Bush Pressured To Compromise On Tax Cut

W A S H I N G T O N, March 12, 2001 -- With the economy taking a downturn, a bipartisan group of senators is looking to make sure President Bush's $1.6 trillion tax cut won't bust the budget if projected surpluses never materialize.

Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott acknowledged today that a trigger provision, which would kill any tax cut if the federal government doesn't actually generate as large a budget surplus as expected over the next decade, is one of the main hurdles jeopardizing Bush's tax cut on Capitol Hill.

"There are some senators that are interested in that idea. And I am listening to them. The problem is how you write it," said Lott, R-Miss.

"But having said that, there are a lot of interesting ideas being floated around," he said. "I'm talking about this issue with Republicans that are thinking about it and Democrats to see how it would work."

Bush, too, said he's willing to compromise, saying during a visit to Florida today he'll listen to those who disagree with the size and scope of his proposed tax cut.

"There's a hundred different opinions in theUnited States Senate, and I respect every opinion," Bush said. "I'm willing to listen to the hundred different voices who've got different views about where this package ought to go."

No Retreat

Back on the House side of the Hill, where lawmakers passed the first installment of Bush's tax cut package last week, Majority Leader Dick Armey said "we will not compromise" and approve any trigger mechanism.

"The trigger is a patently bad idea," said Armey, R-Texas. "If you want stimulus from your tax reduction, you cannot then compromise that by the uncertainty you get with a trigger."

The Concord Coalition, a budget watchdog group, sided with critics who think the Bush tax cut is too big and locks up too much of the surplus.

Robert Rubin, treasury secretary under former President Clinton, appeared at the Concord Coalition news conference today and cautioned the trigger concept is not sufficient to guard against new deficit spending.

"A trigger sounds good conceptually, " Rubin said. "I think once you get into the practicality of it, it seems to me there's a good probability that it's not going to work."

Better, Rubin and the Concord Coalition contend, to reduce the size of the initial tax cut and make it larger if the economic outlook improves.

"You start with a moderate tax cut and two, three, four years down the road, if the projections materialize you can decide what to do," he said.

But on a day when the stock markets were making record dives, Bush called on Congress to pass the tax cuts as soon as possible to give the economy a shot in the arm.

"We need to do it in a quick way in order to provide a little second wind to theeconomy," he said.