Bill Clinton: “Well, first of all, you've asked a great question. As a Governor for 12 years in one of the poorer States in America, I…”

“Well, first of all, you've asked a great question. As a Governor for 12 years in one of the poorer States in America, I understood the burden of unfunded mandates very well. And I'm familiar with your county in Texas, and I hear your message loud and clear. The first thing we can do is to do no harm. The first thing we can do is to be the first administration in a long time not to load any more unfunded mandates on you. And that is a commitment I will do my best to keep. The second thing we can do is to review the present pattern of Federal regulation and requirements as it affects local government. Vice President Gore, at my request, is heading a commission on reinventing the role of the Federal Government and we are examining everything we do from top to bottom to see how we can better serve the American people, either with greater efficiency or with lower costs or both. And if there are some things that NACO specifically feels ought to be changed in terms of giving the counties greater flexibility in the way certain rules and regulations are applied, I want to invite you as an organization to make those recommendations known to the Vice President. I know you've been consulted on this. But those are the two things I think you can do and I hope that we can do, and we're going to do our best to do them. Health Care Reform”