Remarks on Returning Without Approval to the House of Representatives the Death Tax Elimination Act of 2000 - Transcript

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, Sept 4, 2000

Now, everybody knows there is a lot more hard work to be done, and there are differences of opinion about what we ought to do and how we ought to do it. That's why we're having another election this year. And that's up to the American people to decide.

But I believe that prosperity imposes its own difficult choices, because there are so many temptations to do things that seem easy that will have adverse consequences. And I believe it is our job to maximize the chance that America can make the most of a truly unique moment in our history to meet the big challenges that are out there: giving all of our kids a world-class education; making sure, when the baby boomers all retire and there are only two people working for every one person drawing Social Security and Medicare, that Social Security and Medicare don't go broke, and we don't bankrupt our kids or their ability to raise our grandkids; that we meet the big challenge of climate change and the other environmental challenges; that we stay on the forefront of science and technology; that we continue to be a force for peace and freedom around the world; that we bring prosperity to the people in America who still aren't part of it and give them a chance to work their way into a good life; and many other thing s.

Now, in order to do that, a precondition of doing all that is keeping the prosperity going and continuing to expand opportunity. I believe that the only way to do that is to build on what has worked. It's not as if we haven't had a test run here. We've seen now for almost 8 years that the strategy we have pursued of investing in our people but continuing to pay this debt down and doing it within the framework of fiscal responsibility and trying to be fair in the way we invest money and allocate tax cuts works. It works. It's good economics, and it's good social policy.

Now, I believe that this latest estate tax bill is another example where Congress comes up with something that sounds good and looks real good coming down the street on a tractor. [Laughter] But if you look at the merits, it basically would take us off the path that has brought us to this point over the last 8 years, and I don't think we ought to be kicked off that path. I think we ought to think about how to accelerate our way down this road.

I believe that this latest bill, this estate tax bill is part of a series of actions and commitments that, when you add it all up, would take us back to the bad old days of deficits, high interest rates, and having no money to invest in our common future, the kind of things that our speakers talked about in their commitment to education.

Now, let me give you an example. Last year the Republicans passed a huge tax bill in one quick shot, and it was like a cannonball that was too heavy to fly, and so it went away. But they're still committed to it--in fact, an even bigger version of the bill that I vetoed last year. This year they have a strategey that, in a way, is more clever. It's like a snowball, and every piece of it sounds good. But when it keeps rolling, it just gets bigger and bigger and bigger. And unless someone stops it, the snowball will turn into an avalanche, and you'll have the same impact you had before.