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News & Views |House Approves $792 Billion Tax Cut; Senate Action Expected Later TodayThursday, August 5, 1999 OnLine The House August 5 approved 221 to 206 the conference agreement on the Taxpayer Refund and Relief Act of 1999 (H.R. 2448), which paves the way for a Senate vote later in the day on the ten-year $792 billion measure. The bill is "fair because it gives every American tax relief; fair because it eliminates the marriage penalty," said Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert, R-Ill. The bill not only cuts taxes, but enables Americans to decide how to best spend their
money, House
Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Archer, R-Texas, said. "Democrats say
keep [the money] in Washington because we know how to spend it… We disagree,"
the Texas Republican said. |
Democrats rebutted the remarks made by Republican lawmakers. "The theme of this day is, let’s get money out of Washington….this is like the theme, stop us before we kill again," said Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., the ranking Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee. "The Republicans are in charge," if they want to stop spending they should do it, Rangel added. The partisan rhetoric is moot because President Clinton vowed repeatedly to veto the measure. "We should not do this until we figure out how to save Medicare, save Social Security, and eliminate the public debt," Clinton said August 5. Clinton favors a tax cut of $250 billion. It is not clear when Clinton will get to use his veto pen. Republicans want to wait until after the August congressional recess to send him the bill, so Clinton will not have a month-long opportunity to embarrass Republicans while they are away from Washington. The next step in the legislative process also is unclear. Republicans could try to win
support for a moderate-sized tax cut of about $300 billion later in the year. Or, they
could save the tax cut issue for next year and this year pass only a stripped-down bill
that extends the research and development tax-credit and other expiring provisions. They
also could do nothing and let the $792 billion tax cut, which they passed and Clinton
vetoed, stand as their message to voters. |
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