President of the U.S., 1993-2001; Former Democratic Governor (AR)
OpEd: Left country on brink of recession in 2001
The massive Clinton tax increase of 1993 resulted in short-term increases in revenues to the government but eventually became an anchor that stopped economic growth. Clinton left the country on the brink of recession at the end of his second term in 2001
The Republican Revolution of 1994 initially proved to be a good counterbalance to Clinton's attempt to expand government. The Republicans stopped Clinton's attempt to take over America's health-care system, forced him to sign a welfare reform plan
(after two vetoes), and finally balanced the federal budget for the first time in decades.
The achievement of the balanced budget was short-lived (it was actually never even close to being balanced if you count what was being borrowed from the Social
Security Trust Fund) and more the result of America's economic expansion than anything done by the Republicans or Clinton.
Unfortunately the good economy and balanced budget created an excuse to increase spending dramatically.
Source: Saving Freedom, by Jim DeMint, p. 23-24
Jul 4, 2009
1995: Bill supported balancing budget in 10 years
In 1995, Bill decided to balance the budget in ten years because “the pain we’d inflict on our elderly, our students, and our economy” in the GOP 7-year plan “just isn’t worth it.” He promised to cut taxes on the middle class rather than the rich, and he
drew sharp distinctions between his way and the GOP way, particularly on Medicare-cost savings. He insisted the GOP wanted to raise health care premiums for the elderly, while he planned to cut Medicare costs by reducing payments to hospitals.
Source: For Love of Politics, by Sally Bedell Smith, p.213
Oct 23, 2007
First modern Pres.to use fiscal discipline to balance budget
The budget deficit inherited from the Bush presidency was staggering. Bill Clinton felt a commitment to the kind of fiscal politics out of which Republican presidents had made rhetorical hay for two generations, while presidents from both parties allowed
debt to pile up.
Most of the platform that had been the foundation for Clinton’s victory, which featured a menu of social programs, was instantly challenged. Ironically, those first 100 days, while the bottom sometimes seemed to be falling out of the
new presidency, the course was actually set for a historic economic recovery and boom.
Clinton alone among contemporary presidents grasped the possibilities of the global economy, and what the explosive power of America’s technical invention &
new industries could do for the domestic economy. He became the first modern president to actually exercise, as opposed to merely talk about, the fiscal discipline necessary to cut and even balance the federal budget.
Borrowing money to pay for the deficit fails our trade laws
With over $400 billion in deficit this year and for years to come, how do they pay for that deficit? First, by taking the Social Security surplus that comes in every month and endorsing the checks of working people over to me to pay for the tax cuts.
But it’s not enough. So they have to go borrow money. Most of it they borrow from the Chinese and Japanese governments. Sure, these countries are competing with us for good jobs, but how can we enforce our trade laws against our bankers? I mean, come on!
Source: Speech to the Democratic National Convention
Jul 29, 2004
1993 budget signaled the return of fiscal responsibility
Bill's economic plan [finally passed in August 1993]. Before the vote, I had spoken with wavering Democrats. In the end, not a single Republican voted for the balanced budget package. It squeaked through the House by one vote, and Al Gore had to vote to
break a 50-50 vote tie.
The plan wasn't everything the Administration had wanted, but it signaled the return of fiscal responsibility for the government and the beginning of an economic turnaround for the country, unprecedented in American history.
The plan slashed the deficit in half; extended the life of Medicare Trust Fund; expanded a tax cut called the Earned Income Tax Credit, which benefited fifteen million lower-income working Americans' reformed the student loan program, saving taxpayers
billions of dollars; and created empowerment zones an enterprise communities that provided tax incentives for investing in distressed communities. To pay for these reforms, the plan raised taxes on gasoline and on highest-income Americans.
New Clintonism demonstrated in 1997 balanced budget
In the summer of 1996, Clinton's grand first-term dreams had shriveled into a set of proposals. He would spend all of 1997 working on a balanced-budget agreement with the Republicans.
The 1997 Balanced Budget Agreement--the first nominally balanced
budget in 30 years--received insufficient attention. It was, in a way, the ultimate demonstration of the New Clintonism. The real victory wasn't in the "zero" at the bottom line, but in the dozens of line-item skirmishes won.
There was the more than
$30 billion in new tax credits for higher education. There was also $24 billion for a children's health program. He also was able to make the welfare reform revisions he had promised.
The 1997 BBA was an achievement ignored by Clinton's critics on
the left (who wanted bigger social programs), on the right (who wanted less spending), in the press (who mostly didn't notice), and in academia. "These aren't big pieces of legislation. These are scraps off the table," said one critic.
1992: Connected with audience on recession's personal effect
There was a touching, uncynical transparency to the 1992 campaign: The candidate actually seemed moved by the stories he heard along the way, and the stories, more often than not, fit his vision of the challenge ahead.
On Oct. 15, 1992, toward the end of a presidential debate, an African-American woman asked a confusing question: "How has the national debt personally affected each of your lives?"
Bush: "I'm sure it has.
I love my grandchildren. I'm not sure I get... help me with the question."
After more struggle, it was Clinton's turn--and he did something quite extraordinary. He took three steps toward the woman and asked her, "Tell me how it affected you again?"
