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American Morning

Tax Cut Battle

Aired April 22, 2003 - 08:35   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.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: A top priority for President Bush on the domestic front right now is his plan to cut taxes during the next 10 years by more than $700 billion. That's the proposal from the White House. Apparently, though, that plan is in trouble. Surprisingly, though, because of a group of fellow Republicans. They are small in number, but making reverberations.
And for that, our senior analyst Jeff Greenfield is following the tug-of-war down in D.C.

Good morning to you.

JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN SR. ANALYST: Good morning.

HEMMER: Fair to say this is a breaking of the ranks. or not?

GREENFIELD: Well, it's a very tiny breaking of the ranks, Bill. It's a tiny handful. But they hold significant, power because the Senate is narrowly decided. You'll remember back in 2001, it was the defection of a single Republican, Jim Jeffords of Vermont, that threw the Senate into Democratic control.

This year, what you have is two Republican senators, John McCain of Arizona, Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island, they don't support any tax cut. And there's one Democrat, Zell Miller of Georgia, supporting Bush's tax plan.

So the only way to get 50 votes for any plan was to promise Senator Voinovich of Ohio and Snowe of Maine that there would be a cap, a $350 billion cap, and that's where we are.

HEMMER: That promise to Voinovich and Snowe has produced a lot of fallout so far.

GREENFIELD: Yes, that has produced fallout, in two directions. First, Republicans who supported the bigger cut have turned on these two senators. There's a group called the Club for Growth, a very strong tax, pro-tax cut group, and it is allegedly running ads in Ohio and Maine comparing the two senators to the French and their refusal to back the president.

Take a look at one of them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: President Bush courageously led the force of freedom. But some so-called allies like France stood in the way. At home, President Bush has proposed bold, job-creating tax cuts to boost our economy. But some so-called Republicans, like George Voinovich, stand in the way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GREENFIELD: Voinovich happens to be up for reelection next year. And in the past, the Club for Growth has actually backed primary opponents against Republicans who they see as insufficiently strong on tax cuts, so that's where...

HEMMER: How much damage do you think this could be if there's damage even to be assessed right now?

GREENFIELD: Well, the damage may come in other direction, which is what happed to Senate majority leader Bill Frist, because there, there may be real damage. House Republicans are said to be furious that he signed off on this lower limit without talking it over with them, and he has apologized to them. But there's some ill feeling there.

HEMMER: So go back to the White House then. How damaging could it be, the president ultimately. Your gauge on this right now is?

GREENFIELD: I think there is way less here than meets the eye, if you're allowed to say that on television. First, Bush's support among Republicans is astonishingly high. It's higher than it was for Reagan. More than nine out of 10 Republicans approve of the president's job performance. And look at the numbers on his tax cut when it passed in the House. Out of 223 Republicans, there were only 7 defections.

And second, spread this over 10 years at a difference on $20 billion a year in a $10.5 trillion gross domestic product may not be all that major. The concern of the tax cutters, it may not have enough oomph to get the economy going.

Also, by the way, these ads, which are sometimes produced not so much as paid ads, but as videos that we pick up, they're not exactly the precursor of primary challenges. The position of Voinovich and Snowe, unlike some House moderates that have been running for primaries, it's just too strong.

What we don't know is whether the president's wartime success we all talk about is really going to make any difference in persuading these senators to change. I mean, they adopted this position as Baghdad was falling.

HEMMER: In the meantime, you're going to have the president go to Ohio on Thursday, which is the home state of George Voinovich, and the pressure will be cranked up then.

GREENFIELD: Exactly. Some Republicans are hoping, that as Reagan said to see, if they don't see the light, they'll feel the heat.

HEMMER: Got it. You can say that on TV, too. Thank you, Jeff. See you a bit later in the week.

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 22, 2003 - 08:35   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: A top priority for President Bush on the domestic front right now is his plan to cut taxes during the next 10 years by more than $700 billion. That's the proposal from the White House. Apparently, though, that plan is in trouble. Surprisingly, though, because of a group of fellow Republicans. They are small in number, but making reverberations.
And for that, our senior analyst Jeff Greenfield is following the tug-of-war down in D.C.

Good morning to you.

JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN SR. ANALYST: Good morning.

HEMMER: Fair to say this is a breaking of the ranks. or not?

GREENFIELD: Well, it's a very tiny breaking of the ranks, Bill. It's a tiny handful. But they hold significant, power because the Senate is narrowly decided. You'll remember back in 2001, it was the defection of a single Republican, Jim Jeffords of Vermont, that threw the Senate into Democratic control.

This year, what you have is two Republican senators, John McCain of Arizona, Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island, they don't support any tax cut. And there's one Democrat, Zell Miller of Georgia, supporting Bush's tax plan.

So the only way to get 50 votes for any plan was to promise Senator Voinovich of Ohio and Snowe of Maine that there would be a cap, a $350 billion cap, and that's where we are.

HEMMER: That promise to Voinovich and Snowe has produced a lot of fallout so far.

GREENFIELD: Yes, that has produced fallout, in two directions. First, Republicans who supported the bigger cut have turned on these two senators. There's a group called the Club for Growth, a very strong tax, pro-tax cut group, and it is allegedly running ads in Ohio and Maine comparing the two senators to the French and their refusal to back the president.

Take a look at one of them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: President Bush courageously led the force of freedom. But some so-called allies like France stood in the way. At home, President Bush has proposed bold, job-creating tax cuts to boost our economy. But some so-called Republicans, like George Voinovich, stand in the way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GREENFIELD: Voinovich happens to be up for reelection next year. And in the past, the Club for Growth has actually backed primary opponents against Republicans who they see as insufficiently strong on tax cuts, so that's where...

HEMMER: How much damage do you think this could be if there's damage even to be assessed right now?

GREENFIELD: Well, the damage may come in other direction, which is what happed to Senate majority leader Bill Frist, because there, there may be real damage. House Republicans are said to be furious that he signed off on this lower limit without talking it over with them, and he has apologized to them. But there's some ill feeling there.

HEMMER: So go back to the White House then. How damaging could it be, the president ultimately. Your gauge on this right now is?

GREENFIELD: I think there is way less here than meets the eye, if you're allowed to say that on television. First, Bush's support among Republicans is astonishingly high. It's higher than it was for Reagan. More than nine out of 10 Republicans approve of the president's job performance. And look at the numbers on his tax cut when it passed in the House. Out of 223 Republicans, there were only 7 defections.

And second, spread this over 10 years at a difference on $20 billion a year in a $10.5 trillion gross domestic product may not be all that major. The concern of the tax cutters, it may not have enough oomph to get the economy going.

Also, by the way, these ads, which are sometimes produced not so much as paid ads, but as videos that we pick up, they're not exactly the precursor of primary challenges. The position of Voinovich and Snowe, unlike some House moderates that have been running for primaries, it's just too strong.

What we don't know is whether the president's wartime success we all talk about is really going to make any difference in persuading these senators to change. I mean, they adopted this position as Baghdad was falling.

HEMMER: In the meantime, you're going to have the president go to Ohio on Thursday, which is the home state of George Voinovich, and the pressure will be cranked up then.

GREENFIELD: Exactly. Some Republicans are hoping, that as Reagan said to see, if they don't see the light, they'll feel the heat.

HEMMER: Got it. You can say that on TV, too. Thank you, Jeff. See you a bit later in the week.

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