[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 39, Number 37 (Monday, September 15, 2003)]
[Pages 1153-1158]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks to Langham Company Employees in Indianapolis, Indiana

September 5, 2003

    Thank you all. Thanks for coming. It's such an honor to be here with 
the Langham family and the employees of this incredibly vibrant company. 
I want to thank the CEO for such a fine introduction. I am honored that 
Cathy would invite me here and give me a chance to talk about some of 
the challenges which face our Nation, the challenge of making sure this 
Nation is secure and the challenge to make sure people can find work.
    I know you all have been through some challenges here in the State 
of Indiana because of some recent flooding. Today I had the privilege of 
telling your Governor when I landed that I recently signed a disaster 
declaration that will provide Federal funds to help the folks who 
suffered as a result of the disaster that took place in many parts of 
your State.
    There are a lot of Americans looking for work, and we need to do 
something about that in Washington, DC. We've taken steps to get our 
economy growing again, and there are some very hopeful signs that 
progress is being made. I'm optimistic about the future of this country. 
Yet today's unemployment report shows we've got more to do, and I'm not 
going to be satisfied until every American who's looking for a job can 
find a job.
    I have laid out a comprehensive plan for job creation all across 
America. And for the sake of our fellow citizens, I look forward to 
working with the United States Congress to get this comprehensive plan 
passed. And one Member who will help get this plan passed, and a man who 
represents Indiana with such distinction and class, a man who is a 
person with whom my administration works closely, the chairman, Dick 
Lugar.
    I want to thank John and Margaret Langham, as well as Cathy, for 
allowing my entourage to--[laughter]--which is quite large these days--
[laughter]--to invade this beautiful facility. I want to thank the 
employees for welcoming us. I know it's not easy to have your day 
disrupted by a Presidential trip, but I'm honored to be here. [Laughter] 
And I want to thank you for your hard work.
    One thing is for certain, that you've earned the respect of the 
Langham family. Walking in here, Cathy was telling me how proud she is 
of the 55 fellow workers, people who make this small business grow and 
become vibrant. So I want to congratulate you for your productivity and 
your hard work as well. You know, one of the great things about America 
is that we've got the best workforce in the world. We've got the finest 
workers and finest employees.
    I also know that the attorney general of the great State of Indiana 
is with us today, Steve Carter, and I appreciate Steve being here. I 
want to thank Zionsville High School for being here today. I appreciate 
you all singing. I'm sorry I didn't get to hear you. I want to thank the 
Kobes for leading the Pledge. I appreciate Brenda Williams coming.
    Today when I landed there at the airport, I also not only spoke to 
the Governor and the attorney general, but I spoke to a lady named Joyce 
Irwin. You probably don't know who Joyce is. She is--I will tell you, 
though. She is a soldier in the army of compassion. She's one of the 
thousands of people all across our country who have heard a call to love 
a neighbor just like you'd like to be loved yourself.
    There's great talk about the might of America, and we're mighty. And 
I intend to keep it that way. We've got great military might, economic 
might. But the truth of the matter is, the great strength of America is 
the heart and soul of the American people. The great strength of our 
country is the fact that there are millions of our fellow citizens like 
Joyce Irwin who are willing to lend a hand to a neighbor in need. The 
great

[[Page 1154]]

