[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 42, Number 10 (Monday, March 13, 2006)]
[Pages 406-409]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at a Swearing-In Ceremony for Edward P. Lazear as Chairman of 
the Council of Economic Advisers

March 6, 2006

    The President. Welcome. I'm here to swear in Ed Lazear as the 
Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers. Thank you all for coming. 
Eddie has brought a lot of his family here. For the family members who 
are here, welcome; thanks for supporting the old boy. [Laughter] I 
particularly want to thank Vicki and Julie, as well as his mother, Rose, 
for being here. I'm really glad you all are here. Does he still listen 
to you, Rose? [Laughter]
    Mrs. Lazear. Oh, yes. He's a good boy.
    The President. That's a good boy. Well, I hope my mother is saying 
the same thing about me. [Laughter]
    Eddie is an award-winning economist from Stanford University. He's 
been a part of the Hoover Institute. He's taught and lectured in Asia 
and the Middle East and Europe. He's advised governments in the former 
Soviet Union and Eastern Europe on economic reform. He's conducted path-
breaking research in the field of labor economics. He's applied his 
theories to real-world problems like education and immigration and 
compensation and productivity. He's well-rounded, and he's plenty smart.
    He also understands how to get his message across. After all, he was 
voted teacher of the year at Stanford's Graduate School of Business. 
That's not an easy accomplishment. He's a founding editor of the Journal 
of Labor Economics. He's a good man, who has served with distinction 
before in Government. He served on my Advisory Panel on Federal Tax 
Reform. And he's going to be an outstanding Chairman of my Council of 
Economic Advisers.
    He succeeds another outstanding economist who still bears the title 
of Chairman, and that's Ben Bernanke. He just wears his title over at 
another place here in Washington. Eddie and Ben are part of a long line

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of talented economists who have served my administration as CEA 
Chairman, including Harvey Rosen, Greg Mankiw, and Glenn Hubbard. I want 
to thank Eddie for agreeing to serve our country. I appreciate his 
understanding of the important role he will play in my administration.
    I appreciate those who are here from my administration. I see Carlos 
Gutierrez, the Secretary of Commerce. Carlos, welcome. Josh Bolten, a 
member of the Cabinet, the Office of Management and Budget. Senator Bob 
Bennett, thank you for coming, Senator. I really appreciate you taking 
time to be here. Congressman Jim Ryun and Anne are with us as well. 
Eddie told me he's a runner. Don't run with Ryun, Eddie.
    Eddie leads my Council of Economic Advisers at an exciting time. 
It's a time of opportunity and a time of challenge. Today, the American 
economy is the envy of the world. Last year our economy grew at a 
healthy 3.5 percent, faster than any other major industrialized nation. 
We've added more than 4.7 million new jobs during the last 2\1/2\ years. 
That's more than Japan and the European Union combined. Our unemployment 
rate is down to 4.7 percent. That's the lowest level since July of 2001. 
That's lower than the average of the 1970s, the 1980s, and the 1990s. 
More Americans now own their homes than at any time in our history. More 
minority families own homes than any time in our Nation's history. This 
administration believes in ownership. We love the fact that somebody 
opens the door to their own piece of property, says, ``Welcome to my 
piece of my property; welcome to my home.''
    Real after-tax income is up more than 8 percent per person since the 
beginning of 2001. New orders for durable goods, like machinery, have 
risen sharply. We've had 33 straight months of growth in our 
manufacturing sector. Productivity has grown strongly over the last 5 
years. Our small-business sector is thriving. America is productive; 
America is innovative; America is entrepreneurial. And I'm counting on 
Eddie's good advice to keep it that way.
    We understand it's important to continue to promote progrowth 
economic policies and sound initiatives with one goal in mind, to keep 
America the economic leader in the world so our people can find jobs and 
realize their dreams.
    Our economy grows when Americans have more of their own money to 
spend, save, and invest. In the last 5 years, we passed tax relief that 
left $880 billion in the hands of American workers and small businesses 
and families. And the American people have used that money to help 
produce more than 4 years of uninterrupted economic growth.
    The tax relief that we passed is set to expire in the next few 
years. If we do nothing, American families will face a massive tax 
increase they do not expect and will not welcome. Because America needs 
more than a temporary expansion, we need more than temporary tax relief. 
So in my State of the Union, I called upon the United States Congress to 
make the tax relief we passed permanent.
    I also outlined several other steps to keep this economy strong and 
growing. We need to address our dependence on foreign sources of oil. 
You might remember I stood up in front of the country and said, ``We 
have a real problem; we're addicted to oil.'' I meant what I said. I 
call upon Congress to join with this administration to pass the Advanced 
Energy Initiative that will fund research in cleaner, more reliable 
technologies like hydrogen and ethanol, so we become less dependent. For 
the sake of our national security and economic security, we must not be 
dependent on foreign sources of oil.
    We need to ensure that Americans get the health care they need. And 
so we're working to make health coverage more affordable and available 
and portable through measures like health savings accounts and 
association health plans.
    To maintain our edge in innovation and creativity, I proposed the 
American Competitiveness Initiative, to promote cutting-edge research 
and to ensure that American children get math and science skills they 
need for the jobs of the 21st century.
    One of the most important steps we need to take to keep this economy 
strong is to restrain Federal spending in Washington. That's hard to do. 
Everybody thinks their spending idea is a great idea. They all--all 
these spending ideas sound wonderful on paper. Here's our view: It's 
important for the

