FROM THE OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS

I am honored to be here today and honored to accept this award. But just like so many Americans who serve our government and our military, I was only doing the job that President Bush asked me to do - and mine was neither hard nor dangerous.

We have seen with the Postal Commission, and in so many other ways, that the President believes leadership is about confronting our long-term challenges even when they seem difficult. Whether the challenge is international or domestic, I think we all now see that George W. Bush is the kind of leader who looks far ahead, tells us what he believes, decides where to go and then drives hard to get there.

The President asked the Postal Commission - and all of us - to look to the future of the Postal Service and to find ways to make it even more efficient and more productive - an even more vital part of our nation's commerce. I want to take a moment to ask you to support the President as he looks to the future of our whole economy.

Today, too many Americans want jobs but can't find them. Our economy is growing more slowly than we should accept. Because of this, the President wants Congress to act now on his plan to create and secure jobs and to increase our standard of living for years to come.

Part of the President's package is to accelerate tax cuts already enacted into law to bring cash to families right now. The 10 percent tax bracket would expand immediately, enabling low-earners to keep more of their pay. The marriage penalty will end once and for all. The child credit will increase by $400 to $1000 per child.

But the area of our economy that's struggling the most, unfortunately, is the source of new jobs.

Let's be clear about where jobs come from. New jobs come from investment, from the willingness of businessmen and -women - like you - of entrepreneurs and investors, to put their money at risk in expanding their operations and in new ventures. This is where the President is focused: on removing a barrier to investment and job creation by ending the double taxation of dividends.

Taxing dividends twice - once for the company, once for the individual - means that we tax investment more heavily than any other major industrial nation. This makes no sense. No one can defend this double taxation on investment. Maybe we could afford the luxury of foolish policies like this in the past. But in this increasingly competitive world and with economic growth in other countries stagnating, we cannot afford this any longer; it's the wrong way to try to expand our economy and create jobs.

Each year American firms invest over one trillion dollars in fresh capital. Think of the new jobs and higher productivity we can achieve - by accelerating capital formation and business formation - if we remove the distortion of the dividend tax. The President's economists predict that the complete Jobs and Growth Package will create 1.4 million new jobs by the end of 2004 and that the dividend proposal alone will create more than 400,000 of these jobs. Other economists are even more optimistic.

The President wants Congress to act now, to provide our economy with sound tax policies that will pay off today and over the coming years. Putting more money in people's pockets and lowering the cost of business investment will help create an expanding economy, more business opportunities, more orders, more volume, more jobs, and a more abundant future for us all - and that's why I hope you will support the President's plan.

Thank you for this honor and for this opportunity.