[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 36, Number 29 (Monday, July 24, 2000)]
[Pages 1651-1652]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
The President's Radio Address

July 15, 2000

    Good morning. Today I want to talk about what we as a nation must do 
to keep our economic expansion going and extend its benefits to every 
American.
    For more than 7 years now, our Nation has followed a course of 
fiscal discipline that has paid tremendous dividends for the American 
people. We made tough choices, cut our deficits, paid down our debt. 
We've strengthened and extended the life of Social Security and 
Medicare. And we made the investments that matter most for America's 
future in education, in health care, in the environment, in science and 
technology, and in targeted tax cuts.
    But in recent weeks, the Republicans in Congress have done an about-
face on our strategy of fiscal discipline. Having already passed more 
than half a trillion dollars in reckless tax cuts, this week they passed 
a fiscally irresponsible plan to repeal the entire estate tax. Its costs 
would explode to $750 billion after 10 years. And every year fully half 
its benefits would go to just 3,000 families.
    But they haven't been able to provide an affordable Medicare 
prescription drug benefit for tens of millions of Americans. They 
haven't been able to add even a day to the life of Social Security or 
Medicare. They haven't done anything new to improve our schools, 
increase the minimum wage, expand health insurance coverage for children 
or parents whose children have coverage, or even to pass a meaningful 
Patients' Bill of Rights. And now they seem ready to give up on our 
bipartisan plan to use Social Security and Medicare surpluses for debt 
reduction. All these actions are serving special interests, not our 
national interest.
    As we look to the future, if we want to keep this economic expansion 
going, we have got to keep fiscal discipline at the forefront. That's 
why I want to stay on track to pay off our national debt by 2012. That's 
why we should dedicate Social Security surpluses to paying down the debt 
and use savings from debt reduction to extend the life of Social 
Security to 2057. Also, I support Vice President Gore's proposal to take 
Medicare funds out of the budget as well, and to use savings from debt 
reduction to help extend the life of the Medicare Trust Fund out beyond 
2030.

[[Page 1652]]

    Now, their plan would take all of our projected surplus and spend it 
all for tax cuts and for the cost of privatizing partially the Social 
Security system and other spending. Let me ask you something. If someone 
asked you to sign a contract committing you to spend every penny of your 
projected earnings for the next 10 years, would you do it? 
Unfortunately, that's what the congressional Republicans want us to do. 
Most of us would not sign away money we don't have, and neither should 
America.
    That's why I've proposed setting aside $500 billion as a reserve for 
America's future, so we can have a national discussion of our priorities 
and so we're prepared for a rainy day. If we do it responsibly, we'll 
still have the resources to meet key needs of American families. We can 
increase our investments in education and health care. We can have the 
right kind of targeted tax cuts to help Americans modernize our schools, 
send our children to college, care for sick family members, pay for 
child care. And we can offer every older American the option of 
affordable, dependable prescription drug benefits through Medicare.
    There's a growing consensus, in the Senate and all across America, 
that we need a real Medicare prescription drug benefit, not a flawed 
private insurance program that even the insurance companies admit won't 
work. I also think we can agree to protect our hard-fought fiscal 
discipline by pledging to use Medicare surpluses only for debt 
reduction, as Vice President Gore has urged. I hope Republicans and 
Democrats would start from there and move forward together on America's 
other priorities.
    In that spirit, I've reached out to Congress and said that if 
they'll agree to pass a plan that offers affordable Medicare 
prescription drug coverage to all seniors and people with disabilities, 
while protecting our hard-won fiscal discipline, I will sign a marriage 
penalty relief law.
    As yet, the Republican leaders have not yet responded to the 
Nation's call for a real prescription drug plan. But it's not too late 
to put progress over partisanship. The American people know what they 
need, a Medicare prescription drug benefit, investments in health and 
education, and targeted tax cuts that don't take us off the path of 
fiscal discipline and debt reduction.
    Some people here in Washington already are looking ahead to election 
day. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. We did not reach this moment 
of prosperity by accident, but we could lose it through inattention. 
Remember, how a nation deals with prosperity is just as stern a test of 
its judgment and values as how it deals with adversity. If we fail that 
test, the losers won't be political parties or special interests; 
they'll be our children and our future. But if we succeed, America's 
best days are still ahead.
    Thanks for listening.

 Note: The address was recorded at 6:46 p.m. on July 14 at Camp David, 
MD, for broadcast at 10:06 a.m. on July 15. The transcript was made 
available by the Office of the Press Secretary on July 14 but was 
embargoed for release until the broadcast.