CLINTON: We need a uniquely American solution to our health care challenges. [For example], I have pushed to have a big pool that small businesses could participate in, like we do in the federal government. Small businesses should be able to join together like the Federal Employee Health Benefit Plan. There are pieces of things we should do now, but there’s no doubt that we need to have a national conversation-the payers, the employers, the doctors, the nurses, and those of us in public life--we need to get this fixed, once and for all.
SPENCER: I believe in the concept of health savings accounts. That creates jobs instead of punishing corporations and providers of jobs. Cut the taxes, and let them set up health savings accounts. With regards to the small business pools, small business owners say they are not getting help from Sen. Clinton to create associations so they can get the same rate as IBM and General Motors on health insurance. That’s what we need to do.
CLINTON: I am running for re-election. I have made no decisions about any future plans. If that’s a concern for any voter, they should factor that into their decision on Nov. 7. We need a new direction, and that’s what I’m going to focus on.
Q: So you can’t make that promise then today?
CLINTON: I’m not looking past this election. But I’m going to be very clear with the voters, I can’t make a decision now, but if that concerns any voter, they should factor that in.
Q: Are you saying don’t vote for you if that’s a concern?
CLINTON: No, I think they should vote for me, but they should balance that against everything that I’ve done, my record and my values.
SPENCER: I’m the only one standing here today that wants to be a US Senator for the next 6 years for the people of New York. I commit that I am not running for President and I will serve for 6 years.
SPENCER: I would support the concept, that Sen. Clinton calls ruining Social Security, that we can do better than making 2%, as it does now. We should look at various programs that allow people some control over their money, with protections & caps. They call that privatizing to scare everybody away, but the bottom line is working together so younger generations can make more than 2% on Social Security.
CLINTON: Social Security is one of the greatest inventions in American democracy, and I will do everything possible to protect & defend it, starting with getting back to fiscal responsibility, instead of borrowing from the Social Security trust fund. We need to provide some additional opportunities for people to invest, on top of their base guarantee of Social Security, more of a chance to build their nest egg. The risky scheme to privatize would cost between $1 and $2 trillion. That would undermine the promise of Social Security.
CLINTON: I regret the way the president used the authority that Congress gave him. I thought it made sense to get inspector back into Iraq, and backing it up with coercive diplomacy. I was worried that there were residual WMD, and that Saddam could have done something quite irrational. We know now that this administration never intended to let the inspectors do their job and contain Saddam. I take responsibility for my vote. I regret that we’ve had strategic blunders and misjudgments. But if we knew then what we know now, there never would have been a vote, and there never would have been a war. This president chose that war and unfortunately, was ill-prepared for what was needed to be done to be successful.
Q: Do you regret voting that way at the time?
CLINTON: I regret the way he used it. I don’t believe in do-overs in life. I made the best judgment at the time.
CLINTON: Six years ago, we didn’t yet have a recession. We didn’t have the 9/11 attack. We didn’t have high deficits. We didn’t have the Bush policies. Thankfully we escaped a plague of locusts, but we’ve had some challenges in the last 6 years. So I’m not discouraged I’m just changing direction, trying to work in different ways to help people right here at home create these opportunities for themselves.
SPENCER: Well, if we did have a plague of locusts, you know who’s fault it would be, right? George Bush. He’s responsible for everything. When are you responsible, Sen. Clinton? When are you responsible, after 6 years? You pledged 200,000 jobs. If you’re not responsible, then you’re ineffective. You’re ineffective as a United States Senator from New York.
A: #1: We need to resolve the political problems in Iraq. They’ve been allowed to fester. How are you going to guarantee the reasonable Sunni majority a place in the government? How are you going to distribute the oil revenue, so people don’t feel that they’re being ripped off? These are key issues for political resolution of sectarian violence. #2: We’ve got to have the regional neighbors involved--with a high-level contact group, where we bring the regional powers together. #3: The President’s strategy has basically been, “Well, when the Iraqis stand up, we’ll stand down.” Well, the Iraqis have been standing up, but they haven’t been fighting. That’s why we need a phased redeployment--moving our troops out so they have to stand and fight for themselves.
Q: Give us a timetable for that phasing out.
A: When we originally proposed it, we said that 2006 should be a year of transition. We’re running out of time in 2006. I think this needs to be done immediately.