For the skeptics, there may be solace in the knowledge that Bush's
lofty new space goals are not likely to receive congressional
blessings anytime soon.
Nor is it likely that his immigration plan, which would let millions
of foreign guest workers enter the United States if jobs await them,
will make much headway this year in the GOP-led Congress.
Bush's advisers saw the proposal as a way to capture Hispanic votes,
but conservatives say it amounts to granting amnesty to lawbreakers.
Both initiatives came as Bush sought ways to dress up his re-election
bid with grand themes -- and to present a contrast to disorganized
Democrats battling among themselves.
But even Bush supporters in Congress questioned the potential costs.
"Any decisions on the future of manned space must be made in the
context of budget realities," said Rep. Sherwood Boehlert of New York,
the Republican chairman of the House Science Committee.
Thomas Mann, a political scholar at the Brookings Institution, sees
Bush's proposals as election-year window dressing.
"It's all about setting the agenda, being seen as the activist
president and doing it in a way that he figures he can get political
advantage simply from proposing items," said Mann.
"It's almost a caricature of the `vision thing,"' said Mann, referring
to the first President Bush's admission that he never had "the vision
thing."
The cost of a Mars mission has been informally put at nearly $1
trillion.
"They want to send the red ink to the red planet," said Thomas Kahn,
Democratic staff director of the House Budget Committee, suggesting
the proposal shows Bush is not serious about curbing deficits.
The space initiative follows enactment last month of Bush's $400
billion, 10-year proposal for a Medicare prescription drug benefit.
"Where is the tax increase to pay for it?" Democratic presidential
candidate Howard Dean asked at a campaign stop in New Hampshire.
"We already have a half trillion dollar deficit. It is not worth
bankrupting the country if that's what's going to happen."
Presidential spokesman Scott McClellan said the president's budget
office was "obviously looking at resources you have and how to
allocate those resources" and that Bush still intended to put forth "a
responsible budget that meets our highest priorities. "
Stephen Wayne, a presidential scholar at Georgetown University, said
Bush doesn't need to propose one sweeping new initiative after another
with his substantial approval ratings and an improving economy.
"He needs to articulate what he has done and what he will continue to
do for the American people," Wayne said.
From The Associated Press, 1/12/04:
http://salon.com/news/wire/2004/01/10/conservatives/index.html
By Tom Raum
WASHINGTON (AP) --
President Bush is grabbing headlines with ambitious proposals to send
Americans to the moon and Mars and to revamp immigration policy.
But his election-year agenda is costly and controversial, alarming
some of his conservative supporters who wonder how a nation with
record budget deficits and an expensive war on terrorism will find the
money.
The disclosure that Bush will call next week for establishing a
permanent moon outpost and for later sending astronauts to Mars drew
skeptical responses Friday from Democratic presidential candidates and
from budget hawks of both parties.
Few in Washington expect the White House to expend much political
capital in pushing for the new measures.
"The one real blemish on the president's record with fiscal
conservatives has been the out-of-control budget," said Stephen Moore,
president of the conservative Club for Growth.
"At a time of gigantic government deficit spending, we ought to think
about whether this is the highest priority right now."
Said presidential hopeful Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn:
"George Bush must be from another planet if he thinks that, with his
fiscal priorities, we can get there and at the same time make America
stronger."
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Conservatives are alarmed, eh? Well it sure took 'em long enough.
Harry
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