For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
June 22, 2005
President Discusses Energy Policy, Economic Security
Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant
Lusby, Maryland
In Focus: Energy
10:00 A.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Thanks for the warm welcome. Thanks for letting me
interrupt your workday. (Laughter.) I hope it's okay. (Laughter.) I
really appreciate you having me. It's a good -- I like to get out of
Washington, and I like to pay a visit to our neighbors outside the
Beltway. So I appreciate you letting me come by.
Thanks for the tour of this important facility. I want to thank
those back at the control room for being so gracious and kind and
taking time to explain all the dials and gauges. (Laughter.) I can
play like I understand what I saw. (Laughter.)
But one thing is for certain, that when the people of Maryland flip
a switch and see their lights come on, they need to thank the people
working here at this plant. This plant is providing a lot of important
power for people all over the state of Maryland. I've come to talk
about economic security. I've come to talk about the need to get a
good energy policy out of the Congress. And there's no better place to
do it than right here in Calvert Cliffs. Thanks for letting me come.
(Applause.)
Laura didn't come with me. She's out west with our daughter,
Jenna, in the Grand Canyon. How about that? (Laughter.) She's doing
a great job as the First Lady. She is a fabulous wife and a great mom,
and she sends her best to all the good folks who work here at Calvert
Cliffs. I appreciate the Secretary of Energy joining me today. He's a
good man, he knows a lot about the subject, you'll be pleased to hear.
I was teasing him -- he taught at MIT, and -- do you have a PhD?
SECRETARY BODMAN: Yes.
THE PRESIDENT: Yes, a PhD. (Laughter.) Now I want you to pay
careful attention to this -- he's the PhD, and I'm the C student, but
notice who is the advisor and who is the President. (Laughter and
applause.) He's a good man, and I really appreciate working with Sam
to achieve a great national goal, which is become less dependent on
foreign sources of energy.
I appreciate Nils Diaz, who is the Chairman of the NRC, the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission. Thanks for coming. I want to thank Governor
Bob Ehrlich from the great state of Maryland. I appreciate you coming,
Governor. Thanks for being here. He's a pro-jobs, pro-growth,
pro-small business governor. And I enjoy working with him to help
create an environment that helps people realize their dreams.
I want to thank George Vanderheyden, who is the Site Vice President
of the Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant. He represents -- at least
on the tour -- represented a lot of the good folks who work here. I
want to say something about the folks who work here. I want to thank
you for your hard work and I want to thank you for your patriotism and
your love of your country. I understand that six of your fellow
employees are now in Iraq. And for the families and the co-workers
here, I say, thank you, on behalf of a grateful nation, for supporting
these good folks. These folks are there defeating terrorists who
cannot stand the thought of democracy and freedom, defeating them there
so we do not have to face them here at home. These folks are there
spreading democracy and freedom, understanding that a democratic world
is more likely to leave a foundation for peace for our children. So I
want to thank you for your sacrifices and thank you for supporting
those good folks. (Applause.)
I want to thank the President and the CEO of Constellation Energy,
Mayo Shattuck. That's a pretty cool first name, isn't it, Mayo.
(Laughter.) Pass the Mayo. (Laughter and applause.) His wife, Molly,
appreciated that. (Laughter.) I want to thank Mike Wallace, Skip
Bowman. Thank you all. Thanks for letting me come by.
As you know, I'm an optimistic person, and I hope you are, as
well. These are incredibly hopeful times for our country, and the
state of our economy is strong. And Americans from all walks of life
have got good reason to be confident about the future of this country.
Let me just give you some of the facts. Over the past year, America's
economy has grown faster than any major industrialized economy in the
world. In other words, we're leading growth when it comes to major
industrialized economies.
Over the past two years, America has added more than 3.5 million
new jobs. The unemployment rate is down to 5.1 percent. That's lower
than the average rate in the 1970s, the 1980s, and the 1990s.
In Maryland, the unemployment is 4.2 percent. People are working.
I'm proud to report that more Americans are working today than ever
before in our nation's history. Our economy is sustaining low
inflation rates, low interest rates, and low mortgage rates. Small
businesses are flourishing. Families are taking home more of what they
earn. Your after-tax income -- incomes are up. More Americans are
going to college than at any other time in our nation's history. More
Americans own their own businesses than ever before. And home
ownership in America is at an all-time high.
