    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1995, Book I)]
    [February 6, 1995]
    [Pages 163-165]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks on the 1996 Budget
    February 6, 1995

        Good morning. Today I am pleased to announce our administration
    budget for fiscal year 1996. This budget, of course, is not a beginning
    but a continuation, the next important step in our coordinated economic
    strategy to bring discipline back to Government and to help strengthen
    the American dream for all of our people.
        I want to thank the economic team which has worked so hard to put
    this budget together. The Vice President, Secretary Rubin, CEA Chair
    Tyson, and Director Rivlin will talk today, but there are others who
    have also worked very, very hard on this budget.
        This budget, like the two that preceded it, is based on the New
    Covenant I advocated when I ran for President. We're creating a leaner,
    not a meaner, Government, one which offers more opportunity to those who
    are taking responsibility for themselves, their families, and their
    communities.
        None of this was being done when we came here 2 years ago. At that
    time, we faced slow economic growth, inadequate investment, very low
    levels of job creation, a deficit that was nearly $300 billion and
    projected to go over $400 billion a year by the end of the decade. The
    annual deficit and the total national debt had quadrupled in the 12
    years before I took office.
        In 2 years, we have turned that around. In 1993, we passed the
    single largest deficit reduction package in American history, reducing
    the deficit over 5 years by $505 billion. When you take into account
    improved performance of the economy and reduced interest rates in 1993,
    the deficit reduction will exceed $600 billion over this 5-year period.
        We did it by returning something to Washington that had been missing
    for too long, real discipline and honest numbers in the budgeting
    process. We did it, unfortunately, last year and the year before without
    any votes from members of the other party. And I hope now we will be
    working together to keep the deficit under control and keep the economic
    growth going.
        We cut the Federal Government by more than 100,000 positions in the
    last 2 years. We're on the way to reducing it, with laws already passed,
    by 272,000 positions, making it the smallest it's been in more than 30
    years. We cut taxes for 15 million working families, with 40 million
    Americans in it, about an average of $1,000 apiece for families of four
    with incomes under $26,000 this year. We made 9 of 10 of our small
    businesses eligible for tax reductions. We invested in the tools our
    people need, in education, in training and technology. We did more to
    open markets in the last 2 years than in any previous period in a
    generation.
        The results are clear. The deficit that 2 years ago was projected to
    be over $400 billion a year by the end of the decade is now under $200
    billion. It's going down for 3 years in a row for the first time since
    Truman was President. The economic plan we have already passed will cut
    the deficit in half as a percentage of our economy. We have almost 6
    million new jobs, the biggest year in economic growth in 1994 in a
    decade, with 93 percent of those jobs in the private sector. That's the
    largest percentage of private sector job growth in 50 years. We have the
    lowest combined rate of unemployment and inflation in 25 years. I am
    proud of this record, and the budget we send today builds on that
    foundation.
        In the third year of our strategy we are adding $81 billion more to
    deficit reduction. That's nearly $600 billion in real deficit cuts. And
    in addition to that, of course, there is more, as I said, coming as a
    result of the economic growth of the last 2 years.
        This budget provides more than a dollar in deficit reduction for
    every dollar that goes into the tax cuts I will discuss in a moment. If
    Congress gives me the line-item veto, I will find even more cuts.
        The budget already provides $144 billion in hard budget savings.
    Behind me, you can see in black and white the 400 programs that this
    budget will eliminate or consolidate: the termination of about 130
    programs here and over here, the consolidation of 270 more--those 271
    programs will be distilled down into 27. We are also restructuring five
    major agencies as part of the second round of reinventing Government the
    Vice President will discuss in a moment, to save $23 billion. And our
    reinventing Govern-

