Michael snowe lingo live8/18/2023 ![]() "This administration needs to stop being fixated on a number and start focusing on priorities," Siegel said. Michael Siegel said some senators feel the Bush administration is putting too much emphasis on keeping the overall tax cut package at $1.6 trillion. ![]() Max Baucus, D-Montana, said the mood in the Senate - where the tax cut faces tougher sledding than the House - has "softened" over the last few days. Several Republican senators have already expressed concerns about the president's tax plan- including Jim Jeffords of Vermont, Olympia Snowe of Maine and Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island.Īn aide to Sen. The Senate is not expected to begin debate on the budget until April.īush will meet with House and Senate Republicans at the White House on Thursday afternoon to discuss the schedule of the tax and budget votes. Senate action will not commence until after the Bush budget resolution, which establishes the blueprint for all spending and tax cutting moves, is passed. Quick House action on the income tax cut could, the White House believes, increase voter expectations and intensify pressure on Congress to keep the Bush tax cuts moving through the legislative process.Īfter the House votes on the rate cut, other parts of the Bush plan will move through the House in April or May. The White House also believes Democratic support will be much higher for other parts of the plan, such as ending the marriage tax penalty and reducing or ending the estate tax.īut the key for the White House campaign is to capitalize on the momentum set in motion by higher surplus projections and the qualified support for tax cuts offered by Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan. The White House wants the rate cut to be voted on first because it attracts the most withering Democratic criticism and fits most neatly into the White House pitch that a rate cut could stimulate economic growth later this year as a hedge against a downturn. The solid GOP support encouraged the White House to press for fast action. Representatives from the White House legislative affairs office sat in on virtually all of these "listening sessions" to respond to any concerns. While some moderates expressed mild reservations about its size, none threatened to oppose the president, according to senior GOP and White House sources. Meanwhile, House GOP leaders concluded private meetings this week with more than 150 Republicans to gauge support for the Bush tax plan. The White House assumes Democrats affected by redistricting may find the Bush tax cut politically attractive as they calculate appealing to new voters or fending off potential primary challenges. ![]() The White House expects no support from Ways and Means Committee Democrats but has aggressively courted Southern Democrats and others in states that will lose congressional seats to redistricting. While White House advisers concede attracting 15 Democrats to an income tax cut media event is remote, they are trying to win public support from a few. ![]() Senior White House advisers believe they can capture between 15 and 30 Democratic votes for the rate cut and would like to set up at least one bipartisan media event before the Ways and Means panel moves a bill. This would give GOP leaders and the White House time to entice a small band of Democrats to publicly endorse the across-the-board rate cut. This action would coincide with two crucial steps in the White House tax-cut sales campaign: Bush's economic address to a joint session of Congress on February 27 and the submission of his 2002 budget the day after.Ī second schedule calls for the Ways and Means Committee to act the following week. The most aggressive calls for the Ways and Means Committee to pass the rate cut in the first week after Congress returns from its Presidents Day recess. And I think we've got a very good chance of getting the tax package through," Bush said.įollowing a week of meetings on Capitol Hill with House Republican leaders, senior White House officials have asked the House Ways and Means Committee to carry out an aggressive push for the Bush plan in early March. "I've got a lot of work to do, but I'm convinced that when the American people hear our plan, they will support it.
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