strength of America is the fact that on a daily basis, there are 
millions of acts of kindness and mercy that helps change America to a 
more hopeful place, one heart, one soul at a time.
    Joyce Irwin is a volunteer. She's active with the Little Red Door 
Cancer Agency, the Fairbanks Hospital, the Meridian Street United 
Methodist Church. She helps round up donations of clothing to those who 
need to be clothed, food for those who need to be fed. But most 
important, she dedicates her time to those who need to be loved. My call 
to our fellow Americans is love your neighbor just like you'd like to be 
loved yourself. Thank you, Joyce.
    I mentioned the fact that our Nation is facing big challenges. One 
of the big challenges, of course, is for me, my administration, and 
those of us who have been honored to serve the American people, to do 
our solemn duty and protect the security of the American people. We must 
never forget the lessons of September the 11th, 2001, a sobering 
reminder that oceans no longer can protect us from forces of evil who 
can't stand what America stands for. There are people in this world who 
hate the thought that we believe in free societies, we believe people 
should worship freely, speak their mind freely. And since we're not 
going to change, since we're not going to change our attitude about 
freedom, we've still got an issue with these terrorists.
    And we're doing everything we can to protect the homeland. We've got 
better coordination amongst law enforcement agencies. We're monitoring 
our ports and points of entry in ways we never have before. We've got 
emergency preparedness teams in place. But the best way to secure the 
homeland, the best way to do our duty to provide security for the 
American people and future generations of American people, is to hunt 
the terrorists down, one by one, and bring them to justice.
    Not only must we stay on the offensive against those who would do us 
harm, and not only we must--must we continue to disrupt terrorist 
training camps to deal with dictatorial regimes who would threaten us 
and/or arm terrorists to threaten us, but we also must continue to 
promote freedom. Free societies are likely to be peaceful societies. 
Free societies are societies which won't threaten their neighbors or use 
weapons of mass destruction. America believes that freedom is not 
America's gift to the world, that freedom is God's gift to every 
individual who lives in this world.
    And at home, we must recognize that while the signs are pretty good 
about our economy, there's still people looking for work. And we've got 
to do something about that. I said I was optimistic about our economy, 
and I am, for good reason. We have been through a lot. And yet, we're 
still strong. Let me remind you of what we've been through.
    The attacks on America cost us about $80 billion. That's a lot of 
money. The attacks hurt our economy at a time when we were beginning to 
recover from a recession. In March of 2000, the stock market started to 
decline. Investors began to realize, well maybe this economy wasn't 
quite as strong as it had been in the past. And we were in recession in 
the first quarters of 2001. We had negative growth. People were 
beginning to look for work. Things weren't good.
    But the economy began to come back because we actually passed a 
really good tax bill out of the Congress. And then the enemy hit us, and 
it hurt. It hurt economically. It hurt the Nation's psyche to think that 
we were vulnerable to coldblooded killers that could come and in one day 
take the lives of thousands of innocent people.
    But we began to recover. We took some actions in Washington. For 
example, we passed terrorism insurance plan to help encourage building 
of large construction projects, keep those hardhats working. We dealt 
with the airline industry for the short term. I mean, we took action, 
and we started getting better.
    And then a third thing happened. We had some of our fellow citizens 
forget to--forgot what it means to be a responsible citizen. We had some 
corporate CEOs who didn't tell the truth to their employees and to their 
shareholders. And that affected the confidence of the people, affected 
the confidence of people that were thinking about investing. So we took 
action there, by the way. We passed tough laws. The message is

[[Page 1155]]

