Bill Clinton: “Well, I hope we can reach an agreement. And let me suggest that the way to proceed--and I think that the only way we can…”

“Well, I hope we can reach an agreement. And let me suggest that the way to proceed--and I think that the only way we can reach an agreement is if they would do what I have tried to do. I think first they ought to produce their own Medicare plan that lengthens the life of the Trust Fund and provides a modest prescription drug benefit. Then, of course, they have to calculate how much more money they want to spend over and above the caps. And they have to figure out what's left, and whether they agree with me that we should pay off the debt. We could certainly do this. I want all of you to understand, for me this is not a political issue; this is a matter of basic arithmetic. We returned to basic arithmetic in 1993, and it has served us well. Gene Sperling once said that to pass the big tax cut first, without knowing how you're going to meet your responsibilities, is like a family saying, ``Let's take the vacation of our dreams, and when we get home, we'll try to decide if we can pay the home mortgage and send the kids to college.'' I think that the order of this is wrong. So I think if they would have a very clear idea of what their Medicare proposal would be and what the impact of their proposed increases in expenditures would be, then I think we'd be able to make an agreement. And I'm willing to work for it, and hope we can achieve it.”