Clinton Airs Appeal for Tax Cuts : Budget: In weekly radio address, the President warns of a growing education gap in society. He touts his ‘middle-class bill of rights.’

Unless the nation gives all of its people a chance for higher education, the United States risks becoming a two-tiered society with an elite few reaping the rewards, President Clinton said Saturday, giving a push to his plan to cut taxes for the middle class.

“Too many people are being priced out of a fair shot at high-quality education,” Clinton said in his weekly radio address, broadcast from Northern Virginia Community College in suburban Annandale.

The President said a key element of his plan, which he calls the “middle-class bill of rights,” will make college tuitions tax deductible up to $10,000 a year for families making up to $120,000 a year.

“Nothing like this has ever been done before,” Clinton said.

He announced the tax-cutting plan in a televised speech Thursday.

While education after high school is more important than ever, it is also more expensive than ever, Clinton said Saturday.

“If we can’t change that, we’re at risk of losing our great American middle class, and of becoming a two-tiered society with a few successful people at the top and everyone else struggling below,” he said.

He also touted the other parts of the proposal, including a tax credit of up to $500 for most children younger than 13, enhanced individual retirement accounts and a program to channel job-training money directly to workers.

“Of course, we have to pay for all this,” Clinton said, sketching his proposal to cut back the programs and activities of three Cabinet departments and extend a spending freeze on the government.

Clinton said he and Vice President Al Gore would outline the cuts in more detail Monday.

Clinton shared the microphone with Education Secretary Richard W. Riley, who said the President has produced “the most far-reaching education agenda of any President in a generation.”

“We need to invest in our future and that future is our children,” he said. “And the President’s proposal takes us forward toward that goal.”

In the GOP response to the address, Rep.-elect Steve LaTourette of Ohio said Republicans can support Clinton’s proposal to make tuition deductible but that the President’s tax cut proposals are only a start in reducing the tax burden and the size of government.

LaTourette criticized Clinton’s plan for omitting spouses who stay home with children from IRA benefits and for excluding the $500 deduction for children age 13 to 18.

“With four children of my own, I know all too well the cost of raising kids only goes up as they get older,” LaTourette said.