clear: If you don't tell the truth, there's going to be serious 
consequences.
    In spite of these challenges, the economy is growing. I think one of 
the main reasons it's growing is because of the tax cuts we passed. I 
believe that when somebody has more money in their pocket, they will 
demand an additional good or a service. And when they demand additional 
good or a service, in our society somebody will produce that good or a 
service. And when somebody produces that good or a service, it means 
somebody is likely to find work. The tax relief plan we passed that let 
you keep more of your own money came at the right time.
    We cut rates on everybody who pays income taxes. We didn't try to 
pick or choose winners. We said, ``If we're going to have tax relief, if 
you pay tax, you ought to get relief.''
    We increased the child credit from $600 per child to $1,000 per 
child. We want to help our moms and dads with the responsibility of 
raising their children. And by the way, because of the '03 bill, we put 
the check in the mail in July of this year.
    We reduced the effects of the marriage penalty. It doesn't make any 
sense to penalize marriage in the Tax Code. We wanted to help those who 
own stock directly or indirectly. Many of you own stocks through your 
pension plans. Many of you own stocks and bonds directly. So we cut 
taxes on dividends and capital gains to encourage investment. And that 
particularly helps our seniors. Many of our seniors rely upon dividend 
income, and they're retirement age, and that helps our seniors realize--
have good--be able to have more money in their pocket as they get in 
their retirement years.
    And all in all, we began to affect people's pocketbooks in a 
positive way. If you're a family of four making $40,000, your tax bill 
went from $1,978 to $45, thanks to the tax bill we passed.
    We always talk about numbers in Washington. And that's okay. It 
helps us try to understand where we're going. But what I like to do is 
try to relate what this tax plan means for our fellow citizens.
    The Bakers are with us, Doug and Mindy. I had a chance, by the way, 
to visit with some of our fellow citizens earlier. And I got to listen 
to what this tax bill--these tax bills meant for them. And the Bakers 
are with us, Doug and Mindy. They've got three children, by the way, all 
of them 5 years or younger. Amazing thing is, is that Mindy Baker 
doesn't have gray hair yet. [Laughter] But they got their check in the 
mail for the increase in the child credit. It was $800. The reason they 
didn't get 1,200 is because the littlest one, Josiah, wasn't born in 
time.
    But I want to tell you what they told me. They said, that tax relief 
means peace of mind--their words, not mine. He said, ``I'm taking care 
of my family. We're now prepared to take care of unexpected things.'' 
The $800 mattered to the Baker family, just like it mattered to the Biby 
family--they're with us, the proud mom and dad of Jacob and James. They 
saved about $1,900 as a result of the tax relief. He told me, Kevin Biby 
told me, he said, ``You know, I'm going to use that money to help repair 
my car.'' That means the guy who repairs the car, he's getting a little 
extra work. That means he's going to be able to have a little money in 
his pocket as well.
    Sharon Okey is with us here. Sharon has got the toughest job in 
America; she's a single mom of five kids. She's got a college junior. 
She got that check in the mail for the child credit. She told me, she 
said, it helped Jennifer, her oldest, go to college. It mattered. It 
matters when people take that money, for example, and go buy school 
supplies. Somebody's got to produce the school supplies. Somebody's got 
to sell the school supplies. It affects economic vitality and growth 
when people are spending money. The more money people have in their 
pockets when times are slow, the more likely it is our economy is going 
to recover. And that's why I fought for and Congress passed tax relief 
on behalf of the working people of America.
    Greg and Cathy Habegger are with us today--Habegger are with us, and 
they've got Jack and Ben, so they got a check in the mail too, plus the 
rate reductions. They're saving about $1,700 a year. He said it helped 
pay for some paint and furniture for their house. Well, when they went 
out and bought the furniture, it means somebody who's making furniture 
has got more job security. And maybe if that furniture manufacturing 
company was full, maybe they're at capacity, that

[[Page 1156]]

