Bill Clinton: “Now, there has been a lot of talk about responsibility and a lot of debate about welfare. Let me tell you what this new…”

“Now, there has been a lot of talk about responsibility and a lot of debate about welfare. Let me tell you what this new welfare law does. First of all, I'll say again, we have 1.8 million fewer people on welfare than we did when I took office. What does that mean? If you give people a job, they will take it. People don't want to be on welfare. They want to go to work. They want to go to work. So here is what the new law says. It says we're going to keep giving children and their parents health care, nutrition through food stamps, the guaranteed school lunch program, and child care if they get a job. But what used to be in the check can now be sent to the State and they can use the money to create jobs. Now, what I say to you is, we talked a lot about responsibility. The State of Tennessee, the State of Arkansas, and all the rest of us, we now have a responsibility to create those jobs in the inner cities and in those poor delta towns and in other places where people are on welfare because there aren't any jobs. And I have a plan to let us all be responsible by investing in these places to create new jobs where there have not been any. Will you help me build that kind of bridge to the future? Audience members. Yes!”