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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: rich4eagle who wrote (208919)	12/11/2001 10:17:19 PM
From: gao seng	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 769670

Well richie, unlike you, Bush is a skilled tactician and knows how to play hardball. Daschle has buckled. heh heh! All you know how to do is lie bitch and shriek hysterically about how wrong it is for Americans to defend themselves. Bush gives nod to bipartisan pact Jump to first matched term By KATHY A. GAMBRELL, UPI White House Reporter WASHINGTON, Dec. 11 (UPI) -- The White House gave its tacit approval Tuesday to a compromise economic stimulus package brokered by Republican and Democratic moderates in an effort to break the stalemate on the bill stalled in Congress for nearly three months. "The president accepted most of the provisions from our centrist coalition," said Sen. John B. Breaux, D-La. A bipartisan group of lawmakers including GOP moderate Sens. Olympia J. Snowe and Susan Collins, both from Maine, and Breaux emerged early Tuesday evening from the West Wing after a meeting with President George W. Bush with a compromise pact in hand. Snowe described the meeting with Bush as an "excellent discussion" where the president embraced the idea to expand unemployment benefits for workers displaced since March 15, allow tax credits that can be used to purchase health insurance on the open market, and pare the 27 percent income tax rate to 25 percent. "This is the basis for a compromise," said Snowe, adding she did not understand the hesitation or reluctance to reach agreement. The proposal does not include a corporate alternative minimum tax, Snowe said. It also drops the trigger providing displaced workers with expanded benefits in states with a 30 percent hike in unemployment. The newly forged bipartisan agreement backed by the White House came after Bush offered to reduce his insistence on tax cuts and make concessions on expanded aid for the jobless, an offer he sent to Capitol Hill via Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill earlier in the day. Bush plans to meet Wednesday with congressional leaders, including Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., House Speaker Denis J. Hastert, R-Ill., and House Minority Leader Richard A. Gephardt. D-Mo., where he hopes to reach a consensus on the compromise. Bush has said he wanted to get a bill signed before lawmakers leave for their Christmas recess. The U.S. House of Representatives in October approved a stimulus package backed by Republicans and the White House. That version has four key provisions. It would repeal the corporate alternative minimum tax, cut the 27 percent income tax rate to 25 percent in 2002 rather than 2006, and allow greater business equipment purchase write-offs. It also would provide tax rebates for low-income workers. But Senate Democrats opposed the corporate alternative minimum tax, wanting instead expanded benefits for jobless workers. Democrats also have favored a stimulus package that would provide assistance for displaced workers. Bush's plan would have helped states offer Medicaid to uninsured workers in need and their families. It also would offer emergency grants to states to help displaced workers receive job training and find new work, and continue their health insurance. As alternative compromises brought to the table to foster quicker passage, House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas, wanted to repeal the minimum tax while Daschle supported a plan by Sen. Pete V. Domenici, R-N.M., for a one-month payroll tax holiday. The agreement reached by the bipartisan group signals a break in the partisan deadlock over a package aimed at jump-starting the economy that analysts say slipped to recession nine months ago. The National Bureau of Economic Research declared two weeks ago that the U.S. economy was in recession, the nation's 10th since World War II, and one that began in March 2000. The agency said it ended an economic expansion that had lasted 10 years. As a result the Federal Reserve has lowered interest rates a record 11 times this year. The U.S. Department of Labor reported that employment fell sharply for the second month in a row in November, and unemployment rate rose to 5.7 percent. In the week ending Dec. 1, the number of initial unemployment insurance claims was 475,000, a decrease of 18,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 493,000.