[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 20 (Monday, May 24, 1999)]
[Page 958]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Statement on the Budget Surplus

May 21, 1999

    Today I am pleased to announce that we are on track to reach the 
largest annual budget surplus ever. Thanks to solid fiscal discipline, 
the surplus at this point in the fiscal year is $64.7 billion, the 
largest in history over a comparable period.
    When I came into office just over 6 years ago, we faced a deficit 
that had already risen to a staggering $290 billion and was projected to 
be over $400 billion in this fiscal year. The Vice President and I, 
working with Congress, set this country on a new course of fiscal 
discipline, enacting two strong budget packages in 1993 and 1997. As a 
result, we have begun to pay down the Nation's debt. In this quarter 
alone, we expect to pay down $116 billion of privately held marketable 
Federal debt, the largest sum ever in a single quarter.
    Reducing the debt lowers long-term interest rates for home mortgages 
and autos and lowers borrowing costs for businesses, fueling private 
sector investments for continued economic growth. Despite the good news, 
this is not a time for complacency. We must renew our commitment to this 
sound economic strategy by making responsible investments in our people, 
working for open markets, and maintaining the fiscal discipline that is 
beginning to lift the crushing burden of debt from our children and 
grandchildren. It is especially critical that we create a bipartisan 
consensus for saving the surplus and paying down our national debt in a 
way that strengthens the solvency of both Social Security and Medicare.