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| PRESIDENT CLINTON CHALLENGES CONGRESS TO ACT ON AMERICA?S PRIORITIES |
| July 27, 2000 |
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President Clinton, joined by Democratic Leaders Daschle and Gephardt and
members of the House and Senate Democratic caucuses, today will call on the
Congressional majority to end the legislative logjam. He will release a
new state-by-state analysis that compares the number of Americans that
would benefit from the recently passed estate tax with the number of
Medicare beneficiaries who are still waiting for Congress to pass an
affordable, meaningful prescription drug benefit. The President will
emphasize that tax cuts passed by the 106th Congress take America off the
path of fiscal discipline, and could plunge the nation back into on-budget
deficit (according to OMB?s estimates) or use the entire $1.8 trillion
on-budget surplus (based on CBO?s more optimistic projections). In
addition, the approach of the Republican leadership will leave no money for
a Medicare prescription drug benefit, strengthening Social Security and
Medicare, paying down the debt by 2012, or investing in key priorities like
reducing class size and repairing crumbling schools. President Clinton
will also urge Congress to pass his targeted tax cuts, which provide
substantially more tax relief for middle class families at less than half
the total cost of the Congressional proposals.
PRESIDENT CLINTON WILL TODAY RELEASE A NEW STATE-BY-STATE ANALYSIS
COMPARING BENEFICIARIES OF ESTATE TAX REPEAL W/MEDICARE BENEFICIARIES
WAITING FOR AN AFFORDABLE, MEANINGFUL PRESCRIPTION DRUG BENEFIT. This
analysis documents that, nationwide, the Republican estate tax repeal costs
as much as the President?s entire prescription drug plan when phased in but
helps millions of fewer Americans. In fact, only about two percent of
American families benefit from the estate tax repeal - the wealthiest of
all Americans - for an average tax break of $800,000 each. Moreover, more
than half of the benefits of estate tax repeal go to the top one-tenth of
one percent of families. In contrast, a new Medicare prescription drug
benefit would provide a new, affordable coverage option for 39 million
beneficiaries whose annual incomes average $20,000. The President?s
Medicare proposal also proposes to invest $40 billion for health care
providers, an investment that is complemented by major new investments in
health insurance coverage for children, parents, people 55 to 65 years old,
workers in between jobs, and legal immigrants.
PRESIDENT CLINTON WILL CALL ON THE MAJORITY IN CONGRESS TO PASS HIS
PROPOSED TARGETED TAX CUTS THAT PROVIDE SUBSTANTIALLY MORE TAX RELIEF FOR
MIDDLE CLASS FAMILIES AT LESS THAN HALF THE TOTAL COST OF THE CONGRESSIONAL
PROPOSALS: President Clinton has proposed significant new tax relief for
America?s working families as part of a budget framework that maintains our
fiscal discipline, makes investments in key priorities, strengthens the
solvency of Social Security and Medicare, and pays down the debt by 2012.
The President proposes $359 billion of gross tax cuts over 10 years - of
which $263 billion are paid for out of the surplus and $96 billion are paid
for with corporate loophole closers and other measures. Highlights
include:
? Retirement Savings Accounts (RSAs). The President proposes a tax cut to
provide generous and progressive incentives to encourage families to save
and invest together with tax incentives to encourage small businesses to
offer high-quality pensions. (Cost: $70 billion over 10 years.)
? Long-term Care. A $3,000 long-term care tax credit to compensate people
with long-term care needs or their caregivers for costs associated with
their care. (Cost: $26 billion.)
? College Opportunity Tax Cut. A College Opportunity Tax Cut to provide a
choice between a tax deduction or a 28 percent tax credit on up to $10,000
in tuition in order to make college, graduate school, and courses taken for
a job more affordable. (Cost: $36 billion.)
? School Construction. Tax credits for $25 billion of bonds for the
construction and modernization of up to 6,000 schools. (Cost: $8
billion.)
? Earned Income Tax Credit. The President?s budget would increase and
expand the Earned Income Tax Credit to better reward work and family for
6.8 million hard-pressed working families [including larger families and
married couples]. (Cost: $23 billion.)
? Marriage Penalty and Broad Tax Relief. The President?s proposal would
reduce the marriage penalty by increasing the standard deduction by more
than $2,000 for married, two-earner couples. (Cost: $45 billion.)
? Tax Credits for Medicare 55-65 and Americans In Between Jobs. The
President?s budget would provide tax credits to help make his Medicare
buy-in proposal affordable and to for people in between jobs. (Cost: $14
billion.)
? Child Care. The President?s proposal would expand the child care tax
credit to defray up to 50 percent of expenses and make it refundable in
order to help working families afford child care. (Cost: $31 billion.)
? Energy Efficiency. In order to improve energy efficiency and help the
environment, the President proposes $9 billion in tax credits for
energy-efficient cars, homes, and appliances. (Cost: $9 billion.)
