[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (2000, Book I)]
[January 25, 2000]
[Pages 115-121]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]
Remarks on the Fiscal Year 2001 Federal Budget and an Exchange With
Reporters
January 25, 2000
The President. Hello.
Q. Good morning.
The President. I think it's just afternoon. [Laughter] I'm glad you
all got here; I thought school was canceled today. [Laughter]
Seven years ago, when I came to Washington, our Nation was burdened
with a $290 billion annual deficit, and our national debt had quadrupled
in 12 years. Interest rates were high and growth was low. Vice President
Gore and I set our Nation on a new path of fiscal responsibility,
opening markets, investing in our people and new technologies. We passed
strong deficit reduction packages in both 1993 and in 1997 and made
tough choices in each and every budget. This put the Nation on a course
of fiscal discipline, while continuing to invest in our people and our
future.
Last year I asked the Congress to use every single dollar of our
Social Security surplus to pay down the debt and to use the interest
savings from that debt reduction to lengthen the life of Social
Security.
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Now we see the results of the last 7 years: the first back-to-back
budget surpluses in 42 years; last year's surplus of $124 billion, the
largest in our history. The latest numbers from the Treasury indicate
the surplus for this year will be even larger. In just the last 2 years,
we've already paid down $140 billion of the national debt. Through
unprecedented debt buybacks in the last few weeks, we're able to finance
the debt on the most favorable possible terms.
Over the last 2 years, there have been repeated efforts to push us
off the path of fiscal discipline, with large and irresponsible tax
cuts. Because we've resisted these efforts, our debt is $1.7 trillion
less this year than it was projected to be back in 1993. Now is not the
time to let up on a strategy that is plainly working.
Today I am announcing that because of the choices we have made, the
budget I will submit for 2001 accelerates the date that we will be able
to pay off our debt to 2013, 2 years earlier than we had originally
planned. We will do this by protecting Social Security funds and
dedicating the interest savings to Social Security, allowing us, in
addition to paying off the debt, to extend the solvency of the Social
Security Trust Fund to 2050.
We will also be able to make Medicare secure now, through 2025. And
we will be debt-free for the first time since 1835, when our Nation just
had 24 States and fewer than 15 million people. Our children and their
children will not inherit the crippling burden of interest payments that
we faced 7 years ago.
What does this mean for Americans in their daily lives? Already, the
debt reduction means that American families pay, on average, $2,000 less
per year on their home mortgages, $200 less on a loan for school or for
a car. This new initiative will help even more with loans and credit
card payments. Debt reduction helps everyone by getting the Government
out of competition for loans, which makes interest rates lower overall.
More investment, more jobs, higher wages for Americans result.
It makes us much more competitive in the global economy and less
vulnerable to shocks elsewhere. It helps other nations which really need
to borrow the money to get their economies going, and, in turn, they
will be better trade partners with us.
All of this is good news. But as I have said over and over again,
there is no room for complacency. We got here by making hard choices and
sticking to a strategy that works, that builds opportunity and
reinforces responsibility.
I remain committed to that strategy. I ask the Republican majority
in Congress to put politics aside and join me. We've got so much work to
do in the weeks ahead to make sure that we seize this historic
opportunity.
Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program
I also, before I take your questions, and because of the remarkable
weather you can see outside, would like to say just a word about relief
for the thousands of families that are struggling with increased heating
bills and cold this winter. We've been monitoring the situation daily,
and based on the most recent data it is clear that a release of
emergency funds from the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program is
warranted. Therefore, today I am directing the Secretary of Health and
Human Services to expedite the release of
LIHEAP funds to Alaska and States in the Northeast which have
experienced the greatest hardship. These funds will help keep more
American families safe and warm this winter, and we'll get them out
there just as quickly as we possibly can.
Q. How much?
The President. I don't know yet. We're working on it. We'll put it
out as quick as we know.
