Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 40 Issue 16 (Monday, April 19, 2004)

[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 40, Number 16 (Monday, April 19, 2004)]
[Pages 600-610]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks in Des Moines, Iowa

April 15, 2004

Thank you for having me. Please be seated. Thanks for the warm
welcome. Thanks for the warm weather. [Laughter] I really am glad to be
able to come and talk to you about how to make sure people have a chance
to make a living. That's what we're really here to talk about: How can
people put food on the table; how can communities be vibrant and grow.
Chuck Grassley said I appreciate rural America. I do, so much so
that I call Crawford, Texas my home. That's rural America. I think we've
got about 661 people--until I arrive. [Laughter]
I appreciate the Federal Home Loan Bank of Des Moines for hosting
this. I know we've got people from States other than Iowa, like
Missouri, Minnesota, South Dakota, North Dakota. Glad you all are here.
Thanks for coming by and giving me a chance to visit.
My attitude about rural America is--from the President's
perspective--is that if we can make the economy strong, rural America
will benefit. It's hard to talk about the health of rural America unless
the overall economy is growing. I mean, it's nice to have kind of
visions about how to bring development to your community, but if the
economy is stagnant, it's hard to get there.
So what I want to do today is talk about the economy of the United
States and how we can leave lasting prosperity, to make sure that you
understand what I think the role of the Federal Government is, which is
to create an environment in which the farmer and rancher can make a
living, in which the small-business person can realize their dreams.
Because the truth of the matter is, when you really think about rural
America, rural America's vitality depends upon the

[[Page 601]]

health of the agricultural sector. The economy of our rural America
depends upon the vitality of small businesses.
Sure, you get some big businesses to move into your communities, and
that's good, and I'd work hard to try to recruit them if I were you. But
true economic vitality, the vitality that will last beyond just an
economic spurt is one that recognizes the importance of the entrepreneur
and the farmer and the rancher.
I want to thank my friend Chuck Grassley for introducing me. I've
spent some quality time with Senator Grassley here in Iowa. You might
remember the 2000 caucuses. He showed me a lot of the State--by car.
[Laughter] I'll never forget driving the backroads of Iowa, and Chairman
Grassley--I call him ``Mr. Chairman''--he's a powerful guy, so I put a
fancy title to his name--the Chairman says, ``I know that farmer
there.'' And then he'd go by and say, ``I remember meeting that farmer
there.'' He knew every farmer on the back roads of Iowa. No wonder he's
such a popular person in this great State. He's doing a great job, by
the way. I appreciate working for him. He is--he brought some of those
good Iowa values to the Congress. And Mr. Chairman, it's great to be
with you, and I want to thank you for your continued leadership.
I also had the honor of meeting Randy Newman, and I want to thank
Randy for being the chairman of the FHLB board of directors. I want to
thank the members of the board who are here as well and associate
members from around the Midwest.
I had the honor of landing at the airport and also being greeted
today by the other Senator from the State of Iowa. Senator Tom Harkin is
with us. Mr. Senator, thank you for your hospitality and your
graciousness for coming out to the airport. I'm pleased you're here.
I thank Congressman Tom Latham as well as Congressman Leonard
Boswell. Boswell made sure I knew that I was in his district. [Laughter]
I want to thank both Members of the Congress for serving your State.
I want to thank--I'm a member of the ex-Governors club. Those are
those of us who are fortunate to be Governors of a State. I'm a member,
proud alumnus. I see another member of the ex-Governors club with us
today. That would be former Governor Bob Ray of the State of Iowa. Good
to see you, Bob. Thank you for coming.
Also when I landed, I met an interesting person named Sarah
Sindlinger. Sarah is right there. You don't know Sarah yet, but you're
about to find out about this remarkable American. She is a 16-year-
older. She has volunteered over 150 hours of time. See, she's a high
school junior, and she said, ``What can I do to make my community a
better place?'' And instead of just asking the question, she's actually
acted on the question. She has volunteered in a daycare center. She has
volunteered in a library. She understands the value of mentoring. She
has worked in a hospital. She's been a best buddy to a fellow student in
the special education program.
You know, the reason I bring up Sarah is this: There's a lot of talk
about the strength of America, and we're strong. We're plenty strong.
We're strong militarily. I will keep us strong militarily. We're strong
economically, and we need to get stronger economically. But the true
strength of the country is in the hearts and souls of our citizens. See,
that's the really good strength of America. You know that if you live in
rural America. You know what I'm talking about, the notion of people
taking time out of their lives to make their community a better place.
Sarah is here because she is a soldier in the army of compassion.
She's a part of the true strength of the country. She's a soul who's
willing to dedicate her time to love a neighbor just like she'd like to
be loved herself. My call to you as you do your work in your community
is to continue to rally that compassion to help change America, one
heart, one soul, one conscience at a time.
Sarah, I'm honored you're here. Thank you for setting such a fine
example, and may God continue to bless your soul and your spirit.
It is nice of you all to welcome somebody from the Federal
Government on tax day. [Laughter] There's a lot of people filling out
their tax--putting in their taxes today. Laura and I put in ours a
little early. See, the newspapers wanted to see what I paid. That's just
part of the job. [Laughter] People expect that from their public
servants, and I'm more than

