so the 
more dependent we are on that type of energy, the less likely it will be 
that we are able to compete and--so people have good, high-paying jobs.
    And so I've got a plan to work with--to spend money on technologies. 
See, the technological development here at this school has been 
dramatic. Well, we can achieve the same technological breakthroughs when 
it comes to energy. And that starts with how we drive our automobiles. 
You know, one of these days, you're going to have a--batteries in your 
automobile that will enable you to drive the first 40 miles without 
gasoline, and your car doesn't have to look like a golf cart. [Laughter] 
I mean, I bet the people down in this part of the world like to drive 
pickups, Mike. [Laughter] But we're going to 
have a battery that makes those pickups go.
    And the reason why is, is that we're spending money to develop new 
technologies to enable us to become less dependent on oil. And that 
makes sense. And so in order to think about how we remain competitive as 
a nation, we've got to be aggressive in promoting new technologies, 
particularly on the energy front.
    You know, in the Midwest, a lot of people are beginning to fuel 
their cars with more and more ethanol. Ethanol is derived from corn. So 
you've got to get out there growing corn. The corn goes into an ethanol 
plant, and out comes fuel to drive the car. That seems to make a lot of 
sense to me, to say, in order to become less dependent on foreign oil, 
why don't we become more reliant upon America's farmers to produce 
energy for our automobiles. And that's the kinds of things we're doing.
    You know, we flew over--coming here, we flew over a nuclear 
powerplant, and it's a modern, safe plant. In my judgment, this country 
ought to continue to expand nuclear power if we want to become less 
dependent on foreign sources of energy. Nuclear power is safe; nuclear 
power is clean; and nuclear power is renewable. And so what I'm telling 
you is, and what I want the country to understand is, is that 
technologies has enabled this workforce, this union to become--have a 
more productive workforce; technology is going to enable us to become 
less dependent on oil. And we've got to continue to pursue technologies.
    And finally, one of the ways to make sure that we're a competitive 
nation is to continue opening up markets for U.S. products. If I was 
somebody who was driving a ship or an engineer on a ship, I'd want to 
hear a President say, ``We want you to be selling U.S. products--
transporting U.S.

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products around the world.'' See, we've got 5 percent of the world's 
people here in the United States, which means 95 percent are potential 
customers. And therefore, it's important for us to be aggressive about 
opening up markets.
    And my message to the world is this: Just treat us the way we treat 
you. That's all we expect. We just want the rules to be fair--because I 
believe this country can compete with anybody, anytime, anywhere, so 
long as the rules are fair.
    So Mike asked me to come and talk about 
ways to make sure we're competitive. He said, ``What are you going to 
do, Mr. President? There you are; things are going okay now, but what 
about 5 years from now; what will the world look like?'' And I hope here 
are some good ideas for you to think about, about how to make sure that 
the United States is competitive.
    In the meantime, it's important for Presidents to embrace the Jones 
Act. Sacco's constantly talking to me about 
that. I have, so far, 5\1/2\ years as the President, supported the Jones 
Act and will continue to do so as the President.
    I can't help but look at a man over there in uniform and think about 
our military right now on Labor Day. First, thank you for serving. And 
our soldiers and sailors and Coast Guard men and marines and Air Force 
have got to understand this--that this country supports them in the 
mission; that they may hear all the political discourse going on, but 
the people of this country, the people of the United States of America 
stand squarely behind the men and women who wear our uniform. And on 
Labor Day, we think about those who are sacrificing for our freedom and 
peace, and we think about their families too.
    And so I want to thank you for greeting me. I look forward to coming 
to say hello to you. I appreciate you taking time out of your day to say 
hi. I know you're a little disappointed that Laura didn't come. [Laughter] You probably wish she'd have 
come and I stayed at home. [Laughter] But she sends her greetings. God 
bless you all, and may God continue to bless the United States of 
America.

Note: The President spoke at 11:38 a.m. at the Paul Haul Center for 
Maritime Training and Education. In his remarks, he referred to Michael 
Sacco, president, Seafarers International Union of North America, AFL-
CIO.