[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.