This strong and growing economy is lifting our standard of living,
and that's important because that means opportunity is being spread
throughout the country. Now listen, I understand parts of our country
are still struggling from the effects of the recession and the
attacks. I know some workers are concerned about jobs going overseas.
I know some are concerned about gaining the skills necessary to compete
in the global market that we live in. I know that families are worried
about health care and retirement. And I know moms and dads are worried
about their children finding good jobs.
See, even though the numbers are still good, there are still
worries out there in the country. And these are the challenges of a
rapidly changing economy. And we've got the responsibility in
government to take the side of our working families. So we're moving
aggressively -- we're not taking the good numbers for granted; we're
moving aggressively with a pro-growth, pro-worker set of economic
policies that'll enhance economic security in the country.
Economic security happens for our workers and families when we keep
your taxes low. It happens when we open up new markets for American
products. It happens when we stop the spread of junk lawsuits. We're
going to create economic security for moms and dads by making health
care more affordable, by guaranteeing a quality education for every
child, and ensuring dignity in retirement. And that's what I've come
to talk to you about today.
The United States Congress has now an opportunity to create more
economic security by passing an energy bill that will make energy more
affordable and reliable for generations to come. Energy is vital to
the future of this country. Everybody who works here knows that.
Everybody who turns on their light switch should know that. It's
obvious that we can't expand our economy if businesses don't have
energy. You've got to have energy if you're going to be a farmer. You
got to have energy if you're just trying to raise a family. If you're
a baseball fan, you need energy. I mean, try going to a night ball
game -- (laughter) -- without any lights. How about the Nats and the
Orioles, by the way, speaking about baseball? (Applause.)
Our nation needs to confront a basic problem -- we're using energy
faster than we're producing it. And the problem has been building for
a long period of time, because we really haven't confronted this
problem. That's why I submitted this strategy to Congress when we
first got up to Washington. Over the past decade, America's energy
consumption has been growing about 40 times faster than our energy
production. Think about that. Four years ago, I said to Congress,
let's deal with this problem now.
The problem is, there's been a lot of debate and a lot of politics,
but no results. So now is the time, for the sake of our consumers and
business folks and people who are trying to heat their homes in the
winter and cool them in the summer and find reasonable gas prices at
the -- gasoline prices at the pump, it's time for Congress to stop the
debate, stop the inaction, and pass an energy bill. (Applause.)
And I appreciate Chairman Barton in the House, that moved a good --
where he'd been able to move a good bill to the floor and it got voted
on. I appreciate Senator Domenici of New Mexico for moving a bill out
of committee; it's on the Senate floor. They need to get it passed out
of the Senate. They need to reconcile their differences. They need to
get me a bill before they go home in August. And I'm looking forward
to signing that bill, and it's going to be an important part of
developing a national energy strategy.
Look, I recognize, and I hope you recognize, that when I sign that
bill, your gasoline prices aren't going to drop. This problem has been
long in the making. But by addressing it now, we're going to be able
to say, life's going to be better for our children and grandchildren.
To make this country less dependent on foreign sources of oil, we
need the following things: One, we need to encourage our citizens to
be better conservers of energy, and technology will help a lot.
There's some incentives in the bill to encourage conservation. We need
to make more efficient use of existing energy sources like oil, coal
and natural gas. We've got a lot of coal in this country, about 250
years' worth of coal. I'm convinced that with proper use of technology
that we will be able to develop coal-fired electricity plants that have
got zero emissions. We're spending a fair amount of your money to make
sure that we can achieve that objective. I think it's a good use of
your money. It's a way to help make sure we use an abundant resource
that we have here in America without polluting the air.
We need to diversify our energy supply by increasing the use of
alternative and renewable sources, like ethanol, which is made from
corn, or biodiesel made from soy beans. I went to a soy bean refinery
the other day in Virginia where they're making diesel fuel from soy
beans. With the right, you know, proper use of your dollars to
encourage research, it's very conceivable that source of energy will
become economic. And that makes sense, doesn't it? Can you imagine
walking -- walking down the road here in the farmlands of Maryland, you
see a guy growing soy beans, you say, thanks, buddy, for making us less
dependent on foreign sources of oil.
