[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1993, Book I)]
[July 31, 1993]
[Pages 1251-1253]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks on the Economic Program
July 31, 1993

    Good morning, and welcome to the Rose Garden.
    My fellow Americans, 5 months ago when I addressed the Congress in 
my State of the Union Address, I pledged to the American people that I 
would do my best to change the way Washington works; to revive our 
economy by reducing our deficit; cutting spending; reversing trickle-
down economics and asking the wealthiest Americans to pay their fair 
share of our tax burden; increasing incentives to business to create new 
jobs; helping the working poor to stay out of welfare and stay in the 
work force; and renewing the skills and productivity of our workers, our 
students, and our children. I presented to Congress an economic plan 
designed to achieve those objectives.
    Now the Members of both Houses of Congress are close to deciding on 
a final version of an economic growth plan that meets these objectives. 
The plan will contain the largest deficit reduction plan in our Nation's 
history, about $500 billion, with nearly a quarter of a trillion dollars 
in real and enforceable spending cuts. The plan creates a trust fund in 
which all the spending cuts and all the tax increases are placed and 
dedicated by law for 5 years only to reducing our Nation's debt. Every 
new dollar of taxes will be matched by a dollar of spending cuts. And 
now, thanks to the efforts of the last few weeks, 80 percent of the new 
taxes will come from individuals earning over $200,000 a year, the top 
1.2 percent of our income bracket, people who got most of the economic 
benefits of the 1980's and, unlike most Americans, also received tax 
cuts in that decade. No working family earning less than $180,000 will 
pay a penny more in income taxes. That will be a real change from the 
trickle-down economics of the past dozen years.
    Average families, that is, people with family incomes above $30,000 
and below $180,000, will be asked to pay but one tax, less than a dime a 
day, or about now $33 a year, in an energy tax devoted entirely to 
reducing our deficit. I believe that is a modest and fair price to pay 
for the change we seek and the progress it will bring. I pledged always 
in the beginning of this program to seek the least possible burden on 
middle income taxpayers, and I believe this is the least possible burden 
we can have and still achieve meaningful deficit reduction.
    Because we need the private sector to grow, we also recommended 
investing in the job creating capacity of American business and in the 
education and skills of our people. This plan offers 90 percent of the 
small businesses in the United States of America the chance to actually 
reduce their tax burden if, but only if, they invest more in their 
businesses to strengthen their businesses and their capacity to hire new 
people. The plan offers new incentives, especially to high-tech, high-
growth companies, to invest more in research and development. It

