Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao

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Labor Secretary Elaine L. Chao
National Association of Women Business Owners Lexington, KY Chapter
Acceptance of the 2001 Winners Circle Award
Lexington, Kentucky
May 7, 2001

Thank you so much for honoring me with this prestigious award. It is truly a great pleasure for me to be here today.

I am especially grateful to Shelia Bayes for her kindness in arranging this lunch and working with my staff to accommodate my challenging schedule.

And it is so nice for me to be back here in Kentucky, on this wonderful spring day, to spend some time with the best and the brightest from Lexington's business community.

And I want to thank you all for gracing me with the 2001 Winners Circle Award. I've been given many awards over the years, but it's a special honor to receive this award from an organization that has done so much for women in business and civic life.

For more than 25 years, NAWBO has been helping women share their collective knowledge and find new ways to open the doors of opportunity for all of us, and America is a better country for that.

So I am a great admirer of this organization, and I am humbled to know that the feeling is mutual.

I'm so pleased to be here at such an exciting time for everyone involved in business and politics. For a change, those of us in government are doing some things to make life a little bit easier for those of you in business!

That hasn't always been the case in Washington, but it's a new day now.

I'm excited to be part of the president's team, and I'm excited by the progress that we've already made in lifting the burden of big government off the backs of America's families and businesses. There's a growing consensus in Washington that the American economy and American taxpayers need relief from the burden of excessive taxation.

As all of you know, the president campaigned on a platform of an across-the-board tax cut for every working American taxpayer — a $1.3 trillion tax cut, which he later boosted to a goal of $1.6 trillion.

During the campaign, his critics said that anything more than $250 billion would be a "risky tax scheme" — remember that phrase?

Then they said that anything more than $500 billion would be a "risky tax scheme."

Then, after the election was over, many in Congress said that the absolute ceiling on the tax cut would be $700 billion — but no more.

But what do you know? The House went ahead and approved a budget calling for the full $1.6 trillion. And even the Senate approved $1.2 trillion — more than ninety percent of the president's original campaign proposal.

And when budget negotiators from both houses sat down and worked out a compromise last week, they agreed upon $1.35 trillion — about 85 percent of what the president ultimately had asked for, and slightly more than his original campaign proposal.

This, we are told by beltway pundits, was a "defeat" for the president, since it wasn't absolutely every penny he asked for.

Well, they can call it that if they want to. I'm sure President Bush doesn't mind. I know the American taxpayers don't care what they call it. And I suspect the business owners in this room don't mind either.

The question is not who in Washington "won" or "lost," the question is what was done to help the American economy and the American taxpayer, and the answer is a clear and dramatic step forward: the largest tax relief package in a generation. And an immediate stimulus to the economy as well: $100 billion in just the next two years.

This will mean more money in the pockets of every American taxpayer. More money to pay for everything from college tuition to home mortgages and car payments.

It will mean more spending money for consumers — and more growth for American businesses.

Someone once said that "an economy breathes through its tax loopholes." And there is a lot of truth to that — businesses and accountants have made a living off of exploring tax loopholes for decades now.

But the great thing about this tax cut is that it isn't loaded up with special-interest loopholes and "targeted tax cuts" for the favored few. It's a tax cut for everyone.

If you're working and paying taxes, you'll pay less.

And for thousands of unincorporated small business owners, it will make an especially big difference in their ability to stay in business.

The simple fact is, too many Americans, and too many American businesses, are paying too much in taxes. And that has got to change.

Last Wednesday, May 3rd, was "tax freedom day" — the day when the average American finally earns enough income to pay their tax bill, and start working for themselves. It's been said that April showers are taxpayers' tears. But sadly, the truth is even worse: Although we pay our taxes on April 15th, we're still working for the government in early May.

Now, the president and I believe we should cut taxes simply on principle — because in times of surplus, Americans should keep more of their own money.

But the president's agenda is about a lot more than just cutting taxes for taxes' sake — although there is certainly merit in that. But there are also specific aspects of the tax code that create perverse incentives in American life. These must be changed.

For instance, the president believes we should end the marriage tax penalty, because we ought to be encouraging families, rather then penalizing them.

And he believes we should end the estate tax, because we ought to encourage people to save and build up their small businesses and family farms, instead of confiscating the fruit of their labors when it's time to pass it on to the next generation.

But most fundamentally, the president believes the average American taxpayer deserves a break, because — as he has frequently emphasized to all of us who serve in his Cabinet — it's their money, it's their paycheck, it's not ours to spend as we please.

The president knows that not everybody agrees with his point of view, but to him, that's all right.

The point of changing the tone in Washington is to have an honest discussion about those disagreements, so that we can ultimately find common ground.

After years of partisan bickering and governmental gridlock, Washington is finally moving again. There's a new tone of civility, and a new sense of purpose in the air.

For too long, fundamental questions such as tax cuts, Social Security reforms, or public education reforms, have been consigned to governmental gridlock. We all knew they demanded attention — yet we also knew that there was no chance of moving forward on them without real leadership from the White House.

Today, we have that leadership, and our national dialogue is moving forward again. The president won't get his way on everything — compromise is always required to reach consensus — but the important thing is that he's changed the tone in Washington.

He's refocused our attention on our national priorities, and he's reminded all of us who work in Washington that this isn't about partisan politics, it's about what's good for the country. It's about what's good for each of you — the businesspeople who are the driving force behind the American economy.

And at the Department of Labor, we're also looking closely at innovative ways to help the American workforce and America's employers meet the challenges of the 21st century economy, by improving our job training programs, closing the skills gap, and preparing America to meet the long-term challenge of workforce shortages.

Each of you, and your employees, are America's greatest resource — skilled entrepreneurs who create jobs and products, and put food on the table for American workers. Our job in Washington is to help each of you do your jobs.

So I want to thank you again for inviting me here today, because it's so important to me to have occasions such as this when I have a chance to talk with people like you, and be reminded of the challenges of doing business in America today.

Thank you.