Bill Clinton: “I agree with him. I think, first of all, a lot of the people who are fighting this are good friends of mine. I've been…”

“I agree with him. I think, first of all, a lot of the people who are fighting this are good friends of mine. I've been close to and worked with the labor movement, and I believe in a much higher level of partnerships between management and labor and Government, and I am not trying to create a low-wage economy. But I think it is wrong for people who are on the other side of this issue to tell Members of Congress who have voted with labor for years that they're never going to give them a contribution and they're never going to support them again, or get them an opponent even--some of them, they've said, well, they'd get opponents in primaries. I agree with him that neither should we get into a bartering situation. I have to tell you that Members of Congress with whom I have talked--I can only speak for the ones with whom I have talked--the ones who have talked to me about things they wanted me to do if they voted for this were within the realm of what I would call legitimate concerns for their constituents. Let me just give you, if I might, one, the thing that I was most active in that I'm very proud of, because I believe in it anyway, and that was the desire of Congressman Esteban Torres from California and a number of the other Hispanics and Members of Congress who live along the border to develop this North American development bank as a way of financing infrastructure improvements to clean the environment up on both sides of the Rio Grande River. That creates jobs. It's in the public policy interest. It ameliorates the harsh impacts of the past. When Lucille Roybal-Allard came out for this, who comes from one of the lowest, poorest districts in America, has workers that may be adversely affected by this, she wanted to know that in January we were really going to have the kind of comprehensive job retraining program dovetailed into the unemployment system that we should have had 15 years ago. She didn't ask me for a highway or a bridge or anything. She wanted me to try to take care of her folks. So that, I think, is legitimate. Now, when other people come up to you, though, and say, ``Look, I've been threatened, I may lose my seat, and will you help me do thus and so,'' if we can do it and there's nothing wrong with it, then we're trying to do it because we're trying to win. I think it's very much in America's interest. But I believe Tom Andrews is right. This issue should be resolved insofar as possible based on what's in the national interest.”