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offers incentives to larger companies to invest more in new plant and 
equipment. It gives a groundbreaking new incentive to people of all 
kinds to invest in new companies to help them grow the economy. A 
significant percentage of new American jobs come from the creation and 
expansion of new enterprises. And this plan will open the door of 
college education to millions of Americans by dramatically changing the 
way the student loan programs works.
    And next week when the national service plan passes, these two plans 
together will enable us to say to the young people of this country: If 
you want to go to college now, you need not fear the costs. You can 
borrow the money, but you won't have to pay it back until you actually 
have a job. And if the job is a lower paying job, you will not be asked 
to pay more than a certain fixed percentage of your income in paying 
back the loan. But this time, you will have to pay it back, because the 
tax system will be used to help collect the loan. And if you want to 
work the loan off, you can do some of that by participating in a program 
of service to your community before, during, or after college. That will 
give us the chance to solve a lot of America's problems and educate a 
whole new generation of young Americans. All this is done without 
imposing harmful cuts on older Americans. We build a better future for 
our children without asking unreasonable sacrifice from their 
grandparents.
    It is time for Congress to pass this plan. It is time for Washington 
to show the courage to change. It is time for the Members of Congress to 
roll back the fog of misinformation that has shrouded this whole debate 
for the last 5 months. To the people who have told the American people 
there is no deficit reduction, there are no spending cuts, and the 
burden is on the middle class, the facts of this plan stand in stark 
contrast. This plan will keep interest rates down and grow the American 
economy.
    This week I had the honor of meeting with many Americans from all 
walks of life who are taking personal responsibility for their families, 
their workplaces, and their country. On Monday, I attended a conference 
that our administration sponsored in Chicago where workers and managers 
talked about how they could work together to improve the quality of 
their goods and services and increase the security of their jobs and 
incomes. I met an executive from Missouri who turned around a failing 
plant by sharing information and giving a sense of ownership to workers 
who previously had been totally shut out of all those decisions. Once he 
did that and the employees understood the big picture, they did better 
at their jobs, they turned the company around. Their jobs and incomes 
were more secure, and they're making money. I met a widow from Detroit 
with no prospect of a job, thinking she would have to go on welfare 
because of her children, perhaps forever. Instead, she found a job as a 
machinist after enrolling in a 6-year advanced training program. When 
she completes that program, instead of being on welfare she'll have the 
equivalent of a master's degree in engineering.
    On Wednesday, I met with more than 60 corporate executives from all 
over America, from all kinds of companies. Many of these executives were 
Republicans who will have to pay higher taxes under this plan. But they 
had made the hard-headed decision that it was important to pass this 
economic plan because they knew that their companies, their 
shareholders, and their country would be better off if we reduced the 
Federal deficit, kept interest rates down, and got investment going back 
into the American economy. As the chief executive officer of one of 
these corporations said, it's time to quit fooling around and act.
    And I want to tell you about one more group of people who are quiet 
heroes of this economy. On Thursday, I met with three families who work 
hard for low wages from the States of Georgia, Kentucky, and Oklahoma. 
Thanks to the earned-income tax credit in our Tax Code, which reduces 
the tax burden on low income workers, they are supporting their children 
instead of going on welfare. Now, this is very important, because 18 
percent, almost one in five, of American workers today actually work for 
wages that will not support a family of four above the poverty line. 
This plan has a revolutionary expansion of the earned-income tax credit 
so that for the first time ever, we can say to American workers: If you 
work full time and you have children in your home, you will not live in 
poverty. The tax system will lift you out of poverty, not drive you into 
it. This is the biggest incentive for people we have ever provided to 
get off welfare and go to work, to reward work and family and 
responsibility. It is not a partisan issue; it is an American issue. And 
it will empower all kinds of Americans to seize a better life for 
themselves.

[[Page 1253]]

    I'm proud a lot of Americans have decided to do what is right for 
themselves and their families. They're looking for new skills, looking 
for new ways to work with their bosses in the workplace. They're 
choosing work over welfare. I'm proud so many people now are tired of 
the old divisions in our country. They don't want to see this country 
divided between labor and management or Democrats and Republicans. They 
want us to unite as Americans.
    As your Senators and Representatives conclude work on this budget, 
I'd like to say a special word to those of you here in the Rose Garden 
and all of those listening to me across the country. The time has come 
to act. Unless the Congress acts on this budget, we cannot remove the 
uncertainty that exists in the economy, we cannot continue to bring 
interest rates down, and we cannot possibly move on to the other 
challenges that await us. We still have to provide security and health 
care to all Americans and bring the cost of health care down within 
inflation. We still have to face the fact that we have to reform our 
welfare system. We still have to pass a crime bill to put 100,000 more 
police officers on the streets over the next 4 years. There are many 
challenges awaiting this Congress and our Nation, and we cannot move on 
unless we pass this plan. And most importantly, we will not have a 
framework within which we can work for jobs and higher incomes for the 
American people.
    If you believe we ought to do it, now is the time to make your 
voices heard. Your Senators and Representatives have been subject to an 
amazing amount of unfair pressure and flat wrong and false information. 
I need your help. Tell your Senators and your Representatives if they 
have the courage to finally bring this deficit down and turn the country 
in the right direction and create jobs, you would appreciate it, you 
will support it, and you will stand with them. Now is the time to act. 
We have talked and dawdled for long enough.
    In 1980, this country had a $1 trillion national debt after 200 
years. Today, it is $4 trillion. We have got to turn this around for our 
children, for our grandchildren. And funny enough, this is something 
that will help us all today, right now, too. I need your help, and I 
hope you'll tell your Senators and your Representatives the time has 
come to move forward.
    Thank you, and good morning.

Note: The President spoke at 8:52 a.m. in the Rose Garden at the White 
House.