Politics

Bush Hits Road On Taxes

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

March 8, 2001 / 10:52 AM EST / CBS

A day after the House approved his plan to cut income tax rates across the board, President Bush traveled from South Dakota to Louisiana to build public pressure on those states' four Democratic U.S. senators to support the bill that is now in their hands.

Bipartisan cooperation "is alive and well," Mr. Bush insisted to reporters as he, Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle and Sen. Tim Johnson, South Dakota's senators, toured a medical lab in support of increased funding to community health centers.

"This is an area where I'm confident we can work together," Mr. Bush said with a grin and a nod to Daschle. The South Dakota Democrat nodded in reply and added quietly: "Absolutely. For the health of the country."

Both Daschle and Johnson, who said nothing in his brief joint appearance with the president, have been sharply critical of Mr. Bush's tax plan as "risky" and tilted toward the wealthy.

At a subsequent rally, to which neither Democrat was invited, Mr. Bush cast himself as a man of the heartland, fumed that "the folks in Washington are used to spending orgies," and did nothing to quiet supporters who bellowed "Booooo!" at the mention of Daschle's name.

"You're just an e-mail away from making a difference in somebody's attitude," he encouraged some 2,000 ticket-holding South Dakotans bused to a National Guard hangar to see the president.

Mr. Bush spoke amid mixed symbols of conquest and concession. Hovering at stage right was an F-16 Fighting Falcon jet, but loudspeakers broadcast a Matchbox 20 song that began forlornly, "I think I've already lost you."

Mr. Bush said he and Daschle had agreed to treat each other with respect despite their differences. And the president urged their own kind of warmth on his audience, advising them to become Girl Scout or Boy Scout leaders or get involved in mentoring. "Put your arm around somebody. It says, `We love you,'" he said.

The Bush Tax Plan

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Daschle is airing TV ads through South Dakota saying that Mr. Bush's tax-cut-heavy economic agenda doesn't leave room for strengthening Medicare and Social Security, let alone helping loca water and farming projects.

Mr. Bush rebutted those claims point by point.

"I know we've got to make sure we take care of our elderly," he said. "And the Lewis and Clark Rural Water Project is a project that will be in my budget. I'm telling you we can meet the needs."

Looking ahead to Senate negotiations that are still weeks away and promise to grind slowly, Mr. Bush voiced impatience. He has said he wants his tax-cut package — lowered income-tax rates, expanded child credits, a pared marriage penalty and phased-out estate tax — enacted by July 4.

"There is a need to make this happen quickly," Mr. Bush said. "We've got an issue with our economy. It's beginning to sputter. It's beginning to get a little shaky, and one way to make sure that we provide a second wind to the economy is to give people their own money back."

He was making a similar pitch on a late-afternoon pass through Louisiana — aimed at its Democratic senators, John Breaux and Mary Landrieu — on his way to a weekend off at his Texas ranch, where he was to relax with his parents, the former president and first lady.

During most of his four hours in Louisiana, however, the president stayed out of sight in a Hilton hotel room. Aides said he met there with GOP Gov. Mike Foster Jr. and, by telephone, checked in on things back at the White House.