FROM THE OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS

Good morning.  I’d like to welcome everyone to the Treasury Department Cash Room, in honor of Hispanic Heritage month.  We have been honoring Hispanic Heritage month for over 30 years now, recognizing the tremendous contributions that Hispanics make to American culture and society.  Of course, at the Treasury we’re especially interested in Hispanic contributions to the United States economy – and those are abundant.

Thanks, José, for your kind introduction.  José Fourquet is the Executive Director of the Inter-American Development Bank, and an important member of this Administration.  His team has been working to expand prosperity throughout our hemisphere, and they’ve been making a difference in a challenging field. 

We have several other special guests today I’d like to acknowledge.  Unfortunately, my friend Hector Barreto, Administrator of the Small Business Administration, couldn’t make it this morning.  But we’re very pleased to welcome Deputy Administrator Melanie Sabelhaus in his stead.  Hector and Melanie and the rest of the SBA team have been doing a great job.  The Small Business Administration sees first-hand how President Bush has been working to accelerate Hispanic-led investment and job creation. 

I also want to acknowledge Ruben Barrales, joining us today from the White House.  Ruben is Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of Intergovernmental Affairs.

President Bush and so many others in this administration know well the powerful and growing role that Hispanic-owned small businesses play in our nation’s economic growth.  We want to see that role grow even greater.

Hispanic-Americans are the largest minority group in the United States, and Hispanic business leaders are key players in job creation in America.  President Bush’s economic policies recognize that strength and they amplify it.  For example, of about 1.5 million Hispanic-owned businesses, which employ around 3.5 million people in the country, most are sole proprietorships – small businesses.  These small businesses have gained greatly under the President’s Jobs and Growth Plan.  Lower marginal tax rates, increased expensing and bonus depreciation enacted under the President’s plan are freeing these proprietors’ capital for reinvestment in new jobs.

Hispanic families are also benefiting from the President’s plan.  Because Hispanic families tend to be larger than the average American family, they are receiving more of the President’s increased Child Tax Credit.  The average Hispanic household with two children is getting a 61% reduction in total tax liability under the President’s plan.

The President is supporting Hispanic-led economic development in other ways as well.  After these remarks, I’ll be signing a Memorandum of Understanding with the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities.  The memorandum will enhance the Department’s recruitment and outreach efforts; it will support the Hispanic community in attaining educational excellence; and it will assist the Treasury Department’s mission.  I’m pleased to be a party to it.

I’m proud to have so many esteemed Hispanic colleagues here at Treasury and within the President’s administration.  You’ll be hearing from just a few of them today.  We have a great program planned.  More importantly, I’m proud that our country is a place where people of Hispanic heritage have been able to take such leadership positions in business, government, academia and every aspect of our society, and where they have made such a great difference for the good of all Americans.

After the program today, I welcome everyone to stay for a “fiesta” with food and music organized by our friends from the Embassies of Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras, and the Dominican Republic.  My thanks to the Ambassadors attending from those countries.

Welcome, again, to the Treasury Department.