    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1993, Book I)]
    [June 23, 1993]
    [Pages 922-923]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks on the Economic Program and an Exchange With Reporters
    June 23, 1993

        The President. I just want to make a couple of remarks about where
    we are in the Congress today. We're at the eleventh hour of this budget
    debate. It's been going on for months now. And the Republican Senators
    say finally they're going to offer a plan. The plan clearly, if you look
    at all the options, will be to protect the privileged and to punish the
    middle class and the most vulnerable.
        The Senate Finance Committee bill which was reported out last week
    now has 78.5 percent of the burden of new taxes falling on people with
    incomes above $200,000. All the analysts say that my plan is an honest
    budget plan, that it will reduce the deficit at least as much, if not
    more, than we're saying, and it is fair. And we're working hard to pass
    it in the Senate.
        But we ought to have some bipartisan support. We ought to have some
    Republican support for this. And the fact that the Republican Senators
    are thinking about coming out with a plan now, calling it a no-tax plan,
    which is really nothing but a shield to keep the wealthiest Americans
    from paying their fair share, even though their taxes went down for the
    last 12 years while the deficit exploded, is a real disservice to this
    country.

    Economic Program

        Q. Why, Mr. President, do you think the Republicans want to protect
    the privileged?
        The President. Well, that's what they did. That's what their 12-year
    economic policy was all about. That's what trickle-down economics was
    based on, that if you just lower taxes on the wealthy enough and when
    you have to increase them, increase them on the middle class, and that
    upper income people, when they get all the economic gains, will then
    reinvest it, create jobs, and raise incomes. It didn't work. It has
    never worked in the history of the country.

    [[Page 923]]

        I want to emphasize, I do not want to punish success. This is not
    what this is about. I want to reward success. My plan has real
    incentives for small business, for new business, for new technology. I
    want to reward success, and I want people to make a lot of money. But we
    have to have a fair tax system, and this plan should require the vast
    majority of the new revenues to come from people with incomes above
    $200,000 because they're the ones that got the benefits of the 1980's.
        Q. Do you think their plan will get anywhere? And do you have any
    Republican support?
        The President. No--well, I mean, look at what happened in the House
    when they had the same sort of thing. The Republican plan in the House
    lost more Republican votes than the Democratic plan lost Democratic
    votes.
        Q. Are you looking for some kind of middle ground compromise where
    you might be able to bring on some Republicans?
        The President. Well, I'm going to try to pass--what I think we have
    to do is to get this bill into conference, come out with a bill that
    meets our objectives: $500 billion in deficit reduction; more cuts than
    tax increases; progressive tax increases; and then real incentives to
    reward work, to reward families, to reward investments in this economy.
    That's what we're trying to do. And I think we're getting close.

    Interest Rates

        Q. Are you willing to, sir, accept a mild increase in interest
    rates?
        The President. For what?
        Q. From the Fed.
        The President. Well, whatever they do, I think, long-term interest
    rates will stay down. That's the key to the economy. But there's no
    inflation in this economy now that we can see.
        Q. So they should not raise rates?
        The President. That's a decision they have to make.

    Note: The President spoke at 12:44 p.m. in the Rose Garden at the White
    House.