[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2007, Book II)]
[December 3, 2007]
[Pages 1510-1512]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks on Congressional Action on the Legislative Agenda
December 3, 2007

    Good morning. Congress returns from its 2-week Thanksgiving break 
today. They have just 2 weeks to go before they leave town again. That's 
much--that's not really a lot of time to squeeze in nearly a year's 
worth of unfinished business.
    In fairness, Congress was not entirely out over the past 2 weeks. In 
a political maneuver designed to block my ability to make recess 
appointments, congressional leaders arranged for a Senator to come in 
every 3 days or so, bang a gavel, wait for about 30 seconds, bang a 
gavel again, and then leave. Now, under the Senate rules, this counts as 
a full day. If 30 seconds is a full day, no wonder Congress has got a 
lot of work to do.
    Congress needs to start by passing a bill to fund our troops in 
combat. Beginning in February, I submitted detailed funding requests to 
Congress to fund these operations in the war on terror. Yet some in 
Congress are withholding this funding because they want to substitute 
their judgment for that of our military commanders. Instead of listening 
to the judgment of General Petraeus, they 
are threatening to withhold money he needs unless they can mandate an 
arbitrary date of withdrawal.
    This month, more of our troops will return home as a result of the 
success we're seeing in Iraq. People are coming home. For Congress to 
insist on setting an arbitrary date for withdrawal would put the gains 
General Petraeus and our troops have

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made in danger, and that would threaten the security of our country. 
It's unconscionable to deny funds to our troops in harm's way because 
some in Congress want to force a self-defeating policy, especially when 
we're seeing the benefits of success.
    Secretary Gates and other senior 
Pentagon officials say the delay in our funding will means this for our 
military: Unless Congress acts, the Defense Department will soon be 
required to begin giving layoff notices to about 100,000 civilian 
employees. Unless Congress acts, the military task force developing ways 
to better detect and protect our troops from roadside bombs will run out 
of money by early next year. Unless Congress acts, the Army will run out 
of operations and maintenance money in February. Unless Congress acts, 
the Marine Corps will run out of similar funds in March.
    Earlier this year, congressional leaders were trying to impose 
conditions on funds because they said our strategy in Iraq was not 
working. We changed our strategy, and now even many of those who 
initially opposed the surge acknowledge that it is achieving results. It 
is time for Members of Congress to meet their responsibility to our men 
and women in uniform, and they should stay in session until they pass 
these emergency funds for our troops.
    Second, Congress needs to make sure our intelligence professionals 
can continue to monitor terrorist communications. In August, Congress 
passed legislation to help modernize the Foreign Intelligence 
Surveillance Act. That bill closed critical intelligence gaps, allowing 
us to collect important foreign intelligence information about terrorist 
plots. The problem is, the new law expires on February 1st, while the 
threat from the terrorists does not expire.
    The Director of National Intelligence, Mike McConnell, has warned that unless the FISA reforms in the act 
are made permanent, our national security professionals will lose 
critical tools they need to protect our country. Instead of listening to 
the judgment of Director McConnell, some in Congress now want to 
restrict the intelligence tools that help keep the American people safe. 
They are blocking efforts to provide meaningful liability protection to 
those companies now facing multibillion dollar lawsuits only because 
they are believed to have assisted in our efforts to defend our Nation 
following the September the 11th attacks. Congress must stop this 
obstruction and make certain our national security professionals do not 
lose a critical tool for keeping our country safe.
    Third, Congress needs to act immediately to prevent the Alternative 
Minimum Tax from hitting more Americans this year. The AMT was enacted 
in 1969 to ensure that a few hundred wealthy individuals paid their fair 
share of taxes. But when Congress passed the AMT, it was not indexed for 
inflation. As a result, the AMT's higher tax burden is being imposed on 
more and more middle class families.
    Last month, Treasury Secretary Paulson wrote a letter to Members of Congress warning them about 
this: that if they put off an AMT fix, it could delay the delivery of 
about $75 billion worth of tax refund checks. Yet instead of listening 
to Secretary Paulson's warning, Congress continues to delay action. The 
longer Congress delays action, the longer Americans will wait--likely 
wait to get their tax refund checks next year.
    If Congress fails to act, as many as 25 million Americans would be 
subject to AMT. On average, these taxpayers--many of them middle class 
families--would have to send an extra $2,000 to the IRS next April. At a 
time when many Americans are struggling with home mortgages and health 
care costs, the last thing they need is for Congress to stick them with 
an additional tax increase.
    Finally, Congress has important work to do on the Federal budget. 
One of the Congress's most basic duties is to fund the day-to-day 
operations of the Federal Government. Yet only 1 of the 12 spending

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bills has made it into law. Congressional leaders are now talking about 
piling the remaining bills into one monster piece of legislation, which 
they will load up with billions of dollars in earmarks and wasteful 
spending. Now is not the time to burden our economy with wasteful 
Washington spending that will lead to higher taxes. Congressional 
leaders need to do their job and pass the remaining spending bills in a 
fiscally responsible way. And if they send me an irresponsible spending 
bill, I will veto it.
    The end of 2007 is approaching fast, and the new Congress has little 
to show for it. I call on Members to use the time left to support our 
troops and to protect our citizens, prevent harmful tax increases, and 
responsibly fund our Government.
    Thank you.

Note: The President spoke at 9:57 a.m. in the Rose Garden at the White 
House. In his remarks, he referred to Gen. David H. Petraeus, USA, 
commanding general, Multi-National Force--Iraq.