[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 37, Number 11 (Monday, March 19, 2001)]
[Pages 431-435]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks in Lafayette, Louisiana

March 9, 2001

    The President. Thank you all very much. I'm sure glad I came here to 
Louisiana. Thank you for coming. I want to thank you all for coming. I 
want to thank the thousands of people who lined the road on the way in 
here. I wish the hangar were 10 times bigger, but thank you all so much 
for being here.
    First, I want to thank my friend and your Governor, Mike Foster. I 
appreciate his friendship. One thing you can say about him is, you know 
where he stands. And I know he stands as my friend, and I appreciate 
that so very much.
    I appreciate John Cooksey, the Congressman who is here. I appreciate 
Susie Terrell, who is here. I want to thank Senator Michot for being 
here. Ernie Alexander, my friend, is here; I want to thank him. My 
friend Ernest Johnson, who heads the Louisiana NAACP, is with us today, 
and I want to thank you, Ernest, for coming.
    There is one other fellow, a man who stuck his neck out in the 
course of the campaign. You see, he doesn't happen to have the 
Republican label by his name. His name is Dan Morrish. He's a Democrat. 
He put party aside and did what he thought was right for the country. 
And Dan, I'm honored to have your support. I thank you for your 
friendship.
    And it's great to be here. I tell you, it is important for me to 
make sure I get outside the Nation's Capital on a regular basis. I love 
people in Louisiana. I like the idea of coming to bring my message to 
you. I hope by now the people of the country are beginning to realize 
that we all have adopted a commonsense message. It's a message of the 
people. It's a message that understands that the most important element 
of politics are the people of this country, the hard-working Americans 
who make the country go.
    I get to propose things in Washington. I don't get to vote on them. 
I'm not a member of the legislative branch. But the biggest influence in 
our Government is the people, and I know that. So I'm here today in 
Lafayette, Louisiana, to explain a commonsense budget. And if you like 
what you hear, you might decide to maybe e-mail or call some of those 
who represent you and let them hear from you. If you like the 
commonsense approach to how we spend your money, it may make sense to 
pick up the phone or drop a note to people who may not see it our way. 
That's what politics is all about, as far as I'm concerned; it's the 
people's will. And I'm here to talk about the people's business. And the 
people's business is to bring some fiscal sanity to the budgeting 
process in Washington, DC.
    It starts with understanding this important principle, that the 
surplus is not the Government's money; the surplus is the people's 
money. And so what makes sense? Well, what makes sense is to set 
priorities. That's what makes sense. Here's some of my priorities. 
Education is a priority; making sure children learn is a priority. So we 
increase spending at the Education Department. It's a priority of the 
country, but in case you might think that I forgot where I came from, 
I'll understand that the people who can run the schools best in 
Louisiana are not people in Washington, DC, but the folks of Louisiana. 
So we're spending a little more at the Federal level, but we're going to 
work with Congress to pass power out of Washington to empower the local 
folks, to empower parents and teachers to make the right decision for 
the children of the great State of Louisiana.
    The people's health is a priority. Today I talked about expanding a 
number of community health centers around America to make sure that the 
poor are able to get primary care. I also want to make it crystal clear 
in the budget I submitted to the Congress that we have doubled Medicare 
spending over a 10-year period of time, that we're going to make the 
commitment that we have made

