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

To: Skywatcher who wrote (349976)	1/29/2003 11:05:17 PM
From: Raymond Duray	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

GRAFT, CORRUPTION, INFLUENCE PEDDLING, RICO VIOLATIONS: A day in the life at the White House Benito Mussolini: Fascism should rightly be called Corporatism as it is a merger of state and corporate power. guardian.co.uk Lobby Groups' Wish Lists in Bush Speech Thursday January 30, 2003 3:10 AM WASHINGTON (AP) - Interest groups that successfully lobbied the White House to get their priorities mentioned in President Bush's State of the Union address are beginning campaigns to persuade Congress to make them law. Important proposals in the speech mirrored the wish lists of some of Washington's most influential lobbies: limits on medical malpractice lawsuits sought by physicians and business groups, tax cuts pushed by trade associations, expansion of the domestic energy supply promoted by the natural gas industry, and others. Most of the groups pushing proposals Bush endorsed have been among the GOP's biggest donors. [[RGD: See, what did I tell ya? Graft, dagnabit! Right before our very eyes!]] With Bush's re-election campaign looming, his endorsement of those groups' priorities also will translate into political benefits for the president as well. The National Federation of Independent Business, for example, was pleased Bush mentioned both tax cuts and the importance of small businesses to the economy. That shows Congress, the public and the federation's 600,000 members that the group has clout, said Dan Danner, its vice president of governmental affairs. The Bush administration ``is very attuned to talk about the importance of small business and to weave into lots of what they're doing the impact on small business, and that's not by accident,'' Danner said. The NFIB plans to lobby heavily for the Bush tax package, he said. The American Medical Association, which along with its members gave more than $1.4 million to GOP candidates in the 2002 election cycle, has kept in close touch with the White House on medical liability legislation, an AMA spokeswoman said. Winning congressional limits on damage awards in medical liability cases is the group's priority, said its incoming president, Dr. Donald Palmisano. The New Orleans physician and lawyer said his group was ``in complete harmony'' with Bush on the issue. In the address Tuesday night, Bush echoed the association's contention that high insurance costs are driving physicians out of business. The Associated Builders and Contractors, a construction industry lobby, told the White House its priorities included tax cuts and health care costs, lobbyist Katie Strong said. Bush's speech featured both. The American Gas Association asked the White House to include a push for its priority, an energy plan to increase domestic supply, lobbyist Rick Shelby said. Bush's speech promoted his energy plan and proposed $1.2 billion in research money for the development of clean-burning hydrogen-powered vehicles, which the association also wants. The organization is part of the Alliance for Energy and Economic Growth, a group of business and industry associations pushing for Bush's energy plan. Grover Norquist, head of Americans for Tax Reform, said his group did not need to jockey for a mention of its goal in the president's speech. ``We already knew the tax cut would be front and center,'' said Norquist, who is close to presidential adviser Karl Rove. Norquist said his group will lobby state legislatures to pass resolutions urging their members of Congress to approve Bush's tax cut package, a tactic it employed successfully to promote for Bush's 2001 tax cuts. The Christian Coalition plans to start lobbying for at least two proposals Bush mentioned: a ban on an abortion procedure opponents call partial-birth abortion and offering federal money to religious drug treatment and education programs, president Roberta Combs said. Combs said the coalition did not have to ask Bush to mention the proposals. ``I think the president is very in tune with what's going on with pro-family groups,'' she said.