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promise with $1.2 billion in grants to help States and local school 
districts begin hiring the first 30,000 well-trained teachers for the 
new school year. That means by the time children go back to school this 
fall, communities in all 50 States will have more good teachers and 
smaller classes in the early grades, where it matters most.
    Now we must finish the job. Unfortunately, there are some in 
Congress who are backing away from their commitment to reduce class 
size. Last year Congress came together across party lines to make this 
promise to the American people. They should come together again this 
year to keep it. I think a promise made in an election year should be 
kept in the years when there are no elections.
    So today, again, I call on Congress to put politics aside and put 
our children's future first and finish the job of hiring 100,000 highly 
trained teachers. We know smaller classes will help them succeed in 
school. We know higher quality teaching will help them succeed. We 
already have the plan to make it happen if Congress keeps its word.
    We've got a chance to use this time of prosperity to improve our 
children's education and to help them make the most of their lives. This 
isn't a partisan issue anywhere in America; it shouldn't be in 
Washington. Schoolchildren get the summer off, but we should make this 
summer a season of progress for our children, our schools, and our 
future in the new century.
    Thanks for listening.

Note: The address was recorded at 6:07 p.m. on June 25 in the Oval 
Office at the White House for broadcast at 10:06 a.m. on June 26. The 
transcript was made available by the Office of the Press Secretary on 
June 25 but was embargoed for release until the broadcast.


<DOC>
[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents]
 [frwais.access.gpo.gov]
                         

[Page 1206-1208]
 
Monday, July 5, 1999
 
Volume 35--Number 26
Pages 1189-1273
 
Week Ending Friday, July 2, 1999
 
Remarks on Departure for Westport, Connecticut, and an Exchange With 
Reporters

June 28, 1999

Midsession Review of the Federal Budget

    The President. Good morning. Six years ago we put in place a new 
economic strategy for the information age. We put our fiscal house in 
order; we invested in our people; we expanded trade in American goods 
and services. By making tough decisions, America has reaped rich 
rewards. We built the longest peacetime expansion in our history.

[[Page 1207]]

    Last week we learned that in the first 3 months of 1999, the economy 
grew at a 4.3 percent rate, with very low inflation. With record numbers 
of new homes being built, paychecks increasing, hundreds of thousands of 
young people getting new help to go to college, new businesses opening 
their doors, a surging market on Wall Street, we are truly widening the 
circle of opportunity in America.
    I'm here to report to the American people on more good news about 
our budget. As required by law, my administration is releasing the 
midsession review of the budget. Here is what we have found.
    When I took office, the National Government had a record deficit of 
$290 billion, projected to increase indefinitely. Last year, for the 
first time in 29 years, we balanced the budget. In January this year, we 
projected a surplus for this year of $79 billion. Today I am pleased to 
report that, in fact, the budget surplus for 1999 will be $99 billion, 
the largest as a share of our economy since 1951. For next year, we now 
project a budget surplus of $142 billion, a surplus of $5 billion not 
counting the receipts from Social Security. In fact, improvements in the 
outlook since February have added $179 billion to the projected budget 
surplus over 5 years, half a trillion over 10 years, and a trillion over 
15 years.
    Fiscal discipline does bring real results. I want to thank my 
economic team for all the work that they have done. Lower interest rates 
have led to a boom in business investment, to lower mortgage rates, to 
lower credit card rates, to lower student loan rates. Fiscal discipline 
has widened opportunity and created hope for all working people in our 
country. Now we have a chance to do even more, to use the fruits of our 
prosperity today to strengthen our prospects for tomorrow, indeed, for 
tomorrows well into the 21st century.
    In my State of the Union Address, I set out a plan for how to use 
the budget surplus. Today, in light of the unexpectedly large surplus, I 
am proposing to build on that budget framework with a new approach that 
honors our values, meets our commitments, and makes it possible to reach 
bipartisan agreement on a budget for America.
    First, we can strengthen our commitment to use the bulk of the 
surplus to save Social Security and Medicare and to pay down the 
national debt. The new budget numbers mean that we will run a surplus in 
the non-Social Security part of the budget, starting next year, much 
earlier than previously expected. I am pleased that Republicans and 
Democrats in Congress have agreed to use the Social Security surpluses 
to reduce the national debt. But we must go forward and achieve an even 
stronger lockbox than one proposed by Congress. Social Security taxes 
should be saved for Social Security, period. Let's finish the job and 
work to extend the solvency of Social Security. I'm encouraged that 
Republicans and Democrats on the House Ways and Means Committee are 
meeting together to try to accomplish this goal.
    Second, our new large surplus will help us to strengthen and 
modernize Medicare while providing a prescription drug benefit. Tomorrow 
I will reveal the details of my plan to modernize Medicare. The steps I 
will propose to use the surplus will increase Medicare's solvency for at 
least 25 years. By taking additional measures to increase competition, 
combat fraud, and reduce costs, we can provide a new prescription drug 
benefit and still pay down our national debt.
    Third, our new budget framework will use part of the surplus to 
provide substantial tax relief. It will maintain USA accounts, the 
largest and most progressive tax incentive ever offered to encourage 
savings. USA accounts will allow every American to begin saving from the 
first day in the work force, providing more help for those who need it, 
giving every American a stake in our shared prosperity.
    In addition to the USA accounts, I have proposed tax cuts--targeted 
and paid for--for child care, for stay-at-home mothers, for long-term 
care, to encourage businesses to invest in poor communities, and to 
modernize 6,000 schools. But first things first.
    Fourth, we can use this surplus to meet other vital national needs, 
such as maintaining military readiness, honoring our veterans, 
protecting the environment, promoting health research, farm security, 
and other core functions of our Government.

