VARIOUS TOPICES : Analysis - 10/27/92 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Posted by Clinton/Gore Email OCTOBER 27, 1992 GEORGE BUSH: FINGERS CROSSED (BEHIND HIS BACK) Today in Des Moines, George Bush campaigned in Iowa -- for the first time all year -- and claimed he hoped to win the state. However, his question and answer session with supporters and his other campaign stops were all closed. We knew he doesn't like full and open disclosure, and today Bush demonstrated why; his supporters don't mind when he liberally modifies the facts. In order to give his answers a public airing, we've cut the chaff from the facts: EXPORT ENHANCEMENT PROGRAM RHETORIC: "Similarly, the use of the export program, the export enhancement, the EEP is important." REALITY: Bush listed elimination of the Export Enhancement Program "as an option" to save $3 billion over five years. [OMB Mid-Session Review, 7/24/92] GDP RHETORIC: "This morning the figures were announced for the third quarter of this growth, the gross domestic product. The third quarter was plus 2.7%." REALITY: GNP per capita under Bush has fallen at an annual rate of 0.6 percent -- the worst per capita growth rate for any administration since World War II. [Bureau of Economic Analysis; Department of Commerce] The small GDP growth is still far weaker than is typical when the economy is bouncing back from a downturn, and is the slowest recovery since the Depression. [AP, 10/27/92] TAXES AND SPENDING RHETORIC: "He says he's gonna tax the top two percent . . . and it is tax and spend, tax and spend. And they keep saying "It is not tax and spend" and it is." REALITY: The Clinton plan will raise taxes only on people making more than $200,000; middle class taxpayers will get a break. The Wall Street Journal states that the net tax increase of the Clinton plan is $46 billion--less than half of the $106.7 billion net tax increase from George Bush's 1990 broken promise tax increase, the second largest in history. [WSJ, 8/12/92] The conservative Cato Institute called Bush "the biggest spender to sit in the White House in the past 30 years." [Cato Institute 6/19/92] Through 1991, Bush has requested $1.1 billion more than Congress has appropriated. Reagan-Bush requested $17.3 billion more than Congress appropriated. [U.S. Hse Cmte on Approp.] SPENDING CUTS THREE TIMES OVER RHETORIC: "And so the math does not add up." REALITY: Bush has promised to use the same spending cuts for three separate purposes: to reduce the deficit, to finance tax cuts, and for election year goodies. Only $30 billion of these specific cuts are listed in Bush's January Budget, and he refuses to stand by the cuts in his Mid-Session Review. [Business Week, 9/28/92] SCHOOL CHOICE RHETORIC: "I believe that we ought to have parental choice for schools. Public, private, or religious." REALITY: In 1989, Bush said: "We can't afford to do that . . . [If] your parents think they want to shell out, in addition to the tax money, tuition money, that's their right, and that should be respected. But I don't think they should get a break for that. [Education Week, 4/5/89] AID TO FORMER SOVIET UNION RHETORIC: "Democrats don't want to talk about foreign policy. It's almost like there's no threat anywhere in the world." REALITY: Bush rushed to release an aid package for the former Soviet Union 20 minutes before Governor Clinton was scheduled to outline his own plan even though his administration had resisted pleas for aid throughout 1991. [NYT, 4/2/92; Washington Post, 4/2/92] C.I.S. RHETORIC: "Clinton said, well, let's wait and see who's going to come out, or how it's going to work out, when he was governor, asked to comment on the democratic change in Moscow." REALITY: Bush reacted to the Soviet hard line coup slowly, calling it "extra-constitutional." Bush said he thought the coup leader (Yanayev) had "certain commitment to reform." [Times Newspaper Limited, 8/25/91; Pres. news conference, 8/19/91; Bush, 8/91] Bush rushed to release an aid package for the former Soviet Union 20 minutes before Governor Clinton was scheduled to outline his own plan even though his administration had resisted pleas for aid throughout 1991. [NYT, 4/2/92; Washington Post, 4/2/92] DEFENSE RHETORIC: "I see the Democrats coming in, and to pay for all their, quote, investment, unquote, they want to cut the cuts out of the defense." REALITY: Clinton's defense plan would spend $1.36 trillion over five years on defense, while the Bush plan would spend $1.42 trillion -- a difference of less than 5%. [Washington Post, 9/11/92] HEALTH PLAN RHETORIC: "If these small business people do not want to go along with the plan, they've got to pay. . . it will cost 7 percent payroll tax on every business. . . Our plan is better." REALITY: A panel of Republican and Democratic health experts found that the Clinton plan would cover all Americans and save $750 billion by the year 2000, even after accounting for the costs of expanding coverage. [The Bipartisan Panel on Presidential Candidates' Health Plans, 10/1/92] The Clinton plan does not include a payroll tax. Bush's proposal gives a full tax credit only to those in poverty. A middle-income individual would receive as little as $125 a year for health care. His proposal would cost $36 billion each year, yet it would reach only 9 million of the 37 million uninsured Americans. Bush has not proposed a funding mechanism. The number of Iowans not covered by health insurance has grown 7.3% to 8.8%. [Bipartisan Panel on Presidential Candidates' Health Care Plans; UNC Working Paper, 8/31/92; President's Comprehensive Health Reform Program, 2/6/92] MISERY INDEX RHETORIC: "Who wants to go back to the way they were when you had a Democratic president in the White House?" REALITY: Under George Bush, the Misery Index has increased from 9.4 to 10.4 as of September. [UPI, 10/9/92; Bureau of Labor Statistics] WHITE HOUSE PAY, STAFF RHETORIC: "I've challenged the Congress to reduce their staffs by a third. We can do the White House staff by a third." REALITY: Under Bush, the budget of the Executive Office of the President has grown by 56%; at the same time, the number of staffers in the Executive Office of the President has grown by 26%. [U.S. Budgets, 1989-1992] Under George Bush, federal employment has increased. The government now employs 65,803 more people than it did when he took office. Since FY 1989, the Executive branch has grown by more than 6 percent. [U.S. Budgets, FY 1991 and FY 1993] -- 30 --