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Bob Dole returned to stress his econimc pan in a speech today at the Detroit Economic Club.

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SEN. BOB DOLE, Republican Presidential Candidate: Actions speak louder than words. I'm here today to talk about the stakes of this year's election. And today I want to put focus on my plan to balance the budget and to cut taxes and abolish the IRS as we know it. Now that's a big, big item. (applause) And for those who may doubt my resolve, let me make it very clear that I intend to keep talking about this plan, how it will benefit American families virtually non-stop from now until the election. In every state I visit, on every talk show, at every rally I will be saying to the American people that you know how to spend your money better than the government. We trust the people. More often than not, President Clinton trust the government. And you'll hear President Clinton in the course of the campaign to tell you what he's trying to do is to make the federal government smaller. Actually, it's gotten bigger. In politics, I believe actions speak louder than words. So permit me just a couple of minutes to review the record that President Clinton would rather have us forget because I know we have short memories. We're always moving ahead in America, as we should.

But we've got to go back and take a look at what happened when Bill Clinton was sworn in as President of the United States. His first major economic policy proposal, and I was there at the time, called for a $16 billion stimulus package of pork barrel government spending. One of the examples, a casino in Connecticut, an art ark in San Francisco, a bike path in Oregon, carousel renovations in Rhode Island, a shopping center in Indiana, an alpine side in Puerto Rico--that's a stretch--an indoor baseball field in Alabama, and all of it was at your expense. And here was another insight into Bill Clinton's economic philosophy. His first proposal was a huge spending bill. His second was the largest tax increase in American history. That's the Clinton economic strategy, try to spend and tax America to prosperity. And that is always the liberal strategy. That is always the liberal strategy. But what was his third major attempt, in case you've forgotten? I want you to get--think back to who got elected. He tried to impose a government takeover of the greatest health care system on earth. That was his third proposal. It was a kind of massive expansion of the federal government that America had not seen in three decades. His nationalized health care plan would have resulted in $1.5 trillion--1.5 trillion--in new federal spending and imposed a total of 17 new taxes on American workers to pay for it. It would have created 50 brand new federal bureaucracies, a myriad of new laws and penalties, price controls, and put 1/7, 1/7 of our economy under government control.

Then the people have had a referendum on Bill Clinton in 1994, President Clinton, excuse me. We had a landslide. We took over the House. We took back the Senate. And ever since that time, the President has been trying to recast his agenda, taking credit for Republican ideas. And I remember in his Chicago acceptance speech I can list 15 things that passed the Republican Congress you never heard about from the Democrats, but he stood up there and told you from Chicago he was happy that they passed this and this and this and this. But the clearest indication of where the President's heart and mine really are must come from the first two years of the administration. His party controlled the House, and they controlled the Senate, and they had the White House. So I want you to focus on that, because in politics, unlike any other endeavor, you can't run from your record, a clear record of liberalism run rampant, and while saying the era of big government is over, since entering office in 1993, he's proposed 484 new spending initiatives.

The price tag--over $2 trillion. When you look at everything he's promised, talked about, and hinted about, it seems he's got a million little plans on how the government can tell you how to run our lives or tell us how to run our lives. And Jack Kemp and I, we have one big plan. I'll start with the division that brought the most criticism, at the same time created the most excitement. Our plan to reduce taxes on working Americans, and let them start this economic recovery--the terms are simple and they're straightforward: a 15 percent across-the-board tax cut is phased in over three years; a $500 per child tax credit, one child $500, two children $1000, ten children you're probably too busy to worry about it but that'd be $5,000. We're going to cut the capital gains rate in half. We're going to create jobs and opportunities in America that have been tied up and tied up and tied up. (applause) And the bottom line, under our plan, a family making $30,000, a family of four, will save $1261 on their tax bill, a lot of money to some here now, not a lot of money, a lot of money to people making $30,000. This tax cut is designed for Main Street, not Wall Street. This is a Main Street tax cut. This is for families with children and hard working families.

Keep one thing in mind, if you haven't heard another word that I've said. It's not about me. It's not about President Clinton. It's about you. It's about your job. It's about your family, it's about your children you'll see when you go home tonight. It's about their future. Oh, it's about crime and drugs and a lot of other things I won't talk about today, but right now we're talking about the economy, and will they have the same opportunity, the same opportunity that you've had, or your mother had, or your grandfather had, or whatever. And I believe we're on the threshold, and the opportunity is there, and we will get it done. Thank you and God bless America.

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