Remarks to Langham company employees in Indianapolis, Indiana

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, Sept 15, 2003

Some other things we can do, we can get a class action reform out of the United States Senate. And one thing we can do is make sure these lawyers aren't able to shop 'all around the country for a favorable jury, by moving class action suits into the Federal court. And we need to reform the system so that when there is a verdict, the lawyers don't get the money, but the people who have been harmed get the money.

We need to continue to work for regulatory relief on small and large businesses, so that instead of filing needless paperwork, you're working to make your workforce more productive and to meet the needs of your customers.

We need to make sure we have an energy policy. If we want this economy to continue to grow--we're interested in economic growth. This is a State that relies upon the manufacturing sector a lot, in Indiana. You need to have reliable sources of energy if you want your economy to grow. We need an energy policy. I've been talking to Congress about this for 2 years. It doesn't make any sense to have haphazard policy.

We need energy policy to make sure our electricity grid is brought up to date and is more modern. We need energy policy that encourages alternative sources of energy, like those grown right here in the fields of Indiana, called corn, converted to ethanol. We need to make sure we develop environmentally friendly ways to explore for more energy. We need dean coal technology. We need, for the sake of national security and economic security, to be less dependent on foreign sources of energy.

I believe when you see the label "Made in the U.S.A.," it's the stamp of quality. And therefore, one way to encourage job growth is to open up markets and to level the playing field for U.S. products, just give us a level body, anyplace,, and we can compete with any, anyplace, anytime.

And finally, in order for there to be economic vitality and job creation and growth, there needs to be certainty in the Tax Code. In other words, people who are making investments must understand what the rules are going to be. The problem is, is that all the tax relief I've discussed with you, because of quirks in the rules, start fading out in 2005. The child credit, at some point in time, will go back down. The marriage penalty will go up. In other words, what I described to you goes away. If Congress is really interested in job creation, they will make every one of the tax relief measures we passed permanent.

You will hear talk about the deficit. We have a deficit. We have a deficit in part because of the recession. When you have a recession, yon get less money into your treasury. When the economy slows, there's less revenue coming to Washington, DC. About half of the deficit is caused by the recession that we re trying to get out of.

A quarter of the deficit is caused by the fact that we're spending money to defend America. My attitude is, anytime we put one of our troops in harm's way, they deserve the best pay, the best training, and the best possible equipment. This Nation will spend what it takes to win the war on terror and to protect the American people.