Bill Clinton: “Let me say, with all respect, I don't think it's that simple. I don't think it's accurate to say that this bill destroys…”

“Let me say, with all respect, I don't think it's that simple. I don't think it's accurate to say that this bill destroys the safety net for poor people. It maintains a Federal guarantee for poor women and children for nutrition, a Federal guarantee for health care, spends $4 billion more on child care, and says, simply, that if you are able bodied, you cannot stay on welfare forever without going into the work force. And the way the work participation requirements were put on States, by the year 2000 about 40 percent of all the able-bodied people in the welfare--able-bodied adults have to be in--have had some work experience within a given 2-year period. That's what it says. Now, I hardly--and when you consider the fact that the welfare population, Earl, is different than it used to be and that there are some people who are on it perpetually, I think it is a good thing, not a bad thing, that we did that. Number two, I do not think it is so simple to say that at any given moment in time there are a fixed number of people who have to be hired by all the employers in America, and if they hire a few more, they're all going down the tubes and lose money. This bill that I have proposed will give a 50 percent tax credit, up to $5,000 a year, for people who hire people. That means you can hire somebody for $10,000 a year and, in effect, the out-of-pocket cost to you is less than the minimum wage. I met a man with only 25 employees in Kansas City, and 5 of his employees were former welfare recipients. And they were happy at work, and he was happy with them. And he only hired them because he figured that the marginal cost of hiring them, since he got the welfare check as a wage subsidy for a couple of years, lowered his risk of adding to the work force. And sure enough, when he added to the work force, he generated some more work and it turned out to be a profitable decision for him. I talked to a former Governor last week who's back in private business, who's got a small business, who told me once I explained the proposal to him that he would now go hire three or four people from the welfare rolls because it lowered the marginal cost of adding employees to him. And there is no reason to believe, if we all work on this, that we can't create another million jobs over 4 years without bankrupting businesses and that it wouldn't be better for people who otherwise are going to be permanently dependent on welfare. And it is not true that we have withdrawn all supports. We are spending more on child care. I want to also spend $3 billion on public service related jobs to create over a third of a million there. And the health care and the nutrition guarantees are still there. So I think it will be a good thing if we make this work, but there is no automatic system for doing it, and that's why we need your help. [The discussion continued.]”