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Skriven 2006-12-20 23:31:22 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (0612202) for Wed, 2006 Dec 20
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President Bush Signs the Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006
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For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
December 20, 2006

President Bush Signs the Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006
Room 450
Dwight D. Eisenhower Executive Office Building

President's Remarks view

˙˙˙˙˙ President's Statement on Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006 ˙˙˙˙˙
Fact Sheet: Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006 ˙˙˙˙˙ In Focus: Health
Care ˙˙˙˙˙ In Focus: Jobs and Economy

11:43 A.M. EST

THE PRESIDENT: Thanks for coming. Welcome to the White House. In a few
moments I'm going to sign a bill that will extend tax relief to millions of
American families and small businesses and add momentum to a growing
economy. The Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006 will maintain key tax
reforms, expand our commitment to renewable energy resources, make it
easier for Americans to afford health insurance and open markets overseas
for our farmers and small business owners.

This is a good piece of pro-growth legislation, and I'm looking forward to
signing it into law. And I appreciate members of my Cabinet who have joined
me in thanking the Congress for their good work here at the end of this
session. I want to thank Secretary of the Treasury, Hank Paulson, Secretary
of the Interior, Dirk Kempthorne, and Ambassador Sue Schwab for joining us
today. Thanks for your service. (Applause.)

I appreciate the Speaker for being here. Mr. Speaker, good piece of work. I
thank you for your hard work at the end of the session. You deserve a lot
of credit for this fine piece of legislation, as does Senator Bill Frist,
Senate Majority Leader. (Applause.)

I appreciate key members of the Senate and the House, who got this piece of
legislation passed, for joining us today. I want to thank Pete Domenici and
Mike DeWine and Rick Santorum for the Senate -- I'm going to save the
Louisianans here for a minute -- and I want to thank the Chairman, Bill
Thomas, for not only this bill, but a lot of other good pieces of
legislation we were able to work together on.

I want to say something about these Louisianans. I appreciate them coming.
This is a really important piece of legislation for Louisiana for a lot of
reasons, not the least of which is it will help provide money so that we
can help restore the wetlands in Louisiana.

It's an issue that has united the people of Louisiana. People are rightly
concerned about the evaporation of wetlands, and this bill is going to help
deal with that important issue. And I want to thank Mary and David Vitter
for good work on this important bill. Congratulations. (Applause.)

Texas people kind of like Louisianans. (Laughter.) A lot of us spent some
of our youth in Louisiana. (Laughter.)

As we approach the end of 2006, our economy is strong, it's productive and
it's prosperous. The most recent jobs report shows that our economy created
132,000 new jobs in November. That's good. We have added more than 7
million new jobs since August of 2003 -- more than Japan and the European
Union combined.

The unemployment rate has remained low at 4.5 percent. More Americans are
finding work, and more American workers are taking home bigger paychecks.
The latest figures show that real hourly wages increased 2.3 percent in the
last year. For the typical family of four with both parents working, that
means an extra $1,350 for this year.

As we look forward, our goal is to maintain pro-growth economic policies
that strengthen our economy and help raise the standard of living for all
our citizens. The bill I sign today will continue important progress in
four key ways. First, the bill will extend key tax relief measures that are
critical to expanding opportunity, continuing economic growth, and
revitalizing our communities.

To keep America competitive in the world economy, we must make sure our
people have the skills they need for the jobs of the 21st century. Many of
those jobs are going to require college, so we're extending the
deductibility of tuition and higher education expenses to help more
Americans go to college so we can compete.

And to keep our nation leading the world in technology and innovation,
we're extending and modernizing the research and development tax credit. By
allowing businesses to deduct part of their R_

The bill will also extend vital provisions of the Gulf Opportunity Zone Act
that I signed last year. The bill will keep in place key tax credits that
we passed to help rebuild Gulf Coast communities that were devastated by
the hurricanes that hit the region in 2005. It will allow us to maintain
our commitment to provide a 50 percent bonus depreciation for GO Zone
properties in the hardest hit areas. It will encourage businesses to build
new structures and purchase new equipment in Mississippi and Louisiana.

