    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1997, Book II)]
    [July 29, 1997]
    [Pages 1024-1025]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    [[Page 1024]]

    Remarks on the Balanced Budget Agreement
    July 29, 1997

        The President. Good afternoon. Ladies and gentlemen, we have the
    pleasure of announcing today an historic agreement that will benefit
    generations of Americans. Last night we reached agreement with Congress
    on detailed legislation to balance the budget in a way that honors our
    values, invests in our people, and cuts taxes for middle class families.
    After decades of deficits, we have put America's fiscal house in order
    again.
        Above all, we are investing in education, America's most important
    priority. I am particularly pleased that the first balanced budget in a
    generation is also the best education budget in a generation and the
    best for future generations.
        This agreement meets my goal of balancing the budget in a way that
    honors our values, invests in our people, and prepares America for the
    21st century. It is very, very good for our country. It's a victory for
    every parent who wants a good education for their children, for every
    child in a poor household who needs health care, for every immigrant
    struggling to make it here, for every family working to build a secure
    future. It is the best investment we can make in America's future.
        Let me underscore the magnitude of this achievement. Four and a half
    years ago, when this administration took office, America's budget
    deficit was $290 billion and rising. We put in place a comprehensive
    economic strategy to cut the deficit and invest in our people. The
    budget plan adopted in 1993 made a large contribution to today's
    conditions in America: a strong economy, low inflation, and a deficit
    that has already shrunk by more than 80 percent.
        The budget agreement that we announced today would not be possible
    had it not been for the tough vote taken in 1993 to set us on the right
    path. [Applause] Thank you. Now this legislation will help to ensure the
    conditions for continued prosperity, keeping interest rates down and
    spurring investment. And just as important, it will give our people the
    tools to reap the rewards of economic growth.
        Let me mention just a few of the details of this plan. First, at the
    heart of this balanced budget is a historic investment in education, the
    most significant increase in education funding in more than 30 years. It
    includes $35 billion in tax relief to help families pay for college and
    training, the largest investment in higher education since the GI bill
    50 years ago. It will give every American who needs it a HOPE
    scholarship to pay for the first 2 years of college. It gives tax relief
    for all 4 years of college and for education throughout a lifetime. The
    overall budget agreement also includes the largest increase in Pell
    grant scholarships for deserving students in three decades, funds our
    America Reads Challenge, helps to connect all our schools and libraries
    to the Internet by the year 2000.
        As the spending bills move forward in weeks to come, we will work to
    see that they reflect this agreement. I am pleased that this legislation
    also will give communities substantial tax cuts to help to build and
    modernize our schools. All across America, I have challenged our people
    to make sure that every 8-year-old can read, every 12-year-old can log
    on to the Internet, every 18-year-old can go to college, every adult can
    keep learning for a lifetime. This balanced budget makes unprecedented
    progress toward those goals.
        Second, this a balanced budget that strengthens our families by
    extending health insurance coverage to up to 5 million children. By
    investing fully $24 billion, we will be able to provide quality medical
    care for these children, everything from regular checkups to major
    surgery. I want to thank all of the people in the Congress and among my
    fellow Democrats here who worked so hard on the health care issue, but I
    especially want to say a thanks to Senator Kennedy, Senator Rockefeller,
    and to the First Lady for what they have done over these years to help
    us to reach this important day. We want every child in America to grow
    up healthy and strong, and this investment takes a major step toward
    that goal.
        I'm also pleased that Congress agreed to pay for the children's
    health care in part with a new 15-cents-a-pack tax on cigarettes. Not
    only will this new revenue help to pay for health care, it will help
    prevent children from taking up smoking in the first place.

    [[Page 1025]]

        Third, this is a balanced budget that provides modest tax relief to
    the middle class, helping families to raise their children, buy and sell
    a home, save for their retirement with expanded IRA's, and send their
    children to college. We fought very hard to make sure this tax cut
    helped a wide range of middle class parents, all those who are working
    hard to raise their children, pay their taxes, and be good citizens, and
    the agreement does just that.
        Fourth, this is a balanced budget that will help us finish the job
    of welfare reform, providing $3 billion to move welfare recipients to
    private sector jobs, keeping our promise made last year to provide $12
    billion to restore disability and health benefits for 350,000 legal
    immigrants. And, as the Vice President will describe, it will double the
    number of empowerment zones to bring the spark of private enterprise to
    our hardest pressed neighborhoods.
        Finally, this is a balanced budget that honors our commitment to our
    parents by extending the Medicare Trust Fund for a decade and to the
    next generation by continuing our commitment to the environment to
    protect our air, our land, our water, to clean up the worst toxic waste
    sites in the Nation. And we achieve all these goals while eliminating
    the budget deficit by 2002. We are determined never again to repeat the
    mistakes of the past, when we mortgaged our economy to reckless
    policies. This budget reforms and cuts yesterday's Government so that we
    can help provide our people the means to meet the challenges of
    tomorrow.
        Let me thank the negotiators for the administration who did a superb
    job, all the Democratic lawmakers here and, indeed, all of the Members
    of Congress who worked hard on this legislation. I also want to say a
    special word of appreciation to Senator Lott and Speaker Gingrich, to
    Senator Domenici and Congressman Kasich, and to their committee chairs
    who worked with us across the lines of substantial philosophical and
    practical differences to reach a good-faith agreement that is an
    honorable and principled compromise. And especially let me thank
    Senators Daschle and Lautenberg, Congressman Spratt, and Congressman
    Rangel for their leadership.
        This agreement is a monument to the efforts that people of good will
    can make when they put aside partisan interests to work together for the
    common good and our common future. It reflects the values and
    aspirations of all Americans, and I hope and expect it will marshal
    strong majorities of both parties in both Houses.
        This summer we had an historic opportunity to strengthen America for
    the 21st century, and we have seized it. Now our Nation can move forward
    stronger, more vibrant, more united than ever. For that, I am profoundly
    grateful.
        Now I'd like to ask the Vice President to come forward, and let me
    thank you all again for this great, great day.

    [At this point, the Vice President and congressional leaders made brief
    remarks.]

        The President. Wait, wait. We forgot to say one thing. We still have
    to pass this agreement. [Laughter] And so, tomorrow, the next day--and I
    hope it will be over by then--all of us who are for it, in both parties,
    have a solemn obligation to go out there and try to keep moving and keep
    this spirit alive and actually pass it. We are celebrating an agreement.
    We still have to celebrate the passage of the bill and then the signing
    of the bill, and I look forward to being here for that with all of you
    and others as well.
        Thank you very much.

    Note: The President spoke at 2:50 p.m. on the South Lawn at the White
    House.