Fiscal Year 2001 Federal Budget
Q. Mr. President, why isn't it right for the next President and the
next Congress to put forward such a long-term plan as you're doing
today?
The President. Why isn't it right?
Q. Yes, why shouldn't--Senator Lott says it ought to be for the next
President and the next Congress to do programs like this. This is a very
long-term initiative that you're putting forward today.
The President. You mean the debt relief?
Q. That's exactly right.
The President. Well, I think they ought to follow it. But you've got
to understand, even if we commit to this path, since every year the
Congress will meet, they'll have to recommit to it. But it will be much
easier--what we could do is derail them. If we had adopted, for example,
the tax cut last year, we would have stopped that.
What we're doing, by taking this position, is maximizing the choices
that the next Congress
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and the next President will have. Except--on the Social Security thing,
on debt relief. On Social Security, what I propose will take Social
Security from 2034 to 2050. That is well beyond the life of most baby
boomers. I would like to take it out 75 years. But I presume, based on
what happened last year, that we won't be able to get enough bipartisan
agreement to do that. So there will be plenty for the next President and
the next Congress to do. And they will have to do that, because the life
expectancy is going to go up so exponentially.
And we've already gotten Medicare out 25 years--keep in mind,
Medicare was projected to go broke last year, when I took office. Now
we've got it out to 2025. I think that it is appropriate to add the
voluntary prescription drug benefit, and to take it out a little further
by taking some of the reforms that all of us apparently agree on, based
on the Medicare Commission that had heavy involvement by Senate
Republicans and Democrats. And the Finance Committee's going to take
that up. So there will be plenty for America to do next year and the
years beyond. There always will be.
Terry [Terence Hunt, Associated Press].
Iowa Caucuses
Q. Mr. President, what do you--what's your read on the results from
Iowa? Were you surprised by the margins on both the Democratic and the
Republican side? Can you give us your take?
The President. Well, I think the Republican race was about as I
thought it would be. And I think that the Vice President had a terrific victory last night in Iowa--and, I think,
all the more impressive because he and Senator Bradley, I thought, both ran very substantive campaigns, very
idea-oriented campaigns, and had that whole series of debates, which I
think served the people very well. And I think he should be very proud
of that, his strong effort. And I was very pleased to see that. But I
don't have any real analysis of what happened in the insides of either
one of the campaigns because I didn't follow it that closely.
Q. Well, you've been through this. I mean, as they go into New
Hampshire, how does it affect the dynamic there?
The President. I think it's a plus, but I agree with what the Vice
President said last night, it's important not to overread it. The people
of New Hampshire are very independent. They want to make a good choice.
They understand that to some extent the choice they make affects the
choices that the country has after the New Hampshire primary. And I
think that you'll see all the candidates there really bearing down and
trying to reach the voters, which is what they ought to do.
Elian Gonzalez
Q. Mr. President, are you inclined to sign or veto any possible bill
out of Congress that would grant Elian Gonzalez U.S. citizenship? And do
you think it was a good idea for the two grandmothers to come here to
meet with Congress, or are you concerned that might further politicize
the process as you--[inaudible].
The President. Well, first, I have done my best, as all of you know,
to handle this in a nonpolitical way and to make the judgments for which
the law provides. The judgment that the law provides for the INS to make
is whether the father can properly be declared
the guardian of the child, since the mother was, unfortunately, killed.
And the case is now in court, and I would like to see--at a minimum,
I would like to see this court case played out before the Congress takes
action. I think we ought to try to let the legal system take its course.
I understand that the strong feelings that exist in this country
about the Castro government complicates this. And I know that that
little boy has some relatives in this country who feel very strongly
about that. And I guess his
grandmothers, in coming up here, were
reacting to what they thought about the extent to which the case had
already been politicized.
