Bill Clinton: “Well, first let me say, you gave the right answer yourself. The crime bill is a move in the right direction. And if the…”

“Well, first let me say, you gave the right answer yourself. The crime bill is a move in the right direction. And if the people in the local communities around the country use it, they can lower the crime rate and lower the rate of violence. They can do it by using the police, the punishment, the prevention, and the prisons, all four. But in the end, what we've got to do in this country is to get back to the basics of child-rearing. And those children who are not getting the support they need at home, who are growing up in very mean neighborhoods, still have to have somebody to look up to and someone to learn from. And what's happening is, you talked about those two kids that dropped that 5-year-old out of a high-rise--what is it that makes the heart of a 10-year-old turn to stone, feel no guilt, feel no remorse? What is it that makes an 11-year-old shoot another 11-year-old for gang reasons? We have got to have a system that Government can't provide alone, that people in every community deal with to reach out to these kids and make sure that they have somebody to look up to, someone to learn from who is a good, positive role model, and a future out there for them. I'm doing what I can as President by trying to get the economy in shape, trying to provide educational opportunities, trying to support working families on modest incomes with things like family leave and income tax cuts and other supports. But we really have got to have a grassroots sea change in America in every neighborhood in this country. People who can do it have got to be willing to step in and help these kids that aren't getting the support they need at home or that are spending too much time on the streets because they're, say, the children of single parents who have to be out working to try to support them. And if we will do that, we can then--take the prevention programs, for example, in the crime bill--we can take the police programs in the crime bill and use them to actually build up people's lives and turn this situation around. It is in many ways the most significant challenge facing our country. We cannot expect to do well over the long run if we continue to lose massive numbers of our children to this kind of lifestyle. Student Loan Program Mr. Herrera. Again, we're speaking live with President Bill Clinton on WWJ. Mr. President, following along those same lines, last August you signed the student loan reform act. In fact, you talked about it a little bit earlier today, authorizing the implementation of what's known as the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program. How does this differ from previous efforts to make sure that all those who want a higher education can, in fact, get a higher education in this country.”