Bill Clinton: “Well, I know they've said that. I think you should go back to them and ask them how they could justify depriving…”

“Well, I know they've said that. I think you should go back to them and ask them how they could justify depriving Americans who are just like these people of the right to recover for their injuries, and ask them if they really believe that our economy is so fragile that we have to strip from these people the right to be made whole in order to continue to make our economy go forward. Just today we learned that in the last quarter our economy grew at 2.8 percent. We have the lowest unemployment of any advanced economy in the world except for Japan, and many people believe as a practical matter it's even lower than that nation's. I do not believe that we have to have a legal system which shuts the door on the legitimate problems of ordinary people in order to get rid of frivolous lawsuits and excess legal expenses. And I think that we ought to ask those folks that. You know, before I got into being an elected official, I taught law. I studied the Constitution. I have sat in courtrooms and seen the faces of people who come in there full of fear, full of uncertainty, and full of their own hurts. And so it just seems to me that before they notch this one up as a special interest vote, I would just say two things: One is I made it clear that I would sign legislation that the Trial Lawyers Association did not agree with. I made that abundantly clear. I made my position clear. Two, what is their answer? Can they really look at these people in the face and say, ``Boy, our economy needs it so badly that I don't want anybody who's like you in the future to be able to recover and be made whole the way you were''? And if they--I'll be glad to have the special interest discussion with them if they first say, ``It is fine with me if these people, people just like these people, in the future cannot be made whole.'' They need to answer on the merits before they get to the accusations. Gas Tax”