January 07, 2008
Bush Renews Veto Vow On New Taxes
UPDATED.
Telling the Union League Club of Chicago that his New Year's resolution is "to make sure Congress keeps the taxes low," President Bush warned lawmakers he would squash any new legislation that raises taxes.
"I will be talking to Congress about how this administration will use its authority to keep taxes low," Bush said.
Last year, Bush vetoed a popular children's health insurance bill that contained a tax increase of 61 cents per pack on cigarettes, and successfully cowed congressional Democrats into dropping a provision that would have lowered tax breaks for oil companies from an energy bill.
Bush said he wanted Congress to make permanent his tax-cut package, which is due to expire in less than three years, and to permanently kill the estate tax, which is set to come back in 2011.
"I hope a lot of people don't decide to move on just because of the tax cut," Bush joked.
Bush remained mostly upbeat on the economy while acknowledging the reality of fiscal anxiety. Behind the scenes, administration officials are debating whether to unveil an economic stimulus package. Bush said the current forecast was "mixed," despite multiple indicators that the U.S. is headed for recession.
"The smartest thing we can do is to keep taxes low," Bush said. "In a time of economic uncertainty, we don't need to be taking money out of your pocket."
Bush met with his top economic advisers on Friday, but the administration would not confirm the possibility of a stimulus package. For their part, Democratic lawmakers are hinting they will push for a package themselves when they return to Washington later this month.
Bush kicked off his speech by thanking Illinois Rep. Rahm Emanuel, House Democrats' caucus chairman, for attending the speech. That bipartisan spirit didn't appear to last long.
"Even as the White House continues to claim the economy is 'sound,' American families know the truth -- under President Bush, the middle class is what has been left behind as the economy has stalled," Emanuel said, following the president's address. "The Democratic Congress wants to continue to take action on the economy, but we believe any tax cuts should be focused on helping the middle class."
And Charles Schumer, chairman of the Joint Economic Committee, hinted that Senate Democrats would defy Bush's tax agenda.
"The president's adamancy and ideological rigidity that the federal government not be involved except to extend his tax cuts shows how out of touch he is with economic reality," the New York Democrat said.
Posted at 6:28 PM
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Bush Administration, Congress, Economy, President Bush, Taxes
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