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CNN Live Saturday
Rumsfeld Visits Middle East
Aired April 26, 2003 - 12:04 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.
ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN ANCHOR: Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld left today for what amounts to a victory tour of the Middle East. Rumsfeld is expected to meet with U.S. troops during his visit to the region, and a stop in Afghanistan is also considered likely.
As U.S. forces return from the Persian Gulf, President Bush may soon declare an end to combat in Iraq. At the same time, he has launched a new offensive to win a war in Washington over tax cuts.
Let's go live to CNN White House correspondent Chris Burns. Chris, I know that the public line from the White House had been that they were going to flood the zone last week. This was the strategy, sending out the president and all of his -- or many of his aides. Do they think they picked up any votes?
CHRIS BURNS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, there is the hope of that, Andrea, the president having been part of this -- you might call it a Shock and Awe campaign on the domestic side, as the president and plenty of other administration officials fanned out over more than half the states in the country in the last couple of weeks, during the Easter recess, trying to persuade a might -- very skeptical, at least some of the skeptical public, about his tax plan.
Now, the president having made an appearance in Lima, Ohio, at the tank plant there, showing that -- trying to talk about his -- the advances in Iraq, that they have actually made a lot of progress, toppled the Saddam Hussein's regime, and are also involved in rebuilding the country, the president at the same time pushing very hard on his tax cut.
Now, there is criticism of that. The Democrats saying that it's much too much, that they would like a tax cut, but not nearly as much as that $550 billion-plus tax cut the president is pushing for. Even the Senate Republicans are calling for a $350 billion tax cut over the next 10 years. The president would like much more of that.
Now, we have some radio addresses by the president and by the Democrats, point, counterpoint. You decide.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP, PRESIDENTIAL RADIO ADDRESS)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: With a robust package of at least $550 billion in across-the-board tax relief, we will help create more than a million new jobs by the end of 2004. Some members of Congress support tax relief but say my proposal is too big. Since they are already agreed that tax relief creates jobs, it doesn't make sense so provide less tax relief and therefore create fewer jobs.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP, DEMOCRATIC RESPONSE TO PRESIDENTIAL RADIO ADDRESS)
REP. STEPHANIE TUBBS JONES (D), OHIO: They can dress up this tax cut any way they want, and it's still just that, a tax cut for the wealthiest 1 percent of American that does nothing to create jobs and will only sink our nation further into debt.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
BURNS: The Democrats also calling that reckless. The Republicans, however, seeing a growth potential in there. The president has -- having an uphill battle when this -- the Congress comes back on Monday. They will be considering that. We'll see how that comes out, Andrea.
KOPPEL: Chris, what is the president's timeline and time frame for wanting to get this tax cut through Congress?
BURNS: Well, according to senior administration officials, they would like to see this pass as soon as possible. The -- of course, keep in mind, the election, presidential elections are not years away but months away. They would like to see it start to take effect midyear this year, they would like to see more than a million jobs created between this year and next year.
So it -- that is a race against a time -- against time to try to get this passed in time for it to have some kind of an effect on the economy. They would like to increase growth. Growth is very lackluster, and it is not creating the jobs that are needed. Unemployment is over -- is at about 5.8 percent, and they would like to see the growth increased to raise more jobs.
So there is quite a bit of suspense here, a lot at stake. And we'll have to see if President Bush can capitalize on his war victory, if we can say, and try to ride to victory in Congress on a tank. We'll have to see how that pans out, Andrea.
KOPPEL: Well, clearly, Senator Bill Frist, the majority leader, is going to have his hands full. Chris Burns at the White House, thanks very much.
BURNS: Thank 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 26, 2003 - 12:04 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN ANCHOR: Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld left today for what amounts to a victory tour of the Middle East. Rumsfeld is expected to meet with U.S. troops during his visit to the region, and a stop in Afghanistan is also considered likely.
As U.S. forces return from the Persian Gulf, President Bush may soon declare an end to combat in Iraq. At the same time, he has launched a new offensive to win a war in Washington over tax cuts.
Let's go live to CNN White House correspondent Chris Burns. Chris, I know that the public line from the White House had been that they were going to flood the zone last week. This was the strategy, sending out the president and all of his -- or many of his aides. Do they think they picked up any votes?
CHRIS BURNS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, there is the hope of that, Andrea, the president having been part of this -- you might call it a Shock and Awe campaign on the domestic side, as the president and plenty of other administration officials fanned out over more than half the states in the country in the last couple of weeks, during the Easter recess, trying to persuade a might -- very skeptical, at least some of the skeptical public, about his tax plan.
Now, the president having made an appearance in Lima, Ohio, at the tank plant there, showing that -- trying to talk about his -- the advances in Iraq, that they have actually made a lot of progress, toppled the Saddam Hussein's regime, and are also involved in rebuilding the country, the president at the same time pushing very hard on his tax cut.
Now, there is criticism of that. The Democrats saying that it's much too much, that they would like a tax cut, but not nearly as much as that $550 billion-plus tax cut the president is pushing for. Even the Senate Republicans are calling for a $350 billion tax cut over the next 10 years. The president would like much more of that.
Now, we have some radio addresses by the president and by the Democrats, point, counterpoint. You decide.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP, PRESIDENTIAL RADIO ADDRESS)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: With a robust package of at least $550 billion in across-the-board tax relief, we will help create more than a million new jobs by the end of 2004. Some members of Congress support tax relief but say my proposal is too big. Since they are already agreed that tax relief creates jobs, it doesn't make sense so provide less tax relief and therefore create fewer jobs.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP, DEMOCRATIC RESPONSE TO PRESIDENTIAL RADIO ADDRESS)
REP. STEPHANIE TUBBS JONES (D), OHIO: They can dress up this tax cut any way they want, and it's still just that, a tax cut for the wealthiest 1 percent of American that does nothing to create jobs and will only sink our nation further into debt.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
BURNS: The Democrats also calling that reckless. The Republicans, however, seeing a growth potential in there. The president has -- having an uphill battle when this -- the Congress comes back on Monday. They will be considering that. We'll see how that comes out, Andrea.
KOPPEL: Chris, what is the president's timeline and time frame for wanting to get this tax cut through Congress?
BURNS: Well, according to senior administration officials, they would like to see this pass as soon as possible. The -- of course, keep in mind, the election, presidential elections are not years away but months away. They would like to see it start to take effect midyear this year, they would like to see more than a million jobs created between this year and next year.
So it -- that is a race against a time -- against time to try to get this passed in time for it to have some kind of an effect on the economy. They would like to increase growth. Growth is very lackluster, and it is not creating the jobs that are needed. Unemployment is over -- is at about 5.8 percent, and they would like to see the growth increased to raise more jobs.
So there is quite a bit of suspense here, a lot at stake. And we'll have to see if President Bush can capitalize on his war victory, if we can say, and try to ride to victory in Congress on a tank. We'll have to see how that pans out, Andrea.
KOPPEL: Well, clearly, Senator Bill Frist, the majority leader, is going to have his hands full. Chris Burns at the White House, thanks very much.
BURNS: Thank 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
