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Ärende: Press Release (060306) for Mon, 2006 Mar 6
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President Participates in Swearing-In of CEA Chairman Edward Lazear
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For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
March 6, 2006

President Participates in Swearing-In of CEA Chairman Edward Lazear
Room 450
Eisenhower Executive Office Building

President's Remarks
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˙˙˙˙˙Council of Economic Advisers
˙˙˙˙˙In Focus: Jobs _

10:00 A.M. EST

THE PRESIDENT: Welcome. I'm here to swear in Ed Lazear as the Chairman of
the Council of Economic Advisers. Thank you all for coming. Eddie has
brought a lot of his family here. For the family members who are here,
welcome; thanks for supporting the old boy. (Laughter.) I particularly want
to Vicki and Julie, as well as his mother, Rose, for being here. I'm really
glad you all are here. Does he still listen to you, Rose? (Laughter.)

MRS. LAZEAR: Oh, yes. He's a good boy.

THE PRESIDENT: That's a good boy. Well, I hope my mother is saying the same
thing about me. (Laughter.)

Eddie is an award-winning economist from Stanford University. He's been a
part of the Hoover Institute. He's taught and lectured in Asia and the
Middle East and Europe. He's advised governments in the former Soviet Union
and Eastern Europe on economic reform. He's conducted path-breaking
research in the field of labor economics. He's applied his theories to
real-world problems like education, and immigration, and compensation, and
productivity. He's well-rounded, and he's plenty smart.

He also understands how to get his message across. After all, he was voted
teacher of the year at Stanford's Graduate School of Business. That's not
an easy accomplishment. He's a founding editor of the Journal of Labor
Economics. He's a good man, who has served with distinction before in
government. He served on my advisory panel on federal tax reform. And he's
going to be an outstanding Chairman of my Council of Economic Advisers.

He succeeds another outstanding economist who still bears the title of
Chairman, and that's Ben Bernanke. He just wears his title over at another
place here in Washington. Eddie and Ben are part of a long line of talented
economists who have served my administration as CEA Chairman, including
Harvey Rosen, Greg Mankiw, and Glenn Hubbard. I want to thank Eddie for
agreeing to serve our country. I appreciate his understanding of the
important role he will play in my administration.

I appreciate those who are here from my administration. I see Carlos
Gutierrez, the Secretary of Commerce. Carlos, welcome. Josh Bolten, a
member of the Cabinet, the Office of Management and Budget. Senator Bob
Bennett. Thank you for coming, Senator. I really appreciate you taking time
to be here. Congressman Jim Ryun, and Anne are with us, as well. Eddie told
me he's a runner. Don't run with Ryun, Eddie.

Eddie leads my Council of Economic Advisers at an exciting time. It's a
time of opportunity and a time of challenge. Today the American economy is
the envy of the world. Last year our economy grew at a healthy 3.5 percent,
faster than any other major industrialized nation. We've added more than
4.7 million new jobs during the last two-and-a-half years. That's more than
Japan and the European Union combined. Our unemployment rate is down to 4.7
percent. That's the lowest level since July of 2001. That's lower than the
average of the 1970s, the 1980s, and the 1990s. More Americans now own
their homes than at any time in our history. More minority families own
homes than any time in our nation's history. This administration believes
in ownership. We love the fact that somebody opens the door to their own
piece of property, says, welcome to my piece of my property, welcome to my
home.

Real after-tax income is up more than 8 percent per person since the
beginning of 2001. New orders for durable goods, like machinery, have risen
sharply. We've had 33 straight months of growth in our manufacturing
sector. Productivity has grown strongly over the last five years. Our small
business sector is thriving. America is productive; America is innovative;
America is entrepreneurial. And I'm counting on Eddie's good advice to keep
it that way.

We understand it's important to continue to promote pro-growth economic
policies and sound initiatives with one goal in mind -- to keep America the
economic leader in the world so our people can find jobs and realize their
dreams.

Our economy grows when Americans have more of their own money to spend,
save and invest. In the last five years we passed tax relief that left $880
billion in the hands of American workers and small businesses and families.
And the American people have used that money to help produce more than four
years of uninterrupted economic growth.

The tax relief that we passed is set to expire in the next few years. If we
do nothing, American families will face a massive tax increase they do not
expect and will not welcome. Because America needs more than a temporary
expansion, we need more than temporary tax relief. So in my State of the
Union I called upon the United States Congress to make the tax relief we
passed permanent.

I also outlined several other steps to keep this economy strong and
growing. We need to address our dependence on foreign sources of oil. You
might remember I stood up in front of the country and said, we have a real
problem; we're addicted to oil. I meant what I said. I call upon Congress
to join with this administration to pass the Advanced Energy Initiative
that will fund research in cleaner, more reliable technologies like
hydrogen and ethanol, so we become less dependent. For the sake of our
national security and economic security, we must not be dependent on
foreign sources of oil.

We need to ensure that Americans get the health care they need. And so
we're working to make health coverage more affordable and available and
portable through measures like health savings accounts and association
health plans.

To maintain our edge in innovation and creativity, I proposed the American
Competitiveness Initiative, to promote cutting-edge research and to ensure
that American children get math and science skills they need for the jobs
of the 21st century.

