Bush Speech Challenges Congress
W A S H I N G T O N, Feb. 28 -- President Bush challenged Congress to stand behind his conservative agenda, using his first nationally televised address to make the case for his plan to "refund" a $1.6 trillion chunk of the projected budget surplus in tax cuts.
The first Republican president to address a Republican-controlled Congress since 1954, Bush entered Tuesday night to backslaps and the customary long, rousing rounds of applause due a president's annual address to lawmakers.
While Bush acknowledged "government has a role, and an important one," the new president called for restrained spending and tax cuts in pitching his $1.9 trillion budget.
"Too much government crowds out initiative and hard work, private charity and the private economy," he said. "Our new governing vision says government should be active, but limited, engaged, but not overbearing."
On education, he set the stage for a fight over school vouchers by calling on Congress to "give parents and students different options" when public schools fail.
Tax-Cut Showdown
But while Bush calls education his top priority, it will be his proposal to cut taxes that will be the first budget battle waged on Capitol Hill, as the House prepares to take up the issue as early as next week. The $6 trillion in surpluses that are projected to materialize in the next 10 years are only possible, Bush said, "because taxes are too high and government is charging more than it needs."
"The people of America have been overcharged and on their behalf, I am here to ask for a refund," Bush said in one of his loudest applause lines of the night. "Some say my tax plan is too big, others say it's too small. I respectfully disagree. This plan is just right."
Though Democrats couldn't help but join Republicans in applauding most of Bush's speech, the formal response was direct and biting.
The surpluses Bush's budget is founded on, Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota said, amount to reckless guesses.
"Nobody's crystal ball is that good," Daschle said. "Just ask Texas. Two years ago, using rosy forecasts, then-Gov. Bush signed a budget that cut taxes by $1.8 billion. But his budget projections were wrong. And today, Texas faces a serious budget shortfall."
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