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1:42 P.M. EDT THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all verymuch. Please be seated. Newth, thank you verymuch. And Ray, and Susan Blavett, (phonetic) -- thank youfor being here, as well. I'm glad my SBA Director is here --Hector Barreto is in charge of the Small BusinessAssociation. And, Hector, thank you for coming. Iwant to thank the employees of Dixie Printing, and my fellowAmericans. (Applause.) Some might ask why, in the midst of war, I would come to DixiePrinting. They say, here you are conducting a campaignagainst terrorists, and you take time to come to a smallbusiness. And the answer is, because we fight in the war ontwo fronts. We fight a war at home; and part of the war wefight is to make sure that our economy continues to grow. When the terrorists struck our homeland, they thought we wouldfold. They thought our economy would crater. That's whatthey wanted. But they don't understandAmerica. They don't understand the entrepreneurial spirit ofour country. They don't understand the spirit of the workingmen and women of America. They don't understand that smallbusiness owners all across our country are saying, we're not going toallow you to terrorize us. We're going to make sure our --(applause.) I am here to report that we're doing well on bothfronts. Overseas, our diplomatic efforts arestrong. Nations all across the globe have bound with theUnited States to send a clear message that we'll fight terrorismwherever it may exist. Recently I was in China. I had an interesting meeting,as you can imagine, with the President of Russia, the head of China,Mexico, Chile -- were all represented. And to a leader, fromall kinds of nations -- some Muslim, some not -- the people said, westand with America. We stand with America in our noble goalof finding the evildoers and bringing them to justice. As you know, I have asked our military to take an active role inthe campaign. I set out a doctrine to America that said thefollowing: Not only will we hold terrorists accountable fortheir activities, we will also hold those accountable, those nationsaccountable that harbor them, that hide them, that try to feedthem. And that's exactly what we're doing in Afghanistan. I gave the Afghan government, the Taliban government, plenty oftime to respond to the demands of the United States. I said,you must hand over the al Qaeda leadership which hides in yourcountry. I said, you must free those who you illegallydetain in your country. And I said, you must destroy thecamps that have been used to train the terrorists. And theyhad time to respond, and they didn't respond positively, and,therefore, they're paying a price. Our military is conducting a campaign to bring the terrorists tojustice, not to harm the Afghan people. While we are holdingthe Taliban government accountable, we're also feeding Afghanpeople. You need to be proud of the United Statesmilitary. It's doing its job. It is slowly, butsurely, encircling the terrorists so that we'll bring them to justice.We're patient. We're firm. We have got a strategythat is going to work. And make no mistake about it, justice will bedone. (Applause.) But there is another front in this war, and the front is here athome. It's something that, obviously, we're not used to inAmerica. We've had oceans which have protected us over ourhistory. Except for Pearl Harbor, we've never really beenhit before. And yet, on September 11th, this great land cameunder attack. And it's still under attack as wespeak. Anybody who puts poison in mail is aterrorist. Anybody who tries to affect the lives of our goodcitizens is evil. I'm oftentimes asked by our friends in the press, do I know ifthere's a direct connection between what took place on September the11th and what's happening today. I have no direct evidence,but there are some links. Both series of actions aremotivated by evil and hate. Both series of actions are meantto disrupt Americans' way of life. Both series of actionsare an attack on our homeland. And both series of actionswill not stand. It's important for the American people to know our government isdoing everything we can on both fronts of this war. On thehome front, we've got an Office of Homeland Security, the job of whichis to organize and coordinate our functions of government in such a wayas to disrupt and find those who would harm ourcitizens. We've got thousands of FBI agents scouring theinformation, asking questions, following up leads, all aimed to raisethe risk of someone who would harm our citizens. And, as well, we've responded to every incident that has occurred.Our nation has responded with bravery and courage. I'm proudof our health officials who responded so quickly to the incidents thattook place. And, unfortunately, we lost life, and ourprayers are with anybody who lose life in America. But Ifirmly believe their quick actions saved many lives, as well. We're learning about terror and evil, and our country is respondingforcefully. The American people have got remarkable spiritand remarkable resolve. We are strong, we are united, and weare determined to prevail. (Applause.) One of the effects of the attacks has been on oureconomy. Make no mistake about it: September 11thaffected economic growth, and our government must respond in aneffective way. And so I'm here to talk about an importantpart of the home front security, and that is our economy. First of all, the bases for economic growth are verystrong. The entrepreneurial spirit is really strong inAmerica. We're the haven for small business opportunity inour country. I mean, more jobs are created through smallbusiness owners and the entrepreneurs of America than they are throughlarge corporate America. And so, as we think through how toencourage economic growth, we've got to always keep in mind the smallbusiness and the medium-sized businesses of America. Secondly, our tax structure has been improved. In otherwords, we're giving people more of their own money back. Andthat's an important part of economic growth. We justfinished distributing about $40 billion in rebatechecks. Maybe some of