[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 38, Number 12 (Monday, March 25, 2002)]
[Pages 437-442]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks to Employees of Albers Manufacturing Company in O'Fallon

March 18, 2002

    Thank you all. Gosh, thanks for that warm welcome. It's great to be 
back in Missouri. And thank you for that hospitality.
    I'm so glad that I'm with the Senator today; he is a champion of the 
small-business person. I look forward to working with him on some good 
legislation that understands the incredibly important role that the 
small-business person plays in America. And here it is: On a practical 
sense, more new jobs are created by small-business people than anybody 
else.
    And I happen to think that the small business--the entrepreneur 
represents one of the true strengths of our country. I mean, after all, 
this is a country where if you've got a good idea and you're willing to 
work hard and you're willing to take a little risk, you

[[Page 438]]

can own your own business. It doesn't matter who you are. It doesn't 
matter how you were raised. It doesn't matter whether you were born in 
America. What matters is, is that you're willing to dream and work for 
the dream.
    And so one of my jobs is to make sure the entrepreneurial spirit is 
strong and alive in America, that it continues to flourish so that the 
great American Dream of owning your own business is vibrant and alive 
and well. And when we go into the 21st century--and I want to talk about 
that today, a little bit.
    Before I do, I want to thank Rolf and the good folks here at Albers 
for their hospitality. It's not easy to welcome the President and the 
entourage--[laughter]--just a mere 14 vehicles. [Laughter] But I do want 
to thank you for your hospitality, and all the employees with whom I 
just had an interesting discussion about how to--about what's on their 
mind, about what's it like to work for a small business and how best--
what the Government can do to perhaps make the small business more 
vibrant and/or deal with some of the needs that directly affect the 
employees.
    Now, I want to thank the other small-business owners who are here. I 
love what you do. Again, as I repeat, you're an incredibly important 
part of the future of the country. Thanks for taking risks and for 
working hard. I appreciate my friend Hector Barreto, for coming. He was 
born here in Missouri, raised in California, and is doing a fine job as 
the head of the Small Business Administration in Washington, DC. I had 
the honor today as well, of traveling with Jim Talent and four fine 
members of the Missouri congressional delegation, Congressman Akin and 
Blunt, Congressman Hulshof and Jo Ann Emerson. Thank you all for coming.
    I also was met at the airport today by a guy named Derek Rapp. Where 
are you, Derek? There you are. Got a good seat, I see. [Laughter] That's 
what you get for coming to the airport. [Laughter] Here's Derek. Derek 
is the CEO of a small biotech firm. He is an economic entrepreneur, but 
I'm heralding Derek today because he's also a social entrepreneur. He's 
a person that understands that with freedom comes the responsibility to 
love a neighbor like you'd like to be loved yourself, and I appreciate 
that spirit, Derek. He started what's called St. Louis Cares. It is a 
recruiting vehicle to help match people with kind hearts with people who 
need kind hearts in their lives.
    And the reason I want to talk about the Dereks of the world is 
because in order to win the war against evil, this Nation must continue 
to practice acts of decency and kindness and goodness. That there is no 
question that the entrepreneurial spirit in America makes us unique, I 
think. But one of our other strengths is the fact that our Nation is a 
kind nation and a compassionate nation and a nation where neighbor 
loving neighbor is having a profound impact on the quality of our 
country's life. And so one of the things--and one of the reasons I like 
to introduce a guy like Derek, is because it helps remind us all about 
really one of the great strengths of our country, and that is our 
people.
    You know, Government can't make people love one another. I would 
sign the law. [Laughter] But people loving one another is essential to 
having a bright future, so that everybody can experience the great 
American Dream. And we've got pockets of persistent poverty in our 
society, which I refuse to declare defeat--I mean, I refuse to allow 
them to continue on. And so one of the things that I'm trying to do is 
to encourage a faith-based initiative to spread its wings all across 
America, to be able to capture this great compassionate spirit.
    One of my hopes is, out of this evil that was done to our country, 
is that people, young people understand that living in America is 
wonderful, but it also requires an effort to make the communities in 
which they live a better place, that we've got to work to usher in an 
era of personal responsibility. And part of that era of personal 
responsibility is not only, you know, obviously taking advantage of the 
material wealth available if you work hard and have got a good idea, but 
that there's much greater promise and hope than materialism, itself--
materialism, itself, is a dead end--that the idea of trying to work to 
help somebody in need is a powerful part of having a full and complete 
life.
    And therefore, I ask all of you and all the good folks in Missouri--
if you're already