[[Page 1208]]

    Beyond this, we have a chance to use the surplus not only to care 
for our parents through Social Security and Medicare but to give a 
greater chance in life to our young children. So today I am proposing a 
new $156 billion children's and education trust fund. This commitment 
can enable us to offer Head Start preschool to a million children, to 
hire those 100,000 teachers, to provide extra help for a million 
children in our poorest communities, to pay for dramatic improvements in 
children's health.
    And finally, by investing to save Social Security and strengthen 
Medicare, my plan now will entirely pay off our national debt. In the 12 
years before I took office, reckless fiscal policies quadrupled our 
debt, bringing us higher interest rates, higher unemployment, higher 
inflation. By balancing the budget we have begun to reduce the debt. But 
today our national debt still totals $13,400 for every man, woman, and 
child. If we maintain our fiscal discipline, using the surplus to pay 
down the debt and using the savings to strengthen Social Security, 
America will entirely pay off the national debt by 2015.
    If you look at this chart, you will see that we have now cut up 
Washington's credit card. Now we can pay off the debt; by 2015, this 
country can be entirely out of debt. This is a remarkable milestone, but 
it is clearly within reach, if we do not squander the surplus by 
choosing short-term gain over long-term national goals.
    The surplus is the hard-earned product of our fiscal discipline. We 
should use it to prepare for the great challenges facing our country: 
caring for our parents, caring for our children, freeing our Nation from 
the shackles of debt so that we can have long-term, sustained economic 
prosperity.
    Keep in mind what this means to ordinary people. If you pay this 
debt off, it means interest rates will be lower. It means there will be 
more business investment. It means there will be more new jobs. It means 
there will be more money left over for higher wages. It means the cost 
to families of homes and cars and college educations will be lower. 
That's what being out of debt means.
    It means the next time there is an international financial crisis, 
we will be relatively less vulnerable because we won't have to borrow so 
much money, and the poorer countries will be able to borrow more money 
at lower interest rates, bringing greater global prosperity and 
stability. This is a very significant achievement for our country and 
for a more stable and peaceful and prosperous world.
    So I hope, very much, to work with Congress in the weeks ahead to 
pay off the debt, to finish the work of strengthening Social Security 
and Medicare, and to make a real commitment to our children and our 
future.
    Again, let me thank the national economic team and all others who 
have supported these initiatives over the last 6 years. Thank you very 
much.

Tax Cuts

    Q. Are you open to tax cuts beyond those that you mentioned, Mr. 
President?
    The President. I think we should achieve these objectives. Within 
the framework of achieving these objectives, obviously, I'll be working 
with the Congress to achieve them. Thank you.

Arkansas Senate Seat

    Q. Do you want to run for Senate from Arkansas? [Laughter]
    The President. I think Rubin should run for the Senate from 
Arkansas. [Laughter] He's got the best timing of anybody alive.

Note: The President spoke at 8:59 a.m. on the South Lawn at the White 
House. In his remarks, he referred to Secretary of the Treasury Robert 
E. Rubin.


