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.
SPENCER: I’m the only one standing here today that wants to be a US Senator for the next 6 years. Sen. Clinton is being disingenuous. Sen. Clinton was given the welcome mat by the people of NY, and I believe she’s been using us a doormat. She has spent her time in the last 6 years traveling the nation, writing a book, and raising money, all geared toward running for president. Sen. Clinton would make a tremendous candidate for president, but not at the expense of New Yorkers. I want to be a full-time Senator for NY. I commit that I am not running for President and I will serve for 6 years.
Q: You think she’d be an excellent candidate for president?
SPENCER: Absolutely. I wouldn’t be voting for her, but I believe in a democratic process. Many people would be excellent candidates. I’m not endorsing her, obviously.
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. Any systemic changes obviously must protect the people in the system now. We should look at various programs that allow people some control over their money, with protections and caps in there. 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 and defend it. 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.
Q: Do you regret voting to authorize the Iraq war?
CLINTON: I regret the way the president used the authority that Congress gave him. But if we knew then what we know now, there never would have been a vote, and there never would have been a war. I don’t believe in do-overs in life. I made the best judgment at the time.
SPENCER: Maybe they don’t know in Congress what they’re voting for, when they send people to war. Maybe they should think about what a war is. Wars do not go well. Mrs. Clinton is playing the blame game. It’s all about blame-President-Bush. You can’t do that in a war. We are struggling, but we must prevail. We must win the war.
Q: Shouldn’t the government have focused more on Afghanistan instead of going to Iraq?
SPENCER: I think our government focused pretty well in Afghanistan. And did an outstanding job in Afghanistan. You can’t put the toothpaste back in the tube. That’s counter-productive. We must move forward, and stop the blame game.
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.