After vetoing a defense spending bill that would set a timetable for withdrawing troops from Iraq, President Bush told an audience of construction industry officials that the success of the military strategy there is critical to protecting the U.S. from terrorist attacks and needs more time to show results.
In a May 2 speech before the Associated General Contractors’ annual national and chapter leadership conference in Washington, Bush touched on domestic issues, such as the need to make tax cuts permanent and calling for comprehensive immigration legislation “without amnesty and without animosity.” But most of his address was a forceful statement of his views on the need to “keep the pressure on” militarily in Iraq.