Anybody who listened to President Bush speak during his campaign heard a few specific messages reiterated again and again, loud and clear. One addressed the federal budget deficit, which at 3.6 percent of GDP (gross domestic product) in 2004 was the highest it has been in over a decade. Bush has vowed to halve the deficit by 2009. He repeated this promise in a December press conference, stating he will cut the deficit in half while continuing to pursue both making the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts permanent and providing “every tool and resource for our military.”