So there's some smart things that this energy bill will encourage
the country to do, including solar power and hydrogen. I don't know if
you remember I laid out I thought -- I know an interesting initiative:
it said, why don't we explore how we use hydrogen power -- hydrogen to
power our cars, to help us diversify away from dependency upon hydro
carbons. And I believe we can develop a hydrogen-power automobile over
the next decade or two. I think it will be cool if your young son is
able to take a driver's test in a hydrogen-powered automobile that has
got zero emissions, and at the same time will make us less dependent on
hydrocarbons which we have to import from foreign countries.
We need to modernize the electricity grid, and make reliability
standards mandatory. We also need to make -- get rid of some of these
laws that prohibit the capacity for those people who are building
transmission lines and powering our cities and states to be able to
raise money in an effective way.
We need to help large energy users like India and China become more
efficient. And by helping them develop efficiency standards, it'll
take pressure off of global demand for hydro carbons. One of the
reasons why your price of gasoline is going up is, one, we're dependent
on foreign sources of oil; and, two, economies like China and India are
demanding more oil in a limited supply -- in a market that's of limited
supply, which causes the price of oil to go up, which causes the price
of gasoline to go up. So it makes sense to help those who are
demanding more energy to be more efficient users of energy.
And I'll take that message to the G8 in Scotland here, right after
the Fourth of July celebrations, to say, look, let's work together on a
comprehensive energy plan to help these new consumers of energy be
better users of energy.
The energy bill will also help us expand our use of the one energy
source that is completely domestic, plentiful in quantity,
environmentally friendly, and able to generate massive amounts of
electricity, and that's nuclear power. (Applause.)
Today, there are 103 nuclear plants in America. They produce about
20 percent of the nation's electricity without producing a single pound
of air pollution or greenhouse gases. I think you told me that 20
percent of all Maryland's electricity is produced here at this plant.
Without these nuclear plants, America would released nearly 700 million
metric tons more carbon dioxide into the air each year. That's about
the same amount of carbon dioxide that now comes from all our cars and
trucks.
Across this state, Maryland has looked to Calvert Cliffs to keep
their lights on and to keep their land, air and water clean. In other
words, you're generating electricity and helping the environment at the
same time. That's an important combination of talents and -- it's an
important combination of -- that the American people have got to
understand it's possible when we expand nuclear power.
Nuclear power is one of America's safest sources of energy. People
out here practice a lot of safety, they're good at it. You've got
nuclear engineers and experts that spend a lot of time maintaining a
safe environment. Just ask the people that work here. You wouldn't be
coming here if it wasn't safe, I suspect. (Laughter.)
Some Americans remember the problems of the nuclear plants -- that
the nuclear plants had back in the 1970s. We all remember those days.
That frightened a lot of folks. People have got to understand that
advances in sciences and engineering and plant design have made nuclear
plants far safer, far safer than ever before. Workers and managers are
trained and committed and spend hours working on nuclear safety, and
that's good. And they do such a good job here at Calvert Cliffs that
this was the first nuclear plant in America to gets its operating
license renewed. And I congratulate you. (Applause.)
There is a growing consensus that more nuclear power will lead to a
cleaner, safer nation. Slowly but surely, people are beginning to look
at the facts. One of the reasons I've come to this plant is to help
people understand the difference between fact and fiction. Yet, even
though there has been a growing consensus over time, America has not
ordered a nuclear plant since the 1970s. By contrast, France has built
58 nuclear plants in the same period of time. By contrast, China now
has eight nuclear plants in the works and plans to build at least 40
more over the next two decades.
In the 21st century, our nation will need more electricity, more
safe, clean, reliable electricity. It is time for this country to
start building nuclear power plants again. (Applause.)
We're taking practical steps to encourage new construction of power
plants. Three years ago, we launched the Nuclear Power 2010
Initiative, which is a $1.1 billion partnership between government and
industry to coordinate the ordering of new plants. The Department of
Energy is working with Congress to reduce uncertainty in the nuclear
plant licensing process. Look, you don't want to go out and build a
plant, spend all the money, and have the license jerked at the last
minute. (Laughter.) Nobody's going to spend money if that's the
case.
