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White House steps up pace on push for tax rate cut

February 15, 2001
Web posted at: 8:37 p.m. EST (0137 GMT)

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Even as congressional Democrats unveiled their response to the Bush tax-cut plan Thursday, the White House is pressing Congress to move rapidly on the most controversial part of the plan, the across-the-board cut in income tax rates.

At the start of a meeting with Republican House and Senate Budget committee members, President Bush told reporters that he knew the vote count for his $1.6 trillion tax cut plan is close.

  MESSAGE BOARD
 

"I've got a lot of work to do, but I'm convinced that when the American people hear our plan, they will support it. And I think we've got a very good chance of getting the tax package through," Bush said.

Following a week of meetings on Capitol Hill with House Republican leaders, senior White House officials have asked the House Ways and Means Committee to carry out an aggressive push for the Bush plan in early March.

Two schedules have been laid out. The most aggressive calls for the Ways and Means Committee to pass the rate cut in the first week after Congress returns from its Presidents Day recess. This action would coincide with two crucial steps in the White House tax-cut sales campaign: Bush's economic address to a joint session of Congress on February 27 and the submission of his 2002 budget the day after.

A second schedule calls for the Ways and Means Committee to act the following week. This would give GOP leaders and the White House time to entice a small band of Democrats to publicly endorse the across-the-board rate cut.

Bush seeks support of 15-30 Democrats

Senior White House advisers believe they can capture between 15 and 30 Democratic votes for the rate cut and would like to set up at least one bipartisan media event before the Ways and Means panel moves a bill. While White House advisers concede attracting 15 Democrats to an income tax cut media event is remote, they are trying to win public support from a few.

The White House expects no support from Ways and Means Committee Democrats but has aggressively courted Southern Democrats and others in states that will lose congressional seats to redistricting. The White House assumes Democrats affected by redistricting may find the Bush tax cut politically attractive as they calculate appealing to new voters or fending off potential primary challenges.

GOP backing for tax plan is solid

Meanwhile, House GOP leaders concluded private meetings this week with more than 150 Republicans to gauge support for the Bush tax plan. While some moderates expressed mild reservations about its size, none threatened to oppose the president, according to senior GOP and White House sources. Representatives from the White House legislative affairs office sat in on virtually all of these "listening sessions" to respond to any concerns.

The solid GOP support encouraged the White House to press for fast action. The White House wants the rate cut to be voted on first because it attracts the most withering Democratic criticism and fits most neatly into the White House pitch that a rate cut could stimulate economic growth later this year as a hedge against a downturn. The White House also believes Democratic support will be much higher for other parts of the plan, such as ending the marriage tax penalty and reducing or ending the estate tax.

But the key for the White House campaign is to capitalize on the momentum set in motion by higher surplus projections and the qualified support for tax cuts offered by Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan. Quick House action on the income tax cut could, the White House believes, increase voter expectations and intensify pressure on Congress to keep the Bush tax cuts moving through the legislative process.

After the House votes on the rate cut, other parts of the Bush plan will move through the House in April or May. Senate action will not commence until after the Bush budget resolution, which establishes the blueprint for all spending and tax cutting moves, is passed. The Senate is not expected to begin debate on the budget until April.

Bush will meet with House and Senate Republicans at the White House on Thursday afternoon to discuss the schedule of the tax and budget votes.

Several Republican senators have already expressed concerns about the president's tax plan-- including Jim Jeffords of Vermont, Olympia Snowe of Maine and Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island.

An aide to Sen. Max Baucus, D-Montana,, said the mood in the Senate -- where the tax cut faces tougher sledding than the House -- has "softened" over the last few days.

Michael Siegel said some senators feel the Bush administration is putting too much emphasis on keeping the overall tax cut package at $1.6 trillion. "This administration needs to stop being fixated on a number and start focusing on priorities," Siegel said.

Siegel said testimony from Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill before the House Ways and Means Committee on Tuesday added to the impression that the administration was not being flexible. O'Neill repeatedly stressed the need to keep the tax cut at $1.6 trillion and suggested if Congress added additional benefits to the tax cut, such as making it retroactive, it would have to absorb those costs elsewhere in the package. That "all or nothing" approach is not working in Bush's favor, Siegel said.



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