Bush's latest economic tax & budget policy moves

GOP SENATE SPENDS $100 BILLION ON WAR, $626 BILLION ON BUSH TAX CUTS TO RICH. BUSH WANTS MORE TAX CUTS IN COMMITTEE

"The tax cut survived its most serious challenge Friday - a failed thrust by moderates to cut it in half. The centrists championing the cause lost when they could not get one of two strong-willed senators to join them. Those two, McCain and Ernest Hollings, D-S.C., opposed all tax cuts and plan to vote against the entire budget. "It is perplexing that so many senators who purport to support smaller tax cuts did not join our effort, which would have actually accomplished that goal," said Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine. Sen. John Breaux , D-La., said the defeat means Bush will win most, if not all, of his tax plan. "By voting against the $350 billion tax cut, you were in effect making possible the $726 billion tax cut to pass the Senate," he said. The House Ways and Means Committee will start drafting a $726 billion tax cut as soon as next week. "

3.23.03 www.bushwatch.com

GOP CONGRESS WILL HELP BUSH SCREW THE ECONOMY FOR DECADES TO COME. SAY GOODBY TO SOCIAL SECURITY, MEDICARE.

"THERE ARE PEOPLE who compromise and people who capitulate -- and then there are moderate senators who sometimes manage to do both at once. That is the conclusion one is tempted to draw from a series of Senate votes Friday on the fiscal 2004 budget, and from predictions regarding the vote next week on the final budget resolution. The central issue is the president's proposal to cut $726 billion worth of taxes over the next 10 years -- a plan that would, when combined with other tax cuts he has put forward, plunge the federal government deep into deficit, lead to unacceptable spending cuts in core programs or, most likely, both. Nearly all congressional Democrats and a solid group of congressional Republicans claim to oppose this tax cut. Indeed, senators valiantly voted early Friday to reduce the tax cut by $100 billion to pay for the war in Iraq. To general surprise, and to the administration's consternation, that small rebellion in the name of fiscal sanity won the day. Yet when the same senators were asked a few minutes later to support an even saner measure -- an attempt to cap the tax cut at $350 billion, over 10 years -- the results were different. Sen. Ernest F. Hollings (D-S.C.), taking what his aides called a "principled stance," failed to back the measure, claiming he opposed all tax cuts, in any form that they might take. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Sen Lincoln D. Chafee (R-R.I.) made the same decision. Seeing the amendment would fail without their support, others who opposed the cuts switched sides again, and the amendment was soundly defeated. So, will all of these opponents of tax cuts rally around to defeat the budget resolution itself, and the entire tax package, next week? Alas, it seems not."

3.23.03 www.bushwatch.com


BUSH BUDGET FOR THE WEALTHY WILL LEAVE ALL CHILDREN BEHIND. FOR DECADES

"Under the shadow of war with Iraq, the House and the Senate last week fought a series of skirmishes over the federal budget for next year. One big, overriding question was at stake: Would President Bush and the Republican majorities in Congress step up to the costs of battle, of homeland defense and of national obligations at home, or would they pass the costs on to future generations? The answer, sadly, is that youngsters yet to be born will see their choices limited and their prospects blighted by the decision of today's politicians to press ahead with an unaffordable tax cut even while the costs of war and reconstruction make earlier spending estimates wildly unrealistic. The possible doubling of the national debt in the next decade will drive up interest costs that must be paid every year -- billions of dollars that will not be available for Social Security, Medicare or any of the myriad responsibilities of the government here and abroad."

3.23.03 www.bushwatch.com