[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 36, Number 10 (Monday, March 13, 2000)]
[Pages 510-511]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Statement on the Treasury Department's Debt Buyback

March 9, 2000

    Today we reached another historic landmark in our fiscal turnaround. 
For the first time in 70 years, the U.S. Treasury Department completed a 
``debt buyback.'' This buyback of debt is a striking reminder of the 
extraordinary progress we have made in putting America's fiscal house in 
order. In the last 7 years, we moved from the largest deficit in history 
to the largest surplus in
history.

[[Page 511]]

    America is now on track to pay down nearly $300 billion in debt by 
the end of this year and to be debt-free by 2013. In this new era of 
surpluses, these ``debt buybacks'' will help us continue to pay down the 
debt, save money for American taxpayers, and lift the burden of interest 
payments off our children and grandchildren.