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Skriven 2007-01-03 23:31:14 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (070103) for Wed, 2007 Jan 3
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President Bush Meets with Cabinet
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For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
January 3, 2007

President Bush Meets with Cabinet
Rose Garden

President's Remarks view

˙˙˙˙˙ President Bush's Cabinet

10:19 A.M. EST

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all. We just finished our first Cabinet meeting of
2007. I want to thank my Cabinet officers for joining me here. We discussed
our priorities for the next two years, and how we plan to achieve them. The
Congress has changed; our obligations to the country haven't changed.

Tomorrow, members of the 110th Congress will take their oaths of office,
and I congratulate them. I welcome their arrival into town. I'm looking
forward to working with them, and so are members of my Cabinet. We've all
been entrusted with public office at a momentous time in our nation's
history. And together we have important things to do. It's time to set
aside politics and focus on the future.

I've been encouraged by the productive meetings that I've had with many of
the new leaders of Congress, people from both parties. I want to thank them
for coming down to the White House and talking to me about their ambitions
and their goals for our country. I'm hopeful that Republicans and Democrats
can find common ground to serve our folks, to do our jobs, to be
constructive for our country.

One area where we must work together is that we've got to make sure we
spend the people's money wisely. Over the past few years, pro-growth
economic policies have generated higher revenues. Together with spending
restraint, these policies allowed us to meet our goal of cutting the budget
deficit in half three years ahead of schedule. We did so without taxing the
working people. We kept taxes low.

It's now time to take the next step. Next month I will submit a five-year
budget proposal that will balance the federal budget by 2012. This budget
will restrain spending while setting priorities. It will address the most
urgent needs of our nation, in particular the need to protect ourselves
from radicals and terrorists; the need to win the war on terror; the need
to maintain a strong national defense; and the need to keep this economy
growing by making tax relief permanent.

By balancing the budget through pro-growth economic policies and spending
restraint, we are better positioned to tackle longer-term fiscal challenges
facing our country, namely the entitlement programs. These programs need to
be reformed for the sake of younger Americans. We need to reform Social
Security and Medicare and Medicaid so future generations of Americans can
benefit from these vital programs without bankrupting our country.

Another area where we can work together is to reform the earmark process.
One important message we all should take from the elections is that people
want to end the secretive process by which Washington insiders are able to
get billions of dollars directed to projects, many of them pork barrel
projects that have never been reviewed or voted on by the Congress.

Some of the earmarks are not even included in legislation. They are stuffed
into committee reports that have never been passed, and are never signed
into law. Earmarks often divert precious funds from vital priorities like
national defense. And each year they cost the taxpayers billions of
dollars.

I appreciate the fact that Senator Byrd and Congressman Obey, the Democrats
who will lead the appropriations process in the new Congress, heard the
same message. For this year's budget, they pledged to maintain current
levels of spending without additional earmarks. They agreed to a temporary
moratorium on all earmarks. And this is a good start, and I appreciate
their position. I also appreciate the fact that House Republicans last fall
passed strong earmark reform idea -- put forth earmark reform ideas. And I
appreciate their hard work.

But we need to do more. Here's my own view to end the "dead of the night"
process: Congress needs to adopt real reform that requires full disclosure
of the sponsors, the costs, the recipients, and the justifications for
every earmark. Congress needs to stop the practice of concealing earmarks
in so-called report language. And Congress needs to cut the number and cost
of earmarks next year by at least half.

To help rein in wasteful spending and restore fiscal discipline in
Washington, I call on Congress to give the President the tool that 43
governors have, a line-item veto.

There are just a few of the issues that we're going to need to work on in
the year ahead. This new year brings new opportunities for progress, and
I'm looking forward to working with the new Congress.

Thank you for your time.

END 10:25 A.M. EST

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