There is a great spirit of entrepreneurship on the Gulf Coast, and the
incentives in this bill will help our fellow citizens help revive those
communities. It's in our nation's interest that this piece of legislation
pass, and it's in our interest that the people of the Gulf Coast recover as
quickly as possible.

Secondly, this bill will help expand and diversify energy supplies. The
bill will increase America's energy security by reducing dependence on
foreign sources of energy. And that's a key goal of the Advanced Energy
Initiative that my administration has laid out. To encourage the
development of new sources of energy, the bill will extend tax credits for
investment in renewable electricity resources, including wind, solar,
biomass and geothermal energy. It will encourage the development of clean
coal technology and renewable fuels like ethanol. And it will help promote
new energy efficient technologies that will allow us to do more with less.
In other words, it encourages conservation.

Meeting the needs of our growing economy also requires expanding our
domestic production of oil and natural gas. If we want to become less
dependent on foreign sources of oil and gas, it is best we find some here
at home. This bill will allow access to key portions of America's outer
continental shelf so we can reach more than 1 billion additional barrels of
oil and nearly 6 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

By developing these domestic resources in a way that protects our
environment, we will help address high energy prices, we'll protect
American jobs, and we'll reduce our dependence on foreign oil.

The bill will help open new markets for American goods and services around
the world. I believe in free and fair trade. I believe free and fair trade
is in the interests of the working people of this country. The bill
authorizes permanent normal trade relations with Vietnam. And, Mr.
Ambassador, thanks for joining us.

Vietnam will join the World Trade Organization in January. Isn't that
amazing? I think it is. You'd be amazed at what it's like to be in Vietnam;
Laura and I just returned. You were there, Mr. Ambassador. You saw the
outpouring of affection for the American people. There's amazing changes
taking place in your country as your economy has opened up. Vietnam is
demonstrating a strong commitment to economy reform. And I believe that's
going to encourage political reform and greater respect for human rights
and human dignity.

With this bill, America will broaden our trade relations with Vietnam. It's
going to help the Vietnamese people build a strong economy that's going to
raise their standards of living. It's in our interest to help those who
struggle. It's in the interest of the United States to promote prosperity
around the world, and the best way to do so is through opening up markets
and free and fair trade.

The bill is going to extend a series of programs with other developing
nations to give duty-free status to products they export to the United
States. By encouraging exports, we're going to help nations in sub-Sahara
Africa, the Caribbean and Latin America develop their economies and
ultimately create new markets for U.S. goods and services.

Trade is an engine of economic growth, and I'm looking forward to
continuing to work with the new Congress to open up markets for U.S.
farmers and manufacturers and service providers, and provide new
opportunities for people around the world and help eliminate poverty.

Fourth, the bill will help make health care affordable and accessible for
more Americans. This bill strengthens health savings accounts, which we
created in 2003. These accounts allow people to save money for health care
tax free, and to take their health savings accounts with them if they move
from job to job. So far, an estimated 3.6 million HSAs have been opened in
America.

To encourage even more people to sign up for HSAs, the bill will raise
contribution limits and make accounts more flexible. It will let people
fund their HSAs with one-time transfers from their IRA accounts. It will
allow them to contribute up to an annual limit of $2,850, regardless of the
deductible for their insurance plan.

We'll give them the option to fully fund their HSAs regardless of what time
of year they sign up for the plan. These changes will bring health savings
accounts within the reach of more of our citizens, and ensure that more
Americans can get the quality care they deserve.

With all these steps, we're working to improve the health and prosperity of
the American people and to keep our economy growing. We're going to
continue to support wise policies that encourage and enhance the
entrepreneurial spirit in America so this country of ours can remain the
economic leader in the world.

I want to thank the members of Congress for joining us. I appreciate the
members of my Cabinet. It's now my honor to sign the Tax Relief and Health
Care Act of 2006. (Applause.)

(The Bill is signed.) (Applause.)

END 11:53 A.M. EST
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