Night Owl 9/Night Owl CD-ROM (NOPV9) (Night Owl Publisher) (1993).ISO/032a/wh930603.zip/06-03B.TXT

Internet Message Format | 1993-06-03 | 8KB

From @lex-luthor.ai.mit.edu:[e-mail]  Thu Jun  3 14:19:33 1993
Date: Thu, 3 Jun 1993 12:08-0400
From: The White House <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail],
Subject: Saturday Radio Address  5.29.93

                         THE WHITE HOUSE

                  Office of the Press Secretary
                   (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
______________________________________________________________
Embargoed For Release
Until Saturday, May 29, 1993
At 10:06 A.M. EDT


                  RADIO ADDRESS BY THE PRESIDENT


                   Wyndham Franklin Plaza Hotel
                    Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

         THE PRESIDENT:  Good morning.  This weekend, in
solemn ceremonies and joyful gatherings, families will honor the
military personnel who have kept us free.  In honoring these
patriots we honor what is best in the American spirit.

         I'll be joining those families at West Point to pay
tribute to the officers graduating from the military academy, at
Arlington National Cemetery to lay a wreath and pray for the
fallen, and at the remarkable memorial to the men and women who
died in Vietnam whose names are engraved in its polished walls
and whose memories are etched in the hearts of the American
people.  These are the heroes who have protected our borders,
defended our interests and preserved our values.

         Our military strength makes our freedom possible.
But our military might depends on our economic strength.  Just as
our liberty cannot rest upon a hollow army, our strong military
cannot rest upon a hollow economy.

         Our ability to remain strong abroad is founded on
our ability to remain strong here at home.  For too many years
the people in Washington in both parties have permitted our
strength to ebb.  Government of gridlock and favoritism for the
few has caused our economy to lose its historic promise in a time
of intense global competition when we have to change and when the
status quo isn't enough.

         Look at the results of the last several years --
middle-class families working longer hours for lower wages;
economic growth in this recovery slowing to historically low
levels; nine million Americans out of work in the 25th month of
what is supposed to be a recovery.  Thirty-five million Americans
go to bed every night facing a serious illness or injury which
could bankrupt their families because they have no health
insurance, and many, many millions more fear losing their health
insurance if they have to change jobs and they have sick person
in their family, or if their company goes down.

         In the midst of all these challenges our national
government too long has given enormous tax cuts to the wealthiest
Americans and special interests and, at the same time, reduced
investments in areas essential to productivity and security of
working families, and in our cities, small towns and rural areas.
Look what's happened.  In the last 12 years the government's debt
has grown from $1 trillion to $4 trillion -- in just 12 years.
And what a burden and shackle it has become.

         The American economy is in the middle of the global
marketplace, challenged by nations who have made wise investments
in their people, their workers, and their technological edge, and
who have disciplined their own spending on other things.  If we
don't start getting better we can fall behind and the American
way of life will be denied to this generation and the next.

         This is the great struggle of our time.  And it is a
challenge I am determined our country will meet, a battle we will
win.

         At stake is whether Washington will stop doing
business as usual and put our own house in order -- and put our
people first.  Whether we will be satisfied with the status quo
and let the special interests continue to dictate our country's
future, or whether we will expand American prosperity and
preserve the American Dream.

         Just last -- this week, the House of Representatives
stepped up to the plate and voted for change -- for growth, for
renewal.  The House voted for an economic program that really
reduces the deficit through specific spending cuts that will lead
to economic growth.  They voted for 200 cuts in old spending
programs, $250 billion in deficit reduction through spending cuts
alone.  We also asked the wealthy to pay their fair share because
they are able to pay more and because in the last 12 years taxes
have gone down on the wealthy as their incomes have gone up.  Of
the money we raise in taxes 75 percent of it comes from
individuals with incomes above $100,000.

         The plan also asks the middle class to make a modest
contribution through an energy tax.  In 1994, a family making
$40,000 a year will pay a dollar a month; the next year, $7 a
month; the next year $17 a month when the energy tax is fully
phased in.

         Our plan for economic growth is serious about
deficit reduction, by asking all but the most meagerly supplied
working families and the poor to make a contribution.  We reduce
our deficit by $500 billion.  That puts our fiscal house in
order.  It pays down the deficit and, at the same time, it does
something else we have to do -- we make a down payment on future
economic growth, investing in the work skills, the education
standards, the technologies that our people need to be able to
compete and win in global markets.

         This plan rewards full-time work instead of lifetime
welfare.  For the first time, this plan will make it possible for
us to say to every American family, if you work 40 hours a week
and you have children in the home you won't be in poverty.  That
means that people will no longer have an incentive to prefer
welfare to work.  In fact, it will be the other way around.

         The House of Representatives deserves our special
thanks for passing our plan.  Now it's time for the senators to
do the right thing as well.  But unfortunately, even well-
intentioned and respected legislators are still clinging to the
illusions of the past, that somehow there are easy ways out of
this and no-pain decisions.  Then other people in the Senate
would actually pay for lower taxes on the very wealthy by cutting
Social Security benefits for older Americans living barely above
the poverty line.  And for working Americans living barely above
the poverty line, they'd be denied tax benefits so there could be
more to upper-income people.

         If we were to protect interests groups from paying
their fair share of taxes by cutting the earned income tax credit
for low-income working Americans, we'd just force millions of
low-wage workers back into poverty and force many into welfare.

         These ideas would return us to the failed policies
of the past -- policies that increased our deficit, short-changed
our future and put narrow interests over national interests.  But
those days are over.  Gridlock is out.  Growth is in.  It's time
for the Senate to join the House and get with this program.

         This is not about politics.  It's about America's
future.  About rebuilding the foundation of our prosperity; about
restoring the confidence of our people in Washington's capacity
to deal with our common problems.  It's about being strong
nationally and about our families being secure and strong in
their homes and in their lives.

         We're making progress.  We're turning things around.
We're doing it together like a family.  On Memorial Day, let's
rededicate ourselves to our Armed Services who are fighting for
our national security, and to our common economic future which
makes that national security possible.

         Thanks for listening.

                               END