Political Quotes

Bill Clinton: What I said was--what I meant to say is, I think nobody enjoys raising taxes. I think our system works better when…

On the recordOctober 19, 1995
What I said was--what I meant to say is, I think nobody enjoys raising taxes. I think our system works better when Democrats and Republicans work together to reach consensus, and I think it would work better now if we did. That's what I meant to say. But I do not believe that when we had the decision to make and we had the vote to cast, I take full responsibility, proudly, for what we did. It was the right thing to do. I believe all the people who have heard me talk about it knew what I meant to say, and I'm proud of the Congress for voting for it. And if we hadn't done it, we'd really be in a fix today. And I might say, the Republicans who criticize us obviously think we did the right thing since they're not trying to undo much of it at all.
Said by
Bill Clinton
Democratic · Arkansas

Share

More from Bill Clinton

May 31, 2025

That ain't America. We've never done that.

cbsnews.com
Oct 13, 2024

They're going to try to rig the rules away, you know, so it hurt us and there's been some new innovative efforts in that regard, trying to rig the rules away from it. But you did well. We won in 2020.

transcripts.cnn.com
May 31, 2025

I thought he was a good president.

cbsnews.com
Jun 28, 2026

I think we’re in good shape for the fall.

foxnews.com

Other voices in this conversation