Political Quotes

Bill Clinton: Well, let me back up and say most of my initiatives, the Federal part of most of my initiatives are paid for by…

On the recordApril 30, 1998
Well, let me back up and say most of my initiatives, the Federal part of most of my initiatives are paid for by nontobacco sources. I believe--I believe, and I think they disagree with me, and we can argue that out in the future--that could be a subject for the coming election--that if we give them back a whole lot of money that they have already spent on Medicare--Medicaid--if they get money back from the Federal Government as a result of this settlement and especially if they get more than they anticipated getting under the original attorney generals' agreement, I think, it is appropriate for us to say you ought to spend this on children. And the best way to spend it on children is on child care and education--early childhood education--getting down to small classes in the early grades, because we had the biggest increase in child health in 35 years in the balanced budget agreement last year. So I think that's an appropriate thing to do. If they disagree with me, then we can argue about that. But I would never stand in the way of a tobacco bill that actually reduced childhood smoking because they disagreed with me about how to invest the money. But I would expect a bill to actually help our kids. Okay, you guys. Jacobo [Jacobo Goldstein, CNN Radio Noticias], go ahead. Cuba/Fast-Track Trading Authority
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Bill Clinton
Democratic · Arkansas

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