U.S. Newswire

January 24, 2002 Thursday 2:24 PM

SECTION: National Desk

House Democratic Leader Richard A. Gephardt Economic Address: The Long Look Ahead

DATELINE: WASHINGTON, Jan. 24

The following text of remarks by House Democratic Leader Richard A. Gephardt (part 1 of 3): "Thanks, Al. You know, Al From has been telling that same joke for 20 years now. And the sad part is, thepunch line still applies.

"When we were in college, the one thing most of us couldn't understand is how a guy who grew up in South Bend, Indiana could wind up rooting for the Wildcats.

"One of the things people don't know about the founding of the DLC is that Al spent most of that first year completely distracted because the Bears were making their run to the Super Bowl. I remember asking him at one point if he thought that the DLC would make 'Al From' a household name. And he said, 'Dick, Al From will be a household name when St. Louis wins the Super Bowl.' "Well, at least half of that equation came true. I'm not sure if 'Al From' is a household name yet, but I do know one thing for sure: the ideas championed by this organization the past decade have made a difference for every single household in America, and are being felt around the world.

"Speaking of the Rams, I don't know how many of you saw that game last weekend. If you watched it, you know the Rams defense scored three touchdowns against one of the best quarterbacks in the league. It led one sportswriter to say that the final score should have been listed as: Rams offense 24, Rams defense 21, Packers 17.

"If Will Rogers were here today, he would say that from time to time, you could apply the same scoring method to debates that involve the Democratic Party. Some Democrats argue one thing, other Democrats argue another, and Republicans argue something else. But when you add up the final score, I think our ideas do more good for more people than practically anything you hear from the other side.

"Even though we have had our differences in the past - and will again in the future -- there can be no doubt that we have all strived toward a common goal: to make America a place of opportunity for all. I want to take a moment today to thank one person who has worked harder than any other to remind us that our greatest resources in this changing world are the working men and women of America. Thank you, John Sweeney.

"We have all fought in our own way to keep government working for people. Today, I want to talk about how our nation can work together to find a new consensus about how we move America forward.

"Less than one week from today, the elected representatives of the American people will meet in Joint Session to hear the President of the United States report on the State of the Union.

"For most Americans, that question has already been answered.

"From the firefighters who ran up the steps when everybody else was running down; to the young men and women in uniform who are making us proud in Afghanistan; from the Americans who still work around the clock to bring a final peace to friends and family at ground zero; to the postal workers who have refused to let the threat of terrorism keep them from doing their jobs -- there can be no doubt: the state of our union is strong.

"For me, the question before us today is not just what is the state of our union, but what is the state of our vision? Where do we want to go as a nation, and what are we doing to make that vision come true -- not just in our own time, but in our children's time?

"It was the same question our nation asked a century ago. In a nation torn by national tragedy, at a time of great change, Teddy Roosevelt looked out at the dawn of a new century and said: 'the one characteristic more essential than any other is foresight. It should be the growing nation with a future which takes the long look ahead.'

"In this city, it's sometimes hard to take the long look ahead. It's so easy to get bogged down in the dayto-day details of the current debate that we never lift our eyes and look ahead to the next decade --about how we want our country to look, not just in one year, but in ten years.

"I'm afraid we are in danger of embarking on one of those very same kind of debates right now, about the economic future of our country. President Bush has been on the stump across America, asserting that he will never budge on the issue of tax cuts. Many members of our own party have responded with thoughtful proposals of their own.

"Like many of you, I believe in tax cuts, but I have always thought that we should evaluate them on the basis of what promotes growth and prosperity for all Americans. If it were up to me, we would have a different set of tax cuts -- focused on those who truly need it and pro-growth tax cuts, some of which I will outline today. Unfortunately, as we predicted last spring, the economic plan that was passed did not consider our long-term economic needs. But we simply have to deal with reality, both in the short and the long-term.

"It's my view that we shouldn't be reconsidering tax cuts in the middle of a recession. And in any case, the president has taken it off the table. I think we would be wise not to spend all of our time and energy this year debating an issue that we know will end in gridlock, particularly when we have so many other long-term issues that need to be urgently addressed.

"But we will also need to prepare for the time after the recession when we will be back in deficit and taking dollars out of the Social Security trust fund. We will then need a clear plan to get us out of deficit in a way that will allow America to meet its greatest obligations, and we will need long-range goals about where we want to be a decade from now. I hope that we can look for ways to promote growth, honor America's obligations, and promote fiscal responsibility. And I hope President Bush presents a plan for how we will get out of these deficits.

"Common sense dictates that as America's elected leaders, we would come together to address these future challenges. But instead of talking to each other, we are spending too much time talking past each other. From the name-calling that greeted Senator Daschle's principled address a few weeks ago -- to the misguided remarks last week that Republicans should use the war to their advantage -- it's clear that while everything in our world has changed, when it comes to domestic issues, the same old partisan games are alive and well.

