[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 43, Number 49 (Monday, December 10, 2007)]
[Pages 1552-1553]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks on Congressional Action on the Legislative Agenda

December 3, 2007

    Good morning. Congress returns from its 2-week Thanksgiving break 
today. They have just 2 weeks to go before they leave town again. That's 
not really a lot of time to squeeze in nearly a year's worth of 
unfinished business.
    In fairness, Congress was not entirely out over the past 2 weeks. In 
a political maneuver designed to block my ability to make recess 
appointments, congressional leaders arranged for a Senator to come in 
every 3 days or so, bang a gavel, wait for about 30 seconds, bang a 
gavel again, and then leave. Now, under the Senate rules, this counts as 
a full day. If 30 seconds is a full day, no wonder Congress has got a 
lot of work to do.
    Congress needs to start by passing a bill to fund our troops in 
combat. Beginning in February, I submitted detailed funding requests to 
Congress to fund these operations in the war on terror. Yet some in 
Congress are withholding this funding because they want to substitute 
their judgment for that of our military commanders. Instead of listening 
to the judgment of General Petraeus, they are threatening to withhold 
money he needs unless they can mandate an arbitrary date of withdrawal.
    This month, more of our troops will return home as a result of the 
success we're seeing in Iraq. People are coming home. For Congress to 
insist on setting an arbitrary date for withdrawal would put the gains 
General Petraeus and our troops have made in danger--and that would 
threaten the security of our country. It's unconscionable to deny funds 
to our troops in harm's way because some in Congress want to force a 
self-defeating policy, especially when we're seeing the benefits of 
success.
    Secretary Gates and other senior Pentagon officials say the delay in 
our funding will means this for our military: Unless Congress acts, the 
Defense Department will soon be required to begin giving layoff notices 
to about 100,000 civilian employees. Unless Congress acts, the military 
task force developing ways to better detect and protect our troops from 
roadside bombs will run out of money by early next year. Unless Congress 
acts, the Army will run out of operations and maintenance money in 
February. Unless Congress acts, the Marine Corps will run out of similar 
funds in March.
    Earlier this year, congressional leaders were trying to impose 
conditions on funds because they said our strategy in Iraq was not 
working. We changed our strategy, and

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now even many of those who initially opposed the surge acknowledge that 
it is achieving results. It is time for Members of Congress to meet 
their responsibility to our men and women in uniform, and they should 
stay in session until they pass these emergency funds for our troops.
    Second, Congress needs to make sure our intelligence professionals 
can continue to monitor terrorist communications. In August, Congress 
passed legislation to help modernize the Foreign Intelligence 
Surveillance Act. That bill closed critical intelligence gaps, allowing 
us to collect important foreign intelligence information about terrorist 
plots. The problem is, the new law expires on February 1st, while the 
threat from the terrorists does not expire.
    The Director of National Intelligence, Mike McConnell, has warned 
that unless the FISA reforms in the act are made permanent, our national 
security professionals will lose critical tools they need to protect our 
country. Instead of listening to the judgment of Director McConnell, 
some in Congress now want to restrict the intelligence tools that help 
keep the American people safe. They are blocking efforts to provide 
meaningful liability protection to those companies now facing 
multibillion dollar lawsuits only because they are believed to have 
assisted in our efforts to defend our Nation following the September the 
11th attacks. Congress must stop this obstruction and make certain our 
national security professionals do not lose a critical tool for keeping 
our country safe.
    Third, Congress needs to act immediately to prevent the Alternative 
Minimum Tax from hitting more Americans this year. The AMT was enacted 
in 1969 to ensure that a few hundred wealthy individuals paid their fair 
share of taxes. But when Congress passed the AMT, it was not indexed for 
inflation. As a result, the AMT's higher tax burden is being imposed on 
more and more middle class families.
    Last month, Treasury Secretary Paulson wrote a letter to Members of 
Congress warning them about this: that if they put off an AMT fix, it 
could delay the delivery of about $75 billion worth of tax refund 
checks. Yet instead of listening to Secretary Paulson's warning, 
Congress continues to delay action. The longer Congress delays action, 
the longer Americans will wait--likely wait to get their tax refund 
checks next year.
    If Congress fails to act, as many as 25 million Americans would be 
subject to AMT. On average, these taxpayers--many of them middle class 
families--would have to send an extra $2,000 to the IRS next April. At a 
time when many Americans are struggling with home mortgages and health 
care costs, the last thing they need is for Congress to stick them with 
an additional tax increase.
    Finally, Congress has important work to do on the Federal budget. 
One of the Congress's most basic duties is to fund the day-to-day 
operations of the Federal Government. Yet only 1 of the 12 spending 
bills has made it into law. Congressional leaders are now talking about 
piling the remaining bills into one monster piece of legislation, which 
they will load up with billions of dollars in earmarks and wasteful 
spending. Now is not the time to burden our economy with wasteful 
Washington spending that will lead to higher taxes. Congressional 
leaders need to do their job and pass the remaining spending bills in a 
fiscally responsible way. And if they send me an irresponsible spending 
bill, I will veto it.
    The end of 2007 is approaching fast, and the new Congress has little 
to show for it. I call on Members to use the time left to support our 
troops and to protect our citizens, prevent harmful tax increases, and 
responsibly fund our Government.
    Thank you.

Note: The President spoke at 9:57 a.m. in the Rose Garden at the White 
House. In his remarks, he referred to Gen. David H. Petraeus, USA, 
commanding general, Multi-National Force--Iraq.