[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (2000, Book II)]
[September 21, 2000]
[Pages 1892-1893]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Statement on the Federal Budget Surplus
September 21, 2000

    Today the Department of the Treasury is announcing that for the 
first 11 months of this year the surplus stands at a record $171 
billion, more than twice the surplus at this time last year. In total, 
we are on track to pay off a record $360 billion of publicly held debt 
over the last 3 years, including over $220 billion in this year alone.
    This dramatic fiscal progress did not happen by accident. A long-
term commitment to tough choices and fiscal discipline, not to short-
term political gestures, has helped put America on track to pay down the 
debt by 2012. The majority in Congress should not jeopardize the longest 
economic expansion in history by failing to adopt our long-term strategy 
to make America debt-free for the first time since 1835.
    Let's work together to invest in our future by strengthening Social 
Security and Medicare, including a voluntary, affordable Medicare 
prescription drug benefit, making investments in key priorities like 
education, and putting America on course to be debt-free for the first 
time since Andrew Jackson was President.

[[Page 1893]]