    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1997, Book I)]
    [May 16, 1997]
    [Pages 605-607]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks on the Budget Agreement and an Exchange With Reporters
    May 16, 1997

        The President. Good morning. Less than 2 weeks ago, the Vice
    President and I joined with leaders of Congress in announcing a truly
    historic agreement, a bipartisan agreement to balance the Federal budget
    for the first time in nearly three decades. We knew that only by
    finishing the job of putting our fiscal house in order could we keep our
    economy thriving for all Americans. And I knew that because of all the
    progress we've made in the last 4\1/2\ years, we could balance America's
    books while protecting America's values and preparing the American
    people for the 21st century. Last night we took the next significant
    step toward writing the spirit and substance of that agreement into the
    law.
        I want to begin by thanking Chairman Domenici, Chairman Kasich,
    Senator Lautenberg, and Congressman Spratt for their hard work and their
    earnest commitment to sticking with this very difficult process to put
    our balanced budget agreement in writing. I know from my own negotiating
    team that we would not be here today without their good faith and good
    efforts, and I am deeply grateful to them.
        I also want to thank the congressional leadership who supported this
    process. And I'd like to thank the people who are here: the Vice
    President; Erskine Bowles, who's still a pretty good negotiator even
    though he's left his beloved private sector; Secretary Rubin; Deputy
    Secretary Summers; OMB Director Frank Raines; NEC Director Gene
    Sperling; our CEA Chair, Janet Yellen; and John Hilley, who handles our
    congressional relations and had one of the most difficult and demanding
    jobs of his life in the last few weeks; OMB Deputy Director Jack Lew.
        I'd like to also thank all the people who are here from OMB,
    Treasury, and perhaps from other agencies who were the team that put the
    numbers together, that made this agreement possible. Thank you. You
    ought to give yourselves a hand. [Applause] You did a great job. Thank
    you.
        We have finalized a detailed description of the agreement reached 2
    weeks ago. The document is already before the relevant congressional
    committees who are now moving the balanced budget resolution through the
    legislative process at an expedited pace. This agreement will keep in
    place the economic strategy that has served our Nation so well for the
    last 4\1/2\ years.
        When I took office, I was determined to reverse the failed policies
    of the past. Back then, we faced growing deficits as far as the eye
    could see. It was a time of economic stagnation and high unemployment.
    We moved quickly in 1993 to put in place a policy of invest and grow:
    cut the deficit, invest in our people, open new markets around the world
    through tough trade agreements.
        We are now in the 4th year of the disciplined, tough, 5-year
    economic strategy we put in place in 1993. The results of the strategy
    are now clear and no longer subject to reasonable debate: 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 been cut already
    by 77 percent. Our economy is now the envy of the world.
        That progress has brought us to this rare moment in history and made
    it possible for us to balance the budget in a way that balances our
    values. America needs a balanced budget that is in balance with our
    values, that protects Medicare and Medicaid, education and the
    environment, that gives tax relief to working families, and that
    prepares our people for the 21st century. That is exactly what this
    budget does.
        What is important about the agreement is not only what it does on a
    spreadsheet but what it will do for our families and our future. It
    keeps our fundamental commitments to our parents, preserving and
    protecting Medicare for at least a decade, without steep premium
    increases. Because of this agreement, 5 million American children will
    have health care who do not have