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    ment effort is looking at all the other agencies for further
    opportunities that might emerge in the course of the budget debate this
    year.
        Now, we're not cutting Government blindly. We're clearing away
    yesterday's Government to make room for the solutions to the problems we
    face today and tomorrow. We still have to keep investing to raise the
    living standards of our people. Despite all the progress we have made,
    there are still too many Americans who are working harder for less.
    That's why the centerpiece of this budget for me is the middle class
    bill of rights. It will help keep the American dream alive for everyone,
    by lowering taxes in ways that encourage investment in the future. It
    will increase the incomes of people who have not benefited from this
    recovery in both the short term and the long term.
        There are four provisions: first, a tax deduction for the cost of
    education and training after high school; second, a $500 tax cut for
    children under 13; third, the ability to put money into an individual
    retirement account and withdraw the money tax-free for education, for
    health care costs, for the care of an elderly parent, for the purchase
    of a home for the first time; and fourth, the proposed ``GI bill'' for
    American workers, which collapses 70 Federal training programs, gets rid
    of the bureaucracy that goes with them, and instead gives a voucher
    worth $2,600 a year in cash to workers who are unemployed or who have
    low wages and are eligible for Federal training assistance so that they
    can take the money to the nearest approved training program that they
    choose.
        This budget also continues our investments in other crucial areas,
    from education and training, including more money for Head Start and our
    investments in technology and our continued expansion of the national
    service program, which has done so much good in a completely
    nonbureaucratic way. It strengthens our fight against crime. It does not
    cut overall spending from the commitments of the crime bill last year.
    And it provides the most comprehensive immigration plan to fight illegal
    immigration that any administration has produced. It stiffens our
    enforcement. It increases our capacity to deport illegal immigrants,
    particularly those who commit crimes. It increases our ability to move
    in the workplace and to identify those who are in the workplace who
    should not be.
        It provides critical resources to keep America engaged in the world.
    And it helps us to continue to maintain the finest military in the
    world. As all of you know, a few weeks ago I asked that we increase
    defense spending over the next 6 years by $25 billion to improve our
    training and quality-of-life components in the Department of Defense
    budget. We need to do that to support a strong and steady military.
        This budget supports our efforts to reduce the risk of nuclear war
    and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. It provides
    funding to promote peace and to maintain democracy and free markets in
    crucial places throughout the world. It provides funds to continue our
    efforts to break down barriers to the international trading system,
    which mean more and better jobs if we succeed.
        The only way to make these investments in our future is to make
    tough choices, and this budget makes them specifically and clearly.
    Every single one of these proposals is paid for with specific spending
    cuts. Anyone can offer a tax cut or propose investments. The hard part,
    of course, is paying for them.
        I challenge the leadership of the Congress to do what we have done,
    to provide the taxpayers with specific and real details about the
    proposals they make, and then to work with us to get a budget that
    furthers the interests of all the American people.
        Americans deserve to know. It is their futures, their families that
    are at stake. They deserve to know what will happen to programs they
    care about, like Social Security and Medicare; what their opportunities
    will be for educating their children and whether they'll be enhanced or
    reduced; what we're doing about the poorest and most vulnerable children
    in our society--are we increasing our investment in their Head Start, in
    their nutrition programs, or not?
        My budget cuts spending, cuts taxes, cuts the deficit, and does not
    cut education or Social Security or Medicare. That is a good budget. It
    continues to reduce the deficit without undermining the things that I
    believe the Federal Government should be doing. And I wish to work with
    the new Congress to achieve these objectives. I hope that they will
    submit budgets which do the same.
        Our test should be, as we go into this budgeting process: Do our
    decisions expand opportunities and incomes for the vast mass of middle
    class Americans? Do our decisions promote the values of responsibility
    and family and community? Do our decisions contribute to strengthen-

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    ing the American economy in the new global economy? If we propose a tax
    cut, have we paid for it?
        I am proud to say that this budget meets all those tests. And I call
    on the 104th Congress to give it serious consideration and to enact it.
        Now I'd like to ask the Vice President to come forward and talk
    about the specific cuts and consolidations that we have recommended.
        Thank you very much.

    Note: The President spoke at 10:35 a.m. in Room 450 of the Old Executive
    Office Building.