[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 42, Number 28 (Monday, July 17, 2006)]
[Pages 1319-1320]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at Allen-Edmonds Shoe Corporation in Port Washington, Wisconsin

July 11, 2006

    The President. John, thanks for the shoes, and thanks for----
    John Stollenwerk. You're welcome.
    The President. ----employing people.
    Mr. Stollenwerk. You're welcome.
    The President. We're at one of America's great companies. It's a 
privately held company that is making a good product. This is a company 
that has benefited because of the tax cuts. It's a subchapter S company. 
You've often heard me talk about cutting taxes on individuals benefits 
small businesses; this is a company that had benefited from the tax 
cuts. It's also a company that made additional investments because of 
the tax relief we passed.
    And when you make investments, it makes your company more 
productive. And when you're more productive, it makes you more 
competitive. And so the tax cuts we passed have helped this company. It 
made a lot of sense. They've also helped our country. This economy of 
ours is growing. The unemployment rate is 4.6 percent nationally, and 
that's good news for workers. People are making more money, and that's 
good news for workers.
    And as a result of a growing economy, we collected more money for 
the Treasury. I told the American people we would keep spending down and 
keep progrowth policies in place to help cut the deficit in half by 
2009. As a result of the Mid-Session Review, the numbers that came out 
of the Mid-Session Review, I'm able to tell the American people, we'll 
cut the deficit in half by 2008. The projected budget deficit over--of 
over 420 billion is now assumed to be 296 billion. See, what happens is, 
when you grow the economy by cutting taxes, more tax revenues come into 
the Treasury, and that's what we're seeing here.
    I'm looking forward to working with Congress to make sure that we 
continue to hold spending down, to set priorities, and to be wise about 
how we spend the money. And one of the problems we have in Congress is, 
sometimes Congressmen and Senators stick unnecessary spending into 
bills. And I believe the President needs a line-item veto to help make 
sure that there's fiscal responsibility in Washington, DC.
    I'm traveling with Congressman Ryan. He is the sponsor of the House 
bill, and I appreciate his leadership on this issue. The United States 
Senate needs to get the line-item veto to the President's desk so that 
the American people can have confidence in our ability to be wise about 
how we spend the money. This practice about stuffing stuff into these 
bills that never gets a hearing or the light of day is just--it's just 
not right. And one way to bring fiscal sanity to Washington and fiscal 
discipline to Washington is to give the President the line-item veto.
    I'm thrilled to be here at Allen-Edmonds. I'm thrilled with my new 
shoes. [Laughter] I wish I had them on the Fourth of July. [Laughter]
    Mr. Stollenwerk. You're a little late.

[[Page 1320]]

    The President. But these shoes last a long period of time. I intend 
to be wearing them for a lot of Fourth of Julys in coming. This is an 
American-based company making good American products. And I'm proud of 
what you're doing here, John.
    I'll tell you something interesting: So we're working the floor out 
there, talking to the people who make this company go, and he knows 
everybody's name. That's a good sign. That's a caring chief executive 
officer who cares first and foremost about the people here on the floor. 
And guess what happens when you have somebody like that who takes care 
of his workers? They make good product. And so I'm proud to be an Allen-
Edmonds customer, and I'm proud to be here at this factory, and thanks 
for having me.
    Mr. Stollenwerk. Thank you.
    The President. Yes, sir.
    Mr. Stollenwerk. And a paying customer at that.
    The President. Oh, yes. [Laughter] Part of the accountability system 
in Washington. [Laughter] Thank you all.
    Q. Do you have a comment on India?
    The President. No comments today. Thank you very much. Thank you. 
Good to see you.

Note: The President spoke at 4:24 p.m. In his remarks, he referred to 
John Stollenwerk, president and chief executive officer, Allen-Edmonds 
Shoe Corp.