Remarks at a Teamsters Barbecue in Detroit, Michigan

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, Sept 10, 2001

September 3, 2001

The President. Thank you, all. Larry Brennan said there hadn't been a President come to a Teamster rally in 50 years--only he's been long enough to know if that's 50 years. [Laughter] I appreciate it.

Listen, I want to thank you all very much. First of all, thank you for your hospitality, and thank you for being so nice to my wife. Yes, I brought my wife. You think I travel without her, you're crazy. [Laughter] Best decision I ever made was to ask Laura to marry me. There's a lot of folks wondering whether the best decision she ever made was to say yes. [Laughter]

But we are honored to be here on Labor Day to celebrate the American worker. And it's a good place to be, right here in Michigan, where people work hard, with the Teamsters, who made an historical record of setting the example of how to work hard.

I want to thank the working families who are here to greet us, and I want to thank the working families all across America, who make our Nation unique and different. I mean, we're different because our folks aren't afraid of hard work, and they know what it means to support family, and they know what it means to make their communities better.

So thanks for having us and giving us a chance to celebrate. I appreciate the officials who are here, your Governor, the Lieutenant Governor, and the mayor of the great city of Detroit, all out here to say a few nice words to the President. It makes me feel good on Labor Day.

I also want to thank Bill Black for his hospitality and the leadership of this local for letting me come. Some folks might have thought they took a risk inviting a Republican here, but I stand before you--I stand before you as a proud American, first and foremost.

And I'll tell you, another proud American is traveling with me--we just came from the Green Bay, Wisconsin, area, and Doug McCarron is the president of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners. Where's Doug? There he is. He gave them a stemwinder this morning. But we were there to celebrate the carpenters of America, as well.

And I understand we don't necessarily agree on every single issue, but we agree to listen. And I agree about this, that you've got a good man running the Teamsters in Jimmy Hoffa. I don't know if that will help him or hurt him in his reelection campaign. [Laughter] But let me tell you something about him. Like Doug, if he's got an issue, he brings it forward in a straightforward way with the union workers--with the union workers in mind.

And we listen. We listen. Ours is an administration that answers the p hone. We don't ask the question, "How did you vote?" We ask the question, "What's on your mind? Is it good for America?" And that's why we're working together on some key issues.

Let me tell you another thing about Jimmy Hoffa. He's running a good union. And in an above-board way, in an above-board way. And make no mistake about it, people are beginning to notice, particularly in Washington, DC. [Laughter]

Now, let me tell you, I'm a little concerned. I'm proud of our workers; I'm concerned about the fact that our economy is just bumping along. This is a Labor Day where we can't celebrate a booming economy. For the last 12 months--let me repeat--for the last 12 months the economy has been way too slow. And people are hurting. And people are suffering. And there are families who wonder about how they're going to feed their kids. And I understand that, and we've got help in Washington.

But the best thing we can do is ask the question, how do we make sure our economy grows? And I came up with this answer: Our economy can grow best when we give people their own money back, when we give the hard-working Americans their own money back in the form of rebates, so that you spend it. And that's what's going to help this economy rebound. The Federal Government must keep a lid on spending and remember that when the American consumer spends, it is the best way to kick-start a soft economy. The biggest threat to economic vitality and economic growth is if Congress overspends. And that's why I'm glad to have Peter Hoekstra on my side. He not only supported tax relief for the American families; he understands that Congress and Washington should not overspend.

Now, I came in, I saw a sign that said, "Thank you for the rebate, Mr. President," as if that's my money to give back. But the person holding the sign, I appreciate the thanks

Audience member. It's my money.

The President. Yes. It's not the Government's money. It's the hard-working Teamsters' money. It's your money to begin with.

There's another issue that we're working on, and Jimmy Hoffa was on national TV yesterday talking about it. And that's energy. He understands good, sound energy policy means jobs for American workers. And if we run out of energy, if we become more beholden to foreign sources of energy, it's going to be hard on the working families in America. So he stood strong, as did Doug, with our administration as we developed the first energy plan in a long period of time for this Government.