mr. speaker , we are going to talk about economic competitiveness in the economy tonight , but before we start on that topic , i just want to draw attention to a couple of things that have appeared in the newspaper and talk about iraq and the middle east . 
there is an article that i pulled from the wires today , 2 , 000 demonstrate at an iraqi bombing site , and this is really quite an amazing story , mr. speaker . 
this is from baghdad : more than 2 , 000 people demonstrated tuesday at the site of a car bombing south of baghdad that killed 125 people chanting no to terrorism . 
mr. speaker , our hearts go out to those individuals and their families , those that have lost their lives , and certainly our hearts continue to go out to the families of each and every man and woman in our military service . 
i think we join with every one of them , all of our military families and with all of these iraqis who love freedom and are loving having the opportunity to grasp on to freedom , and we join them in saying no to terrorism and standing strong for freedom . 
another article that i saw today from newsday , mr. speaker , some arabs see beginning of a new era , and i think this is very important that we pay attention to this . 
one of my colleagues was talking about the headlines that we do not see on some of the national media , some of the leftist media , and i think this one is worthy of a mention . 
it was a scene the arab world 's autocratic regimes have dreaded , and through the power of satellite tv , it could catch on as fast as the latest music video . 
peaceful , enormous crowds carrying flags and flowers , bringing down a government . 
what happened in lebanon this week , analysts say , is the beginning of a new era in the middle east , one in which popular demand pushes the momentum for democracy and people 's will can no longer be disregarded . 
mr. speaker , our president has said that would happen . 
repeatedly , he talks about how in the heart of every man and woman is the desire to be free and to seek that freedom and to have hope and to have opportunity . 
we have all heard our president say freedom is not our gift to the world ; freedom is god 's gift to all people . 
it is so appropriate that we acknowledge that freedom , that we appreciate the sacrifice that is there for that freedom because it is through the expansion of that freedom that we enjoy the fruits and the benefits of a free society . 
one of those is the opportunity to dream big dreams and have great adventure , have great successes and to see that lived out in our lives . 
for many americans , that is the opportunity to reach economic goals ; to build businesses , to have a better life for their family . 
and tonight we are going to spend an hour discussing the republican policies about encouraging entrepreneurship and economic growth in this great nation . 
we are going to highlight the republican agenda for creating jobs in america . 
and it is clear that after battling the recession of 2001 , weathering a terrorist attack cost us billions . 
there are even estimates that the cost to the american economy of september 11 and the travesty that took place there was $ 2 trillion , a full quarter of our nation 's productivity for a year . 
after fighting an expensive global war on terrorism , being in the middle of that fight , we have faced significant challenges and we have made some very wise decisions . 
over the past couple of years , despite very heavy criticism from some of our colleagues and from the tax-and-spend liberals , we , as a congress , have made tax cuts , have reduced the tax burden that the american people are paying . 
mr. speaker , it is certainly something that i know , as millions of americans tonight are sitting down at their kitchen tables with pencil and paper and beginning to look at those forms , filling out their federal income tax filings , that they are noticing the difference that the tax cuts we have passed are making in their lives . 
certainly in tennessee , i know there are tennesseeans noticing for the first time in 20 years that they have the opportunity to deduct the sales tax they are paying from their federal income tax filing . 
it is amazing to me , and should be troubling to many americans , that many across the aisle had the audacity to oppose this tax relief we have passed . 
they have opposed making some of these cuts and reductions . 
we are trying to be certain that the american public has more money in their pocketbook ; that they have the opportunity to decide how to spend that money ; and that they have the opportunity to grow those businesses . 
we have known that small businesses and working families need tax relief , and we have fought hard to make that happen so that we see the opportunity right there for our economy , for the growth in our economy , for the opportunity for competitiveness not on just a local scale , not just on a local scale , but on a global scale . 
mr. speaker , our support for tax relief has been vindicated , and we see that in the economic figures that are out there . 
