    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1997, Book I)]
    [May 17, 1997]
    [Pages 612-613]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    The President's Radio Address
    May 17, 1997

        Good morning. This morning I want to talk about our new balanced
    budget agreement and the way it expands opportunity through education so
    that we can keep the American dream alive for all our children. When I
    took office 4\1/2\ years ago, America faced growing deficits as far as
    the eye could see. It was a time of economic stagnation and high
    unemployment, in spite of the fact that our businesses and working
    people had done so much to compete in the global economy.
        We moved quickly back then to put in place a new policy, a policy of
    invest and grow, cutting the deficit, investing in our people, opening
    new markets around the world through tough trade agreements. The results
    of that strategy are now clear: We've had 12 million new jobs, the
    highest economic growth in a decade, the lowest unemployment in 24
    years, the lowest inflation in 30 years, the largest decline in income
    inequality since the 1960's, and the deficit has already been cut by 77
    percent, from $290 billion a year when I took office, to $67 billion
    this year.
        We proved that we could make the tough decisions to put our fiscal
    house in order and still protect America's values, especially through
    education. While we were cutting that deficit by 77 percent, we were
    expanding Head Start; supporting States and schools and raising academic
    standards; increasing scholarships and student loans; and lowering the
    cost of repaying back those loans.
        To keep our economy strong, we have to keep that strategy in place
    and finish the job. That's why I'm so proud that we've reached a
    bipartisan agreement to balance the Federal budget for the first time
    since 1969, when President Johnson was in the White House. Thanks to
    leaders in Congress in both parties who led the way, along with my
    negotiators, we have crafted an historic accord.
        What is truly important about this budget agreement is not just what
    it does on the spreadsheet but what it does for our families and our
    futures. It brings the deficit down to zero over the next 5 years while
    reflecting our values and preparing our people for the 21st century:
    preserving and protecting Medicare and Medicaid; extending the Medicare
    Trust Fund for at least a decade without steep premium increases;
    expanding health care coverage to 5 million children who don't have it
    today; protecting our environment, including cleaning up 500 of our most
    dangerous toxic waste dumps, and going forward with our project to
    preserve and restore the Florida Everglades; helping move people from
    welfare to work with tax incentives to businesses to hire people from
    welfare and support for community service jobs in those areas with high
    unemployment; providing tax relief for parents to raise their children
    and send their children or themselves to college; restoring unfair cuts
    in support for legal immigrants who come here lawfully in search of the
    American dream.
        All of those values are important. But to me, the heart of this
    balanced budget agreement is its historic commitment to education. This
    agreement includes the most significant increase in education funding in
    30 years. Even more important, it provides the largest single increase
    in higher education since the GI bill in 1945, more than 50 years ago.
        That landmark legislation gave opportunity to millions of Americans
    and gave birth to our great middle class after World War II. And that
    was my goal for this budget, to dramatically expand opportunity through
    education, to give all our children the tools to succeed in the new
    economy and the new society of the new century.
        Education has always been at the heart of opportunity in America.
    It's the embodiment of everything we have to do to prepare for the 21st
    century. Nothing will do more to open the doors of opportunity for
    exciting new working careers to every American, nothing will do more to
    instill a sense of personal responsibility in every American, and
    nothing will do more to build a strong, united community of all
    Americans. For if we all have the tools we need to succeed, and if we
    all know enough to understand each other and respect, not fear, our
    differences, we can move forward together, as one America, an America in
    which every 8-year-old can read, every 12-year-old can log on to the
    Internet, every 18-year-old can go on to college,

    [[Page 613]]

    and every adult can keep on learning for a lifetime.
        This agreement will fund our America Reads challenge, which will
    mobilize an army of volunteer reading tutors to ensure that every 8-
    year-old can pick up a book and say, ``I can read this all by myself.''
    It includes our technology literacy initiative, to help us finish the
    job of wiring every classroom and school library to the Internet by the
    year 2000 so that children in the poorest inner-city schools, in the
    most remote rural schools can have access to the same vast store of
    knowledge in the same time and the same way as children in the
    wealthiest schools in America.
        It includes $35 billion in tax relief for higher education,
    including our HOPE scholarship for tuition tax credit to make the first
    2 years of college as universal as high school is today and a tax
    deduction for the cost of any tuition after high school. It includes the
    largest increase in Pell grant scholarships for deserving students in
    two decades. At the same time, it expands Head Start, increases job
    training, preserves our commitment to school-to-work initiatives to help
    the young people who don't go on to college get the skills they need to
    succeed when they finish school, and supports our efforts to achieve
    national standards of academic excellence.
        The bipartisan agreement we have reached not only gives us the first
    balanced budget in a generation, it also helps millions of children
    learn to read. It gives millions of Americans tax cuts to pay for
    college. It gives hundreds of thousands more students Pell grant
    scholarships and helps tens of thousands of schools to wire their
    classrooms to the Internet to prepare their children for the world of
    work and raise academic standards to national and international norms.
        This agreement is moving through Congress at an expedited pace. I
    urge the Congress, Members of both parties: Pass the balanced budget and
    pass the biggest and best education bill in America's history. If both
    parties stay true to this historic agreement, if we have the courage to
    eliminate the deficit while significantly expanding education, we will
    enter the 21st century stronger and better prepared for the challenges
    and the exciting opportunities that lie ahead. I ask all Americans for
    your support for our future.
        Thanks for listening.

    Note: The address was recorded at 12:09 p.m. on May 16 in the Roosevelt
    Room at the White House for broadcast at 10:06 a.m. on May 17.