Remarks on the National Economy

The President. Listen, I thank you for your hospitality. I'm here to talk about our economy. Today we've got some good news: 138,000 additional Americans found jobs over the last month, which is good. The national unemployment rate is 4.7 percent. This economy is strong.

And one of the hopeful things about our economy is, small businesses are doing well. Small businesses provide most of the job growth in our country. The small-business sector is doing well; so is the American economy.

One thing we've got to make sure is that we keep the people's taxes low to keep this economy growing. Raising taxes will hurt small businesses; raising taxes will hurt consumers; raising taxes will particularly affect working people, now that the price of gasoline has gone up. So one of the things Congress has got to do is be mindful that the economic growth we're seeing, the strong economic growth, is dependent upon good tax policy.

At the same time, Congress should be wise about how they spend the people's money. They've got to make sure the supplemental comes to me at a rate that I'll accept—$92.2 billion—plus money for the pandemic flu.

We've got a plan to make sure this economy keeps growing, but today's news is good news for the American people.

And I want to thank you—let me thank you for coming by here to say hito you.

John Weintraub. All right, I thank you.

The President. It's a good place to shop, by the way. I just spent some of my hard-earned money on Barney. I bought him a couple of toys to chew on—but don't let him know until I get over there; it's a surprise. [Laughter] Thanks for letting me come by.

Mr. Weintraub. Okay. Thank you, Mr. President.