Bush: Raise Taxes 'Over My Dead Body'

O N T A R I O, Calif., Jan. 5 -- Even as he called for bipartisan unity, President Bush today blasted back at Democrats, who have been saying his economic initiatives threaten a wobbly economy.

Before an invited, largely Hispanic audience of California business owners, Bush focused on his stalled economic stimulus proposal and Democratic grumbling over his tax cut plan, warning against any possible effort to delay the tax cut.

"There's going to be people who say we can't have the tax cut go through anymore," Bush told the crowd at a town hall meeting in Ontario, Calif., east of Los Angeles. "That's a tax raise. And I challenge their economics when they say a raise in taxes will help the country recover.

"Not over my dead body will they raise your taxes," Bush told the wildly applauding crowd.

Jab at Daschle?

Bush did not name those he believes are plotting to undo his tax cut. But the president's aides have suggested Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle's recent criticism of the cut amounts to a call for a tax hike.

On Friday, Daschle, D-S.D., also pledged bi-partisan cooperation, and praised Bush's handling of the war on terror, but at the same time said Bush's tax cut was the main reason for the government's dwindling surplus.

"Not only did the tax cut fail to prevent a recession, as it supporters said it would," Daschle said, "it probably made the recession worse."

But today, Daschle rejected Bush's implication that his attack on the president's economic policy meant he favored a tax increase.

"We are not proposing tax increases," said Daschle, D-S.D.

However, the Senate's top Democrat said he is concerned the additional tax cuts that the president has proposed in an economic stimulus plan will not deliver help quickly enough.

"Over 60 percent of the tax cuts they've proposed don't take effect until after this year," Daschle said. "We've got to find ways to stimulate the economy this year, this month."

Setting Agenda on Economics

Bush's final stop today was at a job placement center in Oregon, the state with the nation's highest unemployment rate. In Oregon, Bush expressed concern over the jobless rate, praised local Republican Congressional candidates and promised to help drought-stricken farmers.