[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 39, Number 8 (Monday, February 24, 2003)]
[Pages 218-225]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at Carl Harrison High School in Kennesaw, Georgia

February 20, 2003

    Thank you all very much. Thanks a lot. So, I'm on my way down to 
Crawford, and I thought it would be wise to stop in Cobb County. And I'm 
glad I did. Thank you for that incredibly warm welcome. It is wonderful 
to be here at Harrison High. I'm honored to be in the presence of the 
principal, Donnie Griggers. I want to thank he and his staff--he and his 
fine staff for putting up with the entourage. [Laughter] I appreciate 
all the teachers here at Harrison High. I want to thank you for 
teaching. Yours is a noble profession, an important profession, and all 
of us who care about our children and our children's future thank you 
for teaching and sharing your wisdom and your love for our children.
    I appreciate the Harrison High students who are here. Listen to your 
teacher and your mother, by the way. I'm still listening to mine. 
[Laughter] But I'm honored the students are here, and thank you for 
sharing your facility with us.
    I've come to your school to talk about the need for this Nation to 
assume responsibilities, that we have a responsibility to keep the peace 
and to protect the homeland, that we have a responsibility to make sure 
this economy is strong so people can find work. We have a responsibility 
to nourish the entrepreneurial spirit of America. We have that 
responsibility. And I want to talk to you about the need for all of us 
to assume our responsibilities as we go through life.
    If you're fortunate enough to be a mom or a dad, you're responsible 
for loving that child with all your heart and all your soul. If you're a 
citizen of democracy, you're responsible for participating in the 
political process. If you're a leader, you're responsible for doing what 
you think is right on behalf of all of the citizens. And that's why I'm 
so honored--[applause].
    Those of us in office have the responsibility to reject partisan 
politics which divides our Nation, that ugly politics, which says, if so 
and so wins, such and such has got to lose--the zero-sum politics that 
oftentimes enters the discourse of Washington, DC. We have a 
responsibility to lift up issues beyond the mud pit of politics.
    And that's why I'm so honored to be standing here with Democrat 
Senator Zell Miller, American first. He is the kind of fellow that tells 
you exactly what he thinks. If he agrees with you, he tells you he 
agrees with you. If he doesn't agree with you, he'll tell you that, too. 
[Laughter] One thing you can be certain of, he puts his country ahead of 
the political party. I'm proud to call him friend. I listen to him. And 
I'm proud of the fact that he is going to sponsor the tax relief plan 
I'm going to tell you about in a minute.
    I'm also proud to be traveling with Saxby Chambliss, newly elected 
Senator from Georgia. These two Senators make a fine combination on 
behalf of all the people. Your State is really well represented in the 
Halls of the United States Senate.
    I'm proud to be with the man who's got one of the greatest jobs in 
America, the Governor of the State of Georgia. It's interesting we're 
here with Sonny in a school, because I understand his passion for public 
education. He understands that's the number one priority of any State. 
And I believe a result of his leadership and working with the teachers 
and principals and administrators and parents, education in this great 
State is going to flourish for every single child. No child is going to 
be left behind in the State of Georgia.
    We've got the members of the mighty Georgia congressional delegation 
with us. I say mighty, because they're mighty strong. And I'm mighty 
proud to call them all friends. The Congressman from this district, 
Johnny Isakson, is with us today. Newly elected Phil Gingrey is with us 
as well. And John Linder from the Atlanta region is with us. And some of 
the country boys from the delegation arrived with us today--[laughter]--
Charlie Norwood, Mac Collins, and Max Burns, all fine Members. Thank you 
all for coming.
    I am proud to be in the presence of State and local leaders. Thank 
you all for being here. Recently I had a--recently--like 15 minutes ago, 
I had a chance to--[laughter]--really recently--[laughter]--I had a 
chance to visit with some of our fellow citizens. I'm going to talk 
about them a little later on. I

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think it's very important for our fellow Americans to know that when I 
talk about tax relief and talk about the entrepreneurial spirit, that it 
can relate directly to people in your neighborhoods and your 
communities. I want to thank you all for coming today.
