    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1998, Book I)]
    [February 2, 1998]
    [Pages 152-154]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks on Submitting the 1999 Federal Budget
    February 2, 1998

        Thank you very much for that warm welcome. Good morning. Thank you,
    Mr. Vice President, Mr. Bowles, members of our economic team, members of the
    Cabinet, and administration. And I thank the large numbers--large number
    of Members of Congress who have come here today, and others, all of you
    here, for the submission of the first balanced budget in 30 years, one
    that will truly strengthen our Nation for the 21st century.
        This budget marks the end of an era, an end to decades of deficits
    that have shackled our economy, paralyzed our politics, and held our
    people back. It can mark the beginning of a new era of opportunity for a
    new ``American Century.''
        Consider what has been achieved in so short a time. In the 12 years
    before I took office, trickle-down economics led to an explosion in the
    Federal deficit which quadrupled our national debt in only 12 years.
    Government deficits soaked up trillions of dollars in capital that
    should have been used for productive investment. Massive deficits led to
    high interest rates that slowed growth. And massive deficits also
    paralyzed the Congress in their attempts to invest in our future, as we
    spent more and more and more of the taxpayers' dollars just to pay
    interest on the debt we had run up.
        The new economy was being held back by old political ideas and
    arrangements. The deficit was more than an economic reality; it was a
    powerful symbol that Government had simply failed to meet its most basic
    obligations. And doing something about the deficit was one of the
    reasons I ran for President in 1992.
        The day I took office, the deficit was projected to be about $300
    billion for that year. For 5 years, beginning in 1993, as the Vice
    President said, the Congress and the American people have worked
    tirelessly to put our economic house in order; we have worked hard here
    to put our fiscal house in order. The Government is the smallest it's
    been in 35 years. And deficit reduction has given us lower interest
    rates, higher investment, and, I might add, lower unemployment, more
    taxpayers, and more funds to invest in America's future.
        That is the gamble we took in 1993--a gamble now that I thought was
    not such a gamble at all. But it did, as the Vice President said, cost
    several Members of Congress their jobs. Wherever they are today--
    wherever they are--I hope they know and remember that we passed that
    budget in '93 by one vote in the Senate and by one vote in the House; we
    did not have a vote to spare. And everybody that stood up, and
    especially those who lost their seats, can know they gave 14 million
    Americans jobs that would not have been there otherwise and a brighter
    future for all the American people, and I'm very grateful for that.
        I also want to point out, as the Vice President did, that the job to
    be finished and to eliminate

