WASHINGTON, Aug 7; President Bill Clinton yesterday accused Republicans of trying to wreck the economy, prompting Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott to quickly label him a "lame duck" — the opening shots in a summer-break battle over taxes, reports Reuters.
Clinton renewed his promise to veto the Republicans' $792 billion tax cut bill that passed Congress late Thursday, saying the proposed cuts are too large and would undermine his goals of overhauling the Medicare elderly health programme and Social Security retirement system.
Republicans urged him to reconsider. saying he was ignoring the interests of the American people.
"I am disappointed, though not surprised, that the majority party in Congress has chosen to pass its massive tax cut, one that plainly would damage our economic future." Clinton said at the White House before leaving for a weekend in this native Arkansas.
"I want to ensure the American people, because this tax cut will not save and strengthen
Medicare, because it will not add a day to the Social Security trust fund, because it will not pay down the debt and pay it off for the first time in over 150 years, this tax cut will not become law." he said. ,
Clinton will not get a shot at exercising his veto until Congress sends the bill to him in September after its summer recess, which began on Friday. Both sides have promised to promote their positions heavily in the meantime.
Republicans say the tax cut is a fair way of returning a share of growing budget surpluses to taxpayers while still reserving money to strengthen Social Security's finances.
Senate Republican Leader Lott on Friday urged the public to pressure Clinton into changing his mind. He said the president, whose term expires in January 2001, was showing his feathers as a lame duck.
"If he vetoes this bill, it will be the strongest indication so far that he is entering the phase of being a lame duck, because it will say to the Congress and the American people: 'I don't care what you say or do, I'm going to
veto this, and I'm not going to work with you'," Lott said.
"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. It means that every working American that pays taxes will be able to keep a little bit more of their money in their pocket and decide how they will use it," Lott said.
Said House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Archer, a Texas Republican: 'With each new day and each veto threat, it's clear that all the President wants to do is spend the taxpayer’s money oh more government programmes."
Clinton has proposed a $250 billion tax cut made up primarily of subsidies to retirement savings accounts, and said he could accept up to $300 billion in cuts. On Friday he said he would be willing to negotiate the form of any tax cut. as long as it was affordable.
"Now. if we can agree on an amount, do I have to be flexible on how it's done? Of course I do. They have more votes than we do." he said. "I obviously will argue for the fairest possible
way."
The president said the Republican tax cut plan could be viewed by financial markets as inflationary and force interest rates higher.
"If you get a tax cut today and the tax cut causes higher home mortgage rates, higher car payment rates, higher credit card rates, higher college loan rates and a weaker economy, then it won't take long for that tax cut to disappear in the flash of an eye," he said.
He directed his strongest fire against reported comments by Representative Tom DeLay, the House majority whip.
The New York Times reported on Friday that DeLay said Republicans would spend all of next year's anticipated budget surplus and force Clinton to either abandon his own spending plans or tap into money set aside for reform of the Social Security retirement system.
'We're going to spend it. and then some." DeLay said in the article, referring to the $14 billion portion of the surplus not coming from Social Security revenues.