[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 37, Number 9 (Monday, March 5, 2001)]
[Pages 378-381]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at Fernbank Museum of Natural History in Atlanta, Georgia

March 1, 2001

    The President. Thank you very much. I'm glad I came to Georgia.
    Thanks so much for that warm welcome, Vernon. It's great to be here 
in DeKalb County. It is great to be introduced by one of the rising 
stars in DeKalb County, one of the rising stars in the State of Georgia. 
Vernon Jones is a good man--he's a good man. And I'm proud--I'm proud to 
have been introduced by him.
    I'm also proud to share the stage with both Republican and Democrat 
elected officials here from Georgia, who are sending an interesting 
message--an interesting message, when the Georgia State Senate voted 
overwhelmingly to urge all the Federal elected officials from the State 
of Georgia to support the tax relief package that I introduced 
yesterday.
    I'm honored that Senators Starr, Dean, and Johnson would be here 
with me today. Both Republicans and Democrats took a look at what I 
proposed and realized it's fair. And I'm honored that members of the 
General Assembly, Westmoreland and Buck, have joined as well, one 
Republican and one Democrat.
    See, this is not a--the budget I submitted wasn't a Republican 
budget; it wasn't a Democrat budget; it was the people's budget. Maybe 
one reason why the good folks of Georgia understand that it's a 
reasonable budget is because it's a common--it's a budget based on good, 
sound common sense. There are not a lot of things fancy about it. Maybe 
it's because I was raised in west Texas, and I was taught some good 
common sense.

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    I'm so proud of members of the Georgia delegation who are here, from 
the Federal delegation: Kingston, Deal, and Norwood, Members of the 
United States Congress. One member of your delegation wasn't able to be 
here, but I would like to read a letter from him, if you don't mind:
      Dear Mr. President,
      Welcome back to Georgia. I regret that I could not be with you 
      today. I had to be in Washington for a meeting with the Department 
      of Justice officials that was scheduled long ago, but I wanted you 
      and my fellow Georgians to know that I am with you in spirit. I 
      support your Tax Code proposal strongly, without any reservations. 
      This is an overpayment of taxes, and you are correct that those 
      who paid it know better how to spend it than the Congress. As the 
      old Elvis Presley song goes, we should ``Return to Sender.''
                        Zell Miller
    I can't tell you how much I appreciate Senator Zell Miller standing 
up side by side with the President. Oh, I know he's a Democrat, and of 
course, I'm a Republican, but both of us put America first. And this 
budget is an American budget, because it sets priorities. It is a budget 
that sets important priorities, starting with the education of our 
children.
    The largest increase of any Department in my budget goes to the 
Department of Education. But lest you become too concerned, I want you 
to hear, loud and clear, the best schools are those that are run by the 
local people. We strongly believe in local control of schools.
    We will spend more money, but we will also insist upon reform. And 
the catalyst for reform, the agent for change, is to insist that States 
and local jurisdictions develop strong accountability systems so that we 
know--we know--when children are learning. If you don't measure, how do 
you know? If you don't measure, how can you correct problems early, 
before it's too late? The cornerstone of reform is local control of 
schools and strong accountability systems at the local level, so we can 
diagnose problems early, solve them early so that not one single child 
in America is ever left behind.
    Another priority in my budget is to pay the men and women who wear 
the uniform more money. It is to make sure there is a high morale in the 
military by having better pay, better housing. But also it's important 
to have a Commander in Chief who will clarify the mission of the 
military. And the mission is to be well-prepared to fight and win war, 
and therefore, prevent war from happening in the first place.
    A priority in the budget--a priority in the budget is to take all 
the payroll taxes that are supposed to go to Social Security and make 
sure they only go to Social Security. Oh, I know you've heard the talk--
I certainly have heard it--about how any kind of tax relief that has got 
any meaning to it will mean somebody is not going to get their Social 
Security check. That's Washington talk for ``We want more of your money 
to stay in Washington.'' That's what that is. Republicans and Democrats 
agree that we're going to set aside all the payroll taxes for Social 
Security, and that's what's going to happen.
    Another line you'll hear is that the elderly will suffer. Well, my 
budget doubles Medicare spending over 10 years. We're setting aside 
money to make sure we fulfill the promise to the elderly. And we've got 
to not only set aside money for Medicare, we must reform the system so 
that our seniors have got more choices, more options, all of which will 
include prescription drug benefits.
    No, we set aside money for priorities, and we fund them. The thing 
that's got some people concerned, though, is we're not exploding the 
budget like has happened in the past. The budget was skyrocketing at the 
end of last year. It was much higher than the rate of inflation and 
higher than disposable income. Had we kept spending at that rate, we 
would have not only spent all the surplus, we would have had to have 
dipped into Social Security to meet the programs.
    What this Government needs is a fiscal, responsible approach to the 
budgeting, the kind of budgeting that you, yourselves, do with your 
families. That's what the Government needs, and I'm willing to provide 
that kind of leadership.
    So we meet priorities. We make sure Social Security is safe and 
secure, and we also pay down debt.