you have received a $600 or $300check. (Applause.) That's part of encouraginggrowth. And, by the way, those tax cuts that have just begunwill continue next year, and the year after that, aswell. (Applause.) And we've acted confidently and quickly to spend money necessary tohelp the country recover from the attacks. We spent money onhelping rebuild New York City and the Pentagon. We havespent money to stabilize our airline industry, which was the industrymost directly affected by the attacks of September the11th. We've spent money to take care of workers who havelost jobs, and that's necessary and that's important. And we've taken enough money -- spending money to make sure wedefend our country and accomplish our mission overseas. Thatspending has amounted to about $60 billion, above and beyond ourbudget. That money will help with job creation and will helpour economy grow. It's necessary to spend that kind of moneyin a time of emergency, and we're in times of emergency. But I strongly believe it's time to balance this amount of spendingwith additional tax relief. My judgment, we've provided alot of money in the short run, and in order to encourage and stimulateour economy, we ought to offset that money with additional tax relief-- and I want to describe some of what that means. First, we need to accelerate the tax relief that is already goingto happen. In other words, instead of waiting for nextyear's tax relief to happen, let's put it into this year, to bolsterconsumer spending. We want you to have more money to spend,particularly as we head into the Christmas season. We wantour consumers feeling confident. One way to feel confident is for the people to know there's astrong homeland security initiative and strategy, that our country isdoing everything we can to succeed. And there's nothing likeboosting confidence than a little extra money in the pocket,too. (Applause.) I also believe we ought to have rebates for low- andmoderate-income workers, people who might have filed an income taxreturn, but didn't get any rebate last time. Those goodfolks have been particularly hard-hit as a result of September the11th. And that ought to be a part of our consumer confidencepackage. And then there's the business side, and I want you to know thatwe've thought very carefully about how to stimulate economic vitalityand growth. And it's a package that will help small businessAmerica. It's a package that will do twothings: One, encourage more investment, immediate investmentin plant and equipment, and, therefore, one that will help smallbusinesses not only retain their work force, but, hopefully, expandtheir work forces. And, therefore, we need to reform the corporate income tax to getrid of the alternative minimum tax, which so severely affects smallbusinesses like Dixie. (Applause.) As well, weneed to allow businesses to deduct more of the cost of new investmentsimmediately. We need to say to the Dixie Printings ofAmerica, if you invest in equipment now, you're rewarded for thatinvestment. To me, that makes common sense. It'sa good way to make sure that we enhance the employment opportunities ofAmerica. The terrorists wanted our economy to stop. Ithasn't. They wanted to diminish the spirit ofAmerica. It didn't. They thought the governmentwouldn't be able to react. The government is going to reactwith an economic stimulus package that is good forworkers. The House is getting ready to vote on thatpackage. I urge them to pass it. And then I urgethe Senate to act quickly to make sure that the American peopleunderstand that at this part of our homeland defense, our country andthe Congress is united. (Applause.) You know, I said early on that through my tears I see opportunity.And I believe my faith teaches that out of evil can comegood. And there's been a lot of good that has come out ofthis terrible situation. By the way, there's a spirit ofcooperation in Washington that is very positive. We've got Republicansand Democrats talking to each other. (Laughter.) That'sgood. It's very important during this time in our historythat we in Washington, D.C. show that we can work together. I don't know if you know this or not, but I'm now having a weeklybreakfast with the leaders of the House and the Senate, bothRepublicans and Democrats. And I can report that there is noparty that has got a lock on patriotism. The Democrats, justlike Republicans, want to win this war. And we're talking about how tobest solve the problems with which we're confronted. But there's also a lot of other good, too. We've gotmoms and dads reassessing values, recognizing there are things that areso precious in life, like their children and their marriage and theirfamily, and their church and their synagogue and theirmosque. Values are strong in America. Those who struck ourcountry didn't realize -- didn't realize because they're so evil and sodark and so negative, they couldn't realize that there's going to besuch good that comes out of what took place in America. We're resolved. We are strong. We'redetermined. We're patient. And this nation is going to dowhatever it takes. You see, my attitude is, is that how theDixie Printings behave, and how the workers behave here, and how thecitizens of Maryland behave are incredibly important. Howyou respond to these attacks are incredibly important, not only to helpwin the war today, but to set the example for future generations ofAmericans. It's important that we win today, place that flag of freedomsquarely in the world. Because this is the first battle ofthe 21st century, and it's a battle we must win -- we have no choice --for our children and our grandchildren. And it means thatthe country is going to have to do what it takes. And I'm here to report, we are. We are going to doit. (Applause.) So I want to thank you for giving me a chance to drop in to sayhello. I am so honored to be the President of this great nation -- andI mean, great. What a fabulous land we have. Andthe reason why is because we've got such fabulous citizens. Thank you for letting me come by. Godbless. (Applause.)END 2:04P.M. 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