    I also want to recognize a fellow named Bob Langley. Where are you, 
Bob? Right there. Thank you for coming. The reason I mentioned Bob is he 
came out to Air Force One to greet me. He represents thousands of our 
fellow citizens who have heard a call to help somebody in need. He is a 
volunteer for Hospice Atlanta and the American Cancer Society. He is a 
citizen, like many of you here and many around the country, who know 
that each of us has a responsibility to make our communities better by 
following our hearts and helping people in need.
    See, the greatest strength of America, the greatest strength of our 
country, lies in the hearts and souls of our fellow citizens. And my 
call--my call to particularly the students here--is that, in a 
responsible society, not only do you have a responsibility to make right 
choices, but you've got a responsibility to help somebody who hurts, to 
make somebody's life a little brighter, to love a neighbor just like 
you'd like to be loved yourself. Here's a living example of a member of 
the army of compassion. Bob, I thank you for your example. I thank you 
for what you do in the city of Atlanta to help somebody in need. 
Welcome.
    We've got an amazing country. Just look what we have been through 
the last couple of years, starting with the economic challenges that 
this country has faced. First the stock market peaked in March of 2000, 
people feeling pretty good about the stock market, and then it started 
heading down. And then the economy went into three quarters of negative 
growth, which is the definition of a recession. In other words, we 
weren't--we were going backwards for three solid quarters. That affects 
a lot of people's lives when that happens. It means people are--can't 
find work. It means that instead of being optimistic about the future, 
many of our citizens were pessimistic about their future.
    And so we did something about it. I want to thank Zell for his 
leadership in the Halls of the Senate. We passed tax relief, which 
helped this economy begin to grow again. And this--as the economy was 
beginning to grow, then the terrorists, the killers, hit us. And that 
affected the economic vitality of the country. There's no question about 
it--the shock to a system, the damage that the attacks did on our 
financial markets as well as the airline industry, for example.
    But we acted. We came together as a country. We responded. The 
people responded with great strength and courage. The Congress responded 
by passing terrorism insurance. The administration responded by getting 
the financial markets opened quickly. We responded by helping airlines, 
such as Delta Airlines, to get flying again. The Nation responded.
    And then we suffered another shock to the system, and that is we 
found out some corporate citizens were not responsible citizens, because 
they thought they could not tell the truth and get away with it. And 
that caused a lot of Americans to take a step back and reflect about 
what they were hearing when it came to somebody's balance sheet. In 
other words, if they were an investor, they got a little nervous about 
the numbers they were looking at. So the country responded. And I had 
the honor of signing the most sweeping corporate accountability reforms, 
supported by both Republicans and Democrats, since Franklin Roosevelt 
was the President of the United States.
    And now we're sending a clear message that in a responsible society, 
if you don't tell the truth, there's going to be a consequence. We're 
going to find you and hold you to account if you don't tell the truth to 
shareholders and employees alike.
    So it's been an amazing period for this Nation and our economy to 
have overcome those obstacles. But there's still too many people looking 
for work. There's still too many people who wonder whether or not their 
future is bright enough. And I think we need to continue to move forward 
with good, positive legislation that will turn this recovery into 
lasting prosperity. It's to make sure that the economic growth we're 
seeing now lasts, so that the great American hope and American Dream can 
spread its--can spread throughout all our society.

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    And so you ask the question, ``If things aren't going as well as 
they should, what should we do?'' Well, I agree with Zell, with this 
economic theory, that when a person has more money in their pocket, 
they're likely to demand somebody to produce them a good or a service. 
In other words, you get money in your pocket, you say, ``Well, I think 
I'd like this product, or I'd like this service.'' And when you make 
that demand in a market-oriented society like ours, somebody is going to 
produce it. And when somebody produces a good or a service to meet your 
demand, it means somebody is more likely to find work.
    And therefore, the cornerstone of good economic policy recognizes 
that the money in Washington, DC, is not the Government's money. It's 
the people's money. And the more of it you have in your pocket, the more 
likely somebody is going to find a job. And that is the principle of the 
plan I'm going to describe to you, that I described to Congress, a plan 
that will be introduced by Zell and supported by the Members here, a 
plan that both--members of both parties recognize that makes sense.
