Clinton hails $70 billion federal surplus

Saving Social Security is next challenge, he says

WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, September 30) -- President Bill Clinton announced Wednesday the federal government will post about a $70 billion budget surplus for the 1998 fiscal year, and called the historic surplus the first of many to come.

"We have waited a long time for this," said Clinton. "Tonight at midnight, America puts an end to three decades of deficits and launches an era of balances and surpluses."

Clinton used the announcement to repeat his challenge to Congress not to use any of the surplus for election-year tax cuts before lawmakers figure out how to shore up Social Security's finances. The system could run out of money in the next century in the face of expected baby boomer retirements.

"I think the American people have waited 29 years," Clinton said. "And I think most Americans would like to see the ink change from red to black and then just dry a little before we put it at risk."

Clinton took special note of Democratic lawmakers who voted for the 1993 budget agreement and later lost their seat for what was a politically unpopular stance at the time. Several attended the ceremony. Now, Clinton said, there is no political risk for Congress to do the right thing.

"Nobody's being asked to cut their throats and give up a job they love and work they believe in to do the right thing," an impassioned Clinton said. "No one's being asked to do that. How can we possibly walk away from this session of Congress, when there is no pain in doing the right thing, not the kind of pain they had to endure, without saying we're going to save Social Security first, put education as our first investment priority, pass a patients' bill of rights and keep America and the world's economy growing?

"How can we do that? We owe it to the people who made the sacrifice who brought us to this day to build for another day," Clinton added. "We should not sit on or celebrate this balanced budget. We should build on it."

The $70 billion figure represents budget officials' best estimate, with final data on tax collections and spending expected in mid-October. Whatever the final figure, it will be the government's first surplus since a $3 billion surplus in 1969, and could provide a political boost to incumbents of both parties weeks before the November 3 congressional elections.

Clinton noted that when the U.S. last posted a surplus, Neil Armstrong walked on the moon and "Bonanza" was a top-rated TV show.

Though Clinton claimed much of the credit for the historic surplus, Republicans say their budget-cutting policies since taking control of Congress in 1995 are responsible for the dramatic turnaround in the nation's fiscal health.

In an interview Tuesday, House Speaker Newt Gingrich cited the GOP drive to overhaul welfare and Medicare, trim domestic spending, and cut taxes. Gingrich said that "all came together" to spur economic growth and eliminate deficits.

He also chided Clinton for criticizing Republicans for proposing a tax cut paid for with surpluses, while the president is seeking billions in spending for security of overseas embassies and other emergencies that would also come from the surplus.

"It is the purest demagogic dishonesty," Gingrich said.

The White House's last official estimate in May of the 1998 surplus was $39 billion, but analysts in and out of government have long expected a heftier figure. The Congressional Budget Office, Congress' nonpartisan fiscal analyst, had been projecting a $63 billion surplus for months.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

TRANSCRIPT

President Bill Clinton hails budget surplus (9-30-98)