Bill Clinton: “Good morning. As you know, I have spent the last week in intense discussion with congressional leaders over how to…”

“Good morning. As you know, I have spent the last week in intense discussion with congressional leaders over how to balance the budget in 7 years. It's important to balance the budget to lift the burden of debt from future generations. In the last 3 years, we've cut our deficit in half, and we need to finish the job. But we have to balance the budget in a way that reflects our most fundamental values: increasing opportunity; asking everyone to assume responsibility; strengthening our families and the economy; and recognizing the duty we owe to each other, to our parents, our children, and those who need and deserve our help. That's how we've reduced the deficit since I took office: cutting unnecessary programs; reducing the size of the Federal Government by 200,000; reducing redtape but investing in education, the environment, research and technology; protecting Medicare and Medicaid; reducing taxes on the hardest pressed working families. It's worked. It's given us more jobs, more new businesses, low inflation, and record economic performance in the stock market and in many other places. Now, that's how I want to finish the job of balancing the budget. But even as we continue talking, I hope Congress will agree to open the Government and open all the agencies that have closed so that we can end the financial and emotional turmoil for more than 280,000 furloughed Federal employees and 460,000 working-but-not-getting-paid Federal employees.…”