    It starts with reducing the rates of people who pay taxes. Everybody 
who pays taxes, in my judgment, ought to get rate relief. We ought not 
try to pick and choose. I don't think your Government wants to decide, 
``Well, you qualify for rate relief, and you don't.'' If you pay taxes 
and there's going to be tax reduction, everybody who pays taxes ought to 
get relief. It's only fair that it be done that way. You don't want your 
Government picking winners and losers when it comes to tax policy.
    Secondly, we have what's called a marriage penalty in the Tax Code. 
That's backwards. We ought not to penalize marriage in America. So 
therefore, we must phase out the effects of the marriage penalty. We've 
got in our Tax Code a child credit, and we think we ought to raise the 
child credit from $600 a child to $1,000 a child. That policy will not 
only help moms and dads, it will--it sends the right signal in our 
society. It's good policy to do that. It's got the right social policy 
with it as well, it seems like to us.
    And so I've asked Congress to pass rate reductions and increase the 
child credit, do away with--start the process of getting rid of the 
marriage penalty. But the interesting thing is we've already passed 
this, see. In 2001, the Congress decided--along with a little urging 
from the White House, I might add--[laughter]--to reduce all rates on 
people who pay taxes, to get rid of the--to phase out, to the extent 
possible, the marriage penalty, to raise the child credit to $1,000. 
It's been approved.
    But instead of approving it and having it all in one year, Congress 
decided in 2001 that they would phase it in over a period of years. And 
so I'm going to the United States Congress and say, ``Wait a minute. If 
these--tax relief is good enough 3 or 5 or 7 years from now, and the 
economy is not as strong as it should be, if you thought tax relief 
would help economic growth, let's accelerate the tax relief. You've 
already passed it once. Let's make it effective this year.''
    And I'm also going to ask Congress to make sure that we make the tax 
relief effective as of January 1st, so that it has an immediate effect 
on our economy. So I look forward to working with Members of the House 
and the Senate to get this passed, to make it effective January 1st, so 
that the hard-working citizens of America will see this in their 
paychecks as soon as possible. That's how you stimulate the economy. 
That's how you make sure people who are looking for work can find work.
    I'm optimistic about our future because I'm optimistic about 
Americans. I'm optimistic about the entrepreneurial spirit of this 
country. There's a blue chip survey from leading economists that predict 
growth this year of 3.3 percent. And that's positive. But I want to 
remind the Members of Congress who are going to be studying whether or 
not there needs to be tax relief that a part of the fine print of this 
prediction is this: The economists are basing this prediction on 
Congress passing tax relief this year. In other words, inherent in the 
3.3 percent prediction of economic growth is that Congress acts in a 
positive way.
    If Congress doesn't act, there's a risk we won't have economic 
vitality the likes of which we all support. My point to you is that this 
plan makes sense. It makes sense from not only what sounds--a 
commonsensical

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perspective, but it makes sense when analyzed by the economists behind 
the blue chip forecasts. And I'm going to remind Congress--I don't need 
to remind these Members of Congress, but I want to remind other Members 
of Congress--[laughter]--that without the stimulus, without tax 
reductions, we could jeopardize the recovery that we long for.
    I also want you to know this plan is fair, and it is balanced. One 
of the things that's important about any stimulative plan or tax relief 
plan, it's got to be fair. Under this plan, 92 million Americans receive 
an average tax cut of $1,083. That's fair. Nearly 2.5 million taxpayers 
in your State of Georgia will see lower income-tax bills. That's 
widespread.
    What's interesting about tax relief, though, is how it affects our 
small businesses. And it's very important for our fellow citizens to 
know that many small-business owners organize their businesses in such a 
way as that they pay tax at the individual tax rates. A Subchapter S 
corporation will pay tax at the individual tax rates. A limited 
partnership pays tax at the individual tax rates. A sole proprietorship 
pays tax at the individual tax rates. Most small businesses are one of 
those three--are organized in one of those three fashions. So when you 
hear me talk about individual tax rate cuts, I want you to think about 
its effect on small-business Georgia or small-business America.
