[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 37, Number 15 (Monday, April 16, 2001)]
[Pages 602-606]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks to the Community in Greenville, North Carolina

April 11, 2001

    The President. Thank you all. Thank you very much. Okay. Richard, 
thank you very much for your kind hospitality. I'm proud--I am proud to 
be an honorary member of the East Carolina baseball team. I am proud to 
be on this campus. I am proud to be in East Carolina, and I'm proud I've 
got so many friends in this great State.
    It is such an honor to be here, and I want to thank you all for 
coming. I understand that some good folks spent the night last night 
here to be here. I promise not to speak so long so you will fall asleep. 
[Laughter] But I'm really thankful that you're here. I'm thankful to be 
out of Washington, DC, with the good, hard-working people of this part 
of our country.

Release of U.S. Navy Aircraft Crewmembers in China

    I'm pleased to report that a commercial charter airplane is close to 
landing in Hainan Island.
    Audience members. U.S.A! U.S.A! U.S.A!
    The President. The plane is expected to leave that island in a 
couple of hours, bound

[[Page 603]]

for Guam and then for Hawaii. Earlier today I had the privilege and 
honor to meet fellow North Carolinians Bob and Sandra Blocher, the 
parents of one of the 24 crewmembers, Petty Officer Third Class Steven 
Blocher. They are, of course, as you can imagine, thrilled to know that 
the service men and women are returning home.
    These have been difficult days for all the families. And these days 
are a reminder of the sacrifices all our men and women in uniform and 
their family make every single day for freedom. And so we're proud and 
thankful for the service of folks. We're proud and thankful for their 
parents, and we can't wait for them to get home.

Greenville, North Carolina

    I am pleased to be here with the senior Senator from the great State 
of North Carolina.
    Audience members. Jesse! Jesse! Jesse!
    The President. He's a strong ally in the United States Senate.
    Audience member. Big time!
    The President. I am pleased to be here--quit quoting the Vice 
President. The man yelled, ``big time.'' [Laughter]
    I am pleased to be here with your Congressman, Walter Jones, as well 
as Congressmen from around your State: Howard Coble, Robin Hayes, 
Charles Taylor.
    Let me tell you--now, you all may be aware that I laid out a budget 
recently. I like to call it the people's budget. Because it says, first 
and foremost, in Washington, we understand that we're not spending the 
Government's money; we are spending the people's money. And the five 
people I just introduced stood strong with the people of North Carolina 
when they voted for a responsible budget. I can't say that was the case 
for every member of the North Carolina delegation.
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. I just want to remind you as these votes keep coming 
down, when we get to choose between bigger government and the people, 
you're only one e-mail away of reminding reluctant Members of the 
Congress that your point of view matters.
    And mark my words, having been up there for a period of time, I can 
assure you that there is a struggle between whose money it is and where 
it ends up.
    I want to describe to you the budget I laid out, just to put your 
mind at ease. We increase discretionary spending in the budget--that 
means programs other than entitlement programs--by 4 percent. Many of 
you work hard to get along, and you haven't had a 4 percent pay raise 
lately. Inflation is lower than 4 percent. So I thought it would be 
reasonable to ask the Federal Government to live on a 4 percent increase 
in the discretionary spending account. Four percent increase in 
discretionary spending increases Federal assistance to North Carolina 
education programs to more than $947 million a year.
    A 4 percent discretionary budget means that North Carolina's Head 
Start Programs will receive $127 million a year. The budget provides $78 
million in funding for water resource projects along North Carolina 
rivers and waterways. It provides a 366 percent increase of Federal 
monies to help conserve North Carolina natural resources. It expands the 
number of community health centers all across the country.
    A 4 percent increase doubles the Medicare budget, so that we fulfill 
the promise to the elderly. A 4 percent increase helps keep priorities 
to the military. We must pay our military folks more money. A 4 percent 
increase means we're going to spend 100 billion additional dollars next 
year. That's a lot of money. But for those who want to increase the size 
and scope of the Federal Government, it's not enough.
    Now, I want you all to understand where the tradeoffs come when it 
comes to budgeting. The money either ends up in Federal programs or it 
ends up in the people's pocket. And my point of view I make in 
Washington, and that I want you to help me on is, we can meet 
priorities. We can fund education and good conservation programs. We can 
fulfill our commitment to the elderly. We can make Social Security is 
safe and secure today and around tomorrow for the younger folks. We can 
do all that by growing the discretionary account at 4 percent and still 
have meaningful tax reductions.
    So when somebody tells you, when you hear the excuse, ``Oh, we're 
not meeting our

