Return to Transcripts main page
Live From...
Senate Approves Tax Cut With Aid of Cheney
Aired May 23, 2003 - 14:32 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.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Is it God send or gimmickry? A tax cut package President Bush once described as "little bitty" is soon to be the law of the land, but it wasn't easy. The Senate passed the bill this morning by the smallest possible margin after a withering debate to the very end.
CNN's Jonathan Karl live from Capitol Hill. Jonathan, when do I get my check?
JONATHAN KARL, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Miles, you will probably get your check this summer, at least if you have children. That is the thing. People with children will get a $400 increase in their tax credit. It will come in the form of a check mailed to their homes this summer.
You will also see more money in your paychecks because they are going to change those withholding schedules by the summer. So -- for most taxpayers, for most workers, they will see pretty close to an immediate result, immediate impact as a result of this, a point that was made shortly after the vice president cast his tie-breaking vote today.
He did not only cast the tie-breaking vote, but throughout this process, looked a little bit more like a congressional leader than like the vice president of the United States. He repeatedly -- and by the way, I think you are seeing -- there you see the vice president, Cheney, in the chair.
The vice president came to the rescue at least twice in the past two days when it looked like last-minute negotiations had broken down on the tax cut. They brought the vice president in. He took care of things.
Now, after that vote, Republicans came out with members of the administration and declared victory, talking about just how soon you will see that money in your paycheck.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN SNOW, TREASURY SECRETARY: People will see bigger paychecks this summer. The child credits will go into effect, and the rebates will be on the way to, I think, it's 25 million American families by July. So this is going to have an immediate impact on the American economy.
(END VIDEO CLIP) KARL: Well, not surprisingly, Democrats see a quite different immediate impact. As a matter of fact, Democratic leader Tom Daschle echoing the opinion of most Democrats up here. He thinks this tax cut was full of gimmicks and smoke and mirrors that disguised the true cost of the tax cut. There will be much more, and have a greater impact on the deficit. Here's what Daschle had to say before the vote.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. TOM DASCHLE (D-SD), MINORITY LEADER: I believe that our colleagues did the tax equivalent of a triple back flip off the high dive, and they belly flopped. It's a belly flop we will all feel.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KARL: And what Democrats say you'll feel is the fact that the deficit will be increasing to record levels, they say, as a result of this tax cut.
Now, as if to emphasize that point, the Senate right now is voting on another measure. We go to live pictures of the Senate floor. The Senate is voting on a measure to increase the debt limit -- that's the amount the U.S. government can borrow, by $984 billion, almost a $1 trillion increase in how much the Treasury Department can add to the U.S. debt.
This vote coming right after the tax vote is somewhat of an embarrassment to Republicans, and Democrats have been reminding people all day long, in fact, all week long that this vote was coming and saying this is simply a result of misguided policies, because the Republican administration, George Bush, has simply put too much emphasis on tax cuts and not enough on a balanced budget. They, of course, want to remind everybody that when President Clinton was in the White House, the budget reached balance -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: Jonathan, it seems like a no lose proposition for the Republicans. If the economy does, in fact, turn around as a result of this, then they can crow about it. If it doesn't, they can blame it on something else.
KARL: Well, absolutely. That's something they've been thinking about all along. They are saying that -- obviously, they will take credit if the economy turns around, and if the economy does not turn around, you can bet they'll try to say, well, that's because we didn't get as big a tax cut as we were trying to get. Democrats, some moderate Republicans, but Democrats prevented the full tax cut that President Bush was looking for. But they are going to have a hard time, to some extent, with that argument because they have gone so far today in declaring victory and declaring that this tax cut that just passed here today will improve the economy. Republicans have been saying over and over again they believe it will create up to 1 million jobs.
O'BRIEN: All right. Jonathan Karl, I'm thinking about how to spend that money right now. 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 23, 2003 - 14:32 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Is it God send or gimmickry? A tax cut package President Bush once described as "little bitty" is soon to be the law of the land, but it wasn't easy. The Senate passed the bill this morning by the smallest possible margin after a withering debate to the very end.
CNN's Jonathan Karl live from Capitol Hill. Jonathan, when do I get my check?
JONATHAN KARL, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Miles, you will probably get your check this summer, at least if you have children. That is the thing. People with children will get a $400 increase in their tax credit. It will come in the form of a check mailed to their homes this summer.
You will also see more money in your paychecks because they are going to change those withholding schedules by the summer. So -- for most taxpayers, for most workers, they will see pretty close to an immediate result, immediate impact as a result of this, a point that was made shortly after the vice president cast his tie-breaking vote today.
He did not only cast the tie-breaking vote, but throughout this process, looked a little bit more like a congressional leader than like the vice president of the United States. He repeatedly -- and by the way, I think you are seeing -- there you see the vice president, Cheney, in the chair.
The vice president came to the rescue at least twice in the past two days when it looked like last-minute negotiations had broken down on the tax cut. They brought the vice president in. He took care of things.
Now, after that vote, Republicans came out with members of the administration and declared victory, talking about just how soon you will see that money in your paycheck.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN SNOW, TREASURY SECRETARY: People will see bigger paychecks this summer. The child credits will go into effect, and the rebates will be on the way to, I think, it's 25 million American families by July. So this is going to have an immediate impact on the American economy.
(END VIDEO CLIP) KARL: Well, not surprisingly, Democrats see a quite different immediate impact. As a matter of fact, Democratic leader Tom Daschle echoing the opinion of most Democrats up here. He thinks this tax cut was full of gimmicks and smoke and mirrors that disguised the true cost of the tax cut. There will be much more, and have a greater impact on the deficit. Here's what Daschle had to say before the vote.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. TOM DASCHLE (D-SD), MINORITY LEADER: I believe that our colleagues did the tax equivalent of a triple back flip off the high dive, and they belly flopped. It's a belly flop we will all feel.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KARL: And what Democrats say you'll feel is the fact that the deficit will be increasing to record levels, they say, as a result of this tax cut.
Now, as if to emphasize that point, the Senate right now is voting on another measure. We go to live pictures of the Senate floor. The Senate is voting on a measure to increase the debt limit -- that's the amount the U.S. government can borrow, by $984 billion, almost a $1 trillion increase in how much the Treasury Department can add to the U.S. debt.
This vote coming right after the tax vote is somewhat of an embarrassment to Republicans, and Democrats have been reminding people all day long, in fact, all week long that this vote was coming and saying this is simply a result of misguided policies, because the Republican administration, George Bush, has simply put too much emphasis on tax cuts and not enough on a balanced budget. They, of course, want to remind everybody that when President Clinton was in the White House, the budget reached balance -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: Jonathan, it seems like a no lose proposition for the Republicans. If the economy does, in fact, turn around as a result of this, then they can crow about it. If it doesn't, they can blame it on something else.
KARL: Well, absolutely. That's something they've been thinking about all along. They are saying that -- obviously, they will take credit if the economy turns around, and if the economy does not turn around, you can bet they'll try to say, well, that's because we didn't get as big a tax cut as we were trying to get. Democrats, some moderate Republicans, but Democrats prevented the full tax cut that President Bush was looking for. But they are going to have a hard time, to some extent, with that argument because they have gone so far today in declaring victory and declaring that this tax cut that just passed here today will improve the economy. Republicans have been saying over and over again they believe it will create up to 1 million jobs.
O'BRIEN: All right. Jonathan Karl, I'm thinking about how to spend that money right now. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
