April 16, 1996 in Nation/World  Constitutional Tax Amendment
Fails In House  Associated Press  An election-year Republican
push for a constitutional amendment making it much more
difficult to raise federal taxes failed in the House on
Monday night.  After a debate conducted while millions of
Americans’ scrambled to meet their income-tax filing deadline,
the House voted 243-177 in favor of the proposed amendment. But
that was 37 votes short of the two-thirds majority required
for approval.  Supporters conceded from the start that their
chance of victory was slim, but they said the vote would
illustrate the difference between Democrats and Republicans.
GOP leaders had timed the debate to end with a vote a few hours
before the midnight filing deadline for most taxpayers on the
East Coast.    Get stories like this in a free daily email