    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2007, Book I)]
    [February 5, 2007]
    [Pages 100-102]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks Following a Cabinet Meeting and an Exchange With Reporters
    February 5, 2007

        The President. I appreciate my Cabinet joining me today as we
    discussed our budget. Today we submit a budget to the United States
    Congress that shows we can balance the budget in 5 years without raising
    taxes.
        Our economy is strong because of good policy and because the
    entrepreneurial spirit is strong. By keeping taxes down, we actually
    generate strong revenues to the Treasury.
        And I appreciate Director Portman
    helping us devise a plan that sets priorities and, at the same time,
    emphasizes fiscal restraint. Our priority is to protect the American
    people, and our priority is to make sure our troops have what it takes
    to do their jobs. We also have got priorities in national parks and
    education and health care. But we have proven--and I strongly believe
    Congress needs to listen to a budget which has no tax increase and a
    budget, because of fiscal discipline, that can be balanced in 5 years.
        Secondly, I strongly believe that Congress needs to do something on
    earmarks. In order to make sure that we're fiscally responsible with the
    people's money, Congress needs to make sure that when they spend the
    people's money, there's transparency and an up-or-down vote for each
    item. As well, I believe the President needs to have the line-item veto.
    It's one thing to get the size of the budget pie right; it's another
    thing to make sure that the slices in that pie meet national priorities.
        And so the budget that Director Portman is going to be talking about is realistic, it's
    achievable, and it's got good reforms in it. So thank you very much.
    Looking forward

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    to working with the Congress to get this budget passed.
        I'll answer a couple of questions. Ben [Ben Feller, Associated
    Press].

    Federal Budget

        Q. Mr. President, thank you. You've opposed setting timelines for
    troop withdrawal in Iraq; yet, your new budget plan assumes that war
    spending will be down to 50 billion by 2009 and none beyond that. Are
    you, in effect, sir, setting a timeline for the end of the war?
        The President. Ben, we've had years of projections in the past. In
    other words, we've said to the Congress: ``Here's what our anticipated
    expenditure is in the short term.'' And we've been able to manage our
    budgets with 5 years of war behind us, and we'll manage the budgets in
    the out years. There will be no timetable set. And the reason why is, is
    because we don't want to send mixed signals to an enemy or to a
    struggling democracy or to our troops.
        Toby [Tabassum Zakaria, Reuters].

    Progress in Iraq

        Q. Mr. President, how do you respond to some criticism from the
    Iraqis that the reason for the recent escalation of violence in Iraq is
    because the United States has been too slow to implement its new
    strategy?
        The President. Well, General Petraeus
    is heading to Iraq this week, early this--tomorrow. And my message is,
    is that both of us, the Iraqis and the U.S. and coalition forces, have
    got to get this plan in place as quickly as possible. Of course, we want
    the plan to work, and we want to make sure that the strategy we've
    implemented--or the strategy we've outlined is implemented properly.
        I appreciate the fact that the Iraqi Government is anxious to get
    security inside the capital of the country. That's a good sign. It's a
    good sign that there's a sense of concern and anxiety. It means that the
    Government understands they have a responsibility to protect their
    people. And we want to help them. What we're trying to do with this
    reinforcement of our troops is to provide enough space so that the Iraqi
    Government can meet certain benchmarks or certain requirements for a
    unity government to survive and for the country to be strong.
        I had to make a decision as to whether or not we were going to allow
    the status quo to continue. And the status quo wasn't acceptable. I
    listened to a lot of people in Congress as to whether or not we ought to
    slowly withdraw and redeploy troops. My worry about that was that the
    capital would get worse, and out of that chaos would come grave danger
    to the United States. And so I listened to a lot of other folks,
    including our military, and said: ``Look, we got to take care and help
    these Iraqis take care of the violence inside of Baghdad.''
        And that's why I made the decision I made, and we're in the process
    of implementing that plan. We'd like to do it as quickly as possible.
    The success of that plan is going to depend upon the capacity and
    willingness of the Iraqis to do hard work, and we want to help them do
    that work. And the fact that Government officials are now saying that
    it's time to start implementing the plan is a good sign. It shows that
    they understand that now is the time to do the things necessary to
    protect their people.
        Thank you.

    Note: The President spoke at 10:48 a.m. in the Cabinet Room at the White
    House. In his remarks, he referred to Gen. David H. Petraeus, USA,
    incoming commanding general, Multi-National Force--Iraq.

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