Remarks on the income and poverty report and an exchange with reporters

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, Oct 6, 1997

The President. I don't know if I can go on. [Laughter]

Good morning. This Friday will mark the sixth anniversary of the day I announced my intention to run for President of the United States. On that day, I challenged America to embrace an urgent mission for the 21st century, to preserve the American dream, restore the hopes of the forgotten middle class, and reclaim the future for our children.

As President, I have worked hard to set America on that track, to fulfill that mission, putting in place a bold strategy to shrink the deficit, invest in our people, and expand the sales of America's products and services abroad. I am pleased to announce today that we have more evidence that our economic strategy is succeeding.

This morning, the Census Bureau released its annual Survey of Income and Poverty in America. It shows that last year the typical family benefited from a significant increase in income for the third year in a row. Since we launched our economic plan in 1993, the typical family's annual income has risen by nearly $2,200 a year. That's an extra $2,200 that hard-working families can put toward their children's education, a downpayment on a home, or even a much needed vacation. After years and years of stagnant family incomes, today's report proves that America's middle class, no longer forgotten, is rising fast.

It should be noted that these figures do not reflect several other dividends of prosperity we have delivered for the American people. They don't reflect the $500 per child tax credit, the $1,500 HOPE scholarship, the education IRA's, the real benefits of lower interest rates and mortgage costs worth $1,000 a year or more to millions of homeowners.

And rising incomes are also lifting families out of poverty. The report shows that while there is clearly much more to be done, the African-American poverty rate has fallen to its lowest level ever. The income of the typical Hispanic household grew more last year than in any single year on record. The child poverty rate has dropped, in the past 3 years, more than in any 3-year period since the 1960's. And the earned-income tax credit, which we have dramatically expanded and then fought hard to preserve, has raised more than 4 million people out of poverty last year.

The report also shows we have more to do to extend opportunity to all Americans. Starting in the 1970's, income inequality rose sharply. Now it has stabilized. Since 1993, every income group has seen its income rise, with those in the lowest 20 percent showing the fastest gains, thanks, in part, to the minimum wage, to more jobs, and to the earned-income tax credit, which is not measured in the statistics. But we still have to do more to grow together in the 21st century.

Let me say that this report also underscores another important challenge, one that I have been concerned about for a long time. Last year, there were 800,000 more children without health insurance than the year before. However, thank goodness, many of these children will now be eligible for coverage under the balanced budget's historic $24 billion child health initiative, which takes effect this week.

Two years ago we were fighting hard to save Medicaid's guarantee to 4 million children. Now we're looking forward to extending child health insurance to another 5 million children. We have to work together to encourage the States to take full advantage of this opportunity and to make sure that the funds are spent actually insuring children who do not have health insurance today.

To ensure that all our people benefit from the growing economy, we also have to make sure that our people have access to the world's best education, with high standards in the basics. And we have to address the pressing issue of child care. That is another thing that would help to alleviate pressures on middle and lower income working families' households.

The first ever White House Conference on Child Care will be held later this fall. It will focus on how we can help parents to succeed at home and work through quality, affordable child care. In all these ways we can continue to fulfill what I started out to do 6 years ago, preserving the American dream, restoring the middle class, reclaiming the future for our children. But this is good news. And now, Janet Yellen and Gene Sperling will be able to answer questions about the details of the proposals.

Thank you.

Campaign Finance Legislation

Q. What do you think is the chance of getting campaign finance reform through this session this year?

The President. Well, I hope it's good. It's certainly better than it was a month ago. Obviously, there is still strong opposition to it in the leadership of the Republican Party, and they're in the majority in Congress. But I've seen some encouraging signs in the Senate, and frankly, I've seen some encouraging signs in the House with some Republican members willing to speak up and say that we ought to do something. So I'm quite hopeful that we will get something.

I know this - if we just - the way these things work, if we can succeed in keeping the public spotlight on the debate, then the pressure will build to come out with something positive. And I have done what I could, and I'm very proud of our caucus in the Senate for doing what it has done. The Democrats have clearly come out unanimously for some - for campaign finance reform. And we've just got to keep the public spotlight on this and keep going until we get legislation.