[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2008, Book II)]
[October 2, 2008]
[Pages 1265-1266]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks Following a Meeting With Business Leaders on Economic 
Stabilization
October 2, 2008

    I want to thank the job creators who have joined me here today to 
talk about the state of the economy and the need for the House of 
Representatives to pass the bill that passed the Senate last night with 
an overwhelming bipartisan majority.
    Our discussion today centered around credit. I know there's a lot of 
discussions

[[Page 1266]]

in the newspapers and on TV about the credit freeze. Well, let me tell 
you what this means. It means that if you're running a small company and 
you need to make payroll or you need to make sure you got inventory to 
be able to sell a product or you want to expand so you can hire 
somebody, you need to have credit. You need to be able to have money on 
a regular basis from your local banker.
    And the problem is, because people are worried about the future, 
they're worried the Government won't act, credit is frozen. People 
aren't lending money from bank to bank, or they're not lending money to 
our medium- and small-sized businesses.
    And that means people's jobs are in jeopardy. And the bill that's 
before the House of Representatives tomorrow is a bill that has got the 
best chance of providing liquidity, providing credit, providing money so 
small businesses and medium-sized businesses can function.
    A lot of people are watching the House of Representatives now to 
determine whether or not they will be able to act positively on a bill 
that has been improved. People say, ``What do you mean by that?'' Well, 
the insurance for the FDIC goes up to $250,000. That's an improvement to 
the legislation, not only for banks, but for credit unions as well.
    And so I'm talking to people who are, you know, who come from the 
heartland, that understand what's taking place in our economy today, 
people who understand that the House of Representatives needs to pass 
this piece of legislation.
    And I want to thank you all for going up and telling these Members 
of Congress what's on your mind and how this affects your businesses at 
home and how it affects the communities in which you live. This thing--
this issue has gone way beyond New York and Wall Street. This is an 
issue that's affecting hard-working people. They're worried about their 
savings; they're worried about their jobs; they're worried about their 
houses; they're worried about their small businesses. And the House of 
Representatives must listen to these voices and get this bill passed so 
we can get about the business of restoring confidence.
    Thank you very much.

Note: The President spoke at 11:36 a.m. in Room 350 of the Dwight D. 
Eisenhower Executive Office Building. In his remarks, he referred to 
H.R. 1424. The Office of the Press Secretary also released a Spanish 
language transcript of these remarks.