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Bush Trying to Sell Tax Cuts Directly to Americans
Aired May 12, 2003 - 10:33 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: Now, Mr. Bush is on road today trying to sell his economic plan directly to voters. For more on the president's day, we turn now to our senior White House correspondent, John King. He joins us from his post at the executive mansion this morning -- hello, John.
JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hello to you, Leon. I'm here in Washington, but the president is beginning his day in New Mexico. He will have a speech in the Albuquerque area. Then it is on to Omaha, Nebraska. Mr. Bush then will spend the night in Indianapolis, Indiana. Another event promoting his tax cut plan tomorrow morning, before the president makes it back here to the White House.
Why all this travel on the road? The president is, as you noted, trying to convince key members of Congress and the American people to put pressure on key members of Congress, as he tries to get as close to that $550 billion in tax cuts. $550 billion is the figure already approved by the House. The Senate is debating a $350 billion tax cut plan.
Washington logic would tell you perhaps the House and the Senate would just split the difference, and the president would get somewhere in the area of $450 billion. In the end, if that is how it turns out, the White House would claim victory and say the president has secured yet another tax cut, but the president is hoping to get as close to $550 billion as possible.
So after a weekend of leisurely golf in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Mr. Bush says he's ready to get back to work. He's lobbying in these three states Democratic senators. The president has lost the support of a few key Republicans, so he is hoping, if not in this first round, perhaps the Senate will only go to 350 billion. That is what its tax cut plan calls for, but when the House and the Senate get back together, the president is hoping that people in those key states, like Nebraska, like New Mexico and like Indiana, put pressure on their Democratic senators to give the president more of a tax cut. This, of course, the defining economic debate this year, and it is one that will carry over next year into the presidential election campaign -- Leon.
HARRIS: Well, John, the president has been trying this move of going over the senator's heads and going direct to the public now for a couple of weeks. Signs are, at least from the polls I've seen over the weekend that the public really isn't buying the argument that President Bush is laying out there. What's the next step, then, for the White House? KING: Well, the polls have moved a little bit in the president's way in the past week, but you are absolutely right. The president came out in the days after the military victory in Iraq. The president's personal approval rating, his job approval rating, was up near 70 percent, but the country is pretty much split down the middle on whether it thinks his tax cut plan is a good idea. Those numbers have shifted a bit in the president's favor. What the White House believes is that that little shift is because the president has much more time now, almost every day, sometimes twice or three times a day out promoting his tax cut plan.
The White House is hoping to boost those numbers up. So again, by the time the Senate and the House get to their negotiations, several weeks, perhaps a little more than a month down the road, that the president's standing is high enough to get as close to 550 billion as possible. But Leon, if they get 400 something, they will declare victory, and look for the president then to come forward quickly again, with another round of tax cuts to be debated next year in the election year.
HARRIS: Well, that is how it works in Washington these days. That is for sure. Thanks, John. Take care.
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 May 12, 2003 - 10:33 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Now, Mr. Bush is on road today trying to sell his economic plan directly to voters. For more on the president's day, we turn now to our senior White House correspondent, John King. He joins us from his post at the executive mansion this morning -- hello, John.
JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hello to you, Leon. I'm here in Washington, but the president is beginning his day in New Mexico. He will have a speech in the Albuquerque area. Then it is on to Omaha, Nebraska. Mr. Bush then will spend the night in Indianapolis, Indiana. Another event promoting his tax cut plan tomorrow morning, before the president makes it back here to the White House.
Why all this travel on the road? The president is, as you noted, trying to convince key members of Congress and the American people to put pressure on key members of Congress, as he tries to get as close to that $550 billion in tax cuts. $550 billion is the figure already approved by the House. The Senate is debating a $350 billion tax cut plan.
Washington logic would tell you perhaps the House and the Senate would just split the difference, and the president would get somewhere in the area of $450 billion. In the end, if that is how it turns out, the White House would claim victory and say the president has secured yet another tax cut, but the president is hoping to get as close to $550 billion as possible.
So after a weekend of leisurely golf in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Mr. Bush says he's ready to get back to work. He's lobbying in these three states Democratic senators. The president has lost the support of a few key Republicans, so he is hoping, if not in this first round, perhaps the Senate will only go to 350 billion. That is what its tax cut plan calls for, but when the House and the Senate get back together, the president is hoping that people in those key states, like Nebraska, like New Mexico and like Indiana, put pressure on their Democratic senators to give the president more of a tax cut. This, of course, the defining economic debate this year, and it is one that will carry over next year into the presidential election campaign -- Leon.
HARRIS: Well, John, the president has been trying this move of going over the senator's heads and going direct to the public now for a couple of weeks. Signs are, at least from the polls I've seen over the weekend that the public really isn't buying the argument that President Bush is laying out there. What's the next step, then, for the White House? KING: Well, the polls have moved a little bit in the president's way in the past week, but you are absolutely right. The president came out in the days after the military victory in Iraq. The president's personal approval rating, his job approval rating, was up near 70 percent, but the country is pretty much split down the middle on whether it thinks his tax cut plan is a good idea. Those numbers have shifted a bit in the president's favor. What the White House believes is that that little shift is because the president has much more time now, almost every day, sometimes twice or three times a day out promoting his tax cut plan.
The White House is hoping to boost those numbers up. So again, by the time the Senate and the House get to their negotiations, several weeks, perhaps a little more than a month down the road, that the president's standing is high enough to get as close to 550 billion as possible. But Leon, if they get 400 something, they will declare victory, and look for the president then to come forward quickly again, with another round of tax cuts to be debated next year in the election year.
HARRIS: Well, that is how it works in Washington these days. That is for sure. Thanks, John. Take care.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
