Bill Clinton: “Chairman Rostenkowski called me about an hour or so ago, right after the vote, and based on what I know, I'm very…”

“Chairman Rostenkowski called me about an hour or so ago, right after the vote, and based on what I know, I'm very satisfied. I'm immensely pleased. All the basic features of the bill remained intact, and many of the changes that were made I think made it a better bill. So again, I have not had a chance to study all the things that were done today, but based on what I know, I believe it is a very good bill indeed. It still maintains the essential features. The earned- income tax credit is there for people making roughly $29,000 a year or less to basically add fairness to the Tax Code and relieve them of the impact of the energy tax. The bill is highly progressive, virtually all of the money raised on people with incomes of over $100,000. The immunization program, the family preservation program is intact. The empowerment zone program was endorsed by the committee, and they added quite a bit of money to it so we could encourage more cities to get involved in trying to bring free enterprise into distressed areas. I think that is a very impressive thing. And I think changing the small business incentive to an expensing rather than an investment tax credit is basically a net plus because more small businesses can access it at less hassle. So I feel very good about it--what I know about the bill. You know, like I said, I haven't-- but what I know about it is very encouraging.”