And so we want to have a rational way to move forward, and one
rational way to move forward is to provide incentives for new
construction such as federal risk insurance, to help the builders of
the first four plants -- that's what's now embedded in the energy bill
-- first four plants against lawsuits and bureaucratic obstacles and
other delays beyond their control. In other words, there's a rational
approach for the federal government -- on the one hand, to convince the
American people nuclear power is safe, that it makes sense for our
consumers, it makes sense for the long-term economic security of our
country to expand nuclear power; and on the other hand, say to those
who are risking capital, here's some help, here's some ways we can
provide incentive for you to move forward with the construction of
plants.
Delivering a good energy bill is part of a comprehensive agenda,
but there's some other things we need to do. One of the last things
that we need to do to this economy is to take money out of your pocket
and fuel government. I firmly believe that one of the reasons we
recovered the way we did after the recession and September the 11th is
because of the tax cuts we passed. I believe that if you've got more
money in your pocket, you can spend it wiser than the federal
government can spend it. (Applause.) And therefore, I think Congress
ought to send a strong signal to families and small businesses and
risk-takers about taxes, and that is, we're going to keep your taxes
low; they need to make the tax relief we passed permanent.
Secondly, we need to do something about the tax code itself. It's
complicated, it's really thick, it makes -- it does not reward
entrepreneurship, it's unfair. So I called some Republicans and
Democrats who care about this issue together. I said, come up with a
plan to simplify the tax code so people can understand it, and so it
helps achieve some objectives, which is fairness, simplicity, easy to
understand. I mean, you shouldn't have to -- have to hire all kinds of
folks to figure out what's in the tax code. And so once we get those
recommendations, I look forward to working with Congress to not only
keep your taxes low, but to make the code simple and easy to
understand.
Families understand you've got to live within a budget. That's
something that Congress needs to understand, as well. So I submitted
the most disciplined proposal for non-security discretionary spending
since Ronald Reagan was in the White House. I say non-security, my
attitude is, when we got anybody in harm's way, we're going to spend
whatever it takes to make sure they've got the very best equipment and
training so they can do their mission. We owe that to the families and
we owe that to their loved ones. (Applause.)
But I'm talking about non-security discretionary spending. And
it's important for Congress to adhere to the budgets they passed. And
by doing so, we will reduce the deficit in half by 2009. In other
words, we can meet priorities. We can keep your taxes low. And if
Congress is fiscally wise and sound with your money, we can reduce that
deficit in half by 2009. I'm looking forward to working with them to
be wise about how we spend your money. Sometimes it's interesting in
Washington, you hear, well, we're spending the government's money.
That's -- when you hear somebody say "the government's money," get a
little nervous, because they have seemed -- they seem to have forgotten
where that money comes from. It's not the government's money; it's
your money that we're spending in Washington; and we got to be wise
about we spend in order to keep this economy growing.
Another threat to economic security is junk lawsuits. Frivolous
lawsuits help drive up the total costs of America's tort system to more
than $240 billion a year. That's a burden far greater than any other
major industrialized nation, by the way. In order to remain
competitive, in order to keep jobs here in America, in order to make
sure that people can make a decent living, we got to do something about
these junk lawsuits.
It's one thing to have a legal system where people can -- you know
have got a legitimate claim can go take care of it, it's the junk
lawsuits that run up the cost of doing business; junk lawsuits that
make it a -- America less competitive. These junk lawsuits cost people
jobs and they raise your prices. And so I've been working with
Congress and calling upon Congress, if we're interested in economic
security for the future, let's do something about frivolous lawsuits.
And we're making progress. We got a good bill to curb abusive
class action lawsuits. There's more to do. I think we need to get
something done on the asbestos issue, have a fair bill that says we'll
treat the workers who've been harmed well. They deserve to be
treated. They deserve to be focused on -- not the trial lawyers. And
at the same time, make -- provide certainty in the system. Legal
reform is a necessary part of keeping this -- keeping this economy
going.
And so, by the way, is opening up new markets for America's
producers and farmers. We got a chance to break down some trade
barriers. I told the people when I was campaigning, I said, look, I'm
for free trade. I'm also for fair trade. I just want to be treated
fairly. If we treat you one way, you treat us the same way. There's a
debate raging in Congress now about the Central American- Dominican
Republic Free Trade Agreement. It's called CAFTA. Let me tell you the
facts about this trade agreement -- I don't know if you realize this,
but now 80 percent of the goods from Central America come into our
country duty-free. Yet, we're not treated the same way down there.
