Bush
from page 4
In the first test of his leadership,
Bush was trying to convince the
American people and their legislators
that cutting taxes would boost the sluggish
economy and ensure that Congress
doesn’t squander the surplus on pork
barrel spending. Polls suggest voters are
lukewarm to Bush’s tax-cut package,
which he presented on the campaign
trail 14 months ago.
To the applause of Republicans, Bush
uiged Congress to cut taxes retroactively
because the sluggish economy “needs a
jump start.” He added: “Tax relief is
right and tax relief is urgent. ” Advisers
have said Bush would support making
tax cuts retroactive to Jan. 1.
Bush proposed increasing spending
for Social Security, Medicare and
entitlement programs by $81 billion —
much of which is due to the routine
growth of the entitlement programs.
He also would increase discretionary
spending by an additional $26 billion,
a 4 percent increase. That is a bit higher
than inflation but lower than the growth
of government in each of the last three
years.
Bush was careful to cultivate
Democrats, paying tribute to cancer
stricken Rep. Joe Moakiey of
Massachusetts, praising Philadelphia
Mayor John Street and quoting John F.
Kennedy, a Democratic icon.
He cloaked his debt-reduction plan
in bipartisanship. “Many of you have
talked about the need to pay down our
national debt. I have listened, and I
agree.”
Bush said his education budget
dedicates $5 billion over five years to
help children learn to read. The school
budget, which received the biggest
increase in his blueprint, also spends
money to train and recruit teachers
“because we know a good education
starts with a good teacher,” he said.
He used the education theme to
salute his wife, Laura, a one-time school
teacher and librarian and said she will
travel the country to promote education.
Bush said his plan will pay off $2
trillion of the $3.2 trillion in publicly
held debt over 10 years. It would leave
enough money, he said, for a $1
trillion contingency fund “for unexpected
needs (and) additional priorities.”
Bush advisers said that possible uses
for the reserve could include extra debt
redyction if actual federal surpluses shrink ,
below current projections and added
spending for defense, agriculture or other
programs; or instituting personal saving
accounts that workers could use to build
up retirement nest eggs.
Bush said he would appoint a
presidential commission this spring to
overhaul Social Security and instruct the
panel to report its findings by next fall.
“It must return Social Security to sound
financial footing, and it must offer
personal savings accounts to younger
workers who want them.”
The president also said he instructed
Attorney General John Ashcroft to
develop recommendations “to end racial
profiling” — the practice of police
officers taigeting suspects based on their
race or other traits.
“It is wrong and we must end it,”
said Bush, reaching out to black voters
after winning only one out of 10 of their
votes in the contentious presidential
election.
The address was Bush’s first chance
to showcase his agenda on a broad stage.
After a brief inaugural address Jan. 20,
the president has struggled to make his
aiguments heard above the din generated
by former President Clinton’s pardons,
a spy scandal and an airstrike against Iraq.
The speech was set in the House’s
ornate chamber, where histoiy and recent
controversies mingled in memories.
Eisenhower delivered his State of the
Union speeches to a Republican Congress
in the mid-1950s, the last GOP president
to do so until Bush. Two yeais ago, Bush’s
predecessor was impeached in the same
chamber and sent to trial in the Senate,
where he was acquitted.
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England seeking ways to combat
foot-and-mouth disease outbreak
by Chris Fontaine
Associated Press
LONDON — Five more sites of foot
and-mouth disease were identified
Tbesday, and officials trying to stop the
fast-spreading outbreak canceled all horse
racing in England and granted new powers
to stop hiking on rural land.
The five new cases brought the
confirmed number of outbreaks to 17.
Prime Minister Tony Blair called an
emeigency Cabinet meeting at Downing
Street as agriculture officials scrambled
to trace the intricate path of the livestock
vims, farmers believe as many as 25,000
sheep, cattle and pigs passed through
thfee markets at the center of the
outbreak during the week before a Friday
ban on moving livestock within Britain.
“These figures show the sheer
volume of movement,” said Peter
Kingwill, chairman of the Livestock
Auctioneers’ Association. “In-terms of
an outbreak, they are worrying.”
As the impact of the disease spread,
the government granted local authorities
the power to place footpaths and rights
of-way off limits to walkers. Dartmoor
National Park, a popular hiking
destination in southwest England, was
closed to protect the 60,000 cattle and
sheep that graze there.
The Jockey Club, which mns horse
racing in England, announced that racing
would be suspended for at least seven
days until March 7. The fate of the
Cheltenham Festival — the prestigious
three-day jump meeting scheduled for
March 13-15 — was in doubt, The last
major outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease,
in 1967, saw racing in Britain suspended
for six weeks.
Foot-and-mouth disease almost never
infects humans, but it is highly contagious
among cloven-footed animals like sheep,
cows and pigs. It isn’t usually fatal in
itself, but causes blisters on the mouth
and feet, fever and loss of appetite.
Vaccines exist, but are quickly
rendered ineffective by the development
of new strains of the virus, so wholesale
slaughter is used to contain the disease.
Officials elsewhere in Europe
were growing increasingly worried
that the disease could spread. The
European Union extended until at least
March 9 a ban on British exports of
livestock, meat and dairy products.
Thousands of livestock have been
killed in continental Europe, where no
cases have been found. Germany said it
had slaughtered another 1,600 sheep
Tuesday, following the earlier killing
of 360 animals imported from England.
The Netherlands slaughtered more
than 3,200 animals brought from Britain
’ before the outbreak was discovered. Spain
ordered the destruction of 540 pigs
imported from Britain, and France has
decided to destroy 20,000 sheep brought
from Britain since the beginning of the
month.
The new cases identified in Britain
on Tuesday spanned the country, from
Anglesey in north Wales to
Northamptonshire, north of London.
J'hey followed five new cases that
cropped up Monday.
The sudden escalation after a
weekend in which only one new case '
was reported set off fresh fears the
country could experience a repeat of the
1967 epidemic, Mien nearly half a million
livestock were slaughtered.
Two British newspapers published
maps Tuesday showing the spiderweb
like spread of the disease through England.
Bonfires lit up affected areas for a second
night as authorities disposed of about
7,000 slaughtered animals.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair
on Monday called the outbreak “a
dreadful blow” to a farming industry
already struggling with mad cow disease,
a fatal brain-wasting illness first identified
in Britain.
Even if the foot-and-mouth outbreak
is quickly contained, Chief Veterinary
Officer Jim Scudamore has warned that
an export ban — imposed two days after
the first case was discovered at a
slaughterhouse on Feb. 19 — could
remain in place for up to six months after
eradication.
Efforts to trace the disease’s progress
have led investigators to three livestock
markets — one in central England and
two further north near Scotland —
believed to have handled diseased animals.