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    There's a lot of discussion about debt at the national level, and 
there should be. So part of the budget that I've sent to the Congress 
sets aside $2 trillion to pay down debt over the next 10 years. People 
say, ``Why don't you pay it all off, all the national debt off?'' Well, 
that doesn't make any sense, because not all the debt retires--comes due 
at the end of 10 years. We shouldn't prepay debt at a premium that will 
cost the taxpayers more money. Let's just retire the debt as it comes 
due. That's $2 trillion worth of debt.
    And it also makes sense to set aside money for contingencies, which 
we have done. We've set aside a trillion dollars for contingencies. 
People say, ``What kind of contingencies are you talking about?'' Well, 
we may need some contingencies for America's farmers. Or after we end up 
reviewing the military--and remember in my speech, if you paid 
attention, or at least listened--[laughter]--I said we're going to have 
our defense vision drive the budgeting, and not the other way around. 
And we've got to make sure that we've got a plan. And we've got to 
figure out what systems make sense, as we head into the 21st century. 
Instead of having military budget spending be based upon politics, let's 
have it based upon a strategic vision of how best to keep the peace, not 
only today but down the road. We may need money for that. And so we've 
got a trillion dollars set aside in contingencies.
    As I tried to explain to the Congress, we increase spending, not 
nearly as much as they did the last time, but we increase it. We set 
aside money for Social Security and Medicare. We pay down debt, and we 
set aside contingency money. And you know what? There's still money left 
over. And the fundamental question is, what do we do with it--what do we 
do with it?
    That's what's going to happen. When you have more money than you 
need, it seems like somebody is getting overtaxed and overcharged. And 
what I am going to do is remind the Congress that if we've overcharged 
somebody, it's time for a refund. It's time to remind people on a 
regular basis in Washington, the surplus is not the Government's money; 
the surplus is the people's money. And now is the time. Before this 
money gets all spent, now is the time to send some of it back.
    But it's also the time to send it back because our economy is 
beginning to sputter. And one of the things we can do to make sure the 
economy gets a second wind is to let people have money in their pockets 
so they can spend it. One way to make sure that people can find work who 
want to find work is to set priorities, set contingencies, pay down 
debt, and give people some of their own money back. Or how about not 
taking it in the first place? So we reduce the rates on everybody who 
pays taxes.
    There are some in Washington who say, ``Well, some people need to be 
targeted in and some people need to be targeted out of tax relief.''
    Audience members. No-o-o!
    The President. Now, the fairest tax relief is to say, if you pay 
taxes, you get relief. That's the fairest way to do something. We drop 
all rates. We drop the bottom rate from 15 percent to 10 percent. We 
drop the top rate from 39.6 to 33 percent. And one of the reasons why it 
is important to drop the top rate is to recognize the contributions that 
small businesses play in America. Small business--small businesses are 
really the backbone of the capitalist system. The entrepreneur is a soul 
who dreams big and works hard to realize a dream and therefore ends up 
employing people. That's what the small business is all about.
    What I hope Congress recognizes is that many small-business folks 
are unincorporated, and many of them are Subchapter S, which means they 
pay the highest rate. And by dropping the rate, we increase the ability 
of small businesses to grow and to employ more Americans.
    Our current Tax Code is unfair. It is unfair for folks who live on 
the outskirts of poverty, who are struggling to get ahead. It's unfair. 
It's unfair that if you're a single mother, working hard, and you're in 
the $22,000 range, for every additional dollar she earns--what's unfair 
is that's taxed at a higher rate than someone who is very successful.
    I used to try to paint the picture during the campaign about the 
tollbooth in the road to the middle class. It meant people on one side 
of the tollbooth paid a lower marginal

