[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 38, Number 16 (Monday, April 22, 2002)]
[Pages 639-642]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks to the Leaders of the Fiscal Responsibility Coalition

April 16, 2002

    Well, thank you all very much. I appreciate you coming and giving me 
a chance to discuss the budget of our country.
    First, I want to thank Ted Fowler and Grady Rosier for leading this 
noble effort to make sure that Congress gets the message that fiscal 
sanity and discipline is important as we fight our war against terror. I 
want to thank the members of my administration who are here, the Deputy 
Director of the OMB; I don't know where ``The Blade'' is, but--
[laughter]--he's traveling. But I want to thank you all very much for 
making up the Fiscal Responsibility Coalition.
    Now, last night was not only the night people were supposed to file 
their taxes, but Congress was supposed to file its budget. The House 
has, and the Senate hasn't acted yet. But I want you to know that we 
fulfilled our responsibility.
    And I want to talk about budgeting in the face of the war against 
terror and budgeting in the face of a slowdown in our economy. It's an 
important issue because sound budgeting is going to determine whether or 
not--and sound appropriating is going to determine whether or not people 
are going to be able to find work.
    First, I think it's important on any budget to set priorities. And I 
want to share with you the three priorities that I've set and why I did 
it. Homeland security: We've doubled the amount of money available for 
homeland security, because my most important job is to protect our 
homeland. I need to be able to say to the American people that you can 
go about your lives because we're doing everything we can to protect 
you. And we are.
    We've got money in our budget for first-time responders--those are 
your police and your fire and your emergency medical teams--so that they 
can have a capacity to respond to any emergency that may occur, if one 
does. We've got money for bioterrorism in our budget. We've got 
medicines available. We're beefing up the public health units around the 
country. We've got money in our budget for border security. I mean, 
let's be frank about it, we've got to know--do a better job about 
knowing who's coming in and why they're coming into America, how long 
they intend to stay, and whether or not they're staying for as long as 
they say they're staying.
    We beefed up our Coast Guard to make sure that our ports and--ports 
of entry are better protected. We're doing a much better job here in 
America of communicating between law enforcement agencies. We've got 
money in our budget to modernize the capacity for the FBI to communicate 
internally, as well as with other law enforcement agencies around the 
country.
    You just need to know that any time we get any hint that somebody 
might be thinking about doing something to America, we're responding. 
We're chasing down every possible lead to make sure the homeland is 
secure.
    But the reality is, is that the way to secure the homeland is to 
find these killers, wherever they try to hide, and bring them to 
justice. That's the best way to secure America. I know some Americans 
wonder what is--how long this is going to go on. The answer is, for 
however long it takes. History has called us into action. We're not 
going to blink. We're not going to get tired. We're going to do what is 
necessary to defend our freedoms.
    I like to tell people in these speeches I'm giving that I can't 
imagine what went through the mind of the killers. They must have

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thought we were so materialistic, so self-absorbed, that all we were 
going to do was file a lawsuit. [Laughter] They found out that we think 
differently here.
    And so my budget prioritizes our national defense. It's the biggest 
increase in the defense budget in 20 years. And there's a couple of 
reasons why. First, any time we send our troops into harm's way, they've 
got to have the best training, the best equipment, the best possible 
pay. I mean, we owe it to our soldiers that it be this way.
    And secondly, the size of the budget request ought to indicate to 
the American people that we're in it for the--and the enemy, by the 
way--that we're in this for the long pull; that there is no calendar on 
my desk that says, ``Oh, by the way, this thing must end by such and 
such a moment.'' That's just not the way I'm thinking, and it's not the 
way our military is thinking. And the Congress needs to understand that 
as well, that it's expensive to fight for freedom, but it's not too 
expensive because it's freedom we fight for.
    These people, these terrorists still want to hit us. They're cold-
blooded murderers. That's just what they are, and we're denying them 
places to hide. And slowly but surely, we're going to get them. And just 
ask their chief operating officer, Abu Zubaydah, what it's like to be on 
the wrong side of the United States of America. We got him, and 
America's safer for it, but there's more out there.
    I feel the same way, by the way, about nations that are going to 
develop these weapons of mass destruction, who have got a history of 
hating America, hating freedom, and using these weapons against their 
own people, for example. I've got one country in mind, as I laid out 
that characteristic. [Laughter]
    But we can't, for the good of our children and for the sake of our 
future, allow them ever to team up with an Al Qaida organization and try 
to hold us hostage or hold the free world hostage. And it's just not 
going to happen. I'm going to be patient and deliberate, be steady. And 
our budget reflects that.
    And so--and the third priority has been to make sure that we promote 
economic vitality and growth. And so the priority in the budget was the 
tax cut that many of you worked on and is now in place. And I will tell 
you that I remember giving speech after speech after speech saying our 
economy needs a tax cut. It's important to let people have their own 
money so that they can spend. And when they do, demand increases, and 
then somebody will meet that demand with a good or a service, and then 
somebody will be able to find work. And it made a huge difference in 
our--in the vitality of our economy that we cut the taxes. Those taxes 
need to be permanent, by the way. And I look forward to working--
[applause].
    And the budget also included a blueprint for the economic stimulus 
plan that I signed. And again, I want to thank some of you in this room 
for working on this--a good thing.
    And so I urge Congress to get moving on the appropriations process, 
particularly when it comes to the Defense bill. Generally, here in 
Washington, they wait and put the Defense bill out last. I'm not going 
to read any reasons why into that; it just happens. I'll let the experts 
tell you why.
    It seems like, to me, if we're at war--and we are at war--that they 
ought to get the Defense appropriations bill out first and not play 
games with the Defense appropriations. And so I'm asking Congress to do 
that. I've made this clear to the leadership. I had a breakfast; they 
were--seemed to be very responsive. And now it's time for the 
appropriators to act.
    I also ask Congress to pass the supplemental that we submitted. It's 
emergency funding for defense and homeland security and economic 
security, and we'd like to get that done by Memorial Day. It's time for 
them to get that supplemental passed.
    The key, however, in making sure that this all fits together is that 
Congress understand the consequences of excessive spending beyond the 
priorities. The budget we submitted sets our priorities, but areas 
outside of our priorities will increase in expenditure by 2 percent, 
which is a pretty darn healthy increase in times of war. It means that 
we're going to meet other obligations. The education bill, for example, 
is an increase, after a substantial increase from last year.
    And one of the things that I'm urging Congress is to make sure that 
when they begin

