Clinton Blasts Republicans On Environment

In a stinging denunciation of Republican policies, President Clinton accused Congress on Monday of engineering an “anti-environmental campaign” in concert with industrial lobbyists.

Making his first election-year address on the environment, Clinton proposed $2 billion in tax breaks for companies that clean up and develop land contaminated by toxic waste. And he promised more vetoes for bills he thinks would undermine the environment.

“When it comes to protecting our air, our food, our water, I cannot sacrifice America’s values or America’s future,” Clinton told a crowd of 6,000 at Fairleigh Dickinson University.

Clinton called for a bipartisan approach to environmental control - a point easily lost in a highly partisan speech.

“It is incredible to me now that the environment has, for the first time in a generation, become a source of political division,” the president said.

His voice cracking from his cold, Clinton added, “Congress has mounted the most aggressive anti-environmental campaign in our history. And I am proud that we have stood against that.”