[[Page 439]]

helping a neighbor in need, thank you, and continue doing it. But if 
you're looking for a way to make your life more full, more complete, 
mentor a child or help somebody who is shut in or go to a church or 
synagogue and mosque and say, ``What can we do to feed somebody who 
needs some food?'' I mean, there are all kinds of ways that you can 
help. And by helping, you stand squarely in the face of the evildoers 
that hit America.
    One way to make sure America is strong is to rally the compassion. 
Another way is to make sure that our economy is strong. I want to tell 
you right upfront that I do not think the role of Government is to try 
to create wealth. That's not the role of Government. The role of 
Government is to create an environment in which people are willing to 
take risk. And if they've got a good idea--[applause]--the role of 
Government is to create an economic climate in which the Rolfs of the 
world say, ``Gosh, I've got a good idea. I want to take a risk and, 
therefore, employ people.'' That's really what I view my job is--if 
there's roadblocks, to eliminate them, and if there's ways to make the 
environment better, do so.
    I wanted to talk a little bit about that. High taxes is a roadblock. 
High tax rates discourage investment, and when you discourage 
investment, you discourage job creation. And therefore, working with 
people in Congress, both the House and the Senate, we worked to reduce 
the tax burden on working people in America. And it came at exactly the 
right time. Tax relief was vital. It was vital for our economic future, 
because when you give people more of their own money to spend, they 
demand, and when they demand, somebody produces, and when somebody 
produces, somebody gets to work.
    But the other thing that was important about tax relief is that it 
is--recognizes the importance of small business, because many small 
businesses are unincorporated. Many small businesses are sole 
proprietors or are limited partnerships. And by cutting the personal 
rates, all personal rates, what we are in effect doing for the small-
business community was encouraging cash flow. And more cash flow on 
small-business owners means more jobs.
    And so one of the crucial things we've done to address the economic 
recession and its slowdown and the effects it caused on working people 
was to say, ``Let's give people their own money back.'' For a while they 
were talking about taking away that tax relief--``they'' being some 
people in Washington, DC. I couldn't imagine anybody saying, in the 
midst of a recession, ``We're going to raise taxes.'' They were reading 
the wrong textbook, Senator. [Laughter] Anybody in their right mind 
knows that if you're interested in making the economy more vital, you 
let people keep more of their own money. I don't hear much of that talk 
anymore now that the plan looks like it's working.
    But even though the economic news has been positive, in my judgment, 
we're not out of the woods yet. We've got to keep working for policies 
in place that encourage more job creation. And one of the other things 
we did that was interesting, and I think important to the formation of 
small businesses, is that we dealt with an issue that discourages small 
businesses, at least in this sense.
    If you're Rolf, and you build up your business and build up your 
assets through years of hard work, you ought to have the--you ought to 
be able to make the decision of who gets to own that business after you 
move on. And the death tax made it awfully difficult for you to make 
that decision. You see, if you're a small-business owner and you're not 
public, for example, if you're a privately held company, the death tax 
would cause your heirs to have to liquidate the assets that you built up 
over a lifetime. It was a terrible tax. We put it on its way to 
extinction, but I call upon the Congress to make the elimination of the 
death tax permanent in the Tax Code.
    We decided to do more in Washington to deal with this attack on 9/
11, particularly from how it affected people's lives. One of my big 
concerns has been and still continues to be the fact that some of our 
American workers lost jobs as a result of the enemy attack. And my 
attitude is, anybody who wants to work and can't find work is a problem 
for me to have to deal with. And there's a lot of Americans who want to 
work and can't find work, and so we decided to do something about it.

