Clinton Sets Out ‘Must List’ of Legislation

WASHINGTON — President Clinton on Saturday called on the Republican-controlled Congress to approve his “must list” of legislation, including welfare reform, tax cuts for the middle class and preservation of the ban on assault-style weapons.

“Real welfare reform, tax and spending cuts that reduce both the budget deficit and the education deficit, and more steps to fight crime, not to back up on that fight--those are my top priorities,” he said in his weekly radio address.

Clinton, who taped his remarks Friday, is spending the weekend at Camp David, the presidential retreat in northern Maryland. Congress is in recess for the holidays. The Senate is scheduled to return April 24, and the House will reconvene May 1.

Clinton credited Congress with accomplishing some “good” work during its first 100 days, noting that he campaigned on issues tackled by the lawmakers, including spending cuts, the line-item presidential veto, tougher criminal sentences and paperwork reduction.

But he complained that many of the new proposals “go too far.”

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Among these were “cuts in education and job training, undermining environmental protections, undermining our efforts to put 100,000 new police on our streets, legislation to permit the sale of assault weapons, and penalties for going into court to assert your rights as a citizen,” he said.

He said he shares Congress’ desire to reform the welfare system, but declared that any such changes should not “punish children for their parents’ mistakes.”

Welfare reform legislation must “demand work and responsibility” and set specific time limits for benefits, he said. Also, “we must promote family and responsibility by passing the toughest possible child-support enforcement, including our plan to deny drivers’ licenses to parents who refuse to pay their child support,” he said.

Tax cuts must be aimed at the middle class, be paid for by spending cuts and must include deductions for college costs, he said. He noted that he has put forth $80 billion in cuts beyond those needed to finance his tax-cut proposals.

“We’ve also worked with Congress on $15 billion of further cuts, and I’m ready to do more,” he said. But he added that he remains committed to protecting education spending from cuts aimed at reducing the federal budget deficit.

Finally, Clinton reiterated his promise to veto any attempt to repeal the assault-weapons ban or to cut back on “our commitment for 100,000 new police officers on the street,” both key elements of last year’s anti-crime legislation.

In the GOP response to the President’s comments, Rep. Bill Archer of Texas, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, said that “the problems with the current tax code are so deep that they can’t be fixed.”

“Instead, we need to throw the income tax code out by its roots so it can never grow back,” Archer said. “We need a new tax system that creates incentives for people to save again and make it in America.”

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Archer described Americans as “over-taxed” and said he intends to work to change the current income tax system into a “consumption-based” tax.

Such a system “will let people receive 100% of their earnings and spend it the way they wish, paying their taxes only as they buy things,” he said.

“My philosophy is simple,” he said. “The money doesn’t belong to the government, it belongs to the American people who earn it.”