Bill Clinton: “Well, first of all, they're taking a smaller tax cut than they had originally sought. We're providing larger savings in…”

“Well, first of all, they're taking a smaller tax cut than they had originally sought. We're providing larger savings in this budget than previously in Medicare and in other areas. But the growth in the economy has made it easier than it otherwise would have been. And we've all acknowledged that. I think we have to acknowledge that. So, for example, the difficult questions that had been raised around the CPI--the cost of living adjustment for benefits--the sense of both sides is that that should continue to be handled in the ordinary course of business, that there will be an adjustment of some kind coming out of the Bureau of Labor Statistics in the process, that we have a fairly good idea of what it is. But even if it's not sufficient to cover everything--and they acknowledge they can't analyze all the relevant factors--that is an issue which now can be handled outside of these budget negotiations. And that is an issue which would have been very difficult here.”