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Congress to set priorities. We are a nation at war, and one of the top 
priorities of this Government will continue to be to make sure our 
troops have the equipment they need to defend the United States and our 
citizens have what it takes to defend the homeland.
    That means we must be careful about how we spend the taxpayers' 
money in other areas. In other words, we can't be all things to all 
people when it comes to spending the taxpayers' money. And we're making 
some good progress. Last year of the previous administration, 
nonsecurity discretionary spending rose by 15 percent. Every year of my 
Presidency, we've reduced the growth of this spending, and last year, at 
my request, Congress passed legislation that actually cut this spending. 
I thank them for their hard work.
    Now I look forward to working on my--having them work on my 2007 
budget that Josh Bolten is taking up to the Congress. This budget will 
save the taxpayers money, will cut--will continue to cut nonsecurity 
discretionary spending, and keep us on track to cut the deficit in half 
by 2009.
    In the long run, the biggest challenge to our Nation's fiscal health 
is entitlement spending. I recently signed a bill to save nearly $40 
billion over 5 years in entitlement spending. The 2000 [2006] * budget 
we submitted proposes to save another $65 billion over 5 years. We don't 
need to cut this mandatory spending; we need to slow its growth. In 
other words, we don't need to put our cars into reverse; we just need to 
slow it to meet the speed limit.
    * White House correction.
    As well, I'm deadly earnest in calling members of both parties 
together to work to pass--to propose something we can pass out of 
Congress that will modernize Social Security and Medicare. It's time for 
Congress to set aside needless partisan politics and focus on the future 
of our country with real, substantive entitlement reform.
    We also need to do more to reform the way Washington spends people's 
money. Under the current system, Congress can slip spending provisions 
into large bills where they never get debated and never get discussed. 
Those are called earmarks. As a result, too many bills passed by 
Congress include unnecessary spending. These earmarks reflect special 
interests instead of the people's interest. I'm pleased that Congress is 
working on earmark reform, and I encourage Members of Congress to pass 
meaningful and real earmark reform.
    Here's another idea for them: They need to give the President the 
line-item veto. Congress gave the President a line-item veto in 1996, 
but because with problems the way the law was written, the Supreme Court 
struck it down. That should not be the end of the story. So in my State 
of the Union, I called for new legislation creating a line-item veto 
that will meet Supreme Court standards. Today I'm sending Congress 
legislation that will meet standards and give me the authority to strip 
special interest spending and earmarks out of a bill and then send them 
back to Congress for an up-or-down vote. By passing this version of the 
line-item veto, the administration will work with the Congress to reduce 
wasteful spending, reduce the budget deficit, and ensure that taxpayer 
dollars are spent wisely.
    Congress is on record, by the way, that the President should have 
the line-item veto authority. It has been approved previously. Forty-
three Governors have this line-item veto in their States. Now it's time 
to bring this important tool for fiscal discipline to Washington, DC.
    I'm really optimistic about the future of this country. I don't 
think there's any problem we can't tackle. It's really important as we 
put progrowth policies in place, to understand that the engine of growth 
is the ingenuity of the American people. I like to remind people: 
Government doesn't create wealth. Government creates an environment in 
which the entrepreneurial spirit can flourish, in which people can 
realize their dreams, in which small businesses can grow to be big 
businesses, in which the newly arrived can have a chance to realize the 
great promise of our country.
    Eddie understands that, and that's why I'm proud to have him by my 
side. And again, Eddie, thank you for agreeing to serve our great 
Nation. And now Andy Card will administer the oath of office.

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Note: The President spoke at 10 a.m. in Room 450 of the Dwight D. 
Eisenhower Executive Office Building. In his remarks, he referred to 
Victoria Lazear, wife of Edward P. Lazear, and their daughter, Julie; 
Ben S. Bernanke, Chairman, Federal Reserve System; and Anne Ryun, wife 
of Representative Jim Ryun. The transcript released by the Office of the 
Press Secretary also included the remarks of Chairman Lazear.