Senator Kennedy
Calls Tax Cuts "Giveaways & Bonanzas"
by Phil Dobson
(WebToday, January 17, 2002)-- Only one week after a Gallup poll in which 67% of those polled said to go ahead with the tax cuts as planned, liberal Senator Edward M. Kennedy, (D-Mass.) is proposing freezing the administration's tax cuts for families earning more than $130,000 and setting the stage for a resumption of partisan battles on the economy when Congress returns next week. In a speech at the National Press Club on Wednesday, Kennedy said, "We can and should postpone a portion of the future tax cuts that overwhelmingly benefit the wealthiest taxpayers," calling the tax cuts, "giveaways" and "bonanzas."
Coming as no surprise liberal colleague, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, (D-New York) also favors repealing or delaying the tax cuts. But Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, (D-South Dakota) said he doesn't support Mr. Kennedy's plan. "My plan did not call for either the suspension or delay of the tax cut passed last spring," The Majority Leader said. "One thing on which we can all agree is that the rapid deterioration in our nation's fiscal situation calls for concerted and immediate bipartisan action."
In a statement to the press, in response to Mr. Kennedy's proposal, President Bush said, "I think raising taxes in the midst of a recession is wrong economic policy. It would be a huge mistake. It's bad for American workers. It will hurt when it comes to creating jobs. I'm confident that the American people agree with me as well. And if members of the House and the Senate listen to their constituents and listen to those who want to find work, they will understand the wisdom of our ways."
Many congressional Republicans agree with the President. "With renewed calls each week to raise taxes in a slow economy by national Democrats, such as Tom Daschle, Ted Kennedy and Hillary Clinton, it appears some folks in Congress need to brush up on the fundamentals of economics," the Speaker of the House J. Dennis Hastert, (R-Illinois). "Tax increases in tough economic times only make matters worse and do nothing for working folks and unemployed families struggling to make ends meet."
House Republican Conference Chairman J.C. Watts (R-Okla.) said, "(Kennedy's) proposal will threaten family farms, grab money out of the hands of new parents, sock married couples with a tax penalty, and force workers to give more of their paychecks to the federal government." He added, "With over 700,000 Americans out of work since September 11, the last thing Congress should do is raise taxes and make it harder for people to go back to work."
Rep. Mark Foley, (R-Fla.) responding to the proposal said, "Ted Kennedy is the only Democrat so far who has had the guts to say what they all are secretly trying to do: Raise taxes on Americans."
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer, when asked whether Bush considered the senator's plan tantamount to a tax increase, replied, "Y-E-S. Yes. No question about it." He also noted that several Democratic senators disagree with their party's leadership over this issue and said the fact that the Senator is suggesting a delay affirms that "the Democratic leadership aches in its bones to raise taxes."
Sen. Daschle has blamed the tax cuts for deficits and the recession and some Republicans have accused the Majority Leader and Mr. Kennedy of playing "good cop, bad cop." "Kennedy is simply explaining the unstated objective behind Tom Daschle's criticism of the Bush tax cut," said House Majority Whip Tom DeLay, (R-Texas).
Not all Democrats agree with Mr. Kennedy. Sen. Tim Johnson, (D-South Dakota) who voted for the tax cuts and is running for re-election this year said, "I don't see a lot of support for it." Sen. Zell Miller, (D-Georgia) who co-sponsored the tax cuts in the Senate agrees, "For Democrats to even hint that we should somehow reverse it (the Bush tax cut) during an economic downturn is, in my opinion, about the worst move the party leaders could be making."
In his speech to the National Press Club Sen. Kennedy said the money raised by delaying the tax cuts and blocking the full repeal of the estate tax could be used for a number of liberal priorities including daycare for working parents, health insurance coverage for the unemployed, government-supervised education programs - beginning at birth, responsible gun control and hate crimes legislation, just to name a few.
Kennedy closed his speech with the statement, "Of course, some will disagree with some of the proposals I've made today. Some no doubt will disagree with most or all of them."
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