Bush pushes forward with tax cut plan
Diego Ibarguen
Knight Ridder Newspapers
WASHINGTON (KRT) — A day af
ter the Pentagon declared that major
combat in Iraq had ended, President
Bush on Tuesday turned his attention
to the struggling U.S. economy, calling
on Congress to pass tax cuts worth at
least $550 billion over 10 years.
“The nation needs quick action by
our Congress on a pro-growth econom
ic package,” Bush told an audience of
small-business owners on a sunny day
in the White House Rose Garden.
It was the first time Bush said he
could accept a tax cut that is $176
billion less than his original proposal,
a concession to a Congress that has
balked at running up bigger deficits.
His remarks began a flurry of activi
ty on the president’s economic agen
da, evidendy part of a strategy to avoid
his father’s fate: President George
H.W. Bush’s popularity rose after suc
cess in the 1991 Gulf War, but he lost
re-election in 1992 because of con
cerns that he wasn’t doing enough to
fix a stumbling economy.
“This administration is con
sumed with appearing to be engaged
in the economy, drawing a lesson
from the first President Bush,” said
Thomas E. Mann, a presidential ob
server with the Brookings Institu
tion, a Washington think tank.
“Whether the blur of that activity
has any impact is questionable.”
Polls have steadily shown high over
all approval ratings for the current
president. But he has received lower
marks for his handling of the economy,
the leading domestic concern. Mann
said the net loss of 2 million jobs since
Bush took office, a flagging stock mar
ket and exploding budget deficits could
have the president seeking re-election
when the U.S. “fiscal and economic
well-being seem in sorry shape.”
Bush told his White House visitors
that “economic and job growth will
come when consumers buy more
goods and services from businesses
such as your own. And the best and
fairest way to make sure Americans
can do that is to grant them immedi
ate tax relief so they have more of
their own money to spend or save.”
But the nonpartisan Congressional
Budget Office has estimated that
Bush’s plans for new tax cuts and more
spending on Medicare and the military
would swell federal budget shortfalls by
82.7 trillion over the next decade.
Bush—who said “victory in Iraq is
certain, but it is not complete” —
turned the spotlight on his economic
agenda after days of negotiations in
Congress resulted in the House’s ap
proval of a 8550 billion tax cut, while
the Senate cut in half the 8726 billion
Bush request, approving8350 billion.
Bush expects “a good fight ahead,”
spokesman Ari Fleischer said. “And
the president is going to engage in it.”
Bush used Tuesday’s event, falling
on the tax-filing deadline, to reiterate
the main points of his initial 8726 bil
lion tax-cut plan. Elements of the
program, which he said would create
510,000 jobs this year and 1.4 mil
lion jobs within two years, include:
• Eliminating the “double taxation”
of shareholder dividends, a component
of the plan that has been criticized as a
benefit primarily to wealthier taxpayers;
• Making tax-rate cuts set for 2004
and 2006 effective this year;
• Eliminating the so-called “mar
riage penalty” this year, under which
some married couples pay more in tax
es than they would if they were single;
• Increasing the child tax credit by
$400, from $600 to$l,000;
• Tripling the amount small busi
nesses can write off on the purchase
of new equipment.
© 2003, Knight Ridder/Tribune
Information Services.
U.S. authorities disrupt supply line for meth labs
Shannon McCaffrey
Knight Ridder Newspapers
WASHINGTON (KRT) — Authori
ties on Tuesday disrupted a major sup
ply line for methamphetamine labs in
the Southwest, announcing the arrests
of 65 people for allegedly smuggling
from Canada tons of a key chemical
used to make the popular illegal drug.
Federal agents are investigating
whether cash from the lucrative
pseudoephedrine trafficking ring was
being used to finance terrorism.
In one of the arrests, Alaa Odeh,
a Staten Island, N.Y., shop owner, is
accused of laundering hundreds of
thousands of dollars through an un
cle in the Middle East who has been
arrested by Israeli authorities on
suspicion of being a member of the
violent Palestinian group Islamic
Jihad, according to the criminal
indictment.
Odeh is suspected of operating a
“hawala,” an underground money
transfer network popular in the
Southeast Asia and the Middle East
and believed also to be used by sever
al terrorist operations, including
Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida net
work, authorities said.
“We’re always interested in follow
ing the money and seeing where the
money goes,” Assistant Attorney
General Michael Ghertoff, head of
the Justice Department’s criminal di
vision, said Tuesday.
In the United States, arrests were
made in Detroit, Chicago, Los Ange
les, New York, Cincinnati, Riverside,
Calif., and Gulfport, Miss. In Canada,
there were arrests in Montreal, Que
bec, Vancouver and Ottawa.
