[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (2000, Book II)]
[July 22, 2000]
[Pages 1445-1446]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



The President's Radio Address
July 22, 2000

    Good morning. Today I want to talk about securing our economic 
future by keeping our prosperity going and extending its benefits to all 
Americans. For more than 7 years now, our Nation has stuck to a course 
of fiscal discipline. We've made tough choices, paid down the national 
debt, invested in our people. The strategy is clearly paying off, with 
the longest economic expansion and the largest budget surplus in our 
history. Now we have the chance to pass responsible tax cuts as we 
continue to pursue solid economic policy.
    But instead of following the sensible path that got us here, 
congressional Republicans are treating this surplus as if they'd won it 
in the lottery. Although it took 7\1/2\ years to put deficits behind us, 
Congress has already drained more than $900 billion of the projected 
surplus on tax breaks, most of it in just the last few weeks. And 
they've promised to do even more, working from numbers that are nothing 
more than estimates from the future.
    Taken together, the tax cuts passed last year and this year by this 
Congress would completely erase the entire projected surplus over 10 
years. The majority seems to have forgotten that projections in a report 
are not the same as dollars in the bank.
    Think of it: If someone asked you, ``What is your projected income 
over the next 10 years? Now we want you to sign a contract committing 
you to spend every single penny of it right now,'' would you do it? 
Would you spend all your money now and save nothing for retirement or 
emergencies or educating your children? Well, that's exactly what 
congressional Republicans want us to do--sign away a budget surplus we 
don't yet have and may not get.
    In good conscience I cannot sign one expensive tax break after 
another without any coherent strategy for safeguarding our financial 
future. At this rate there will be no resources left for extending the 
life of Social Security or Medicare, a real Medicare prescription drug 
benefit, investing in education, much less getting us out of debt, which 
is so critical to our continued economic health.
    What's more, the Republican cuts provide relatively few benefits for 
the vast majority of our working families. They will provide more relief 
to the top one percent of taxpayers than to millions of working people 
who make up the bottom 80 percent of taxpayers. These tax breaks spend 
hundreds of billions of dollars and give one percent of Americans 
$17,000 a piece, while most Americans get less than $200 each. And tax 
cuts this large will stop us from paying down the debt, thereby raising 
interest rates, which will more than take away the tax cuts most 
Americans get in higher mortgage and interest payments.
    Now, we should have tax cuts this year, but they should be the right 
ones, targeted to working families to help our economy grow, not tax 
breaks that will help only a few while putting our prosperity at risk.
    That's why I've proposed a program of cuts to give middle class 
Americans more than twice the benefits of the Republican plan, at much 
less cost. Two-thirds of the relief of our proposal will go to the 
middle 60 percent of Americans, including my carefully targeted marriage 
penalty relief. My tax cuts would also help send our children to 
college, care for sick family members, pay for child care, ease the 
burden on working families with three or more children. And because my 
tax plan will cost substantially less than the tax cuts proposed by 
Congress, we'll still have enough money to provide a Medicare 
prescription drug benefit, to strengthen Social Security, modernize 
Medicare, and stay on track to be debt-free in 2012.
    In a way, being debt-free is the biggest tax cut of all. If we can 
just keep interest rates one percent lower over the next 10 years, 
that's worth about--way over $250 billion in lower mortgage payments, 
$150 billion in lower car payments, $100 billion in lower student loan 
payments. That will benefit all Americans.
    We have the resources. What we need is a common vision that extends 
beyond the November elections and a commitment to benefit all Americans, 
not just a few. That's why I've asked Congress to work with me on a 
balanced framework for tax cuts, investments, and debt reduction.
    Throughout our history, America has been at its best when we looked 
to the future, when

[[Page 1446]]

we chose the right way instead of the easy way. How we respond to this 
unprecedented moment of prosperity is just as great a test of our values 
and judgment as how we respond to adversity. Today, the right thing is 
for Democrats and Republicans to put election politics aside and work 
together to craft a 21st century budget, a framework for targeted tax 
cuts, responsible investments, and getting us out of debt.
    This surplus comes from the hard work and ingenuity of the American 
people. We owe it to them to make the best use of it--for all of them, 
and for our children's future.
    Thanks for listening.

Note: The address was recorded at 1:45 p.m. on July 21 at the Manza 
Beach Hotel in Okinawa, Japan, for broadcast at 10:06 a.m. on July 22. 
The transcript was made available by the Office of the Press Secretary 
on July 21 but was embargoed for release until the broadcast.