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    it today. The agreement protects our air, our water, and our land for
    future generations. I'm especially pleased that it includes the funds to
    clean up 500 of our most dangerous toxic waste sites and to go forward
    with our commitment to preserve and restore the Florida Everglades.
        It helps to move people from welfare to work by providing tax
    incentives to businesses to hire welfare recipients and support for
    community service jobs in areas of high unemployment. It restores unwise
    cuts made last year and restores fair treatment to immigrants who
    legally come to America for the promise it provides. It gives middle
    class families tax relief to help sell a home, raise their children, and
    send those children to college. In each of these ways, it honors our
    values.
        At the very heart of this agreement, however, is its historic
    investment in 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 the American middle class. That was my goal for this
    budget, to dramatically expand opportunity through education and give
    all our children the tools they need to succeed in a new economy in a
    new century.
        That is why I insisted that this balanced budget also be America's
    education budget. It not only puts our fiscal house in order, it opens
    the schoolhouse door wider than ever before, with $35 billion in tax
    relief for higher education, including our HOPE scholarship tuition tax
    credit to make 2 years of education after high school as universal as a
    high school education is today, and tax deductions for all the costs of
    tuitions after high school.
        It includes the largest increase in Pell grant scholarships for
    deserving students in three decades. It helps to raise standards in our
    schools. It funds our America Reads challenge to make sure every 8-year-
    old can read independently. It helps to bring the information age to our
    schools so that we can meet the goal that the Vice President has worked
    so hard for, to connect all of our schools and libraries to the Internet
    by the year 2000.
        All across America last year, I said I wanted a nation in which
    every 8-year-old would be able to read, every 12-year-old could log on
    to the Internet, every 18-year-old could go to college, every adult
    could keep on learning for a lifetime. This balanced budget takes a
    major stride toward these goals. This is not only the first balanced
    budget in a generation, it is an American balanced budget that protects
    our values for future generations.
        So I say to all Members of Congress of both parties, take this
    balanced budget agreement and write it into law. If we stay true to this
    historic agreement, if we have the courage to eliminate the deficit
    while dramatically expanding opportunity through education, we will
    enter the 21st century stronger and better prepared for the challenges
    and the opportunities that lie ahead.
        Thank you very much.

    Budget Agreement

        Q. Mr. President, 2 weeks ago we were told that there was a deal,
    and there was much hoopla. We came to find out at that point that, if I
    may use the egg analogy, that the shell was relatively thin. How much
    thicker is the shell now, and can this egg still crack up, so to speak?
        The President. Well, first of all, I think we did have a deal 2
    weeks ago. And I think the fact that we've reached agreement in writing
    on the details is evidence that there was one.
        But when you agree on broad principles and you have long hours of
    negotiations, there's still some difficulties involved in writing the
    details of the agreement down, making sure everybody remembers it the
    same way, that you've got the kind of accord you need. So this is a huge
    step forward because now we have a much more detailed agreement
    committed to writing.
        Wolf [Wolf Blitzer, CNN].

    Late-Term Abortion Legislation

        Q. Mr. President, I wonder now that the Senate has rejected Senator
    Daschle's compromise proposal on the late-term abortion procedure, I
    wonder if there is any way that you think language could be crafted that
    would avoid your having to veto Senator Santorum's legislation once
    again?
        The President. Well, of course. I have nothing to add to what I have
    said on this all along. What I need to do is to be convinced that no
    woman will be grievously harmed by this legislation and that no woman
    will be put in the position, for example, of being so harmed

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    that she will never be able to have further children because of this
    legislation. You know what my concerns are; I've made them abundantly
    clear.
        I must say, I regret that Senator Daschle's legislation did not pass
    because it would have reduced the number of abortions by far, far more--
    light-years more than the Santorum bill. The Santorum bill may not
    reduce the number of abortions by one.
        So what we don't want to do is to, in effect, not reduce the number
    of abortions in the third trimester, which the Supreme Court permits us
    to do and which I've invited the Congress to do ever since I got here,
    and at the same time put a lot of women's health at risk in a way that
    is unwise and unconstitutional.

    Zaire

        Q. Mr. President, what are you thoughts on Mobutu losing power in
    Zaire?
        The President. Well, I want to make a couple of points on it. It
    does appear that he has left Kinshasa. The United States position is
    clear: We want to see a transition to a genuine democracy. The second
    point I want to make is that President Mandela of South Africa has done
    a superb job of exercising leadership in this area, and the United
    States is supporting him and his efforts. And I want the whole world to
    get behind the leadership that Nelson Mandela is showing there and to do
    what we can to support Africa in taking one of the largest and most
    important nations in Africa and promoting a democratic transition. That
    is what I think is important.
        Thank you very much.

    Note: The President spoke at 11:25 a.m. in the Rose Garden at the White
    House. In his remarks, he referred to President Mobutu Sese Seko of
    Zaire and President Nelson Mandela of South Africa.