Interview with Tim Scheld of WCBS radio, New York City - President Bill Clinton - Transcript

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, June 28, 1993

Mr. Scheld. Good afternoon. President Bill Clinton, joining us from the Roosevelt m of the White House this afternoon. A good decision, Mr. President, since it is as hot and muggy as you're going to get in New York City today. Be happy you're inside and in Washington, DC.

The President. It's pretty hot and muggy here, too, Tim.

Mr. Scheld. I heard you were jogging this morning in a lot of fog. No fog anywhere in New York City. We're looking for some, so bring some up here, please, next time you come.

The President. I had a great time today, for all the joggers listening to you. I got to run with John Fixx, who is the son of the famous runner Jim Fixx, who died about 9 years ago but made a real contribution to what all of us who love jogging know as the sport.

Mr. Scheld. Yes, but the question now is do you run with Michael Jordan tomorrow?

The President. I'd love to do it if he were willing.

Economic Program

Mr. Scheld. I appreciate you talking the time with us here on WCBS this afternoon. The Senate begins debate on the all-important economic package, but its ultimate shape, as you know, will be determined by the Joint House-Senate Committee probably beginning the 1st of July. Will we see the Btu energy tax proposal be reborn out of that committee, Mr. President? What kind of specific new energy taxes should the American people expect?

The President. Well, first let me say that before we can start that conference, Senator Moynihan has got to shepherd this bill through the Senate, and that's not going to be all that easy. I think we can do it. But there's been so much rhetoric around this economic program and so much inaccurate information put out there that it's not going to be easy to get the Senators to make the tough choices to pass the bill. I think they will do that, and i think in no small measure they will do it because of the leadership of your Senator in leading the Senate Finance Committee.

But after that, the House and the Senate will get together. And I think they'll try to agree on a provision with regard to energy which will do what all of us agreed to do, which is to reduce die energy tax somewhat below where it was in the House version, have some more spending cuts, make it clear to the American people there are more spending cuts than tax increases in this pro gram and that they are fair and balanced.

The Secretary of the Treasury, Lloyd Bentsen, had a good suggestion, I thought, for reducing the Btu tax, reducing its impact on jobs through lowering the industry and agricultural provisions and cutting the rates across the board on middle class Americans but still leaving it in there so there would always be an incentive for energy conservation, environmental cleanup, and switching to American natural gas.

But one of the Senators on the Senate Finance Committee had said he would never vote for a bill based on the heat content of energy, which meant that they had to change the form of the energy levy. And we'll just have to see what comes out of the conference. I don't know what will happen.

Mr. Scheld. This is pretty complicated, but the American people were so well-informed a couple of months ago exactly how much it was going to cost. I think people were--at least in this area, I think we got the impression that people were willing to bite their bottom lip and to pay for deficit reduction. Are you taking that attitude back to the Senate and saying, listen to the American people?

The president. I'm really trying to. And I think what happened was that from the time I gave my speech outlining the plan in February to the American people directly, including telling everybody exactly what we were going to cut and exactly what it would cost, after that the details got lost in all the word games going, back and forth and the shouting. And what I tried to do last week by giving a prime-time news conference and doing a number of other things was to let the American people know exactly what was in this bill. Maybe it's worth restating.

There are $250 billion of spending cuts and $250 billion of revenue increases and $500 billion of deficit reduction in this package every $10 in cutting the debt, $5 comes in spending cuts; $3.75 comes from people with incomes above $100,000; $1.25 comes from people with incomes below $100,000 but above $30,000. People below that are harmless. That's about how it

Mr. Scheld. One Member of Congress over the weekend, I think, was quoted as saying that's engaging in politics of envy, pitting the higher income brackets against those that can't afford it.

The President. No.

Mr. Scheld. Well, what do you say to that?

The President. I have a clear answer to that. I don't seek to punish anybody for their success. But if you look at what happened in the 1980's, we had the reverse of the politics of envy. In the 1980's taxes went up on the middle class while their incomes went down. Taxes went down on upper income people their incomes went up. This has nothing to do with the politics of envy.

I want it to be possible for people to have more successes. If you look at this bill that is moving its way through Congress, there are big incentives for people to start new businesses, for small businesses to hire extra people, for bigger industries to invest in new plant and equipment, for all private sector people to actually make money by reinvesting in our inner cities and our rural areas again. This is not about the politics of envy. This is about who can afford to pay the freight.