<DOC>
[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents]
 [frwais.access.gpo.gov]
                         

[Page 1208-1210]
 
Monday, July 5, 1999
 
Volume 35--Number 26
Pages 1189-1273
 
Week Ending Friday, July 2, 1999
 
Interview With Mark Devenport of the British Broadcasting Corporation in 
Westport

June 28, 1999

Northern Ireland Peace Process

    Mr. Devenport. Mr. President, it's 2 days to go until the deadline 
in Northern Ireland--obviously, a crucial week. The politicians still at 
loggerheads, apparently. What is it that you want them to do now in this 
make-or-break time?
    The President. I want them to remember how strongly the people voted 
for peace and for the Good Friday accords and to find an

[[Page 1209]]

honorable resolution of the admittedly thorny problems. Because whatever 
the difficulties of going forward, they are very small compared to the 
difficulties of letting the peace process fall apart.
    Mr. Devenport. Now, you say there are ``thorny problems,'' and that 
is the difficulty--and especially the problem of decommissioning. Would 
you be urging the Sinn Fein to do what Ulster Unionists are urging Sinn 
Fein to do, to namely sign up to a timetable for disarmament and give a 
categorical assurance that the IRA will have disarmed completely by May 
2000?
    The President. I think that all the parties should fully comply with 
the terms of the Good Friday accords, and that's what I would say. I 
think that they all have to find a way--we know what the problems, the 
legitimate problems the Sinn Fein have with the decommissioning issue. 
But it's an important part of the Good Friday accords, so there has to 
be a resolution of it that enables the leadership of the Unionists--Mr. 
Trimble, and the others who have fought for peace--to survive, to 
sustain their position, and to go forward and get everybody on their 
side to honor the Good Friday accords, too.
    They can find a way to do this, if they decide that the price of 
failure is far higher than the price of compromise. And I think there's 
a good chance they'll do it, even if it's 11th hour, I do.
    Mr. Devenport. Well, what about the Ulster Unionists? Their position 
has been that there has to be guns handed over, actual hardware, before 
Sinn Fein can go into government. Do you think they should be 
considering moving ahead on the basis of pledges rather than actually 
looking for the armaments?
    The President. Well, I believe that on that score, Mr. Trimble is 
satisfied in these talks with whatever commitment is made, and I think 
they should give it a chance to work.
    One thing I would say to the Unionists is that they can always walk 
away from this if the commitments aren't made at a later date. And they 
should keep in mind--they can bring this down at any time by simply 
walking out if the commitments aren't kept. So I think that if Mr. 
Trimble can be satisfied, and they can work it through, then I would 
hope the Unionists would support him and give him a chance--give this 
thing a chance to work.
    Mr. Devenport. Now, this political deadline is also coinciding with 
the annual deadline that there is in Northern Ireland of the Drumcree 
march. As we speak, an announcement on the Drumcree march is imminent. 
There are extremely strong indications that the Orangemen won't be 
allowed to go down the Catholic section of the Garvaghy Road. How 
concerned are you about what the impact of a refusal to let the 
Orangemen go down Garvaghy Road could be, both on the streets and on the 
political process?
    The President. Well, as an outsider, you know, to me this looks like 
the most difficult of decisions because it is--there's enormous 
emotional content on both sides. It's not just a matter of a lot of 
people walking on a certain road. And I think however it is resolved 
this year, the most important thing is that the parties themselves try 
to find a larger, omnibus resolution for this that reflects the spirit 
of the Good Friday accords.
    Keep in mind, I mean, the spirit of the Good Friday accords is that 
both sides should have respect for and get respect from one another, and 
that no one should have to give up his or her heritage or traditions, 
but they should be pursued with some sensitivity to how others feel as 
well.
    So I think that they're in a terrible bind now because the Drumcree 
deadline is coming up against the negotiation deadline. And so, however 
it's resolved, I think that what the leaders should be thinking about 
is, what is the long-run resolution of this? How can we show one another 
the necessary respect and sensitivity that will put this marching issue 
in the context of the commitment of the Good Friday accords, which is to 
push toward reconciliation and equality within the principle of consent?
    Mr. Devenport. At the time of the Good Friday agreement, you waited 
up through the night in Washington, inside the White House, seeing how 
the negotiations were working out. You went on the phone personally and 
spoke to the main parties and tried to coax them forward. This week, 
with a new deadline, are you willing to do the same, to intervene 
personally?

[[Page 1210]]

    The President. Oh, absolutely. I'll do what ever I can to help. You 
know, this means a lot to me. It means a lot to the American people. We 
have tens of millions of Irish Catholics and Irish Protestants who are 
deeply invested emotionally, and many of them financially, in Northern 

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