More than anything else, I wish that somehow--I mean, no one can
really know for sure, I suppose, what terrible and probably not fully
conscious burdens that child has already sustained because he lost his
mother and because now he's being competed for in a way that is unusual
for a 6-year-old child. And I know that--maybe it's just because I'm not
running for anything, but I just somehow wish that whatever is best for
this child could be done. And I know there are people who genuinely
disagree about that, because plainly he would have more economic
opportunity in this country. But all the evidence indicates that his
father genuinely loved him and spent a great
deal of time with him back in Cuba.
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So I think that--you know, what I have tried to do is to set up a
circumstance where the people who were in a position to know the most
and be the least influenced by whatever the political considerations are
would at least have the maximum opportunity to wind up doing what was
right for the child. I hope that somehow we can still find a way to do
that.
Q. For better or worse though--if I could follow up--for better or
worse, though, politics is a reality in this situation.
The President. Yes, it is.
Q. Could you possibly veto any bill that would grant Elian Gonzalez
U.S. citizenship?
The President. I have not decided what to do, and I wouldn't rule
that out. I just haven't decided what to do.
Let me just say for the moment, if you take it out of the
combustible, emotional nature of our relationship with Cuba and
particularly the Cuban-American community in south Florida's
relationship with Cuba, and you think about the issue, one of the things
that I think we all need to think about is, this could happen again. I
mean, this sort of thing could happen again, because you have so many
people coming to our shores from all these different countries and then
shifting governments, shifting policies within countries. And what we do
need is an analysis of whether we have the tools to maximize the chance
that the kids involved and the families involved will be treated fairly,
based on the merits of, particularly, the best interests of the child.
And I think, again--I'm happy to talk to anybody about this and
really try to think this through. I'm just trying to minimize the
politics of it, because I think if you take this one decision out of
context--it's not just Cuba, and it's not just this little boy. There
are likely to be a lot of these things in the future as immigration
flows increase, as upheavals increase elsewhere, and as we know more and
more about what goes on in other countries.
This is something that ought to be thought about. But in my--I
suppose I have tended to think of this child more from a point of view
of a parent than anything else, and I wish I knew more about the facts
even than I do, because I just--this poor kid has already lost his
mother, and whatever happens, I'm sure he's going to carry certain
burdens into his early adolescence that most of us did not carry. And
somehow, whatever happens, I just hope it turns out to be best for him.
He's a beautiful child.
Yes.
2000 Election
Q. Mr. President, in his victory statement yesterday, Governor Bush
seemed to be throwing down the gauntlet against you. He seemed to be
kicking off his major campaign against you. What do you have to say
about that, and do you have a rebuttal? Are you going to do anything
about it?
The President. Well, I have, I guess, two responses. One is, this
campaign is between the candidates and the American people, and they
will evaluate all claims and charges, and they usually get it right.
That's why we're all still around here, after 224 years. They almost
always get it right. And so I'm going to leave most of that to them.
Now, it is an unusual claim that we ought to somehow reject an
approach that has given us the longest economic expansion in history and
the lowest unemployment, welfare, and crime rolls in 30 years, not to
mention the benefits of the family and medical leave law and the Brady
law, which were vetoed in the previous administration. And I agree that
the tax program he's proposed might well undo a lot of that, and he can
make the claim that that's the basis on which the campaign ought to
proceed. But I don't really want to get into an argument with him. He
ought to--I think that ought to be something between him and the other
candidates and the American people.
But I do think it's an unusual thing to say that what we really
ought to do is change what has given us an unprecedented level not just
of economic prosperity but of social progress and social cohesion,
restored credibility of Government, proof that ideas really can matter
to move the people forward. I think that that's a pretty hard argument
to make.
Fiscal Year 2001 Federal Budget
Q. Mr. President, what's your projected surplus for the new budget,
and doesn't that allow room for at least a modest tax cut?
The President. Well, yes. First of all, I'm not--you will see--I
think the Congressional Budget Office, I believe, when they're going to
propose what they think, I think they will show you what the difficulty
here is, because my understanding is, they're going to give you options.
