From Mail-Server@lex-luthor.ai.mit.edu  Sat Aug  7 22:23:57 1993
To: Clinton-Speeches-Distribution@campaign92.org,
Date: Sat, 7 Aug 1993 21:39-0400
From: The White House <75300.3115@compuserve.com>
Subject: President's Radio Address on 8/7/93

	     	  

                           THE WHITE HOUSE

                    Office of the Press Secretary
_____________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release                                  August 7, 1993

	     
                    RADIO ADDRESS BY THE PRESIDENT
                            TO THE NATION
	     
                           The Oval Office  

10:06 A.M. EDT
	     
	     THE PRESIDENT:  It's a bright, sunny day in Washington 
in more ways than one.  The political fog that has surrounded this 
town for so long is at long last lifting.
	     
	     For months we've all been working for this day -- a day 
when we can say to the American people that our government is getting 
on with the business of creating jobs, expanding the economy and 
doing better by all the American people.  
	     
	     Members of the House and the Senate showed our nation 
how government for the people can actually work for the people.  They 
took the courageous step of breaking gridlock, passing my economic 
plan, and putting our nation on the road to long-term growth.
	     
	     This plan plants us firmly on the path to getting so 
many good things done for our people.  For the first time in a long 
time, we'll be making a meaningful down payment on the massive 
federal deficit.  And as we reduce that deficit by nearly $500 
billion over five years, with more spending cuts than tax increases, 
we'll be strengthening the foundation for our future at home and our 
position in the world economy.
	     
	     For the first time in a dozen years the weight of the 
tax burden will be shifted so that it is borne more fairly.  Middle 
class working families will pay about a dime a day to bring the 
deficit down in the form of a 4.3 cent gasoline tax -- no hidden 
taxes, no games, no gimmicks.
	     
	     But 80 percent of the new revenues will come from those 
who can best afford to pay -- with family incomes over $200,000 a 
year.  Those people got over half the economic gains -- over half the 
economic gains of the 1980s -- and big tax breaks besides.  We don't 
want to punish success, we want to reward it.  But in order for all 
Americans to have a chance to succeed, we have to bring the deficit 
down.  And it's only fair to ask those best able to pay to do so.  If 
family income is less than $200,000 a year, there will be no increase 
in income taxes.  
	     
	     For the first time in less than -- in a decade, we're 
also making a serious effort to invest in our children, to reward 
work over welfare, to strengthen our families, and to give real 
incentives to businesses to grow new jobs.  Analysts project that our 
economy will create 8 million new jobs now in the next four years.  
We're keeping interest rates down and giving real, real incentives 
for people to invest in new business, research and development and 
new plant and equipment.
	     
	     For all these reasons this plan is an urgent step.  But 
I want to emphasize, it is only the first step.  We're well on our 
way, but our work is far from finished.  We'll continue to look for 
ways to further cut unnecessary spending and trim waste.  On that 
front, we will remain tireless, responsible and accountable to you.  
	     
	     Soon we expect the Vice President's report on 
reinventing government.  It will help make your government leaner, 
smarter, more efficient.  It will show you that we're trying to have 
a government here that actually works for the people who pay the 
bills and takes how their money is spent very seriously.
	     
	     We want to end welfare as we know it and restore dignity 
to millions of idle Americans who have been dependent too long.  
We'll do that by changing the system so it's a path to a job, not a 
way of life.  The economic plan went a long way toward doing that by 
lifting all the people in this country, millions of them who work 40 
hours a week and have children in their homes, out of poverty.  Not 
through a government program, but through the tax system -- saying we 
won't tax people into poverty, we'll use the tax system to lift those 
out of poverty who are pro-work, pro-family and doing their part.
	     
	     And we cannot rest while millions of Americans do 
without affordable health care.  And many, many millions more worry 
that they won't be able to afford the cost of their health care 
policy or that they'll lose their health care coverage if they lose 
their job or someone in their family gets sick.
	     
	     It's not right.  And until we give all Americans health 
care that's always there, and control the cost, the health care 
crisis will continue to bankrupt our businesses, our families, and 
eventually our nation. 
	     
	     So we'll keep moving as fast as we have in these first 
six months of the administration and keep taking new ideas to the 
American people for making our country better and putting our people 
first.
	     
	     With your support we've already moved on several fronts 
to ensure the principles that I fought for during the last campaign 
-- providing opportunity, encouraging personal responsibility, and 
rebuilding our communities.  
	     
	     Just this week, our national service program cleared its 
final hurdles and now will clearly become law.  That means 100,000 
young people will have the chance to help America's communities while 
helping themselves pay for a college education.
	     
	     Also this week the family leave act went into effect.  
And now millions of American workers will be able to take some time 
off to care for their newborn children or an ill family member 
without fearing loss of their jobs.  In our nation, where most people 
have to work, we cannot force people to choose between being a good 
parent and a good worker.  Now, millions more will be able to do 
both.
	     
	     We've also won passage of a new motor voter law to make 
voter registration more easy, more open, more accessible.  
	     
	     We've eased the credit crunch for small businesses all 
across America, making student loans easier to get and less costly to 
repay, and working to open markets overseas to create jobs here at 
home.
	     
	     We've also changed the environmental policies of this 
administration so that once again America is a leader, not a follower 
in the effort to preserve the global environment and our 
environmental issues here at home.
	     
	     We've made medical research more sensitive to the needs 
of women and more helpful to people with diabetes, Parkinson's and 
other diseases where political bias kept research that was very 
needed from going on for too many years.
	     
	     We changed the ethics of the Executive Branch with the 
toughest ethics restrictions in American history -- restricting 
people from lobbying for foreign governments or lobbying at all for 
years after they leave top positions in our government.
	     
	     There is more political accountability and more 
political reform on the way.  Campaign finance reform, lobby reform, 
the line item veto, all three of these things have passed at least 
one house of Congress -- we're going to work hard to make them law.
	     
	     With these and other measures to better the lives of our 
people, we're putting business as usual out of business in 
Washington.  That's what you ordered in the last election.
	     
	     This week the majority of the lawmakers on Capitol Hill 
joined us to break gridlock.  They voted to move us forward together, 
to leave behind the shameful legacy of debt and deficits, and to give 
our nation control over our own economic destiny.
	     
	     I congratulate those lawmakers for the courage they've 
shown in winning this tough fight in the face of all kinds of charges 
and misinformation that fill the airways.  These people stood firm, 
they stood together, and they stood for you.
	     
	     As we fought for this plan, we brought together business 
and labor, the cities and the heartland, Americans from every 
generation.  Now, on the threshold of a new era of growth and 
prosperity and a new direction for our nation, it's time for all of 
us to stand together.  And that includes those who opposed my plan on 
Capitol Hill.
	     
	     To our critics there, I say all Americans, whatever 
their political stripe, can reap the benefits of the change we can 
begin today.  I say to those critics, we must now put aside 
bitterness and rancor, move beyond partisanship and work together to 
give the country we all love the new direction it needs.
	     
	     In the future, people will not ask whether we were 
Democrats or Republicans, whether we were conservatives or liberals, 
they will ask what we did to face our problems, meet our challenges, 
seize our opportunities and secure a better future for our children.  
Let us begin that together.
	     
	     Thanks for listening, and Godspeed.

                                 END10:14 A.M. EDT