    In this State, 614,000 small-business owners will have more money in 
their coffers as a result of reducing the individual tax rates. And 
that's important. That's important because most job growth--new jobs in 
America are created by our small businesses, by the entrepreneurs of 
America. We estimate that 23 million small-business owners across 
America will receive average income tax rate cut of $2,042. That 
matters.
    You'll hear in a minute what people do with extra money in their 
pockets. You know what they do? They invest, or they hire. And it's the 
cumulative effect of 23 million small-business owners making the 
decision to make an investment in equipment or to hire somebody else, 
which will have an incredibly positive effect on this economy. We 
believe the tax relief plan will create 1.4 million new jobs by the end 
of 2004.
    We also believe the Tax Code ought to be used to encourage people to 
make wise decisions in their businesses right now. A small business can 
only deduct up to $25,000 in the year in which they make a capital 
purchase--$25,000. And so we believe that in order to encourage more 
investment, to encourage small-business owners to buy more machines, for 
example, that make their business grow faster or more productive, we 
ought to raise that limit to $75,000. If you raise the limit to $75,000 
and somebody is only buying $25,000 worth of equipment because of the 
Tax Code, there's an additional $50,000 of purchases in a year.
    Somebody goes out and buys a piece of equipment, it means somebody's 
got to make the piece of equipment, which means somebody is likely--more 
likely to find a job in the equipment manufacturing company. And if 
somebody buys that equipment, it makes their company more productive, 
which increases wages over time. It's really important that our fellow 
citizens understand the stimulative effects of good economic policy when 
you encourage people to make wise investments, and they have more money 
in their pocket to make those investments.
    I also want to make this Tax Code more fair. It's important that the 
Tax Code be fair. It's fair to tax corporate profits. That's fair. 
What's not fair, it seems to me, is that when a corporation distributes 
those profits to the shareholders in a form of what they call a 
dividend, that you tax it again. It doesn't make economic sense to keep 
taxing the same dollar over time. If part of a healthy economic society 
is one in which money is circulating in the private sector--this causes 
fewer dollars to circulate--it means less investment when you stand in 
between the owner of the company, the shareholder, and the distribution 
of once-taxed profits of that company.
    And so I've asked for the Congress to join me in getting rid of the 
double taxation of dividends. Let me describe why I think this makes 
sense. First, obviously, people will have more money to invest. If an 
investor pays less in taxes because the double taxation of dividends is 
gone, that person has got more money to invest. And secondly, dividend-
paying stocks become more attractive

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to the investor. If you don't pay tax on the dividends, it's more likely 
you'll purchase a stock that pays dividends, and that's positive news.
    In other words, the benefits--Americans would get more money to save 
and more money to invest. And that means that more capital will be 
available for companies, large and small, to use for expansion. The more 
money in circulation through investment, the more capital available. And 
capital equals jobs, and that's what's important to know.
    The greater the number of people who are willing to invest or who 
want to invest also helps the stock market. The markets will benefit. 
And that's important because America is now an ownership society. It 
used to be in our history that only a few would own stocks. I bet 
there's a lot of people in Georgia in the old days who would look up at 
Wall Street and say, ``You know, they own stocks. What is that all 
about?'' Well, those days have changed. There are millions of our fellow 
citizens who own stocks directly or through pension plans.
    America is an ownership society, by the way, and that is fantastic 
news for the future of this country. And as an ownership society, we've 
got to understand what it means to reduce taxes on dividends. It means 
there will be $20 billion--this year--more dollars in circulation for 
investment.
    It means that 10 million seniors, nearly one in four who receive 
dividend income, will get relief. Now, that's important. Ten million 
seniors rely upon dividend income as a way to make sure the quality of 
their life is strong in their retirement years--10 million of them. They 
rely--and getting rid of the double taxation on dividends is a 
incredibly positive thing for the quality of life of our seniors. Nine 
hundred thousand of your citizens will benefit right away from getting 
rid of the double taxation of dividends; 60 percent of them made $75,000 
or less in the year 2000. That's a fair plan.
