    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2007, Book II)]
    [October 5, 2007]
    [Pages 1290-1291]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks on the National Economy and Homeland Security
    October 5, 2007

        I want to thank members of my economic team for coming into the Oval
    Office this morning to bring some good news here for America's families
    and America's working people. The--last month, our economy added 110,000
    new jobs. And that's good news for people here in our country. It's an
    indicator that this economy is a vibrant and strong economy.
        The folks briefed me on the fact that they are--numbers for July and
    August were revised--the job numbers, job creation numbers. And this
    economy added 118,000 new jobs in July and August as well. This means--
    with these revisions, it means that we've had 49 consecutive months of
    job creation. And that's the longest uninterrupted job growth on record
    for our country.
        You know, I am really pleased with the economic news, but I don't
    take good news for granted. I understand people are worried about their
    mortgage payments or concerned about sending their child to college. I
    know that people are concerned whether or not they're going to have
    enough money to meet their needs. And so my call to the United States
    Congress is, keep taxes low. If you want this economy continue to grow
    and if you want to reinforce the fact that we've got--entrepreneurship
    is strong and people are working, don't raise taxes.
        And I'm looking forward to working with the Congress to set
    priorities on how we spend the people's money. But I also am going to
    make it very clear to people in Congress that we're not going to raise
    the taxes on the working people.
        And so I'm real pleased. I thank you all for coming in to bring this
    good news to me. It's--this good news is a real tribute to the hard-
    working Americans, the people out there working hard to put food on the
    table. And it's a tribute to the entrepreneurial spirit of the country.
        I want to say something else. There's been a lot of talk in the
    newspapers and on TV about a program that I put in motion to detain and
    question terrorists and extremists. I have put this program in place for
    a reason, and that is to better protect the American people. And when we
    find somebody who may have information regarding an--a potential attack
    on America, you bet we're going to detain them, and you bet we're going
    to question them, because the American people expect us to find out
    information, actionable intelligence so we can help them, help protect
    them. That's our job.
        Secondly, this Government does not torture people. You know, we
    stick to U.S. law and our international obligations.
        Thirdly, there are highly trained professionals questioning these
    extremists and terrorists. In other words, we got professionals

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    who are trained in this kind of work to get information that will
    protect the American people. And by the way, we have gotten information
    from these high-value detainees that have helped protect you.
        And finally, the techniques that we use have been fully disclosed to
    appropriate Members of the United States Congress. The American people
    expect their Government to take action to protect them from further
    attack. And that's exactly what this Government is doing, and that's
    exactly what we'll continue to do.
        Thank you very much.

    Note: The President spoke at 9:54 a.m. in the Oval Office at the White
    House.