WASHINGTON — Capping a summer GOP drive to pass a string of popular tax cuts and put Democrats on the defensive, the House of Representatives voted Thursday to repeal a 1993 tax increase on Social Security benefits for 10 million senior citizens.
"They're playing good fourth-quarter ball," conceded Rep. Mike Thompson, D-Calif., of his Republican colleagues. "Whether or not it will do them any good is another question."
Republicans crowed about the 265-159 vote to roll back what they derided as the "Gore tax," an increase in taxes on Social Security benefits for middle- and upper-income seniors that cleared the Senate in 1993 only by Vice President Al Gore's tie-breaking vote.
"We are repealing that Gore tax," said Republican whip Tom DeLay, R-Texas, at an event staged on the western steps of the Capitol to highlight the GOP's rapid-fire accomplishments of the past three weeks. "We are more concerned about seniors than they ever thought about."
The White House furiously lobbied Democrats to hold firm, successfully holding the vote count below the threshold needed to override a promised veto.
Still, 52 Democrats crossed party lines to vote for the repeal, which has proven immensely popular in members' districts.
Clinton has said he will veto the measure, which was part of his 1993 deficit-cutting package that he frequently boasts is one of his administration's proudest accomplishments.
Rep. Pete Stark. D-Calif., said the tax rollback would be "a gift to the very rich," because it would not benefit the bulk of seniors, who do not pay the highest rate.
Under the 1993 tax increase, senior couples earning more than $44,000 a year and singles earning more than $34,000 are taxed on 85 percent of their Social Security benefits, up from 50 percent before.
The House legislation would roll that share back to 50 percent; the estimated 10-year cost to the Treasury is $100 billion.
Republicans argued that with budget surpluses rolling in, it is time to repeal a tax increase intended to reduce a deficit.
"The choice is clear," Delay said, "Return the surplus to the people or let the president spend it on Washington programs."
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Archer, R-Texas, declared, "Social Security checks should not arrive in the mailbox with a bill from the IRS attached. It's unfair, it's unnecessary, and it harms the retirement security of millions of Americans now and in the years to come."
As they have with other GOP tax cuts, Democrats again attempted to offer their own whittled-down alternative intended to benefit lower-income seniors. They again were rebuffed by Republicans.
"You bet we can do tax cuts," said House Democratic leader Richard Gephardt of Missouri. "We can even do a big piece of this tax cut if we don't give it to the high rollers."
The measure has not passed the Senate, but Republicans there said the bill could be included in year-end tax legislation.
It comes on top of legislation Clinton signed last spring that repealed the so-called earnings limitation on Social Security benefits. Seniors now can earn as much outside income as they want without losing Social Security benefits.
Clinton has promised to veto all the new GOP tax cuts, many of which got strong and even overwhelming Democratic support, including "marriage penalty" tax relief, repeal of the estate tax, repeal of the 3 percent telephone excise tax, expansion of 401(k) and IRA tax-deferred savings accounts and other measures.
The measures are pieces of a $792 billion tax cut that Republicans passed last summer. It was swiftly vetoed by Clinton and got virtually no political traction, as Democrats derided it as a bloated budget-buster favoring the rich.
But House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., regrouped, hitting upon a simple but effective counterplay: Push through the most popular elements of the big package and dare Democrats to vote against them.
Congressional Democratic leaders have repeated the same charges against the piecemeal tax cuts, accusing Republicans of favoring handouts to the rich.
Gephardt said the accumulated revenue losses of the individual tax cuts that have cleared the House approach the cost of last year's $792 billion package.
But Democrats have been forced to devise their own alternatives — even proposing major reductions in such Republican hobbyhorses as the estate tax — that would have been unthinkable two years ago.
And Democrats have signed on wholeheartedly to other tax cuts, such as the 3 percent phone tax repeal and expansion of IRA and 401(k) retirement accounts.