[[Page 602]]

happy to participate in that aspect of public life. People also expect
from their public service a wise stewardship of the taxpayers' money.
People also expect that we keep the Federal tax burden as low as
possible, which was one of my pledges to the American people. I take
that responsibility seriously. And I want to thank Senator Grassley for
his help in reducing the tax burden on the American people.
Tax day is something most people really don't look forward to. But
this year, it's a little better because of the tax relief we delivered,
and the economy is stronger for it.
I mentioned small businesses as a part of the strategy to make sure
rural America is strong. A major component of the tax relief was aimed
at our small businesses. See, most small businesses are Subchapter S
corporations or limited partnerships and, therefore, pay tax at the
individual income-tax rate. And therefore, when you heard the fact that
we lowered individual income taxes, I want you to think about more money
in the pockets of small businesses so they can expand and hire new
people.
A lot of the tax relief that we passed was aimed at our seniors. By
reducing the taxes on dividends, we've helped our seniors. You've got
seniors living in rural America. It's good that they have a little more
money in their pocket.
A lot of the tax relief we passed was aimed at people with children.
We've raised the child credit to $1,000. Some of the tax relief we
passed was trying to mitigate the effects of the marriage penalty. It
didn't seem like--make much sense to me that we would tax marriage in a
country where we are trying to encourage marriages and stable families.
The tax relief we passed is driving--helping to drive the economy
forward, and it came at about the right time--just the right time, for
that matter--because we're emerging from a period of incredible economic
challenges. Rural America has been challenged economically, just like
the rest of America has been challenged economically. We went through a
recession. The recession hurt. It hurt in all sectors of our country.
Recession means that we had negative growth for three quarters. Negative
growth meant it was hard for people to find work. Negative growth meant
it was hard to be optimistic about the future. And yet, we overcame that
recession. I will argue that the tax relief made the recession one of
the most shallow in American economic history.
Right after we started recovering from that, we got attacked. The
attacks hurt us all. The attacks on America hurt every single American.
The attacks on America hurt our economy. We lost nearly one million jobs
in just 3 months after September the 11th, 2001. Some of those jobs were
in rural America.
It also affected our way of thinking about the world. We grew up
thinking that oceans could protect us. We learned a horrible lesson on
that day, that we were no longer immune from threats that might be
gathering overseas. I vowed that day that I would take whatever action
was necessary to stay on the offensive to protect America. We'll do
everything we can at home to protect us. But the best way to secure the
homeland is to bring the killers to justice, one person at a time. And
that's exactly what the United States of America will continue to do.
We're a tough country and a compassionate country. We refuse to be
intimidated by the terrorists. It took us a while to kind of figure out
what was going on, but when we figured it out, this country started
moving forward again. See, the people of this country are resolute, and
they're strong. It doesn't matter whether you live in urban America or
rural America; there's a wonderful strength, the fiber of the people of
America.
Then we found out another challenge to our economy, and that is
there were some people that forgot to be responsible citizens and didn't
tell the truth. They were CEOs that betrayed the trust. And that
affected us. It really did, when you think about it. It created a
challenge that we had to overcome. I appreciate the Members of Congress
from both political parties working together to pass good reforms that
made it very clear that this country will not tolerate dishonesty in the
boardrooms of America. I think the American citizens now believe that
the laws we passed are beginning to work. After all, you're looking on
your TV screens and seeing some of those who betrayed the trust being
held to account.

