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House Opposes Raising Medicare Age Eligibility

Negotiators are trying to resolve differences in Senate, House tax and budget bills

WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, July 11) -- The House on Thursday signaled its strong opposition to hiking Medicare age eligibility as part of this year's balanced budget agreement, voting 414-14 against a Senate-passed measure raising the age requirement to 67.

Opposed by President Bill Clinton as well, the provision is one of several to be negotiated by House and Senate conferees who are attempting to ready tax and budget bills for Clinton's signature by Aug. 1. Both chambers passed their own versions separately late last month.

Another controversial Senate-passed reform which could make it into law would raise Medicare premiums for high-income seniors. While the House has yet to formally spell out its intentions, the president said earlier this week he would consider "income-related premiums."

These differences in the Senate and House tax and budget bills are being worked out in a conference of eight senators and 10 representatives, with more meetings scheduled for today. Democrats have stressed tax fairness, criticizing Republicans for not extending the $500-per-child tax credit to low-income working families.

"If we don't deal with the fairness question more effectively, there is little doubt in my mind that the president is going to have great difficulty in signing [the tax bill]," Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle told reporters Thursday.

Two potential rivals for the presidency in 2000, Vice President Al Gore and House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt, shared a podium on Thursday to criticize aspects of the tax bills.

Democrats, said Gephardt, are "united in our resolve to work on behalf of working families who deserve tax relief." Gore called it a "critical moment," saying the final tax bills would be evidence of "what kind of nation we are."

On the child-credit issue, Republicans say their intent is to give a break to those workers actually paying taxes, contending that with the tax breaks already offered low-income workers, extending the child credit would amount to a transfer payment.

"We believe very strongly that middle-income taxpayers who pay taxes should be the ones who benefit," House Ways and Means Committee Chairman bill Archer of Texas said.

Other provisions that conferees will consider is the Senate's hike on cigarettes by 20 cents per pack; the House's repeal of the corporate alternative minimum tax; and differences in the capital gains tax cuts. The House would allow capital gains to be indexed after 2000, which Clinton has opposed.





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