Bush pleads for Iraq plan: ‘Give it a chance’

Bush wants the same ability to reform mileage rules for passenger cars, which today must meet a fleet average of 27.5 miles per gallon, a standard unchanged in two decades. He would include a system of trading or “banking” credits to meet new standards, Kaplan said.

With debate over the Iraq war sending Republicans scurrying away from the president and his job approval rating hovering in the mid-30 percent range, Bush’s overall agenda was twofold: present himself as a leader with a sincere desire to work across party lines and pressure on Democratic leaders to either go along or offer alternatives.

The White House had promised the president would be bold. But spiraling war expenses and huge federal deficits precluded anything too costly.

Health insurance deduction
But the cold reception that Bush’s ideas on health care received on Capitol Hill in the days ahead of the speech offered a striking reminder of the difficulty he faces in the new climate.

The president is proposing to change to how the tax code treats health insurance, by counting employer contributions toward health insurance as taxable income while establishing a standard deduction for anyone with insurance. The White House says it would introduce increased market forces to the health care industry and make coverage more affordable for the uninsured. Aides estimated the plan would represent a tax increase for only about 20 percent of employer-covered workers.

Rep. Pete Stark, D-Calif., chairman of a key health subcommittee in the House, said he would not even consider holding hearings on the proposal. He dismissed it as a dead-on-arrival attempt to encourage employers to stop offering health insurance.

“You can assume a lot of people are going to do the old ‘it’s dead on arrival,’” White House press secretary Tony Snow said. “It’s not. This is a proposal that’s going to make health care cheaper for 100 million Americans or more.”

Gonzales stays away from address
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales stayed away from the Capitol Tuesday night in case of a catastrophic attack or accident as Bush delivered his sixth State of the Union address.

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By long-standing tradition, a member of the president’s Cabinet misses the speech to Congress as a precaution against the entire administration’s being wiped out and to maintain the presidential line of succession.

The State of the Union address typically draws most members of both congressional houses and other top government officials, including Vice President Dick Cheney, who is also the president of the Senate.

A ‘surge’ of interest
Three GOP senators and one moderate Democrat unveiled nonbinding legislation expressing disagreement with the plan and urging Bush to consider “all options and alternatives.”

“We’ve had four other surges since we first went into Iraq,” said Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, one of the sponsors. “None of them produced a long-lasting change in the situation on the ground.”

In the House, members of the GOP leadership drafted a series of what they called “strategic benchmarks” and said the White House should submit monthly reports to Congress measuring the Iraqi government’s progress in meeting them.

Meanwhile, majority Democrats intend to hold votes within days in the House and Senate on tougher bills declaring that the troop increase is “not in the national interest.”

In other areas, the president addressed

• Health care. Bush proposed a tax deduction of $7,500 for individuals and $15,000 for families regardless of whether they buy their own health insurance or receive medical coverage at work. He also would subject employer-sponsored health care benefits to taxation, meaning those with policies worth more than the deduction would see a tax hike. But those who get policies at work worth less than the deduction, the preponderance of workers with employer-provided insurance, would get a tax break. Another proposal would give some federal money now going to hospitals and other facilities to states for programs to reduce the number of uninsured.
• Education. Bush pushed for Congress to renew his education accountability law, No Child Left Behind, which expires this year.
• Immigration. Bush again urged comprehensive reform that goes beyond tougher border security.

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