Word: plan
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Dates: during 1990-1990
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...trade: Democrats would go along with a cut in the capital-gains tax favored by the President; Republicans would accept the hike in income taxes on the wealthy that the Democrats demand. Such a swap had been explicitly rejected during the five-month budget talks that produced the original plan...
...plan was a politician's worst nightmare. With midterm elections looming in less than a month, rank-and-file members of Congress were being asked to endorse the unpalatable idea that voters should pay more taxes while receiving less in the way of public services. Faced with that painful -- albeit necessary -- proposition, the lawmakers simply cut and ran, ignoring Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan's admonition that "failure to enact the agreement would produce an adverse reaction in financial markets that could undercut our economy...
...political terms the plan's biggest flaw was its perceived failure to distribute the burden equitably. Its reliance on regressive taxes like the levy on gasoline meant that the brunt would fall on low- and middle-income taxpayers. The White House and congressional leadership had hoped to overwhelm qualms about the pact's fairness by arguing that it was the best compromise that could be achieved. But as soon as the plan was presented, the Administration, House Speaker Tom Foley and minority leader Robert Michel promptly found themselves absorbing fire from left, right and center. The plan's Medicare component...
...actually campaign against members of his own party who opposed the deficit package. When Pennsylvania Congressman Bill Goodling objected, saying, "I know George Bush, and he would never do anything like that," Sununu snapped back, "George Bush is a much nicer guy than I am." (Goodling voted for the plan.) At a session the next day, Michigan Congressman Fred Upton explained that he would vote against the plan because it was "a rotten deal." Erupted Sununu: "What are you smoking?" (Upton voted...
...White House sent other small but unmistakable signals of its displeasure to G.O.P. renegades. Two nights before the vote, Ohio Congressman Ralph Regula had planned to impress some constituents by taking them to the presidential box at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts to see a play. But that afternoon he got a call from the White House congressional liaison office inquiring about his position on the budget plan. "Leaning against," he replied. His tickets were canceled. New York Congressman Gerald Solomon complained that Bush had telephoned him at his home at 6:45 a.m. to solicit his support...