Ehrlich on Washington column, October 29, 1995

NEWS FROM Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr Second Congressional District of Maryland 1 407 York Road, Suite 304 3 1 5 Cannon House Office Building Lutherville, Maryland 2 1 093 Washington, D.C. 205 1 5 EHRLICH ON WASHINGTON Week of October 29, 1 995 By Congressman Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr. READ CLINTON’S LIPS Well, it’s finally official. . . Bill Clinton’s 1993 tax increase— the largest in American history— was a mistake. This belated revelation comes not from House Speaker Newt Gingrich or one of the Republican presidential hopefuls. Rather it comes from the most unimpeachable source of all — President Bill Clinton himself. At a recent fundraiser in Houston, Clinton told a room of wealthy Democratic contributors: “Probably there are people in this room still mad at me. . .because you think I raised your taxes too much. It might surprise you to know that I think I raised them too much, too.” The President then embarked on a rambling attempt to explain his remarks. According to Clinton’s logic, the then-Republican congressional minority was responsible for the size of the tax increase because it pledged to unanimously oppose his budget. As a result, Clinton said he had to rely on “a little more tax on upper-income people, and a little less cuts than I wanted” in order to shore up weak Democratic support. The President’s version of events reflects a distinctly Orwellian spin. The budget Clinton submitted to Congress in 1993 called for $359 billion in tax increases-$100 billion more than the version ultimately passed by Congress. Clinton was ultimately forced to agree to the smaller