Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, 1999

Contents:
Author: William J. Clinton  | Date: May 21, 1999

Statement on the Budget Surplus,
May 21, 1999

Today I am pleased to announce that we are on track to reach the largest annual budget surplus ever. Thanks to solid fiscal discipline, the surplus at this point in the fiscal year is $64.7 billion, the largest in history over a comparable period.

When I came into office just over 6 years ago, we faced a deficit that had already risen to a staggering $290 billion and was projected to be over $400 billion in this fiscal year. The Vice President and I, working with Congress, set this country on a new course of fiscal discipline, enacting two strong budget packages in 1993 and 1997. As a result, we have begun to pay down the Nation’s debt. In this quarter alone, we expect to pay down $116 billion of privately held marketable Federal debt, the largest sum ever in a single quarter.

Reducing the debt lowers long-term interest rates for home mortgages and autos and lowers borrowing costs for businesses, fueling private sector investments for continued economic growth. Despite the good news, this is not a time for complacency. We must renew our commitment to this sound economic strategy by making responsible investments in our people, working for open markets, and maintaining the fiscal discipline that is beginning to lift the crushing burden of debt from our children and grandchildren. It is especially critical that we create a bipartisan consensus for saving the surplus and paying down our national debt in a way that strengthens the solvency of both Social Security and Medicare.

Contents:

Related Resources

None available for this document.

Download Options


Title: Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, 1999

Select an option:

*Note: A download may not start for up to 60 seconds.

Email Options


Title: Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, 1999

Select an option:

Email addres:

*Note: It may take up to 60 seconds for for the email to be generated.

Chicago: William J. Clinton, "Statement on the Budget Surplus, May 21, 1999," Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, 1999 in United States. Executive Office of the President, Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, Week Ending Friday, May 21, 1999 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1995), 35:2680 Original Sources, accessed April 26, 2024, http://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=8PMW8GYRKCVFH8R.

MLA: Clinton, William J. "Statement on the Budget Surplus, May 21, 1999." Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, 1999, in United States. Executive Office of the President, Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, Week Ending Friday, May 21, 1999 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1995), 35:2680, Original Sources. 26 Apr. 2024. http://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=8PMW8GYRKCVFH8R.

Harvard: Clinton, WJ, 'Statement on the Budget Surplus, May 21, 1999' in Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, 1999. cited in , United States. Executive Office of the President, Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, Week Ending Friday, May 21, 1999 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1995), 35:2680. Original Sources, retrieved 26 April 2024, from http://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=8PMW8GYRKCVFH8R.