Clinton Calls Republican Tax Cut Plan ‘Reckless’

President Clinton, mingling with big-money Democratic donors, described the Republicans’ tax cutting plan in doomsday terms Saturday, saying it would “imperil the future stability of the country.”

“It doesn’t make sense,” Clinton said, asserting that the GOP program would soak up money needed to fix Social Security, Medicare and other social programs. He said Republicans were engaged in a childish tax cut bidding war.

“It’s almost like the arguments we used to have when I was at school,” Clinton said. He mocked the Republicans as saying: “Our tax cut is bigger than your tax cut.”

The president attacked the GOP plan in fund-raising speeches and in his weekly radio address.

In reply, a top Republican praised the $792-billion tax cut plan passed last week as returning surplus federal money to the people to keep it from being spent in Washington.

Clinton arrived early Saturday morning in this swank resort town for what was supposed to be a leisurely weekend of hobnobbing with contributors who gave at least $50,000 to the Democratic Party.

But the president decided to cut the Colorado weekend short, compressing two days of schmoozing into about five hours, to fly overnight to Morocco for today’s funeral of King Hassan II.

The Democrats’ weekend retreat gave donors a chance to rub elbows with Clinton, the first lady and members of his Cabinet. It was expected to raise $1 million.

Clinton said Republicans have changed their tune about him, saying they can reclaim the White House when he leaves.

“After telling everybody for 6 1/2 years what a bad guy I was, they’re now basically saying, ‘Oh, well, you know, Bill Clinton is like Michael Jordan; he just jumps higher than the other guys.’ ”

Later, however, Clinton told reporters: “No one in their right mind could compare me to Michael Jordan . . . . I can’t jump 4 inches.”

In his speech, Clinton said the Republicans hope that when he’s gone, they can put the Democrats “in the cellar again. . . . I could not have done anything, anything in the last six years, if our ideas hadn’t been right.”

The president mixed with donors at a sprawling cedar “cabin” owned by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and her husband, Richard Blum.

On the radio, the president opened up a new line of attack against the Republicans’ 10-year, $792-billion tax cut plan.

“Their reckless tax plan would threaten law enforcement across the board, forcing reductions in the number of federal agents and cutting deeply into support for state and local law enforcement,” Clinton said.

He announced the award of $50 million in Justice Department grants to hire 680 law enforcement officers in 64 communities. In addition, the District of Columbia will get $15 million to hire 200 community police officers and 40 federal prosecutors.

The Republicans’ radio address credited Americans with producing the economic bounty that enables a tax cut at all.

The GOP plan helps fix an unfair tax system, House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Texas) said, by easing taxation on interest accrued from savings and reducing the “marriage penalty.”

“The prosperity you created brought us the first budget surplus in 39 years,” he said. “We must return that money to you so it isn’t spent in Washington on more big government.”

In an almost straight party-line vote Thursday, the House approved a measure that would cut taxes over 10 years. Senate Republicans plan to pass a tax cut next week that is the same size as the House bill but differs in detail.

Clinton has threatened to veto such deep cuts and instead favors a tax cut in the range of $250 billion.