Now, that doesn't make sense to me. It seems like to me that it would
make sense if we say, okay, your goods are already coming in here,
treat us the same way. Just level the playing field. You've got 44
million consumers; open up your markets to our goods just like we've
done to you. That's what CAFTA is all about.
See, I have a different approach than some of the economic
isolationists who oppose this agreement. I believe they're pessimistic
about America. I believe American workers can compete with anybody,
anywhere, any time if the rules are fair. And so they need to pass
CAFTA to be fair to our farmers and ranchers and workers and small
business owners. (Applause.)
Millions of Americans lack economic security because of the rising
cost of health care. You know this, that more than half of the
uninsured work for small businesses? Isn't that interesting? One way
to address health care is to say, small businesses ought to be allowed
to pool risk so they can buy insurance at the same discount that big
companies are able to do. Congress needs to pass what's called
association health plans to let small businesses be able to enter
market in a way that is -- they're able to spread risk across a lot of
employees.
We need to offer incentives for small businesses and low-income
workers to open tax-free health savings accounts. If you're running a
small business, look into what's called HSA's, health savings accounts
-- they're a really interest product that'll let your worker manage his
or her own money, and at the same time make health care more affordable
for the small business -- or large business for that matter. HSA's are
an interesting, innovative way for people to get good health care
insurance that puts you in charge of the decision-making process, that
lets you make the decisions, and at the same time, save money for your
health care concerns tax-free.
We need to encourage a national marketplace for health insurance.
In other words, workers ought to be allowed to go on the Internet and
purchase health care across state lines. We've got to create more
demand within the health care place. Right now, for example, if you
live in Maryland, you only buy health insurance out of Maryland, the
health insurance that is certified out of Maryland. I think you ought
to be allowed to go on the Internet and if you can find a better
product for you in Colorado, you ought to be allowed to do that. In
other words, we ought to have a consumer-friendly system, where people
are encouraged to go out and make choices that meet their needs.
We need to expand health information technology. If you've really
looked at your own industry here or industries across America, they're
using information technology to modernize and become more efficient.
Health care hasn't done that yet. You got to -- if you look at your
file, your medical file, they're generally hand-written. And knowing
how doctors write, it's hard to read what they've written.
(Laughter.) But it's an inefficient system. And so to bring health
care into the 21st century, we're working on an information technology
initiative.
To reduce the cost of medicine for every doctor, every patient and
every business, it's time for Congress to pass medical liability
reform. One of the biggest problems we got here in America is junk
lawsuits running good doctors out of practice. We've got OB/GYNs
leaving the practice of medicine all across this country because they
can't afford to stay in business. And that's not right.
When I first came to Washington, I said, well, maybe medical
liability reform was a state issue. I was the governor of a state, so
I was kind of -- felt like we could do a better job in our respective
states of dealing with medical liability until I looked at the cost of
what these junk lawsuits were doing to the federal budget.
See, if you think you're going to get sued, oftentimes you practice
more medicine than necessary. It's called the defensive practice of
medicine. Ask your local doctor and he'll tell you what I mean by
that. If you are getting sued a lot, your premiums go up. And in that
the federal government pays a lot of health care costs through
Medicaid, Medicare, veterans' health benefits, we're spending a lot of
money at the federal level as a result of these lawsuits.
And so I decided that this was a national problem that required a
national solution. And for the sake of affordable and available health
care, Congress needs to pass medical liability reform. And I urge
them, I urge the members of the United States Senate, where the bill is
stuck, not to listen to the trial lawyers but listen to the patients
and doctors all across America. (Applause.)
To make sure that we have economic security for generations to
come, we've got to make sure we have quality education for every
child. You can't compete unless your children can read and write and
add and subtract. The No Child Left Behind Act we passed is
challenging what I've called the soft bigotry of low expectations.
That means you have your expectations so low you just move the children
through the system without measuring whether or not they can read and
write. In other words, if you don't think certain children can read
and write, the easy path is just move them through. I have a -- I had
a different view when I came to Washington. I said, I believe every
child can read and write, and I expect every child to read and write,
and in return for federal money, we want schools to show us whether or
not children are learning to read and write. That's how you -- that's
how you achieve results, you measure.
And so we've asked schools, we said, look, we're giving you a lot
of money at the federal level, so in return for that money, just show
us, that's all you got to do. Show us whether the curriculum you're
using is working, show us whether or not children are learning to read
and write.
And it's working here in Maryland. You're doing a good job,
Governor, so are your education people -- the teachers all across the
state. And here's why I can say that: Since the No Child Left Behind
Act took effect, reading and math scores have increased in all 24 of
Maryland's public school systems. How do you know? Because we
measure; we're not guessing. We used to guess, now we measure, so we
know.
In 2003, 39 percent of Hispanic third graders in Maryland met the
standards in reading -- 39 percent. We have an achievement gap in
America. Two years later, more than 63 percent are meeting the
standards. In other words, when you measure, you can determine whether
or not what you're using in the classroom is working. And if not, it
gives you reason to change. The gap -- in that the gap is closing all
across the country is really good news for the future. We've got to
make sure every child from every background, every part of America,
gains the basic skills necessary to become employable in the 21st
century, which means I think we need to expand the high standards and
accountability of No Child Left Behind to our public high schools so
that the high school diploma means something. When you graduate, it
means you can -- means you're employable, or it means you can go to a
community college, or it means you go to higher education. That's what
we ought to be doing.
This country ought to maintain high standards and strong
accountability to make sure we have economic security in the future.
And finally, Americans need to know that if they work hard all their
lives, they can retire with dignity.
You might have heard, I've decided to address the Social Security
issue. (Laughter.) Let me tell you why I've addressed the issue.
One, we have a problem. And secondly, I believe that the job
description of a President ought to be, this person ought to confront
problems, not pass them on to future Presidents and future
generations. I believe that's my job. (Applause.)
If you're getting a check, or you've got a mother or a grandmother
getting a check, tell them that person has no problem when it comes to
Social Security. You're going to get your check. I don't care what
the politicians say, or what the rhetoric -- how heated the rhetoric
becomes, seems like every time I've run for office, they said, if he
gets in, he's going to take away your check. Well, people are still
getting their checks, and I got in. (Laughter.) But here's the
problem -- (Applause.)
Here is the problem: About 73 million of us are getting ready to
retire. I'm kind of looking around trying to figure out who the baby
boomers are. (Laughter.) Generally, people without hair, or gray
hair. (Laughter.) My retirement date, for example, my age when I'm
eligible for retirement benefits happens to fall on 2008, which is a
convenient year for me to be -- (laughter) -- be in a position to
retire. (Applause.)
But a lot of us are getting ready to retire. As a matter of fact,
I told you 73 million baby boomers are getting ready to retire. That
contrasts with the 40 million folks who have retired today. So you got
a lot more of us getting ready to enter the system. And we're going to
live longer. And interestingly enough, I'm sure you're aware of this,
but Congress over the past years has said, vote for me, I'm going to
promise you better benefits. And so my generation, our generation, is
going to get greater benefits than the previous generation. You've got
a lot of people living longer, being promised greater benefits, with
fewer people paying in the system.
In 1950, there was about 16 workers to one paying into the system.
Today, there's 3.3 workers to one. Soon there will be two workers to
one. You've got a lot of youngsters coming up carrying a hefty burden
for old guys like me.
And so -- and what that means is, is in 2017, which I guess seems
like a long time to people in Washington, D.C., if you've got a
two-year horizon, 2017 seems like ages. But 2017 is right around the
corner, it's 12 years from now. If you've got a child four years --
four years old and you can get your driver's license at 16, they'll be
driving before you know it. By the way, it's a little nerve-racking.
And so I think it's time to act, and if we don't, we're going to
start running some serious cash deficits, because in 2017, the system
goes in the red; 2027, it's about $200 billion a year in the red; 2030,
it's about $300 billion a year in the red. I know this is a tough
issue for some of them in Washington. And the tendency is, let's just
don't worry about it. Mr. President, why did you bring it up? Let's
just pass it on.
The reason I brought it up is I cannot travel our country, looking
at young workers who are paying payroll taxes into a system that I know
is going broke. And so now is the time to come together, both
Republicans and Democrats, forget all that party business, and come
together and solve this problem permanently, forever.
