Conferees Hone Tax-Cut Bill for Expected Veto

A conference committee Wednesday began trying to reconcile House and Senate versions of the Democratic tax-cut measure in the hope of sending a bill to President Bush by his deadline Friday.

Although Bush has said he will veto the measure--primarily because it would raise taxes on the rich--Democrats want to meet the deadline he set for a tax bill in his State of the Union Address. Then they will be able to make a campaign issue of Bush’s vetoing the measure, which contains a tax cut for the middle-class.

Assuming the conferees can hammer out a House-Senate compromise today, congressional leaders hope both houses of Congress will be able to approve it by Friday evening--just in time to meet Bush’s deadline.

Minutes before the conference began, the House narrowly defeated a GOP-sponsored proposal that would have stripped the bill of all tax increases for the wealthy--a move Republicans said would pave the way for a bill Bush could sign.

That action came on a vote of 206 to 200. Democrats rejected the offer as likely to jeopardize the tax cut for the middle class, which they want to finance by raising taxes on higher incomes. Without the offsetting tax increases, the bill would violate the budget law. In the same vote, the House again went on record as favoring a tax cut for the middle class.

Should Bush veto the legislation, as he has promised to do, neither house would be able to muster enough votes to override it. As a result, a tax cut is expected to remain an intense political issue for both parties for the rest of the 1992 campaign.

The sparring continued Wednesday, as the conferees prepared to meet. White House Press Secretary Marlin Fitzwater warned there would be “grave consequences for the country” if Democrats blocked Bush’s initial tax-cut proposals.

But Sen. Lloyd Bentsen (D-Tex.), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, told colleagues before the session: “I don’t think the American people see it that way. The American people want results, not bickering.”