[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 42, Number 51 (Monday, December 25, 2006)]
[Pages 2193-2195]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]
<R04>
Remarks on Signing the Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006
December 20, 2006
Thank you all. Please be seated. Thanks for coming. Welcome to the
White House. In a few moments I'm going to sign a bill that will extend
tax relief to millions of American families and small businesses and add
momentum to a growing economy. The Tax Relief and Health Care Act of
2006 will maintain key tax reforms, expand our commitment to renewable
energy resources, make it easier for Americans to afford health
insurance, and open markets overseas for our farmers and small-business
owners.
This is a good piece of progrowth legislation, and I'm looking
forward to signing it into law. And I appreciate members of my Cabinet
who have joined me in thanking the Congress for their good work here at
the end of this session. I want to thank Secretary of the Treasury Hank
Paulson, Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne, and Ambassador Sue
Schwab for joining us today. Thanks for your service.
I appreciate the Speaker for being here. Mr. Speaker, good piece of
work. I thank you for your hard work at the end of the session. You
deserve a lot of credit for this fine piece of legislation, as does
Senator Bill Frist, Senate majority leader.
I appreciate key Members of the Senate and the House, who got this
piece of legislation passed, for joining us today. I want to thank Pete
Domenici and Mike DeWine and Rick Santorum for the Senate--I'm going to
save the Louisianans here for a minute--and I want to thank the
chairman, Bill Thomas, for not only this bill but a lot of other good
pieces of legislation we were able to work together on.
I want to say something about these Louisianans. I appreciate them
coming. This is a really important piece of legislation for Louisiana
for a lot of reasons, not the least of which is, it will help provide
money so that we can help restore the wetlands in Louisiana. It's an
issue that has united the people of Louisiana. People are rightly
concerned about the evaporation of wetlands, and this bill is going to
help deal with that important issue. And I want to thank Mary and David
Vitter for good work on this important bill. Congratulations. Texas
people kind of like Louisianans. [Laughter] A lot of us spent some of
our youth in Louisiana. [Laughter]
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As we approach the end of 2006, our economy is strong, it's
productive, and it's prosperous. The most recent jobs report shows that
our economy created 132,000 new jobs in November. That's good. We have
added more than 7 million new jobs since August of 2003--more than Japan
and the European Union combined.
The unemployment rate has remained low at 4.5 percent. More
Americans are finding work, and more American workers are taking home
bigger paychecks. The latest figures show that real hourly wages
increased 2.3 percent in the last year. For the typical family of four
with both parents working, that means an extra $1,350 for this year.
As we look forward, our goal is to maintain progrowth economic
policies that strengthen our economy and help raise the standard of
living for all our citizens. The bill I sign today will continue
important progress in four key ways. First, the bill will extend key tax
relief measures that are critical to expanding opportunity, continuing
economic growth, and revitalizing our communities.
To keep America competitive in the world economy, we must make sure
our people have the skills they need for the jobs of the 21st century.
Many of those jobs are going to require college, so we're extending the
deductibility of tuition and higher education expenses to help more
Americans go to college so we can compete.
And to keep our Nation leading the world in technology and
innovation, we're extending and modernizing the research and development
tax credit. By allowing businesses to deduct part of their R&D
investments from their taxes, this bill will continue to encourage
American companies to pursue innovative products, medicines, and
technologies.
The bill will also extend vital provisions of the Gulf Opportunity
Zone Act that I signed last year. The bill will keep in place key tax
credits that we passed to help rebuild gulf coast communities that were
devastated by the hurricanes that hit the region in 2005. It will allow
us to maintain our commitment to provide a 50-percent bonus depreciation
for Go Zone properties in the hardest hit areas. It will encourage
businesses to build new structures and purchase new equipment in
Mississippi and Louisiana.
There is a great spirit of entrepreneurship on the gulf coast, and
the incentives in this bill will help our fellow citizens help revive
those communities. It's in our Nation's interest that this piece of
legislation pass, and it's in our interest that the people of the gulf
coast recover as quickly as possible.