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to think about programs and what they're going to spend the money on, is 
to think of the lessons of the past. We must not repeat the mistakes in 
the sixties, when increased spending required by war was not balanced by 
slower spending in the rest of Government, that the appropriators 
thought, ``What the heck, we'll just spend it on everything without any 
fiscal discipline in Washington, DC.'' And as a result, in the 
seventies, we faced unemployment and growing deficits and spiraling 
inflation.
    In times of--now is the time for us to be responsible when it comes 
to spending the people's money. That's not to say that it's not always 
time to be responsible when it comes to spending the people's money, but 
it's a time to be disciplined. The lesson ought to be clear that when 
you have excess spending, it's going to cost people their jobs, and 
Congress has got to be very careful about that.
    The recession--no question, I remember when I was campaigning, I 
said, would you ever deficit spend? Or--and I said, ``Yes, only if there 
were a time of war, or recession, or a national emergency.'' Never 
thought we'd get--[laughter]. And so we have a temporary deficit in our 
budget, because we are at war, we're recovering, our economy is 
recovering, and we've had a national emergency. But never did I dream 
we'd have the trifecta. [Laughter]
    But the key is to make sure it's as small as possible and to make 
sure it doesn't last very long. And so you'll hear some who will say, 
``Well, let's raise taxes as the way to deal with this temporary 
deficit.'' That, of course, would slow the economy down. It would make 
deficits worse.
    The best way to make sure that we get rid of this deficit, this 
short-term, temporary deficit, is to continue stimulating our economy--
more jobs, more growth equals more tax revenues--and at the same time, 
have strong fiscal discipline here in Washington, DC.
    If we restrain spending, even though we're at war, even though our 
economy is still clunking along, if we react responsibly, we can return 
to a balanced budget--something I want--as early as 2004. But tough 
choices on Capitol have to be made.
    I intend to help them make those choices. I want them to--
[applause]. I think we can do so in the spirit of cooperation, focusing 
on what's best for America. This doesn't have to be a time for harsh 
partisanship, where people are trying to advance their own political 
agendas as opposed to focusing on what's best for the country.
    What's best for the country is winning the war on terror, buttoning 
up the homeland, and keeping this economy growing so people can find 
work. That's what's best for the country. And we don't have to get into 
needless partisan screeching over the budget. We've got to be wise and 
reasonable with the people's money.
    And we've got to have some goals, and I've set the goals in terms of 
the war and set the goals in terms of the homeland. Our economy needs to 
get growing. But we also can focus on making sure we end this deficit. 
And we can do so, if the United States Congress does not overspend. And 
that's what I'm here to ask for your help on.
    I know you're interested in our country. I know you're most 
interested in the budgeting process. And we need your help, to help them 
hold the line on spending. You've got a tool, and that's called your 
voice, and the people you work with. And I've got a tool, and that's 
called a veto. [Laughter] And perhaps--and together--[applause]--I don't 
think that's going to be necessary, because I believe, in this difficult 
time for America, there's a common spirit on Capitol Hill and one that 
we can promote and use for the benefit of the people.
    And let me conclude by telling you, as people who've got influence 
in your communities and around the country, that there is a way you can 
help fight in this war against terror beyond trying to affect the 
budget, make sure you keep employing people. And that is, to love your 
neighbor like you'd like to be loved yourself; that if you're interested 
in fighting evil, do some good. Mentor a child; tell your own children 
you love them every single day; help a shut-in; get your church or 
synagogue or mosque to feed the hungry. Always remember there are 
pockets of despair and hopelessness in America, pockets of--places 
where--but a place that can be changed, as

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a result of a loving soul entering someone's life.
    The best way to fight evil in America is, do some good. And it's 
those collective acts of kindness and decency and compassion which will 
not only--stands America squarely in the face of evil, but which will 
turn the evil acts done to us as incredible good for people, people all 
around the country.
    This is a great country. There's no doubt in my mind that not only 
will we be able to achieve peace, but we'll achieve a hopeful America 
for everybody.
    Thank you all for coming, and may God bless.

Note: The President spoke at 3:15 p.m. in Presidential Hall in the 
Dwight D. Eisenhower Executive Office Building. In his remarks, he 
referred to Fiscal Responsibility Coalition members Theodore M. Fowler, 
Jr., chairman of the board, National Restaurant Association, and W. 
Grady Rosier, chairman of the board, National Association of Wholesaler-
Distributors; Deputy Director Nancy Dorn and Director Mitch Daniels, 
Office of Management and Budget; and Abu Zubaydah, a leader of the Al 
Qaida terrorist organization who was captured March 28.