[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 43, Number 6 (Monday, February 12, 2007)]
[Pages 120-122]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks Following a Cabinet Meeting and an Exchange With Reporters

February 5, 2007

    The President. I appreciate my Cabinet joining me today as we 
discussed our budget. Today we submit a budget to the United States 
Congress that shows we can balance the budget in 5 years without raising 
taxes.
    Our economy is strong because of good policy and because the 
entrepreneurial spirit is strong. By keeping taxes down, we actually 
generate strong revenues to the Treasury.
    And I appreciate Director Portman helping us devise a plan that sets 
priorities and, at the same time, emphasizes fiscal restraint. Our 
priority is to protect the American people. And our priority is to make 
sure our

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troops have what it takes to do their jobs. We also have got priorities 
in national parks and education and health care. But we have proven--and 
I strongly believe Congress needs to listen to a budget which has no tax 
increase and a budget, because of fiscal discipline, that can be 
balanced in 5 years.
    Secondly, I strongly believe that Congress needs to do something on 
earmarks. In order to make sure that we're fiscally responsible with the 
people's money, Congress needs to make sure that when they spend the 
people's money, there's transparency and an up-or-down vote for each 
item. As well, I believe the President needs to have the line-item veto. 
It's one thing to get the size of the budget pie right; it's another 
thing to make sure that the slices in that pie meet national priorities.
    And so the budget that Director Portman is going to be talking about 
is realistic, it's achievable, and it's got good reforms in it. So thank 
you very much. Looking forward to working with the Congress to get this 
budget passed.
    I'll answer a couple of questions. Ben [Ben Feller, Associated 
Press].

Federal Budget

    Q. Mr. President, thank you. You've opposed setting timelines for 
troop withdrawal in Iraq, yet your new budget plan assumes that war 
spending will be down to 50 billion by 2009 and none beyond that. Are 
you, in effect, sir, setting a timeline for the end of the war?
    The President. Ben, we've had years of projections in the past. In 
other words, we've said to the Congress, ``Here's what our anticipated 
expenditure is in the short term.'' And we've been able to manage our 
budgets with 5 years of war behind us, and we'll manage the budgets in 
the out years. There will be no timetable set. And the reason why is, is 
because we don't want to send mixed signals to an enemy or to a 
struggling democracy or to our troops.
    Toby [Tabassum Zakaria, Reuters].

Progress in Iraq

    Q. Mr. President, how do you respond to some criticism from the 
Iraqis that the reason for the recent escalation of violence in Iraq is 
because the United States has been too slow to implement its new 
strategy?
    The President. Well, General Petraeus is heading to Iraq this week, 
early this--tomorrow. And my message is, is that both of us, the Iraqis 
and the U.S. and coalition forces, have got to get this plan in place as 
quickly as possible. Of course, we want the plan to work, and we want to 
make sure that the strategy we've implemented--or the strategy we've 
outlined is implemented properly.
    I appreciate the fact that the Iraqi Government is anxious to get 
security inside the capital of the country. That's a good sign. It's a 
good sign that there's a sense of concern and anxiety. It means that the 
Government understands they have a responsibility to protect their 
people. And we want to help them. What we're trying to do with this 
reinforcement of our troops is to provide enough space so that the Iraqi 
Government can meet certain benchmarks or certain requirements for a 
unity government to survive and for the country to be strong.
    I had to make a decision as to whether or not we were going to allow 
the status quo to continue. And the status quo wasn't acceptable. I 
listened to a lot of people in Congress as to whether or not we ought to 
slowly withdraw and redeploy troops. My worry about that was that the 
capital would get worse, and out of that chaos would come grave danger 
to the United States. And so I listened to a lot of other folks, 
including our military, and said, ``Look, we got to take care and help 
these Iraqis take care of the violence inside of Baghdad.''
    And that's why I made the decision I made, and we're in the process 
of implementing that plan. We'd like to do it as quickly as possible. 
The success of that plan is going to depend upon the capacity and 
willingness of the Iraqis to do hard work, and we want to help them do 
that work. And the fact that Government officials are now saying that 
it's time to start implementing the plan is a good sign. It shows that 
they understand that now is the time to do the things necessary to 
protect their people.
    Thank you.

Note: The President spoke at 10:48 a.m. in the Cabinet Room at the White 
House. In his remarks, he referred to Gen. David H. Petraeus,

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USA, incoming commanding general, Multi-National Force--Iraq.