[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 37, Number 48 (Monday, December 3, 2001)]
[Pages 1719-1722]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks to the Farm Journal Forum

November 28, 2001

    Well, thank you so very much for that warm welcome. And it is great 
to be here with the farmers and ranchers and researchers and business 
leaders who make America the most innovative and most productive farm 
nation in the world.
    I am somewhat nostalgic for our place in Crawford. But I've been a 
little busy lately. [Laughter] I want to thank you for the opportunity 
to speak about the future of agriculture and the future of our economy, 
because they both begin with your work. I want to thank Andy for 
providing this opportunity for me to come and speak.
    And I want to thank our Secretary of Agriculture for doing such a 
fine job of not only representing farmers and ranchers here at home but 
doing a fine job of making sure our farmers and ranchers are heard 
overseas, as well. She and Bob Zoellick went to Doha. I told them, no 
longer are we going to treat our farmers as trading commodities. 
Agriculture is the cornerstone of our economy, and our international 
agreements must reflect that. And so, Madam Secretary, thank you for 
your hard work in Doha. I appreciate it very much.
    The success of agriculture contributes to the strength of this 
Nation. It is in our national interests, in our national security 
interests that we have a strong farm economy. And the farmers of America 
contribute to the values of our Nation and to the generosity of our 
Nation. As we speak, trucks and planes are delivering American food to 
the hungry in Afghanistan. Those rations say, ``A gift from the people 
of the United States.'' This gift is made possible by the farmers in our 
country, and I want to thank you for it.
    The farmers represent and preserve the values of our Nation: hard 
work, risktaking, love of the land. I always like to say people who own 
their own land understand the necessity to be good stewards; every day 
is Earth Day if you own your own land. The farmers represent love of 
family and love of our country. And farming is our first industry, the 
industry that feeds us, that clothes us and, increasingly, provides our 
energy.
    As Andy mentioned, I was the Governor of the State of Texas; it 
happens to be the second largest agricultural State in the country. I 
understand how tough it is to make a living on the farm. I understand 
how much hard work goes into making the land productive. And I 
understand how valuable an asset land is and how important it is that it 
stay from one generation to the next. And that's why I'm glad to have 
signed a law that is sending the death tax on its way to extinction.
    Today, our Nation is challenged by a great conflict. We face new 
threats, and they require a fight on many fronts, both overseas and here 
at home. After September the 11th, I vowed to the world that we would 
bring to justice those who killed innocent women and children and men 
here in America. I also said that any nation that harbored a terrorist, 
that aided a terrorist, that abetted a terrorist would be held 
accountable, and that's exactly what's taking place today. Thanks to our 
military, thanks to friends and allies, we are destroying the Taliban 
military, and we're destroying the camps that terrorists use to plan 
attacks on nations such as America.
    We're meeting our goals in Afghanistan. After all, our allies now 
control most of the country. One of the objectives I laid out in front 
of Congress is that we would rescue those who were held, detained 
against their will. And so I had the honor last Monday of welcoming two 
young Baylor graduates to the White House, part of the humanitarian 
rescue mission that we pulled off successfully.
    As I mentioned, we're feeding the hungry and providing medicine and 
clothes to those

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poor, suffering, innocent citizens of Afghanistan. And we're after Al 
Qaida. The evil ones think they can hide. They think they can run. But 
they're learning that this is a patient nation, a nation that is 
determined to smoke them out and to bring them to justice. And that's 
exactly what we're going to do.
    I also recognize that we've got a war here on the homefront. And 
it's important for the American people to know that their Government is 
doing everything we possibly can to disrupt and deny the enemy, that we 
take every threat seriously, that we run down every lead, that we're on 
full alert. The thing I'm most proud of is that the American people will 
not be intimidated by the evil ones, that they understand that the 
intent of the Al Qaida murderers was to freeze our Nation in place. But 
they don't understand America like I do. America is resolved. We are 
united. And we will not relent until we make sure that those who believe 
they can harm our Government and our friends are brought to justice, 
whether it be in Afghanistan or any other place they hide.
    I said, when this war first started, that the farther away we get 
from September the 11th, the more likely it is people will forget that 
there are evil ones in the world who want to destroy our country, what 
we stand for. And that may be the case amongst some. But that's not what 
I've seen in America. This Nation is resolved to do whatever it takes, 
in whatever theater is necessary, to make sure that civilization itself 
remains intact, to make sure that our children and our grandchildren can 
grow up in a world that is free and peaceful. It is the calling of our 
time, and it's a calling that we accept. And we're going to win. I view 
this as a fight between good and evil, and good will always prevail.
    We also have difficulties here on the homefront because of our 
economic situation. Statistics recently showed that shortly after I was 
sworn in as President, our economy was slow and had been slowing for a 
while. I made the case--and fortunately, Congress listened--that a slow 
economy required immediate action when it came to tax relief, and they 
delivered. That's an important part of making sure that we generate 
growth, is to let people keep more of their hard-earned money so they 
can spend it, and not the Government.
    And at the same time, in order to address an economic slowdown, we 
brought sorely needed fiscal discipline to Washington, DC, that we 
fought for and got a budget that was realistic, that didn't grow way 
beyond the means of our Government. And by the end of summer, the 
economy was beginning to stabilize.
    Yet the terrorist attack of September the 11th, no question, dealt 
our economy a serious blow. So while we fight our enemies and states 
that harbor terrorism and while we defend our homeland and our airways, 
we must take further action to strengthen our economy. Americans know 
our economy was targeted for terror--by terror. And they're asking us to 
fight back, and we must.
    These are incredibly tough times for some of our fellow Americans. 
Some have lost their jobs. Some have had their hours curtailed. Many 
have seen their savings shrink, and small businesses are struggling just 
to stay in business. We're facing tough times, but if we act quickly, 
I'm confident we can grow our economy.
    On October the 5th, 7 weeks ago, I asked Congress to send me an 
economic stimulus package, and I outlined the principles that should 
guide the plan. First, any plan must help displaced workers. Any plan 
must recognize that folks have been severely hurt by the attack on 
September the 11th, and we must help them.
    Secondly, the plan should speed up the individual income tax cuts 
Congress approved last May. The sooner rates come down, the faster our 
economy will rise. The plan should provide tax relief for low- and 
moderate-income workers to help them through these tough times. The plan 
should allow companies and entrepreneurs to deduct the cost of new 
investments more quickly, to encourage businesses to grow and to create 
job opportunities for Americans. And the plan should reform the 
corporate income tax to do away with the alternative minimum tax, a tax 
that pushes tax rates up at exactly the moment when corporate America's 
profits are going down.
    The House of Representatives acted on a stimulus bill, but it seems 
to be stuck in the

