Bush Speech Challenges Congress

W A S H I N G T O N, Feb. 28, 2001 -- 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."

Something for Everyone

Though Democrats complain he would squander money that would be better spent elsewhere on tax cuts, Bush made the case that plenty of money is available to do just about everything: Increase spending on popular programs, lower the national debt by $2 trillion and give money back to the taxpayers.

"If what the president said tonight sounded too good to be true, it probably is," House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt of Missouri said.

The former first lady, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., got her first look at a presidential address as a member of Congress, but said what she heard just "doesn't add up."

"I believe that there's not the money to do what the president has just said he wants to do without dipping into the Social Security and Medicare trust funds," Clinton said, taking the chance to answer questions about something other than her husband's controversial pardons, which have dominated headlines for weeks.

But Bush pledged to make fixing the federal entitlement programs a priority, vowing to form a "presidential commission to reform Social Security," particularly by creating a plan to let taxpayers invest in "personal savings accounts."

Bush also called for creation of a $1 trillion "contingency fund," to cover what the White House calls "unexpected needs," and urged Congress to give him "fast-track" authority to negotiate trade agreements.

Bush's budget calls for an overall increase in spending on discretionary programs of just 4 percent, or half the rate of growth in government spending last year.

But some areas will see bigger increases: Education spending will get the biggest increase — 11 percent — a point the administration is making at every opportunity. Defense spending also is in for a 7 percent increase, albeit less than the Pentagon had hoped for.

But other programs will face actual cuts. The Energy Department's efficiency and renewable fuels program will be cut by up to 22 percent; the Fish and Wildlife Service by 9 percent.

Bush may not have swayed Democrats on Capitol Hill, but his primary goal was convincing the American people that a tax cut will help not only their pocketbook, but the flagging U.S. economy.

Bush now heads out into the hinterlands to pitch his plan, which will be released in detail later this morning. The president will hit Pennsylvania, Nebraska, Iowa, Arkansas and Georgia on his road trip this week. Also stumping for his budget will be six members of his Cabinet and Vice President Dick Cheney.