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Taxing Times

Aired April 28, 2003 - 11:31   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Congress is back from spring break this week to work on tax cuts. The president's plan to revive the economy calls for at least a $500 trillion reduction, but it's got lawmakers deeply split, even within the Republican Party. So where do things go from here?
Let's check in with our senior political analyst Bill Schneider, in Washington this morning.

Hello, Bill. Good to see you.

WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: Good to see you, Leon.

HARRIS: Well, President Bush went out last week basically to go to a couple key cities to try to sell this tax package. He wants more than $350 billion in tax cuts. The Senate right now, looking like it's not going to go any further than that. What do you make of what's happening right now?

SCHNEIDER: Well, there's a lot of bargaining going on right now. The president, you can see him here campaigning. He's a very popular president, and he's trying to sell a tax cut, and he's having a tough time doing it. What's wrong with this picture? What we find is lot of Americans are very nervous, because they wonder, can we afford it? The economy is poor, and they wonder if in a poor economy, where they see government services being cut, is the country able to really pay off this big a tax cut, particularly one the Democrats keep characterizing as a tax cut for the rich? So he's having a tougher time than anyone expected.

HARRIS: So the Democrats aren't the only ones criticizing it. There are some centrists who are just coming out and saying, basically, the president's position is irresponsible. What do you make of his efforts right now to sort of isolate George Voinovich of Ohio and Olympia Snowe of Maine? And I haven't heard much talk about Chuck Grassley of Iowa. But those are the senators who are right now standing in his way. It seems that he's going over their head to reach directly to the public to put more pressure on them. Can that work?

SCHNEIDER: Over the heads of the senators in their own states. He went to Ohio this week, and criticized, without naming George Voinovich, those who want what he calls an itty-bitty tax cut, which he meant $350 billion, which sounds like a lot of money, but the president said it's far too little. But he never named George Voinovich. However, there were ads taken out against Voinovich by some conservative groups, which accused him of being, you should excuse the expression, French. It says he stands in the president's way, just like the French did in Iraq. Voinovich is up for re- election next year in Ohio, but he looks like the safe bet for re- election, no serious opposition right now. And there are no indications that Voinovich is going to budge from his position.

However, one thing that could be a basis for bargaining is what George Voinovich said yesterday when he was interviewed on "Meet The Press." He said -- quote -- $350 billion is a responsible package, and if the president wants to do more than that, and some of my colleagues in Congress, let's pay for it," let's offset it; let's not just borrow the money and put the jack on the backs of our children, and grandchildren, and your children and your grandchildren.

So what's going on right now this week? You got the Senate Finance Committee, the House Ways and Means Committee, looking for ways to increase the size of the tax cut by spending cuts, closing corporate tax loopholes and better enforcement, so that they can pay for it, and thereby, get the support of people like George Voinovich.

HARRIS: What's been strange is to hear Democrats talking about things like that, coming out and paying for things. This is not the kind of thing you'd hear traditionally from the Democratic Party.

One person in particular among the Democrats is Representative Gephardt, Dick Gephardt here. He's come out with his own plan right now. Pretty bold move?

SCHNEIDER: It's a very bold move, and one that a lot of Democrats are taking notice of. He's running for president, of course. He ran for president about 16 years ago, and he's running again.

But this one, instead of looking like yesterday's man, he has a very bold idea. He's going, he says, if he becomes president, not just to not go through with the president's current tax cut proposal, he's going to repeal the tax cut that was passed back in 2001. What's he going to do for that money? He's going to use that to pay for universal health care for virtually all Americans. He believe that will stimulate the economy by subsidizing employees to give everyone by law, they'll have to give everyone health insurance coverage, and it's going to help states and local governments who are facing very serious budget crunches. The federal government is also going to subsidize them for the health care costs of their workers. It is a very bold program. What does it mean for the deficit? Well, Gephardt's view is George Bush isn't worried about the deficit, neither should the Democrats.

HARRIS: That means we could be on the verge of a real test of President Bush's post-war popularity.

SCHNEIDER: Exactly what we are.

