[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 5 (Tuesday, February 3, 1998)]
[House]
[Pages H111-H114]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




BUDGET OF THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT, FISCAL YEAR 1999--MESSAGE FROM 
        THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES (H. DOC. NO. 105-177)

  The SPEAKER pro tempore laid before the House the following message 
from the President of the United States; which was read and, together 
with the accompanying papers, without objection, referred to the 
Committee on Appropriations and ordered to be printed:
To the Congress of the United States:
  The 1999 Budget, which I am submitting to you with this message, is a 
balanced Federal budget, marking the first such budget in 30 years and 
bringing an era of exploding deficits to an end.
  By reaching balance, my budget represents a remarkable turnaround in 
our fiscal policy over the last five years. It brings to an end three 
decades of fiscal chaos, a period in which Americans had lost 
confidence in their Government and the ability of their leaders to do 
the people's business.
  This budget is not just balanced, it is balanced the right way. It 
not only ends the deficit, it reflects the values

[[Page H112]]

that Americans hold dear--the values of opportunity, responsibility, 
and community. The budget reflects my commitment to continue helping 
working families with their basic needs--to raise their children, send 
them to college, and pay for health care.
  The budget invests in education and training and in research to raise 
the standard of living for average Americans. It invests in the 
environment and in law enforcement to raise the quality of life across 
our Nation. It invests in our communities at home while providing the 
resources to maintain a strong defense and conduct the international 
relations that have become so important to our future.
  In the public and private sectors, prospects for a budget surplus are 
spurring a wide array of ideas about how to spend it. At this point, 
the Government has not yet reached the surplus milestone, and I 
continue to believe strongly that we should not spend a surplus that we 
don't yet have.
  More specifically, I believe that the Administration and Congress 
should not spend a budget surplus for any reason until we have a 
solution to the long-term financing challenge facing Social Security. 
With that in mind, my budget proposes a reserve for the projected 
surpluses for 1999 and beyond.


            preparing the Nation for a new american century

  Five years ago, my Administration took office determined to restore 
the American Dream for every American. We were determined to turn the 
economy around, to rein in a budget that was out of control, and to 
create a Government that once again would focus on its customers, the 
American people.
  Five years later, we have made enormous progress. Our economy is 
strong, our budget is headed toward balance, and our Government is 
making noticeable progress in providing better service to Americans.
  We are beginning to bring Americans together again, to repair the 
social fabric that has frayed so badly in recent decades. All across 
America, crime is down, poverty is down, and welfare is down. Incomes 
are rising at all levels, and a new spirit of optimism is sweeping 
through many of our urban and rural communities that are rebounding 
from decades of lost jobs and lost hope.
  Now that we have turned the economy around, our task is to spread the 
benefits of our economic well-being to more Americans, to ensure that 
every American has the chance to live out his or her dreams. As we move 
confidently ahead as a Nation, we want to ensure that nobody is left 
behind.
  A century ago, the economy shifted from agriculture to manufacturing, 
changing the way that Americans lived, the way they worked, the way 
they related to one another. Today, the economy is shifting once more, 
this time from manufacturing to services, information, technology, and 
global commerce.
  We can ensure that every American fully enjoys the benefits of this 
exciting new age, but only if we continue to give people the tools they 
need and create the conditions in which they can prosper. That is what 
my budget is designed to do.


                   Creating a Bright Economic Future

  When my Administration took office, the Nation was mired in economic 
problems. The economy had barely grown over four years, creating few 
jobs. Interest rates were high. Incomes remained stagnant for all but 
the most well-off. The budget deficit, which had exploded in size in 
the early 1980s, had reached a record $290 billion and was headed 
higher. Clearly, the Nation needed a new course.
  We launched an economic policy with three central features that had 
never before been tried together: We set out to reduce the deficit, 
invest in the American people, and open up markets abroad. Only by 
pursuing all three elements could we restore the economy and build for 
the future.
  My 1993 budget plan, the centerpiece of our economic strategy, was a 
balanced plan that cut hundreds of billions of dollars of Federal 
spending while raising income taxes only on the top 1.2 percent of 
Americans. By cutting unnecessary and lower-priority spending, we found 
the resources to cut taxes for 15 million working families while 
investing in education and training, the environment, and other 
priorities.
  Five years later, we have cut the deficit dramatically, and this 
budget will finish the job by reaching balance and keeping the budget 
in balance for the foreseeable future. We have invested in the 
education and skills of our people, giving them the tools they need to 
raise their children and get good jobs in an increasingly competitive 
economy. We have expanded trade through global as well as bilateral 
agreements, generating record exports that create high-wage jobs for 
millions of Americans.
  The economy responded almost immediately to our policies. When I 
announced my 1993 budget plan, interest rates fell, and they fell even 
more as I worked successfully with Congress to put the plan into law. 
These lower interest rates helped to spur the steady economic growth 
and strong business investment that we have enjoyed for the last five 
years. Our policies have helped create over 14 million jobs, while 
interest rates have remained low and inflation has stayed under 
control.
  As we move ahead, I am determined to ensure that we stick with the 
policies that are working. We must maintain our fiscal discipline so 
that we not only reach balance, but also keep the budget in balance.


