[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 43, Number 39 (Monday, October 1, 2007)]
[Pages 1242-1243]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks to the Young Presidents' Organization

September 24, 2007

    Thank you all. Please be seated. I've spoken to a lot of people in 
this room, but rarely have I spoken to a group of people who I can 
address, Mr. President, or Madam President. [Laughter] I thank you for 
joining us. I appreciate Jim Nussle joining us as well.
    I look forward to having--giving you a few remarks on the budget. As 
business leaders, you know it's important to set priorities and make 
decisions in a timely way. That's what you do on a daily basis. If you 
were running a company whose lease was up for renewal in a few months, 
you'd ask the landlord to start negotiating prices and terms. You would 
anticipate the cancellation of the--or the renegotiation of the lease. 
You would ask for time to think about the best way forward, and you 
wouldn't be happy if the landlord waited until the night before your 
time was up and then dropped on your desk a 500-page lease that he 
expected you to sign. In the business world, that's called alienating 
your customers. [Laughter] In Washington, that's called the 
appropriations process. [Laughter]
    The fiscal year ends in less than a week. Yet Congress has not sent 
a single appropriations bill to my desk. Not one. Instead, the 
congressional leaders may end up lumping all 12 outstanding 
appropriations bills into one massive, trillion-dollar piece of 
legislation later this year. This would make it easier for Members to 
sneak in all kinds of special projects, put in wasteful spending or 
porkbarrel that they are not willing to debate in the open.
    If they think that by waiting until just before they leave for the 
year to send me a bill that is way over budget and thicker than a 
phonebook, if they think that's going to force me to sign it, it's not. 
This would be bad for our country; it would be harmful for our economy; 
and it would be unfair for the taxpayers.
    This is an important time for our economy. For nearly 6 years, we've 
enjoyed uninterrupted economic growth. Since August 2003, the economy 
has added more than 8.2 million jobs. Productivity is growing, and 
that's translating into larger paychecks for American workers. 
Unemployment is low; inflation is low; and opportunity abounds. The 
entrepreneurial spirit is strong.
    You know, this economic vitality just didn't happen--in other words, 
it's--I think it's the result of hard work and people dreaming big 
dreams and working hard to fulfill them. I also believe it's the result 
of progrowth economic policies. And the job in Washington is to keep the 
environment sound for investment and for growth.
    And so with that in mind, last February, I submitted a budget to 
Congress that fully funds our priorities, yet holds the growth of 
nonsecurity discretionary spending to less than inflation; it puts us on 
the path to budget surplus by 2012; and it does all this without raising 
taxes. In other words, we can meet priorities, and we can do so without 
raising taxes. I think raising taxes would be bad for the economy and 
bad for the working people.
    Unfortunately, the Democratic majority in Congress has chosen a 
different path. The plan they have put forward includes an increase in 
discretionary spending that is nearly $22 billion more than my budget 
request. Some in Congress will tell you that $22 billion is not a lot of 
money. As business leaders, you know better. As a matter of fact, $22 
billion is larger than the annual revenues of most Fortune 500 
companies. And the $22 billion is only for the first year. With every 
passing year, the number gets bigger and bigger, and so over the next 5 
years, the increase in Federal spending would add up to $205 billion. 
And the only way to pay for such a large spending increase is to raise 
taxes on the American people.
    So it's no surprise that the same Members of Congress who are 
planning the big increase in Federal spending are also planning the 
largest tax increase in American history. At a time when families are 
working hard to pay their mortgages or pay for their children going to 
college, now is not the time to be taking money out of their pocket.
    The Founders understood that there would be times when the President 
and the Congress would have different views about spending and taxes, 
and so they gave the executive and legislative branches different 
powers. Congress has the power of the purse,

[[Page 1243]]

the authority to pass tax bills and set spending levels. The President 
has the authority to reject unwise or excessive taxes and spending. And 
unless Congress has a two-third majority, it must come to an agreement 
with the President if it wants to get a bill enacted.
    Every year, Congress deals with separate bills that fund the day-to-
day activities of our Government, everything from defense to homeland 
security to education and transportation. These 12 spending bills are 
the normal process by which Congress sets it priorities when they spend 
your money.
    Now we are days away from the end of the year, end of the fiscal 
year. And as I told you, Congress hadn't finished one of these bills. 
They got the requirement to do 12; they hadn't done 1. If Congress 
doesn't get its work done in a week, the Government is not going to have 
the funding to continue important services. I don't believe the American 
people should be denied those services because Congress can't get its 
work done.
    Congress needs to pass these annual spending bills. And if they need 
more time, I urge them to pass a clean continuing resolution. Under a 
clean continuing resolution, the Government would continue to operate at 
current funding levels while the Congress works on the annual 
appropriations bills. The principle should be that there would be no new 
spending, no new policies, no new projects unless the President and 
Congress agree in advance on a specific item.
    The continuing resolution is not a new idea. This isn't the first 
time it's--would have happened. The last Congress didn't pass all its 
appropriations bills on time. And with the help of a continuing 
resolution, Congress kept the Government running while finishing the 
work. An earlier Republican Congress did the same thing during President 
Clinton's second term after a disruptive Government shutdown that no 
Congress has allowed since.
    When the 110th Congress took office earlier this week, the leaders 
promised to make the legislative process more transparent and to--prove 
they could be responsible with the people's money. They said, ``Give us 
a chance to be responsible.'' Well, now is the time to honor those 
pledges. By passing a clean continuing resolution, Congress would give 
itself extra time to complete the 12 annual spending bills, and do them 
1 at a time, in a fiscally responsible way.
    I believe we can work together to keep your taxes low, to keep the 
economy growing, and to balance a Federal budget. I appreciate you 
giving me a chance to come and visit with you. Thank you.

Note: The President spoke at 9:52 a.m. in Room 350 of the Dwight D. 
Eisenhower Executive Office Building. In his remarks, he referred to 
Office of Management and Budget Director James A. Nussle.