Also in the news (WSJ top story as of now):
THE HOUSE of Representatives approved a five-year, $80 billion Republican tax-cut bill despite Democratic objections that it jeopardizes the future of Social Security.
House Approves Tax-Cut Bill
Amid Democratic Complaints
Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- The House approved a five-year, $80 billion
Republican tax-cut bill Saturday despite Democratic complaints that it
jeopardizes the future of Social Security.
The 229-195 vote sent the bill to the Senate, where its future is uncertain.
Even if the measure wins approval there, President Clinton is threatening a
veto.
"The Republican tax plan drains billions of dollars from the surplus before
we have done the hard work of strengthening Social Security," Mr. Clinton
said Saturday on a fund-raising trip to California. "First things first."
"I will insist that we reserve the entire surplus until we have seized this
historic opportunity to save Social Security, and veto any bill that doesn't
meet that principle," he said.
Republicans got 19 Democratic votes, but the margin was far short of the
two-thirds majority needed to override a veto. Eleven Republicans voted
against the bill.
But with congressional elections just six weeks away, Republican leaders
were determined to pass even a modest tax cut. They rejected Democratic
charges that the bill would amount to a raid on a projected budget surplus
that should be used for Social Security.
"Republicans believe that Americans have worked hard for their money
and deserve to keep as much of it as possible," House Speaker Newt
Gingrich (R., Ga.) said in the GOP response to Mr. Clinton's weekly radio
address.
"We know that we must reserve enough to guarantee that Social Security
will be there for my mother, my mother-in-law, the baby boomers and our
children," Mr. Gingrich said.
On a 227-197 vote earlier Saturday, the House defeated an effort by
Democrats to put in place a "trigger" that would only permit the tax cuts if
Congress ensures Social Security will remain solvent.
"If we're going to show the difference between us and you, this is going to
be the issue," Rep. Charles Rangel (D., N.Y.) told GOP lawmakers.
To blunt Social Security as a campaign issue, the House voted 240-188
Friday for a Republican measure that would set up a new government
account for 90% of the predicted surplus until Social Security is
safeguarded; the remaining 10% would go for the tax cuts.
A Democratic effort to lock up 100% of any surplus until Social Security
is safeguarded failed, 216-210.
"We can save Social Security and cut taxes," said Ways and Means
Committee Chairman Bill Archer (R., Texas).
But Mr. Clinton repeatedly has said he will veto any tax cut plan that
spends some of the surplus. "If we hold fast to fiscal discipline, we will
enter a new and promising era of budget surpluses," the president said
Friday.
The tax measure would provide tax relief for farmers, married couples,
working senior citizens, small-business operators, people with modest
savings accounts and students saving for private colleges. It also would
extend several expiring tax credits sought by big business.
Most Democrats support the items in the tax bill but not use of a surplus
that may not materialize to pay for them. They also contend it takes money
that should be held until Social Security's future is assured as millions of
baby boomers begin to retire, threatening the programs solvency by 2030.
"They aren't really committed to saving Social Security," said Rep. Dick
Gephardt (D., Mo.), the House minority leader. "If you're really committed
to something, you stand 100% behind it."
But voting mainly along party lines, the House defeated 216-210 an effort
by Mr. Rangel to lock away all of the surplus in the Federal Reserve Bank
in New York, well out of the reach of Congress, until Social Security is
saved.
Mr. Gingrich chastised Democrats for their willingness to spend the surplus
on such emergency items -- the White House is asking for at least $9.25
billion -- as year 2000 computer problems, the farm crisis and the cost of
U.S. forces in Bosnia.
"The only time they start to yell about the surplus is when the money is
going back to the taxpayer," the speaker said.
Before the measure could go to Mr. Clinton, it would face a high hurdle in
the Senate. Republicans would need 60 votes to cross a procedural
threshold that blocks virtually any controversial bill, and they have just 55
senators.
Nonetheless, Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R., Miss.) promised:
"We will have a vote on the tax bill that the House passes."
The bill is H.R. 4578. |
