CARLOS GUTIERREZ: Thank you, good morning. Thank you for the very kind introduction. I do want to thank Bill Tobin and Senator Stevens and Jo-Li Sellin and Governor Hickel for joining me, as well as Janie Leask, of course, on the head table. And I'm very pleased for that very kind introduction on my first morning here in Alaska.

It is truly a pleasure to be here in the great state of Alaska. This is my first time here and I'm looking forward to many more visits and seeing as much as I can. And we couldn't get enough -- looking out of the plane we just were trying to get as much of the sights as we could, and it was just a beautiful, beautiful surrounding.

I do want to say that I've been the Secretary of Commerce now for just five months. And it's very obvious being in Washington that your delegation starting with Senator Stevens and Lisa Murkowksi and Representative Don Young are among the very best in Washington, and you should feel very proud to be represented by them.

I can tell you that in my first meeting in the Senate, my confirmation meeting, Chairman Stevens chairs the Commerce Committee it was mentioned and he said, you know, I'd like you to come up to Alaska one day. And I said well, I'd be glad to look at my calendar and see when I can make it up, and then someone interrupted and he said look, when Chairman Stevens says he wants you to come to Alaska you don't look at your calendar you just -- the only right answer is yes. So it is a pleasure to be here.

I understand that the Senator has a 71 pound Kenai Peninsula king salmon which he caught and displayed in his Washington D.C. office, so if anyone can tell me where I can find, I don't know if a 72 or 70 would be the right thing, but something around that size I'll be able to take over some bragging rights, but, Senator Stevens, thank you again for the invitation for having me here.

One of the great things about being at Commerce is that I obviously have an opportunity to work with very talented people on very different issues, whether it be keeping an eye on GDP and the economy and free trade agreements, but also counting salmon and monitoring weather forecasting. And as I familiarize myself with these issues, please don't hesitate to contact us. We want to work with all of you. I know we have a great relationship with the state of Alaska. Whether you serve on advisory councils or simply offer recommendations to make our programs more effective, please know that we value our relationship with the state of Alaska, so call on us, call on us any time.

I'd like to talk to you about the present strength of our economy and the President's agenda to continue that growth and continue that strength. The great thing about being in Commerce is that I have an opportunity to look at information as it comes out without editorializing, without a point of view around the numbers. It's often very difficult to know how the economy is doing and I knew that as a consumer in my previous role. There's so much being said in so many sound bytes that at the end you really don't know are we doing good or are these people right or how are we doing. So I'm going to show you, I'm going to tell you some numbers which I think at the end of the day it really comes down to what the numbers say.

As you know the President believes that government provides a framework for prosperity, but it is the private sector, the private sector that enables our economy to grow. And President Bush knows that the best hope for job creation is a dynamic private sector.

And then how do we know that that philosophy is succeeding? How do we know that that philosophy generates the outcomes that we'd like? And of course, just as in business we measure results. And as you know there is no substitute for results. And I can say proudly that the U.S. economy is showing results.

Just consider these facts. Our economy grew at 3.8 percent during the first quarter of this year. That's on top of 4.4 percent calendar 2004. And I find that to be a remarkable number given the size of this economy that it can grow at that rate. And if you compare that to the European union they grew at 1.6 percent and Japan grew at 1.2 percent. So today we are literally the fastest growing, largest, large industrialized country in the world. There is no large industrialized country growing as fast as the U.S.

There are more Americans working today than ever before in our history. The unemployment rate at 5.1 percent is below the average of the past three decades. And as the President has said no one is satisfied, no one is complacent, and we're going to continue to work until every American who wants a job has a job. That 5.1 percent is below the average of the past three decades.

Over the past two years Americans have created 3.5 million new jobs. Our manufacturing sector has been expanding for over two years. Under our President productivity has grown at the fastest pace in 50 years. Household net worth just set a record level. Since President Bush took office average household income in real terms is up 10 percent. More Americans own their homes today than ever before in our history. Almost 70 percent of all Americans own a home. And that's probably one of the best indicators we have that we are prospering, that there are people who are enjoying and living the ownership society and are taking part in it and are participating, almost 70 percent of all Americans. Inflation and interest rates remain down near historic lows. So like any country we face challenges, but sustained economic growth makes resolving those issues a lot easier.

