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Bush ties growing economy to his tax cuts
Bush noted that a record 68 percent of Americans own their own homes. He also cited relatively low inflation and a rise in manufacturing. "Our economy is growing," said Bush. "It's strong and getting stronger." Bush tied what he described as a growing economy to his series of tax cuts -- including a boost in the child tax credit and breaks for small businesses -- and he called on Congress to make them permanent.
Source: CNN.com Mar 26, 2004

Cut the deficit in half in the next 5 years
We should limit the burden of government on this economy by acting as good stewards of taxpayers' dollars. In two weeks, I will send you a budget that funds the war, protects the homeland and meets important domestic needs, while limiting the growth in discretionary spending to less than 4 percent. This will require that Congress focus on priorities, cut wasteful spending and be wise with the people's money. By doing so, we can cut the deficit in half over the next five years.
Source: 2004 State of the Union address to joint session of Congress Jan 20, 2004

Investment and aid to states will help economy rebound
Encouraging job-creating investment in America's businesses by providing dividend and capital gains tax relief and giving small businesses incentives to grow and providing $20 billion in aid to States for necessary services
Source: Campaign website, www.georgewbush.com Aug 29, 2003

Provides assistance to new small businesses
Every small business owner who purchases equipment to grow and expand will get assistance through an increase in the expensing limits from $25,000 to $100,000.
Source: Campaign website, www.georgewbush.com Aug 29, 2003

Restore consumer confidence with tax cuts & new oil supplies
First things first. We’ve got to restore consumer confidence. We can help in Washington by returning tax money to the people who pay the bills this year. We can restore investor confidence by building a better business environment for years to come, starting with having a realistic, sound energy policy -- a policy that says, of course, we can conserve better, but we need to aggressively seek new supplies. We need an aggressive, forward-thinking energy policy that balances the needs of our environment with the needs of the people of the country.
We can also help by having a world of free trade. One of the concerns is if the economy were to slow down like ours, the protectionist sentiments around America might start bubbling to the surface. Ours is an administration dedicated to free trade. Free trade is good for America. And, finally, we need to have lower taxes, instead of bigger government.

Source: White House speech to high-tech leaders Mar 28, 2001

Proposes to shrink federal budget to 16% of GDP
A good way to measure the actual size of government is to compare total federal spending to the Gross Domestic Product or GDP. Under Presidents Ronald Reagan and George Bush, the ratio was about 22% -- the federal budget was 22% of the nation’s GDP. Under President Clinton, the ratio fell to 18%. President George W. Bush’s proposed budget would drop the ratio further to 16%.
Source: National Public Radio News Mar 12, 2001

Cut national debt by $2T in 10 years; leave $1.2T in debt
President Bush’s budget plan will seek to put the nation on a course to pay off $2 trillion of the national debt over the next 10 years, leaving $1.2 trillion of debt at the end of that period. After several years of bipartisan consensus about the desirability of extinguishing as much debt as quickly as possible, with the goal of bringing it to zero in a decade or a little longer, Bush will say that bringing it below $1.2 trillion in that period, much less wiping it out entirely, will be all but impossible.
Bush’s budget plan will conclude that the national debt held by the public. White House officials said their position is not the result of a political or a policy decision, but a reflection of the fact that a portion of the debt in the form of a variety of bonds is not easily redeemable, either because it would be too expensive to do so or because its holders would be unwilling to part with it.

Source: Richard Stevenson, NY Times Feb 27, 2001

Too much government spending will end prosperity
Gore offers an old and tired approach. He offers a new federal spending program to nearly every voting bloc. He expands entitlements, without reforms to sustain them. 285 new or expanded programs, and $2 trillion more in new spending. Spending without discipline, spending without priorities, and spending without an end. Al Gore’s massive spending would mean slower growth and higher taxes. And it could mean an end to this nation’s prosperity.
Source: Speech in Minneapolis, Minnesota Nov 1, 2000

Prosperity results from entrepreneurship & ingenuity
BUSH (to Gore): I think the economy has meant more for the Gore and Clinton folks than the Gore and Clinton folks has meant for the economy. I think most of the economic growth that has taken place is a result of ingenuity and hard work and entrepreneurship. And that’s the role of government, is to encourage that.
GORE: I think that the American people deserve credit for the great economy that we have. And it’s their ingenuity. I agree with that. But they were working pretty hard eight years ago, and they had ingenuity eight years ago. The difference is, we’ve got a new policy. Look, we have gone from the biggest deficits to the biggest surpluses; we’ve gone from a triple dip recession during the previous 12 years to a tripling of the stock market. Instead of high unemployment, we’ve got the lowest African-American and lowest Latino unemployment rates ever in history, and 22 million new jobs.

Source: (X-ref Gore) Presidential debate, Boston MA Oct 3, 2000

Private sector responsible for economic boom
Bush flatly rejected the contention from Clinton and Gore that their economic policies, particularly the 1993 deficit-reduction package that passed Congress solely on Democratic votes, had contributed to the nation’s boom times. “I think the economy has grown really in spite of government. This is an incredible period of time when productivity has been enhanced, not because of any great initiative of government, but because of the ability for entrepreneurs to stake a new claim.”
Source: Ronald Brownstein, LA Times Aug 13, 2000

Make budget biennial; reinstate line-item veto; target pork
“If the discord in Washington never seems to end, it’s because the budget process never seems to end,” Bush said. He decried an environment of “too much polling and not enough decision-making.” Bush proposed revamping the federal budget process to shift from an annual to a biennial exercise and to require the president and Congress to agree on spending targets early in the process, to prevent government shutdowns.
Bush also said he would target wasteful spending by restoring a version of the line-item veto and installing a commission to recommend pork-barrel projects for elimination. [Bush proposes] devoting the off-year in the biennial budget process to examining which government programs should be eliminated.

House and Senate members said Bush’s ideas would get a respectful hearing on Capitol Hill, although proposals requiring Congress to relinquish power over the nation’s purse strings likely would encounter resistance.

Source: Dana Milbane, Washington Post, p. A1 Jun 9, 2000

$46B in new spending on health, education, & defense
George W. Bush may be inventing a different species of politician: a tax-cut-and-spend Republican. So far this week, Bush has proposed new spending that would total about $46 billion over five years, most of it for health care. Yesterday, he recommended a $4.3 billion program, mostly to expand community health services in remote and urban areas. Earlier, he called for $13 billion in new education spending, a defense plan that requires at least $25 billion in new spending--perhaps more. And he’s not through. Aides say Bush will use the coming months to outline more of his domestic policy views and, likely, additional spending for health care and other problems. Democrats say Bush has overestimated the projected surpluses, significantly underestimated the size of his tax cut, and has not factored into his fiscal equation plans to privatize part of the Social Security system and has yet to outline a single significant cut in current spending.
Source: Dan Balz and Terry M. Neal, Washington Post Apr 13, 2000

New Prosperity Initiative: remove obstacles to advancement
I propose a New Prosperity Initiative.... A plan to help remove obstacles on the road to the middle class.... Instead of helping people cope with their need, we will help them to move beyond it. The Initiative focuses on four additional keys to ensuring upward mobility:
Increasing Access to the Middle Class
Rewarding Work
Providing Access to Affordable Health Care
Expanding Homeownership
Building Savings and Personal Wealth
Source: Fact Sheet: “New Prosperity Initiative/Renewing America” Apr 11, 2000

Simplify tax code to stimulate economic growth