"We shouldn't be so willing to accept one standard for our conduct of the war and another standard for our conduct of the economy, because both affect the long-term success of our nation in equal proportions.

The day after September 11th, I went to the Oval Office with other congressional leaders for a meeting with the President. I said, 'Mr. President, we have to find a way to work together.' I said, 'Mr. President, we have to trust you -- and you have to trust us.' Since that day, we have met almost every week, and built a bipartisan consensus that is helping America win this war.

"But I don't accept that while we stand shoulder to shoulder on the war, we have to stand toe to toe on the economy. We're not going to make any progress on the deficit and America's long-term goals if our only conversation comes from podiums and press conferences. We need to find a way to respect each other, and trust each other, and work together on the economy just as we have on the war.

"That's why I am proposing that next month, a group of leaders from both sides of the aisle come together at the White House for an economic growth summit to take the long look ahead -- to figure out how we are going to restore fiscal discipline to our nation; eliminate the deficit; simplify the tax code; grow the economy; and set long-term goals that will provide our people and businesses the tools they need to compete and win in the decade ahead.

"There has rarely been a time in our history when the decisions we make today will more profoundly affect the shape and character of our country a decade from now. To paraphrase something Yogi Berra once said, if we as a country don't know where we are going, we might not get there.

"I wanted to come here today to talk about some of the values and principles that I believe should guide these decisions, and to set some goals I believe our nation must achieve if our children are going to inherit a prosperous America in the years ahead.

"A little more than a decade ago -- in 1991 -- I spoke to the DLC in Cleveland to take a long look ahead at the brave new world of the 1990s.

"In that speech, I told the story of a friend of mine who had appeared on a call-in show with a former Prime Minister from Europe. The Prime Minister was asked, 'What will the world's economy look like in the year 2000?' He said, 'Quick answer -- it will be a giant fight between two great powers. On the one hand Japan -- prosperous, wealthy, and productive -- fighting it out for number two against a unified Europe.'

My friend leaned over and asked, 'What about America in the year 2000?' He replied: 'By the year 2000, America will not be a factor.'

"But the question remains: how did we go -- in ten years time -- from being perceived as a shrinking presence in the global economy to the strongest economic, military, and political power this world has ever known?

"The answer is simple: our nation was poised to take advantage of the sweeping impact of globalization and the fundamental challenges it posed long before anybody else. For all the things that have changed since September 11th, one thing that hasn't changed are the organizing principles of the global economy.

If we are going to be as successful at the end of the decade as we were at the beginning, we can't afford to throw the rule book out now.

"What are the rules? Namely, that at a time when more goods move around the world than at any other point in history, the new economy is not just a global economy, it is an engine of growth for all Americans. "We know that in a world in which information technology has driven a third of all of our economic growth, that innovation, shaped by strong research and development -- both public and private -- is vital to creating jobs and new industries.

"We know that in an economy where a college education means you earn three times more, where sixty percent of all jobs will be IT-driven, that the best investments we can make are investments in people -- in their education and training, in lifelong learning and technology.

"We know that with just four percent of the world's population, we need to sell our products to the other 96 percent of the world if we're going to continue to be prosperous. Trade must be an engine of expanding opportunity. And we need to work hard to forge a new consensus on how we trade. I am confident that we can negotiate agreements -- like the one we completed with Jordan -- that make trade more free, and protects both the environment and workers at home and abroad. The notion that this is an unbridgeable gap is wrong. I urge the Bush Administration to bring back free trade agreements with Chile and Singapore with meaningful labor and environmental provisions based on the Jordan model.

"And finally, we know that in order to achieve these things, in order to grow the economy and raise living standards, America must keep its fiscal house in order - because money that isn't borrowed by the government is money that can be used to grow businesses, buy houses, and create jobs.

"It's no accident that our economy in the 1990s generated 22 million new jobs, dropped unemployment to its lowest level in 30 years, and cut inflation to its lowest levels since the early 1960s. It's because we followed the same common sense formula most families do: we honored our obligations, we saved more, and we invested in the future. And the formula worked.

"We were reminded in the past 10 years that government doesn't create jobs, the private sector creates jobs -- and the best strategy that government can follow is the Hippocratic Oath: the first rule is do no harm.

"We also know that the government can create opportunity - by keeping interest rates low; by investing in research; by making schools better; by creating incentives to bring investment to underserved areas; and by acting as a catalyst for new ideas by helping to create the conditions people need to succeed.

"Opportunity, responsibility, and community isn't just a slogan -- it defines who we are as a party.

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CONTACT: Erik Smith or Kori Bernards, 202-225-0100 both for House Democratic Leader Richard A.

Gephardt Web: http://democraticleader.house.gov/