[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 39, Number 9 (Monday, March 3, 2003)]
[Pages 242-247]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks to the Latino Coalition

February 26, 2003

    Bienvenidos. I want to thank mi abogado and my close friend for his 
leadership and his participation in our Government. Everybody has got to 
have a good lawyer--[laughter]--especially in my line of work. 
[Laughter] And I've got a great one with Al Gonzales. I'm proud to call 
him friend.
    And I also want to thank the members of the Latino Coalition who are 
here today. I want to thank for your work in--obviously, on political 
issues. But really I want to thank you for what you're doing in your own 
community, showing people that through hard work there's opportunity and 
hope, that if you're an entrepreneur--thanks for setting such a great 
example. Truly, one of the greatest things about the Nation is that 
somebody who's got a dream and who works hard can own their own 
business, realize their own potential. So thanks for setting the example 
for a lot of our fellow citizens.
    I'm honored that Mel Martinez is here with us, and Hector Barreto, 
serving my administration. Both men are doing a fine job in important 
positions. I want to thank Ambassador Hans Hertell from the Dominican

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Republic for coming. I see you brought an entourage with you. [Laughter] 
Rosario Marin, who's the Treasurer, is here. Rosario, great to see you. 
Josefina Carbonell, who is the Assistant Secretary for Aging, Health and 
Human Services, is with us.
    I want to thank very much the--Robert de Posada, who is the 
president of the Latino Coalition. I also want to thank Jane Delgado as 
well for your leadership and for working for what you think is right for 
the country. El Gobernador del Estado de Hidalgo is with us today. 
Gobernador, bienvenidos. Glad you're here.
    I see my friend Alfredo Phillips. One of the great honors when I was 
the Governor of Texas was to work closely with our Mexican counterparts. 
Senor Phillips was a man who came to Austin quite frequently to talk 
about NADBank and mutual development programs. I'm honored you're here. 
I appreciate your delegation coming.
    This Nation is committed to making sure we've got great relations 
with Mexico. The cornerstone of good foreign policy starts with making 
sure the neighborhood is prosperous and peaceful. I look forward to 
continuing to work with Vicente Fox on advancing a common agenda for the 
good of both nations.
    And so I welcome you all here. You come to America today during 
times of great challenges. There are some challenges which face us, but 
there's no hurdle big enough for the American people not to cross. This 
is--we've got some mighty challenges to make sure the country is more 
prosperous and more hopeful and the world more peaceful. But sin duda, 
we're going to achieve what we need to achieve, porque este pais es un 
gran pais, with great values and great hope and great strength.
    The first challenge we have is to make sure people can find work. We 
want everybody working who wants to find a job. The challenge was 
created, really, because of a recession and an attack on America and the 
fact that some of our fellow citizens didn't realize that they needed to 
tell the truth all the time when it came to the numbers on their balance 
sheets. All three of those circumstances has created a challenge for the 
country. And the challenge is how to make sure the entrepreneurial 
environment is strong and steady, so that people are confident in taking 
risk, that small businesses are willing to take risk to expand.
    And so I put out an economic plan that addresses the challenges that 
we face. First, I want to remind you we responded to the recession by 
tax relief. We believe that if a person has more money in their pockets, 
they're likely to demand a good or a service. And when they do so in the 
marketplace, somebody is likely to produce the good or a service. And 
when that happens, somebody is more likely to find work. That's the 
premise of the economic policy we laid out in '01. I worked with the 
Republicans and Democrats to get the tax plan through.
    We responded to the attacks on September the 11th, 2001. We had 
terrorism insurance bill passed to encourage construction programs to go 
forward. We dealt with the airline issue. We got the stock market opened 
up quickly. And of course, then we liberated Afghanistan as we sought to 
bring justice to the killers of the thousands of Americans and others.
    We dealt with the corporate scandals by passing the law that clearly 
says that if you lie, cheat, or steal, that if you defraud a shareholder 
or an employee, there is going to be certain consequences.
    And so we made progress. But the economy still needs more work as 
far as we're concerned. And so I've gone to Congress, and I want to 
share with you quite quickly, quite briefly what I am asking Congress to 
do.
    First of all, I think it's very important for us to focus on small-
business growth. We're interested in job creation. The first thing--the 
first fact that Congress has got to understand is most small--most jobs 
are created by small businesses, most new jobs. And so, therefore, any 
package ought to be focused on small business in America. And this 
package is. It basically says, we're--we've asked Congress to cut rates. 
They did, but they phased in the tax rate cuts over 3, 5, or 7 years. 
Well, if the economy is not doing as well as it should today, and if 
Congress has one time seen the wisdom of letting people keep more of 
their own money, then step one is they ought to accelerate the tax 
relief plan to this year. All tax cuts in the future