            Improving Performance Through Better Management

  We are balancing the budget the right way, by reducing the size and 
scope of our Government.
  We have done more than just eliminate hundreds of Federal programs 
and projects. We have cut the civilian Federal work force by over 
316,000 employees, giving us the smallest work force in 35 years. In 
fact, as a share of our total civilian employment, we have the smallest 
work force since 1931.
  But we set out to do more than just cut Government. Under the 
leadership of the Vice President's National Performance Review, we set 
out to make Government work, to create a Government that is more 
efficient and effective, to create a Government focused on its 
customers, the American people.
  We have made real progress, but we still have much work to do. We 
have reinvented parts of departments and agencies, but now we are 
determined to turn our agencies around from top to bottom. For 1999, 
the Vice President will lead an effort to improve the performance of 
agencies that interact most with the American people. We want to enable 
Americans not only to quickly enjoy better service from our Government, 
but to regain confidence in Government as well.
  At the same time, I am determined that we will solve the very real 
management challenges before us. A good example is the challenge of 
ensuring that our computer systems can accurately process the year 2000 
date change. I have directed my Administration to take the necessary 
steps to meet the problem head-on.


                     preparing for the 21st century

  Nothing is more important to our future than education. It has become 
the dividing line between those who are moving ahead and those who are 
lagging behind. That is why I have devoted so much effort to ensure 
that we have a world-class system of education and training in place 
for Americans of all ages. Over the last five years, we have worked 
hard to ensure that every boy and girl is prepared to learn, that our 
schools focus on high standards and achievement, that anyone who wants 
to go to college can get the financial help to attend, and that those 
who need a second chance at education and training or a chance to 
improve or learn new skills can do so. My budget significantly 
increases funds to help children, especially in the poorest 
communities, reach challenging academic standards and makes further 
progress in implementing voluntary national tests. It proposes to build 
more classrooms and pay for 100,000 more teachers so that we can reduce 
class sizes. For higher education and training, my budget increases 
Pell Grants and other college scholarships from the record levels that 
we have already achieved; expands College Work-Study to a record one 
million students; streamlines student loan programs and cuts student 
fees; and expands access to job placement services, training, and 
related services for dislocated workers and others. Now that anyone who 
wants to attend college can find the means through Hope scholarships, 
Pell Grants, and other assistance that we worked so hard to enact, I 
want to provide the same universal opportunity

