Bill Clinton: “I think what's most important to me, because I think this will clarify the choices to the Republicans as well as to our…”

“I think what's most important to me, because I think this will clarify the choices to the Republicans as well as to our people, what's most important to me is to try to do the first things first. That is, I would like to lock in a commitment which would assure that even if we couldn't reach agreement on the next steps, we'd run Social Security out to 2053 and pay the debt off, the publicly held debt off in 15 years. Then I would like to move to Medicare, where I really do believe we can make an agreement now. We know that. They will have to admit, those that don't agree with my prescription drug proposal, that I've done it in a fiscally responsible way that will not explode in the out-years. Then we can look at what we've got. I don't think they--if you look at what they say they are going to do, they say they're willing to go to basically a kind of a lockbox like I have, a real savings on Social Security, not something you can go back and raid. If you do that and if you take the tax proposal they've got on the books now and then just fund my defense numbers--not theirs, my defense increases--we're already in the hole again running a deficit with a 30 percent cut in discretionary spending. That is, I don't think that all these numbers have been added up, and I think that if we really sit down and don't get--you know, I haven't attacked the money. I haven't gone out on a budget tirade or anything like that. What I want to do is to really show them what I think the choices are and then discuss it with them and debate with them. But I think there can be an omnibus agreement, and I've already said I think there ought to be a tax cut. We can afford to give some of this money back to the American people. My own view is, the most responsible way to give it back is in the USA accounts, because it gives hundreds of dollars a year from now on to working families in ways that will enable them to save for their own retirement. Tax Cuts Mr. Brownstein. Do you like the idea of raising the 15 percent bracket as a possible tax cut?”