Remarks on the National Economy

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, Oct 2, 2000

September 26, 2000

Thank you very much. Ladies and gentlemen, we're here to talk about some good news for our economy and what it means for hardworking Americans. I want to thank those on our administration team who had a lot to do with the results that I will be announcing today.

I thank John Podesta, and I thank Gene Sperling; our Council of Economic Chair Martin Baily, and the other members of the Council of Economic Advisers; Jack Lew and Sylvia Mathews at 0MB and all the people at 0MB and the staff at the Council of Economic Advisers; all the folks who work in the White House and those who have been part of the groups that have helped us and our economic team and the Government to achieve the results that the American people have worked for and earned.

As John Podesta just described, when we took office, the deficit was $290 billion and rising. It was projected to be about $450 billion this year. Twelve years of irresponsible fiscal policies had quadrupled the debt of the United States, giving us low growth and very high interest rates. Unemployment was high; confidence was low.

Al Gore and I worked hard to change that, with a strategy of fiscal discipline, investment in our people, and expanded trade. A big part of our strategy was to make sure that all the American people could participate in the growth of our Nation. We expanded the earned-income tax credit, nearly doubling it to make sure that work pays for people who work on modest incomes.

We raised the minimum wage, passed the family and medical leave law, enacted a $500 child tax credit, passed the KennedyKassebaum bill to make sure people could carry their health insurance with them when they changed jobs, created the HOPE scholarship tax credit and other increases in college aid for the biggest expansion in college opportunity since the GI bill over 50 years ago.

Now, we all know that the American people have done a lot with these changes. We have the lowest unemployment in 30 years, the lowest female unemployment in 40 years, the lowest Hispanic and African-American unemployment ever recorded. So, the 22 million jobs and the longest economic expansion in history have truly had a broad base of benefits. The rising tide has been lifting all boats.

Today I'm pleased to announce that we have reached another economic milestone. In its annual study on income and poverty, the Census Bureau reports that last year typical household income rose $1,072, to the highest level ever recorded, breaking $40,000 for the first time.

American incomes have been on the rise for 5 years running now. Since 1993, when we launched our economic strategy, median family income has risen by 15 percent. That means, for the typical family, after inflation, $6,300 more a year in real purchasing power for the things that matter most: sending their children to college; covering critical health care costs; saving for a secure retirement.

And the poverty rate has fallen to 11.8 percent, the lowest in 20 years. Since 1993, 7 million Americans have moved out of poverty, 2.2 million in the last year alone. The equality part of this recovery is picking up steam: Last year African-American and Hispanic poverty rates took their largest drop ever. Child poverty dropped more than any year since 1966, and elderly poverty fell below 10 percent for the first time in history.

The rising tide of the economy is lifting all boats. Every income group is seeing economic growth, with the greatest gains, in percentage terms, being made by the hardest pressed Americans. In 1999, as the report shows, African-American and Hispanic households experienced the biggest boosts in their incomes ever.

Today, the most important thing we can say about our economy is that it works for working families, and its success belongs to all the American people. If we stay on the path that got us here, the path of fiscal discipline, we can reach even greater heights of prosperity. If we add the new markets initiative and an expansion of the empowerment zone program the Vice President has led so ably these last years, we can extend it even further, to people and places still left behind, so that the gains we are seeing in the cities reach as far as our rural communities and Native American reservations. We can also achieve something once unthinkable. We can make our country debt-free for the first time since the Presidency of Andrew Jackson in 1835.

Months ago, I presented a budget that sticks to the path of fiscal discipline and makes critical investments in America's future, that saves Social Security, strengthens Medicare, and includes a voluntary prescription drug benefit, invests in education, and increases accountability, and pays down the debt by 2012.

Now, there's less than a week left in this fiscal year, and Congress still has not passed 11 of the 13 appropriation bills. Congress still has not raised the minimum wage or taken other initiatives to keep all Americans' lives improving, along with the economy, including a strong, enforceable Patients' Bill of Rights, voluntary Medicare prescription drug benefits, or tax cuts for college tuition, child care, and long-term care.