Fortunately, President Bush is staying on course. He's followed an agenda from day one and he's staying on plan and that, I think, is a big part of our strength is that we're not constantly changing the road map. The President has a clear agenda. We're working to streamline burdens and regulations, implement market base reforms for health care, reduce the lawsuit burden. And there's been some progress on that and more progress to come. Make tax relief permanent. There's no question that the tax reductions have had a very positive impact on the economy. The President wants to make that tax relief permanent.

Make energy more affordable and reliable in open markets through free and fair trade. That's been the agenda and that continues to be the President's focus to drive growth further in the economy. And because we remain focused we continue to see strength across all sectors of the economy. America's manufacturing sector alone would be the world's sixth largest economy. And as you well know the manufacturing sector is much more sensitive to high energy prices. Fortunately, technology and innovation allow us to do more with less and operate with greater efficiency. To create one dollar of GDP today takes 56 percent of the energy that it did in 1973, so a tremendous amount of progress. Still more to be done.

However, despite the added efficiency our robust economic growth means that we will continue to use more energy. That's why America needs a comprehensive energy plan. President Bush submitted one to Congress four years ago. At that time critics said that it was too long-term in nature. Of course, if we had approved it then we would be four years into it. The President's energy plan unleashes technology and innovation. This will allow us to make better and more efficient use of our current energy resources. It will develop new sources of energy. It will foster greater energy independent and it will help lower prices for American families, but ultimately there's no other way around it we need a long-term plan, if not we're going to constantly be reacting to short-term market pressures.

The good news is that the Senate overwhelmingly passed an energy bill on June 28th that will boost U.S. supplies of oil, gas and solar power. The next step is a House/Senate conference to work through differences. We look forward to working with your Senators and Congressmen Young to ensure that oil exploration on the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is included. Advances in technology will play a great role in our environmentally responsible exploration for oil and natural gas. Technology now makes it possible to reach ANWR's hydrocarbons by drilling only 2,000 of the 19 million acres of land. That's just one-tenth of one percent of ANWR's total area.

Because of advances in technology we can reach the oil deposits with almost no impact on land or local wildlife. Developing a tiny section of ANWR could produce a million barrels of oil per day. That's a million barrels less that we'll need to buy from foreign countries.

Technology is also allowing us to make better use of natural gas. Today natural gas is critically important for industries like agriculture, manufacturing and power production. Our imports of natural gas increased 29 percent last year. The United States needs to continue to secure adequate supplies to meet future demand. The United States has the sixth largest proven reserves of natural gas in the world, but we need to do more to develop this vital resource. And by the way in terms of natural gas Russia would be the -- from what we see the largest reserves of natural gas.

Today we only have five receiving terminals for liquified natural gas in the whole country. We're working closely with the Department of Energy, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and others to help review sites for new terminals. We need to able to receive liquified natural gas from all parts of the world. Right now we're working with Congress and our Canadian neighbors on a pipeline, as you know, to bring Alaska natural gas to the Lower 48 states.

As I mentioned earlier, this Administration is committed to free and fair trade. We seek to open markets for American goods and services. Under President Bush America has completed free trade agreements with over 12 countries. That is significantly more than all previous administrations combined. And as the President knows the worst thing we can do is to go into a protectionist or isolationist mode. I hear that very often. I hear people talking about that very often. And I think it becomes a decision that people take for the moment, but I wonder if they just think through where does that lead us if we became protectionists and isolationists? At a time when the economy is truly going global where would that take us?

So I would suggest that we view with suspicion any argument promoting protectionism as a solution in today's global economy. We believe the solution is to compete, is to be better than others, is to continue to do what we've been doing for 200 years. That is the way to compete and win and thrive in a global economy, not shutting down and closing our doors and just saying we're not going to play which is what some would be suggesting.