Secondly, this bill will help expand and diversify energy supplies.
The bill will increase America's energy security by reducing dependence
on foreign sources of energy. And that's a key goal of the Advanced
Energy Initiative that my administration has laid out. To encourage the
development of new sources of energy, the bill will extend tax credits
for investment in renewable electricity resources, including wind,
solar, biomass, and geothermal energy. It will encourage the development
of clean coal technology and renewable fuels like ethanol. And it will
help promote new energy efficient technologies that will allow us to do
more with less. In other words, it encourages conservation.
Meeting the needs of our growing economy also requires expanding our
domestic production of oil and natural gas. If we want to become less
dependent on foreign sources of oil and gas, it is best we find some
here at home. This bill will allow access to key portions of America's
Outer Continental Shelf so we can reach more than 1 billion additional
barrels of oil and nearly 6 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
By developing these domestic resources in a way that protects our
environment, we will help address high energy prices, we'll protect
American jobs, and we'll reduce our dependence on foreign oil.
The bill will help open new markets for American goods and services
around the world. I believe in free and fair trade. I believe free and
fair trade is in the interests of the working people of this country.
The bill authorizes permanent normal trade relations with Vietnam. And,
Mr. Ambassador, thanks for joining us.
Vietnam will join the World Trade Organization in January. Isn't
that amazing? I think it is. You'd be amazed at what it's like to be in
Vietnam; Laura and I just returned. You were there, Mr. Ambassador. You
saw the outpouring of affection for the American
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people. There's amazing changes taking place in your country as your
economy has opened up. Vietnam is demonstrating a strong commitment to
economic reform, and I believe that's going to encourage political
reform and greater respect for human rights and human dignity.
With this bill, America will broaden our trade relations with
Vietnam. It's going to help the Vietnamese people build a strong economy
that's going to raise their standards of living. It's in our interest to
help those who struggle. It's in the interest of the United States to
promote prosperity around the world, and the best way to do so is
through opening up markets and free and fair trade.
The bill is going to extend a series of programs with other
developing nations to give duty-free status to products they export to
the United States. By encouraging exports, we're going to help nations
in sub-Sahara Africa, the Caribbean, and Latin America develop their
economies and ultimately create new markets for U.S. goods and services.
Trade is an engine of economic growth, and I'm looking forward to
continuing to work with the new Congress to open up markets for U.S.
farmers and manufacturers and service providers, and provide new
opportunities for people around the world, and help eliminate poverty.
Fourth, the bill will help make health care affordable and
accessible for more Americans. This bill strengthens health savings
accounts, which we created in 2003. These accounts allow people to save
money for health care tax free and to take their health savings accounts
with them if they move from job to job. So far, an estimated 3.6 million
HSAs have been opened in America.
To encourage even more people to sign up for HSAs, the bill will
raise contribution limits and make accounts more flexible. It will let
people fund their HSAs with one-time transfers from their IRA accounts.
It will allow them to contribute up to an annual limit of $2,850,
regardless of the deductible for their insurance plan.
We'll give them the option to fully fund their HSAs regardless of
what time of year they sign up for the plan. These changes will bring
health savings accounts within the reach of more of our citizens and
ensure that more Americans can get the quality care they deserve.
With all these steps, we're working to improve the health and
prosperity of the American people and to keep our economy growing. We're
going to continue to support wise policies that encourage and enhance
the entrepreneurial spirit in America, so this country of ours can
remain the economic leader in the world.
I want to thank the Members of Congress for joining us. I appreciate
the members of my Cabinet. It's now my honor to sign the Tax Relief and
Health Care Act of 2006.
Note: The President spoke at 11:43 a.m. in Room 450 of the Dwight D.
Eisenhower Executive Office Building. In his remarks, he referred to
Senator Mary Landrieu of Louisiana; and Vietnam's Ambassador to the U.S.
Nguyen Tam Chien. H.R. 6111, approved December 20, was assigned Public
Law No. 109-432.