[[Page 603]]

And then, as you know, I made a difficult but necessary decision to
help defend America and make the world more peaceful. One of the lessons
of September the 11th is anytime an American President sees a gathering
threat, we must deal with it. We must take it seriously. I saw a threat,
based upon intelligence, in the form of Saddam Hussein. The Congress, by
the way, looked at the very same intelligence and saw a threat. The
United Nations Security Council looked at the same intelligence, and it
saw a threat as well.
I went to the U.N., as you might remember, and said, ``There is a
threat. September the 11th changed--Saddam Hussein is--must be viewed in
a different light, at least from the American perspective, than before.
He's a serious threat to us.'' I based that upon the intelligence but
also upon the knowledge that he had used chemical weapons against his
own people, the knowledge that he was paying for suicide bombers to go
kill, the knowledge that he hated our country. So I called the United
Nations--at the United Nations, I called for them to collectively deal
with the threat, and they agreed to, in a unanimous decision. They said,
``This man is a threat.'' They passed a Security Council resolution that
said, ``Disarm, or face serious consequences.''
Now, anytime an American President says, ``Disarm, or face serious
consequences,'' the American President better mean it. When the
Commander in Chief speaks for the country, I believe the person ought to
speak clearly and mean what he says. And so I acted on those sentiments
as well. I said, ``Mr. Saddam Hussein, disarm, or face serious
consequences.'' He chose not to. He defied the world again. Given the
lessons of September the 11th, I was faced with a choice, either to
trust the word of a madman, a tyrant, a dictator, or defend the country.
Given that choice, I will defend America every time.
That decision created an economic hurdle that we had to cross,
because marching to war is not conducive for economic growth and
vitality. The lenders who are here know what I mean. I mean, it's kind
of hard to lend into an environment when you know the country is
preparing for war. War is negative, not positive. We're now marching to
peace. But that march is tough; it's hard work.
These last weeks have been tough weeks for America. We've
encountered--I say ``we''; it's just not American forces. It's coalition
forces and innocent Iraqi citizens, by the way, have encountered serious
violence in parts of Iraq. The different factions, former Saddam
loyalists, some foreign fighters, Sadr, who is a radical cleric, and his
gangs have a common goal. They want to stop the march to democracy in
Iraq. The idea of a free society really bothers them. Freedom is
something they can't stand, and they want to run us out of Iraq. That's
what they want to do.
I--we're not going to be run out of Iraq. We're not going to let a
ruthless power grab affect that which is important. See, it's in our
national interest that Iraq be free and peaceful. It's in our national
interest, the long-term interest of this country, that right in the
heart of the Middle East there be a free society, one that will help
spread hope and opportunity. See, I believe free societies are peaceful
societies.
I also am motivated by this American value, that says freedom is not
our gift to the world; freedom is the Almighty's gift to every man and
woman in this world. That's what I believe. And I believe--Iraq will
either be peaceful and democratic, or it will be a source of violence, a
source of instability, a source of hatred, and a threat to free
societies.
I'm proud of those who have served our Nation and are serving our
Nation. Our military is doing incredibly good work. They've been given a
hard job. They've been given a tough job, and they're performing
brilliantly. See, the transition from torture chambers and rape rooms
and mass graves and fear of authority is a tough transition. And they're
doing the good work of keeping this country stabilized as a political
process unfolds.
We saw yesterday Mr. Brahimi from the United Nations begin to lay
out the specific strategy necessary to, first, pass sovereignty and then
eventually put a constitution in place and then free elections in Iraq.
We're moving toward democracy, but the situation on the ground, I
readily concede, is tough

