LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: President Clinton unveils an education initiative today, and some other politicians, one of them his wife, will join the president in his announcement at the White House where CNN's Kelly Wallace is covering the story for us. Kelly, good morning.</s>KELLY WALLACE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Leon. Well, it's become almost a daily occurrence here at the White House as we approach next week's State of the Union Address, the White House announcing major proposals that President Clinton will include in his final budget. And, today, the focus is on higher education. White House Press Secretary Joe Lockhart says that Mr. Clinton will unveil what's called the "college opportunity tax cut." And, basically, it would provide tax relief for millions of families who cannot afford the cost of higher education. The proposal would give families the option of claiming either a tax credit or a tax deduction for tuition up to $10,000 -- the cost of tuition of up to $10,000 for any post-secondary school, including college or vocational training. The price tag for this would be $30 billion over 10 years, and the White House press secretary says this could provide up to $2,800 in tax relief for families making up to $120,000. Mr. Clinton will also call for an increase of up to $1 billion in Pell Grant and work-study programs. Those are other programs that do try to make the cost of college more affordable to Americans. Now, politic will be in the air a bit because of first lady and likely U.S. Senate candidate Hillary Clinton, along with New York Senator Chuck Schumer, will be joining the president for this announcement. Senator Schumer has long been an advocate of having the cost of college tax deductible, and it something that would certainly be appealing to middle class, suburban voters, certainly an important target for any candidate for the New York Senate. Reporting live, Kelly Wallace, CNN, at the White House.</s>HARRIS: All right, Kelly. Thank you. You can ski back indoors now.
President Clinton Expected to Unveil Initiative to Make College More Affordable