Bill Clinton: “Well, first of all, I have encouraged and I will do it again now--I've said I think everybody ought to work out a way to…”

“Well, first of all, I have encouraged and I will do it again now--I've said I think everybody ought to work out a way to cooperate with this committee and get all the information out. Secondly, the State Department specifically has tried to work with the congressional committees with regard to anybody who might be out of this country. So I don't know what else we can do on that. I certainly have been fully cooperative and will continue to do so. But what have we learned in these hearings? We've learned that there were problems. Now, we've learned that both parties had problems. We've learned that a lot of money was raised and a lot of money was spent. And I hope we've also learned that a lot of what was legal--and that was the import of Alison's question earlier--I hope we've also learned that a lot of what is legal would be better off if it didn't happen. We'd be better off if we had ceilings on contributions to the political parties. We'd be better off if somebody couldn't give a million dollars to a political party at one pop. And that all leads you back to the same place: We either will or we won't pass a credible campaign finance reform bill this year. Some people will be for it, and some people will be against it. If the public is permitted to think for a moment that they're all the same and they're all doing it and nobody really wants it, then that is an absolute, lock- down guarantee that no bill will pass. There must be a clear distinction between those who are for and those who are against. And until there is in the public mind, people won't think they're going to be held accountable for that vote and those who benefit from the present system will do what they can to keep it. Independent Counsel Statute”