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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Alighieri who wrote (167849)	4/15/2003 2:55:30 PM
From: i-node	Respond to of 1578141

Whoa...what runaway exhuberance! We'll have to wait and see.

To: Alighieri who wrote (167849)	4/15/2003 4:44:12 PM
From: tejek	Respond to of 1578141

Bush Renews Push for Tax Cuts WASHINGTON (April 15) - On tax day, President Bush indicated that he would accept a reduction in his proposed tax cuts to $550 billion over ten years - far less than the $726 billion he requested, but still above the $350 billion backed by the Senate. ''The proposals I announced three months ago were designed to address specific weaknesses slowing down our economy and keeping companies from hiring new workers. Those weaknesses remain today,'' Bush said Tuesday at a White House rally designed to rekindle attention to the plan. The president and his advisers hope to translate momentum from Iraq war successes into support for his domestic agenda. But Bush's tax-cut plan has met with increasing resistance in the Republican-controlled Congress. Most Democrats and even some moderate Republicans have questioned the wisdom of slashing taxes at a time of rising deficits and unknown Iraq war and reconstruction costs. ''The president's insistence on more huge debt-financed tax cuts in the face of big deficits is disappointing,'' Rep. John Spratt of South Carolina, senior Democrat on the House Budget Committee, said after Bush's speech. Bush argued that such cuts are justified because of the sluggish economy. ''We need tax relief totaling at least $550 billion to make sure our economy grows,'' he said. The $550 billion level is at the upper end of the range now being considered by Congress. It has been endorsed by the House, where support for Bush's program is the strongest. But the more closely-divided Senate has thus far rejected anything larger than a $350 billion tax cut. Bush's plan would speed up various tax cuts due to be phased in over the next seven years, including an immediate increase in the child tax credit from $600 to $1,000 and tax relief for married taxpayers. It would also eliminate most taxes on stock dividends - the feature that has received the most criticism. Administration officials said that most of their objectives could be achieved with $550 billion in cuts, although it would most likely mean a scaled-down version of the dividend tax break. Sen. John Breaux of Louisiana, a centrist Democrat, said Bush's proposal for ending the so-called ''double taxation'' of dividends is ''good long-term policy, but it's not stimulative in the short term.'' Breaux helped the White House with its $1.35 trillion, 10-year tax cut in 2001, but he is among those in the Senate holding firm at $350 billion. ''Political popularity can only carry a bad idea so far,'' Breaux said Tuesday of Bush's war-propelled surge in job approval. Bush and his advisers are mindful of what happened to his father, who also saw his popularity surge after winning his Gulf War only to see it evaporate when the economy turned sour. A widespread perception that the first President Bush failed to do enough about the economy contributed to his 1992 re-election defeat. Tuesday's speech, coinciding with the deadline for filing federal income tax returns, came as Bush returned to a prewar routine. He also planned a speech promoting his economic plan in St. Louis on Wednesday before beginning a long Easter break at central Texas ranch. Other appearances on behalf of the economic plan were also planned, by Bush and top officials of his administration, and the president was expected to soon resume attending political fund-raising events. ''The last few months have been a time of challenge for America. Our resolve has been tested,'' Bush told his hand-picked Rose Garden audience of mostly small business owners. ''We are defending the peace of the world. We're bringing freedom to corners of the world that haven't seen freedom in years. We're also building the prosperity of our country,'' he said. While agreeing to scale back his tax plan to $550 billion, Bush seemed unwilling to make further major concessions, aides said. That was also the signal Bush gave at a private meeting with small business leaders before his Rose Garden speech, participants said. Tim Barrett, owner of Wood World, a Rockville, Md., retail woodworking business, said Bush signaled as much at the private gathering. ''He said $550 billion and he means $550 billion,'' Barrett said. AP-NY-04-15-03 1525EDT Copyright 2003 The Associated Press.