[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1993, Book I)]
[May 29, 1993]
[Pages 778-779]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



The President's Radio Address
May 29, 1993

    Good morning. This weekend, in solemn ceremonies and joyful 
gatherings, families will honor the military personnel who have kept us 
free. In honoring these patriots we honor what is best in the American 
spirit.
    I'll be joining those families at West Point to pay tribute to the 
officers graduating from the military academy, at Arlington National 
Cemetery to lay a wreath and pray for the fallen, and at the remarkable 
memorial to the men and women who died in Vietnam whose names are 
engraved in its polished walls and whose memories are etched in the 
hearts of the American people. These are the heroes who have protected 
our borders, defended our interests, and preserved our values.
    Our military strength makes our freedom possible. But our military 
might depends on our economic strength. Just as our liberty cannot rest 
upon a hollow army, our strong military cannot rest upon a hollow 
economy. Our ability to remain strong abroad is founded on our ability 
to remain strong here at home. For too many years the people in 
Washington in both parties have permitted our strength to ebb. 
Government of gridlock and favoritism for the few has caused our economy 
to lose its historic promise in a time of intense global competition 
when we have to change and when the status quo isn't enough.
    Look at the results of the last several years: middle class families 
working longer hours for lower wages; economic growth in this recovery 
slowing to historically low levels; 9 million Americans out of work in 
the 25th month of what is supposed to be a recovery. Thirty-five million 
Americans go to bed every night facing a serious illness or injury which 
could bankrupt their families because they have no health insurance, and 
many, many millions more fear losing their health insurance if they have 
to change jobs and they have a sick person in their family or if their 
company goes down.
    In the midst of all of these challenges our National Government too 
long has given enormous tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans and special 
interests and, at the same time, reduced investments in areas essential 
to productivity and security of working families. And in our cities, 
small towns, and rural areas, look what's happened. In the last 12 years 
the Government's debt has grown from $1 trillion to $4 trillion, in just 
12 years. And what a burden and shackle it has become.
    The American economy is in the middle of the global marketplace, 
challenged by nations who have made wise investments in their people, 
their workers, and their technological edge, and who have disciplined 
their own spending on other things. If we don't start getting better, we 
can fall behind, and the American way of life will be denied to this 
generation and the next. This is the great struggle of our time. And it 
is a challenge I am determined our country will meet, a battle we will 
win.
    At stake is whether Washington will stop doing business as usual and 
put our own house in order and put our people first, whether we will be 
satisfied with the status quo and let the special interests continue to 
dictate our country's future, or whether we will expand American 
prosperity and preserve the American dream.
    Just this week, the House of Representatives stepped up to the plate 
and voted for change, for growth, for renewal. The House voted for an 
economic program that really reduces the deficit through specific 
spending cuts that will lead to economic growth. They voted for 200 cuts 
in old spending programs, $250 billion in

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deficit reduction through spending cuts alone. We also asked the wealthy 
to pay their fair share because they are able to pay more and because in 
the last 12 years taxes have gone down on the wealthy as their incomes 
have gone up. Of the money we raise in taxes 75 percent of it comes from 
individuals with incomes above $100,000.
    The plan also asks the middle class to make a modest contribution 
through an energy tax. In 1994, a family making $40,000 a year will pay 
a dollar a month; the next year, $7 a month; the next year $17 a month 
when the energy tax is fully phased in.
    Our plan for economic growth is serious about deficit reduction, by 
asking all but the most meagerly supplied working families and the poor 
to make a contribution. We reduce our deficit by $500 billion. That puts 
our fiscal house in order. It pays down the deficit, and at the same 
time, it does something else we have to do: we make a down payment on 
future economic growth, investing in the work skills, the education 
standards, the technologies that our people need to be able to compete 
and win in global markets.
    This plan rewards full-time work instead of lifetime welfare. For 
the first time, this plan will make it possible for us to say to every 
American family, if you work 40 hours a week and you have children in 
the home, you won't be in poverty. That means that people will no longer 
have an incentive to prefer welfare to work. In fact, it will be the 
other way around.
    The House of Representatives deserves our special thanks for passing 
our plan. Now it's time for the Senators to do the right thing as well. 
But unfortunately, even well-intentioned and respected legislators are 
still clinging to the illusions of the past, that somehow there are easy 
ways out of this and no-pain decisions. Then other people in the Senate 
would actually pay for lower taxes on the very wealthy by cutting Social 
Security benefits for older Americans living barely above the poverty 
line. And for working Americans living barely above the poverty line, 
they'd be denied tax benefits so there could be more to upper-income 
people. If we were to protect interest groups from paying their fair 
share of taxes by cutting the earned-income tax credit for low-income 
working Americans, we'd just force millions of low-wage workers back 
into poverty and force many into welfare.
    These ideas would return us to the failed policies of the past, 
policies that increased our deficit, short-changed our future, and put 
narrow interests over national interests. But those days are over. 
Gridlock is out. Growth is in. It's time for the Senate to join the 
House and get with this program.
    This is not about politics. It's about America's future, about 
rebuilding the foundation of our prosperity, about restoring the 
confidence of our people in Washington's capacity to deal with our 
common problems. It's about being strong nationally and about our 
families being secure and strong in their homes and in their lives.
    We're making progress. We're turning things around. We're doing it 
together like a family. On Memorial Day, let's rededicate ourselves to 
our Armed Services who are fighting for our national security and to our 
common economic future which makes that national security possible.
    Thanks for listening.

Note: The address was recorded at 1:27 p.m. on May 28 in the Wyndham 
Franklin Plaza Hotel in Philadelphia, PA, for broadcast at 10:06 a.m. on 
May 29.