Bill Clinton: “The plan I presented last year cost somewhere in the beginning--I think we underestimated the savings. The more you…”

“The plan I presented last year cost somewhere in the beginning--I think we underestimated the savings. The more you invest in putting people to work, the quicker you will reduce long-term taxpayer costs. The more people are put into the work force, even if you have to spend some money to do it--for example, we gave Oregon permission to take the welfare checks and actually use it by giving it to employers as a wage supplement. They wanted to try it, and we said, ``Have at it.'' I'm going to be very interested to see whether that works. Maybe a lot of States will do that. The Government can't afford a lot of public service jobs. Maybe the answer is to let the welfare checks go as employer supplements, to pay those wage supplements. But the point is that however we do it, the more we focus on work and giving people a living wage and an opportunity to work, the better off we'll be. That's another good argument for raising the minimum wage. Balanced Budget Amendment”