Bill Clinton: “I would, and thank you very much for allowing me to join you in this way. I hope I'll get back to the Central Valley in…”

“I would, and thank you very much for allowing me to join you in this way. I hope I'll get back to the Central Valley in person before long. I had some wonderful times there during the election, and I'm glad to have the chance to visit with you directly. As you know, in the next few days the Congress will take up a final vote on the economic plan, which they have been debating now since February. So far the Congress has moved with great speed in trying to deal with this plan and trying to keep its essential features intact. I want to just review those features today and why I think it's important as a first step in our long-term efforts in redeveloping the American economy and the California economy. First, the plan will reduce the deficit by very close to $500 billion, equally divided between spending cuts and revenue increases, put in a trust fund so that the money cannot legally be spent on anything else but deficit reduction. Secondly, the plan will ask of the tax increases that 70 percent at least of those come from people with incomes above $200,000, the top 1.2 percent of our economy, people who got most of the economic gains and a tax cut in the 1980's. Thirdly, the middle class burden will be quite modest. I wish there didn't have to be any middle class tax, but the deficit has gotten much larger just since the election, and we have to address it now. And that burden will be for a middle class family of four with an income of between $40,000 and $60,000, less than $50 a year. Next, the plan holds working families with incomes of under $30,000 a year harmless and gives the working poor, those who still live below the poverty line, actual tax relief so that we'll be able to say for the first time, if you work 40 hours a week and you have children in your home, you'd be lifted above the poverty line. This is a profoundly important thing. And next, and perhaps most important for California, the plan has real incentives for private sector business growth: Incentives that the high-tech community in California wanted very badly for investments in new companies with $50 million a year or less in capitalization, big cuts for them; an increase in the expensing provision for small business that will give over 90 percent of the small business operations--and farms that qualify, too, I might add--a tax benefit, not a tax increase but a tax benefit when they reinvest in their businesses; next, an increase in the research and development tax credit; and finally, some incentives to invest in areas that are traditionally underdeveloped, both rural and urban areas, to get free enterprise in there to do that job. So for all these reasons, this economic plan is good for the country, and it's good for California. It is not the end-all and be-all. We have to move on to health care. We have to move on to a trade policy that enables us to sell more of our products and services abroad. We have to move on to welfare reform. We have a crime bill. We have an immigration initiative up. All these things are important. Secretary Babbitt is working with the farmers in your area to resolve some of your water problems. But all these things cannot be brought to fruition completely until we pass an economic plan and a budget and get this country moving again, keep the deficit down, and keep the interest rates down. Let me finally say that this plan has the support of an enormous number of Republicans and independents who are not politicians and have no stake in misrepresenting the facts. Earlier this week, about 67 business leaders from around the country, including the heads of four energy companies, equally divided pretty much between Republicans and Democrats, endorsed this plan. And one of the people who endorsed it was Lod Cook, the chairman of ARCO, who was a cochairman of President Bush's campaign. So this is not a partisan effort on my part. It's just a tough decision to deal with problems that developed in Washington long before I showed up. And I hope the people of California and the Central Valley will support it. I'll be glad to answer your questions. Immigration”