    [Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 29, Number 31 (Monday, August 9, 1993)]
    [Pages 1523-1525]
    [Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

    <R04>
    The President's Radio Address

     July 31, 1993

        Good morning. Five months ago in my State of the Union Address to
    Congress, I pledged to the American people that I would do my best to
    fulfill the campaign commitment of 1992 to change the way Washington
    works. That means reviving our economy by reducing our deficit; cutting
    spending; reversing trickle-down economics by asking the wealthiest
    Americans to pay their fair share of taxes; increasing incentives to
    business to create new jobs; helping the working poor; and renewing the
    skills and productivity of our workers, our students, and our children.
        Now the Members of both Houses of Congress are preparing to decide
    on a final version of my economic growth plan that meets the objectives
    I discussed when I presented it 5 months ago. This plan will contain the
    largest reduction in our deficit in the Nation's history. With nearly
    one quarter of a trillion dollars in real, enforceable spending cuts,
    every new dollar of taxes will be matched by a dollar of spending cuts.
    And 80 percent of the new taxes now will be raised from individuals
    earning over $200,000 a year. No working family earning less than
    $180,000 will pay more in income taxes. That will be a real change from
    the trickle-down economics of the past dozen years. The average family
    will pay only one tax, less than a dime a day in an energy tax devoted
    entirely to deficit reduction. That's about $33 a year for a family of
    four with an income of $40,000 or $50,000 a year. I think that's a
    modest and fair price to pay for the change we seek and the progress
    we're making. We pledged to have the light-

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    est possible burden on the middle class; and I think that, we have done.
        Because we need the private sector to grow, the plan provides
    investments in job-creating capacities of American business and in the
    education and skills of our people. For example, the plan supports small
    business by dramatically increasing the tax incentive they get to invest
    in their own operations. Under this plan, more than 90 percent of the
    small businesses in America will actually be eligible for a reduction in
    their taxes. The plan also gives other incentives to business for new
    plant and equipment, to invest in research and development for high-tech
    firms, to invest in new fast-growing firms that create so many of our
    jobs. And perhaps most important to many middle class families, this
    plan opens the doors of college for millions of families by reforming
    the student loan program and making college affordable again to all
    Americans.
        We do all this without imposing harmful cuts on programs that
    benefit older Americans, and building a better future for our children
    without asking unreasonable sacrifice from their grandparents. It's time
    for Congress to pass this plan. It's time for Washington to show the
    courage to change, just as people all across America are showing that
    kind of courage.
        This week I had the honor of meeting with many Americans who are
    taking personal responsibility for making their lives and our country
    even better. On Monday, I attended a conference in Chicago where workers
    and managers talked about how they can work together to improve the
    quality of their goods and services, increase the strength and security
    of their own jobs and incomes. I met an executive from Missouri who
    turned around a failing plant by sharing information with employees
    about the company's performance. When the employees understood the big
    picture, they did even better at their jobs. And I met a woman from
    Detroit who got a job as a machinist after enrolling in a 6-year
    advanced training program. When she completes the program, she'll have
    the equivalent of a master's degree in engineering.
        On Wednesday, I met with more than 60 corporate executives who
    support my economic growth plan. Many of them are Republicans who will
    have to pay higher taxes under the plan. But they made the hard-headed
    economic decision that their companies, their shareholders, and their
    country will be better off with this economic plan because it means
    lower deficits, lower interest rates, and a more stable environment to
    grow. As the chief executive officer of one of these corporations said,
    it's time to quit fooling around and pass the plan.
        And I want to tell you about one more group of people who are quiet
    heroes in our economy. On Thursday, I met with three families who work
    hard for low wages. Thanks to the earned-income tax credit, which under
    this plan reduces the tax burden on low income workers, they can support
    their children without going on welfare. This plan increases that
    earned-income tax credit so that we can finally tell every working
    parent in America: If you work full time and you have children at home,
    we will lift you out of poverty. This will have more to do with
    encouraging people to get off welfare and go to work than anything else
    we've done.
        I'm proud that so many people have the courage to learn new skills,
    to choose work over welfare, to look beyond the old divisions between
    labor and management, between Democrats and Republicans, to the things
    that unite us as Americans. These people are ready to change.
        As your Senators and Representatives conclude work on our budget,
    I'd like to say a special word to each of you listening to me today.
    There's been a lot of misinformation about this economic plan. Now you
    know the truth: $500 billion in deficit reduction, equally divided
    between cuts and revenues; 80 percent of the new revenue is going to the
    top 1.2 percent of our people; a trust fund so that all the money goes
    to reduce the deficit; real investments to help the working poor, to
    help middle class families sending their children to college, without
    undue cuts on the elderly.
        This is a new economic direction for our country. If you want it, if
    you want the jobs it will provide and the growth for our economy, you
    must make your voices heard. Tell your Senators and Representatives that
    this

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    plan, with its deficit reduction, with its lower interest rates, with
    its investment in private sector jobs, means more jobs and a better
    future for America, and it is time to pass it.
        Thank you for listening.

    Note: This address was recorded at 8:40 a.m. in the Oval Office at the
    White House for broadcast at 10:06 a.m.