Bill Clinton: “I think Mr. Rostenkowski is trying to achieve our common objectives, which he defined as: universal coverage, cost…”

“I think Mr. Rostenkowski is trying to achieve our common objectives, which he defined as: universal coverage, cost control, and 218 votes. [Laughter] And I think he has a strategy for pursuing that. I believe that our savings are good. I believe that obviously we intend--we always knew we'd have to make some modification once the Congressional Budget Office cost estimates came out. We are prepared to do that. But we have dealt with an awful lot of health economists. We've worked very hard on the numbers; we think they are good. But I'm going to have to let him characterize his strategy. All I can say is that, of all the things I'm worried about in dealing with Congress over the question of health care, the commitment of the Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee to providing health care security to every American is not one of them. Thank you very much. We've got to go.”