And I put some ideas on the table. And I expect people from both
parties to put ideas on the table, and so do the American people.
They're tired of this partisan bickering. When they see a problem,
they want the American people to come and solve it. They tell me,
well, you're not making much progress on Social Security. Well, I'll
tell you one thing I am making progress on -- the overwhelming number
of Americans that understand we have a problem. And I suspect the
overwhelming number of Americans say if there's a problem in
Washington, how come you're not doing anything about it?
And I'm going to continue talking about this issue. And I put a
plan out that says you can't retire -- if you've worked all your life,
a hardworking person, you shouldn't retire in poverty. And it's a
plan, by the way, that says benefits will grow at the rate of wage
increases for lower income Americans and the rate of inflation for the
top one percent. And that solves about a significant portion of the
problem.
And I also believe something else. I believe younger workers ought
to be able to take some of their own money, if that's what they choose,
and set it aside in a personal savings account. (Applause.) In other
words, you're paying payroll taxes in a system that's going broke. By
the way, they call it pay-as-you-go. A lot of people in Washington --
in the country probably think the payroll -- the Social Security system
is, I'm paying my payroll taxes and the government's holding my money
for me and giving it back to me when I retire. I hate to tell you,
that's not the way it works, and it hasn't worked that way for a long
time. We take your money and we pay out to the retirees, and if we
have money left over, like we have now, we're spending it on government
programs. And all that's left is a file cabinet full of IOUs in West
Virginia and I went and saw the file. You'll be happy to hear the
paper's there -- (laughter) -- but not your money. In other words, all
you're left with is an IOU.
What I think you ought to be left with, if you so choose, is some
assets. And so I believe younger workers ought to be allowed to take
some of their own money, if they want to, as a part of a Social
Security system, and set it up in a conservative mix of bonds and
stocks or only bonds or whatever you choose to use. It's kind of like
a 401(k). I suspect you've got a 401(k) plan here.
I went to an automobile plant in Mississippi. I said, anybody here
have a -- manage their own money as part of their retirement? These
were line workers. These weren't the office workers, there were the
people out there making the automobiles, people from all walks of life,
all income levels, all education levels. And I'll bet you 90 percent
of the folks raised their hands. In other words, they say, we're used
to that, Mr. President, we're managing our own money. We're opening up
our statement on a regular basis watching our money grow.
Right now, if you -- your money in Social Security is growing at
about 1.8 percent. That doesn't seem like a very good deal to me. We
ought to -- if you so choose, we ought to let you earn a reasonable
rate of money, a reasonable rate of return on your own money. And that
money grows over time and it compounds. And if you're a young worker
at age 20 and you start setting aside some of your own payroll taxes in
a reasonable rate of return, you're going to watch that money grow.
And it's your assets and the government can't spend it on what they
want and they can't take it away and you can pass it on to whomever you
choose.
And let me tell you something about personal accounts. It was such
an attractive idea that the United States Congress said it's part of
their retirement plan. They're going to let members of the United
States Senate or House of Representatives take some of their own money
and set it aside in a personal account. And my attitude is this: If
personal -- voluntary personal savings accounts are good enough for the
members of the United States Congress, they're good enough for workers
all across America. (Applause.)
And so here's the way forward, a way to encourage economic security
and smart ways to make sure this economy continues to grow so people
can realize dreams. That's really what government ought to do, it
ought to create that environment in which people are able to realize
dreams and own a home and own your own business, own and manage your
own retirement account. I love the idea of an ownership society. The
more people own something in America, the better off America is, as far
as I'm concerned. The more people own -- the more assets people own,
the more independent Americans are. They feel confident about the
future. And I'm confident about our future. I don't think there's any
problem we can't solve when we put our minds to it.
Things are going fine right now. But my job is to keep looking
down the road. My job is to figure out how to keep this economy
growing. My job is to get Congress to do -- make wise policy so the
entrepreneurial spirit is strong, so people can realize dreams, so this
country remains the great beacon of hope that it has been in the past.
I want to thank you for giving me a chance to come by and visit
with you. May God bless you and your families and may God continue to
bless our country. (Applause.)
END 10:44 A.M. EDT
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