FROM THE OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS

Speaking to reporters today after he returned from Tennessee and Kentucky to discuss the economy, Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill said that completion of legislation to provide government support for terrorism risk insurance is a critical action the U.S. government must take now to support the economic recovery.  "Terror risk insurance legislation could have the quickest and most profound effect on job creation than anything we could do," he said.  “The lack of risk insurance is holding up billions of dollars of business investment.”  O’Neill also pointed out that the strong productivity of the American people, low interest rates and low inflation are the ingredients for growth but that we need to do more to speed the recovery and create more jobs.  To do so, O’Neill said that Congress must enact other key elements of the President’s economic agenda, make the tax cuts permanent and hold spending down.  “We need the Congress not to pile on mountains of additional spending," O’Neill concluded.