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CNN Live Saturday
Bush Set to Unveil Economic Strategy Next Week
Aired January 04, 2003 - 17:23 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.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Next week the president is supposed to unveil new plans for getting the economy back on track. Dana Bash, what can you tell us about what's happening there, and she is in Crawford, Texas?
DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Fredricka. Well, the president heads back to Washington tomorrow and one of his top priorities for the New Year he says is to jump-start the economy.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BASH (voice over): On his last full day of private time at the Western White House, the president was burning brush on his 1,600-acre Texas ranch. When he gets back to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue a sales job awaits, the sale of a plan the White House says will help cure the ailing economy.
Sources say the president is still finalizing the details but the price tag will be about $600 billion over ten years. The plan is likely to include some tax breaks for businesses, accelerating individuals' tax cuts that weren't set to kick it in until 2004,a and tax cuts on stock dividends. The Democrats aren't waiting for the formal unveiling to criticize the plan.
SEN. TOM DASCHLE (D-SD), MINORITY LEADER: The tax break the president is said to be proposing is the wrong idea at the wrong time to help the wrong people. The plan the president is considering would go almost exclusively to the wealthiest Americans.
BASH: To make his point, Daschle zeroed in on what a White House official called the centerpiece of the plan cutting dividends. Citing data from the tax policy center, Daschle said if dividend taxes are cut by 50 percent anyone who earns a million dollars annually will get a tax break of $24,000, while those making $40,000 to $50,000 a year would save just $76.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm concerned about all people.
BASH: The White House says there will be something in it for everyone. Also expected in the plan, aid for the unemployed and federal dollars for cash-strapped states, an administration source says they will enlist cabinet officials for a flurry of events promoting the plan's benefits to Americans on Main Street. Also next week the vice president and new Economic Adviser Stephen Friedman head to New York to sell it to Wall Street. (END VIDEOTAPE)
BASH: And, Fredricka, the Democrats tried to hit Republicans on the economy in last fall's campaign but next time around the president himself is on the ballot and you can be sure the White House is going to do whatever it takes to convince Americans that he's doing everything he can to help the economy -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: All right, Dana Bash in Crawford, Texas thank you very much.
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 January 4, 2003 - 17:23 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Next week the president is supposed to unveil new plans for getting the economy back on track. Dana Bash, what can you tell us about what's happening there, and she is in Crawford, Texas?
DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Fredricka. Well, the president heads back to Washington tomorrow and one of his top priorities for the New Year he says is to jump-start the economy.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BASH (voice over): On his last full day of private time at the Western White House, the president was burning brush on his 1,600-acre Texas ranch. When he gets back to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue a sales job awaits, the sale of a plan the White House says will help cure the ailing economy.
Sources say the president is still finalizing the details but the price tag will be about $600 billion over ten years. The plan is likely to include some tax breaks for businesses, accelerating individuals' tax cuts that weren't set to kick it in until 2004,a and tax cuts on stock dividends. The Democrats aren't waiting for the formal unveiling to criticize the plan.
SEN. TOM DASCHLE (D-SD), MINORITY LEADER: The tax break the president is said to be proposing is the wrong idea at the wrong time to help the wrong people. The plan the president is considering would go almost exclusively to the wealthiest Americans.
BASH: To make his point, Daschle zeroed in on what a White House official called the centerpiece of the plan cutting dividends. Citing data from the tax policy center, Daschle said if dividend taxes are cut by 50 percent anyone who earns a million dollars annually will get a tax break of $24,000, while those making $40,000 to $50,000 a year would save just $76.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm concerned about all people.
BASH: The White House says there will be something in it for everyone. Also expected in the plan, aid for the unemployed and federal dollars for cash-strapped states, an administration source says they will enlist cabinet officials for a flurry of events promoting the plan's benefits to Americans on Main Street. Also next week the vice president and new Economic Adviser Stephen Friedman head to New York to sell it to Wall Street. (END VIDEOTAPE)
BASH: And, Fredricka, the Democrats tried to hit Republicans on the economy in last fall's campaign but next time around the president himself is on the ballot and you can be sure the White House is going to do whatever it takes to convince Americans that he's doing everything he can to help the economy -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: All right, Dana Bash in Crawford, Texas thank you very much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