extra piece of furniture could cause somebody else to find work.
    If you see what I'm saying--in other words, when we put money in 
circulation--by the way, it's your money, not the Government money--when 
it's your--got your money to spend, and you're circulating it around, it 
has an effect on the economy.
    So not only are we helping people do their jobs as moms and dads, 
and not only are we providing financial relief when times are tough so 
families can breathe a little easier, we're also helping somebody who's 
looking for work. Money in circulation through increased demand means 
somebody is going to likely find work when they produce the product to 
meet that demand.
    And let me tell you what else the tax relief did. It helped the 
small businesses all across America, small businesses just like this. 
And that's important because small businesses create most of the new 
jobs in America. If your small-business sector is vibrant and healthy, 
somebody is likely to find a job.
    Now, what's interesting about tax relief that a lot of people didn't 
understand is that most small businesses are what they call sole 
proprietorships or Subchapter S corporations, just like this one. It's a 
Subchapter S corporation, which means that the business pays taxes at 
the individual income tax rates. So when you reduce individual income 
taxes, the sole proprietorship or the Subchapter S really receives tax 
relief. The tax cuts help small businesses because it gave them more 
money, more money in their coffers to expand their job base. You just 
heard Cathy say, as a result of the tax relief, she now feels 
comfortable about adding five new employees. Tax relief means new jobs 
for Americans.
    Part of the plan to stimulate growth amongst the small businesses 
was to allow small businesses to deduct up to $100,000 of new equipment, 
investment in new equipment and technologies. It used to be only 
$25,000. So you see, when you increase the capacity for somebody to 
deduct more, you provide an incentive for people to make bigger 
purchases. And so the Langhams have told me that they're thinking about 
buying some new computer software that will make the employees of this 
company more productive, will make the company more competitive, and 
will also help somebody who is making the computer software. That's how 
the economy works.
    When the Langhams spend money, not only does it help their own 
employees, not only will it help the five folks that they're fixing to 
hire, but it helps the people providing products for this company. Tax 
relief is stimulating growth and tax relief is stimulating job creation 
all across the country.
    But as I mentioned to you, we've got more work to do, and I want to 
talk about some things that can be done. There are still people looking 
for work. The economy is growing. Homebuilding is strong. People are 
getting more confident. The purchases of factory orders for heavy 
machinery is good, and it's up. But people are still looking for work.
    One of the reasons why is that when you're coming out of slow times, 
job creation is the last thing to arrive on the scene. A lot of 
employers are saying, ``Well, I want to make sure the economy is as good 
as it sounds like before I put on a new worker.''
    Another reason why is because our workers are so productive. 
Productivity--we've got the highest productivity, the most productive 
workers, in the world. And when productivity goes up, it means that a 
worker can have more output per hour. And therefore, in order for job 
creation to grow, the economy must grow faster than productivity gains. 
In other words, if a worker can do more per hour, in order for a new 
worker to be hired, the demand must be increased by as much, if not 
greater than, productivity increases.
    And so, we've got a short-term problem. Long term, it's good that 
we're more productive. It means higher wages for the American worker. It 
means we're more competitive overseas. Short term, this economy needs to 
crank up faster than productivity increases in order for somebody to 
find a job.
    And so, that's what I want to talk to you about, how best to 
encourage continued growth, how to make sure this economy continues to 
grow. Well, first of all, we need to deal with our health care issue. We 
want to make sure health care is available and health care is 
affordable. One way to make sure health care is affordable for small 
businesses like the Langhams' is to allow for the creation of what we 
call association health plans,

[[Page 1157]]

