CNN U.S. News

President, GOP blame each other for budget problems

clinton

October 7, 1995
Web posted at: 2:42 p.m. EDT

EDGARTOWN, Massachusetts (CNN) -- President Clinton used his weekly radio address to issue his harshest attack yet on proposed Republican cuts to balance the budget. Clinton called the Republican plan to balance the budget in seven years "a cynical assault on American values." He said the GOP plan would make it harder for some citizens to achieve the "American dream."

Clinton claims there are billions of dollars in "back door tax increases ...buried deep in the plan," that are "deceptive and unfair." (183K AIFF sound or 183K WAV sound) He said the Republican reductions in Medicare and Medicaid would cause "people who are old, sick and poor...to pay $10 billion more" for health care. One million seniors, Clinton charged, could be driven out of Medicare.

The Republicans would "push many working families back into poverty," Clinton said, because of rollbacks the Republicans propose in the Earned Income Tax Credit for families whose income is at or below the poverty level. Clinton claimed the plan would cost $500 a year in new taxes for "families least able to afford it." (244K AIFF sound or 244K WAV sound)

Clinton says he's deeply committed to balance the budget in a way which "advances the American dream."

Republicans countered in a pre-recorded response accusing Clinton of being "on the sidelines on welfare reform" and protecting bloated government budgets.

lott graphic

Republican Senator Trent Lott of Mississippi said Republicans are ready to work with Clinton but would pursue their agenda alone if they had to.

Lott said Clinton had threatened to veto virtually all Republican reform efforts, including appropriations bills because they did not spend enough. "Mr. Clinton is making his veto pen the last desperate defense of big government, bloated budgets and deficit spending," the Republican said. (336K AIFF sound or 336K WAV sound)

"Worst of all, President Clinton and the Democrats in Congress seem to have a deep-seated hostility towards significant tax relief for the American people," Lott said. "He would rather pit one group against another, playing to the politics of envy."


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