[[Page 604]]

needs,'' you need to get them to look at the numbers; you need to get 
them to understand what a 4 percent growth means. You also ought to 
remind them that if they do what some in the Senate want done--which is 
to grow the budget 8 percent--we're going to roar right through any 
projected surplus.
    If we grow that budget 8 percent, we come from the school of thought 
that it's going to serve as a huge drag on our economy. You see, there's 
tradeoffs that have to be realized. The tradeoff--the fundamental 
tradeoff, though, is who do we trust? Who do we trust with the money? Do 
we trust the Government, or do we trust the people?
    Audience members. The people!
    The President. That's what this debate is about. That's what the 
fundamental debate is about.
    Now, I can remember campaigning all across the States, like 
Carolina, and people kept saying during the course of the campaign, 
``Oh, he's just talking, because there's not going to be any tax relief; 
people don't want tax relief.'' I kept saying, ``Well, you may be 
talking to different people I am.'' Everywhere I went, once I can 
convince the people that we meet the basic needs of Government, people 
seem to understand that they'd want some of their money back. That's 
what they seem to understand.
    But the skeptics, they weren't listening. The skeptics weren't 
listening. But let me tell you where we are. Because of the hard work of 
the North Carolina congressional delegation, we passed $1.6 trillion of 
tax relief. The Senate is at $1.2 trillion of tax relief. Now, they are 
trying to reconcile the differences, but either way you cut it, tax 
relief is on the way.
    And I want to remind you all, it has nothing to do about me. It's 
everything to do about the people. That's what this is all about. This 
is the people's budget. It's the people's budget. The tax relief plan 
that I hope is finally adopted must incorporate these principles. One, 
anybody who pays taxes ought to get relief. Some of the good folks in 
Washington, DC, they support what they call targeted tax relief.
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. That means some people are targeted in, and some 
people are targeted out. The fairest way--the fairest way--the fairest 
way is to say that if you pay taxes, you get relief.
    So I hope the plan that says everybody that pays taxes gets relief 
is what ends up on my desk. I think it will, with your help. I think it 
will. We need to drop--I want to tell you something about the current 
Tax Code to make sure you understand the facts.
    First of all, if you're struggling to get ahead in America, this Tax 
Code is unfair. It's unfair to people at the bottom end of the economic 
ladder, because our code is structured this way. For example, if you're 
a single mother in the State of North Carolina, trying to raise two 
children--first of all, you've got the toughest job in your State; it's 
the hardest work in the State of North Carolina, and, by the way, for 
all you folks who go to East Carolina University, if you're fortunate 
enough to become a dad, you love your children with all your heart and 
all your soul; the most important job you'll ever have is to be a dad--
if that lady is making $22,000 a year, she's living on the outskirts of 
poverty. Under the code we have today, for every additional dollar she 
makes or earns, she pays a higher marginal rate than someone who is Wall 
Street successful. And that's not right, folks. That's not what America 
is about, as far as we're concerned.
    Our code ought to say, the harder you work, the more money you have 
in your pocket. This is a Tax Code that ought to make it easier for 
people to realize their dreams, not harder. And so, therefore, we drop 
the bottom rate from 15 percent to 10 percent and increase the child 
credit from $500 to $1,000 per child.
    We need to make the code more fair. We also need to make the code 
more fair to small businesses. There are 488,000 small businesses in 
your State of North Carolina who will benefit from tax relief when you 
cut marginal rates. Because the truth is, by far, the vast majority of 
small businesses--who, by the way, create 75 percent of the new jobs in 
America--they don't pay corporate income taxes; they pay personal income 
taxes, because they're either sole proprietorships or Subchapter S 
corporations. That's reality.
    Reality is, small-business people pay personal income tax rates. And 
so, when we drop

