LETTERS: CLINTON MISSED OPPORTUNITY TO HELP THE POOR

To the editor:

While most of the country enjoys unprecedented economic prosperity, there are millions of Americans who live in distressed inner cities and rural communities still trapped in hopelessness and poverty. They have become the America that the president has left behind.

While the president and liberal Democrats have argued over the last few months against the Republican tax-relief bill, saying only wealthy Americans would benefit, the president's most recent veto keeps millions shut out of America's current prosperity.

The proposed Republican tax-relief plan would have designated 20 renewal communities receiving $2.2 billion in relief. These areas would have provided tax and regulatory relief to existing businesses and well as the promise of new investment and would have created an environment for growth and opportunity.

It would have extended the Work Opportunity and Welfare-to-Work tax credits and helped struggling Americans get jobs, support families and create independence and self-respect. In would have allowed poorer Americans to save more, invest more time and money in their children and their education and made home ownership more of a reality.

These proposed provisions in the tax-relief bill were parts of the American Community Renewal Act, legislation I first introduced with U.S. Reps. Jim Talent, Floyd Flake and Danny Davis more than five years ago.

Since becoming president, Bill Clinton has talked a good game but has done nothing to repair distressed inner cities and rural communities. He continues to discriminate against churches and faith-based organizations by denying them the financial support to address social ills within their communities. For the last seven years of his presidency, rural and inner-city schools continue to lag behind schools in wealthier suburbs, leaving millions trapped in poverty with few opportunities to pursue the American dream.

Since 1969, we've spent over $5 trillion on anti-poverty programs. I ask: Are we any closer to ending poverty today? Helping distressed inner cities and rural communities will require meaningful reform and incentive-driven ideas like the American Community Renewal Act rather than the standard liberal mantra of throwing more money at the problem.

President Clinton had an opportunity by signing the tax-relief bill and helping America's poorer communities now, yet he turned his back on them and decided to put politics before principal once again. Next time, I hope he will not make the same mistake.

J.C. WATTS JR., Chairman

House Republican Conference

U.S. House of Representatives

Washington, D.C.