    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1993, Book I)]
    [July 29, 1993]
    [Pages 1224-1227]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks on the Earned-Income Tax Credit and an Exchange With Reporters
    July 29, 1993

        The President. I don't want them to miss the vote. [Laughter] This
    is what is known as an excused absence for the Congress. I want to say a
    warm welcome and a word of thanks to the Risners, the Dorseys, and the
    Dikemans, all of them, for coming here. They're not used to being public
    speakers, but I think they did a fine job, don't you?
        I'd also like to say a special word to Mr. Dorsey. When I was a boy,
    I cut lawns for a living, too, and nobody ever gave me more than I
    charged. You're either a better salesman, a better grass-cutter, or you
    had better customers. [Laughter]
        I am so glad to have these families here today because they
    emphasize that a pivotal part of this economic plan is increasing the
    earned-income tax credit which, more than anything else we could do,
    will reward work and family and responsibility and make a major
    downpayment on welfare reform.
        You heard Robin make that point. There are so many Americans in this
    country who want to work, who want to be independent, who want to
    support themselves, and who find themselves in a position of not being
    able to make ends meet, not being able to cover basic costs. The earned-
    income tax credit can help them do that.

    [[Page 1225]]

    It is a terribly important part of this overall plan, which not only
    reduces the deficit by $500 billion, but also does it in a fair way.
    Half of the reduction comes from budget cuts; four-fifths of the rest
    comes from taxes on the upper income people in this country, the upper 6
    percent; one-fifth from taxes on families with incomes above $30,000 and
    below, for couples, $180,000.
        But the most important thing of all to reward work is that this will
    be the first time in the history of our country when we'll be able to
    say that if you work 40 hours a week and you have children in your home,
    you will be lifted out of poverty. It is an elemental, powerful, and
    profound principle. It is not liberal or conservative. It should belong
    to no party. It ought to become part of the American creed. It's not
    about more governmental or social workers or more services. It's about
    more groceries and a car, more school clothes for the kids, and more
    encouragement and hope to keep doing the right thing. These families
    have made it clearer than I ever could.
        One of the things that I want to emphasize is that if we ever want
    to really restore the health of the American economy, it won't be enough
    just to bring down the budget deficit or just to have good economic
    policies. You have to find a way to tell people that if they work hard
    and play by the rules they'll be able to make it, they will be rewarded.
    The incentive system in America has worked against that for too long.
        You know, it's amazing to me how many American families still live
    in poverty. About 18 percent of the work force, nearly one in five
    families, have a worker and still do not reach the Federal poverty line.
    There are 36 million, approximately, low-income Americans; about 20
    million of them live in a family that works, with someone working at
    least part of the year; 6 million live in families where someone works
    all year round, full-time, and the family is still in poverty. And as I
    said, where there is a family of four, about one in five, or 18 percent,
    have insufficient incomes to lift them above the Federal poverty line.
        So in spite of all the pro-family rhetoric of our National
    Government for years, our policies haven't worked. In fact, they've been
    going in the wrong direction. We need every American who can to work if
    we're going to compete and win in the global economy. And more than
    ever, we need strong families. This is, as you can see, not just a pro-
    work policy, it is a pro-family policy. We shouldn't make it harder to
    work and support a family. We ought to make it easier, and the people
    who do it should be lifted up as examples of the American ideal, not
    punished because they're trying to do the right thing. That's what the
    EITC does.
        We ought to have two principles that operate in this country: People
    who can work should work, but if they do work, their families at home
    shouldn't be poor.
        Today I also want to announce that the IRS will begin an aggressive
    outreach campaign to reach all Americans who are entitled to the credit.
    This will make it easier for them to receive benefits they have earned
    by working. It will also help us to educate them about the advantage of
    getting an advanced EITC, rather than having to wait an entire year. All
    these folks figured out how to work the system. But there are a lot of
    people out there, just like them, who haven't and who deserve the same
    incentive for work and for family.
        We know that this program works. We know it's a lifeline for semi-
    skilled workers who are working to improve their education and training.
    We want Robin to get home in time for the test, and we want her to make
    a good grade. And we want that, also, to be a symbol for all the people
    in this country who are struggling to do the same thing.
        We know that the vast majority of all those who benefit from the
    EITC work very long hours for a very modest compensation in jobs that
    very often have inadequate benefits, either for themselves or for their
    children. These are just three of the millions of stories we might have
    heard today from a part of America we almost never see on the evening
    news.
        Every time you see a crime story reported in a tough neighborhood,
    remember that most people in that neighborhood, no matter how tough it
    is, work for a living, do their best to raise children, never break the
    law, and are struggling, struggling against odds that are enormous to
    make it and to make the American dream real for themselves and their
    children.
        It is time we acted to support those people. In some ways, they may
    be the most heroic of all Americans today. If we really want to rebuild
    family life in America, if we want to recognize the realities that
    nearly everybody has to work to make ends meet, and more and more

    [[Page 1226]]

    families have to have both parents working if they're in the home, even
    if they have four children and two of them are as young as those two
    youngest boys, we have got to say to those people: We are on your side.
    Your country is for you. You have done what all of the speechmakers talk
    about, and it's time the people who make the speeches had policies that
    reward you for doing what people have been pleading for Americans to do
    for years and years now.
        That's why I think this is a critical part of this economic package.
    Make no mistake about it: If the people who favor the ``no-new-anything
    approach,'' as the Wall Street Journal characterized the opponents of
    our plan, prevail, Americans will lose the pro-work, pro-family, pro-
    responsibility element of the earned-income tax credits, the largest
    single expansion in an effort to help the working poor in over two
    decades.
        We can't let this happen. This is just one more reason why we have
    got to act, and act now on this economic plan. This is not about numbers
    and digits and accountants' gimmicks; it's not about arguments about who
    perceives or feels what about this economic plan. This is about how the
    low-interest rates, deficit reduction, the business incentives and, most
    important today, the earned-income tax credit will affect the real lives
    of real people and help them to live and succeed in the way that we
    always speak as if we want them to be able to live and succeed. This is
    the real world. You met it today. I hope the Congress will make it
    possible in the next few days to have more families like this with more
    success stories. Thank you very much.
        We can take a couple of questions.