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work. And we've got good people there working it. And some have paid the
highest price of all. Some of the people there in Iraq have made the
ultimate sacrifice on behalf of a more stable and peaceful world.
Tom Latham told me about coming from the funeral of Marine Lance
Corporal Ben Carman from Jefferson, Iowa. My deepest sympathies go to
the Carman family. I know how incredibly difficult it is for them to put
their loved one into the ground. Ben Carman's father said this, he said,
``He knew that America was in danger''--he, talking about his son, the
dad talking about his son--he said, ``He knew that America was in
danger, and it was time for guys like him to step up to the plate.''
That's what his dad said about his courageous son.
Mr. Carman must know that our prayers are with him and with those of
others who have lost a loved one in Iraq and that the mission that his
son was on was a noble and important mission for peace and freedom and
for the security of America. And we will stay the course in Iraq so that
his son did not die in vain.
We've overcome a lot of challenges, when you think about it. Rural
America has overcome a lot of economic challenges. In 3 short years,
we've been through a recession and, by the way, a stock market
correction. That affected people in rural America. We've been through an
attack on our country, a national emergency. We've been through
corporate scandals. We're making the world more peaceful and secure.
Those are challenges that are hard for any economy to overcome. But
this is America. This is a country that's full of vibrancy--vibrant
people. The entrepreneurial spirit is strong, and I intend to keep it
that way. Tax relief helped. Here on tax day, we can say that by cutting
taxes, we helped the entrepreneurial spirit of both urban and rural
America.
And the facts bear me out. Economic growth in the second half of
2003 was the best in nearly 20 years. Things are improving. More
manufacturers are seeing rising activity than any point in about two
decades. Inflation is low. That's good for rural America. Interest rates
are low. That's good if you want to buy a house. Homeownership is at the
highest rate ever. That's a proud statistic for America to hold up. You
know why? Because we want more people owning their own home. An
ownership society is a positive society. When people own something, they
have a vital stake in the future of our country, whether it be in rural
America or urban America.
There was good confirmation last month about the strengthening
economy: We created 308,000 new jobs in March, 750,000 since August.
That's positive. People are getting hired. People are going back to
work. The unemployment rate in Iowa is 4.1 percent. That's below the
national average. I'm sure there's pockets of unemployment that are
higher than that, but overall, this State's unemployment rate is better
than the Nation, which is a credit to the entrepreneurs of the State of
Iowa and the entrepreneurs, by the way, of other States here as well.
You're doing well, and I appreciate that.
My job is to make sure that the environment is such that you can
continue to do well. You see, I'm interested in the lasting prosperity.
I want prosperity to be achieved in the out-years, and there is some
uncertainty. I mean, look, people are worried about finding work. There
are families wondering whether or not their loved one can find a job
close to home, because this is a changing economy. It's just different.
Some things don't change: We need farmers out there planting the field,
although agriculture is different from 30 years ago. We need our
ranchers feeling good about things. We need to make sure, though, that
this is the best place in the world to do business.
If you're really interested in making sure that people can find work
at home, America has got to be the best place to do business. The
environment has got to be a good place for people to make a living, is
what I'm telling you.
And the first way to do so is to make sure our legal system is
balanced and fair. You know, too many lawsuits run up the cost of doing
business in America. Frivolous lawsuits are really hard on small
businesses, and we need good legal reform. And Congress has got a
responsibility, like on class-action legal reforms. We need to get it
out of Congress. We need to send a message that we'll have