this past week we found the economy grew faster than expected in the last few months of 2004 . 
they revised the growth estimate up from 3.1 to 3.8 . 
and for a lot of folks who are economic news junkies , they know that 3.8 is a pretty good rate . 
for those that are casual listeners , that is something we can be proud of , and we can talk about that . 
a 3.8 percent growth is very substantial . 
in february , we had the twenty-first consecutive month , that is twenty-first consecutive months , of increased economic activity in the manufacturing sector . 
i want to be certain everybody hears and understands that : twenty-first months of consecutive increases in economic activity in the manufacturing sector . 
that is nearly 2 years of growth . 
i think that is absolutely outstanding . 
for some of the tool and die manufacturers that are in my district , from some of the manufacturers that we see of various component parts , of items that are being created , how exciting that they are seeing growth ; that they are seeing growth in their jobs that they have right there in these local communities . 
and that is not all of it . 
the overall economy grew for the fortieth , that is 4-0 , the fortieth consecutive month in february . 
that is more than 3 years of solid economic expansion . 
mr. speaker , these are figures that are hard to argue with . 
that 3.8 percent was our economic growth . 
that got revised up for the last quarter of 2004 . 
we have had twenty-first consecutive months of increases in productivity in the manufacturing sector . 
we have had 40 consecutive months of overall economic growth . 
that means something is working right . 
something is working right . 
tax relief was needed , and we see that that tax relief is beginning to pay off . 
i have another article here . 
i had the opportunity to do a little reading over the break , mr. speaker . 
this one is from the financial times . 
look at this headline : `` u.s. chiefs ' confidence highest in 3 years. '' well , that is a pretty good thing . 
the people that are running the companies , the people that are deciding whether to expand , whether to make capital investments , whether to create new jobs , they have a great deal of confidence . 
it says here : `` confidence in the economy at the u.s. biggest companies has soared to the highest level in 3 years as increasing numbers plan to spend more on capital investment. '' well , who would have thunk ? 
you never would have thought that was happening if you were listening to some of our friends across the aisle . 
because they do not want to talk about the good news . 
they do not want to talk about 21 straight months of manufacturing gains , 4-0 , 40 consecutive months of overall economic growth . 
here is one that describes the results as `` extremely positive '' ; another one , talking about capital investments by business , `` are the best indicators of growth at this stage of recovery , '' and that this bodes well for the economy . 
now , mind you , these are not small businesses . 
these are big companies . 
so we are seeing it with our small businesses , and we are seeing it with some of our new companies . 
republicans believe that government must remove the obstacles to growth . 
and it does not matter if you are a big or small company , it does not matter if you are an entrepreneur , it does not matter if you are new or some of our wonderful companies that have been there for 100 years . 
we have to get rid of some of the obstacles . 
and though some of our folks do not like to talk about rolling back taxes , rolling back those taxes is removing an obstacle . 
another obstacle is the high cost of compliance with those taxes . 
another obstacle is onerous regulation that comes from some of our federal agencies . 
well , what do you know . 
when you start rolling that back , making the system easier to comply with , american entrepreneurs expand and they create jobs . 
that is something , is it not ? 
get the government out of the way , and you are going to see free enterprise go do what they are geared up to do , do what they are best at doing , do what they dream about doing , what they spend their lives trying to figure out how to do : how to create jobs , how to build a better mousetrap , how to get out there and sell that better mousetrap to people that are ready to buy improved products . 
it is a great system . 
the way this economy works is something to get excited about , and i am thrilled that we have had the opportunity to see this kind of economic growth . 
mr. speaker , i am joined here on the floor tonight by one of my colleagues , a gentleman from the freshman class i served in in the 108th congress , the gentleman from iowa ( mr. king ) xz4002201 . 
he knows a lot about how the economy works . 
he is a small businessman , a farmer , and he does a lot of thinking when he gets out there on that tractor , and he brings a lot of wisdom to this chamber . 
so , mr. speaker , i yield to him at this time . 
