Scene from a Summit: Greenbacks and Vertigo

Tomorrow is the day of the grand summit between President Bush and Democratic leaders on the 2008 federal budget. The summit -- an attempt to reconcile their differences regarding the budget -- was announced last Wednesday. Senate Budget Committee chair Kent Conrad remarked that the meeting could be a key to Nussle's confirmation to head OMB: "It will certainly be affected by that [meeting]." But the following day, in a speech to the American Legislative Exchange Council in Philadelphia, President Bush set a tone that was anything but conciliatory, employing the rhetoric of a tax abolitionist and issuing a grave warning to Democrats about their plan: There's an interesting philosophical debate that's now playing out in the United States Congress... who do we trust to handle the people's money. A basic principle from which I have operated as governor and now as President is this: I think it's wise for government and government officials to trust the people to spend their money. See, I think you can spend your money, and I think you know how to save your money better than the federal government knows how to spend your money... you ask the average American family [and] they'll say, let me have my money, I can do a good job with it.... The best way to balance this budget is to keep the economy strong by letting you keep your money. And so it's no surprise that the [Democrats'] budget framework includes the largest tax increase in American history. In order to pay for the promises they have made, their budget framework includes the largest tax increase -- not the second largest or close to the largest -- the largest tax increase in American history... And that's why I plan on using my veto to keep your taxes low. You can already imagine them on the summit tomorrow, President Bush seeing green at every opportunity, the Democrats experiencing vertigo.
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