Bill Clinton: “Good morning. Last night I went the extra mile to bring Republicans and Democrats together to open the Government up and…”

“Good morning. Last night I went the extra mile to bring Republicans and Democrats together to open the Government up and get down to the hard work of balancing the budget. I sent my Chief of Staff, Leon Panetta, to Capitol Hill to forge a common ground. I had hoped the Republicans and Democrats of good faith would be able to work together to reopen Government and to continue our larger debate over national budget priorities. But this morning it looks like this chance to reopen the Government may be slipping away. I hope that's not true, and I call on reasonable Republicans to join with Democrats in Congress to pass a bill to reopen the Government and open the way to real, serious talks on how to balance the budget. I know that for many people across our country, all this conflict and drama looks just like people in Washington are playing politics again. What every American has to realize is that this is way beyond politics. There are very, very profound, fundamental issues involved. What's at stake is nothing less than two different visions of our country and two different futures for our people. I believe we must balance the budget. I'm determined to eliminate the Federal deficit to avoid passing a legacy of debt on to our children. I am proud that in my first 3 years in office, our administration has cut the deficit in half and that now we already have the smallest deficit of any major economy in the world. It's time to finish the job and pass a balanced budget plan.…”