Excerpts from the Press Conference
10/31/1938
https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu...
It involves not only the immediate problem of necessity, but a serious question of Federal policy.
The question of employing on the Works Program, persons who are eligible under the Federal law for Social Security benefits, is one to which...
Certainly, as a general proposition national defense ought to be paid for on a pay as you go basis.
It ought to be paid for as we go along.