[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2007, Book I)]
[January 6, 2007]
[Pages 11-13]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



The President's Radio Address
January 6, 2007

    Good morning. Earlier this week, the newly elected Members of the 
House and the Senate took their oaths of office and became part of the 
110th Congress. I congratulate them all, and I look forward to working 
with them over the next 2 years.
    Since the November elections, I've had a number of productive 
meetings with the new leaders in Congress, including Speaker of the 
House Nancy Pelosi, House Minority Leader John 
Boehner, Senate Majority Leader Harry 
Reid, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch 
McConnell. I was encouraged 
by our discussions, and I'm confident that we can find common ground in 
our efforts to serve our fellow citizens and to move our country 
forward.

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    One area where we are already finding agreement is in our effort to 
spend the people's money wisely. This week, I announced that I will 
submit a 5-year budget proposal that will balance the Federal budget by 
2012, while making the tax relief we passed permanent. Some Democrats 
have indicated that balancing the budget is a top priority for them as 
well. By holding the line on spending and continuing our progrowth 
policies, we can balance the budget and address the most urgent needs of 
our Nation, which are winning the war on terror and maintaining a strong 
national defense, keeping our economy growing and creating jobs.
    We also see bipartisan agreement emerging on reforming the earmark 
process in Congress. Earmarks are spending provisions that are often 
slipped into bills at the last minute, so they rarely get debated or 
discussed. Many earmarks divert precious funds away from vital 
priorities like national defense and education to wasteful porkbarrel 
projects. I appreciate Democratic leaders who have pledged to maintain 
our current levels of spending without additional earmarks this year. 
And I support the temporary moratorium on all new earmarks announced by 
the Democrats.
    This is a good start, but I believe we can do more. This week, I 
proposed my own earmark reforms, which would make the earmark process 
more transparent, end the practice of concealing earmarks in so-called 
report language never included in legislation, and cut the number and 
costs of earmarks by at least half. These commonsense reforms will help 
prevent billions of taxpayers' dollars from being spent on unnecessary 
earmarks.
    Another area where Democrats and Republicans can work together is in 
the effort to improve our schools. We have done so before. In my first 
year as President, Democrats and Republicans saw that our schools were 
failing too many students, so we worked together to pass the No Child 
Left Behind Act. This good law gave our schools new resources, and in 
return, we asked them to show results. By setting high standards and 
measuring student progress, we're holding schools accountable for 
teaching every student to read, write, add, and subtract.
    Since No Child Left Behind was passed, we have seen major 
improvements in student achievement all across America. In reading, 9-
year-olds have made larger gains in the last 5 years of the test than in 
the previous 28 years. In math, 9-year-olds and 13-year-olds earned the 
highest scores in the history of the test. And in both reading and math, 
African American and Hispanic students are scoring higher and starting 
to close the achievement gap.
    This year, the No Child Left Behind Act is up for reauthorization. 
I'm confident that both parties can work together to help our Nation's 
students. By reauthorizing this important legislation, we can help make 
our schools a gateway to opportunity for every child.
    With this new Congress and new year, Democrats and Republicans will 
have many opportunities to serve the American people. We must rise to 
meet those opportunities and build a stronger and more compassionate 
nation for generations to come.
    Thank you for listening.

Note: The address was recorded at 7:50 a.m. on January 5 in the Cabinet 
Room at the White House for broadcast at 10:06 a.m. on January 6. The 
transcript was made available by the Office of the Press Secretary on 
January 5, but was embargoed for release until the broadcast. The Office 
of the Press Secretary also released a Spanish language transcript of 
this address.

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