Bush to advocate corporate prudence
- - - - - - - - - - - - By Ron Fournier
Jan. 29, 2002 | WASHINGTON (AP) --
President Bush plans to condemn corporate irresponsibility in his State of the Union address Tuesday, moving to distance himself from Enron Corp. and the political fallout of its collapse.
The carefully measured remarks in drafts of Bush's speech reflect increasing concern at the White House that voters view Bush and Republicans as more sympathetic to big business than to average Americans.
However, a new poll suggests Americans are more suspicious of congressional Democrats than of Bush. In the USA Today/CNN/Gallup survey, 29 percent said Bush believed he would owe Enron executives special policy treatment in return for campaign contributions; 55 percent believe congressional Democrats felt that way.
The pitch for good corporate citizenship, a staple of Bush's presidential campaign, is part of his State of the Union push for pension law revamping and the disclosure of more corporate financial information, said aides who spoke on condition of anonymity.
As part of a broad call for community activism, Bush also plans to propose expanding a national service program started by former President Clinton, and open it to churches and other faith-based institutions, aides said.
Bush rehearsed the speech in the White House theater on Monday and met with lawmakers to discuss changes in Medicare -- one of the relatively few domestic policy initiatives he plans to discuss. He outlined his address for congressional leaders over breakfast Tuesday morning.
Leaving that meeting, Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle made clear that whatever Bush says on war with terrorists is a guaranteed applause-winner from both parties. "There's been a great deal of bipartisan support for the effort he's undertaken," said Daschle, D-S.D.
Buoyed by record-high approval ratings, the commander in chief will devote most of his time to what aides call three great goals: The war against terrorism, domestic defense and the economy.
He has already proposed adding nearly $50 billion to the Pentagon budget, the largest increase in military spending in 20 years.
Aides say Bush will outline the post-Afghanistan stage of the war, which could put U.S. troops and intelligence officers in several countries as they hunt for tens of thousands of terrorists trained by Osama bin Laden's network. To make his point, Bush intended to say that the Sept. 11 attacks were carried out by 19 people, most of whom were trained in Afghanistan along with up to 100,000 other terrorists now threatening America from every corner of the globe.
The speech also reaffirms Bush's desire to prevent countries from obtaining and selling weapons of mass destruction, with specific mentions of North Korea, Iran and Iraq, aides said.
The wide variety of homeland security budgets -- including spending on military, intelligence, border security and local "first responders" such as police officers and firefighters -- would be doubled to $38 billion under the plan.
On domestic policy, the president is seeking a new prescription drug benefit for the elderly covered by Medicare, greater reliance on private health plans and looser regulation of the health care industry.
"It's a system that's old -- it's old and it's tired," Bush said after a White House meeting with Democratic and Republican lawmakers to discuss Medicare.
He wants $190 billion for the changes, less than Congress has suggested it was willing to pay.
In the address, aides said Bush also plans to propose:
--Allowing taxpayer-funded workers in the Clinton-era national service program to serve in religious organizations. Bush's broader faith-based initiative has stalled in Congress as critics question its constitutionality.
--Improving homeland defense by enlisting volunteers through the national service program.
--An education tax credit for private school tuition and school supplies.
Associated Press