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for job training and re-training to those who need it.
  Over the last five years, we have worked hard to help working 
families. We cut taxes for 15 million working families, provided a tax 
credit to help families raise their children, ensured that 25 million 
Americans a year can change jobs without losing their health insurance, 
made it easier for the self-employed and those with pre-existing 
conditions to get health insurance, provided health care coverage for 
up to five million uninsured children, raised the minimum wage, and 
provided guaranteed time off for workers who need to care for a newborn 
or address the health needs of a family member. Now, with my new Child 
Care Initiative, I am determined to provide the help that families need 
when it comes to finding safe, high-quality, affordable child care. 
Parents should know that, when they go to work, their children are in 
safe, healthy environments. I also propose to address the problems 
faced by a particular group of working families--legal immigrants. In 
signing the 1996 welfare reform law, I said that I would try to restore 
the cuts in benefits for legal immigrants that were not only harsh and 
unnecessary but that had nothing to do with the fundamental goal of 
welfare reform--to move people from welfare to work while protecting 
children. My budget restores Food Stamps to 730,000 legal immigrants 
and lets States provide health insurance to the children of legal 
immigrants.
  This past year, we continued to improve health care for millions of 
Americans. we strengthened Medicare by extending the life of the trust 
fund until at least 2010, while we also invested in preventive 
benefits, introduced more choice of health plans, and strengthened our 
expanding array of activities to combat fraud and abuse. We extended 
health care coverage to up to five million uninsured children. We 
created the Advisory Commission on Consumer Protection and Quality in 
the Health Care Industry and we later endorsed its Health Care Consumer 
Bill of Rights. With this budget, I propose that we build on our 
achievements on a host of important fronts. I want to work with 
Congress to enact national bipartisan tobacco legislation; nothing is 
more potentially important to the health of our people, particularly 
children. My budget also proposes to expand health care coverage for 
some of the most vulnerable Americans aged 55 to 65, to enroll more 
eligible children in Medicaid, to provide for unprecedented levels of 
investment in health research, to expand access to powerful AIDS 
therapies, to expand access to cancer clinical trials, to increase 
funds for substance abuse treatment and prevention, and to help reduce 
health-related disparities across racial and ethnic groups.
  Last year was a remarkable one for the environment, and I am 
determined to build on our progress. Led by the Vice President, the 
Administration reached an historic international agreement in Kyoto 
that calls for cuts in greenhouse gas emissions. We also issued new, 
more protective air quality standards to better safeguard public 
health, and we strengthened our citizens' right to know about toxic 
chemical releases. We continued to protect our natural treasures, such 
as Yellowstone National Park and Florida's Everglades, and to make 
further progress toward my goal of cleaning up 900 hazardous waste 
sites under the Superfund by the end of the year 2001. With this 
budget, I am proposing an Environmental Resources Fund for America that 
will support increases for many of our key environmental programs. It 
provides for more construction, maintenance, and land acquisition for 
national parks, forests, refuges, and other public lands; for a new 
effort to improve the quality of our water; for improvements to 
community drinking water and wastewater facilities; and for continuing 
our efforts to clean up abandoned hazardous waste sites. My budget also 
includes a new, five-year, $6 billion program to prevent global 
warming, and more resources to protect endangered species, control 
pollution, and preserve the global environment.

  I am proposing a Transportation Fund for America, reflecting my 
commitment to provide the resources to ensure that our transportation 
infrastructure remains safe, integrated, and efficient enough to serve 
our growing needs. Investment in infrastructure is good for America 
because it helps grow the economy, improve safety and public health, 
strengthen our competitiveness abroad, support our national security, 
and increase the mobility, access, and choice for Americans who need to 
travel. We must build upon our vast network of roads, highways, and 
bridges to meet the demands of the next century for a system that links 
our various modes of travel, that is cleaner and safer, and that helps 
bring together and support our urban and rural communities. My budget 
maintains the Administration's record support for transportation, and 
the Fund includes all of the Transportation Department's highway, 
highway safety, transit, and air transportation programs.
  Scientific and technological advances have created a world vastly 
different from the one our grandparents knew. They have helped generate 
huge leaps in the speed and economy of transportation, enormous 
increases in farm productivity, lightning-fast flows of information and 
services across national borders, and advances in treating and 
preventing diseases and protecting the environment. Because I am 
committed to America's continued leadership in science and technology, 
I am proposing a Research Fund for America, from which many of our 
important investments will flow. It includes record increases for the 
National Institutes of Health, higher funding for the National Science 
Foundation, new resources to address global climate change, and a wide 
variety of investments in basic and applied research. These investments 
are vital; they help to create new knowledge, train more workers, spur 
new jobs and industries, address our health care challenges, strengthen 
our understanding of environmental problems, better educate our 
children, and maintain a strong national defense.
  Our anti-crime strategy is working. Serious crime is down five years 
in a row and, in 1996, we witnessed the largest drop in violent crime 
in 35 years. But, because crime remains unacceptably high, we must go 
further. My budget expands our community policing (COPS) program, which 
is already putting 83,000 more police on the streets toward my goal of 
100,000 by the year 2000. The budget also proposes a new Community 
Prosecutors Initiative to help prosecutors prevent crimes from 
occurring, rather than simply prosecuting criminals after the fact. And 
it provides the necessary funds to prevent violence against women, to 
help States and Indian Tribes build prisons, and to address the growing 
law enforcement crisis on Indian lands. To boost our efforts to control 
illegal immigration, the budget provides the resources to strengthen 
border enforcement in the South and West, to remove illegal aliens, and 
to expand our efforts to verify whether newly hired non-citizens are 
eligible for jobs. To combat drug use, particularly among young people, 
my budget expands programs that stress treatment and prevention, law 
enforcement, international assistance, and interdiction. It continues 
to build on our innovative Drug Courts initiative, proposes School Drug 
Prevention Coordinators for our schools, supports local efforts that 
target drug-using offenders, expands drug testing, and strengthens our 
efforts to make our ports and borders more secure from drugs while 
disrupting drug trafficking organizations overseas.

