Changes

==Presidency (1993-2001)==

==Presidency (1993-2001)==

=== Taxing and Spending ===

=== Taxes===

 

[[Image:ClintonPresident.jpg|right|thumb|275px|Bill Clinton's Presidential cabinet]] Clinton's first priority while coming into office the the economy. In an attempt to lower [[interest rates]] Clinton sent Congress a deficit reduction plan in early 1993. However, Clinton's problem was that about half of government money goes to entitlement programs such as [[social security]] and [[medicare]]. Refusing to cut domestic spending, he increased taxes on gasoline, heating oil, and natural gas, breaking his campaign pledge not to raise tax rates. On Aug. 10, 1993, the largest tax increase in history was signed into law, raising taxes by almost $280 billion over five years. Instead of middle-class tax relief, President Clinton chose to include in his $241 billion tax plan higher federal gasoline taxes, tax hikes on Social Security recipients, and steep income tax hikes on small business owners.<ref> ''The President's Forgotten Middle Class,'' Joint Economic Committee, Majority Staff, 3/22/96.</ref> Conservatives blocked some proposals, such a new $71 billion [[BTU energy tax]] that would have cost the typical family nearly $500 per year.

[[Image:ClintonPresident.jpg|right|thumb|275px|Bill Clinton's Presidential cabinet]] Clinton's first priority while coming into office the the economy. In an attempt to lower [[interest rates]] Clinton sent Congress a deficit reduction plan in early 1993. However, Clinton's problem was that about half of government money goes to entitlement programs such as [[social security]] and [[medicare]]. Refusing to cut domestic spending, he increased taxes on gasoline, heating oil, and natural gas, breaking his campaign pledge not to raise tax rates. The tax increases proved very unpopular with the American people.

=== Health Care Reform ===

=== Health Care Reform ===