Bill Clinton: “Let me tell you, what we're doing now is we're exploring every conceivable alternative for how we could come up with a…”

“Let me tell you, what we're doing now is we're exploring every conceivable alternative for how we could come up with a bill that can actually pass the Congress that would do the job of reducing teen smoking. The only thing I have ruled out, which I did earlier today in my press conference, was just taking some slimmed-down bill that would make a mockery of the process so that Congress could say it did something. I believe that the central reason the tobacco companies pulled out was not so much the money but was the uncertainty as to whether there would be some liability cap. And there was an unusual coalition of liberals and conservatives, for an unusual set of reasons, who voted against that, which is why, after consultation with Senator Lott , I came out and clearly said that I would be prepared to accept one and I thought they ought to vote for it. And I still believe that. And the reason is clear. Whether you're philosophically opposed to a liability cap or not as part of the settlement, under prevailing Supreme Court decisions, I think it's clear that if we want the tobacco companies to limit their advertising and marketing, in order to do that they're going to have to understand to some extent what their financial exposure is in the future. So for me, I have no problem with that, and I think if you talked to anybody who really wants a bill, they will tell you that in the end, if we're going to get a bill, it will have to have some kind of liability cap on it. So it ought not to be too generous to tobacco companies; it ought to be something they still feel, if they continue to do the wrong thing. But if you look at--there are three elements. All the studies show there are three elements which has led to a very high rate of teen smoking, even though it's illegal in every State to sell cigarettes to teenagers. One is the price. If the price were higher, kids wouldn't be as likely to buy them. Two is the advertising. And three is the access. So we've got to try to deal with all three of those things. Then we need the bill to deal with the public health issues. And we need something for the tobacco farmers. And everything else, as far as I'm concerned, can be subject to negotiations. So I'm looking at--we've discussed three or four or five different ways that we can get this thing back on track. But the Senate knows what the parameters are. They could--we could send them up a bill tomorrow that would pass the Senate if they decided they were going to do it.”