GOP Agenda in Congress May Be at Risk Katrina's Costs, High Fuel Prices Working Against More Tax Cuts By Jonathan WeismanWashington Post Staff Writer Sunday, September 4, 2005;
The GOPs post-Katrina priorities:
I guess there is no problem that can't be solved by cutting taxes for the rich.
Republican leaders intended to return to work with a dream agenda for small-government conservatives: permanent repeal of the estate tax, an extension of deep cuts to capital gains and dividend taxes, the first entitlement spending cuts in nearly a decade, and the advent of private investment accounts for Social Security.
GOP leaders will have to justify additional tax relief for upper-income people at a time of civil and economic crisis. "How do you do tax cuts when your budget is straining to save lives?" asked Rep. Mark Foley (R Fla).
Yes, that is just what we need right now: "additional tax-relief for upper-income people". Is this what they call compassionate conservatism?
Marshall Wittmann, a former Republican political strategist now with the centrist Democratic Leadership Council, said the GOP agenda looks like "political suicide."
Let's hope so.