[[Page 440]]

    First of all, we decided to make sure that the people got an 
unemployment check. If their benefits were about to run out, we extended 
the amount of time for unemployment benefits, and that was the right 
thing to do. But I understand people don't want an unemployment check; 
they want a permanent paycheck. And therefore we asked Congress and 
worked with Members of Congress who understand capital how best to 
create jobs, what can we do to make sure that the true part of an 
economic stimulus package is jobs--its central core is, how to create 
more jobs.
    We passed a bill that encourages investment in plant and equipment, 
because we think that will be the best thing that will encourage job 
creation. And we stayed with it and worked hard and got a good vote out 
of the House and a good vote out of the Senate. And I was honored to be 
able to sign that bill, which I think is going to be a good part of 
encouraging investment in job creation.
    I also want to take it a step farther. I'm giving a speech tomorrow 
on--specifically on how best to deal with issues related to small 
business. I want to talk to you about two issues real quick. One is 
what's called Section 179 Expensing. Now, if you're not an accountant, I 
guess it's kind of hard to understand. But see if I can explain it. You 
know, okay, good. [Laughter] Okay, fine. [Laughter]
    Here's what it means. It increases the maximum deductions small 
businesses can take when they invest in new plant and equipment. Right 
now the law lets small businesses immediately deduct the full cost of 
the first $24,000 of investment when they invest less than $200,000 a 
year. Okay. So what I think we ought to do in order to encourage small 
business to make more investment, is to increase the limit from $200,000 
to 325,000, and allow for the first-year deduction of $40,000.
    Let me see if I can put this into English or Texan. [Laughter] I'm 
trying to put in place something that will encourage Rolf to go buy a 
new piece of machinery, which he says he wants to buy, to provide proper 
incentive for Rolf to go buy a new machine that will make his business 
more competitive and, therefore more likely to be able to hire somebody. 
That will help the manufacturer of the machine employ somebody; that 
will have an effect throughout the entire economy. And it seems like, to 
me, if small businesses are vital for the future of our country, if 
small businesses provide most of the new work for people looking for 
work and we're worried about people finding jobs, why don't we put 
something in place that encourages small-business growth? And that's 
exactly what this does.
    One of the things I heard from the good folks who work here is that 
they're concerned about their health care costs. And if you're a small-
business owner or somebody who works for a small business, you're 
concerned about health care costs, and I don't blame you. I heard what 
Rolf is going through. I've heard what the people are worried about. 
Here is one idea to help small businesses deal with high premiums.
    One of the reasons small-business owners have to pay high premiums 
is because they cannot spread the risk of the health care across a lot 
of folks. Large corporate America, because of the size of their 
workforce, can spread risk throughout a big workforce and, therefore, 
pay less cost for health care.
    If one of the cost drivers is the need to have more people to spread 
risk, why don't we try to figure out a way to allow Rolf to pool his 
risk with other small businesses? And so one of the good ideas--Jim 
sponsored this bill; I know that Kit is for it--is to allow for what we 
call associated health plans, which says that if you're a member of the 
NFIB, for example, the National Federation of Independent Businesses, 
that they can pool a multitude of small businesses together, thereby 
driving down the cost of health care.
    It makes sense. It is good for small businesses. It is very good for 
the people who work for small businesses. And it is beyond me why 
Congress can't figure out why this doesn't--shouldn't work. And so I'm 
calling on them to give this plan a hard look and get it passed for the 
good of the American economy.
    So today I wanted to talk to you about how we fight evil with acts 
of decency and kindness at home, how we make sure we've got

