Bill Clinton: “Actually, this administration didn't make any deals. The Senate Finance Committee put together a bill that it could get…”

“Actually, this administration didn't make any deals. The Senate Finance Committee put together a bill that it could get out of the Senate Finance Committee. And then the question was very much whether we would go on to conference. I think there was a great sense in the Senate that they had to go forward with the bill. There were many Senators who told me they liked the House bill better. I mean, there were divisions even in the Senate. There were a couple of Senators who indicated they would have voted for the House bill who did not vote for the Senate bill. There was all kinds of difference of opinion. I think what happened was there was an institutional feeling there yesterday, which crystallized in the late afternoon, that the worst thing they could do is not to go forward, and that the worst thing they could do is not to break the gridlock, not to find a way to continue to push for real economic reform. And all this happened rather late last evening, and no decisions have been made. I haven't even had an ample opportunity to analyze whatever amendments were made yesterday. But this administration was not nearly as involved in the details of what came out of the Senate as was the case in the House. I am confident that the conferees will get together, will produce a bill that in some ways is superior to both bills and will have a broader support. That's what I think will happen.”