The woman was speechless. Clinton helped her along, but the words weren't as important as the body language: the three steps he had taken toward the woman spoke volumes about his empathy, his concern, his desire to respond to the needs of the public.
OpEd: Despite personal issues, ran a disciplined presidency
Despite Clinton's gaudy personal failings, he had run a serious, disciplined, responsible presidency. "If you see a turtle sitting on top of a fence post,"
Clinton would often say, "it didn't get there by accident," by which he meant that the historic prosperity and the global peace that attended his time in office were not accidental.
They were, at least in part, attributable to thousands of decision--subtle, nuanced, often risky decision--that Clinton and his advisors had made over the years, decision that lacked the neon explosiveness of the Lewinsky scandal or the
Marc Rich pardon, but which were the true work of the presidency.
Reduced federal deficit from eleven zeroes to simply zero
Clinton's next statement, however, brought an explosion of bipartisan cheers: "For three decades, six presidents have come before you to warn of the damage deficits pose to our nation. Tonight,
I come before you to announce that the federal deficit--once so incomprehensibly large that it had eleven zeroes--will be, simply, zero."
The President basked in the cheers, his jaw set, smiling slightly. For a moment, the
Lewinsky business seemed very far away. And now, he was ready to take his big gamble: "If we balance the budget for the next year, it is projected that we'll have a sizable surplus
in the years that immediately follow. What should we do with the projected surplus?" He paused for effect. "I have a simple four word answer: Save...Social...Security...First!"
1995 budget impasse blamed on Republican intransigence
In the 1995 budget impasse, almost everyone on the White House staff still believed that presidential passivity was the best tactic: Let them suffocate under the weight of their own proposal. But the President was spiritually--and politically--uneasy wit
that course. He said that he might well propose his own version of a balanced budget. With his own balanced budget proposal in place that autumn, Clinton was free to attack the Republicans much harder, and more confidently than he would have it he'd
followed his staff's advice.
The Gingrich Republicans proved perfect opponents for the President. They refused to compromise on the budget. The new fiscal year began without an agreement and the federal government, consequently, shut down for lack of
funds in October; then, after interim negotiations, it shut down for a second time in December. The President, of course, was complicit in this, but the Republicans, who had flaunted their intransigence throughout the year, were blamed for the spectacle.
In February 2000, the United States entered the 107th consecutive month of economic expansion -- the longest economic expansion in history.
22.2 million new jobs have been created since 1993, the most jobs ever created under a single
Administration -- and more new jobs than Presidents Reagan and Bush created during their three terms. 91 percent (19.9 million) of the new jobs have been created in the private sector, the highest percentage in 50 years.
Unemployment is down from
7.5 percent in 1992 to 4.0 percent in June 2000, and in April the unemployment rate was the lowest in over 30 years. The unemployment rate has fallen for seven years in a row, and has remained below 5 percent for 34 months in a row.
The poverty rate has fallen from 15.1 percent in 1993 to 12.7 percent in 1998. That’s the lowest poverty rate since 1979 and the largest five-year drop in poverty in nearly 30 years.
Source: WhiteHouse.gov web site
Dec 1, 2000
Pay off National Debt to reduce interest payments for all
In 1992, the Federal budget deficit was $290 billion - the largest dollar deficit in American history. In January 1993, the Congressional Budget Office projected that the deficit would grow to $455 billion by 2000. The Office of Management and
Budget is now projecting a $211 billion surplus for 2000 - the third consecutive surplus and the largest surplus ever, even after adjusting for inflation.
In 1998 and 1999, the debt held by the public was reduced by $140 billion, and the
government is projected to pay down an additional $184 billion in public debt this fiscal year alone. Debt reduction brings real benefits for the American people -- a family with a home mortgage of $100,000 might expect to save roughly
$2,000 per year in mortgage payments. Reduced debt also means lower interest rates and reduced payments on car loans and student loans. With the President’s plan, we are now on track to eliminate the nation’s publicly held debt by 2012.
Source: WhiteHouse.gov web site
Dec 1, 2000
Cut the deficit to lower interest rates
[We put] the nation’s economic house in order by focusing on cutting the deficit in half, bringing interest rates down, and spurring private investment to fire up the nation’s stagnant economy. When I ran for president, job growth had been at the lowest
level since the Great Depression, unemployment was at 8%, and the deficit was soaring out of control. After I was elected, we waged a brutal fight in Congress to pass a new economic plan.
Well, three and a half years later, we cut the deficit by more
than half. In fact, we would have a budget surplus today but for the interest we pay on the debt run up in the twelve years before I took office.
Cutting the deficit further until we balance the budget is vital to our future. The burden of this
deficit drags us down today and jeopardizes our children’s future tomorrow. Lowering it brings interest rates down so more Americans can buy homes and cars, start businesses, go to college, and build a better future for themselves and their families.
We need a national economic strategy as well as a human-development strategy that recognizes that what people earn depends largely on what they can learn and whether their economies are organized for change. So the three central ideas in my economic
policy are:
Emphasize education and training, not just of our children but also of our adults.
Give new incentives to the private sector to invest in the economy.
Think a lot about organizing to make change our friend instead of our enemy.
Source: Clinton on Clinton, p. 69, article “Alienated Americans”
Jul 2, 1980
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