[[Page 441]]

economic security for all Americans. But I also want to mention to you 
pretty quickly that I also understand that my most important job is to 
defend America, is to make sure that we--is to secure the homeland, is 
to prevent the enemy from hitting us again. I want you to know, at home 
we're working overtime to do everything we can to make sure that doesn't 
happen. We're running down every lead, every hint, every possible 
threat.
    We take seriously, in America, because I still believe--I still know 
there are people out there that hate our freedoms. They can't stand the 
idea of a society which welcomes a good idea, and if you've got a good 
idea, you can succeed. They don't like freedom. They don't like freedom 
of religion. They don't like freedom of speech. They don't like freedom 
of politics. They just hate freedom. And therefore--and since we're the 
beacon of freedom, they want to attack us, and we're doing everything we 
can to make sure they don't.
    But the best way to defend the homeland is to find them where they 
are and bring them to justice. And that's precisely what we're going to 
do. We've got a big task ahead of us. And the good news is, the American 
people understand the size of the task. After all, when you defend 
freedom, freedom, itself, it may take a while, and the people know that. 
I've traveled the country enough to be able to report to you all that 
the Nation is united and patient.
    We've made some pretty good progress in a little over 6 months. It 
wasn't all that long ago that the enemy miscalculated and attacked 
America, thinking that maybe we were such a materialistic society, we 
wouldn't defend that which we hold dear to our heart. I said early on, I 
said, ``If you harbor a terrorist or you hide one, you're just as guilty 
as the murderers.'' And the Taliban found out what we meant, thanks to a 
mighty United States military and thanks to a vast coalition of nations 
that love freedom. We have run out of town, run out of their offices, 
run out of power a Government that is one of the most repressive 
Governments history has ever seen.
    One of the things that makes me most proud is that we didn't seek 
revenge; we sought justice. And we went into Afghanistan not as 
conquerors but as liberators. I want you to know that later on this week 
schools reopen in Afghanistan, and this is hard for Americans to 
believe, but for the first time, young girls get to go to school, thanks 
to America.
    And so the first phase of the war, which was to hold people 
accountable for harboring terrorists, is over with. That's not to say 
some may decide to harbor them in the future, in which case they now 
know the lessons that will--they know I mean what I say. Let me put it 
to you that way.
    The second phase is to deny these killers sanctuary; it's to not let 
them ever settle down and light anywhere; it's to treat them like what 
they are, international terrorists, and keep them on the run. And that's 
what we're doing. And I mean just that--I mean just that: get them on 
the run and keep them on the run. And if that means months and hunting 
them down, that's exactly what this country is going to do. Listen, we 
caught a bunch of them bunched up the other day--[laughter]--and they're 
not bunched up any more.
    I have submitted a significant increase in the budget to the 
Congress. I expect them to pass it. I know the Senators are with me. I 
know the Members of the Congress are with me. We need to make sure our 
troops are well trained, have got the best equipment, get a pay raise. 
And I don't want Congress messing with the budget. They have the right 
to debate; I understand that. And I can understand--they get the right 
to spend. I propose; they dispose. I know that. [Laughter] But now is 
not the time to be playing politics with the military budget. They need 
to get it to my desk early. Generally, the defense budget is the last 
one--or the defense appropriation is the last one to the President's 
desk. It ought to be the first one this year.
    I want you to know that history has called us into action. History 
has placed a great responsibility at our doorstep, and I will not miss 
this opportunity. It is a chance to defend freedom. It is a chance to 
make sure that our children and grandchildren grow up in a peaceful 
world. Out of this evil will come some good. America will be stronger at 
home. We'll be more compassionate and

[[Page 442]]

more decent. Out of this evil will come, I believe, a period of personal 
responsibility, a new culture as reflected in Flight 93, when people 
drove an airplane into the ground to sacrifice for something greater 
than themselves. And if we're tough and resolved and determined, like I 
know we're going to be, out of this evil will come a more peaceful world 
for generations to come.
    As you can tell, I hope, I'm optimistic. And you'd be optimistic, 
too, if you got to see what I see. See, I get to travel the greatest 
land on the face of the Earth. I am optimistic because of the values 
that make America strong, and I am optimistic because of the people who 
make her great.
    God bless you all.

Note: The President spoke at 2:48 p.m. in the factory at Albers 
Manufacturing Co. In his remarks, he referred to Senator Christopher S. 
``Kit'' Bond of Missouri; Rolf Albers, chairman and chief executive 
officer, Albers Manufacturing Co.; and Derek Rapp, chief executive 
officer, Divergence.