President Bush Radio Address 12-1-07

[3:21] ..." Following the 9/11 attacks. Congress' third priority should be to fix the Alternative Minimum Tax the -- was designed to assure that the wealthy paid their fair share of taxes. When congress passed the AMT decades ago"...

[0:05]" Good morning next week congress returns from its thanksgiving recess. Members are coming back to a lot of unfinished business. And the clock will be taking because they have only a few weeks to get their work done before leaving again for christmas. Congress must address four critical priorities first congress needs to pass a bill to fund our troops in combat. Second congress needs to make sure our intelligence professionals can continue to monitor terrorist communications so we can prevent attacks against our people. Third congress needs to pass a bill to protect middle class families from higher taxes and forced. Congress needs to pass all the remaining appropriations bills to keep the federal government running. Congress' first priority should be to provide the funds and flexibility to keep our troops safe and help them protect our nation. Beginning in February I submitted details funding request to congress to fund operations in the war on terror. Our military's waited on these funds for months. The funds include money to carry out combat operations against the enemy in Afghanistan and Iraq. They include money to train the Afghan and Iraqi security forces to take on more responsibility for the defense of their countries. And they include money for intelligence operations to protect our troops on the battlefield. Pentagon officials recently warned congress that continued delay in finding our troops. Will soon begin to have a damaging impact on the operations of our military. Secretary of defense Robert gates is already notified congress that he would transfer money from accounts used to fund other activities of the military services. To pay for current operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and no more money can be moved. So he is director of the army. And Marine Corps. To develop a plan to lay off civilian employees terminate contracts and prepare our military bases across the country for reduced operations. Military leaders have told us what they need to do their job. It is time for the congress to do its job and give our troops what they need to protect America. Another priority congress must address is the foreign intelligence Surveillance Act or five's. Five's it provides a critical legal framework that allows our intelligence community to modern terrorist communications. While protecting the freedoms of the American people. Unfortunately the law is dangerously out of date. In August congress passed legislation to help modernize -- And bill closed critical intelligence gaps allowing us to collect important foreign intelligence. The problem is this new law expires on February 1. While the threat from our terrorist enemies does not. Congress must take action now. To keep the intelligence gaps close and make certain our national security professionals do not lose a critical tool for keeping America safe. As part of these efforts congress also -- provide meaningful liability protection to those companies now facing multibillion dollar lawsuits. Only because they are believed to have assisted in the efforts to defend our nation. Following the 9/11 attacks. Congress' third priority should be to fix the Alternative Minimum Tax the -- was designed to assure that the wealthy paid their fair share of taxes. When congress passed the AMT decades ago it was not indexed for inflation. As a result the AMT tire tax burden is creeping up on more and more middle class families. If congress fails to pass legislation to fix the AMT. As many as 25 million Americans would be subject to being empty. Whenever -- taxpayers would have to send an extra 2000 dollars to the IRS next year. This is a huge tax increase that taxpayers do not deserve and congress must stop. Finally congress has important work to do on the budget. One of congress' most basic duties is to fund the day to day operations of the federal government. Yet we are in the final month of the year and congress still has work to do on 11 of the 12 annual spending bills. Congressional leaders are now talking about piling all these bills into one monstrous piece of legislation. They load -- billions of dollars in earmarks in pork barrel spending this is not what congressional leaders promised when they took control the congress at the start of the year. In January when congressional leader declared no longer can we waste time here in the capital while families in America struggled to get ahead he was right. Congressional leaders need to keep their word and pass from remaining spending bills and -- fiscally responsible way. The into the years approaching fast and Americans are working hard to finish up their business. When it comes to getting its business done congress is only getting started. Members of congress now I have only a few weeks left before they head home for the holidays. Before they do so I urged them to do their job for under our troops. Protect our citizens provide taxpayers relief and responsibly fund our government. Thank you for listening"