    There's also an old expression in economics that says, ``Profit is 
an opinion, but cash is a fact.'' [Laughter] When a company pays a 
dividend, you know the profits are real. You get that check. Dividends 
encourage open and honest accounting. Good business practices shouldn't 
be punished in this Tax Code.
    I know there's some concern about overstating of numbers, you know, 
``Invest in my company because the sky's the limit. We may not be cash 
flowing much, but the sky's the limit.'' Well, when you pay dividends, 
that ``sky's the limit'' business doesn't hunt. What only matters is 
whether or not they can distribute that cash they say they're going to 
distribute. It leads to conservative business practices. It leads to 
being people--more businesses being responsible with your money. After 
all, you're the owner of the company.
    And so this dividend policy makes sense from a senior's perspective. 
It makes sense to encourage investment, and it makes sense to make sure 
the balance sheets of America are treated with respect. And so I urge 
the United States Congress to listen to the citizens who will benefit 
from this plan and get rid of the double taxation of dividends, for the 
good of the American economy.
    And so, as I said, I recently met with some of your fellow citizens, 
starting with the Kings. The Kings started their own business right 
here, in 1996. You know, I don't know the moment it happened, but it had 
to have been an exciting moment for somebody to say, ``I'm starting''--
or in this case, ``we are starting our own business, something I can--we 
can call our own.'' They've always invested in the profits of their 
firm. They believe in growing their firm, and their firm now has 60 
people--60 employees, 60 people working with them. He is what I 
described as a Subchapter S. The Kings pay individual tax rates for 
their corporation.
    If you're interested in the Kings expanding their business, which I 
am--they certainly are--it makes sense to reduce the tax rates they pay. 
And by cutting the individual tax rates, the Kings will have more 
cashflow. They also told me that it's important for them to have the 
best computers possible, that they got to got--upgrade their equipment 
to make sure that the 60 smart folks they've got working for them have 
got the best ability to compete in the marketplace and that equipment 
purchases are important to enhance the productivity, the ability for a 
worker to increase their output per hour.
    And therefore, when we raise the exemption by 75--the ability to 
expense up to

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$75,000 of equipment purchases, they have told me they're going to 
invest in new equipment. The person that manufactures the equipment the 
Kings purchase also will have a--will benefit from the tax rate 
reduction because it's more likely they're going to need somebody to 
help build that equipment.
    In other words, good tax policy has an effect throughout the 
economy. We want the Kings to continue to expand their business. I said, 
``Are you optimistic?'' They said, ``You bet we're optimistic.'' We want 
to make them a little more optimistic by letting them have more of their 
own money.
    Lee Pickard--he's the pretty one in the back row--or at least his 
mother thinks so. [Laughter] Anyway, he runs Mid-State RV Sales and 
Rentals. It's his own business. He's a Subchapter S. In other words, he 
pays taxes at the individual tax rate, too.
    When you hear the rhetoric about cutting taxes on individuals, it's 
important for our fellow citizens to also understand how many small 
businesses are affected. That's why the Kings and Lee are here. They 
represent hundreds and thousands of the companies that pay tax at the 
individual rate. When we talk about income tax reductions, we're 
affecting his ability to save money; his ability--he, too, wants to 
increase the amount of capital expenditure he's going to make as a 
result of increasing the limit to $75,000.
    I said, ``What does this mean to you?'' He says, ``Three more 
employees for next year.'' Three more employees from this man's good 
business, 3 more employees from the guy across the street, 3 more 
employees and 10 over here, how many for the Kings--it adds up. If 
you're interested in job security, growth in jobs in America, the 
Congress must understand that this plan directly benefits the 
entrepreneurs of this country and will make a huge difference in the 
ability to find people work.
    It also helps individuals. Stirlyn Harris works for Stanley King. He 
and his wife Billie Jeanne both work, and you're doing what you'd expect 
them to do as the parents of two children: They're saving. They're 
saving through the 401k plan, a stock purchase plan, a credit union 
account. They are saving. This tax relief plan will mean $1,300 extra 
for them. I asked them, ``What does that mean, $1,300? You going to play 
the lottery?'' [Laughter] He said he didn't think so. He thinks Timothy 
and Travis need to have as good an education as possible throughout 
their life. He's putting aside that money, he and his wife, Billie Jean, 
putting aside that money for their children's future.
