From Reuters, via Forbes.com, "Senior Republican leader says Bush gets bad advice":
A senior Republican congressional leader told President George W. Bush on Wednesday that he was getting bad advice on highway legislation and should reconsider a veto threat."I am extremely disappointed with the 'take it or leave it' approach taken by your advisers," Don Young of Alaska, the chairman of the House of Representatives Transportation Committee, wrote in a letter to Bush.
"Solutions to these problems cannot be found by issuing edicts or veto threats," Young said of a letter sent by senior administration officials to House and Senate leaders on Tuesday that spelled out White House objections to pending highway legislation.
"It is my view, and I believe the view of most of my colleagues in Congress, that you are not receiving the best advice on the issue of how to reauthorize our nation's surface transportation programs for the coming six years," Young said in unusually frank public criticism of a Republican White House by a Republican congressional leader.
Bush has threatened to veto a number of bills during his term in office but has never rejected any legislation once approved by Congress. But the highway bill is viewed as an important early test for Bush on his drive this year to cut spending and impart new fiscal discipline.
Young told Bush that a range of funding scenarios to pay for the two leading highway construction proposals in Congress that each top $300 billion should be considered. "No option should be placed off limits," Young said.
While he did not specifically propose it to Bush, Young and other key members of his committee favor an increase in the federal gasoline tax by 8 cents over six years.
Treasury Secretary John Snow and Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta said the White House would recommend that Bush veto the highway bill if Congress included any tax increase.
Bush proposed a $256 billion highway bill for six years earlier this week in his federal budget. Bush included no tax increase to fund highway programs.
Highway legislation is one of the biggest election-year priorities for members of Congress who covet the billions of dollars in construction projects that create jobs and stimulate business.
One of the signs of a bad president is when his own party turns against him. It sounds like GW is biting off more than he can chew.
Posted by: Zog on February 5, 2004 10:33 AMA prime characteristic of this Bush is that he takes bad advice wherever he can get it, (even God!) so long as it agrees with his "faith-based intelligence," as someone (I forget who.) said a few days ago.
People like Cheney, Perle, Wolfowitz, et al have exposed their dangerous radical-right notions broadly, and so most intelligent people are onto them. Sad to say, public political information has been so bad for so long that ordinary people choose to believe propaganda, scare tactics and sound bytes. Unless media can be somehow reclaimed, we are in for an increasingly rough fascistic ride for a while.
"Highway legislation is one of the biggest election-year priorities for members of Congress who covet the billions of dollars in construction projects that create jobs and stimulate business."
Accroding to this, the legislation is a tool to get Copngress reelected. When building occurs, jobs increase until building ends; then you're laid off. But there are other things happening to "create" jobs. When I have enough money, I hire people to do things I don't want to do or cannot do. Now, while I don't have enough money, I fix my own car, fix my own house, do my own lawn, etc. I think if I had more money, I'd gladly pay someone else to do these things. Work sucks! So, you must be rich.
Posted by: Tom on February 21, 2004 02:30 PM
