(Omaha, NE) U.S. House Majority Leader Dick Armey on Saturday predicted President Clinton will break his vow to veto the Republican-crafted $800 billion tax reduction package.
Armey and other republicans in Congress say they plan to barnstorm the country this month, explaining the details of the tax cuts in hopes to building interest and approval for the bill.
“As their enthusiasm for this relief grows, the President’s pollsters will begin to report this polling data to the President,” Armey told reporters at the Midwest Republican Leadership Conference in Omaha, Nebraska.
“The President of the United States will simply not disappoint his pollsters…when the pollsters come in and say ‘Mr. President, America has a new view on politics,’ he’ll wake up that morning and say ‘Well, I’m a new man on taxes.'”
Armey said Clinton had done a similar about-face on welfare reform, embracing it after initial reluctance.
However, Armey said republicans would “be prepared to reconstruct a tax package” should Clinton veto the bill.
“If the President vetoes the tax package that is before him, that does not mean we are not willing to go right back to work. We are committed to this. We have a $3 trillion surplus,” Armey said.
House Budget Committee Chairman John Kasich, also appearing at the Midwest Republican Leadership Conference, said the G.O.P. was ready to “stand firm” for tax reduction against the threatened veto.
“If we don’t have a tax cut, we’ll spend the money,” Kasich said.
Kasich, who referred to the tax reduction package as a “Republican crown jewel,” accused Clinton of seeking more federal spending instead, which Kasich said was “not an acceptable conclusion.”