State of the Union: Bush Calls for Making Tax Cuts Permanent

NEW YORK -- In his fifth State of the Union address Tuesday, President Bush again called for making his tax cuts permanent, proposed a health plan initiative that would allow tax-free savings accounts and also tried to resurrect his Social Security plan.

Click here to read the full speech.

According to Bloomberg News, Bush's 51-minute speech to a joint session of Congress alternated between calls for cooperation between Republicans and Democrats and adoption of a largely partisan agenda. The president divided the speech between domestic goals -- making health care more affordable, ending U.S. “addiction'' to oil and investing more money to recruit math and science teachers -- and confronting threats to national security.

According to CNN, the president once again called on lawmakers to make permanent his 2001 and 2003 tax cuts -- which are scheduled to expire between now and 2010. When it comes to reducing the deficit, the president has said repeatedly that he prefers to rein in spending and keep the tax cuts in place because they have aided economic growth.

"(O)ur economy grows when Americans have more of their own money to spend, save and invest. ... (T)hey have used it to help produce more than four years of uninterrupted economic growth," the president said. "Because America needs more than a temporary expansion, we need more than temporary tax relief."

On health care, Bush proposed expanding untaxed health-savings accounts, reducing medical errors through greater use of electronic medical records, giving consumers more information about costs for medical services and letting small businesses join together across state lines to buy health care policies, Bloomberg News reported.

The president returned to the issue of Social Security again on Tuesday, The New York Times reported. Bush called for a bipartisan commission to examine ways to deal with Social Security, along with Medicare and Medicaid. Those three programs, Bush warned, would soon swamp the federal budget if Congress failed to act as millions of Baby Boomers turn 60 and prepare for retirement.

"This year, the first of about 78 million baby boomers turn 60, including two of my dad's favorite people: me, and President Bill Clinton," Bush said. "This milestone is more than a personal crisis — it is a national challenge. The retirement of the baby boom generation will put unprecedented strains on the federal government."

-- NYSSCPA.org News Staff

Posted on 2/1/06