Remarks following a meeting with the economic team and the Federal Reserve Board chairman and an exchange with reporters

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, Jan 14, 2002

January 7, 2002

The President. I want to thank Chairman Greenspan for coming. He's here to offer his independent advice and counsel about the state of our economy. I want to thank my economic team for keeping me abreast of what we're learning during our Christmas break. I look forward to a substantive discussion about how to wisely put policy in place that will help this economy recover.

I'm--we're making good progress in winning the war in Afghanistan, and we've got to make good progress about helping people find work. The cornerstone of any good policy is going to be to take care of--help people help themselves, and take care of those who may have lost their job as a result of 9/11. But always remember, the most important thing for those who have lost their job is to be able to find work. And so the question I'm going to ask, and the question I hope Congress asks, is, how best to create jobs? What can you do to encourage economic growth so that people who want to work can find work?

I'm optimistic that 2002 is going to be a better year than 2001. And will discuss ways here to make--to figure out how Government can make that happen. One thing I will do, after the course of these discussions and some discussions later on this week, will put in my budget an economic stimulus package.

And speaking of that, I hope that when Congress comes back they will have listened to their constituents and that Congress will realize that America, like me, is tired of partisan bickering, that we ought to come together, we ought to unify around some sensible policy and not try to play politics with tax relief or, for that matter, economic stimulus packages.

I'll be glad to answer a few questions. Fournier [Ron Foumier, Associated Press].

National Priorities and the Federal Budget

The President. Well, wait. I promised him that he could come. He's an independent soul, and he can have a press conference elsewhere. But one of the things we're not going to do is drag the Chairman into a press conference. Otherwise, he won't come back-[laughter]-to the White House.

Q. Mr. President, can you increase funding for the military and homeland security without dipping into the Social Security and Medicare accounts? And Chairman Greenspan, if I could-----

Q I'm sure he would-----

Q. [Inaudible]--going to ask him if he thought the recession was over, that's all.

The President. Well, you can find him at his place of business. Sony to tell you how to do-it's a new year. [Laughter] I plan to be much more assertive with the press.

The President. Okay. I said to the American people that this Nation might have to run deficits in time of war, in times of a national emergency, or in times of a recession. And we're still in all three. We had a national emergency; we're trying to win a war; and we're in a recession. So I have no problem figuring out ways to win the war, figuring out ways to protect the homeland-and those will be the priorities of my budget--and at the same time--and spending the money necessary to do both--and at the same time, recognizing that we may not balance the budget for this year.

It makes sense to spend money necessary to win the war; it makes sense to spend money necessary to protect the homeland. And we're in a recession. There are some talk about raising taxes. That would be a disaster, to raise taxes in the midst of a recession. Even--I think you'fl find that to be--most economists agree with that point of view. Certainly, if the/re fair about it, they will say that.

And so I--as I said out there, somebody must be reading a different kind of economics textbook here in Washington. And most of the people that I spoke to in California and Oregon understood that we shouldn't he raising taxes in a recession.

Yes.

Economic Stimulus Package

Q. Mr. President, given that there was real progress on a stimulus package in December--[inaudible]--will your package, your proposal take effect more quickly than the one you proposed in December? And in addition to that, do you think, in the meantime, further interest rate cuts might be a way to provide an immediate boost?

The President. Well, first in terms of monetary policy, I'll leave that in the hands of our Chairman, Chairman Greenspan. He's done a fabulous job in running the Federal Reserve. And for that, America should be grateful.

Secondly, we did make very good progress on an economic stimulus package. We had a bill come out of the House of Representatives, and there was a bill that could have passed the United States Senate. There was enough votes, had the bill been brought up on the floor, that it would have passed. It took good features from the Republican point of view; it took good features from the Democrat point of view. We brought it together and made a very good package. That's pretty darn good progress.

Except, along the way, there was an attitude that said, "Well, maybe we don't need a package." I happen to believe we do need one, and there was a good one that could have passed.

Stretch. I mean, Little Stretch [David Gregory, NBC News]. [Laughter]