HARRIS: Thanks, Bill. Bill Schneider in Washington, Good to see you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired April 28, 2003 - 11:31   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Congress is back from spring break this week to work on tax cuts. The president's plan to revive the economy calls for at least a $500 trillion reduction, but it's got lawmakers deeply split, even within the Republican Party. So where do things go from here?
Let's check in with our senior political analyst Bill Schneider, in Washington this morning.

Hello, Bill. Good to see you.

WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: Good to see you, Leon.

HARRIS: Well, President Bush went out last week basically to go to a couple key cities to try to sell this tax package. He wants more than $350 billion in tax cuts. The Senate right now, looking like it's not going to go any further than that. What do you make of what's happening right now?

SCHNEIDER: Well, there's a lot of bargaining going on right now. The president, you can see him here campaigning. He's a very popular president, and he's trying to sell a tax cut, and he's having a tough time doing it. What's wrong with this picture? What we find is lot of Americans are very nervous, because they wonder, can we afford it? The economy is poor, and they wonder if in a poor economy, where they see government services being cut, is the country able to really pay off this big a tax cut, particularly one the Democrats keep characterizing as a tax cut for the rich? So he's having a tougher time than anyone expected.

HARRIS: So the Democrats aren't the only ones criticizing it. There are some centrists who are just coming out and saying, basically, the president's position is irresponsible. What do you make of his efforts right now to sort of isolate George Voinovich of Ohio and Olympia Snowe of Maine? And I haven't heard much talk about Chuck Grassley of Iowa. But those are the senators who are right now standing in his way. It seems that he's going over their head to reach directly to the public to put more pressure on them. Can that work?

SCHNEIDER: Over the heads of the senators in their own states. He went to Ohio this week, and criticized, without naming George Voinovich, those who want what he calls an itty-bitty tax cut, which he meant $350 billion, which sounds like a lot of money, but the president said it's far too little. But he never named George Voinovich. However, there were ads taken out against Voinovich by some conservative groups, which accused him of being, you should excuse the expression, French. It says he stands in the president's way, just like the French did in Iraq. Voinovich is up for re- election next year in Ohio, but he looks like the safe bet for re- election, no serious opposition right now. And there are no indications that Voinovich is going to budge from his position.

However, one thing that could be a basis for bargaining is what George Voinovich said yesterday when he was interviewed on "Meet The Press." He said -- quote -- $350 billion is a responsible package, and if the president wants to do more than that, and some of my colleagues in Congress, let's pay for it," let's offset it; let's not just borrow the money and put the jack on the backs of our children, and grandchildren, and your children and your grandchildren.

So what's going on right now this week? You got the Senate Finance Committee, the House Ways and Means Committee, looking for ways to increase the size of the tax cut by spending cuts, closing corporate tax loopholes and better enforcement, so that they can pay for it, and thereby, get the support of people like George Voinovich.

HARRIS: What's been strange is to hear Democrats talking about things like that, coming out and paying for things. This is not the kind of thing you'd hear traditionally from the Democratic Party.

One person in particular among the Democrats is Representative Gephardt, Dick Gephardt here. He's come out with his own plan right now. Pretty bold move?

SCHNEIDER: It's a very bold move, and one that a lot of Democrats are taking notice of. He's running for president, of course. He ran for president about 16 years ago, and he's running again.

But this one, instead of looking like yesterday's man, he has a very bold idea. He's going, he says, if he becomes president, not just to not go through with the president's current tax cut proposal, he's going to repeal the tax cut that was passed back in 2001. What's he going to do for that money? He's going to use that to pay for universal health care for virtually all Americans. He believe that will stimulate the economy by subsidizing employees to give everyone by law, they'll have to give everyone health insurance coverage, and it's going to help states and local governments who are facing very serious budget crunches. The federal government is also going to subsidize them for the health care costs of their workers. It is a very bold program. What does it mean for the deficit? Well, Gephardt's view is George Bush isn't worried about the deficit, neither should the Democrats.

HARRIS: That means we could be on the verge of a real test of President Bush's post-war popularity.

SCHNEIDER: Exactly what we are.

HARRIS: Thanks, Bill. Bill Schneider in Washington, Good to see you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com