    That extra money in their pocket will help them be responsible 
parents, will help them save. And you put $1,300 aside for two children 
who are young, and let it accumulate and grow, those children are going 
to say, ``We were blessed to have such a good mother and daddy.'' Tax 
relief has positive effects on the families of America.
    Carolyn Galvin is with us. She owns Storeel Corporation. Carolyn, 
thank you for coming. She's got a couple of things in mind. One, she 
wants to make sure her business grows, and she wants to leave it to her 
children. That's noble, and that's great. As a matter of fact, anybody 
who builds up their own assets ought to be able to leave it to whoever 
they want to. The problem is, the Government stands in between that 
through the death tax. For the good of the entrepreneurial spirit in 
America, we need to get rid of that death tax forever.
    Part of the 2001 tax relief package, we put the death tax on its way 
to extinction. But it's hard to explain what I'm about to tell you. It 
really doesn't go away forever, because of some of the quirky rules of 
the United States Senate. And we need--the Senate needs to join with 
Zell and Saxby, who agree with me that it's important to have certainty 
in our society. If people need to plan for their families, it's--you 
don't want the Tax Code saying, ``Well, it may be this way. It may not 
be this way.'' The tax relief plan, including getting rid of the death 
tax, needs to be made permanent.
    Carolyn says that as a result of allowing for more expensing, she's 
going to quadruple the investments that her company will make this year. 
That's important. As she makes additional investments, somebody is more 
likely to find work. It has a positive effect. Her decision, one of 
millions of decisions that will be made, will have an incredibly 
positive effect on a person looking for work. There is a connection 
between her decision and jobs,

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and there is a connection between how she makes a decision and good tax 
policy.
    I also want you to know that her tax bill will fall by about $5,500 
this year alone, mainly because we're getting rid of the double taxation 
of dividends. It is likely--I'm not going to tell her what to do, but it 
is likely she will, being the optimistic soul that she is--[laughter]--
will invest that, is--make a decision that, ``Well, you know, things are 
going to get better. I think I'll buy a stock or two or save it.'' And 
it's that act, that decision that circulates more capital in the private 
sector which helps this economy recover.
    No, the people that we have talked to today--Chris Mitchell and 
Pamela Talley--Pamela, by the way, is a single mom. She's got the 
toughest job in America. It's a hard job. She can use a little extra 
money--of her own money, by the way. She told me that she wants to save 
for her 3-year-old child's education as well.
    See, these are real-life stories that will affect this economy. The 
whole premise of the jobs-and-growth package is to trust people with 
their own money, based upon the idea that more money in your pocket will 
mean more consumption and more investment. More consumption and more 
investment means somebody is more likely to find work.
    Not only do we need to deal with this economy--and we'll spend a lot 
of time on it in Washington and, I'm confident, pass good legislation--
but we'll continue to make sure this homeland is secure. In order to 
make sure the homeland was more secure, we're obviously spending money 
on our military and on homeland security. And when you couple that with 
a recession, which means less money coming to Government, we've got us a 
deficit. First of all, you've got to know, when it comes to the deficit, 
I'm--I believe the best way to get out of it is to grow the economy so 
more revenues come in and then make sure Congress doesn't overspend.
    But as we insist that Congress be wise with your money, we're going 
to make sure we spend enough to win this war. And by spending enough to 
win a war, we may not have a war at all.
    We've got to spend enough to protect this homeland too. But the 
money--the budget I submitted holds growth--setting a priority our 
military, setting as a priority our homeland security--it holds growth 
to 4 percent on discretionary spending. That's about as much as the 
average America's family's income is expected to grow this year. To me, 
it's a good benchmark for the year 2003.
    Congress needs to make sure that it holds discretionary spending to 
4 percent. If it's good enough for the American family's income, it's 
good enough for the spending habits of the United States Congress.
