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WASHINGTON - Congress' two top Democrats criticized the Bush administration's economic policies Tuesday and called for action to spur recovery, including help for strapped state economies, better pension programs for retirees and a higher minimum wage for workers.
House Democratic Leader Dick Gephardt proposed a $200 billion stimulus package including $75 billion in tax cuts — an idea described as an "interesting proposition" by President Bush's spokesman.
Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle urged an extension of unemployment benefits and strong enforcement of corporate accountability.
While taking issue with Bush, some of the most prominent Democrats have declined to call for a rollback of his tax cut.
"The last thing you do when you're going into a recession is raise taxes," Gephardt said at a briefing sponsored by the Economic Policy Institute, a Washington think tank. "You cut taxes."
Gephardt added that the president "has said he will discuss the tax issue over his dead body. I understand those words."
The Missouri Democrat proposed his tax cuts "to help working families and encourage company investment in the short term." And he urged $125 billion in new spending — $25 billion for school construction, $25 billion to help states pay for protecting key facilities and $75 billion to help provide health care for unemployed workers and to bolster Medicaid.
While some Republicans immediately criticized Gephardt's plan as another Democratic "tax and spend" proposal, Bush's spokesman, Ari Fleischer, said, "It's interesting that he's talking about tax cuts."
Fleischer added that while he disagreed with the political points in Gephardt's speech "we'll take a look at what the congressman said."
Republican national Chairman Marc Racicot said: "All of the initiatives laid out by Minority Leader Gephardt today have already been proposed by Republicans."
Gephardt said, "We have serious economic job problems now and on the horizon and this administration is acting like everything is hunky-dory."
Whatever their position on tax cuts, Democrats agree that focusing on the economy could help their chances in the upcoming congressional elections.
Still, Republican pollster Mathew Dowd wrote GOP leaders this week that "Democrats do not have the voters' overwhelming trust on the economy and have no real solutions from their leaders." If voters do feel that way, Gephardt's proposals could be a response.
Polls have shown Democrats with a slight edge on the economy, or both parties even among prospective voters.
Gephardt said he's found in his travels in his St. Louis-area district that "people are feeling this economy very much. I went door to door in my district a week ago, and all I got was 'I'm worried about my job, worried about my 401(k).'"
Both Daschle and Gephardt urged the White House to work with both Republicans and Democrats to come up with a new approach to the economy.
"These are all ideas that deserve a fair hearing," Daschle said on the Senate floor, "and we should have a real discussion about these and other ideas to help our economy in the short term. But we also need to focus on the long term."
Gephardt said a bipartisan approach was the only chance for a change in direction.
Democrats are on a full-scale offensive to focus the political debate on the economy in the remaining weeks before the Nov. 5 election. Al Gore, the 2000 Democratic nominee, was in Iowa on Tuesday saying voters are longing to hear about the economy prior to the election.
Some Democrats considering a run for the White House have proposed changes in the Bush tax cuts.
Vermont Gov. Howard Dean said he opposed the sharp tax cuts he thinks are sapping the strength of the country. North Carolina Sen. John Edwards and Connecticut Sen. Joseph Lieberman have called for steps to trim back future tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans.
Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry hasn't directly called for rolling back the tax cuts but has called for "a return to the fiscal responsibility we gave this country in 1993 when we passed the Deficit Reduction Act."
Another benefit of the Clinton Presidency!
Would that list include House Democratic Leader Dick Gephardt, Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, Al Gore, Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, Connecticut Sen. Joseph Lieberman, Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, and anyone at Citigroup?
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