Dole: Gop And Clinton Not Far Apart On Tax Cuts

Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole said Sunday he doesn’t think President Clinton and congressional Republicans are that far apart on the tax cuts each could support.

“He’s talking about a $300 per child tax credit, ours is $500 - that’s 70-some percent of the whole tax package,” Dole, R-Kansas, said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

Dole said the president also has indicated a willingness to look at capital gains tax reductions.

“If you boil it all down, there’s not that many differences in my view,” he said.

But Dole sounded less sure the two sides can reach agreement on welfare reform or reductions in the growth of Medicare spending.

The White House, preparing for President Clinton’s trip to Israel for the funeral of slain Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, had no immediate comment, said spokeswoman Ginny Terzano.

The House and Senate plans to balance the budget in seven years also contain $245 billion in tax cuts. Differences in the two versions still must be worked out between the House and Senate.

Clinton says he will veto the legislation unless Republicans agree to less severe reductions in education and Medicare spending.

Clinton and other Democrats also criticize the tax cut’s size. Dole would not say whether Republicans would agree to less.

“It’s safe to say it probably won’t be more than … $245 billion,” Dole said. “But there’s some very basic principles we believe in pretty strongly, and one is giving families and children tax relief.”

Dole said he and House Speaker Newt Gingrich had a “pretty good discussion with the president last week on the budget.