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ought to be accelerated to this year. If they're good enough 5 years 
from now, they're good enough today.
    Most small businesses are sole proprietorships or limited 
partnerships or Subchapter S corporations, which means that they pay tax 
at the individual income tax rate. And so therefore, when you accelerate 
rate cuts, you're really accelerating capital to be invested by small 
businesses. And that's what Congress must understand. The rate reduction 
package is good for the small-business sector of the American economy.
    As well, we believe we ought to increase the amount of expensing 
available to small businesses from the current limitation of $25,000 to 
$75,000 a year. This will encourage capital expenditure. It will provide 
incentive for people to expand their businesses. Capital expenditure 
equals jobs, and the more capital accumulation and capital expenditure 
we can encourage, the more likely it is somebody is going to find work.
    And so this plan focuses on boosting the amount of money consumers 
have to spend, strengthening demand for products. But it also focuses on 
capital accumulation, capital formation, particularly at the small-
business sector of the American economy.
    Furthermore, I believe we ought to eliminate the double taxation on 
dividends, and I will tell you why. If capital equals jobs, the double 
taxation of dividends means there is less capital in the private markets 
for investment. It's fair to tax a company's profits. It is unfair to 
tax that profit again when it's distributed to one of the shareholders. 
And so our plan encourages capital formation. Our plan addresses the 
needs of the 10 million seniors who have dividend income. It is 
beneficial for those seniors not to have to pay a tax on their 
dividends. As a matter of fact, it will help them in the later years of 
their lives.
    The dividend plan also is going to have a positive effect on our 
accounting process. I mean, after all, we went through a period of time 
when people said, ``Invest in my company. Even though I may not have any 
earnings, I've got a good idea. So let's invest''--let's invest in 
something that may or may not happen. A society which is focused on 
dividends says, you know, cash is really what matters. You can't--if you 
say, ``Invest in my company. I'm going to pay you a dividend,'' it's not 
based upon some pie-in-the-sky projection. It's based on the reality of 
cash. The dividend policy, if more companies pay dividends, will have a 
positive effect when it comes to the balance sheets of America. It will 
have a reform effect, because you can't project what may be. When you're 
promising dividends, you've got to project what is. And that's going to 
be good for investors, and it's going to be good for accountability when 
it comes to the corporate sector of America.
    So this is the plan I'm asking Congress to look at. It's a 
reasonable plan; it's a stimulative plan; it's a plan that makes sense. 
And I'm asking for your help. I'd like for you to contact your 
Congressman or your Senator and let him know that this plan makes sense 
for the economic vitality of this country.
    We continue to face a hurdle with our schools. If you want America 
to be a hopeful place, we better make sure the public school system of 
America works. And so I want to continue--I say we face a problem 
because not every school is working the way we want it to. I proposed 
reform which the Senate and the House passed in my first year as the 
President. The reform said, if you spend money, then it makes sense to 
demand results. We spend money at the Federal level. Therefore we ought 
to ask, what are the results? We're asking the simple question, ``If you 
receive money, can the children read and write and add and subtract?'' 
That's what we want to know.
    It's really important for Latino parents to have that question 
asked. It's essential to ask that question if you want the future of 
this country to be bright, because oftentimes the Latino child just gets 
passed through the system, without asking the fundamental question of 
whether or not that child can read and write and add and subtract.
    You see, it's oftentimes easy to walk into a classroom full of the 
so-called ``hard to educate'' and say, ``We're moving you through.'' 
It's what I call the soft bigotry of low expectations. I told the 
American people when I was running for office, ``I will challenge the 
soft bigotry of low expectations, because I believe every child can 
learn, regardless of the status of their parents.'' And we have done 
that.

