Domestic Politics in Clinton’s First Two Years

Domestic Politics in Clinton’s First Two Years

Clinton appointed more women and minorities to meaningful positions in the federal government than any president in the past. Madeleine Albright was Clinton’s secretary of state while Janet RenoThe first female attorney general and a leading figure in the Clinton administration, Reno was frequently in the public eye due to a number of high-profile crimes and controversies, such as the Branch Davidian siege, the Oklahoma City bombing, and the World Trade Center bombing of 1993. served as attorney general. Together, these women led the Clinton administration’s efforts to confront domestic and international terrorism. At home, Clinton supported a number of antipoverty programs and proposed a federal plan to extend health care coverage to all citizens. Clinton also sought to maintain his reputation as a moderate. As a result, the president angered many of the more liberal members of his party who had hoped he would reverse the conservative policies of previous administrations and expand the welfare state. Clinton believed the increasing polarization between the political left and right was an opportunity for presidential leadership. If he could steer a course between liberals and conservatives, Clinton believed, he might win support for his health care reform bill while still being perceived as a moderate that united the country.

The president created a few modest programs that won liberal support. One of these programs was AmeriCorps—a federal work program that employs mostly younger people and seniors in a variety of community service fields. After Clinton’s health plan floundered, however, it appeared to many liberals that Clinton had decided that the easiest way to be viewed as a moderate was to adopt popular Republican initiatives as his own.

Welfare reform provides one of many examples of Clinton’s efforts to steer a middle course between both liberals and conservatives. As a candidate, Clinton had tapped into the suspicion raised by conservative politicians regarding “welfare mothers.” Placing stricter limits on direct payments to welfare recipients, the Clinton administration promised to transform welfare into a program that assisted only those who were striving for independence. Toward this goal, Clinton supported stricter regulations on direct payments. He also approved a significant increase of the Earned Income CreditA tax credit that some low-income wage earners are eligible to receive with the intention of making employment at such a job more financially rewarding and thereby producing a stronger incentive to work rather than seek governmental aid., which offered an annual payment to those who worked at low-paying jobs rather than application for welfare. The amount of the credit was based on income and the number of dependents for which a low-income worker was responsible.

Clinton defended the plan as a means to reward those who worked. He pointed out that most individuals on welfare would make only slightly less than a full-time worker at a minimum-wage job unless some adjustment was made. While Clinton also supported a modest increase to the minimum wage, he believed that tax credits for the working poor were necessary to provide incentives for people to get off of welfare. Critics of the plan were angered that those who qualified for the Earned Income Credit paid no federal tax yet would still receive a tax refund under the new plan. This new policy seemed even more unfair to some individuals in the wake of increased tax rates for some families. At the same time, Clinton’s support for curtailing direct welfare payments also angered some on the left.

Figure 14.1

President Clinton appointed more women to his cabinet and senior staff than any previous president. To the immediate left of President Clinton is Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. In the bottom right corner is Janet Reno, the first woman to hold the position of attorney general.

Clinton’s most ambitious domestic initiative was also the most controversial of his entire eight years in office. As a candidate, Clinton seldom missed an opportunity to talk about the rising costs of health care he believed were crippling the economy and bankrupting families. Clinton’s supporters pointed out that there were nearly 40 million Americans without health insurance—most of whom were children or full-time workers. If elected president, Clinton promised sweeping legislation that would offer universal health care for all Americans under a federally operated managed-care plan that was similar to the offerings of many private insurance companies. Clinton’s supporters argued that because the government would instantly become the largest insurer in the nation, the government would be able to regulate the prices that doctors and hospitals charged. Although a doctor could still charge any amount she wished, the federal government would only pay a certain amount for any particular service. This was similar to the practice of private insurance companies that also established maximum prices they would pay for different procedures and prescriptions. The difference, Clinton believed, was that the federal government would insure so many people that most doctors would have to lower their costs to meet the government rate or else lose the business of numerous patients. Opponents of the plan countered that increased government bureaucracy would either increase the costs of health care or cost taxpayers money.

Clinton’s supporters provided numerous statistics in an effort to show that government intervention would save money and improve care. The campaign against Clinton’s plan was bankrolled by organizations representing insurers, drug companies, hospitals, and physicians. As a result, most Americans questioned much of the information they were hearing as either politically biased or motivated by the medical industry’s own financial interests. However, the plan’s opponents were able to raise the specter of “socialized medicine” by connecting suspicion toward bigger government with the fear that regulating prices would reduce the quality of care. Just as government control over prices decreased the incentive for innovation and quality control in Soviet Russia, Clinton’s opponents argued, establishing maximum reimbursement rates would reduce competition among physicians and hospitals.

The comparisons between America’s health care system and some of the sensationalized tales of malpractice under Socialism were likely unfair. However, Clinton’s plan was complex and few inside or outside of government actually read its provisions. In addition, some Democratic leaders were upset that they had not been consulted in the drafting of the plan. Some Democrats even offered their own competing plans, which led to divisions within Clinton’s own party. Other opponents utilized misogynistic imagery against First Lady Hillary ClintonAttorney and wife of President Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton was the first presidential spouse to have an independent career at the time of her husband’s election. As First Lady, Clinton led the effort for health care reform and other initiatives. She was elected to the US Senate in 2000 and was a leading contender for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008. and other women who occupied leading roles in the taskforce that drafted the president’s plan. These opponents derided the plan as “Hillary Care,” creating the image that the president’s wife was really in charge of the White House in ways that played upon negative images of powerful women. As a result of all these factors, Congress rejected Clinton’s plan. Its failure cast a shadow over the rest of the Clinton administration and reduced the ambition of his future proposals.