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

To: calgal who wrote (533901)	2/2/2004 12:24:48 AM
From: American Spirit	Respond to of 769667

If Kerry wins 5 or 6 out of 7 it's all over. The Deanies are in complete delusion land to think otherwise. Edwards will soon be vying for Vice President and may get it. dean will probably bow out in about 10 days. I'm not sure what Clark will do. Maybe vie for Secretary of Defense.

To: calgal who wrote (533901)	2/2/2004 2:06:03 AM
From: Skywatcher	Respond to of 769667

Bush is finally getting HEAT FROM HIS INCREDIBLE SPENDING BINGE Bush, boxed in by deficits, to propose lean budget Monday February 2, 1:34 am ET By Adam Entous WASHINGTON, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Boxed in by a record $521 billion deficit, President George W. Bush will propose a $2.4 trillion election-year budget on Monday that will cut dozens of government programs and set deficit-reduction goals that even fellow Republicans are skeptical he can meet. Bush has seen a dramatic deterioration in the nation's budget picture since a record surplus was reported in 2000. He hopes to improve his fiscal image before the November presidential election by promising to reduce the deficit by one-third by 2005 and by more than half within five years. But fiscal conservatives in both parties have doubts Bush can deliver. He will leave out of his fiscal 2005 budget the tens of billions of dollars that will almost certainly be needed next year to keep U.S. troops in Iraq, as well as a costly tax system overhaul that Republicans and Democrats say will soon become politically imperative to keep taxes from rising on the nation's middle class. In line with Bush's election-year priorities, homeland security and the military will be the budget's biggest winners. Defense contractors including Lockheed Martin Corp. (NYSE:LMT - News), Boeing Co. (NYSE:BA - News), Northrop Grumman Corp. (NYSE:NOC - News), Raytheon Co. (NYSE:RTN - News) and General Dynamics Corp. (NYSE:GD - News) stand to benefit as Bush's $401.7 billion military budget sharply increases spending on missile defense and on modernizing the Army. The biggest losers will be environmental, agricultural and energy programs. Facing the prospects of a revolt by fiscal conservatives, Bush will call for limiting growth in discretionary spending -- outside of homeland security and defense -- to just 0.5 percent. Because that is well below the rate of inflation, it will amount to a cut in domestic programs. In a tacit acknowledgment that deficits are here to stay, Bush will set the goal of bringing this year's record $521 billion shortfall down to $364 billion in fiscal 2005 and eventually to $237 billion in fiscal 2009. There is no talk of returning to surpluses in the foreseeable future. ELECTION-YEAR FIGHT Already members of both parties say they are bracing for a bitter fight over Bush's tax and spending priorities, and many question whether any agreement can be reached. Democrats scoffed at Bush's plan to stem the red ink while asking Congress to make permanent his tax cuts. "He's promising a trillion-dollar tax cut and a trip to Mars. And he has a half-a-trillion-dollar deficit. Where do these Washington people think this money comes from?" Democratic presidential hopeful Howard Dean said on NBC's "Meet the Press." Fiscal conservatives accused the White House of relying on gimmicks, like stretching the definition of homeland security to sidestep its own spending limits. Congressional aides and budget analysts say keeping troops in Iraq and Afghanistan could add $40 billion or more to the 2005 deficit. And according to the Republican appropriators who divvy up federal funds each year, even a complete freeze in the spending targeted by Bush would cut the deficit by only a "minimal" $3 billion. Some conservatives are already pushing Bush to make even deeper cutbacks after the White House acknowledged its newly enacted prescription drug plan would cost one-third more than the administration had advertised two months ago. Government spending under Bush has grown at the fastest pace since the Johnson administration of the mid-1960s, conservatives complain. While the Pentagon would get 7 percent more and homeland security a nearly 10 percent increase, more than 60 government programs are expected to face cuts under Bush's plan. CC