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NATION 7 A
THE BATTALION Tuesday, September 2, 2003
Bush defends policy to union audience
By Leigh Strope
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
RICHFIELD, Ohio — President Bush vigorously defended his
tax cuts against Democratic criticism Monday, telling a union audi
ence that he had to move aggressively to help an economy “still
bumping along.”
Calling American working men and women the strength of the
country. Bush used his Labor Day outing in a key battleground
state to pledge anew that he will work hard to create jobs.
He promised better days ahead, saying "we want every
body working.”
“We’re committed to helping those who’ve got a job to keep a job
and for those who are looking, to find a job," Bush said to cheers. “We
want people to be able to realize their personal dreams by working.
That’s the commitment this Labor Day.”
Bush’s trip to Richfield, Ohio, on a damp, overcast holiday marked
his third visit this year to the Buckeye State, which he narrowly won
in 2000. He spoke to members of the International Union of Operating
Engineers, which represents 400,000 construction and maintenance
workers in the United States and Canada.
Tucked between the Democratic strongholds of Akron and
Cleveland, Richfield has leaned toward Republicans in past elections.
The site of Bush’s speech, the union’s training facility, was
well-prepped for his visit. A half dozen construction cranes and
other heavy machinery provided the backdrop where Bush spoke
on a damp, overcast day.
Bush defended his administration’s handling of the economy at a
time when the civilian jobless rate is at 6.2 percent and more than 9
million people are out of work.
He said the nation had suffered shocks to the economy, including
the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 and the upheaval in corporate
America amid a series of accounting scandals.
Bush said he moved to protect the country against new terror
ism and that he worked with Congress on legislation to force bet
ter accountability from corporate board chairman.
“Yet, the economy was still bumping along,” he said, “so we
passed tax relief and we lowered taxes once again to create jobs.
When you lower taxes, people have more money.”
With an eye on key rustbelt states for next year’s election.
Bush also said he has asked Commerce Secretary Don Evans to
create the position of assistant commerce secretary for manu
facturing to give more attention to a sector of the economy that
has been especially hard hit. Bush will nominate that person but
there is no timetable for his selection, said White House spokes
woman Claire Buchan.
Since the recession began in March 2001, the U.S. economy has
lost 2.7 million net jobs. Manufacturing has shed 2.4 million jobs.
Labor Day traditionally marks the beginning of the campaign
season, when voters start paying attention to elections. With 15
months before election day, polls show likely voters are far more
concerned about the weak economy than Iraq or terrorism.
The administration is mindful that a poor economy cost Bush’s
father a second tenn in 1992 and has vowed to show the country it
is engaged in sparking a recovery.
The economy still remains Bush’s greatest vulnerability because
recent improvements haven’t yet trickled down to the jobs market.
“Obviously, the economic recovery is not as strong as we would
like, but the trend lines are positive,” Labor Secretary Elaine Chao
said on CBS’s "The Early Show.”
Democrats say the tax cuts passed by the GOP-led Congress
have gone to the wealthiest taxpayers and have sent the deficit
soaring to $480 billion for next year.
“I hope his tour of the state will include the empty factories
and bankrupt corporations,” said Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich,
one of nine Democrats vying to challenge Bush.
Ohio is one of the most unionized states in the country, with
about 18 percent of the work force belonging to a union.
Nationwide, just 13.2 percent of the work force is unionized.
Organized labor is a key constituency of the Democratic Party, yet
Bush still managed to beat A1 Gore in this battleground state, 50 per
cent to 47 percent in 2000.
Bush has tried to woo some trades and industrial unions, which
tend to be more conservative than public and service sector unions.
But he’s had mixed success.
One of his most high-profile targets, James P. Hoffa and the
Teamsters, expressed distaste over some of Bush’s policies, par
ticularly proposals to tighten reporting of union finances and to
revamp overtime pay rules. The Teamsters recently endorsed
Rep. Dick Gephardt, D-Mo., for president.
Rural areas need benefits
WASHINGTON (AP) — A Medicare drug
benefit is most needed in rural areas, where
recipients are twice as likely as those in the
city to lack any such coverage, according to
a report prepared for a think-tank run by
President Clinton’s former chief of staff.
The report found that fewer Medicare
recipients in rural areas have drug coverage
through private insurance plans or benefits
provided by former employers than those in
cities. It also found that rural patients spend
about 25 percent more on prescription drugs
NEWS IN BRIEF
than those in cities.
The recommendations included keeping
provisions that extend the benefits to low-
income seniors who may also be eligible for
Medicaid. The Senate version does not offer
the benefit to Medicare recipients also eligible
for Medicaid.
The report also calls for a stable system for
administering the plan in rural areas, where pri
vate companies may come and go. At a mini
mum, the report recommends keeping Senate
provisions that create a government "fallback”
for rural areas where there are no private
insurers offering the plans.
China's military shrinking
China on Monday announced plans to cut
200,000 more soldiers as part of efforts to mod
ernize its armed forces — cuts that come on
top of a 500,000-man reduction in the five
years ending in 2000.
Altogether, the military will shrink from
about 2.5 million people to about 2.3 million.
The cuts will coincide with the introduction
of more high-tech battle systems, military
commission chief and retired president Jiang
Zemin was quoted by state television and the
official Xinhua News Agency.
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