Political Quotes

“First place, I think you'll remember that I'm the President that said in the State of the Union Message, don't mess with Social Security, don't touch it. Last night, perhaps inadvertently, Governor Clinton said something about those that take out more than they put in ought to do something about it. He may have misspoken, so I want to be fair about that. That's messing with Social Security. Ross Perot has proposed some kind of tax on Social Security. We ought not to mess with it. It was fixed in a bipartisan agreement under the Reagan administration, I think in '83 or '84, in there. It is solvent well into the--way after the turn of the century, up until about 2030 or something like that. If it needs further adjustments then, it should be fixed then. You'll still be alive, but I don't think I'll be around wrestling with the problem in the year 2030. And we ought not to fool around with it. In my budget plan, this Agenda for American Renewal, I say we've got to control the growth of these mandatory programs, but set Social Security aside. It's not a welfare program. It originally was to be a supplement to people's incomes. It's sacrosanct. So I think you can tell your daughter that the system is sound, and if it's not sound when she gets up there, my age, it will be made sound. But the big thing for now is, don't fool around with it, leave it separate as we try to control the growth of other spending programs. Mr. Nigut. All right, Mr. President. We have a question over here, please. Urban Initiatives”