"Governor Bush wants to do for America what he's done for Texas -- go to Washington and spend our surplus and then more for budget-busting tax cuts, and hope then that somehow it will all add up," Mr. Gore asserted.
"Now," Mr. Gore said, "Governor Bush wants to do for American what he's done for Texas: go to Washington and spend our surplus and then more for budget-busting tax cuts and hope that somehow it will all add up".
If our leaders do not have the will to hold the line on spending our first surplus in 30 years, how can we expect them to have the courage to fix Social Security and Medicare?
That wonderful time when I was president, when everybody was watching The Real World, doing the "Macarena," earning heaping gobs of cash, when our biggest worry was whether or not we'd be spending our budget surplus on tax breaks or NATO Allied Command Operations air strikes against Ken Starr and the old Office of the Independent Council.
"I think it's wrong to spend our budget surpluses on short-term gain," he said, "when we need to make sure the resources are there to keep our military strong far into the future".
"I am disappointed that the Republican Congress continues to strip away our fiscal discipline bill by bill by passing another in a series of costly tax cuts that, taken together, will spend our entire hard-earned surplus," Mr. Clinton said.
"While getting my constituents' opinion on spending the $5 billion surplus was our top priority, I thought a question on secession should also be included in the survey".
A chorus of skeptics warned against spending the surplus.
Ironically, therefore, any political squabbles about spending a surplus may well reduce the benefits it could bring.
We are spending that surplus to make the deficit look smaller to you than it really is.