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the top rate from 39.6 percent to 33 percent, really what we're saying 
is, we want to encourage the growth of the small-business sector in 
America.
    Oh, I've heard all the rhetoric about how only certain people 
benefit. But the Congress must understand the importance of small 
business in America, and the Congress must understand that by dropping 
that top rate, we stimulate growth in the private sector. The role of 
Government is not to create wealth; the role of Government is to create 
an environment in which the entrepreneur can flourish in America.
    Ours is the Tax Code that penalizes marriage. And that's not fair, 
and that's not right. That's bad public policy. We ought to reward 
marriage and family in America. And the current Tax Code taxes people's 
assets twice. You see, we've got a system where folks work all their 
life, and they dream about passing their farm or their ranch or their 
small business on to a son or daughter. And yet, the Tax Code makes it 
difficult to do so. There are thousands of farmers and ranchers who 
worry about having to sell their farm or their ranch early because of 
the death tax. Folks, we need to get rid of the death tax in America.
    You'll hear every excuse in the book about why we can't drop all 
rates or why the death tax, you know, can't be eliminated. But you know 
how I view those excuses? I view those as excuses to keep your money in 
Washington. That's what I view. I view those as excuses to expand the 
size of the Federal Government.
    I'm here to tell you I've looked at the numbers. We've got enough 
money to meet priorities. But as important, we've got enough money to 
let you keep your own money, and we need to do so for two reasons. The 
first reason has to do with our economy. It's slowing down a little bit, 
and one way for us to give our economy a second wind is to give people 
their own money back so they can spend it in the private sector, is to 
cut the rate so small businesses have more cash flow to invest, is to 
understand that more money circulating in the private sector will create 
economic growth. And so tax relief is important for economic purposes.
    Audience member. Retroactively?
    The President. But there is--retroactively, too. It sounds like 
we've got an economist in the crowd--a right-thinking kind of economist. 
What the man is saying is, we need to get money in your pockets as 
quickly as possible, and we agree.
    But there is a second reason why we need tax relief--a second reason 
why, and this comes to the heart of the debate. It has to do with people 
and who do we trust, and families. Today I'm proud to be joined by Larry 
and Kristi Bryan, right up there, and Jennifer and Jeffrey and Katie 
June. [Applause] Calm down. [Laughter] You didn't tell me you were going 
to bring your whole neighborhood.
    Let me tell you why I asked them to come. Because, you know, 
oftentimes in the political arena, we're always talking about numbers 
and budgets and growth and all that business. But behind tax relief are 
real-life families. That's what this is all about. I hope that's the 
reason why everybody who decides to run for office does so to help 
families, to understand the importance of people in our society.
    These good folks now pay $3,570 in Federal income taxes. Under the 
plan that passed the House and the plan that I submitted, they would 
save $1,830 when this tax relief is fully implemented.
    Oh, I know for some of the sophisticates, they say that's nothing. 
But for this family, it's a lot. And the fundamental question that I 
want the Members of the Congress to address when we start dealing with 
the people's money is, who do we want to spend that extra $1,830? That's 
what this debate is about, folks. Who should our Government trust? And 
I'm going to tell you as plainly as I can, I'd rather the Bryans be 
spending that money than the Federal Government.
    Oh, I know some of the projects--remember, this is money after we've 
met basic needs. This is money after we've grown the 4 percent 
discretionary spending. There will be some high-falutin' words and great 
programs. But the fundamental question is, who should our Government 
trust? And we need to trust the people, because the people are the great 
strength of America--the people of this country.

[[Page 606]]

    It is the people of this country that make America great. I love 
getting outside of Washington and traveling to places like Greenville, 
South--North Carolina, because I'm able----
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. I caught you. [Laughter] I love coming to see the 
people--the people that line the roads, the people that are waving. 
That's what I love. Because it reminds me of how strong this country is. 
It reminds me that in Greenville, North Carolina, good people live.
    And why is that important? I'll tell you why it's important. Because 
the great hope for the country comes when people turn to a neighbor and 
say, ``What can I do to help,'' turns to a neighbor in need. That's the 
strength of America. Our great strength is not necessarily found in our 
halls of government; it's found in hallways and schools, where teachers 
dedicate themselves to teaching a child.
    It is found in hallways of churches and synagogues, where folks hear 
the universal call to love a neighbor just like they would be loved 
themselves. No, the strength of this country--the strength of this 
country in the hearts and souls of our people. It's when a Boy Scout 
leader says to a young child--says to a young child, ``You know, there's 
right decisions to make and wrong decisions, and I want to help you 
understand a right decision.''
    It happens when somebody--somebody takes time out of their life to 
mentor a child. I hope--I hope when you hear of a mentoring program 
right here in eastern North Carolina that you say, ``I'd like to help.'' 
There are some children in our society who wonder whether or not the 
American Dream is meant for them. And that's going to require a loving 
soul, putting their arm around that child and saying, ``Somebody cares 
about you. Somebody wants you to know that there is love in our 
society.''
    The problem is, everybody expects the Federal Government to do it. 
But the Governments can't make people love one another. No, Government 
can hand out money, but we cannot put love in people's hearts, or hope 
in people's lives. That's done when loving citizens take time out of 
their lives to help make their communities and their neighborhoods as 
strong as it possibly can be.
    This debate in Washington, DC, on taxes is fundamental to the 
country. It not only talks about economic vitality, but it really speaks 
to--we ought to trust the people. We ought to trust the people with 
their own money, and we ought to trust the people of America to provide 
the compassion necessary to make sure this great land fulfills its 
promise for every citizen who is lucky enough to be an American citizen.
    I'm honored that you let me come and share my hopes for our country 
with you. I call upon you that when Senators start to vote, for example, 
on budgets, you might remind them of whose money they're spending.
    And I want to conclude by telling you what a huge honor it is to be 
the President of the greatest land on the face of the Earth.
    Thank you for coming. God bless, and God bless America.

Note: The President spoke at 5:49 p.m. in Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium at East 
Carolina University. In his remarks, he referred to Richard Eakin, 
chancellor, East Carolina University.