Bill Clinton: “Well, let me say I can envision being more flexible on capital gains. I think it's a mistake to do a very expensive…”

“Well, let me say I can envision being more flexible on capital gains. I think it's a mistake to do a very expensive retroactivity provision. It's unnecessary. It doesn't contribute to economic growth. And it will cause a lot of, you know, problems in other decisions we have to make. But I've always made it clear that I'm flexible on capital gains. I've never been philosophically opposed, as some of my fellow Democrats are. But I think a lot of us are open to that. What I want to do is to make sure that whatever we do we pay for and that we take care of first things first. And I hope that my education proposals will receive a favorable ear, and I hope that the Congress will be flexible about that. And I've decided to keep all options open. Yesterday, when I offered Medicare savings that literally were halfway between where I was and where the Republicans were when we broke off negotiations in 1996, I met them halfway. I want to do that as much as I can in every way. So I think we've got very good odds. Mr. Hunt. Meet them halfway on taxes also?”