Remarks at a dinner for gubernatorial candidate Matt Salmon in Phoenix, Arizona

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, Oct 7, 2002

I also appreciate his brand of compassionate conservatism, which says, we're going to help people help themselves, that when it comes to welfare, that job training is essential to help people find work. We understand that in work you find dignity, in work you find the chance to put food on the table, in work you have a chance to realize your own self-worth. And so when it comes to helping people, your next Governor will make sure that work is an essential part of your welfare system here in the State of Arizona.

I also appreciate his commonsense views on our forests. You've got a lot of vital land here. We're mismanaging our forests. We're doing a lousy job of protecting an important treasure for the country. We ought to be thinning our forests. We ought to be taking the burnt timber and making use of it. We ought to be clearing the timber out from underneath our trees. We ought to be saving our forests with commonsense forest policy. And I want to work with a Governor who understands that.

No, I appreciate Matt. I appreciate him working hard to make this State a safer and stronger and better place. And that's what we've got to do for our country as well. A strong America is a country that works to make sure people can find work. I'm worried about the fact that some of our fellow Americans who want to work can't find a job. And we've got to do everything we can to increase our job base, to do everything we can to make sure our economy continues to grow.

That's why it's absolutely essential, in my judgment, that we make the tax cuts we passed permanent, that we don't let them be temporary, that we get rid of that Senate rule that says, we're going to give--on the one hand we giveth, on the other hand we taketh away. See, we give you tax cuts, but because of a--kind of a weird rule in the Senate, those go away after 10 years. For the sake of planning, for the sake of job creation, for the sake of growth, for the sake of small businesses, the tax cuts need to be permanent. And that includes getting rid of the death tax forever.

We need an energy bill out of Washington, DC. For the sake of job security and for the sake of national security, we need an energy bill. They've been talking too long up there. We need a bill which encourages conservation, promotes new technologies, promotes renewables, but a bill which will encourage increase of supply here in America. Listen we're too dependent on foreign sources of crude oil. And unfortunately, some of those people don't like us. For the sake of job security and national security, I need an energy bill, and I need it soon.

There are some big projects that have been put on hold because construction folks can't get terrorism insurance. They estimate over 300,000 of our fellow citizens aren't working. 300,000 hardhats aren't working because people can't get insured because of the terrorist attacks. Congress needs to act. They need to get a terrorism insurance bill to my desk. For the sake of job creation, for the sake of helping people find work, for the sake of the 300,000 hardhats who would be working, I need a terrorism insurance bill, a bill that does not reward the trial lawyers, but a bill that encourages construction workers to get back to work.