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to the elderly. It not only requires more spending, which we will do; it 
also requires an attitude of reform that says we'll trust seniors to 
make choices for themselves--seniors--to match their needs with a 
variety of programs, all of which include prescription drugs.
    And I want to praise one of your Senators from Louisiana. John 
Breaux and I are going to work on this issue. We will spend a lot of 
time making sure that Medicare is properly reformed so that the promise 
we have made to our seniors will be a promise that will be kept.
    There's a lot of talk about Social Security, as there should be. The 
message to the Congress is loud and clear: We're not going to spend 
payroll taxes on anything other than Social Security; we're not going to 
take the money aimed for Social Security and spend it on anything else.
    There's money in my budget to make sure that we're able to keep the 
peace by making sure we pay our military folks a good wage. There's 
money in the budget for priorities. As a matter of fact, we increased 
what's called the discretionary spending by 4 percent. That's greater 
than the rate of inflation.
    But it's not enough for some in Washington, because, you see, 
they're used to spending a lot of money up there. The last session, they 
spent your money to the tune of 8 percent. It's like they had a bidding 
contest to see who could get out of town. Those days are over with.
    We will set priorities and fund them. But we'll be wise about how we 
spend your money. We don't want the Federal Government exploding in 
growth. We want the Federal Government to be lean and efficient and 
focused with your money. And that's exactly what's going to happen with 
new leadership in Washington.
    There's a lot of discussion about paying down debt. I want to remind 
you, there are two types of debt--there are a lot of types of debt--but 
there are two types of debt that I worry about. One is debt at the 
national level. And under the plan I submitted to the Congress, we pay 
down $2 trillion in national debt over 10 years--$2 trillion. It's the 
biggest amount of debt repayment ever. There's also consumer debt, the 
credit card debt that burdens many of the working families in America. 
Yes, we talk about national debt, and we're paying a lot down. But 
you're fixing to hear me tell you, part of the remedy for people who 
have got a lot of credit card debt is to make sure people get some of 
their own money back.
    We have met priorities. We grew the budget at a reasonable rate, not 
this fantastic rate that exploded during the last session. We pay down 
debt. We protected Social Security. We have also set aside one trillion 
over 10 years for contingencies.
    Who knows what will happen. And so, we put one trillion aside. That 
makes sense. That's common sense to do that, it seems like, to me. We 
may need money for our farmers. And I'm going to tell you something 
about agriculture in America. It is an incredibly important part of our 
economy. Who knows what we'll need money for.
    So we set aside money to do so but, guess what? There's still money 
left over. The fundamental question is: What do we do with that money? 
The fundamental question that I want Congress to hear from you about is, 
what to do with the money? Do we increase the size and scope of the 
Federal Government?
    Audience members. No-o-o!
    The President. Or do we trust you with your own money?
    Audience members. Yes!
    The President. There's a lot of discussion about how to get tax 
relief. I worry about what's called targeted tax cuts. I worry about 
people sitting around Washington saying, ``You're targeted in, but oh, 
by the way, you're targeted out.'' It seems like, to me, the fairest way 
to handle the people's money is to say that everybody who pays taxes 
ought to get relief. The Federal Government ought not to try to play 
favorites. It's likely people in Louisiana may not be considered a 
favorite. You will be, as far as this President is concerned.
    So the plan that was passed out of the House--and John, thank you 
for your support--is fair. It reduces all rates on everybody that pays 
taxes, and it simplifies the code. It drops the bottom rate from 15 
percent to 10 percent. It increases the child credit from $500 to $1,000 
per child. And

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let me explain to you why. Let me explain to you why this Tax Code we 
have is unfair.
    One of the things that the people must stand for is fairness in 
life. If you're a single mother in the State of Louisiana trying to 
raise two children, and you're making 20-something thousand dollars a 
year, under the code that's written today, for every dollar you earn 
above $22,000, you pay a higher marginal rate on that dollar than 
someone who is successful. You pay nearly 50 percent on that dollar, and 
that's not right. And that's not what America is all about.
    Now, this country stands for rewarding hard work, not penalizing it. 
And we must understand and--when we find people working the hardest job 
in America, which is the single moms in this country, and they're 
struggling to get ahead, we ought to have a Tax Code that welcomes hard 
work and says, ``You can access the middle class, and you can realize 
your dreams.''
    This plan that passed the House yesterday makes this code imminently 
more fair. It also reduces the top rate. And oh, I know there's a lot of 
discussion about that, dropping the top rate, but let me tell you why. 
First, there ought to be some principle involved in the Tax Code. And 
this principle is, the Federal Government ought to take no more than a 
third of anybody's check.
    But there's another principle. And that is, our Nation must 
understand that the small-business man and the small-business woman is 
the backbone of job creation. Our Nation must never forget--we must 
never forget that good public policy will encourage entrepreneurial 
spirit in America, encourage the growth of the small-business owner.
    And we must also realize that many small businesses are 
unincorporated; they're sole proprietorships. They're Subchapter S's. 
They pay the high marginal rate. And by cutting the rates from 39.6 
percent to 33 percent, we send a clear signal that we encourage 
entrepreneurship and small-business growth, that we understand--that we 
send a loud message to Washington that the role of Government is not to 
create wealth, but the role of Government is to create an environment in 
which American risk takers and dreamers and people willing to work for a 
dream have got a better opportunity to realize those dreams.
    The plan that we've submitted to the United States Congress 
recognizes that the death tax is unfair to Louisiana farmers and small-
business owners, and we need to get rid of the death tax. The plan that 
I submitted to the United States Congress recognizes that when you 
penalize marriage, we send a bad signal about families and the role of 
families in our society. We've submitted a good plan, and it's working 
its way through the system.
    It came--a major portion came out of the House, and I want to thank 
the 10 Democrats that stood with 100 percent of the Republicans that 
spoke on your behalf. And now it's headed to the Senate, and it's time 
for your voices to be heard.
    Now, I want to give you some ammunition if you agree with what I'm 
saying. Not only have we got a commonsense budget--in other words, we 
can afford what I'm telling you; we can afford it--but that makes 
economic sense to give people their own money back. You see, our economy 
is beginning to sputter a little bit. There are some places around the 
country where people are beginning to get laid off; economic growth is 
slowing down. It is important to act quickly to get people their own 
money back, so you can spend it and serve as a second wind for our 
economy. It makes sense--it makes sense. We need it now. And so I 
appreciate the fact that the plan that came out of the House will make 
some of the tax cut retroactive, which means when it passes, it's as if 
it took effect on January of this year.
    But there's another reason why this tax plan is important--because 
it sends a signal about the priorities of our Government, and the 
priorities of our Government is to trust people with their own money. We 
must send a clear message that once we meet our priorities, the people 
who can best handle the people's money is the people, themselves.
    Today I've asked the Anderson family to join us here from Lafayette. 
We've got Richard and Jenifer--and first, I want to say they're 
teachers, and you can't thank teachers enough for being a teacher. And 
with Richard and Jenifer are Jane, Noah, and Sam,

