Bush On The Air: Unfinished Business
November 17, 2007, 2:18pm
Congress has chosen “political posturing” over priorities like funding military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq and changing the tax code so more Americans aren’t hit with the alternative minimum tax, President Bush said today.
The so-called AMT is designed to ensure that the wealthy pay some taxes despite write-offs, but an estimated 25 million people will have to pay the tax unless Congress exempts them, as it has in recent years. Democratic lawmakers, meanwhile, are pushing an emergency war spending bill that would require troop withdrawals from Iraq to get the money.
The president used his weekly radio address to urge action on both issues before the end of the legislative year in a few weeks. “[U]nless they complete this work soon, middle-class Americans will pay higher taxes and American troops will not receive the critical funding they need to fight and defeat our enemies,” Bush said.
Sen. Bob Casey, R-Pa., criticized Bush in the Democratic address and challenged Republicans in Congress to support the Democratic effort to link troop withdrawal to additional war spending.
“President Bush has asked for nearly $200 billion more to continue the war indefinitely, with no accountability,” Casey said. “This request is unacceptable, and we are negotiating a way forward that will responsibly deploy our troops out of Iraq so that we can transition the mission to training Iraqis, protecting our forces and fighting terrorists.”
Categories: Podcast of the Week, Pennsylvania, Iraq, Bob Casey, Weekly Radio Address, Taxes
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