Remarks in Bowling Green, Ohio

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, Sept 2, 1996

And as I go forward into Chicago I want you to know that's the record we've made, but we've made a beginning. We have more to do. What is the task of the next 4 years? We have our economic house in order. We've got to make sure it's possible for every single, solitary American to take part in this economic recovery and to live out their dreams and to take care of their families. That has to be our task for the next 4 years.

That means to me, among other things - I just want to mention just a couple of things that I want to do in the next 4 years.

Number one, I want to make at least 2 years of college as universal for Americans as a high school education is today. Now, how do we propose to do that? By giving a $10,000 tax deduction to families for the cost of college tuition for any kind of education after high school and a $1,500 refundable tax credit for the first 2 years of college if that helps you more. That will get everybody through a community college in any State in the country just about. That's a good thing to do, and we ought to do it.

Number two, I want to make sure that every child in every school in America has the same chance everybody else does to grow and learn, which means we not only need computers in every school and classroom, and also trained teachers, but all those classrooms need to be connected to this vast information superhighway. That will give any child anywhere in America, in the poorest inner city neighborhood, in the most remote mountain village, access to the same information that any other child has anywhere in the world. We're going to connect all those classrooms by the year 2000 if you'll let us do it.

And finally let me just say one word about health care. We have done a good thing by saying, "You can't have your health insurance taken away from you if you change jobs, and you can't be denied if you've got somebody in your family who is sick." But we still have good, hard-working people who are unemployed for longer periods than they used to be. I want to see us also help those people who are unemployed who are dying to get back in the work force keep their families in health insurance for at least 6 more months. And that's a noble and good thing to do. The kids need it. It will help them perform in school. It will help the families stay together. It will make America stronger. I hope you'll support it.

And all these things - the last thing I want to say is, we can afford a tax cut, but we ought to only have the tax cut we can afford - remember what I said - because we're bringing the deficit down, because everybody knows we're going toward a balanced budget, your interest rates are lower, That's lower mortgage payments, lower car payments, lower credit card payments, more business investment, and more jobs.

And finally, for the first time in a decade, for the last 2 years average wages are rising again. We can't jeopardize that, but we can afford a family friendly tax cut, a $500 tax credit for children under 13, the education tax deductions that I just mentioned, and an IRA available to families making up to $80,000, moving up to $100,000 a year, that you can withdraw from without any penalty to buy the first home, to deal with a medical emergency, and to educate your kids or yourselves. That is a program we can afford, and that's what we ought to have. It will build America and balance the budget.