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Saturday

Clinton Attacks Republicans Over Minimum Wage Hike Tied with Tax Cuts

Aired March 11, 2000 - 12:08 p.m. ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

GENE RANDALL, CNN ANCHOR: President Clinton lashed out at Republicans this week over a minimum-wage hike they tied with cutting taxes. It is an issue sure to come up in the presidential campaign ahead.

Correspondent Kelly Wallace has a report from the White House -- Kelly.

KELLY WALLACE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Well, Gene, last year, the budget battle is hardly a distant memory, and already President Clinton and the Republicans are making it clear they have very different positions about this year's budget and the subject of taxes. In his weekly radio address, Mr. Clinton said the Republican budget will lead to a -- quote -- fiscal dead end. He accused Republican of passing a series of tax cuts before putting any money toward Social Security and Medicare reform or investing in education.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

WILLIAM J. CLINTON, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Unfortunately, the majority tried to take us down this road before. Last year, they went from one big tax cut with one big grab. This year, they are doing it piece by piece, one tax cut after another. Just this week, we saw Republican leaders attach special interest tax breaks to what should have been a simple raise in the minimum wage.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALLACE: On Thursday, the House passed a bill which would increase the minimum wage by $1 dollar over two years. Attached to that bill, as the president mentioned, is $122 billion tax-cut package.

Now Republicans, for their part, announced their budget agreement yesterday. In it, they mentioned themes that White House puts forth -- shoring up Social Security, strengthening Medicare. Republicans also stress tax relief.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JOHN KASICH (R-OH), BUDGET COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN: As a percentage of our economy, taxes today are higher than at any time since World War II. Put another way, taxes collected at all levels of government now total more than $10,000 per person, and that's more than the cost of food, clothing and shelter combined.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALLACE: Now President Clinton said he would support what he calls a targeted tax relief for Americans, but only after Congress takes care of shoring up Social Security and Medicare and paying down the national debt.

The Republican-led Congress is expected to start grappling with this budget over the next couple of months. And one thing is clear, the two sides have dramatically different approaches to the budget, and that could mean a repeat of last year's budget showdown is not out of the question -- Gene.

RANDALL: Thank you Kelly.

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