One of the most important steps we need to take to keep this economy strong
is to restrain federal spending in Washington. That's hard to do. Everybody
thinks their spending idea is a great idea. They all -- all these spending
ideas sound wonderful on paper. Here's our view: It's important for the
Congress to set priorities. We are a nation at war, and one of the top
priorities of this government will continue to be to make sure our troops
have the equipment they need to defend the United States, and our citizens
have what it takes to defend the homeland.

That means we must be careful about how we spend the taxpayers' money in
other areas. In other words, we can't be all things to all people when it
comes to spending the taxpayers' money. And we're making some good
progress. Last year of the previous administration, non-security
discretionary spending rose by 15 percent. Every year of my presidency
we've reduced the growth of this spending, and last year, at my request,
Congress passed legislation that actually cut this spending. I thank them
for their hard work.

Now I look forward to working on my -- having them work on my 2007 budget
that Josh Bolten is taking up to the Congress. This budget will save the
taxpayers money; will cut -- will continue to cut non-security
discretionary spending, and keep us on track to cut the deficit in half by
2009.

In the long run, the biggest challenge to our nation's fiscal health is
entitlement spending. I recently signed a bill to save nearly $40 billion
over five years in entitlement spending. The 2000 [sic] budget we submitted
proposes to save another $65 billion over five years. We don't need to cut
this mandatory spending; we need to slow its growth. In other words, we
don't need to put our cars into reverse; we just need to slow it to meet
the speed limit.

As well, I'm deadly earnest in calling members of both parties together to
work to pass -- to propose something we can pass out of Congress that will
modernize Social Security and Medicare. It's time for Congress to set aside
needless partisan politics and focus on the future of our country with
real, substantive entitlement reform.

We also need to do more to reform the way Washington spends people's money.
Under the current system Congress can slip spending provisions into large
bills where they never get debated and never get discussed. Those are
called earmarks. As a result, too many bills passed by Congress include
unnecessary spending. These earmarks reflect special interests instead of
the people's interest. I'm pleased that Congress is working on earmark
reform, and I encourage members of Congress to pass meaningful and real
earmark reform.

Here's another idea for them: They need to give the President the line item
veto. Congress gave the President a line item veto in 1996, but because
with problems the way the law was written, the Supreme Court struck it
down. That should not be the end of the story. So in my State of the Union
I called for new legislation creating a line item veto that will meet
Supreme Court standards. Today, I'm sending Congress legislation that will
meet standards and give me the authority to strip special spending and
earmarks out of a bill, and then send them back to Congress for an up or
down vote. By passing this version of the line item veto, the
administration will work with the Congress to reduce wasteful spending,
reduce the budget deficit, and ensure that taxpayer dollars are spend
wisely.

Congress is on record, by the way, that the President should have the line
item veto authority. It has been approved previously. Forty-three governors
have this line item veto in their states. Now it's time to bring this
important tool for fiscal discipline to Washington, D.C.

I'm really optimistic about the future of this country. I don't think
there's any problem we can't tackle. It's really important as we put
pro-growth policies in place, to understand that the engine of growth is
the ingenuity of the American people. I like to remind people: Government
doesn't create wealth; government creates an environment in which the
entrepreneurial spirit can flourish, in which people can realize their
dreams, in which small businesses can grow to be big businesses, in which
the newly arrived can have a chance to realize the great promise of our
country.

Eddie understands that, and that's why I'm proud to have him by my side.
And again, Eddie, thank you for agreeing to serve our great nation. And now
Andy Card will administer the oath of office.

(The oath is administered.) (Applause.)

CHAIRMAN LAZEAR: Thank you, Mr. President, for the privilege of serving you
and the country as Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers. I thank
Senator Shelby for his efforts in moving my confirmation through the Senate
process quickly and smoothly. I also thank the staff of the Council of
Economic Advisers for providing me with the information necessary to do
this job. Finally, I thank my family for being here today and for being
supportive of my work at the Council.

One colleague recently told me that in Washington, when people want the
correct answer on economics, they go to the Council of Economic Advisers.
The best compliment that can be paid to the Council of Economic Advisers is
that the Council tells it like it is so that you, Mr. President, have the
best economic information available on which to base your decisions.

I'm fortunate to join the Council at a time when the American economy is
strong. Healthy productivity growth over the past few years has been
followed by impressive job creation and reductions in unemployment rates to
levels that are low by historical standards. And we continue to improve.
Much of the strength of the U.S. economy results from flexibility in labor
and capital markets, and from keeping tax rates low. Low tax rates
encourage investment in machines, technology, and worker skills. In turn,
investment creates the productivity gains that raise the wages of the
American worker.

In order to keep taxes low, it's necessary to maintain fiscal restraint.
And I applaud your efforts, Mr. President, on that front.

There are challenges ahead, but we have a solid foundation on which to
build. Mr. President, I look forward to assisting you in keeping the
American economy strong. To that end, I will devote all of my energy to
ensuring that the Council of Economic Advisers provides you with the best
economic analysis possible.

Thank you. (Applause.)

END 10:16 A.M. EST

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