BY PATRICK CROWLEY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
ERLANGER -- Fourth District candidate Gex "Jay" Williams is backing a Republican-sponsored bill in Congress that would use part of the $1.6 trillion federal budget surplus to pay for an $80 billion tax break.
But his Democratic opponent, Ken Lucas, said Mr. Williams is a "Johnny-come-lately" because he has already proposed many of the provisions in the GOP bill.
Mr. Lucas also said he supports the Republican bill.
The bill, which the House will probably vote on next week, would use part of the surplus over the next decade to benefit millions of married couples, farmers, senior citizens, small-business operators and people with savings accounts.
The bill is coupled with legislation sponsored by U.S. Rep. Jim Bunning, a Southgate Republican and the incumbent in the 4th District. His proposal would set aside 90 percent of the surplus for Social Security. Mr. Bunning is leaving the House to run for Kentucky's open seat in the U.S. Senate.
"This is a bill that has great things for middle America, particularly with eliminating the marriage tax penalty and allowing small businesses and farmers tax relief," Mr. Williams said.
President Clinton has threatened to veto both bills because he wants all of the surplus reserved for Social Security.
"That's the big difference between Democrats and Republicans," Rep. Bill Archer, R-Texas, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, said Wednesday in an interview from Washington.
"We want to give the American people tax relief and give some of their money back to them," Mr. Archer said. "The liberals want to keep people's money here in Washington.
"And Gex Williams is among those who want money given back to Kentuckians, not bureaucrats in Washington," he said.
Mr. Williams, a state senator running in a tight race against fellow Boone County resident Mr. Lucas, is using his support of the tax bill to tout his own record of reducing taxes in the Kentucky General Assembly.
Mr. Williams, along with most other members of the legislature, voted in recent years to reduce state taxes by an estimated $350 million on, among other things, investments, estates, autos and prescriptions.
He is using his record on taxes as one of the major themes of his campaign.
"Gex is a tax cutter who has proven in the state legislature that he is serious about cutting taxes," House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Georgia, said during a Tuesday night fund-raiser for Mr. Williams that raised about $100,000.
"That's what we're trying to do in Washington, D.C., . . . and that's why we need Gex Williams in Congress representing Kentucky and working to better the lives of all Americans," Mr. Gingrich said.
Mr. Lucas said Mr. Williams, however, did not support a piece of state legislation that cut Kentucky's tax on retirement annuities and life insurance premiums.
And Mr. Lucas said in his campaign he has already proposed eliminating or reducing taxes on farmers, married couples and families.