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a fair and equitable legal system, not one that is full of frivolous and
junk lawsuits that make it hard for people to find work.
We need less regulations. We're working on regulatory relief at the
administrative branch. Congress needs to work on regulatory relief, too,
in the laws they pass. I wish I could say that every single form that
people are required to fill out was read in Washington or in Des Moines
or anywhere else where there's a statehouse. I don't think so. We need
to streamline these regulations. We don't need our small-business people
spending enormous amounts of time filling out forms that don't get read.
We also need to make sure that we can help--make sure health care is
accessible and affordable. The rising cost of health care makes it
difficult for people to employ people. It's hard on small businesses.
I'm telling you, it's hard on rural America, and you know what I'm
talking about.
So we passed some good laws that allow for health savings accounts,
which are an imaginative way to help control the cost of health care for
individuals and small businesses and farming families. Congress needs to
pass association health care plans that allow small businesses in rural
America to pool their risk with other businesses, perhaps in urban
America, so that they get the same purchasing power that big businesses
do in the marketplace. It's a smart way to make sure that the rural
economies stay healthy, so that your small businesses out there are able
to find affordable health care.
I appreciate Senator Grassley working with me on Medicare reform in
order to make sure health care is available. The Medicare reform package
we worked, with emphasis on rural hospitals, made a difference and will
make a difference in the health care in rural America. A vibrant rural
America must have the ability for people to find health care, and the
Medicare reforms are going to help a lot.
As well, I appreciate Congress working on community health centers.
These are places where people--low-income people can find primary care
so they're not using the emergency rooms of urban or rural hospitals.
There's just practical things we can do to make sure that the economy
stays strong, people can find work, the rural economies are vibrant, by
dealing with health care. I'm not going to allow the health care system
to be federalized. I think that would be a terrible mistake to have a
Federal delivery of the health care.
We need to make sure we maintain spending discipline in Washington.
One way to make sure the economy, the overall economy, grows is there to
be wise expenditure of people's money. It's always a battle, of course.
Every idea is a good idea. Every idea requires more money. I've
submitted my budget, which reduces the deficit in half by 5 years
without raising taxes on the American people. It's going to require some
discipline, spending discipline. Fortunately, Iowa is represented by
Congressman Jim Nussle of the Budget Committee.
And so we will have an interesting battle in this election year
about keeping spending down. But I think if the will is right, we can.
We can meet our priorities, make sure our soldiers get what they want,
make sure the homeland is defended without busting the budget.
To make sure the economy continues to grow and rural America is
healthy, we need an energy plan. We need to get sound energy legislation
to my desk.
If you're a businessperson thinking about hiring somebody or wanting
to start a business and you're worried about getting electricity, you're
not going to start your business. If you're somebody who's a
manufacturer in the State of Iowa or Missouri, Minnesota, the Dakotas,
and your energy supplies are disrupted, your price of natural gas goes
too high, or you're worried about the reliability of electricity, you're
not going to be in a mood to expand your business.
We're hooked on foreign sources of energy right now. The country
needs to change its attitude. Of course, we've got to encourage
conservation--that's important--and use new technologies. In my
judgment, we ought to open up lands for exploration for natural gas. We
can do so in an environmentally friendly way, to make us less dependent
on foreign sources of energy.
We need to continue to promote clean coal technology so we become
less dependent on foreign sources of energy. We need to use that which
we grow right here in places like