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We have done that. We've increased Federal education spending by 50 
percent from the time I got here. But more importantly, we're demanding 
accountability because we believe in the value of every child, and we 
don't want one child left behind here in America.
    We look forward to working with you on health care matters. We want 
the Medicare system to function well. We want to make sure that there is 
a capacity for people to get primary care through community health 
centers. It's an initiative which I strongly support and I'm pushing 
Congress to fund to its fullest.
    We want to make sure that there is a--health tax credits to help the 
working uninsured. And we want to make sure there's medical liability 
reform to make sure that health care is not only affordable but 
available. In other words, we don't want our docs sued to the point 
where they're leaving the profession, where people can't find good 
medical care. There's a lot we can work with you on, and intend to do--
associated health care plans, incredibly important part of making sure 
small-business owners can provide affordable health care to their 
employees.
    I also want to work with--continue to work with you all in America 
on making sure that our welfare system is complete. I say complete 
because the best welfare programs oftentimes are those found in our 
iglesias, our churches and synagogues and mosques. And our Government 
must not fear the power of faith in our society but must welcome faith-
based programs which exist to heal hearts and provide hope for broken 
lives.
    The great strength of this country lies in the hearts of our fellow 
citizens. The great power of transformation in neighborhoods can take 
place because thousands of citizens have heard the universal call to 
love a neighbor like they would like to be loved themself. And so you'll 
see us continue to work with our neighborhood helpers and healers at the 
Federal level to encourage faith-based programs to flourish and exist.
    I recognize that one person can't solve all of our society's 
problems, but one person can help save one life. And it's that 
accumulative effect, what I call the gathering momentum of millions of 
acts of kindness which take place on a daily basis, which literally can 
transform this country, one heart and one soul at a time.
    I also want to talk to you about how to make sure our judiciary 
works well. It starts with me naming good people to serve on the bench, 
good, solid, honest, decent Americans who are willing to forgo the 
private practice of law, the comforts of private life, and serve on the 
Federal bench. And that's exactly what I've done. I've named some 
incredibly fine Americans to serve in this important part of our 
Government, and no finer American as Miguel Estrada. He is a man I have 
named, nominated for the DC Circuit Court of Appeals. When confirmed, 
he'll be the first Hispanic to serve on what they call the second most 
important court in America.
    His story is the American story. His story--it's what makes this 
country so profound and so hopeful and so promising. After all, he came 
to the country from Honduras. He could barely speak English. He came as 
a teenage boy, had trouble with our native language, and yet ends up 
shortly thereafter in Harvard Law School as one of the top students. It 
speaks about a man who has a dream and works hard to achieve that dream, 
understands the value of education, overcame difficulties, and became 
one of the top law students out of Harvard.
    He has argued 15 cases before the Supreme Court. He has taken his 
knowledge and capacity and argued before the highest court of our land. 
He has served in the Justice Department under Presidents from both 
political parties. He is a incredibly bright mind.
    Yet, his nomination is being delayed and stalled by Democratic 
Senators. His nomination has been stalled for 2 years. They're blocking 
the vote on this good man for purely political reasons. The Senators are 
applying a double standard to Miguel Estrada by requiring him to answer 
questions that other judicial nominees over time have not been forced to 
answer. And that is not right, and that is not fair.
    By blocking a vote on Miguel Estrada, some Democrats in the Senate 
are flaunting the intention of the United States Constitution and the 
tradition of the United States Senate itself. Alexander Hamilton wrote 
that the purpose of the Senate confirmation was

