Copyright 2000 St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Inc.
St.
Louis Post-Dispatch
September 7, 2000, Thursday, FIVE STAR LIFT
EDITION
SECTION: NEWS, Pg. A10
LENGTH: 651 words
HEADLINE:
SOME DEMOCRATS STAND READY TO BACK OVERRIDE ON INHERITANCE TAX CUT
BYLINE: Deirdre Shesgreen; Post-Dispatch Washington
Bureau
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
BODY:
House Republican leaders will get
help from Democrats on one of the GOP's top political priorities this session: a
vote to override President Bill Clinton's veto of legislation cutting the estate
tax.
Although Republicans are still expected to fall short of the
two-thirds vote necessary to overturn the president's veto, the substantial
Democratic support may undercut the sharp election-year rhetoric from the
president and top congressional Democrats.
Among those likely to support
the Republican plan are four Democrats from Missouri and Southern Illinois.
House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt, D-St. Louis County, and other
Democratic leaders have called the proposed tax cut risky and irresponsible.
They say they are confident the GOP will not be able to muster enough votes to
overturn the president's veto. The vote could come as early as today.
The House first passed the legislation in June by a vote of 279 to 136,
with 65 Democrats crossing over to support the GOP bill and 20 members not
voting. Many of those absent were Democrats expected to vote with the
administration, and others who supported the bill initially will likely back the
president on the override vote.
Jonathan Baron, a spokesman for House
Majority Whip Tom DeLay, R-Texas, conceded that the GOP has an uphill fight. But
he said the vote is still important because it will "demonstrate where the
parties stand on tax relief for American families."
House Republicans
will put Democrats on the spot again next week when they try to override
Clinton's veto of their marriage penalty tax bill. They hope the two
high-profile votes will help frame the election-year debate over tax policy, a
top priority for GOP presidential nominee George W. Bush.
The estate tax
legislation would phase out the levy over the next decade. Supporters say the
tax is unfair - a penalty that burdens children or widows who inherit assets
that their families have spent a lifetime accumulating.
"I do not
believe that after a person has worked all of his or her life, that once they
die and pass on their assets to their children, that their children should be
taxed," said Rep Jerry Costello, D-Belleville, who plans to buck his party and
support the override.
In addition to Costello, Reps. David Phelps,
D-Eldorado, and Pat Danner, D-Smithville, will also vote to override the
president's veto, according to their spokesmen. Rep. Ike Skelton, D-Lexington,
has not announced how he will vote yet, but his spokeswoman, Lara Battles, said
he is likely to support the GOP plan.
The Democratic defections may
fracture the united front put forward by Gephardt and other Democrats as they
try to wrap up this legislative session and head into the November elections. At
a press briefing on Tuesday, Clinton and congressional Democrats mapped out
their legislative strategy for the coming weeks and took particular aim at the
GOP's tax strategy.
"They are attempting to spend our projected surplus
for years to come, an estimated $ 2 trillion, on massive and reckless tax cuts
for the privileged few," Clinton said. He called the estate tax
repeal "a budget buster that ignores 98 percent of America's families."
Under current law, a person can give away up to $ 675,000 without paying
the tax. In 1997, only 2 percent of estates were affected by the tax.
Costello said that while he agrees the measure will benefit a small
number of people, he believes it is just morally wrong to tax a person's estate
after they've died. "If it were just two families in my congressional district,
I would still support it," Costello said. "It is wrong."
Gephardt
spokeswoman Sue Harvey played down the divisions. "There's going to be
differences of opinion on this," she said. "This is not a caucus that dictates
to its members how to vote."
She noted that Gephardt supported a
scaled-back version of the estate tax cut.
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September 7, 2000 
