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27 March 2003 With the costs of the war in Iraq and its aftermath expected to mount up, the Senate voted this week to chop Bush's $726 billion tax cut plan in half, overturning the House of Representative's decision last week |
Three Republicans broke ranks and voted with the Democrats as the plan was stalled by a vote of 51-48. Senator George V. Voinovich, who was one of the Republican dissenters, based his objection to the plan on the potential cost of peace keeping operations in Iraq once the war is over which he claimed could last up to two years and cost some $2 billion a month.
It appears that the timing of the vote could not be worse for supporters of the full programme of tax cuts given the economic circumstances the country faces at present. Senator John B. Breaux, the Democratic chief sponsor of the amendment that slashed the plan to $350 billion said that it was an unwise policy decision to allow such drastic cuts in tax when the government is already facing a $300 billion deficit, and no one knows for sure just how much the was in Iraq is going to cost.
However, although this is a setback for President Bush's economic centrepiece, it is by no means the end of the road, and the proposals will still have to face further votes by the House and the Senate. As Whitehouse spokesman Ari Fleischer put it "That vote is not the final vote. There are many more to come" adding: "Let's see what the ultimate outcome is."
If the Senate approves the overall measure, it will go back to a House conference as a budget resolution where further changes will be debated.
The final outcome of this tortuous legislative process will probably be a figure somewhere in between the original $726 billion package and the amended version of $350 billion. The Republican party still enjoys a majority in both the House and the Senate, and it is thought by commentators that Bush loyalists will eventually get their way, even if the plan is diluted somewhat. According to reports, two of the Republican dissenters, Voinivich and Olympia J. Snowe of Maine have intimated that they will support the plan whatever the revised figure will be when the plan comes back to the Senate once again.
"We need a budget resolution," said Snowe emphasising the growing impatience of many regarding the slow passage of the measures. "The last message we need to send the American people is that we can't pass a budget framework so we can do our business during time of war," she concluded.
