[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2008, Book I)]
[February 23, 2008]
[Pages 259-260]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



The President's Radio Address
February 23, 2008

    Good morning. This Thursday, Laura and I 
returned from an inspiring visit to Africa. In Benin and Tanzania, we 
met leaders who are fighting HIV/AIDS and malaria and people whose lives 
have been saved by the generosity of the American people. In Rwanda, we 
saw a nation overcoming the pain of genocide with courage and grace and 
hope. In Ghana, we met entrepreneurs who are exporting their products 
and building a more prosperous future. And in Liberia, we saw a nation 
that is recovering from civil war, led by the first democratically 
elected woman President on the 
continent. Laura and I returned to Washington impressed by the energy, 
optimism, and potential of the African people.
    Members of Congress will soon be returning to Washington as well, 
and they have urgent business to attend to. They left town on a 10-day 
recess without passing vital legislation giving our intelligence 
professionals the tools they need to quickly and effectively monitor 
foreign terrorist communications. Congress's failure to pass this 
legislation was irresponsible. It will leave our Nation increasingly 
vulnerable to attack, and Congress must fix this damage to our national 
security immediately.
    The way ahead is clear. The Senate has already passed a good bill by 
an overwhelming bipartisan majority. This bill has strong bipartisan 
support in the House of Representatives and would pass if given an up-
or-down vote. But House leaders are blocking this legislation, and the 
reason can be summed up in three words: class-action lawsuits.
    The Senate bill would prevent plaintiffs' attorneys from suing 
companies believed to have helped defend America after the 
9/11 attacks. More than 40 of these lawsuits have been filed, seeking 
hundreds of billions of dollars in damages from these companies. It is 
unfair and unjust to threaten these companies with financial ruin only 
because they are believed to have done the right thing and helped their 
country.
    But the highest cost of all is to our national security. Without 
protection from lawsuits, private companies will be increasingly 
unwilling to take the risk of helping us with vital intelligence 
activities. After the Congress failed to act last week, one 
telecommunications company executive was

[[Page 260]]

asked by the Wall Street Journal how his company would respond to a 
request for help. He answered that because of the threat of lawsuits, 
quote: ``I'm not doing it. I'm not going to do something voluntarily.'' 
In other words, the House's refusal to act is undermining our ability to 
get cooperation from private companies, and that undermines our efforts 
to protect us from terrorist attack.
    Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell recently explained that the vast majority of the 
communications infrastructure we rely on in the United States is owned 
and operated by the private sector. Because of the failure to provide 
liability protection, he says, private companies who have ``willingly 
helped us in the past are now saying, `You can't protect me. Why should 
I help you?''' Senator Jay Rockefeller, the Democratic chairman of the Senate 
Intelligence Committee, puts it this way: ``The fact is, if we lose 
cooperation from these or other private companies, our national security 
will suffer.''
    When Congress reconvenes on Monday, Members of the House have a 
choice to make: They can empower the trial bar, or they can empower the 
intelligence community. They can help class-action trial lawyers sue for 
billions of dollars, or they can help our intelligence officials protect 
millions of lives. They can put our national security in the hands of 
plaintiffs' lawyers, or they can entrust it to the men and women of our 
Government who work day and night to keep us safe.
    As they make their choice, Members of Congress must never forget: 
Somewhere in the world, at this very moment, terrorists are planning the 
next attack on America. And to protect America from such attacks, we 
must protect our telecommunications companies from abusive lawsuits.
    Thank you for listening.

Note: The address was recorded at 10 a.m. on February 22 in the Cabinet 
Room at the White House for broadcast at 10:06 a.m. on February 23. The 
transcript was made available by the Office of the Press Secretary on 
February 22, but was embargoed for release until the broadcast. In his 
address, the President referred to President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of 
Liberia. The Office of the Press Secretary also released a Spanish 
language transcript of this address.