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Senate. It is important for the Senate not to look for ways to spend new 
money but to look for ways to create new jobs. And so I ask the Senate 
leadership to work out their differences and pass an economic stimulus 
plan, so they can get it in conference and get a bill to my desk as 
quickly as possible. The American people expect it, and I expect it.
    This country is waiting for action. And in the time that we have 
been waiting, more than 415,000 workers have lost their jobs. Further 
delay could put more Americans and more families at risk. So let's move. 
Let's get the job done.
    I also want to improve our homeland security and our economy by 
having a national energy plan. I want to thank the Farm Journal Forum 
for emphasizing the importance of ethanol and biofuels. These fuels are 
gentle on the environment. They are fuels that can be renewed year after 
year and fuels that can expand our farm economy. These fuels are made 
right here in America, so they can't be threatened by any foreign power. 
Ethanol and biofuels are fuels of the future for this country.
    Since the beginning of my administration, I have strongly supported 
ethanol and biofuels. And the energy plan I sent to Congress back in the 
spring supports biofuels. The House passed an energy plan. Now it's time 
for the Senate to act and pass an energy plan. It's in our national 
security interests to do so. I look forward to signing a national energy 
bill.
    I'm also ready to sign trade promotion authority, to open up markets 
for American industry and American farmers. This authority sends an 
unmistakable signal to our trading partners that the Congress and the 
administration are united on trade. The House will soon vote on trade 
promotion authority. I hope you'll join me in pressing for its passage 
and, in the process, helping to restore U.S. leadership in support of 
free trade.
    U.S. leadership matters. We recently helped bring China into the 
World Trade Organization, and that is good for American farmers. It is 
in our interests, in our agricultural interests to help feed China.
    We helped start a new world trade round in Doha. Our negotiators 
came back from Doha with excellent news for American farmers. American 
farmers too often lose markets or suffer low prices because of unfair 
export subsidies. The Doha Declaration calls for reducing export 
subsidies and, ultimately, phasing them out. For too long, the 
agricultural market has been rigged against farmers who play fair. Doha 
shows the way toward a more level playing field. That's good news for 
the world's hungry; it's good news for the world's most productive food 
producers, the American farmers.
    We've got a good stimulus bill, a sound energy plan, and it's 
important to have a good farm bill, too. A good farm bill should keep 
the safety net under our food producers, without misleading our farmers 
into overproducing crops that are already in oversupply by increasing 
loan rates. A good farm bill should help farmers help themselves with 
farm savings accounts. These accounts would help farmers set aside money 
in good years to sustain them in hard times. A good farm bill should 
promote responsible stewardship of America's farms and ranchers by 
promoting conservation on working lands. A good farm bill should honor 
our trade obligations, as we expect our competitors to honor their 
obligations. And a good farm bill should be generous but affordable. It 
should honor the budget limits that Congress has agreed to live by.
    You know, we've learned a lot about our country since September the 
11th. We've learned that our people are strong, that our military is 
very good at what it does, and that our country's heart has never been 
more generous and good. And we have much to mourn and much to rebuild, 
but much to be grateful for.
    Just a few days ago we gave thanks for God's bounty to America. But 
we should never forget that it takes the hard toil on the land to turn 
that bounty into the food we eat and that we share with the world's 
hungry our bounty. We should never forget who does that toil. It's the 
American farmer and the American rancher.
    May God bless you all, and may God bless America.

Note: The President spoke at 1:32 p.m. in the Grand Ballroom at the JW 
Marriott. In his remarks, he referred to Andrew Webber, president

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and chief executive officer, Farm Journal; and rescued humanitarian aid 
workers Heather Mercer and Dayna Curry.