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President Clinton Challenges Congress To Act On
America's Priorities
July 27, 2000
Full Report as PDF File
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 end the legislative logjam on America's top
priorities. 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 the Congress to
pass an affordable, meaningful prescription drug benefit. The President will
emphasize that the tax cuts – including the estate tax cut -- 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 estate tax repeal that the Republican
leadership passed as one of their first priorities 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 in needed payment increases to 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 ALSO CALL ON CONGRESS TO PASS HIS PROPOSED
TARGETED TAX CUTS THAT PROVIDE SUBSTANTIALLY MORE TAX RELIEF 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:
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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.)
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School Construction. Tax credits for $25 billion of bonds for
the construction and modernization of up to 6,000 schools. (Cost: $8
billion.)
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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.)
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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.)
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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.)
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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:
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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 the 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.
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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, as he has for the
past seven, President Clinton will insist that Congress produce a responsible
budget that honors our values and invests in the American people.
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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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