Bill Clinton: “First of all, I want to welcome the Members here for this meeting. And as you know, we're going to be discussing the…”

“First of all, I want to welcome the Members here for this meeting. And as you know, we're going to be discussing the budget. And we'll just make a couple of observations. I have just returned, as you know, from my trip, and I look forward to having the opportunity to study in detail the budget resolutions passed by the Senate and the House--or offered by the Republicans in the Senate and the House. Obviously, I believe that deficit reduction is good for our economy. It lowers interest rates. It promotes growth if it's done in the right way. We're using 7-year figures now. The last Congress reduced the deficit about a trillion dollars over 7 years, or about as much as the Republican proposals recommend. I am concerned, as I have said repeatedly for months now, about three things. I do not believe that we should cut Medicare deeply, cut long-term care for the elderly deeply to pay for tax cuts for upper income citizens. I believe that we have to slow the growth of Medicare. I am glad to hear the majority in Congress acknowledging that, after 2 years of denying that there is a crisis in Medicare; I agree that there is. But the proper way to do it is within the context of health care reform so that we can consider the implications on the health of our people, the welfare of our people, as we do this. And the third thing I would say is that we have two deficits in the country that are hurting us badly. One is the budget deficit; the other is the education deficit. The most significant thing about America in the last 15 years is the stagnant wages of working people and the growing inequality among middle class people because they do not have the skills they need to compete in the global economy. So I don't think we should cure the budget deficit by enlarging the education deficit. Those are my three preliminary observations. And I look forward to having the chance to study this and to work with them and with the Democrats in the Congress to continue to bring this deficit down. We must do that. We all agree with that. But there's a right way and a wrong way to do it, and we're going to be discussing that in greater detail today. Budget Proposals”