[[Page 381]]

rate than those trying to get through. That's not what America's about, 
as far as I'm concerned, and I know it's not about what--as far as 
you're concerned.
    This is a country that says, the harder you work, the more you 
struggle, the more likely it should be you're able to realize your 
dreams. No, we need to drop the bottom rate, and we need to make sure 
that that hard-working waitress is more likely to be able to save and 
dream and build.
    We penalize marriage in the Tax Code, and that's not right. And the 
death tax is wrong. It taxes people's assets twice. Now, this is a tax 
plan that is well thought out, and it's fair. As I said in my speech, 
some folks will say it's too big; some folks will say it's too small. We 
need to send the message to Republican and Democrat legislators and 
Senators that it is just right.
    And so I'm here to ask for your help--I'm here to ask for your help. 
You don't have to worry about Zell Miller. You don't have to worry about 
these three U.S. Congressmen who are here. But there may be some other 
folks from the State of Georgia who might be a little nervous about the 
plan. I certainly hope not. We're not going to take anything for 
granted, though.
    So if you find a Member that you may have some influence with, or 
know an e-mail address or can figure out where to write a letter, and 
find out somebody isn't listening to you, to do what's right for the 
country, just drop them a line. I could use your help.
    And if somebody argues with you, just remind them of these facts, 
that the average family will receive $1,600 in tax relief. That doesn't 
seem like a lot to some of the folks who may be doing all right, but 
it's a lot to a lot of people. It's a lot to people whose energy bills 
have gone up because we don't have an energy policy in America. There's 
a lot of talk about national debt, and that's important. But there's a 
lot of credit card debt that are burdening people; $1,600 can help a 
lot; $1,600 can help set money aside for a child; $1,600 is real money. 
And I'm going to remind those folks again whose money it is: It's the 
people's money, your money.
    I haven't been your President for a long period of time, but I can 
report that it is a fantastic experience. I can't tell you what an honor 
it is. I can't tell you what a high honor it is to represent the 
American people in Washington. That's why it's important to come out and 
get my batteries charged in places like DeKalb County, Georgia; to be 
able to look my fellow citizens in the eye and say, ``I know you're 
counting on me, but I'm counting on you, as well.''
    I'm counting on you, when you find a neighbor in need, to reach out 
a hand, and say, ``What can I do, brother or sister, to help you?'' I'm 
counting on you to run a Boy Scout troop and to teach our children right 
from wrong. Our Nation counts on people who have got good heart and good 
will to say, ``What can I do to make my neighborhood a better place,'' 
instead of hoping that the Federal Government, in its infinite wisdom, 
waves a magic wand and there's educational excellence in every school in 
Georgia. We need the good citizens of these communities to get involved 
with public education, to make sure our teachers are supported, 
excellence is demanded, accountability is in place so no children are 
left behind. No, I'm counting on you.
    The reason I'm so optimistic about America, though, is that our land 
is full of loving people. The great strength of the country doesn't lie 
in the halls of our governments; it lies in the homes of our people. The 
great strength of America is the fact that America is full of caring and 
loving, God-fearing and decent souls. And I am proud to be your 
President.
    Thank you all for coming. God bless, and God bless America.

Note: The President spoke at 2:10 p.m. in the atrium at the Fernbank 
Museum of Natural History. In his remarks, he referred to Vernon Jones, 
chief executive officer, DeKalb County; Georgia State Senators Terrell 
Starr, Nathan Dean, and Eric Johnson; and Georgia State Representatives 
Lynn Westmoreland and Thomas Buck III.