? Philanthropy. Encouraging philanthropy by allowing non-itemizers to
take a tax deduction for charitable giving, improving the tax treatment of
foundations, and allowing larger donations of stock and assets by
individuals. (Cost: $14 billion.)
President Clinton?s tax cut proposals build on a successful strategy that
has resulted in the lowest total Federal tax rates on typical families in
over two decades. The tax cuts signed into law by the President in 1993
and 1997 - for example, the expanded Earned Income Tax Credit, the $500
child tax credit, the $1,500 HOPE Scholarship Tax Credit, and expanded IRAs
- have reduced taxes for American families. The total Federal tax rate for
the median-income family of four has dropped from 24.5 percent in 1992 to
22.8 percent in 1999 - that?s the lowest tax rate since 1978. For families
at one-half the median income, the effective Federal tax rate has been
slashed from 19.8 percent in 1992 to 14.1 percent in 1999 ? that?s the
lowest tax rate since 1968.
PRESIDENT CLINTON WILL ALSO CALL ON CONGRESS TO COMPLETE WORK ON AMERICA?S
KEY PRIORITIES:
? Provide an Affordable, Accessible Prescription Drug Benefit Option For
All Medicare Beneficiaries: Medicare beneficiaries face prescription drug
costs that are increasing at double the rate of inflation, and a growing
number of seniors are finding themselves with inadequate prescription drug
coverage or none at all. The President has proposed a voluntary,
affordable Medicare prescription drug benefit for all beneficiaries.
Beginning in 2002, it would provide prescription drug coverage that would
have a zero deductible and cover half of all prescription drug costs up to
$5,000 when fully phased in. An increase will also limit all out-of-pocket
medication costs to $4,000. This optional benefit would also provide
negotiated discounts that would ensure that Medicare beneficiaries no
longer pay the highest prices in the marketplace.
? Raise The Minimum Wage: Congress has delayed increasing the minimum wage
for over a year by attaching costly and unnecessary tax cuts to this
long-overdue measure. Each day Congress delays, it takes money out of the
paychecks of 10 million minimum wage workers, many who are moving from
welfare to work. A full-time minimum wage worker has already lost over
$900 as a result of this delay. The minimum wage has not been increased in
nearly four years. It now enjoys broad bipartisan support and should not
be held hostage to an irresponsible tax cut aimed at helping special
interests.
? Enact A Meaningful Patient?s Bill Of Rights: The Senate is only one
vote away from passing a strong, enforceable, Patients? Bill of Rights,
similar to the bipartisan Norwood-Dingell Patients? Bill of Rights. This
legislation, endorsed by over 200 health care provider and consumer
advocacy groups, is the only bipartisan proposal currently being considered
that protects state-based accountability provisions already available under
current law and includes: protections for all Americans in all health
plans; protections for patients accessing emergency room care from
financial sanctions; guarantees that assure access to necessary and
accessible health care specialists; and meaningful enforcement mechanisms
that ensure recourse for patients who have been harmed as a result of a
health plan?s actions.
? Approve Common Sense Gun Safety Legislation: Sensible gun safety
legislation has languished in Congress for over a year, while an estimated
30,000 Americans have lost their lives to gun violence. In May 1999 the
Senate passed common sense gun safety measures, with Vice President Gore
casting the tie-breaking vote. Since then, Republican Congressional
leaders have delayed and bottled up this legislation at the behest of the
gun lobby. The President will call on Republican Leadership to put the
public safety interests of America?s families first and pass a bill that
closes the gun show loophole, requires child safety locks to be sold with
handguns, bans the importation of large capacity ammunition clips and
prevents violent juvenile offenders from buying guns as adults.
? Pass A Fiscally Responsible Budget That Invests In Education, School
Modernization & Key Priorities: The President proposed a balanced and
fiscally responsible budget that makes investments in key priorities for
the American people. The President?s budget includes important investments
in education ? including modernizing 6,000 schools and repairing 25,000
more, meeting our commitment to hire 100,000 quality teachers to reduce
class size, identifying and turning around failing schools, increasing
after school opportunities, improving teacher quality, mentoring at-risk
youth to increase college success, and increasing accountability. To pay
for fiscally irresponsible tax cuts, Congressional Republicans have cut key
priorities resulting in fewer quality teachers for schools, fewer law
enforcement officers and prosecutors to fight crime, reduced environmental
protection, and less funding for National Science Foundation research.
This year President Clinton will insist that Congress produce a
responsible budget that honors our values and invests in the American
people.
? Pass Of Expanded Federal Hate Crimes Law. The President today will also
make the case for expanded federal hate crimes legislation. In particular,
he will urge Congress to pass the bipartisan hate crimes legislation
pending in Congress this year. The Senate has already passed this
legislation, and the President will urge the House to act expeditiously to
pass this critical legislation. This legislation would punish hate crimes
based on a victim?s sexual orientation, gender, or disability. Current
federal law does not cover such cases. In addition, this legislation also
recognizes that state and local law enforcement still have primary
responsibility for investigating and prosecuting hate crimes.
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