Bill Clinton: “Well, of course I am in the areas of education, which are so important to me. But let me say again, what my first choice…”

“Well, of course I am in the areas of education, which are so important to me. But let me say again, what my first choice has been all along is to try to prevail in the debate in the Congress. We are making progress. As I said, we--I signed a bill yesterday that I strongly believe in, the unfunded mandates bill, which limits the ability of Congress to pass laws that require State and local governments to raise taxes or otherwise pay for things that we require. We're going to get the line-item veto, I hope and believe, which is a good way to cut out unnecessary spending. So maybe we can make some progress here. I don't think there's as much enthusiasm in the Senate among Republicans, and I know the Democrats will oppose eliminating the subsidies, cutting the Pell grants, limiting the direct loan program. So I hope we can prevail in the Congress. But the veto pen is always there. And this is a--look, I wouldn't be standing here today, no way in the world would I be standing here today if it hadn't been for the opportunities America gave me through education. When I was born in my State in 1946, the per capita income of my State was barely over half the national average. And my whole generation owes everything we have to the educational opportunities our country gave to us. And now education is even more important to the general welfare of America than it was when I was your age. I cannot sit by and watch it go backward. We need to bear down and do more, not ease up and go back. Yes. President's Education”