    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2007, Book II)]
    [December 1, 2007]
    [Pages 1509-1510]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    The President's Radio Address
    December 1, 2007

        Good morning. Next week, Congress returns from its Thanksgiving
    recess. Members are coming back to a lot of unfinished business. And the
    clock will be ticking because they have only a few weeks to get their
    work done before leaving again for Christmas.
        Congress must address four critical priorities. First, Congress
    needs to pass a bill to fund our troops in combat. Second, Congress
    needs to make sure our intelligence professionals can continue to
    monitor terrorist communications so we can prevent attacks against our
    people. Third, Congress needs to pass a bill to protect middle class
    families from higher taxes. And fourth, Congress needs to pass all the
    remaining appropriations bills to keep the Federal Government running.
        Congress's first priority should be to provide the funds and
    flexibility to keep our troops safe and help them protect our Nation.
    Beginning in February, I submitted detailed funding requests to Congress
    to fund operations in the war on terror. Our military has waited on
    these funds for months. The funds include money to carry out combat
    operations against the enemy in Afghanistan and Iraq. They include money
    to train the Afghan and Iraqi security forces to take on more
    responsibility for the defense of their countries. And they include
    money for intelligence operations to protect our troops on the
    battlefield.
        Pentagon officials recently warned Congress that continued delay in
    funding our troops will soon begin to have a damaging impact on the
    operations of our military. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has already notified Congress that he will transfer
    money from accounts used to fund other activities of the military
    services to pay for current operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, and no
    more money can be moved. So he has directed the Army and Marine Corps to
    develop a plan to lay off civilian employees, terminate contracts, and
    prepare our military bases across the country for reduced operations.
    Military leaders have told us what they need to do their job. It is time
    for the Congress to do its job and give our troops what they need to
    protect America.
        Another priority Congress must address is the Foreign Intelligence
    Surveillance Act, or FISA. FISA provides a critical legal framework that
    allows our intelligence community to monitor terrorist communications
    while protecting the freedoms of the American people. Unfortunately, the
    law is dangerously out of date. In August, Congress passed legislation
    to help modernize FISA. That bill closed critical intelligence gaps,
    allowing us to collect important foreign intelligence. The problem is,
    this new law expires on February 1st, while the threat from our
    terrorist enemies does not.
        Congress must take action now to keep the intelligence gaps closed
    and make certain our national security professionals do not lose a
    critical tool for keeping America safe. As part of these efforts,
    Congress also needs to provide meaningful liability protection to those
    companies now facing multibillion dollar lawsuits only because they are
    believed to have assisted in the efforts to defend our Nation following
    the 9/11 attacks.
        Congress's third priority should be to fix the Alternative Minimum
    Tax. The AMT was designed to ensure that the wealthy paid their fair
    share of taxes. But when Congress passed the AMT decades ago, it was not
    indexed for inflation. As a result, the AMT's higher tax burden is
    creeping up on more and more middle class families. If Congress fails to
    pass legislation to fix the AMT, as many as 25 million Americans would
    be subject to the AMT. On average, these taxpayers would have to send an
    extra

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    $2,000 to the IRS next year. This is a huge tax increase that taxpayers
    do not deserve and Congress must stop.
        Finally, Congress has important work to do on the budget. One of
    Congress's most basic duties is to fund the day-to-day operations of the
    Federal Government. Yet we are in the final month of the year, and
    Congress still has work to do on 11 of the 12 annual spending bills.
    Congressional leaders are now talking about piling all these bills into
    one monstrous piece of legislation, which they will load up with
    billions of dollars in earmarks and porkbarrel spending.
        This is not what congressional leaders promised when they took
    control of the Congress at the start of the year. In January, one
    congressional leader declared, ``No longer can we
    waste time here in the Capitol, while families in America struggle to
    get ahead.'' He was right. Congressional leaders need to keep their word
    and pass the remaining spending bills in a fiscally responsible way.
        The end of the year is approaching fast, and Americans are working
    hard to finish up their business. Yet when it comes to getting its
    business done, Congress is only getting started. Members of Congress now
    have only a few weeks left before they head home for the holidays.
    Before they do so, I urge them to do their job: fund our troops, protect
    our citizens, provide taxpayers relief, and responsibly fund our
    Government.
        Thank you for listening.

    Note: The address was recorded at 7:30 a.m. on November 30 in the
    Cabinet Room at the White House for broadcast at 10:06 a.m. on December
    1. The transcript was made available by the Office of the Press
    Secretary on November 30, but was embargoed for release until the
    broadcast. The Office of the Press Secretary also released a Spanish
    language transcript of this address.