They will show you--that is, they'll
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show you--like every projected surplus, it depends on what you think the
so-called baseline is.
We believe that there has been greater growth, and there will be a
larger surplus than we thought. But we believe--and I intend to propose,
as I did last time, a set of tax cuts that I think are targeted to the
middle class, targeted to sustain our economic growth, targeted to help
lower income people and areas move into the middle class, that will keep
America's economic expansion going.
But I think the most important thing--I will say again, the most
important thing is to keep our fiscal discipline, to keep paying down
the debt, to get the country out of debt, to keep the interest rates
down. Keep in mind, this is saving the average family $2,000 a year on
home mortgage costs. We're--next month, we'll have the longest economic
expansion in history, and long-term interest rates are lower now than
they were in the bad economy of 1991--I mean, 1992. They're lower.
So yes, we can have tax cuts. And yes, every year, and including
next year when I'm not here and the years ahead, we can evaluate what
the situation is. But I do not believe we should have very big tax cuts
that will explode in the second 5 years of a 10-year period and that
ignore what the real investment needs of the country will be.
And that's what I think of this so-called baseline. You know, to use
the '97 baseline and spending caps, when they were totally shredded last
year, as a basis for estimating how you should spend everything else on
a tax cut, means you're going to get back in deficit problems--just for
example.
So yes, we can have a tax cut. It ought to be modest. It ought to be
targeted. It ought to be in the context of fiscal discipline. It ought
not to explode in the second 5 years in a much bigger trajectory than it
takes in the first 5 years.
And again I say--one of you mentioned about decisions that could be
made in the years ahead. You can always make those decisions. If things
keep getting better, then you can do more. But you should always do it
with an eye, in my judgment, toward conservative economic policies and
toward always understanding that those things are easy to do, but
they're difficult to undo if times get tough.
Yes.
Indian Airlines Flight 814 Hijacking
Q. Mr. President, do you now have reason to believe that the
Pakistani Government may have been involved in that airplane hijacking?
The President. No, we don't. We do not, no. I guess the simplest
thing I can tell you is that we do not have evidence that the Pakistani
Government was in any way involved in that hijacking; we don't.
State of the Union Address
Q. Mr. President, on the State of the Union, we know how pumped up
you get for the State of the Union, and I was wondering, considering
that this is your last one, whether there's also a sense of bittersweet,
that it's a bittersweet moment, too.
The President. No, it's not bittersweet; it's nostalgic. One of the
wonderful Navy stewards who works for me said this morning, he said, ``I
can't believe we've been doing this for 7 years.'' [Laughter] And the
time flies when it's a busy time and you're absorbed--excuse me--
absorbed in what you're doing.
I don't feel bittersweet; I do feel some nostalgia. And I think it's
something I'm very much trying to fight off, because I think the
important thing is to keep the attention of the country focused on the
future and to keep my attention and the attention of the administration
focused on the future and the energy level very high. So I am working
with that in mind, and I've worked very hard on the speech, and I'm
still working on it.
Bipartisanship on the Legislative Agenda
Q. Mr. President, you have a long list of things that you'd like to
do. You've been rolling them out for the last couple weeks. There are
things that weren't done last year. Realistically, what are the chances
of any real bipartisan agreements with the Republican Congress?
The President. I think that we have some significant chance of
getting some of the substantive issues through, the Patients' Bill of
Rights, the minimum wage, the gun reforms, the Brady background checks
at the gun shows. I think that there is a better than 50-50 chance that
a lot of the investments I have recommended will eventually prevail. And
I am immensely hopeful about the new markets initiative, which is more
than twice as big in this budget as it was last time, largely because
there is a lot of bipartisan support for it, beginning
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with the Speaker of the House. So I'm
very, very hopeful. You know, there's a part of that that has a special
initiative for the Mississippi Delta, I believe, Senator Lott will support.