The 18-month investigation,
dubbed Operation Northern Star,
reached to the top of the trafficking
scheme. Among those charged Tues
day in multiple indictments are six
top executives from three Canadian
chemical companies: G.C. Medical
Products, Formulex and Frega Inc.
In indictments unsealed in the
Eastern District of Michigan, the ex
ecutives and several of the ring’s bro
kers were charged with conspiracy to
distribute a listed chemical knowing
it will be used to manufacture a con
trolled substance.
As U.S. suppliers were arrested,
DEA investigators noticed that Cana
dian shipments were being imported
to fill the void. Canada has since be
gun to place controls on the chemical
similar to the ones the United States
has in place. Operation Northern
Star was conducted with the help of
the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
“Without a steady supply of pseu
doephedrine, it’s a lot harder to make
meth and you can’t sell what you
can’t make,” DEA Chief of Opera
tions Roger Guevara said.
© 2003 Knight Ridder/Tribune
Information Services.
Iraq
continued from page 1
interest, in ruling Iraq.”
But in the neighboring city of
Nasiriyah, thousands of Shiites ral
lied against American plans for an
interim government, chanting “no
to America, no to Saddam! ”
“The Iraqi people don’t trust this.
You saw today what happened in
Nasiriyah with the demonstra
tions,” said Abu Bilal al Adib, a
spokesman for the Dawa (Islamic
Gall) Party in Tehran. His group had
been invited, but refused to attend.
“Our people are unhappy with what
the Americans are doing; they want
to be independent.”
Also boycotting the event was the
Supreme Council for the Islamic
Revolution in Iraq, a major Shiite
group. “We will not accept if they
even stay one day in Iraq,” said Ab
dul Aziz Hakim, the group’s second
in command.
Before the meeting began, the
leader of the Kurdistan Democrat
ic party, Iraq’s largest Kurdish
group, had accused the rival Patri
otic Union of Kurdistan of making
a grab for the oil-rich city of
Kirkuk in violation of a U.S.-bro
kered accord.
If the protests, bad blood and sit
outs showed how difficult the tran
sition to democracy may be, many
still hailed the Ur gathering as a his
toric event.
At the meeting’s end, Iraqis were
urged to move forward by Jay Gar
ner, the former U.S. Army general
who is in charge of the post-war
transition to self-rule.
“The first votes of a free Iraq
should be when the next meeting
is,” Garner said. He assured Iraqis
that the allied coalition would re
build Iraq, but that their own polit
ical development had to go on si
multaneously.
Tuesday’s session was to be the
first in a series. Details of the next
meeting, on April 25, have yet to be
worked out. U.S. officials said Iraqis
must present more definite proposals
for the Iraqi Interim Authority, which
is to help the country through its
transition to full self-rule. “We may
have some ideas of our own we’ll
share,” the official said. “We may,” he
said, with emphasis.
© 2003, Knight Ridder/Tribune
Information Services.
Seat 4
continued from page 1
the EMU by helping allocate more
than $3 million in student inciden
tal fees invested annually in the
building and its services.
Kjos said a passion for student
leadership is at the core of his can
didacy. He added he has a deep ap
preciation for student groups and
the medley of events they provide to
the campus community throughout
the year.
A list of leadership-related activi
ties peppers Kjos’ resume, including
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working as an
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serving as vice
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However, Kjos
said many stu
dents have
questioned him
about his suit
ability for Seat
4 because he hasn’t been involved
in an EMU program. He said his re
moteness from the inner-workings
and bureaucracy of the EMU gives
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him the added advantage of unbi
ased perception.
“I have the experience all around
campus to be an effective leader,”
he said.
Kjos hopes to pursue a future in
law after graduating from the Uni
versity and aspires to work his way
to being a servant of the citizenry as
a district attorney.
Moreno also said helping others is
one of the primary goals in his life,
but he doesn’t think practicing law
is in his future. He added that his
time at the University has opened
up his mind and has made him even
more passionate about what hap
i'i--■.1 ■ —.■
pens to other
people.
“I’m not sure
where life will
take me, but
I’m sure I’ll be
working for the
greater good,”
Moreno said.
He said the
necessity of
helping others
has always
been a part of
his life, ever since his adolescence
in Mexico City. Moreno said he
spent a large part of his youth there
Moreno
and became very involved in fight
ing for the public good when the
area was experiencing political up
heaval and turmoil in the move
ment for indigenous rights. He
added he now wants to pursue his
desire to help others by serving as
an EMU Board finance senator in
theASUO.
“I’m now trying to apply my
conscience at a local level,”
Moreno said. “It all has to do with
student access. The students need
to have a voice.”
Contact the senior news reporter
at jenniferbear@dailyemerald.com.
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