Copyright 2000 The New York Times Company
The New
York Times
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April 26, 2000, Wednesday, Late Edition -
Final
SECTION: Section A; Page 18; Column
1; National Desk
LENGTH: 1240 words
HEADLINE: THE 2000 CAMPAIGN: THE VICE PRESIDENT;
Gore Says Top Goal Is Steady Reduction of Nation's Debt
BYLINE: By KATHARINE Q. SEELYE
BODY:
Laying out his economic vision more fully
than ever, Vice President Al Gore offered himself yesterday as a fiscal
conservative and steward of the Clinton administration's economic formula and
prosperity.
His primary goal, he said, was to reduce the national debt
year by year -- barring an emergency -- and to set it on a course for complete
elimination by the year 2013.
He pledged to use the Social Security
surplus and savings in debt payments to shore up the retirement program. He also
promoted tax cuts to help parents save for college tuition, job retraining,
health insurance and long-term care and, for businesses, research and
development. The total cost of the tax cuts over 10 years, aides estimated, was
$250 billion to $300 billion.
His purpose, Mr. Gore said, was not only
to maintain the nation's prosperity, but also to maintain consumer confidence in
the economy.
"Moving purposefully to a debt-free America will be one of
the best ways to sustain and increase the confidence that is the foundation of
our present and future prosperity," he told more than 1,000 business, labor and
civic leaders who are members of the Association for a Better New York, at the
Hilton New York in Manhattan yesterday morning.
"We have to make America
debt-free before the baby boomers retire, so we can pay our obligations to them
in the form of Social Security and Medicare," he said, crystallizing a central
tenet of his candidacy.
And though John J. Sweeney, president of the
A.F.L.-C.I.O., was in the audience, Mr. Gore pledged an "aggressive" fight to
open new markets, like China, to promote free trade.
With Mr. Sweeney
sitting near him, Mr. Gore acknowledged that his views on China trade diverged
with those of "many of my supporters."
Mr. Sweeney, who was briefed on
Mr. Gore's remarks before they were delivered, said unions would continue to
back Mr. Gore despite differences on trade.
"Trade is the most
significant area of disagreement," Mr. Sweeney said after the speech. "But this
was just one piece of a comprehensive economic policy, 90 percent of which we
would solidly support."
Mr. Gore sounded familiar themes of the Clinton
formula. But he made his first extended remarks tying his presumptive Republican
opponent, Gov. George W. Bush of Texas, with Mr. Bush's father, President George
Bush, and painting both with the same brush of fiscal irresponsibility.
"We fell prey to the politics of illusion during the decade of amazing
deficits," Mr. Gore said, referring to the Reagan and Bush administrations. "Now
we have to avoid the politics of illusion in the decade of amazing surpluses."
"This is a test of our memory," he said. "Have we forgotten the dangers
of irresponsibility? Have we forgotten the virtues of responsibility?"
Mr. Gore developed his economic strategy with President Clinton's top
economic advisers -- Lawrence H. Summers, the Treasury Secretary; Robert Rubin,
the former Secretary; and Gene Sperling, chief of Mr. Clinton's economic
council. As a result, the Gore vision mirrors the Clinton approach of the last
seven years, a period that extended a slow recovery into the longest economic
expansion in the nation's history.
"If we stick with a disciplined
fiscal policy and if we earn and maintain confidence through our
decision-making," Mr. Gore said, "then low interest rates and capital costs will
do more to promote growth and create jobs than deficit spending could ever
achieve. This is the new understanding of our economic reality that has been
patiently built up over these last seven years."
At the same time, Mr.
Gore declared Mr. Bush would shatter that confidence and said that the
governor's tax-cut plan was "politically driven," overly generous to the wealthy
and would drive the nation into inflation and recession.
In criticizing
Mr. Bush, Mr. Gore invoked President Bush, saying that his tenure was marked by
"budget busting, runaway tax policy, runaway spending, without the
responsibility to pay for it and without the basic respect for the American
people to give even the barest indication of how the cost would be met."
Ari Fleischer, Mr. Bush's spokesman, said that Mr. Gore's speech
revealed just how mired he was in old-style partisan attack politics. Mr. Bush,
he said, spent the day with Democrats, underscoring his bipartisan approach to
problem-solving.
"Al Gore today exaggerated and distorted the governor's
balanced-budget proposal," Mr. Fleischer said. "According to economic experts,
Governor Bush's tax proposal will cost $1.3 trillion over 10 years, $800 billion
less than Gore claims. A new analysis of the Gore budget shows he has proposed
$1.9 trillion in new spending on bigger government. Gore's spending plan is
nearly 50 percent bigger than Bush's tax cut."
Mr. Gore said later that
he was not attacking Mr. Bush as much as pointing out their differences, and
that he would continue to do so. "Discussing the substance of the proposals made
by him and made by me is a classic and healthy way to present the choice" that
confronts the nation, Mr. Gore said in an interview with National Public Radio.
Mr. Gore's speech set the foundation for a series of addresses he
intends to deliver in the next couple of weeks as he seeks to contrast his
proposals with those of Mr. Bush.
It also represented a new beginning of
sorts for Mr. Gore, who laid out most of his policy proposals during his primary
contest against former Senator Bill Bradley.
By contrast, Mr. Bush has
spent much of the last month offering fresh proposals daily, as Mr. Gore drew
little attention, other than criticism over his call for a less active
government role in the Elian Gonzalez case.
Yesterday, Mr. Gore came
roaring back, not with any sharp departure from previous positions but with a
comprehensive discussion of his view of the economy, the linchpin of all his
other proposals.
He dismissed the governor's recent speeches, which have
moved him toward the political center, as "his post-primary search for
rehabilitation."
Concerning President Bush's economic policy, Mr. Gore
could not have been more derisive.
"Confidence in America's economic
policy-making was shattered," he said. "It lay in ruins. We had to get used to
foreign leaders coming here and beginning their state visits with lectures on
the fundamentals of economic policy and what a disaster America's economic
policy was.
"We didn't get a dose of economic realism until August of
1993 when President Clinton and I fought for and won an economic plan built on
the bedrock of fiscal responsibility."
Later, in the interview with
National Public Radio, Mr. Gore was less quick to claim credit for the nation's
soaring economy. "My task as I see it is not to try to get credit for what's
happened but rather to present a vision for what will happen and what can happen
if we keep our prosperity going," he said.
During his speech, Mr. Gore
gave a strong endorsement of the bill for permanent normal
trade relations with China, legislation that is headed for a showdown
this spring.
"I will continue to do all I can to build support in
Congress for it," Mr. Gore said. He has been reluctant to assert support for the
agreement publicly because labor, which has endorsed him, so strongly opposes
it.
"I understand their concerns," he said. "And I believe that trade
must be a way to lift up living standards around the world, not drag standards
down here at home."
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GRAPHIC: Photo: Vice President Al Gore portrayed
himself yesterday as a fiscal conservative as he addressed the Association for a
Better New York in Manhattan. (Angel Franco/The New York Times)
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April 26, 2000 
