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President Bush told Rotarians and Chamber of Commerce leaders he will veto any tax increase legislation that Congress sends to his desk. SUZANNE CARR ROSSI/THE FREE LANCE-STAR View More Images from this story Visit the Photo Place

Bush talks up economy in Stafford visit

Bush interacts with Rotary members in Stafford County appearance

BY EMILY BATTLE

Date published: 12/18/2007

BY EMILY BATTLE

President Bush stood in the dining room of the Yak-a-Doos restaurant on U.S. 17 in Stafford County yesterday and asked Congress not to raise taxes.

He pledged before the Stafford Rotary club to veto any tax increase sent to his desk. His half-hour speech touched on the economy, the housing market, health care and energy.

"There's quite an appetite for your money in Washington," Bush told the group of 85 members of area Rotary clubs and the Fredericksburg Regional Chamber of Commerce.

The president was optimistic about the country's economy, but acknowledged that the credit and housing crises pose challenges.

With those problems, he said, "The most negative thing that Congress can do is to raise taxes on the American people."

Before his remarks, Bush joked that people were probably wondering why the president "would bother to come to a place out in the country."

Before his arrival, Washington journalists who had come down for the event were puzzling over what dateline to put on their stories, since the Holiday Inn where Bush spoke lies outside of Fredericksburg, but not really in any town in Stafford County.

Bush said the setting was important "because this is where jobs are created. It kind of reminds me of being in Texas, to come to a place where it's just down-to-earth people."

Those "down-to-earth people" had to sit down to lunch at 10 in the morning, an hour and 20 minutes before Bush arrived, to hear his speech.

The president flew by helicopter into Stafford Regional Airport and rode in a motorcade to the Holiday Inn.

Bush took questions from audience members after his speech, be he didn't always have an answer.

When local financial planner Kate Hopper asked Bush to make a prediction about how the markets would fare in 2008, he looked dead ahead and said, "No."

"I don't think you want your president opining on whether the Dow Jones is going up or down," he said. "If I were an investor, I would be looking at the basic fundamentals of the economy."

When asked how the region could get more money for transportation, Bush denounced congressional earmarks, political tools sometimes called "pork," which pump money into specific projects all over the country.

ON THE FEDERAL BUDGET AND TAXES: "I'll veto any tax increase," Bush said. He said the budget that Congress crafts "must include money for our troops in harm's way," but must not include "an artificial timetable on withdrawal." ON HOUSING: Bush said government shouldn't bail out lenders and speculators, but that there are "some people that are credit worthy and should be encouraged to stay in their homes." He touted plans that the Federal Housing Administration and Treasury Department have worked out to help credit-worthy people stay in their homes. "We're not bailing people out, we're helping them refinance their money," Bush said. "We're helping them stay in part of the American dream." ON HEALTH CARE: Bush said a government takeover of health care is not the answer to the industry's troubles. He thinks the federal government should do things to encourage "consumerism" in the market for health care. "When a third party pays your bill, you tend not to worry about price," he said. He said the tax code should be changed so that small-business owners and individuals could get a tax credit for the money they use to buy health care. He thinks this would help grow an individual market for it. He said the government, as a large consumer of health care, can help by encouraging health companies to provide more transparency in the pricing and quality of their products. ON ENERGY: "We're too dependent on oil from overseas," Bush said. He thinks that increasing fuel economy standards "in a reasonable way, without sacrificing automobile safety," along with looking for alternative sources of fuel beyond corn-based ethanol and using more nuclear power for electricity are ways to wean the nation from foreign oil.

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Date published: 12/18/2007

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