Free Republic

A SURGE in tax revenues have put the Bush administration years ahead of schedule in a bid to halve the nation's budget gap by 2009, US Treasury Secretary John Snow said today. "We've been going the right way since the tax cuts took effect," Mr Snow said, referring to tax reductions passed in 2003. "Prior to the time the tax cuts took effect, growth was much weaker, business investment was declining, job creation was weal and now we've seen ... 12 straight quarters of growth," Mr Snow said at a news conference. He said federal receipts were surging as a...

CONSERVATIVE outrage over US President George W. Bush's pick of Texan lawyer Harriet Miers to fill a Supreme Court vacancy continued as activists called on the White House to withdraw her nomination. Former presidential candidate Pat Buchanan, said on NBC's "Meet the Press" that the president should name someone else to fill the vacancy on the US high court. "I would like to see the nomination withdrawn. If I were in the Senate today I would vote against it," Mr Buchanan said. "My guess is, she will not be confirmed, and she will be withdrawn." The Weekly Standard called the...

Congressional Democrats yesterday laid the blame for the flawed response to Hurricane Katrina squarely on President Bush, saying he was "oblivious" to the crisis immediately after the storm hit. The Senate's top Democrat asked whether Mr. Bush prepared properly for the disaster while "on vacation," but a Gallup Poll finds that only 13 percent of Americans blame the president. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi lashed out at Mr. Bush, with Mrs. Pelosi taking the unusual action of recounting her private conversation with the president. The California Democrat said she urged Mr. Bush to fire...