Bill Clinton: “Yes, I think it will pass, and no, there isn't one. We believe that it is the challenge, obviously, to present any kind…”

“Yes, I think it will pass, and no, there isn't one. We believe that it is the challenge, obviously, to present any kind of a major initiative to the Congress. But there is quite a difference between the two issues. Once the bill is ready for introduction under the laws governing NAFTA, it must be voted on in a certain amount of time. So there is a legislative timetable that will control that. The health care issue--the timetable for that will be largely determined by how quickly a consensus can be reached and by how much time the individual Members of the Congress are willing to put into mastering what is clearly the most complex public policy issue facing the United States today. Nevertheless, I continue to believe strongly that the two issues complement each other; I do not think they conflict. I think that there is an enormous amount of bipartisan interest in doing something to control health care costs as a way of stimulating the economy as well as providing health security to all Americans. And it gives people something to be for, and it puts in the larger context that all these things are being done to try to provide the American economy and bring the American people into a stronger position as we face the 21st century. So I just don't buy the conflict argument. I feel good about this. Health Care Reform”