Remember this?

[ck4829]

President Clinton said Monday he wants to use the staggering surpluses now forecast in the federal budget to pay off the national debt by 2012, and offered a bargain to congressional Republicans to end the so-called "marriage penalty."
The White House estimates the total surpluses at $1.87 trillion over the next 10 years. Announcement of the new estimate -- which is more than double the $746 billion forecast just four months ago -- pours massive new sums of money into this year's budget fight and roils this year's presidential and congressional election campaigns.
...
Clinton wants to save the entire Social Security surplus of $2.3 trillion over 10 years and devote it to paying down the public debt.
In addition, he proposes to save the entire Medicare surplus of $403 billion over 10 years and devote that to debt reduction as well.
"A 6-year-old today ... is living in an America that is 3.5 trillion dollars in debt," Clinton said during a Rose Garden appearance. "We can eliminate that debt by the time that child enters college.
"Twelve years from now people from my generation will be entering retirement knowing that Social Security and Medicare will be there for them.
"Quite simply, an economic plan that invests in our people, and pays down the debt, is the wisest choice we can make to honor our values and ensure a better future for our children."
Clinton also proposed setting aside some of the money for a 10-year, $500 billion "reserve for America's future" that could be used for debt reduction, tax cuts, buttressing peoples' retirement plans or whatever else lawmakers decided.
...
Eliminating the publicly held portion of the national debt by 2012 would be a year earlier than Clinton proposed in February.
Of the $5.7 trillion national debt, Clinton would eliminate the $3.5 trillion part of it held by the public. The remaining $2.2 trillion is money the government owes its own trust funds for Social Security and other programs.
Vice President Al Gore wants a $500 billion tax cut and more spending for Social Security, health, schools and the environment.
George W. Bush, the presumed Republican nominee for president, wants to use $1.3 trillion of the surplus for a tax cut and more of it for debt reduction and shoring up Social Security.
http://www.detnews.com/2000/politics/0006/29/-81660.htm

[Cleita]

1. Yep, I remember.

It sure would have brought us a different world today.

[sakabatou]

3. Yeah

:: dreams what could have happened :: Mmmm...

[kentuck]

2. Repubs sure fucked up that dream, didn't they?

Nope. No difference between the Parties. Nope.

[acmejack]

4. Amazing that anyone would vote against that!

and it wasn't even squandered to the public's better interests. What a tragedy.

[Ian David]

5. Two words: Blue Dress

The Semen Stain that Destroyed America

We'd rather die and starve than deal with the idea of someone, somewhere-- anywhere-- having oral sex.