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Iowa to make us less dependent on foreign sources of energy. That's why
I've worked with the Senator on ethanol, which I think is an important
ingredient, an important part of making sure that we have a modern
energy plan as we go into the 21st century. Let's grow it, instead of
depending upon foreign sources to provide it. I hope I can get an energy
bill to my desk. It will be good for rural America if I do so--when I do
so. Let me be optimistic.
Another thing that's important for rural America is to be confident
in our trade policy. There's a lot of talk about economic isolationism
in Washington right now. That means throwing up barriers to trade. That
will be bad for rural America. It's not going to happen on my watch. I
will resist that mightily, because I believe that when you're good at
something, you ought to promote it. We're really good at growing things,
and we ought to be selling things that we grow everywhere around the
world. We're 5 percent of the world's population. Why don't we sell to
the other 95 percent, as opposed to walling ourselves off. Good economic
development policy in rural America depends upon our ability to open up
markets for products made in rural America, products grown in rural
America.
I'll tell you something really interesting--first off, let me take a
step back. Many Presidents of both parties have made the decision that
America's markets should be open. That's good for the consumers. When
you have more choices to make, it's generally good for consumers. It
helps with price, and the more competition there is for your demand, the
better selections you will have at a better price. That's just how the
markets work.
In return, countries haven't reciprocated. They haven't opened up
their markets as generously as we've opened up ours. And so the choice
we have to make is, do we retaliate by closing ours, and therefore, they
keep theirs closed, or do we work to open up other markets? I've chosen
the latter route. See, ``Just treat us the way we treat you,'' is my
message when it comes to foreign trade. ``Our markets are open for you.
You open up our markets to your consumers--your markets to our
products.''
And it's beginning to work. And if you ask any farmer, they know
what I'm talking about, because farm income is at a record level in
2003, much of it thanks to the ability for our farmers to export into
other markets. And it's important to keep those markets open. It's
important to make sure that we're confident about our trade policy, not
pessimistic, not willing to fall prey to the false hopes of economic
isolationism. Economic isolationism will hurt rural America, and it's
not going to happen.
We'll be tough when we have to, to make sure we're treated fairly. I
filed the first WTO case against China over unfair tax burdens it gives
to its semiconductor makers. In other words, when we see inequity, we'll
file a complaint; we'll take people to the court. We just want to open
the fields. We just want to be treated the exact same way we treat them.
The interesting thing that happened last month is that America hit
an alltime record for exports. And that's positive news, positive news
throughout the country. The reason why--you know why? It's because we
produce the best products. When it says, ``Made in the USA,'' they're
the best.
One of the great challenges we have is to make sure our workforce is
trained for the jobs of the 21st century, make sure people growing up in
rural America have got the skills necessary to become employed in the
jobs that will be available as we move into the 21st century. The
Workforce Investment Act needs to be reformed in a positive way, so that
people are trained for jobs which actually exist.
And one of the great strengths of our country is the community
college system, and it needs to be utilized in an effective, smart way,
to combine those who are looking for workers and those who want to work
with a place in order to learn the skills so they can get hired. That
sounds pretty simple, but sometimes the system doesn't work that way. So
I've laid out a Jobs for the 21st Century program that really utilizes
the community college system in a way that I think is strategically
important to make sure people get the skills.
Listen, you hear a lot of talk about productivity. That means one
worker can produce more goods or services than before. We want

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people to be more productive. And oftentimes the way that that has to
happen is through education. There's plenty of ways for people to find
money to help with the education. We just want to make sure our
workforce training programs are applicable to the 21st century.
As well we've got to make sure you get it right early in the public
school system. I mean, you can talk all you want about productivity in
workers, but if people can't read, it's a steep hill to climb. And I
know in Iowa you do a great job at your public schools of holding people
to account, of measuring so that you can determine whether or not your
curriculum is working or not. And that's important. It's important in
rural America as well. It's important to make sure that you set high
standards, you challenge what I call the soft bigotry of low
expectations, you expect nothing but excellence for every single child
being educated in any public school across the State in which you live.
That's the spirit behind the No Child Left Behind Act, and it's
going to make a difference. People are learning to read and write and
add and subtract. We've got kind of a flaw in the pipeline in some
places, where the accountability hasn't kicked in soon enough. So I've
got--we've got some intermediate measures that I'd like for Congress to
support me on, so that there is intensive reading and math for junior
high and high school students, because we've got to solve these problems
early, before they're too late, and make sure that the workforce
training programs are relevant.
You know, I think one of the interesting things for rural America is
going to be the spread of broadband technology. It's going to really
change much of the way that education can be delivered or health care
can be delivered. It's an exciting opportunity and an exciting moment
for people who live in rural America. The objective of this
administration is to make sure that every American has access by the
year 2007 and, shortly thereafter, have more than just one deliverer of
broadband. In other words, you've got choice. Rural America needs just
as much choice as urban America does in order for the consumers to
benefit.
I see people nodding their heads as leaders in your communities.
This is going to be a fantastic opportunity for you, and the
Government's job is to make sure the regulatory environment is such, and
the taxing environment is such, that broadband spreads as quickly as
possible all throughout the country.
Let me talk about one other way to make sure the economic
environment in both urban and rural America remains conducive to job
growth and vitality, and that is, the Tax Code has got to be fair. And
in my budget, I proposed a 10.7-percent increase to make sure that tax
cheaters are found, make sure the IRS gets after those who don't pay
taxes, make sure that the system is fair for those of us who do pay
taxes. We want everybody paying their fair share. If I'm going to pay
it, I want somebody else to pay it too, if they're obligated to pay. And
that's why we expect the IRS to be tough, and they need the resources
necessary to do so, and we'll provide them.
The other thing we need to do on the Tax Code is there needs to be
certainty in the Tax Code. If you're a job creator and you're worried
about what the Tax Code will look like next year, it creates
uncertainty. See, it's the worry about whether the environment in which
you'll be taxed is--creates enough uncertainty so that there's a lack of
confidence about expanding the job base. You know, a small-business
owner needs to know with certainty what the code will look like, and
that's not the way the Tax Code has been structured. The tax relief that
we passed about--talked about is scheduled to go away. I can't explain
it very well, but that's just the way it happens, tax relief today and
not tax relief tomorrow. And we need to do something about it, because
there needs to be certainty in the code.
For example, the child credit will go down next year unless Congress
makes the tax relief permanent. That means if you've got a child, you're
going to pay a tax increase. That's what that means. The marriage
penalty will go up. Once again, the Tax Code will make--say, ``It's
great that you're married, but we're going to penalize you for it.'' The
10-percent bracket, which has helped millions of low-income families,
will fade