  Most Americans are enjoying the fruits of our strong economy. But 
while many urban and rural areas are doing better, too many others have 
grown disconnected from our values of opportunity, responsibility, and 
community. Working with State and local governments and with the 
private sector, I am determined to help bring our distressed areas back 
to life, to replace despair with hope. My budget expands my national 
service program, giving more Americans the chance to serve their 
country and help solve problems at the local level while earning money 
for college. I am proposing to create more Empowerment Zones and 
Enterprise Communities that offer tax incentives and direct spending to 
encourage the kind of private investment that creates jobs, and to 
provide more capital for lending through my Community Development 
Financial Institutions program. My budget also expands

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opportunities for homeownership, provides more funds to enforce the 
Nation's civil rights laws, maintains our Government-to-Government 
commitment to Native Americans, and strengthens the partnership we have 
begun with the District of Columbia.
  Because America continues to have a tremendous stake in world 
affairs, my budget proposes the necessary funds to maintain national 
security, to conduct our diplomacy, to promote democracy and free 
markets abroad, and to increase exports. Last year, my Administration 
worked with Congress to increase international affairs spending. But, 
Congress faces an unfinished agenda to provide financial support for, 
and fulfill America's obligations to, a number of international 
organizations that benefit our economy and serve other objectives, 
including the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the United Nations 
system, and the multilateral development banks. Congress should 
continue to support the decisive action of the IMF as well as our 
leadership in that institution by providing the supplementary 
contingent IMF funding that the Administration has sought and 
replenishing the IMF's basic financial resources. Congress also should 
give the President traditional trade negotiating authority to help fuel 
our surging exports into the next century. To enhance national 
security, my budget maintains large-scale funding to support the Middle 
East peace process, continues assistance to Bosnia to carry out the 
Dayton Accords, supports NATO expansion, and increases aid to the New 
Independent States of the former Soviet Union to support the 
development of democracy and free markets. I am also proposing a major 
initiative to provide critical, targeted assistance to African 
countries that are undertaking difficult economic reforms, and my 
budget increases counter-narcotics aid to Latin American countries and 
supports the Summit of the Americas.
  Our military serves as the backbone of our national security 
strategy, and I am committed to maintain a strong and capable military 
that protects our freedoms and our global leadership role as we 
approach the 21st Century. The budget continues the Administration's 
plan to complete the careful resizing of our military forces, to fully 
support military readiness, to strengthen quality of life programs for 
our armed forces, and to provide increased funding to modernize our 
forces as new technologies become available after the turn of the 
century. My budget reflects the recommendations of the Quadrennial 
Defense Review and of the Defense Department's recent Defense Reform 
Initiative to achieve a leaner, more efficient, and more cost-effective 
organization by improving management and business practices. To 
implement these improvements, the Defense Department will send 
legislation to Congress in conjunction with this budget, including a 
request for two more rounds of base closures and realignments.


                      investing in the common good

  Our commitment to balance the budget, and to keep it in balance, will 
mean that the Administration and Congress must use taxpayer dollars as 
wisely as possible. If we are to continue funding Federal programs, 
they will have to show that they are reaching the goals set for them. 
That is, they will have to show that they are well-run and that they 
can produce results.
  In 1993, I actively supported, and was eager to sign, the Government 
Performance and Results Act. With this budget, I am delighted to send 
Congress what the law envisioned--the first comprehensive, Government-
wide Performance Plan.
  In developing this budget, the Administration for the first time 
could rely on performance measures and annual performance goals that 
are now included in agency Annual Performance Plans. We have made a 
good start on the process that the Administration and Congress outlined 
in enacting the 1993 law.
  As we continue to implement this law, my Administration will focus 
more and more attention on how programs work, whether they are meeting 
their goals, and what we should do to make them better. We look forward 
to working with Congress on our shared goal of improving Government 
performance.
                                                  William J. Clinton.  
  February 2, 1998.

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