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to prevent the appointment of unfit characters. No one can possibly call 
Miguel Estrada ``unfit.'' The American Bar Association has given him its 
highest ratings--highest ratings. And he has the qualifications and the 
experience and the temperament to make an outstanding judge.
    The partisans in the Senate are subjecting Miguel Estrada to an 
unfair double standard. Failing to allow an up-or-down vote--a vote 
which will pass--on Miguel Estrada's nomination is a travesty, an 
injustice being carried out by those responsible for helping to uphold 
justice in this country.
    I want to thank you for your work on Miguel's nomination. I will 
stand by that man's side until he is sworn in as a judge.
    And finally, we have been called to defend America and to keep the 
peace. We face a significant challenge, and that is to protect the 
homeland of the American people. Prior to September the 11th, 2001, we 
thought oceans would protect the homeland of the American people. We 
thought that history would continue to repeat itself, that this Nation 
was safe and secure, that if there was a gathering threat overseas, we 
could deal with it if we felt like dealing with it, but it was not a 
problem for the home people. Yet, on September the 11th, the world 
changed. It changed dramatically and sadly for thousands of citizens. It 
also changed for how this country must view our position in the world. 
The strategic vision of the country shifted.
    We're doing everything we can here at home to secure the homeland. 
We've got agencies working overtime, people sharing information. Our 
borders are becoming more efficient. We want people, commerce to move 
freely, but we don't want terrorists to move freely. So we're doing as 
good a job as we possibly can to protect you. But the best way to secure 
the homeland is to find killers before they kill us and bring them to 
justice. And that's what we're going to do.
    So we're on the hunt, on Al Qaida. This is a different kind of war. 
It's a war which requires a good intelligence-sharing, and it requires 
cutting off money. It requires specially skilled troops to smoke these 
people out of their caves and to bring them to justice. And that's what 
we're doing, one by one. Sometimes you'll see success, and sometimes you 
won't. You just got to know the mighty United States, along with 89 
other countries in our coalition for Enduring Freedom, are doing 
everything we can to protect you and protect other people who love 
freedom.
    There's also a threat gathering in Iraq. It's been gathering for a 
long period of time. The danger with Iraq is that he can strike in the 
neighborhood. And the danger with Iraq is that he has got the 
willingness and capacity to train Al Qaida-type organizations and 
provide them with equipment to hurt America.
    The world has waited a long time for Mr. Saddam Hussein to disarm. 
They've waited a long time. He is a master of disguise and delay. He'll 
say, ``Oh, I'm disarming,'' after he said he has no arms.
    We will continue to work with our friends, people who understand the 
value of freedom. We will insist that the United Nation Resolution 1441 
be adhered to in its fullest. After all, we want the United Nations to 
be a legitimate, effective body. But for the safety of the American 
people and for peace in the world, Saddam Hussein will be disarmed one 
way or the other. And this Nation does so for the sake of peace.
    The use of our military is the absolute last option. It is the last 
alternative for the President. But the risk of doing nothing, the risk 
of assuming that Saddam Hussein will change, the risk of thinking and 
hoping for the best for the American people, far outweighs the risk of 
committing troops if we have to. The choice is Saddam Hussein's to make. 
It's been his to make all along. He gets to choose between peace and 
war.
    And the other thing that is an inherent part of our view of Iraq is 
how I started the discussion here. See, we believe everybody matters; 
everybody counts. It doesn't matter your background, where you're from; 
everybody has worth. As I said in my State of the Union Address, liberty 
is not America's gift to the world; liberty is God's gift to human--to 
the human--mankind. And that's what we believe.
    So in the days ahead, as we deal with this challenge facing our 
country, you need to know that the value of freedom and liberty will be 
at the forefront of a policy designed to make the world more peaceful 
and a policy designed to protect the American people.

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    Thank you for your interest. May God bless you all, and may God 
bless America.

Note: The President spoke at 10:30 a.m. in Presidential Hall in the 
Dwight D. Eisenhower Executive Office Building. In his remarks, he 
referred to Hans H. Hertell, U.S. Ambassador to the Dominican Republic; 
Jane Delgado, president and chief executive officer, National Alliance 
for Hispanic Health; Gov. Manuel Angel Nunez Soto of Hidalgo, Mexico; 
Alfredo Phillips Olmedo, former Managing Director, North American 
Development Bank; President Vicente Fox of Mexico; and President Saddam 
Hussein of Iraq. The Office of the Press Secretary also released a 
Spanish language transcript of these remarks.