George H.W. Bush: “Thank you, Dori, very much. And thank all of you for this great welcome to this marvelous town. And may I salute two…”

“Thank you, Dori, very much. And thank all of you for this great welcome to this marvelous town. And may I salute two Members of Congress with me, Congressman George Allen, a good man, and to Herb Bateman, another great Congressman. Two State delegates that you all know well, Bill Howell and Bobby Orrock, they're with us today. And I want to thank your Mayor of 16 years, Lawrence Davies, who greeted us at the airport. You've got a lot to be proud of here. And I know that there are six Olympians from this area, two gold medal winners, and I salute all of them. I told Barbara I was coming down to a hardware store this morning. [Laughter] She told me I'd better come back with the tools to fix Millie's doghouse or else I'd be in one myself. But here we are in Fredericksburg to talk about small business. I'm going to ask you to bear with me because some of these points are serious points about the future of this country. And we want to drive home the fact that businesses like the one I just visited, Fredericksburg Hardware, and Goolrick's here do more than sell doorknobs and drywall, hairnets and lipsticks. Small business generates the hope and the pride and the jobs that hold America together. America's economy is working its way through a period of profound change. Many of the larger companies have retrenched and restructured. And I know those changes have been difficult for many working Americans. But American small businesses, they've shown the staying power, creating new products by the thousands and new jobs by the hundreds of thousands. And we are grateful to every small-business man and woman in this country. It is critical that we concentrate on the importance of small business to our economy. Because today, the defining challenge of the nineties is to reinvigorate our national economy so that we can win, we can win the competition in this whole new global economy. In this election, you're going to hear two very different versions of how to do this. My opponent's answer is to turn inward, to pretend that we can protect what we have. And ours is to look forward, to open new markets, to prepare our people to compete, to restore the social fabric of this country, and to save and invest, so that we can win. And that's why we've placed small business at the heart of our agenda for America's economic future. Small businesses employ over half our work force, create two-thirds of new American jobs. And they're the hothouse for innovation, risk-taking, and new ideas, the powerful locomotive that will take our economy right down the tracks, full steam ahead into the 21st century. I am optimistic about this country. When it comes to renewing the American economy, my loyalty lies with small business. I've actually held a job in the private sector, something my opponent has not done, half my life in the private sector and half in public life. And I started a small business, built it from the ground up, know what it is to go out and work with partners and employees. And I know what it's like to sweat out a tough deal, to shop for credit, to try your darnedest to meet the next payroll--and even if I got ulcers to prove it. I believe that meeting a payroll is a good qualification for President of the United States of America. Now let me tell you what must be done to help small businesses here and across the country. We've got to give business the relief from excessive Government regulation. We need to increase access to credit and investment. And while Governor Clinton wants to raise taxes and has already proposed it, I want to cut the taxes on small business. And I need a change in Congress to get that done. I was out in western Michigan the other day, talking to a group of people and small business leaders. I met a guy who runs an asphalt paving company. And he said, ``Mr. President, when regulation doesn't make sense, it's the worker who pays with his job.'' And we are tackling this problem head-on. In January, I ordered a freeze on Federal regulations. The business men and women have enough to worry about without Washington double-checking their every move. Regulation, less of it. But without the burden of overregulation, businesses can't grow without capital. The credit crunch has hit our small businesses hard. And that's why we've been working with bankers and regulators to ease that crunch. We have the SBA, the Small Business Administration, working double-time to help these credit-starved businesses. And this year, we have increased by more than 30 percent the general business loan guarantees offered through the Small Business Administration, more than $6 billion going to men and women with good ideas who want to turn those ideas into jobs. That's the kind of help Government should be giving these businesses. I've also been trying to work with that gridlocked Congress to provide even more credit relief. Audience members. Clean the House! Clean the House! Clean the House!”