Bill Clinton: “I don't think the conference committee is going to adopt anything in the range of a dime, nine cents, eight cents…”

“I don't think the conference committee is going to adopt anything in the range of a dime, nine cents, eight cents, anything like that. I think, first of all, gasoline is at its lowest real price adjusted for inflation in more than three decades. I think that any tax they put on it will be modest and will amount to no more than $50 a year for a family of four with an income of $50,000 a year, about $1 a week to help to pay down the deficit. All the money will be put in a trust fund and can only be spent to reduce the deficit. And I think that it is a bearable burden. It was not, as you know, my first choice. We had a compromise Btu plan that was never really considered that exempted agriculture, exempted all production, and broadened the base of the tax to even it out a little. But I think that this is something that we can clearly manage given the fact that gasoline is at it's lowest real price in 30 years.”