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    the structural deficit came with the balanced budget agreement last
    year. And we should applaud all those in both parties who were part of
    that, because it will not only enable us to achieve a balanced budget,
    it will enable us to maintain a balanced budget long into the future, if
    we stay with the disciplined framework that was embraced last year by
    very large majorities in both Houses of both parties. And that is very
    important. It's one thing to get the deficit down, another thing to hold
    it there. And that balanced budget agreement will not only go from a
    much smaller deficit down to balance but also will hold it there, if we
    stay with the discipline. We have not done all this work to let it go.
        Now, I believe if we will stay with the plan, we can balance the
    budget without further cuts. Indeed, the balanced budget I submitted
    shows we can balance the budget and still hire 100,000 new teachers and
    modernize 5,000 schools. We can balance the budget and allow hundreds of
    thousands of middle-aged Americans who have no health insurance through
    no fault of their own to buy into Medicare. We can balance the budget
    and still extend child care to a million more children. And above all,
    we can balance the budget and save Social Security first.
        In other words, it is obvious that you can have a smaller Government
    but a more progressive one that gives you a stronger America. We've done
    more than simply balance the budget, more than just line up numbers on a
    ledger. We have restored the balance of values in our policy, restored
    the balance of confidence between Government and the public. Now, we'll
    have a balanced budget not only next year but as far as the eye can see.
        We have to use this opportunity to build a stronger America. And
    let's just talk about that. First and foremost, we project that the
    budget will not only balance, it will actually run a surplus of $9.5
    billion next year and over $200 billion over the next 5 years, fully $1
    trillion over the next 10 years. This budget reserves that surplus--I
    want to say it again--this budget reserves that surplus, saving it until
    we have taken the steps necessary to strengthen Social Security into the
    next century.
        One of the reasons that balancing the budget has been hard is that
    we have insisted on a balanced budget that honors our values. Finding a
    way to reduce red ink without shrinking the circle of opportunity has
    been at the heart of our efforts. And when we started, most people said
    you couldn't do it. They said there is no way to cut the rest of
    Government enough to reduce the deficit and increase investment in
    important areas. But that is an important achievement as well.
        Now it is most important of all that we balance the budget while
    renewing our commitment to save Social Security. When I left Washington
    last week and went to Champaign, Illinois, and La Crosse, Wisconsin, I
    was moved by the strength and depth of the American people's priority
    for the surplus they created. I think they want us to save Social
    Security first, as well. And I hope all of you, and Members of Congress
    in both parties, will support that.
        We have a great opportunity now to take action now to avert a crisis
    in the Social Security system. We have a great opportunity now to be
    able to tell all these young people who are shadowing their Cabinet and
    administration leaders that Social Security will be there for them when
    they retire. We have a great opportunity, those of us in the baby boom
    generation, to tell our own children that when we retire and start
    drawing Social Security, it isn't going to bankrupt them to take care of
    us and undermine their ability to take care of their own children. We
    need to do this. We don't need to take any shortcuts; we don't need to
    take any short-term benefits. Before we do anything with that surplus,
    let's save Social Security first. [Applause] Thank you.
        The budget continues our efforts at education reform. As I said, it
    enables us to hire 100,000 new teachers working with States, to reduce
    class size to an average of 18 in the first, second, and third grades,
    and to help modernize or build 5,000 schools. It helps to give our
    parents the tools they need to meet their responsibilities at home and
    at work, among other things allowing people between the ages of 55 and
    65 who lose their health insurance to buy into the Medicare program. It
    includes a breakthrough investment in child care through tax credits,
    vouchers for States, scholarships for caregivers.
        It will help America to meet its obligations in international
    leadership, meet our obligations to stabilize the world's financial
    markets, to pay our dues to the United Nations, to continue our support
    of our military so that our men and women in uniform can continue to do
    the job for us.

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        It will provide tax cuts in research and development to help meet
    the challenge of global climate change in a way that enables us to grow
    the economy while actually improving the environment. It continues to
    support our urban empowerment strategy, bringing more private sector
    investments to our hardest-pressed cities and neighborhoods while
    continuing to put 100,000 police officers on the streets and giving our
    children something to do after school, so more of them can stay out of
    trouble and on a path to success.
        It will leave to future generations the gift of scientific and
    medical advances. The 21st century research fund, the largest funding
    increases ever for the National Institute of Health, the National
    Science Foundation, and the National Cancer Institute, will speed the
    progress of biomedical breakthroughs in the fight against many of our
    deadliest diseases.
        The budget funds these initiatives by continued cuts in Government
    programs, by closing unwarranted tax loopholes, and from the passage of
    tobacco legislation, which, as every passing day shows, is critically
    important to the future of our children and therefore of our country.
        This budget meets the test I set out before Congress last week: no
    new spending initiatives, no new tax cuts unless they can actually be
    accomplished without adding a dime to the deficit. For more than two
    centuries, Americans have strengthened our Nation at every critical
    moment with confidence, unity, a determination to meet every challenge.
    For too long, the budget deficit, a worsening crime wave, the seemingly
    unsolvable welfare difficulties--they all seemed to challenge our innate
    American confidence. In the past 5 years, the American people have met
    these challenges and have moved to master them. Now we have a chance, in
    a period of peace and prosperity with renewed confidence, to build for
    the future. That's what this balanced budget does.
        Now, it is--I am going to close my remarks now by asking the Vice
    President to give me a magic marker so that
    I can be the first person to actually certify what the budget will say
    for the coming year. Even we can do this. I am technologically
    challenged; therefore, we're not doing this on a computer. [Laughter]

    Note: The President spoke at 10:44 a.m. in the East Room at the White
    House. At the end of his remarks, he wrote ``$0!'' on a poster labeled
    ``1999 Deficit.''