Bush tells nation's Gov's: ``Tyrants control the spigots''

President Bush again turns to the “U.S. as gas addicts” theme in speech to National Governor’s Association meeting.

This is the winter meeting Gov. Blagojevich is skipping.

Subj: REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT AT NATIONAL GOVERNORS ASSOCIATION MEETING

Date:2/27/06 12:21:44 PM Eastern Standard Time

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

________________________________________________________________

For Immediate Release February 27, 2006

REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT

AT NATIONAL GOVERNORS ASSOCIATION MEETING

State Dining Room

11:05 A.M. EST

THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. Thanks for coming. I enjoyed it last

night, I hope you did, too. It was a lot of fun. And thank you all for

giving me a chance to come by. What I thought I’d do is say a few

things and then answer some questions, if you have any.

We have got a chance to achieve some big things for the country, to lay

the stage for peace and to keep America in the lead. And these are

goals that both Republicans and Democrats should share. You know,

there’s a lot of politics here in Washington, so it’s — when you say,

well, you know, it’s a Republican goal to make America competitive, I

just don’t agree with that. It should be a national goal. It’s a

national goal to protect our people. And, therefore, it requires a lot

of collaboration throughout all aspects of government. And no better

collaborators to implement good policy than our governors. So thanks

for giving me a chance to come and share some insights with you.

First, one question that ought to be confronting everybody is how do we

keep this economy of ours strong? A couple of notable exceptions, like

our friends in Michigan and Ohio, in particular — maybe Washington

State — the overall economy is in great shape. People are working,

productivity is up, people own their homes, small businesses are

flourishing. And the fundamental question is what can we do together to

keep it that way. Part of it is to be wise with taxpayers’ money.

I congratulate the states that have done a good job increasing their

surpluses; it’s a good thing. I can remember a couple of years ago when

we were a little worried about deficits at the state level. That’s

changed. Surplus and tax policy, wise with people’s money all go

hand-in-hand in terms of making sure America remains competitive. I

believe if you take money out of people’s pockets it hurts economic

vitality and growth.

I know full well that in order for us to be competitive, two other

things have to happen. One is we’ve got to be less dependent on foreign

sources of oil. Told the people, shocked them pretty much when I was

standing up there as the guy from Texas saying our dependency on oil

creates a problem. But I meant it. Dependency upon oil has created an

economic problem for us, it challenges our economic security because

when demand for oil goes up relative to supply worldwide, it causes the

price at the pump to go up. It’s like a hidden tax on our people when

gasoline prices go up. Dependence on foreign sources of oil creates a

national security problem. You hear parts of the world where there is

disruption in oil supply as a result of local politics, for example, it

affects the United States of America.

I spend a lot of time worrying about disruption of energy because of

politics or civil strife in other countries — because tyrants control

the spigots. And it’s in our national interest that we become less

dependent on oil. And so we’ve laid out a strong initiative to

encourage Congress to continue to spend research and development money

to enable us to power our automobiles through additional uses of

ethanol; to expand E85 beyond just the current regional — the region

where it’s being — where the corn is being grown, to be able to use

other types of biomass to fuel our cars. We think we’re very close to

that kind of breakthrough. Hybrid batteries are going to make an

enormous difference in our capacity to drive the first 40 miles in urban

centers without the use of any gasoline. Hydrogen automobiles

eventually are going to make a huge difference in enabling us to become

less dependent on foreign sources of oil.

We’ve got to expand solar power. I went to a facility there in Michigan

to see a fantastic company called United Solar. I don’t mean to be

pushing them, but nevertheless, they’re making a great product. I

remember going out to Colorado to the facility out there, the research

facility on alternative uses of energy. We’ve got fantastic chances to

advance this really important agenda, and we look forward to working

with you to do so. It’s one of these issues where when we continue to

make these technological breakthroughs we’ll leave behind a better

tomorrow for our children and grandchildren.

The other issue that I know we can work together and must work together

is to make sure our children are not only educated in reading and

writing, but also in math and science. America must be competitive in

the out years. We’ve got to have our — we’ve got to be educating the

future physicists and engineers. And we look forward to working with

you to help make math and science in our classrooms more of a reality.

As well, we’re planning on doubling the amount of federal research

dollars for basic sciences. And, recognizing that most of the research

in the United States is done at the corporate level, to make the

research and development tax credit a permanent part of the tax code.

It’s really hard to get our companies to invest in research and

development if there’s uncertainty in the tax code. And Congress allows

the R&D tax credit to lapse, and when it lapses, planners say, well, I’m

not sure it’s going to be around, so why do we want to make investment.

So making the R&D tax credit a permanent part of our tax code will help

spur continued research and technology. Technology is going to help us

stay competitive; it’ll help us be the most productive society in the

world, which means our people’s standard of living is going to go up.

So here are some things we can work on, to get rid of all of the kind of

needless politics that tends to be dominating the landscape these days,

and focus on things that will help this country remain the leader in the

world when it comes to the economy.

I also want to thank those of you who have set up faith-based offices.

I’m sincere about working with state and local governments to rally the

great armies of compassion. And I know that some 32 states have set up

faith-based offices and I appreciate you doing that. It’s really an

important part of making sure our social agenda is comprehensive and

complete.

I wish I could report to you that the war on terror is over. It’s not.

An enemy still lurks. They’re dangerous people and it requires a

comprehensive strategy to defeat, and part of it, of course, is making

sure our homeland is secure. If you have any questions on the NSA

decision, I’ll be glad to give it to you — be glad to answer them.

The other part of the offense — of the strategy is to stay on the

offense, is to keep them on the run. And to this end I want to thank

you for supporting our Guard troops. Many of you have been overseas and

have seen our Guard troops in action. And I can’t thank you enough for

not only supporting the troops in harm’s way, but providing great

comfort to their families, as well.

Ultimately, the defeat of the terrorists is not only defeat them

overseas so we don’t have to face them here at home, but as well, it’s

to spread liberty and freedom. And the freedom agenda is a powerful

part of our country’s desire to lay the foundation for peace. And it’s

making a difference. It’s making a difference. I know one of the

debates about the freedom agenda is, well, elections cause certain

things to happen that you may not want to happen. No, elections are

only the beginning of the process, they’re not the end. Elections, plus

a focused foreign policy effort that helps build the institutions of

democracy, is what is going to be necessary to ultimately defeat the

hateful ideology of those who would do our country harm.

It’s an interesting debate that’s going to take place here in

Washington, or is taking place in Washington: Do elections cause

radicalism or empower radicals? My answer is, the status quo empowered

radicals. This notion that somehow the Middle East was a safe place for

the last 30 years — because we didn’t see, kind of, the turmoil that

happens with elections meant we were safe. I just totally disagree with

that, kind of the — beneath the surface that appeared placid, the

policymakers, was resentment and hatred and planning and plotting, all

of which came home on September the 11th.

And I believe this country has got to be aggressive in our pursuit of

democracy and liberty, based upon our firm belief that there are such

things as the natural rights of men and women. After all, that’s what

caused our founding, that there is universality to liberty. And we

shouldn’t be surprised when 11 million Iraqis go to the polls and demand

freedom in the face of unbelievable terrorist attacks. That shouldn’t

surprise America. We ought to say we recognize that spirit, and it is

that spirit that’s ultimately going to be able to say we’ve kept the

peace for our children and grandchildren.

And so we can work together on these important issues, and I thank you

for giving me a chance for me to come by and visit with you about them.

Thank you. (Applause.)

END 11:15 A.M. EST