Bill Clinton: “That's what I'm trying to do. That's exactly what I'm trying to do. Look, I have given--you ask Governor Whitman or…”

“That's what I'm trying to do. That's exactly what I'm trying to do. Look, I have given--you ask Governor Whitman or anybody else, did Bill Clinton, Ronald Reagan, or George Bush give the Governors more permission to experiment with welfare and health care reform. The answer is, Bill Clinton. Much more. In 3 years I have given the Governors more elbow room to do whatever they want to do in welfare and health care than President Bush and President Reagan did in 12 years. But when I was a Governor, it never occurred to me to ask the Federal Government to send me a blank check and let me quit putting up my part of the money and then just go do whatever I wanted to with the money. That never occurred to me.”