Bill Clinton: “I want to make sure that we truly have education for a lifetime in America. I want the first 2 years of college in the…”

“I want to make sure that we truly have education for a lifetime in America. I want the first 2 years of college in the next 4 years to become just as universal as a high school education is today, with tax credits for the first 2 years in any community college in the country. Will you help us do that and build that kind of bridge? [Applause] I want to establish a ``GI bill'' for American workers so that whenever a person who's a breadwinner loses a job or is grossly underemployed, they can get a skill grant from the Government and take it to the nearest community college or other training facility so that no matter how old you are, if you need new training to get a better job or to keep the job you have and to keep supporting your family, you'll have it from your Government. Will you help us build that kind of a bridge to the future? [Applause] You know, in just the last couple of weeks, as the election has gotten closer, a lot of the things we Democrats have tried to do for the last 4 years have finally gotten through this Congress. We raised the minimum wage for 10 million working Americans. We made 25 million Americans, including, I might say, some families we've met alongside the road here when we started this bus trip in Missouri and Illinois and coming into Kentucky and going on to Tennessee--we've met some people alongside the road that have been helped by the Kennedy-Kassebaum bill that says that you don't lose your health insurance anymore just because somebody in your family has been sick or you have to change jobs--25 million Americans. Now we need to say a big part of a strong family is keeping working people's health care. In our balanced budget plan we provide assistance to help unemployed families keep their health insurance for their kids for 6 months. That's the next thing we need to do. Will you help us do that in the next 4 years? [Applause] We want to build a bridge to the 21st century with a strong economy. That means we have to keep bringing down the deficit. Now, our friends in the other party, they made a big thing of that, but now they don't think it's so important. But it is important. It's important in Mayfield. Why? Not only because you don't want to saddle your kids with debt but because if we turn away from our plan to balance the budget, it means that interest rates will go up, interest rates on your home mortgage, your car payment, your credit card payments, interest rates for the businesses you want to borrow money and hire people and give their employees a raise. So we can't afford to do that. My plan will balance the budget. It will give tax cuts to families: for children under the age of 13, a $500 credit; for a $1,500 credit to go to the first 2 years of college; a $10,000 tax deduction for the cost of college tuition; an IRA you can withdraw from without penalty to buy a first home, to meet a medical emergency, or to pay for education. But it's all paid for; we can still balance the budget without cutting Medicare, Medicaid, education, the environment, without raiding the pension funds of our workers. We can do these things. That's the right way to balance the budget. Now, our friends in the opposition will say, ``We're going to give you more money.'' And that's true, they do offer more money in their tax cut. They offer it to people like me who don't need it. They offer it without being able to pay for it, and they know--I wish you hadn't said ``amen'' when I said I didn't need it. [Laughter] But it's true. And what's going to happen? If they had their plan, what would they do? They'd cut Medicare, Medicaid, education, and the environment, more than they did in that budget I vetoed. That would divide us and weaken our progress. And they still wouldn't be able to pay for it, which means a higher deficit, higher interest rates, and a slower economy. Do we want to make that same old mistake all over again? Audience members. No-o-o!”