[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 36, Number 5 (Monday, February 7, 2000)]
[Pages 184-185]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
The President's Radio Address

January 29, 2000

    Good morning. Two nights ago, in my State of the Union Address, I 
asked the American people to heed the advice of President Theodore 
Roosevelt at the dawn of the last century and take ``the long look 
ahead.'' The long look ahead to the great challenges we face and the 
great opportunities we can seize in the 21st century. That requires us 
to set new goals for our Nation and take the right first steps to 
achieve them.
    We must ensure that every child begins school ready to learn and 
graduates ready to succeed. We must help every family succeed at home 
and at work--and that no child is raised in poverty. We must make 
America the world's safest big country, lead the world toward shared 
peace and prosperity and to the far frontiers of science and technology. 
And we must do all this while maintaining the fiscal discipline that 
brought us to this rare and promising moment we enjoy.
    Seldom in our Nation's history, never in my lifetime, have we 
enjoyed so much prosperity and social progress with so little internal 
crisis or so few external threats, with 20 million new jobs, the fastest 
economic growth in 30 years, the lowest unemployment in 30 years, the 
lowest poverty rates in 20 years, the lowest minority unemployment rates 
on record, the first back-to-back surpluses in 42 years. And next month, 
the longest economic growth in our history.
    It's important to remember how this happened. It began in 1993 with 
a new economic plan that cut the deficit while making investments in our 
people and our future. When deficits fell, interest rates came down, 
mortgage payments came down, lower car and student loan payments 
resulted, there was greater business investment, more jobs, more 
economic growth. So this fiscal discipline has moved us from record 
budget deficits and high unemployment to record budget surpluses and 
unimagined economic strength. Now is not the time to change course.
    In the well of the House of Representatives 2 nights ago, I 
challenged Congress to move forward on important priorities without 
giving up this fiscal discipline. If we will stay this course, we can 
pay the country's debt off for the first time since 1835, over the next 
few years.
    Today I am pleased to announce that congressional leaders from both 
parties and both

[[Page 185]]

houses of Congress have accepted my invitation to come to the White 
House next Tuesday to discuss how we can move forward together.

    Let me say again, first and foremost, I hope we can agree on my plan 
to pay down the debt entirely over the next 13 years and make America 
debt-free for the first time since Andrew Jackson was President in 1835, 
and then to use the benefits of debt reduction to preserve Social 
Security and Medicare; and specifically to make a bipartisan down 
payment on Social Security reform by crediting the interest savings from 
debt reduction to the Social Security Trust Fund. That'll keep it strong 
and sound for 50 years and take in the lifespan of the baby boom 
generation.

    We also ought to agree to reserve a third of the surplus to further 
reduce the debt so we have the resources in the future to protect 
Medicare. I want to dedicate nearly $400 billion of this projected 
surplus to keep Medicare solvent past 2025 and to add a voluntary 
prescription drug benefit. And as I said a couple of nights ago, we 
can't forget the unfinished business of the last Congress. They need, 
still, to pass a real Patients' Bill of Rights, commonsense gun safety 
legislation, campaign finance reform, hate crimes legislation, a raise 
in the minimum wage.

    The state of our Union is the strongest it's ever been. This gives 
us the opportunity and the responsibility of a lifetime to shape the 
future of our dreams for our children. Our chance to do good has never 
been so great. Let us join together to seize this moment.
    Thanks for listening.

Note: The address was recorded at 2:41 p.m. on January 28 in Suite 180 
at the Granite Bank 
Gallery in Quincy, IL, for broadcast at 10:06 a.m. on January 29. The 
transcript was made available by the Office of the Press Secretary on 
January 28 but was embargoed for release until the broadcast.