    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2007, Book II)]
    [December 29, 2007]
    [Pages 1594-1595]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    The President's Radio Address
    December 29, 2007

        Good morning. New Year's Day will soon be upon us, and with it will
    come New Year's resolutions. This weekend is a good time to give thanks
    for our blessings and to resolve to do better in the coming year.
        One of our greatest blessings as Americans is that we live in a
    country with a growing economy, where people can pursue their dreams,
    turn ideas into enterprises, and provide for their families. It is a
    measure of our economy's resilience that even with high oil prices and
    softness in the housing market, we're still growing. In November, our
    economy added jobs for the 51st straight month, making this the longest
    period of uninterrupted job growth on record. Unemployment is a low 4.7
    percent. Exports are up. And the fundamentals of our economy are strong.
        Economic statistics are important indicators. Yet it is more
    important to remember that behind all these numbers are real people.
    These people include the entrepreneurs who live their dreams by starting
    up new businesses. These people include small-business owners who create
    most of the new jobs in our economy. And most of all, these people
    include the tens of millions of working moms and dads whose jobs provide
    for their families.
        I know that even in this growing economy, some of you have real
    concerns. Some of you worry about your ability to afford health care
    coverage for your families. Some of you are concerned about meeting

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    your monthly mortgage payments. Some of you worry about the impact of
    rising energy costs on fueling your cars and heating your homes. You
    expect your elected leaders in Washington to address these pressures on
    our economy and give you more options to help you deal with them. And I
    have put forth several proposals to do so.
        In the last month, Congress has responded to some of my initiatives.
    They passed a good energy bill, they passed a temporary patch to protect
    middle class families from the burden of the Alternative Minimum Tax,
    and they passed a law that will help protect families from higher taxes
    when their lenders reduce their mortgage debt. But this is only a start.
    Congress needs to do more to decrease America's dependence on oil.
    Congress needs to pass legislation that will help make health care
    coverage more affordable for small businesses and workers who buy their
    own policies. And Congress needs to act quickly on the rest of my
    proposals to help families struggling with rising mortgage payments keep
    their homes.
        Most of all, we need to set a good example in Washington by being
    careful with your money. I'm disappointed that leaders in Congress sent
    me a massive spending bill that includes about 9,800 earmarks. Earmarks
    are special interest items that are slipped into big spending bills like
    this one, often at the last hour, without discussion or debate. Among
    the earmarks Congress approved was one for a prison museum and another
    for a sailing school. In the last election, congressional leaders ran on
    a promise that they would reform earmarks. They made some progress, but
    not nearly enough. So my administration is reviewing options to address
    wasteful earmark spending.
        As we address earmarks, we also must restrain spending, keep taxes
    low, and continue on a path towards a balanced budget. And that is what
    the budget I submit in February will do. You work hard for your money
    and to live within your means. As you provide for your families, the
    last thing you need is wasteful spending that will lead to a tax hike.
    My resolution for the New Year is this: to work with Congress to keep
    our economy growing, to keep your tax burden low, and to ensure that the
    money you send to Washington is spent wisely or not at all.
        Thank you for listening, and happy New Year.

    Note: The address was recorded at 8:20 a.m. on December 28 at the Bush
    Ranch in Crawford, TX, for broadcast at 10:06 a.m. on December 29. The
    transcript was made available by the Office of the Press Secretary on
    December 28, but was embargoed for release until the broadcast. The
    Office of the Press Secretary also released a Spanish language
    transcript of this address.