    This great country is equal to every challenge we face here at home, 
and it's equal to every challenge we face abroad, and we've got some 
challenges. As we move to strengthen this economy, we're going to 
protect the American people and this homeland against ruthless killers. 
The terrorists who struck the United States are still determined to harm 
this country. It's the cold reality of the 21st century, but we are even 
more determined to hunt them down one by one, to disrupt their plans, 
and to bring them to justice.
    It's important--it's very important for our citizens to understand 
the significant change that took place on September the 11th, 2001. 
Obviously, it changed a lot of people's lives, and we still mourn for 
the families who lost life. But it used to be that oceans--we thought 
oceans could protect us, that we were guarded by the oceans and that if 
there was a threat overseas, as a result of the protection from the 
oceans, we could decide whether to be involved or not. It might affect 
us overseas, but it couldn't affect us at home. And therefore, we have 
the luxury of kind of picking and choosing gathering threats.
    That changed on September the 11th, 2001, because the stark reality 
of 2001 is that America is now a battlefield, that the war has come 
home. And therefore, this Nation must also confront not only shadowy 
terrorist networks but the gravest danger in the war on terror: outlaw 
regimes arming to threaten the peace with weapons of mass destruction.
    After Secretary of State Powell's presentation to the United Nations 
Security Council, the world knows that Saddam Hussein has weapons of 
mass destruction, even though he said he didn't, and that he is not 
complying with the United Nations demands to destroy them. He is 
actively deceiving the

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inspectors. He is actively hiding the weapons. And so the Security 
Council, earlier on, gave Saddam Hussein one final chance to disarm, and 
he's throwing that chance away.
    If military force becomes necessary to disarm Iraq, this Nation, 
joined by others, will act decisively in a just cause, and we will 
prevail.
    Military action is this Nation's last option. And let me tell you 
what's not an option: Trusting in the sanity and restraint of Saddam 
Hussein is not an option; denial and endless delay in the face of 
growing danger is not an option; leaving the lives and the security of 
the American people at the mercy of this dictator and his weapons of 
mass destruction, not an option.
    America and our allies are called once again to defend the peace 
against an aggressive tyrant, and we accept this responsibility.
    We defend the security of our country, but our cause is broader. If 
war is forced upon us, we will liberate the people of Iraq from a cruel 
and violent dictator. The Iraqi people today are not treated with 
dignity, but they have the right to live in dignity. The Iraqi people 
today are not allowed to speak out for freedom, but they have a right to 
live in freedom. We don't believe freedom and liberty are America's gift 
to the world; we believe they are the Almighty's gift to mankind. And 
for the oppressed people of Iraq, people whose lives we care about, the 
day of freedom is drawing near.
    A free Iraq can be a source of hope for all the Middle East. Instead 
of threatening its neighbors and harboring terrorists, Iraq can be an 
example of progress and prosperity, in a region that needs both. If we 
liberate the Iraqi people, they can rest assure that we will help them 
build a country that is disarmed and peaceful and united and free.
    The disarmament of Iraq will also demonstrate that free nations have 
the will and resolve to defend the peace. By defeating this threat, we 
will show other dictators that the path of aggression will lead to their 
own ruin. By defeating the threat of Iraq, we will show the world--we 
will show that the world is able and prepared to meet future dangers 
wherever they arise.
    Our goal is peace, and achieving peace requires resolve and action 
by free nations. In a more peaceful world, the American people will not 
live in fear, and the Iraqi people will not live in oppression.
    The United States of America, joined by many nations--by many 
nations--is committed to building a world at peace and bringing a better 
day. There is no question in my mind--no question in my mind--that 
because of the strength of this country, the heart and soul of the 
American people, the courage of the American people, the determination 
of the American people, and the values of the American people, that we 
can have a more peaceful world, a more just society, and a more hopeful 
America.
    May God bless you all.

Note: The President spoke at 10:58 a.m. in the school's gymnasium. In 
his remarks, he referred to Gov. Sonny Perdue of Georgia; and President 
Saddam Hussein of Iraq. The Office of the Press Secretary also released 
a Spanish language transcript of these remarks.