DEARBORN, Mich. – Rudy Giuliani yesterday unleashed a two-fisted assault – taking on Republican rival Mitt Romney over taxes, and Democratic front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton over spending.
At the Republican debate here, Giuliani warned that Clinton is full of ideas for “endless ways of spending.”
He blasted her new $25 billion plan, which she unveiled yesterday to give middle-income Americans a $1,000 tax break to encourage savings if they enroll in a 401(k) retirement savings program. It would be funded by hiking estate taxes on the wealthy.
“Hillary Clinton wants to put a lid on our growth,” Giuliani said at the two-hour GOP face-off, sponsored by CNBC and The Wall Street Journal.
He clashed with Romney over who would be a better tax-cutter and budget hawk as president – a fight that eclipsed Fred Thompson’s debut in a presidential debate.
Romney rapped Giuliani for successfully suing to torpedo the president’s line-item veto power when he was mayor of New York.
“The difference we have is the line-item veto,” Romney said.
“Mayor Giuliani took the fight against the line-item veto all the way to the Supreme Court . . . I am in favor of the line-item veto,” said Romney, who wielded his veto pen 844 times as Massachusetts governor.
Romney also slammed Giuliani for suing to stop elimination of the commuter tax, “a very substantial tax on consumers coming into New York.”
Giuliani said that he helped cut taxes 23 times as mayor and that he kept spending in check in the Big Apple, while spending rose in Massachusetts under Romney.
“The point is that you’ve got to control taxes. I did it, he didn’t,” Giuliani said. “I led, he lagged.”
“That’s baloney,” Romney shot back.
Giuliani defended his fight to scuttle the line-item veto under ex-President Bill Clinton, insisting it was unconstitutional and would have cost the city $250 million.
“It’s not bad to have a presidential candidate who beat Bill Clinton in something,” Giuliani quipped to applause.
Standing between Giuliani and Romney, Thompson stayed above the fray.
He complained the government “is spending money of future generations and those yet to be born.”
He also vowed to tackle the tough issues, saying he’s willing to reduce benefits to Social Security recipients to prevent the program from going broke.
Meanwhile, Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor, portrayed himself as a compassionate conservative.
“I want to make sure people understand that, for many people on this stage, the economy is doing terrifically well,” he said.
“But for a lot of Americans, it’s not doing so well – the people who handle the bags and make the beds at our hotels and serve the food.”
When blasting Hillary Clinton, Giuliani noted that she proposed the 401(k) subsidy after he lambasted her for offering a $5,000 public “baby bond” for each child born in the United States. Giuliani claimed credit for Clinton abandoning that $20 billion program.
“I challenged her on it. She backed off that,” said Giuliani.
But the GOP front-runner charged Clinton merely swapped the baby-bond plan for an even more expensive one.
“The problem is, this one costs $5 billion more than the last one,” the ex-mayor said. “Hillary is filled with endless ways to spend. We’re going to have to control that.”