    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1993, Book II)]
    [August 5, 1993]
    [Pages 1343-1344]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks on House of Representatives Action on the Economic Program
    August 5, 1993

        Thank you very much. I want to congratulate the Members of the House
    and their leaders for breaking gridlock tonight and entering a new era
    of growth and control over our destiny. In

    [[Page 1344]]

    the future, the American people will thank them for their commitment to
    moving away from the horrendous legacy of debt, underinvestment, and
    slow growth of the 1980's and putting the national interest ahead of the
    narrow interest, putting tomorrow ahead of today's pressure.
        The margin was close, but the mandate is clear. I will continue to
    fight for this economic package with everything I have. And I urge the
    Members of the Senate to act on it in a positive way tomorrow. The fight
    is still on, and we have just begun to fight.
        This economic plan represents an important first step in changing
    America. For the first time in a very long time we are making a
    meaningful downpayment on the Federal deficit, with deep spending cuts
    locked away in a trust fund that cannot be spent for anything else. For
    the first time in a dozen years the tax burden that is a part of the
    deficit reduction trust fund will be borne largely by those best able to
    bear it, with 80 percent of the new revenues coming from those with
    incomes above $200,000. And still, there will be shared contributions.
    The middle class is asked to make a modest contribution to paying down
    the deficit and growing the economy. For the first time in a decade we
    are making a serious effort to invest in our children, reward work over
    welfare, strengthen our families, and give genuine incentives to
    business to grow new jobs. These incentives are very, very important
    because the purpose of bringing the deficit down is to keep interest
    rates down, be able to control our financial destiny, and permit people
    with the right incentives to put the American people back to work.
        Finally, as I said, this is just a first step to putting our
    financial house and our economic house in order. This program is shared
    sacrifice for shared benefit. We're all in this together, but we have
    just begun.
        If the Senate acts favorably tomorrow, and as soon as the August
    recess is over, I am committed to further steps for discipline in the
    Federal budget, in getting rid of unnecessary spending and waste,
    including reenacting the controls that the House originally passed and
    that I embodied in my Executive orders of yesterday. After that, we will
    move on to the Vice President's report on reinventing Government, which
    will contain a myriad of exciting possibilities for making the
    Government more efficient and reducing unnecessary and inefficient
    spending.
        Then we will move on to deal with the health care issue, to provide
    the security of affordable health care to all families and to lower the
    growth in health care costs over the long run, without which we will
    never bring this budget into balance or restore real financial health to
    the private sector. Then there is the process of ending welfare as we
    know it, making our streets safer, and most important of all, putting
    all this together in a program to restore jobs and growth for the
    American people.
        We have set our sights high, but for 20 years our people have
    struggled harder on stagnant wages with too little investment and too
    few new jobs and exploding debt. For 12 years we have tried trickle-down
    economics while the debt went up and investment went down. Now we want a
    new direction to invest and grow this economy.
        We began by seizing control of our destiny on a daily basis with
    this heroic vote today by the House of Representatives. I congratulate
    those who voted. I urge the Senate to follow their lead. And I look
    forward to continuing the battle tomorrow.
        Good evening.

    Note: The President spoke at 10:55 p.m. in the Rose Garden at the White
    House.