 |
 |
| |||||||||||||||
Clinton, Republicans begin recess battle over tax cuts
August 6, 1999 WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, August 6) -- As congressional Republicans dispersed around the nation Friday to push for a $792 billion, 10-year tax cut package, President Bill Clinton renewed a veto threat and called for negotiations to address his concerns. "I am disappointed, though not surprised, that the majority party in Congress has chosen to pass this massive tax cut," Clinton said Friday morning at the White House before leaving for Arkansas. But he also appeared to give himself some negotiating room, saying the size of the cut was not as important as assuring funds were available for shoring up Social Security and Medicare entitlements.
"This tax cut will not become law," Clinton said of the GOP plan, which passed the House and Senate on Thursday after several days of negotiations in a conference committee. However, congressional Republicans chose to not send the package to Clinton, instead deciding to wait until after the August recess that began Thursday night. Members returned to their home districts, where they intend to convince voters between now and Labor Day that the GOP plan is superior. "When you go through the list of things that are achieved in this tax relief package, it does an awful lot for the American dream," Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Mississippi), said Friday. "I think we've got a fantastic bill here and I think it's time we discuss that fact with the American people." "Now, it will be up to the people, during the month of August, to hear from the members of the House and Senate what's in this bill, and then express themselves to the members of Congress, and to the president," Lott said. He suggested that if sufficient public pressure was brought to bear, the president would "do one of his Clintonian 180s" and sign the tax measure rather than veto it. The president gave no indication that would happen Friday. "We should not abandon a strategy that is working, especially since we now are beginning an era of surpluses that will enable us to meet our big long-term challenges," he said. The White House has insisted it will not accept a tax cut package greater than $300 billion, but when Clinton was asked whether he backed that limit, he gave a flexible answer. "The most important thing to me is that the Congress engage in the same exercise I did, and that I believe the Democrats in the Senate Finance Committee and House Ways and Means Committee tried to do," he said. That would require Congress to ensure adequate surplus funds were dedicated to Social Security, Medicare and debt reduction before determining the size of a tax cut, Clinton said. "The amount should be determined, not by politics, but by arithmetic," he said. Even with the continued veto threat, Republicans won an important victory for a bedrock political issue with what would be the largest tax cut since President Ronald Reagan's in 1981. The Senate narrowly approved the bill Thursday, 50-49, after it cleared the House 221-206. "Individuals and families are due a refund, and that is exactly what we do with this legislation," said Sen. William Roth (R-Delaware) chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. "Government is not automatically entitled to the surplus." With little chance of becoming law, the bill will serve mainly as a defining issue between Republicans and Democrats in the 2000 struggle for control of Congress and the race for the White House. "There is a dramatic difference between Democrats and Republicans in this capital city, and this is the dividing line," said Rep. Bill Archer (R-Texas) chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. The bill would trim the bottom 15 percent income tax rate to 14 percent in 2003 and reduce the other rates by 1 percentage point in 2005. Relief from the "marriage penalty" that affects millions of two-income couples would begin in 2001. The estate tax would be repealed gradually starting in 2003, and capital gains taxes would be cut from 20 percent to 18 percent for most investors retroactive to January 1, 1999. There are breaks for education and health care, expanded IRAs and pensions and a legion of breaks for businesses large and small. Most polls show the public considers cutting taxes a lower priority than ensuring that there is enough Social Security money to handle baby boomer retirements. Republicans said such polls only demonstrate that they are acting on principle by returning some of the surplus in the form of tax cuts. "We know it may not be the single most popular thing, but it's the right thing to do," said Rep. David Dreier (R-California). Democrats, however, claimed that the motive for the tax cuts was the GOP's desire to curry the favor of business and conservative political supporters. "A wish list so that every contributor ... will get a promise," Rep. Charles Rangel (D-New York) called it. The Associated Press contributed to this report. |
|
| ||||||||||||||
MORE STORIES:Friday, August 6, 1999
• Clinton, Republicans begin recess battle over tax cuts • Who Was Deep Throat? • Bush courts Hispanic votes in Iowa • Pataki endorses Giuliani in Republican U.S. Senate race • Video: FEC proposes new campaign Web site rules • Clinton orders study on policing the Internet • Fewer Americans know Watergate details, but most say Nixon was right to quit • Lott says he wants emergency farm aid cut • Hubbell says Whitewater constituted a probe 'looking for a crime' • Candidates respond to the House tax relief package • Gore and son climbing Rainier • Gingrich outraises his former colleagues • Joint committee opens talks on juvenile violence, gun legislation • Congress begins recess, leaving huge spending task for fall • Feds drop investigation of former congressman, business associate • GOP leaders backing right to sue HMOs • Hillary Clinton has Jewish branch on family tree • Hatch asks Rehnquist to review assignments of Clinton judges • U.S. Senate passes bill to outlaw 'cybersquatting' • Architect chosen for Clinton library in Arkansas | ||||||||||||||||
Windows Media: