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CNN Live Sunday
Bush Touts Tax Cuts as Tonic for Economy
Aired May 11, 2003 - 16:31 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: President Bush is touting a big tax cut as a tonic for sickly economy here in the U.S., but Democrats on Capitol Hill find it hard to swallow. CNN White House correspondent Chris Burns is with the president on the tax cut barn- storming trail. And he's with us now from Santa Fe, New Mexico. Good to see you, Chris.
CHRIS BURNS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good to see you, Fredricka.
Well, it does appear the Democrats are taking a strategy that that tonic could become a poisoned pill for the Republicans by the time elections roll around.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BURNS (voice-over): Losing ground on the tax cut battle, the Democrats appear to take a different tack: Hammer the Bush administration on the rising deficit that's financing it. Potential ammunition for next year's elections.
SEN. TOM DASCHLE (D-SD), MINORITY LEADER: We're going to be voting on increasing the national debt by $1 trillion. Before we do that, we ought to question whether or not we want to increase the tax cuts as the president proposed.
BURNS: In Sunday's talk shows, the president's economic lightning rod took the heat for the more than half trillion dollar tax cut the House approved last weak. Nervous Senate Republicans are pushing for less.
During the Clinton administration in 1995, John Snow said the budget deficit "puts a hole in the pocket of every American." The deficit at the time was far less than the $400 billion projected this year. Secretary Snow says times are different, with a soggy economy.
JOHN SNOW, TREASURY SECRETARY: Deficits are not all equal. We need to distinguish here. A deficit at a time of full employment, and a deficit that's rising over time, is troublesome. That's what I was talking about in 1995. Today, today, we have underemployment.
BURNS: The Bush administration argues the House tax plan would fight 6 percent unemployment, by stimulating the economy and creating one million jobs by the end of next year. Secretary Snow says the effect will be immediate. The Democrats call it a snow job, benefiting wealthy taxpayers. SEN. MARY LANDRIEU (D), LOUISIANA: I think the whole trickle down is hogwash. We tried that and it didn't work. Americans want a president that will focus on tax relief as well as focusing on keeping America strong in the long run.
BURNS: It is a high stakes political risk the president is taking, promising the tax cut will reduce unemployment in time for elections. On Monday and Tuesday, Mr. Bush barn storms through New Mexico, Nebraska and Indiana to get the Senate to go along with the House plan. Putting on the line his biggest political capital, his post-war popularity.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BURNS: You know, President Bush seeks to confound the Democrats' predictions that he can't win on the war and win on the economy. But if his tax cut plan fails, or fails to come through as he predicts it will, Democrats are already positioning themselves to turn that tax cut victory, if there is a victory on Capitol Hill, into an economic and electoral Achilles heel for the president.
And if I may turn to something a little bit lighter. The president today is on the golf course right now, and we have managed to, along with other reporters, speak to him, asked him if he wished his mother a happy Mother's Day. The president said, yes. He called the former first lady, Barbara Bush, wished her a happy Mother's Day and he said she was slightly sleepy but appreciative.
And if I may wish my mother a happy Mother's Day, I would like to do that, too. Joyeuse fete de maman. And back to you, Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: Thanks a lot. Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there.
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 11, 2003 - 16:31 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush is touting a big tax cut as a tonic for sickly economy here in the U.S., but Democrats on Capitol Hill find it hard to swallow. CNN White House correspondent Chris Burns is with the president on the tax cut barn- storming trail. And he's with us now from Santa Fe, New Mexico. Good to see you, Chris.
CHRIS BURNS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good to see you, Fredricka.
Well, it does appear the Democrats are taking a strategy that that tonic could become a poisoned pill for the Republicans by the time elections roll around.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BURNS (voice-over): Losing ground on the tax cut battle, the Democrats appear to take a different tack: Hammer the Bush administration on the rising deficit that's financing it. Potential ammunition for next year's elections.
SEN. TOM DASCHLE (D-SD), MINORITY LEADER: We're going to be voting on increasing the national debt by $1 trillion. Before we do that, we ought to question whether or not we want to increase the tax cuts as the president proposed.
BURNS: In Sunday's talk shows, the president's economic lightning rod took the heat for the more than half trillion dollar tax cut the House approved last weak. Nervous Senate Republicans are pushing for less.
During the Clinton administration in 1995, John Snow said the budget deficit "puts a hole in the pocket of every American." The deficit at the time was far less than the $400 billion projected this year. Secretary Snow says times are different, with a soggy economy.
JOHN SNOW, TREASURY SECRETARY: Deficits are not all equal. We need to distinguish here. A deficit at a time of full employment, and a deficit that's rising over time, is troublesome. That's what I was talking about in 1995. Today, today, we have underemployment.
BURNS: The Bush administration argues the House tax plan would fight 6 percent unemployment, by stimulating the economy and creating one million jobs by the end of next year. Secretary Snow says the effect will be immediate. The Democrats call it a snow job, benefiting wealthy taxpayers. SEN. MARY LANDRIEU (D), LOUISIANA: I think the whole trickle down is hogwash. We tried that and it didn't work. Americans want a president that will focus on tax relief as well as focusing on keeping America strong in the long run.
BURNS: It is a high stakes political risk the president is taking, promising the tax cut will reduce unemployment in time for elections. On Monday and Tuesday, Mr. Bush barn storms through New Mexico, Nebraska and Indiana to get the Senate to go along with the House plan. Putting on the line his biggest political capital, his post-war popularity.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BURNS: You know, President Bush seeks to confound the Democrats' predictions that he can't win on the war and win on the economy. But if his tax cut plan fails, or fails to come through as he predicts it will, Democrats are already positioning themselves to turn that tax cut victory, if there is a victory on Capitol Hill, into an economic and electoral Achilles heel for the president.
And if I may turn to something a little bit lighter. The president today is on the golf course right now, and we have managed to, along with other reporters, speak to him, asked him if he wished his mother a happy Mother's Day. The president said, yes. He called the former first lady, Barbara Bush, wished her a happy Mother's Day and he said she was slightly sleepy but appreciative.
And if I may wish my mother a happy Mother's Day, I would like to do that, too. Joyeuse fete de maman. And back to you, Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: Thanks a lot. Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
