Bubba thumbs his nose at us again:
Clinton Vetoes 'Big, Bloated' Republican Tax Plan
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Updated 4:29 PM ET September 23, 1999
By Steve Holland
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - With great fanfare, President Clinton vetoed Thursday a Republican $792 billion tax cut he called too big and bloated, setting up a budget battle and a campaign issue for the 2000 elections.
"At a time when America is moving in the right direction, this bill would turn us back to the failed policies of the past," Clinton said during a high-profile Rose Garden ceremony where he carried out his oft-stated threat to veto the plan.
On Capitol Hill, Republicans who control Congress professed sadness. They had shepherded the tax legislation through both houses of Congress over the summer and tried to sell it, with little success, to a largely indifferent public.
"I regret the president has stolen this tax cut from working American families," said Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, a Mississippi Republican.
House Speaker Dennis Hastert of Illinois added, "It is kind of a sad day here in this U.S. Congress. ... We didn't intend to give the president a tax bill to veto. We thought it was a fair, good piece of legislation."
Oklahoma Republican Rep. J.C. Watts said, "I say shame on the president for turning his back on people at a time in our nation that the economy is strong."
"If we can't give the American people some of their money back in an economy like this, when can we give them their money back?" Watts asked.
While vetoes are not typically happy affairs, the White House went all out to make the ceremony a festive occasion. Under bright sunshine, the red-coated Marine Band played upbeat music and a crowd of Clinton loyalists applauded the president's words, which were delivered in a hoarse voice aggravated by seasonal allergies.
Even as he signed the veto, Clinton urged the Republican leadership in Congress not to "throw in the towel" and give up on tax relief this year.
He said he supported "affordable middle-class tax relief" but that the $792 billion plan would mostly go toward the wealthy. The White House has said Clinton would accept up to $300 billion in tax relief.
Lott and Hastert sounded doubtful that they would try again quickly for a tax compromise. "We do intend to look again at a tax relief package next year," said Lott.
White House spokesman Joe Lockhart suggested Republicans were being childish for refusing to work with Clinton.
"What I don't think the American public will understand is after playing politics with this bill, why Republican leaders would say: Well, we didn't get it our way, so we're going to take our ball and go home," he said.
The $792 billion tax cut would have trimmed all five tax rates by one percentage point, lowered capital-gains taxes for individuals, eliminated estate taxes and eased the so-called marriage penalty.
With the presidential veto, the chances for a major tax cut this year appeared dead, while the likelihood increased of a messy battle over spending legislation to keep the government running in fiscal 2000, which begins on Oct. 1.
Work has begun on a stop-gap spending measure to avoid a government shutdown while Republicans and Democrats try to reach agreement on an overall spending deal.
Clinton, who wants Congress to pass a tobacco tax and close some business tax breaks to raise revenues, has threatened to veto about half of the 13 spending bills working through the Senate and the House. He has said the bills would shortchange everything from foreign aid to national parks.
Both parties are operating with an eye on the 2000 elections, betting that Americans will see their side of the issue. Tax cuts usually are popular, but the idea has not gained ground during the current U.S. economic boom.
In the Rose Garden, Clinton said he wanted to use growing budget surpluses to strengthen the Social Security retirement system and the Medicare health program for the elderly, while increasing spending for his priorities such as education and the environment and reserving money to pay down the national debt.
"We can lift the burden of debt from the shoulders of the next generation, we can secure the future of Social Security and Medicare, we can ensure a first-rate education and modern schools for our children," Clinton said.
"Unfortunately, the tax bill Congress has sent me would deny those opportunities to the American people. The bill is too big, too bloated, places too great a burden on America's economy. It would force drastic cuts in education, health care and other vital areas," he added.
Republicans said they not only wanted to give Americans some of their hard-earned money back but also wanted to restrain the growth of the federal government. They added that they wanted to protect the surplus building up in the Social Security trust fund and to pay down the national debt.
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