which will allow small businesses to come together to pool risk and to 
have bargaining power just like big businesses can.
    Another way we can work on health care costs and to make sure health 
care is available for our citizens is to deal with this issue of medical 
liability. There's too many frivolous lawsuits which are driving up the 
cost of medicine. If you're a doctor and you're afraid you're going to 
get sued, you practice unnecessary medicine in order to cover yourself 
in a court of law. That drives up your cost of medicine. It drives up 
the Langhams' cost for health care. Preventative medicine, because of 
litigation, is running up your bill.
    Now, I believe if you've been harmed by a doc, you ought to have 
your day in court, and you ought to recover full economic damages. And I 
think that's only fair in America. I do think there ought to be a cap at 
250,000 on noneconomic damages. And I think there ought to be reasonable 
punitive damages. There ought to be reasonable punitive damages.
    And because high cost of health care run up the cost of the Federal 
budget--you see, when health care goes up, Medicaid budgets go up, and 
Medicare budgets go up, and the Veterans Health Administration budgets 
go up. Because it affects our budget, I believe medical liability reform 
is a national issue which requires a national solution. The House of 
Representatives act. The Senate must pass good medical liability reform 
on behalf of economic vitality and on behalf of the workers all across 
the country.
    Some other things we can do, we can get a class action reform out of 
the United States Senate. And one thing we can do is make sure these 
lawyers aren't able to shop all around the country for a favorable jury, 
by moving class action suits into the Federal court. And we need to 
reform the system so that when there is a verdict, the lawyers don't get 
the money, but the people who have been harmed get the money.
    We need to continue to work for regulatory relief on small and large 
businesses, so that instead of filing needless paperwork, you're working 
to make your workforce more productive and to meet the needs of your 
customers.
    We need to make sure we have an energy policy. If we want this 
economy to continue to grow--we're interested in economic growth. This 
is a State that relies upon the manufacturing sector a lot, in Indiana. 
You need to have reliable sources of energy if you want your economy to 
grow. We need an energy policy. I've been talking to Congress about this 
for 2 years. It doesn't make any sense to have haphazard policy.
    We need energy policy to make sure our electricity grid is brought 
up to date and is more modern. We need energy policy that encourages 
alternative sources of energy, like those grown right here in the fields 
of Indiana, called corn, converted to ethanol. We need to make sure we 
develop environmentally friendly ways to explore for more energy. We 
need clean coal technology. We need, for the sake of national security 
and economic security, to be less dependent on foreign sources of 
energy.
    I believe when you see the label ``Made in the U.S.A.,'' it's the 
stamp of quality. And therefore, one way to encourage job growth is to 
open up markets and to level the playing field for U.S. products. Just 
give us a level playing field, and we can compete with anybody, 
anyplace, anytime.
    And finally, in order for there to be economic vitality and job 
creation and growth, there needs to be certainty in the Tax Code. In 
other words, people who are making investments must understand what the 
rules are going to be. The problem is, is that all the tax relief I've 
discussed with you, because of quirks in the rules, start fading out in 
2005. The child credit, at some point in time, will go back down. The 
marriage penalty will go up. In other words, what I described to you 
goes away. If Congress is really interested in job creation, they will 
make every one of the tax relief measures we passed permanent.
    You will hear talk about the deficit. We have a deficit. We have a 
deficit in part because of the recession. When you have a recession, you 
get less money into your treasury. When the economy slows, there's less 
revenue coming to Washington, DC. About half of the deficit is caused by 
the recession that we're trying to get out of.
    A quarter of the deficit is caused by the fact that we're spending 
money to defend

[[Page 1158]]

America. My attitude is, anytime we put one of our troops in harm's way, 
they deserve the best pay, the best training, and the best possible 
equipment. This Nation will spend what it takes to win the war on terror 
and to protect the American people.
    About a quarter of the deficit was caused by the tax relief. But the 
tax relief is helping us recover from the recession. It was needed. It 
was needed to make this economy grow. And as the economy grows, more 
revenues come into the Treasury. The best way to cut down the deficit--
and I've got a plan to reduce it in half in 5 years--is for Congress to 
set priorities and not overspend.
    Discretionary spending prior to my arrival was increasing at 8.7 
percent. Working with fine Senators like Dick Lugar, we've got 
discretionary spending down during this budget cycle to 4 percent.
    There is no question that we've been challenged. But those 
challenges came to the right people. I have been so proud of our 
country. We are a country that is determined and strong and tough when 
we need to be tough and compassionate when we need to be compassionate. 
We've overcome a lot. We've overcome war, attacks on our country, 
recessions, corporate scandals. And yet we're still strong. We're 
vibrant. We're a great nation. We're a great nation because of our 
ideals and our beliefs. We believe in human dignity. We believe 
everybody has worth. We believe in freedom and the promise of freedom.
    Ours is a nation dedicated to a world of peace, and we will use our 
strength to achieve peace. And ours is a nation dedication to uplifting 
every citizen who lives in this country by giving every person a chance 
to realize the great promise, the American Dream.
    Thank you all for coming. May God bless you, and may God bless 
America.

Note: The President spoke at 2:54 p.m. in the warehouse at Langham Co. 
In his remarks, he referred to Gov. Frank O'Bannon of Indiana; and Cathy 
Langham, president, John Langham, vice president, finance and 
administration, and Margaret Langham, vice president, operations, 
Langham Co. This item was not received in time for publication in the 
appropriate issue.