DOLE, GINGRICH ALTER GOP STAND ON DEBT LIMIT.Byline: Jerry Gray This article is about the football player. For the arranger and composer, see Jerry Gray (arranger). Jerry Gray (born December 16, 1962 in Lubbock, Texas) is a former American Football cornerback who played for the Los Angeles Rams from 1985 to 1991, the The New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of Times House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Sen. Bob Dole have softened the Republicans' hard line on legislation to extend the federal government's authority to borrow money, turning Wednesday to a less ambitious plan that both party conservatives and President Clinton are likely to accept. Gingrich and Dole, the Senate majority leader and likely Republican presidential nominee In United States politics and government, the phrase presidential nominee has two distinct meanings. The first is somebody chosen by the primary voters and caucus-goers of this party to be the party's nominee for President of the United States. , abandoned their efforts to force the president to accept Republican budget-cutting proposals in exchange for the crucial debt legislation. Instead, the GOP leaders are considering a long-term extension of federal borrowing authority coupled with provisions that will placate their own conservative wing yet are acceptable and even welcome to the White House. The Republicans had sought to use the government's need to borrow money to force the White House to accept their balanced-budget legislation and changes in entitlement programs like welfare. But Clinton repeatedly rebuffed them, leading to months of brinksmanship brink·man·ship also brinks·man·ship n. The practice, especially in international politics, of seeking advantage by creating the impression that one is willing and able to push a highly dangerous situation to the limit rather than concede. in which each side repeatedly accused the other of leading the country to the brink of default on debt it would be unable to roll over. Though White House officials said they welcomed the development, it was not clear Wednesday night whether Republican leaders had come to a final agreement on the plan. Still, resolving the stand-off over the debt limit is important for Dole. Polls show that most voters blame Republicans, not Clinton, for the standoff over the debt limit. The measure the Republican leaders are considering would give the government authority to borrow money into July 1997. It would also contain provisions allowing presidential vetoes of individual items in the budget; raising the amount of money Social Security recipients could earn without jeopardizing their benefits; and giving a tax credit for families with children. They also are considering some level of child tax credit, probably for only one year or spread over several years but at far less than the $500 per child credit spelled out in the Contract With America In the historic 1994 midterm elections, Republicans won a majority in Congress for the first time in forty years, partly on the appeal of a platform called the Contract with America. Put forward by House Republicans, this sweeping ten-point plan promised to reshape government. , the Republicans' congressional campaign manifesto in 1994. All three provisions are favorites of conservatives and are popular in the White House as well. In fact, Clinton has long sought the line-item veto line-i·tem veto n. Authority, as of a government executive, to reject provisions of a bill individually. Also called item veto. and periodically has called on the Republicans to approve it; it was also a plank in the Contract with America. "This a solid step in the right direction," said George Stephanopoulos George Robert Stephanopoulos (born February 10, 1961) is an American broadcaster and political adviser. He is currently ABC News's Chief Washington Correspondent and the host of ABC's Sunday morning news show This Week. , the senior adviser to the president. "The president has always believed that we shouldn't threaten the full faith and credit of the United States." The decision also was hailed by Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, who had been at bitter odds with the Congress, with some Republican lawmakers even threatening him with impeachment impeachment, formal accusation issued by a legislature against a public official charged with crime or other serious misconduct. In a looser sense the term is sometimes applied also to the trial by the legislature that may follow. at one point last year. "I want to commend Speaker Gingrich and Senator (Trent) Lott for their constructive comments with respect to passing a long-term debt Long-Term Debt Loans and financial obligations lasting over one year. Notes: For example debts obligations such as bonds and notes which have maturities greater than one year would be considered long-term debt. limit increase," he said. "We are eager to work with the Congress in passing a mutually acceptable bill." The proposal on the debt is a new sign that Republican strategists, looking to the November elections, are retreating from a strategy of confrontation that has won them little so far. |
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