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Politics : WHO IS RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT IN 2004 -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: calgal who wrote (7559)	12/13/2003 11:56:31 AM
From: calgal	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 10965

Transcript: President's Weekly Radio Address URL:http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,105683,00.html Saturday, December 13, 2003 The following is a transcript of President Bush's weekly radio address: Good morning. This week I was honored to sign the Medicare Act of 2003, the greatest advance in health coverage for America's seniors since Medicare was founded nearly four decades ago. This new law will give seniors better choices and more control over their health care, and provide a prescription drug benefit. Beginning in 2006, most seniors now without prescription coverage can expect to see their current drug bills cut roughly in half, in exchange for a monthly premium of about $35. And for the first time, seniors will have peace of mind that they will not face unlimited expenses for their Medicare. These and other major improvements in Medicare came about because Republicans and Democrats in Congress were willing to work together for the interests of our senior citizens. We were able to pass this law because we listened to the people, set the right priorities and worked hard until we finished the job. The reform and modernization of Medicare was one milestone in a year of accomplishment. We worked with Congress to take action in a number of areas on behalf of the American people. Last May, the House and Senate passed my jobs and growth package into law, delivering substantial tax relief to 91 million Americans. We reduced taxes for everyone who pays income taxes, increased the child tax credit, cut the taxes on dividends and capital gains, and gave 23 million small business owners incentives to invest for the future. And now we are seeing the results. In the third quarter, the economy grew at the fastest pace in almost 20 years. Productivity, manufacturing and housing construction are expanding. And we have added over 300,000 jobs since August. The tax relief we passed is working, and our economy is gaining strength. Legislation passed this year also showed the compassion and the good heart of America. We created the American Dream Down Payment Fund to help low-income citizens afford the down payment on homes of their own. We defended children from the violence of partial birth abortion, and passed new incentives to promote the adoption of children in foster care. And we acted to fight the global spread of AIDS by launching a multi-year emergency effort to prevent millions of new infections in Africa and the Caribbean, and to provide medicine and humane care to millions more who suffer. This year we took important action to protect the environment. Our whole nation saw the devastation left by wildfires in the west, and we passed healthy forest legislation to thin the underbrush that fuels catastrophic blazes. Our government also took urgent action on every front in the war on terror. Congress appropriated more than $31 billion for the Department of Homeland Security to prepare first responders and safeguard our ports and infrastructure, and help scientists develop vaccines against dangerous biological threats. Our country stood behind the men and women of our Armed Forces as they liberated Iraq and helped carry out the work of reconstruction there and in Afghanistan. In Congress, members of both parties worked together to provide vital resources for our troops, who are fulfilling their responsibility to defend the nation. All these actions have made us safer, more prosperous, and a better country. We confronted problems with determination and bipartisan spirit. Yet our work is not done. There will be pressing business in the new year on issues from job creation to health care to public schools. And above all, we will continue to fight the war on terror until the war is won. On behalf of all Americans, I thank the Congress for a productive year. Working together, we can add to this progress in the year to come. Thank you for listening.

To: calgal who wrote (7559)	12/13/2003 11:57:03 AM
From: calgal	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 10965

Plaintiff Witness: Texas District Map Hurts Minority Voters Friday, December 12, 2003 AUSTIN, Texas — The state's GOP-proposed congressional redistricting map (search) would divide a black community in the Dallas-Fort Worth area to such an extent those voters could not elect their candidate of choice, a history professor testified in federal court. Democratic U.S. Reps. Chet Edwards of Waco and Max Sandlin of Marshall also testified Friday that minority communities in their districts also would be split up under the plan approved by the Republican-dominated Legislature in October. In the Dallas-Fort Worth area, about 148,000 blacks now represented by Democratic U.S. Rep. Martin Frost would be put in five separate districts under the plan, said Allan Lichtman, an American University history professor who researched the proposed map. The black population in that district is the state's third largest. "They have been put in a district where they have no realistic prospects of electing the candidate of their choice," Lichtman testified Thursday before a federal three-judge panel hearing lawsuits that challenge the redistricting map. Plaintiffs in the case argue that the map's dilution of minority voting power violates the federal Voting Rights Act (search), rendering the GOP plan to put more Republicans in Congress illegal. Andy Taylor, an attorney for the state, contended that a new district in South Texas would replace Frost's district as a majority minority district in which the minority population could elect a candidate of choice. Lichtman said that district, which stretches from the Mexico border north to Austin, could be tough for a Hispanic to win. Legislators approved the redistricting map during a special session after partisan fighting all year and two boycotts in which Democrats fled the state. In addition to the federal court hearing the lawsuits, the U.S. Justice Department is reviewing whether the map violates the Voting Rights Act. If the map stands, it would be used in the state primary March 9.