[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 32, Number 34 (Monday, August 26, 1996)]
[Pages 1459-1461]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
The President's Radio Address

August 17, 1996

    Good morning. This year the American people are being offered a 
clear choice of economic plans, two very different visions of how to 
help our economy grow. This morning I want to talk with you about my 
plan for our Nation's economy, about the differences between my plan and 
the plan offered by our opponents, and how we can keep the American 
dream alive as we move toward the 21st century.
    This is a very hopeful time for our country. Our Nation's enduring 
mission is to give every American opportunity, to demand responsibility 
from all of our citizens, and to come together as a community. We must 
go forward into this new century together.
    One of the things that helps us is a growing economy. A growing 
economy helps make all those values--opportunity, responsibility, and 
community--real for our families, our children, for all Americans.
    As America prepares itself for the possibilities of the new century, 
they seem unlimited. But 4 years ago that wasn't so clear. Our economy 
was drifting then. New jobs were scarce; unemployment was 7.7 percent. 
Our budget deficit was at a record high and growing.
    I took office determined to set our country on a new course, and 
that is what we did, cutting the deficit by 60 percent, investing in our 
people, expanding exports to record levels. And today we see the 
results. America is making more cars than Japan for the first time in a 
decade. We have 900,000 new construction jobs. There are hundreds of 
thousands of businesses owned by women. In fact, now, one in three 
businesses are owned by a woman.
    Four point four million Americans have become homeowners. Another 10 
million have refinanced their mortgages at lower rates. The combined 
rates of inflation, unemployment, and mortgages is at a 28-year low. The 
budget deficit is now the smallest it's been since 1981, and our economy 
has created over 10 million new jobs.
    Finally, real hourly wages--the paycheck of the American worker--
these wages are starting to rise again for the first time in a decade. 
As even our opponents have acknowledged, our economy is the soundest 
it's been in a generation.
    This opportunity strategy is working. But now we have to build on 
it, to produce faster growth, more high-paying jobs, more successful 
businesses, to bring the benefits of economic growth to those who have 
not yet experienced them. First, we have to finish the job of balancing 
the budget so that we can keep interest rates down and remove the debt 
burden from future generations. Then we have to give our people 
education and training, access to health care, and retirement security, 
so all working people can reap the rewards of this new economy.
    This week I will sign into law an increase in the minimum wage. For 
those who work hard to stay off welfare but can't live on $4.25 an hour, 
this is a very important act. It will truly honor work and family. The 
same bill also provides help to small businesses to help them increase 
investment in job creation and to increase their ability to save for 
retirement.
    Next, we should give Americans a tax cut. We've already cut taxes 
for 15 million American working families through our dramatic expansion 
of the earned-income tax credit. This year that tax deduction will be 
worth about $1,000 to a family of four with an income of $28,000 a year 
or less. Now, we can, and we should, do more.
    In going forward I have proposed a program of tax cuts for working 
families that focus on education and childrearing and are clearly within 
our ability to balance the budget so we can continue to keep those 
interest rates down and the economy growing. That's

[[Page 1460]]

very important if we want our families to be strong and successful.
    On the tax cut front I think, first, we should give tax cuts to pay 
for a college education. I have proposed giving individuals a $1,500 tax 
credit each year to pay for 2 years of college tuition, a Hope 
Scholarship that will entirely pay for tuition at a typical community 
college. We have to make 2 years of education after high school as 
universal as a high school education is now.
    And going beyond that, I proposed giving families a tax deduction 
for up to $10,000 a year for the tuition of all college costs, going 
beyond just the first 2 years. Over and above that, I have proposed 
collapsing all the Federal training programs into a ``GI bill'' for 
America's workers, so that those who are unemployed or underemployed can 
get a skills grant worth up to $2,600 a year to pursue their education. 
This is a good, good foundation on building a network of lifetime 
learning that all American families will need to succeed in the global 
economy.
    The second thing we need to do is to give parents of children under 
the age of 13 a $500 per child tax credit to help them to pay for child 
care. This also is very important.
    Thirdly, we ought to give people a tax cut through expanded IRA's 
that people can use to withdraw from without penalty in a way that helps 
them save not only for their retirement but also for a first-time home, 
for medical care, or for a college education.
    That's our program: targeted tax cuts; continuing to invest in 
education and research and new technologies; continuing to cut the 
deficit and balance the budget; expanding exports to record levels. This 
is the plan that will work. We know this growth strategy works. It's 
already produced over 10 million new jobs, a very different situation 
than existed under the previous policy.
    Now, as you know, our opponents are offering a very different 
strategy, but it's the same one they've offered before. And our plans 
are very different. My tax cut is limited in size; it's worth $110 
billion. Theirs is 5 times as much, $550 billion. We can afford ours. We 
can't afford theirs.
    My tax cut is targeted. Theirs is indiscriminate. Mine will be there 
when the middle class families need it to help them give their children 
an education, buy a home, pay for child care. Our opponents' plan gives 
indiscriminate tax cuts, regardless of the cost. In fact, millions of 
middle class families with children in college or with adults in 
educational programs would actually get a bigger tax cut under my plan 
than under our opponents' plan.
    And my tax cut is paid for with specific, tough budget cuts 
consistent with the balanced budget plan. Our opponents haven't said how 
they'll pay for their tax cut yet.
    Now, if they don't pay for it, their plan would balloon the deficit. 
That would increase interest rates, and that would slow down the economy 
and cost us jobs. Our plan, by contrast, would clearly help the economy. 
Higher interest rates under their plan would cancel out the tax benefits 
for most families. Under our plan, interest rates would come down 
because the budget will be balanced just as people are getting their tax 
cuts.
    On the other hand, if our opponents do pay for this massive tax cut, 
that would mean even bigger cuts in Medicare, Medicaid, education, and 
the environment than they have already proposed. My plan pays for tax 
cuts without undermining our values. Their plan would deeply cut 
Medicare. My plan would not require new out-of-pocket costs for 
beneficiaries to pay for tax cuts. Their plan would undermine Medicaid's 
guarantee of quality health care to pregnant women, poor children, to 
families with people with disabilities, and to the elderly. My plan 
would preserve Medicaid's guarantee for these groups of Americans.
    Their plan would cut education. My plan would cut taxes while 
increasing investments in education. Their plan would endanger the 
environment. My plan would cut taxes while continuing to clean up 
pollution and make our environment cleaner.
    So the American people have a clear choice in this election. We 
agree on one thing: Americans do deserve a tax cut. But we must choose 
between a tax cut that responsibly balances the budget and one that puts 
our economy at risk; between one that is targeted to help working 
families pay for education, health care, and other pressing needs, and 
one that is indiscriminate; be- 

[[Page 1461]]

tween one that is paid for by prudently cutting Government, and one that 
is paid for by undercutting Medicare, Medicaid, education, and the 
environment, or not paid for at all, bringing back those bad old days of 
out of control deficits, high interest rates, slow growth, or recession.
    I look forward to discussing these plans before the American people 
in the coming months. This election will give our Nation the chance to 
decide whether we want to continue forward on a path of opportunity, 
responsibility, work, and growth. That kind of debate can only be good 
for our country.
    Thanks for listening.

Note: The address was recorded at 5:40 p.m. on August 16 at the Chapman 
Ranch in Jackson Hole, WY, for broadcast at 10:06 a.m. on August 17.