President Bush's most important trade priority this year is the Central American Free Trade Agreement known as CAFTA. This agreement will create jobs for American workers by opening markets for U.S. companies. CAFTA offer a historic opportunity to bring prosperity to the citizens of our hemisphere who have not known it in the past. For the young democracies of Central America CAFTA would bring new investment, and that means good jobs and higher labor standards for their workers. CAFTA interestingly will reduce tariffs on all U.S. goods so that consumers in these countries will enjoy better goods at better prices. Today our products pay tariffs going into Central America. Their products come into our market duty free. So in a sense the CAFTA levels the playing field and it starts eliminating our tariffs going in to Central America.

We can continue unleashing the power of free markets, free enterprise and democracy right here in our own hemisphere. That's why President Bush has made CAFTA one of his top priorities. We are now working very hard to secure its passage in the House and we thank Senator Stevens, Senator Murkowski for their help in getting through the Senate. We just got through the Senate last week, so it's a very important step and we're building momentum. This is a very critical, critical trade agreement. It's not just Central America, but you just imagine the word that we would be sending the world, the leader of free trade, we have led the globe toward free trade, toward free enterprise and we're leading them towards Democracy.

Can you imagine the message it would send if we rejected an agreement, a free trade agreement with a very, very small neighbor? I think we would look very self-centered and I think we'd look a little bit selfish to the rest of the world, but more than anything I think we'd send a very confusing message about whether we still believe in the power of free enterprise and free trade and open markets. So it's a very, very critical vote.

As we all know the Central America of the past was very different. The region was often at war. We all recall Central America in the 1980s, many Central Americans lived under dictatorships, under military regimes. This is a very, very difficult and divisive area of the world, then some brave and committed leaders turned the tide toward freedom, free market principles, and the rule of law. Today as a result there are peace agreements and democratically elected governments and there have been sustained periods of growth. So back in the '80s what we wanted was for these countries to embrace freedom, democracy, to put down their guns, to stop their civil wars, to stop their Communist revolutions, military dictatorships and just embrace freedom and free enterprise and peace.

They've done that today. The irony is that we are now the ones debating whether we want to approve the free trade agreement or not. So it's one incredible irony. I believe we'll get it through. I believe we have momentum, but I just wanted to put that all on your radar screen because it is a very important, a very important vote later on over the next few weeks in the House.

You know what it's like to talk rate (ph) in climates with transparency and open government as opposed to climates full of corruption and authoritarian rule. I know that people in Central America do and they don't want to go back. That's why they need our help and that's why they'd rather have our help than turn to Asia for a partner which is something else, of course, that I think we should keep in mind here.

If Congress fails to pass CAFTA political leaders in the region who oppose democratic governments and economic freedom will claim victory. And I'm sure that we've all heard the names of those who have opposed freedom in Latin America, in Central America, those who live in that area who would like to see nothing more than our ways not succeed and really isolate the U.S. from a very important part of the world. So CAFTA, very important. It's coming up in a few weeks.

Something else about these countries that a lot of people don't recognize which I find quite interesting, is when it came down to vote for who was with us on Iraq, actually quite fascinating, each of these small six countries voted to support us. So I hate to think about it every time the fact that we are questioning and debating and wondering whether we should support them in this free trade agreement.

So maintaining economic growth, building energy security and expanding free trade and opening markets will not be easy, but as I learned in my second day in a cabinet meeting, second day on the job and we had a cabinet meeting and I heard the first quote as the President walked in, he said, you know, we're not here to play small ball which by that I think he meant we're not here to make small decisions or make small changes to small things and go through the motions and pretend like we're really busy.

And he as you know believes in tackling the big problems, confronting the big issues, facing up to the problems and not passing the buck to future generations or future administrations. And because of that I feel so fortunate to be working for a leader of that magnitude, of that caliber. And I think we should all feel fortunate to have President Bush in the Oval Office. The President appreciates everything you're doing and we all appreciate everything you're doing. We have a great deal of respect for what you've accomplished here, for your leaders, and please know that we look forward to working with you as we continue to build the greatest nation on the face of this earth. Thank you very much. (Applause)