Bill Clinton: “First of all, it takes no energy at all. He doesn't have to do anything in the Congress right now. All he has to do is…”

“First of all, it takes no energy at all. He doesn't have to do anything in the Congress right now. All he has to do is to do what he said he'd do when he shook hands with me. Let's set up a commission. He can make his appointments, Senator Dole can make his appointments, I'll make my appointments, and Senator Daschle and Congressman Gephardt can make their appointments, and then let the commission go do its work. That is not a persuasive reason. There is nothing to do. That takes about 2 or 3 hours of staff time and about 30 minutes of his time. So--and let's say this. Our administration has made the Medicare Trust Fund better. Their Medicare cuts are not necessary either to fix the Trust Fund or to balance the budget. Over half of their Medicare cuts--or roughly half of them--are increased costs to beneficiaries of Medicare which will not put one red cent into the Medicare Trust Fund. That is not what this is about. We have shown you can balance the budget without hurting people on Medicare. And that's what I think the Speaker and the majority in the House and the Senate ought to say they want to do. And when they say that, we can resolve further problems with the Medicare Trust Fund. I have shown I'm willing to deal with that. I proposed some savings to help deal with that. This is not about the Medicare Trust Fund. This is about whether these beneficiaries are going to be soaked for no good reason. Campaign Finance Reform”