Bill Clinton: “First of all, anytime you start a--I've never seen a bill that started new programs that you couldn't cut some and…”

“First of all, anytime you start a--I've never seen a bill that started new programs that you couldn't cut some and maintain its fundamental integrity. I said that crime bill was a strong and good bill as it was, and it was a strong and good bill. But one of the things that happened in conference that has, I think, been largely overlooked is that in an attempt to get as much money as possible for police officers and law enforcement and for prisons and for border patrol, funds were appropriated or were authorized in the crime bill that came out of conference in an amount greater than we could provide in the trust fund. Keep in mind, the great beauty of this crime bill is it's the first major program in American history that's being financed entirely by reducing the size of the Federal bureaucracy and taking all the savings from the Federal Government and putting it in a trust fund to help grassroots Americans get better control over their own lives. The practical impact of what we are doing by cutting 10 percent of this will be to be able to put everything that's left into the trust fund. So, in terms of real dollars, I believe there will be more money actually appropriated and spent for tough law enforcement and for police officers. And I believe that all the fundamental, important things in the prevention strategy will be maintained at a very high level and dramatically higher than now. The principles of the bill are intact: It's the biggest increase in police in the history of the country; it's the toughest increase in punishment in the history of the country; it's the biggest increase in prevention programs in the history of the country. I am not a Member of the Congress. They have to work out all the details. If they produced this bill out of the conference, I would have happily supported this, as I did the other one.”