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away, and I think Congress needs to make it permanent. I think Congress
needs to make all aspects of tax relief permanent.
See, I think the uncertainty in the Tax Code is going to make it
difficult for us to confidently move out into the 21st century. Now is
not the time to be raising taxes on hard-working people. With this
economy growing strong and getting stronger, we don't need to raise the
tax burden.
I had the honor of meeting some of your fellow citizens prior to
coming in here. There's three examples, and I hope these examples will
help people understand why I am insistent upon making the tax relief
permanent. It will help--you see, I fully understand that when those of
us in office talk--we talk about numbers, and we talk about this, and we
talk about that, and that theory and this theory--the best thing to do
is talk about how it affects people's--the tax relief affects people's
lives.
Ted Stuart is with us. He's an entrepreneur. He owns a company
called Architectural Arts. They do custom mill and cabinetry work in Des
Moines, Iowa. He is what we call a Subchapter S corporation. That means
they pay tax at the individual income-tax level. So when you hear ``tax
on the rich,'' that's his company. He's part of that ``tax on the rich''
part.
He is--most new jobs in America are created by small businesses.
Seventy percent of new jobs in this country are created by entrepreneurs
like Ted. Ted has added 20 workers over the past 2 years. That's a
really healthy sign, see. When you've got a guy like Ted who's an
entrepreneur, who's willing to add workers, it's a sign that there's a
vibrancy. He said that without the tax relief, he wouldn't have hired as
many.
See, the tax relief went into Ted's small-business coffers. The
individual tax cuts--when you hear that we cut the individual rates, it
really helped his business. And with that money, he had confidence to
expand. He said taking tax relief away from businesses like Ted's means
that small businesses won't be allowed to grow. He said, ``It allows us
to grow the business more quickly.'' That's what Ted said when he talked
about the tax relief. ``It allows us to grow the business more
quickly,'' which means somebody is more likely to find work. Congress
should not penalize the entrepreneurial spirit by raising the taxes on
Ted.
The Chenoweths are with us, Rob and Marci, and two of their four
children, wherever they are. There they are. I can see them smiling. I
promised the youngest son there that I wouldn't speak too long. I've
already broken the promise, I guess. [Laughter] The lad is about to doze
off. [Laughter]
The Chenoweths saved $2,700 on their taxes this year because of the
child credit increase. That's a lot of money for a family of four. A
young family of four can use $2,700. It helps them a lot. He said it
helped pay for auto bills. With a family of four, you'd better have an
automobile that can run. He said it helped them take a trip, which is
good. And by the way, when you take the trip, you might go to a motel
during the trip, in which case, the person at the motel is--receives
some business, which means that the person working at the hotel might
more likely keep his or her job. He also put more money aside in his
retirement plan at work. He's beginning to do his duty as a citizen to
save for his family's future.
The tax relief matters. If Congress does not make the parts of the
Tax Code that are set to expire permanent this year, his taxes will go
up by $1,300. That's the reality. So when you hear us talking about
making the tax cuts permanent, think about the Chenoweths. By not making
it permanent, we're taking money out of their pocket; we're making it
harder for them to raise their children; we're making it harder for this
good family to realize its dreams.
And finally, I met Jim and Ann Sage from Waterloo, Iowa. I remember
the time--Chuck and I were laughing about this--during the 2000
caucuses, I was going to give a speech at an elementary school in
Waterloo, and it was--they had the heat cranked up pretty high in the
elementary school cafeteria. By the time I got there, some people were
pretty wobbly. [Laughter] And I got up there and started to speak, and a
lady dropped out over there. [Laughter] About a third of the way through
the speech, another one hit the deck. [Laughter] I tried to blame it on
Senator Grassley, but I was the only one talking at the time. [Laughter]

