Hillary Proposes Homeland Security Tax Increase
NewsMax.com
Friday Feb. 7, 2003; 2:18 a.m. EST
Democratic Party presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton is proposing an increase in the tax rates Americans are scheduled to pay under President Bush's economic program in order to fund massive new spending on homeland security, with the top Democrat warning that another terrorist attack could "shut this economy down" if more money isn't directed towards terrorist prevention measures.
Sen. Clinton told WABC Radio host John Gambling on Thursday, "Instead of further cutting of taxes, which is what the administration is proposing, let's invest in those things that we know that we need; like additional port security, like making sure that our nuclear power plants are as safe as they can be, like fixing some of the tremendous infrastructure challenges we have of water and waste water treatment and sewer and (let's) put people back to work.
"I'd like to make sure every construction worker in New York is back at work," added the nation's top Democrat. "That, to me, is the best way to stimulate the economy."
If, on the other hand, the Bush tax cuts are allowed to continue unabated, Sen. Clinton sees nothing but economic gloom and doom ahead.
"Our approach toward the economy taken by this administration will not be successful," she told Gambling. "I think we'll be back here in a year or another year and we'll still have declining job numbers, economic stagnation and we won't have put people back to work."
Asked if the Bush tax cuts didn't represent an investment in the economy that would ultimately generate more revenue, Clinton reluctantly agreed, saying, "In the short run, that is obviously an accurate statement."
"But I'm looking down the road," she quickly added before offering this warning: "And if we don't have absolute certainty about port security, something that could be a tragedy, an attack, would shut this economy down."
Clinton said that Americans also need to invest more tax revenue "in the kind of redundant transportation systems like what rail provided us after Sept. 11." She then added, "There are a lot of things we could do that investing a dollar today would not only make us safer but would guarantee that the economy would be more productive in the future."
For the fifth time since former Vice President Al Gore dropped out of the presidential race six weeks ago, a new presidential poll shows Sen. Clinton is the number one choice among Democrats to run against Bush in 2004. A Quinnipiac College survey showed 42 percent of Democrats, the highest number so far, now back Mrs. Clinton, with Sen. Joseph Lieberman, her nearest competitor, attracting just 15 percent support.
In a head-to-head match up with Bush, however, Clinton loses by a substantial margin, 52 to 41 percent, the Quinnipiac survey found.
To hear the shock audio of Sen. Clinton in an exclusive interview with WLIE Radio's Mike Siegel, where she blames President Bush for ignoring warnings about Osama bin Laden, "mishandling North Korea," and trying to cover-up 9/11 allegations by FBI whistleblower Colleen Rowley - Click Here.
See NewsMax.com contributor, WABC Radio's Steve Malzberg go one-on-one with MSNBC's Phil Donahue on Friday night's "Phil Donahue Show," 8:00 p.m. ET, rebroadcast at 11 p.m. ET.
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