So I'm hopeful. I'm going to do everything I can to get as much done
as I can for the American people, and I'm quite hopeful.
Super Bowl XXXIV
Q. Mr. President, we think we know how the Vice President feels, but
what's your pick for the Super Bowl and why? [Laughter]
The President. He can say and get in no
trouble, can't he, because he's from Tennessee. I'm not going to pick
one. But I'll tell you this, I've followed it this year very closely.
There were two great games last Sunday. And what I thought was going to
happen 2 weeks ago I'm no longer so sure will.
Q. Can you say what?
The President. I don't think you can tell which one of them will
win. You've got one that's a very powerful defensive team, Tennessee,
with a capacity for real offense. And then you've got the most powerful
offensive team playing against them, that was stymied last Sunday and
played better defense than I thought they could. So I don't think you
can predict which one of them is going to win this race.
Q. Will you send a play to one of the coaches? [Laughter]
The President. Would I what?
Q. Send a play to one of the coaches?
The President. No, I think they're perfectly capable of doing that
without me. That's kind of like this campaign. You all want to get me
involved in it, but I think the Vice President, Senator Bradley, Governor
Bush, and Senator McCain, they can all do this without me. They're doing fine.
Hillary Clinton's Senate Campaign
Q. Is your wife going to win?
The President. I think so. I think she's done a good job with this,
and she's getting into it. I certainly hope she does. I think it will be
a good thing for New York and a good thing for our country.
Colombia
Q. Mr. President, in regards to the Colombian aid package, are you
worried at all about sending arms down to a country who is now in a
civil war and there's no real guarantee about who will be in power even
in the next 3, 4 years?
The President. Well, I wouldn't go that far. I think, for one thing,
we want to try to preserve and strengthen democracy in Colombia. It's a
very old democracy that's under the greatest stress perhaps in its
history. And there's always a risk, when you go out on a limb to try to
save a neighbor and help people to help themselves, that it won't work.
But I think that--I believe the risks and the investment is
something that we ought to do. And again, I believe that there will be
significant bipartisan support here. I'd be surprised if we don't have
large numbers of Republicans and Democrats supporting this. And I think
we're going into this with our eyes wide open.
One of the things that we have to do is to try to help them gain
some measure of control over their own country again. And if you look at
Colombia, sort of the intersection of the narcotraffickers and the
political rebels, you see a picture of what you might see much more of
in the 21st century world, with sort of the enemies of nation-states
forming networks of support across national borders and across otherwise
discrete interests, like narcotraffickers, organized criminals, and
political terrorists, weapons dealers.
So this will be an interesting test run for what I predict to you
not only our Nation but others in our position will have to face over
the next two decades. And it is something, again, I'm going to work very
hard to build a bipartisan consensus on this, to take this out of
politics, because I believe that this is not only something we should do
for our friend and neighbor and the country that is either the
production or transit point for about 80 percent of the cocaine that
gets dumped in this country; but also, if you will, a test run for the
kind of challenges that my successors and our people will face in the
years ahead.
Thank you.
Iowa Caucuses
Q. Did you miss being in Iowa? I'll bet you did.
The President. A little bit. I did. I love it there. They've been
good to me. But I was interested in it. It's interesting to me to watch
it unfold and watch how the decisions they make--which is why I don't
want you guys to get me into it. This should be their campaigns,
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and they should make the decisions. And we should trust the people.
They'll get it right. They always do.
Thank you.
Note: The President spoke at 12:10 p.m. in the Briefing Room at the
White House. In his remarks, he referred to former Senator Bill Bradley;
Elian Gonzalez, rescued off the coast of Florida on November 25, 1999;
Juan Miguel Gonzalez, Mariela Quintana, and Raquel Rodriguez, Elian's
father and grandmothers; and Gov. George W. Bush of Texas. Indian
Airlines Flight 814, from Kathmandu to New Delhi, was hijacked on
December 24, 1999.