AS AN ADDED GESTURE OF SUPPORT, CLINTON SCHEDULES TRIP TO COLOMBIA

EDGARTOWN, Mass. One month after promising $1.3 billion to help
Colombia in its war on drugs, President Clinton said Friday that he
will visit the country to support its efforts to crack down on drug
production.

"I am pleased to announce I will travel on Aug. 30 to Colombia to meet
with President Andres Pastrana and to personally underscore America's
support for Colombia's efforts to seek peace, fight illicit drugs,
build its economy and deepen democracy," Clinton said in a statement.

He said House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) and Sen. Joseph Biden
(D-Del.) would join him.

In Bogota, Colombia, Pastrana commented on the visit: "President
Clinton is making a huge effort, especially since the election
campaigns are under way. This demonstrates his appreciation and
commitment to Colombia."

Clinton will be the first U.S. president since George Bush in 1990 to
visit the Andean nation, which has been scarred by a long-running war
between communist guerrillas, ultra-right death squads, state security
forces and narco-traffickers.

"Colombia's success is profoundly in the interest of the United
States," Clinton said. "A peaceful, democratic and economically
prosperous Colombia will help to promote democracy and stability
throughout the hemisphere."

Colombian news media reported that Clinton's visit was likely to last
only a few hours and would be restricted to the Caribbean coast resort
of Cartagena.

Clinton, on Martha's Vineyard with his family for the weekend, said he
had also signed a directive ordering an intensified effort to aid the
Colombian government in implementing "Plan Colombia," Pastrana's bid
to try to build a better future for his country.

"The Presidential Decision Directive complements and supports the $1.3
billion assistance package that I requested from Congress, and that
Democrats and Republicans passed in a bipartisan spirit last month,"
Clinton said.

The spending law signed by Clinton in July provided funds for
Colombia's war on drugs and raised U.S. military aid and involvement
in the South American nation.

On another matter, an informed Democrat, speaking anonymously, said
Friday that the president would use his weekly radio address Saturday
to announce that he has vetoed one of congressional Republicans' top
legislative priorities--a $292 billion, 10-year tax cut for married
couples.

Clinton's had promised to kill the measure even before the Senate gave
final congressional approval to the legislation on July 21.

When they pushed the measure through Congress--with support from some
Democrats--Republicans trumpeted it as eliminating the so-called
marriage penalty. That is the popular name for the extra taxes 25
million married couples must pay due to a structural quirk in the tax
code.

The bill also would cut taxes for about as many additional couples who
now enjoy a marriage "bonus," paying less than they would pay if single.

Most of the bill's tax reductions come from enlarging the bottom 15
percent tax bracket and increasing the standard tax deduction for
couples filing jointly.

Republicans say that the measure would benefit millions of
middle-class Americans while using just a small portion of the
projected $2.2 trillion, 10-year federal surplus.

Clinton and most Democrats have said the cuts would be enjoyed
disproportionately by families in the top 1 percent income range.

The president, First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton and their daughter,
Chelsea, returned to Martha's Vineyard, their regular summer haunt,
for a vacation that is as much about fundraising as fun.

The president expected to raise about $1.3 million at four fundraising
speeches. All but one of the events--a fundraiser for Maryland Lt.
Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend--benefit his wife's campaign.