    Economic Program

        Q. Mr. President, what do you think is the chance of your budget
    getting through?
        The President. Good.
        Q. We understand it's in deep trouble in the Senate.
        The President. I think it's good. You have to listen not only to
    what's being said but how it's being said. You know, as more information
    gets out, it's just like I've always said, rhetoric was our enemy and
    reality is our friend. There's a story in the Wall Street Journal today
    that once again Americans are hearing the facts instead of the rhetoric
    and the bad-mouthing and the negativism of our opponents and people are
    saying, ``Let's give the President's plan a chance,'' and more likely to
    support Members of Congress who support it than they are Members who
    oppose it. They're beginning to learn again that over 70 percent of the
    taxes now fall on families with incomes above $200,000, the top 1.2
    percent of the population, and that this attack that the Republicans
    have used to try to convince ordinary Americans that they're being
    soaked, that there's no deficit reduction, is all a bunch of hooey. And
    I think we've got to get this out. So I'm feeling much better about it.
        Q. Mr. President, that same survey shows that despite all the time
    you've spent on the economy, more people give you high marks for foreign
    policy than for handling the economy. Why do you think that's the case?
        The President. Because they're still worried about their economic
    circumstances. And because they want results. And because the Congress
    hasn't passed the plan yet. We need to begin to do things. But if we
    pass the economic plan, if we move on the health care to welfare reform,
    deal with the crime bill, if the Senate will not filibuster the national
    service bill and open the doors of college education to all Americans
    and give people a chance to serve their country, then people will
    believe that Washington will do better. Also, the ratings of the
    Congress will go up. People want things done. They didn't hire us to
    come up here and give speeches. We've tried the speechifying for a good
    long while; it didn't work very well. They want things to be done. I
    think the American people are very patient in terms of knowing we've
    been getting into economic trouble for 20 years, and we followed a
    certain economic policy that I want to change for 12, and it's not going
    to turn around in 6 months or a year, that we've got a lot of effort to
    make. But they want to know that we're at least moving, that we're
    moving from talk to action.
        And that's why I wanted these families to come here today, to point
    out that this really will affect people's lives. There was another
    article I saw in one of the papers this morning interviewing very small
    business people who had been told on the talk shows and from other
    sources that they were about to get whanged by this plan, and all of a
    sudden now they've realized they're going to get their expensing
    provision doubled, and over 90 percent of the small businesses in this
    country will have an oppor-

    [[Page 1227]]

    tunity to lower their tax burden if, but only if, they invest. So I
    think that reality is creeping back in, and that's a healthy thing
    always.

    Iraq

        Q. Mr. President, the Pentagon says that U.S. naval aircraft have
    again bombed Iraqi missile sites. Could you update us and tell us what
    exactly is going on?
        The President. There is nothing out of the ordinary about what
    happened. It was not part of any new initiative. It was part of the old
    understandings under which our planes operate in that area and
    circumstances under which they respond.

    Entitlements

        Q. Mr. President, another controversial aspect of your plan deals
    with entitlements. A few days ago, Congressman Tim Penny said that
    you're considering issuing an Executive order to curb entitlements. My
    understanding is it would be modeled after the Stenholm entitlement
    budget provision in the House. Can you comment?
        The President. The Stenholm provision basically imposes discipline
    on our budget. It says that if we miss the deficit reduction target in
    any given year in any given category, whatever the category is, whether
    it's general expenditures, revenues, or entitlements, that the President
    will have to come back in with a plan to meet the deficit reduction
    target, and the Congress must vote on it. They don't have to vote
    specifically for that, but they must vote for something. They have to
    vote on it. In the rather arcane rules of the Senate, there is some
    question about whether that provision can go on this budget bill without
    triggering a filibuster and, therefore, requiring 60 percent to approve
    that provision.
        Now, I believe every Republican Senator is for the Stenholm
    amendment, in his or her heart. I believe that, because it is what they
    always say they want: spending discipline. And yet they are threatening
    to filibuster it. Why? Because it makes our bill stronger, because it's
    a real deficit reduction, because it undermines the ability to give
    speeches instead of doing something.
        And so if they don't let the Stenholm provision go on the budget,
    then I will do my best to, by Executive order or through a separate bill
    or through some other measure, to get as much of that discipline as I
    can. I think we should every year--nobody, nobody running a business can
    foresee what's going to happen for 5 years. The networks represented
    here can't do a 5-year budget and estimate with absolute exactitude what
    their revenues are going to be and who will watch what and all that sort
    of stuff. And you ought to make corrections every year, and this is the
    first time the Government's ever committed itself to that. I like it.

    Bosnia

        Q. Mr. President, are you considering the use of war planes over
    Bosnia, not just to protect U.N. peacekeeping forces but also to keep
    the supply lines going and perhaps to stop some of the shelling in
    Sarajevo?
        The President. The best way for me to answer that today is to say
    that nothing has changed since I was asked that question and others
    yesterday. We're still waiting to hear from the U.N. When we do, when we
    make a decision, then I will respond.

    Note: The President spoke at 12:02 p.m. in Room 450 of the Old Executive
    Office Building. In his remarks, he referred to participant Robin
    Dikeman. A tape was not available for verification of the content of
    these remarks.