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• Monday, May 3, 2010 - That night, in a televised address from the Oval...
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That night, in a televised address from the Oval Office, I made one last pitch for public support for the plan, saying it would create eight million jobs in the next four years, and announcing that I would sign an executive order the following day to establish a deficit-reduction trust fund, assuring that all the new taxes and spending cuts would be used for that purpose onlyThe trust fund was especially important to Senator Dennis DeConcini of Arizona, and I credited him for the idea in the TV addressOf the six senators who had voted against the plan the first time, DeConcini was my only hopeI had had the others to dinner, met with and called them, and had their closest friends in the administration lobby them, to no availIf DeConcini didnt change, we were beat
The next day, he did, saying he would vote yes because of the trust fundNow, if Bob Kerrey stayed with us we would get fifty votes in the Senate, and Al Gore could break the tie againBut before we got there, the budget first had to pass the HouseWe had one more day to find a majority of 218 votes, and we still werent thereMore than thirty Democrats were waveringThey were prada stripe handbag afraid of the taxes, though we had done printouts for each of the members showing how many people in their districts would get a tax cut under the EITC, as compared with those who would get an income tax increaseIn many cases, the ratio was ten to one or better, and in barely more than a dozen were their constituents so well off that the district would see more tax increases than decreasesStill, they were all worried about the gas taxI could have passed the plan easily had I dropped the gas tax and offset the loss by abandoning the EITC tax cutIt would have been far less politically damagingPoor working people had no lobbyists in Washington; they would never have knownBesides, if we were going to soak the rich, the bond market wanted us to spray the middle class with a little bit of pain
That afternoon, Leon Panetta and House majority leader, Dick Gephardt, who was working tirelessly for the budget, had struck a deal with Congressman Tim Penny of Minnesota, the leader of a group of conservative Democrats who wanted more spending cuts, promising the budget cutters another vote during the fall appropriations process to cut spending even fendi handbag sale morePenny was satisfied, and his approval brought us seven or eight more votes
We lost two of our earlier yes votes when Billy Tauzin of Louisiana, who later became a Republican, and Charlie Stenholm of Texas, who represented a district where most of the voters were Republican, said they would vote noThey hated the gas tax and said the unified Republican opposition to the plan had convinced their constituents that it was nothing but a tax increase
Less than an hour before the vote, I spoke with Congressman Bill Sarpalius from Amarillo, Texas, who had voted against the plan in MayIn our fourth phone conversation of the day, Bill said he had decided to vote for the plan, because so many more of his constituents would get tax cuts than tax increases, and because Energy Secretary Hazel OLeary had pledged to shift more government work to the Pantex plant in his districtWe made many commitments like thatSomeone once said that the two things people should never watch being made are sausages and lawsIt was ugly, and uncertain
When the voting began, I still didnt know whether we were going to win or loseAfter David Minge, who represented a mulberry style bags rural district in Minnesota, said he would vote no, it all came down to three people: Pat Williams of Montana, Ray Thornton of Arkansas, and Marjorie Margolies-Mezvinsky of PennsylvaniaI really didnt want Margolies-Mezvinsky to have to vote with usShe was one of the very few Democrats who represented a district with more constituents whod get tax hikes than tax cuts, and in her campaign she had promised not to vote for any tax increasesIt was a tough vote for Pat Williams, tooFar more of his constituents would get tax cuts than tax increases, but Montana was a huge, sparsely populated state where people had to drive long distances, so the gas tax would hit them harder than most AmericansBut Pat Williams was a good politician and a tough populist who deplored what trickle-down economics had done to his peopleThere was at least a chance that he could survive the vote
Compared with Williams and Margolies-Mezvinsky, Thornton had an easy voteHe represented central Arkansas, where there were far more people who would get a tax cut than a tax increaseHe was popular and could not have been blown out of his seat with a stick of dynamiteHe was gucci leather handbags my congressman, and my presidency was on the lineAnd he had lots of cover: both Arkansas senators, David Pryor and Dale Bumpers, were strong supporters of the planBut in the end Thornton said noHe had never voted for a gas tax before and he wouldnt start now, not to get the deficit down, not to revive the economy, not to save my presidency or the career of Marjorie Margolies-Mezvinsky
Finally, Pat Williams and Margolies-Mezvinsky came down the aisle and voted yes, giving us a one-vote victoryThe Democrats cheered their courage and the Republicans jeeredThey were especially cruel to Margolies-Mezvinsky, waving and singing, Good-bye, MargieShe had earned an honored place in history, with a vote she shouldnt have had to castDan Rostenkowski was so happy he had tears in his eyesBack in the White House, I let out a whoop of joy, and relief
The next day, the drama moved to the SenateThanks to George Mitchell and his leadership team, and our lobbying, we had held all the senators from the first vote except David BorenDennis DeConcini had bravely stepped into his place, but the outcome was still in doubt, because Bob Kerrey remained chanel knockoff uncommi |
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