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But anyway, these good folks are from Waterloo. They are a ninth-
generation farm family--ninth generation, that goes way back in Iowa
history. He wants his children to be the tenth generation to farm. It's
a great Iowa tradition, and it's a great Dakota tradition. It's a great
Missouri tradition among the farmers, a great Minnesota tradition, for
families to take over the farm. That's what the Sages want. After all,
it's their asset, isn't it? It's their farm. It's nobody else's farm.
They ought to be able to leave their farm to who they want to leave
their farm to without the interference of the Federal Government.
The death tax is bad for economic development in rural America
because it's bad for small-business owners and farmers. We put the death
tax on its way to extinction, but it--unfortunately, in the year 2011,
it comes back to life. It's time to plan. If you're involved with
economic development in rural America, you better be planning about
things that will affect economic development in rural America. And one
of the things that will affect it is for the death tax to come back to
life. It makes no sense for the Federal Government to tax a person's
assets twice, once when they're living and making money, and after they
depart. The death tax is bad for rural America, and Congress needs to
make it extinct forever.
I want to thank our--I want to thank the three folks for joining us
here and letting me use their stories as examples of what will happen,
what will happen if Congress doesn't do the right thing.
Let me conclude by also talking about a contribution that rural
America makes that's important for the future of our country as well.
It's the spirit of rural America. I oftentimes talk about the need to
change this culture of ours in America from one that has said, ``If it
feels good, why don't you just go ahead and do it,'' and ``If you've got
a problem, blame somebody else,'' to a culture in which each of us
understands we're responsible for the decisions we make in life. And
it's changing. The culture is changing in America. A lot of it has to do
with the culture of rural America, a culture based upon faith and
family.
When I say ``responsibility era,'' here's what I mean. I mean if
you're a mother or a father, you're a responsible for loving your child
with all your heart. That's your responsibility. I think people in rural
America understand that well. I think it's a part of the culture of
rural America. If you're in rural America or anywhere in America and
you're worried about the quality of the education in which you live,
you're responsible for doing something about it, see? Don't hope the
faraway Government in Washington solves your problem. Do something about
it. Work with your teachers and thank your teachers and get involved so
that the quality of the education is what you want it to be.
Of course, you know I'm going to say this, but if you're a CEO in
corporate America, you're responsible for telling the truth. That's part
of what I mean by ushering in a responsibility era. You're responsible
for telling the truth to your shareholder. You're responsible for
telling the truth to your employees.
You know, you oftentimes hear talk about neighborliness in rural
America, neighbors caring for neighbors. Part of a responsibility era is
a neighbor loving your neighbor just like you'd like to be loved
yourself. That's part of the responsibility era as well.
Rural America provides such strength to the American culture. It's a
part of helping a culture shift to the better, so that America can
realize its full potential--every citizen can be hopeful about their
future. It's happening. It's happening in this country. And I want to
thank those of you who are a part of making sure that the economy is
strong in rural America and making sure the spirit of that important
part of our country remains vibrant and hopeful and healthy.
We've overcome a lot in America. The reason we have is because the
good people of this country are fabulous people--strong hearts, good
souls, and hopeful characters.
God bless you all.

Note: The President spoke at 12:20 p.m. at the Des Moines Marriott
Downtown. In his remarks, he referred to Randy Newman, chairman, board
of directors, Federal Home Loan Bank of Des Moines; former President
Saddam Hussein of Iraq; Muqtada Al Sadr, Iraqi Shiite cleric whose
militia engaged in an uprising in Iraq in early April; and Lakhdar
Brahimi, Special Adviser to the U.N. Secretary-General.

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