[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

[[Page 1525]]

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.