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their three children, who they love more than life.
    And the reason I've asked them to join us is to help make my point, 
that when we're talking about taxes and budgets, it's more than numbers 
that we're talking about. We're talking about people's lives. We're 
talking about the fact that this is a plan that understands that there 
are a lot of folks working hard to get ahead.
    Remember, we haven't had an energy policy for a while. And anybody 
that understands that is the people of this part of the world. There's a 
lot of people paying high energy bills in America now. It's like a new 
tax on American families. By the way, we're going to have an energy 
policy, and it starts with finding more energy here in America.
    But I'm worried about hard-working folks like the Andersons. I'm 
worried about the fact that people all across America are paying high 
energy bills. I'm worried about the fact that a lot of folks have got 
credit card debt. I'm worried about the folks--the fact that folks are 
working longer hours. And it seems like, to me, that if you've got a 
little extra money in Washington, instead of spending it on programs, 
why don't we let people spend their own money.
    And so, here are the facts--here are the facts. These good folks now 
pay $4,300 in Federal income taxes on an annual basis. Under our plan, 
they will save $2,600. Oh, that may not sound like a lot to some. It's a 
lot to me, and it's a lot to the Andersons.
    You see, the principle is, do we want that $2,600 that's their money 
to begin with to go to excess Federal spending, or do we think it's 
better spent by them? Would we rather have the Government spend it, or 
would we rather have it for them to save for their children, to meet 
their priorities?
    I want to tell you what a grandmother said the other day in Council 
Bluffs, Iowa. You see, I've been moving around the country, making our 
case. And she said, she's had a lot of children and grandchildren go 
through her house, and when you bake cookies and you leave them on the 
table, sure enough, they'll be eaten. [Laughter] That's kind of how I 
view that $2,600. If you leave it on the table, sure enough, it will be 
spent.
    The right thing to do, the fair thing to do, the thing to do that's 
based upon common sense, is to understand whose money it is to begin 
with and to trust the good people of America to spend their own money to 
meet their own priorities.
    I have great trust in the American people. I can't tell you what an 
honor it is to be your President and to travel our land and to see 
people come out and wave. It reinvigorates my spirit, because it helps 
me understand, yet again, the spirit of America. The true greatness of 
this country does not lie in the halls of our governments; the true 
greatness of our country lies in the hearts and souls of the American 
people.
    My job is to represent the folks in Washington and to fight for 
sound budgets and tax relief. But my job also is to call upon the spirit 
of this country, is to say to the moms and dads of America, ``Your most 
important job is to love your children with all your heart and all your 
soul.'' It's to thank the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts and Boys and Girls 
Club leaders who are teaching our children commonsense values, the 
difference between right and wrong. It's to thank those folks who, when 
they see a neighbor in need, put their arm around them and say, ``What 
can I do to help you, brother or sister? What can I do to help you on 
your walk?''
    No, the greatness of America is our people. It's important to trust 
the people. It's important to trust the people with their own money. But 
it's also important for our President to understand that by rallying the 
spirit of America, we can trust the people to make America a 
compassionate, decent place for all of us who are fortunate enough to 
live in this land.
    I'm proud to be your President. Thank you for coming. God bless.

Note: The President spoke at 4:30 p.m. in a hangar at Lafayette Regional 
Airport. In his remarks, he referred to State Senator Michael J. Michot; 
State Representatives Ernie Alexander and Dan W. ``Blade'' Morrish; and 
Suzanne Haik Terrell, commissioner, Louisiana Department of Elections 
and Registration. This item was not received in time for publication in 
the appropriate issue.

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