Bill Clinton: “Well, depending on whether you borrowed any money since November, you've already felt it. From the minute Secretary…”

“Well, depending on whether you borrowed any money since November, you've already felt it. From the minute Secretary- designate of the Treasury said after the election, Lloyd Bentsen said we were going to attack the deficit and how we were going to do it and what was going to be in it, we began to have pretty steep drops in interest rates. So if you're paying any kind of interest payments, you've already felt it. The reason I was for the job stimulus program--to go back to the jobs program that the gentleman asked me in the back--is that I wanted to be able to lower the unemployment rate by another half a percentage point this year through an investment program, because all over the world, I will say again, all over the world--Europe's got a higher unemployment rate than we do. Japan has a much lower unemployment rate than we do because it's got a more closed economy, but they also are not creating jobs, and many of their firms are laying off for the first time in modern history. So I wanted to do that. So you will--let me just tick them off--you should be able--if we pass the budget, I think we will secure a healthier financial environment for the next year, and I think that will help everyone. If we can pass health care, I think, by next year people will begin to feel the impact of greater health security. If we can pass it--it's a big job and it's going to take a lot of work. The student loan program, if it passes, it will affect people immediately. People will be eligible who are now in college for it, as well as those who would wish to go, the same thing with the apprenticeship program. The welfare reform program should begin to have effect next year. Those are just some of the things that I think will actually touch people's lives and make a big difference. I think the trick on--to go back to the question the other gentleman asked--to getting people to support the targeted spending for education, training, and technology is to make sure that you lock the spending cuts in first before you do the taxes, and that overall, that the spending increases are small compared to the spending cuts, which they are, in our plan. So I think to me, that's the trick, and that's what I'm trying to achieve, and I hope you'll be with me when we do it. Thank you.”