Bush bipartisanship just might
work!
WASHINGTON-There has been much
said in the press during George W. Bush’s transition about
the incoming president’s bipartisanship.
Grover Norquist, president of
Americans for Tax Reform, one of the nation’s leading organizations
in the fight against tax increases, says the time is right for citizens
to join the fight to combat the tax-and-spend forces in our Nation’s
Capital and it is a bipartisan issue.
The Washington Post recently reported
on the action being taken by House Majority Whip Tom DeLay (R-Texas)
to meet with moderate Democrats in Congress to forge an alliance
on important issues such as tax cuts. Norquist said, “This
is exactly what ATR has long advocated – outreach to elected
officials of all parties to help protect the taxpayers’ money
from the big spenders.”
Rep. DeLay’s meetings with
conservative Democrats, such as the members of the caucus known
as the “Blue Dogs,” could prove to be invaluable to President-elect
Bush in getting his programs to control federal spending and cut
government waste enacted.
There are skeptics, however, regarding
DeLay’s effort. House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt’s
(D-Mo.) chief of staff, Steve Elmendorf, said DeLay was establishing
ties with Democrats to promote his conservative agenda.
Many Blue Dog Democrats are already
on record as being opposed to increased taxes. They, like DeLay
and Bush, have signed “The Taxpayer Protection Pledge”
which was created by ATR in 1986. Si ning the Pledge commits an
elected official to “oppose any and all efforts to increase
the marginal tax rates for individuals and/or businesses.”
In the outgoing 106th Congress,
209 House members and 40 senators, Democrats and Republicans alike,
signed on the dotted line in opposition to federal raids on the
average citizen’s wallet. With the 107th due into its First
Session soon ATR will be striving to get members of the new Congress
to sign on to the Pledge.
Norquist, citing the ATR Pledge,
said DeLay’s underscoring tax cuts in his meetings with his
Democratic colleagues is bipartisan. “We all have to ante up
for tax increases. Cutting taxes should be high priority with all
parties. It should be a nonpartisan – top of the order –
issue.”
