Official: GOP tax bill will be vetoed I
WASHINGTON (AP) - President
Clinton is eager to veto the 10-year,
$792 billion Republican tax cut bill to
clear the way for negotiations with
Congress on boosting spending for key
programs and more modest tax relief, a
top White House official said
Wednesday.
“We believe that some tax relief is
appropriate,” John Podesta, the White
House chief of staff, said after a
National Press Club speech. “It ought to
be balanced against the other important
national needs.”
Podesta stressed the administra
tion’s contention that the tax bill passed
by the GOP-led Congress spends too
much of projected budget surpluses - at
the expense of Social Security and
Medicare - and is improperly weighted
toward wealthier taxpayers. He said
Clinton would veto the measure as soon
as congressional leaders send it to the
White House, which will occur as early
as Sept. 14.
“Please send us the tax cut bill so
that we don’t have to keep fooling
around with the phony debate,” Podesta
said. “Send it down to us so that we can
veto it, and then move forward.”
Republicans kept the tax bill locked
away on Capitol HUl during the August
recess as they tried to drum up public
support for the measure and demon
strate their commitment to cutting taxes
as a prelude to the 2000 congressional
elections.
Over 10 years, the bill would reduce
all income tax rates by L percentage
u
Please send us the tax cut bill so that we
don’t have to keep fooling around with the
phony debate
\
John Podesta
White House chief of staff
point, ease the marriage penalty on
many two-income couples, eliminate
estate taxes and the alternative minimum
income tax, reduce capital gains taxes,
expand pension and 401(k) laws and
provide numerous business tax breaks.
There are mixed feelings within the
GOP about whether to seek compro
mise with the president on a smaller tax
bill. .Some hard-liners would rather
force a veto on the $792 billion bill and
use that as a political issue, but others
believe voters prefer a concrete accom
plishment even if it is more modest.
Clinton has said a tax cut of up to
$300 billion over 10 years might be
acceptable, and moderate lawmakers of
both parties in Congress are working on
alternatives somewhat higher than that.
Although Podesta discounted any
growth in public support for the GOP
plan, many Republicans believe
Clinton’s willingness to compromise
shows that parts of the bill are popular.
“This latest exercise is further proof
that President Clinton does not want to
admit that he is dead set against giving
any tax relief to married couples, small
business owners, investors and millions
of other Americans,” said Rep. Bill
Archer, R-Texas, chairman of the
House Ways and Means Committee.
Ultimately, the size of tax cuts
depends on how lawmakers cope with
tight spending caps imposed as part of
the 1997 balanced budget deal. Unless
the caps are lifted - neither the White
House nor GOP leaders are suggesting
that - many programs are going to suffer.
In his speech, Podesta accused
Republicans of shortchanging vital sci
ence and research programs in various
spending bills, including a cut of $ 1 bil
lion from Clinton’s fiscal year 2000'
request for NASA and a cut of $1.8 bil
lion for civilian research and develop
ment.
But Elizabeth Morra, spokes
woman for the House Appropriations
Committee, said unless the spending
caps are altered lawmakers will be
forced to make painful choices in allo
cating a limited pool of money through
out government.
Technology
medium in
WASHINGTON (AP) - The
art world is going high tech. The
* first thing a visitor sees at an
exhibit of art students’ produc
tions opening today at the
Corcoran Gallery of Art is a com
puter monitor with a mouse and
two sets of earphones.
To appreciate that work, the
visitor must sit at the monitor, don
the earphones and click on an icon
with the mouse.
This piece is a CD-ROM
called “1948: Memory Fragments
- A Narrative in Three Voices.”
The artist is David A. Valentine,
who received his degree in 1997
from the Corcoran College of Art
and Design, one of the nation’s
leading art schools.
“His major was fine arts,” said
Linda Williams, the school’s
director of alumni affairs, “but as
you can see, he knows about tech
nology too.”
Valentine is a former anima
tion cinematographer who ran his
own computer animation consult
ing firm.
His piece is part of an exhibit
of alumni work held every two
years at the gallery, the capital’s
first art museum.
The school cultivates an older
tradition, too. An oil painting -
i becomes
art world
Fred Folsom’s “Edna Flying,” a
nude gliding over a landscape - is
back in a comer of the gallery.
But most of the show does lit
tle to recall the days when art stu
dents spent more of their time on
watercolors or making drawings
of antique statues.
Many of the students seem to
be trying to outdo one another in
cultivating exotic ways of express
ing themselves. Some, however,
reject the high-tech trend.
Nancy Van Meter makes cyan
otypes, created by laying an object
directly on a sensitized photo
graphic plate.
Some early photographers
practiced a similar technique more
than 150 years ago.
“The technical process for cre
ating these photograms is simple,
permanent and non-toxic,” the
artist explained in a statement.
“Machinery of any kind is unnec
essary.
“My personal response rebels
wildly against the barrage of com
puter technology with its unapolo
getic deluge of poor-quality
images.”
She calls one of her small
prints, which uses doll clothing,
“Barbie High Heels: Float Like
Boats on Top of the Sea.”
Clinton plea for
money sent to
Lewinsky’s dad
WASHINGTON (AP) - Millions
of dollars short of covering the
Clinton family’s legal bills, officials
at President Clinton’s defense fund
are nonetheless feeling a little sheep
ish about asking for money from one
prospective donor: Monica
Lewinsky’s father.
Dr. Bernard Lewinsky, who has
contributed to the Democratic Party
over the years, recently received a
request from the Clinton Legal
Expense Trust asking for help in pay
ing off the $10.5 million in legal
expenses of Clinton and his wife,
Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Lewinsky wrote “Return to
sender” on the envelope, scrawling
i^iderneath, “You must be morons to
send me this letter!” according to a
Lewinsky family friend who asked
not to be identified.
Anthony Essaye, the fund’s exec
utive director, said Wednesday that
he couldn’t confirm the form letter
was sent to Lewinsky but he assumes
it was.
“It’s just one of those things that
happens,” Essaye said. “I’m sorry to
burden him with that.”
The fund mails its donation
requests to lists of people recom
mended by a direct mail group, he
said.
It’s possible the same group is
working with the Democratic
National Committee.
Less than a month ago,
Lewinsky’s friend said, the DNC sent
the father of the former White House
intern a photograph of Bill and
Hillary Clinton with a fund-raising
plea and the message, “Thank you
for your understanding during the
last year.”
