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Thursday, March 01, 2001
By James O'Toole, Politics Editor, Post-Gazette
"Part of my job as president -- I might as well be very up front," President Bush confided, "is to travel the country ginning up support for this plan, and that's why I'm here." Hours after he had unveiled the broad outlines of his first budget proposal to Congress, Bush ginned away in Vanport yesterday, charming a hand-picked crowd of supporters at Control Concepts Corp.
Bush and the receptive Beaver County audience played their parts in a genial infomercial that was the first stop in a cross-country sales trip that would take him to Nebraska and Arkansas before the day was over.
Bush set the tone of the gathering with "a loaded question" to Dan Berger, a senior engineering technician at Control Concepts: "Do you want some tax relief?"
"As much as you can give," Berger enthusiastically replied.
Buoyed by a projected tide of federal budget surpluses, Bush was able to make the case for a plan that, in his depiction, offered good news on issue after issue: taxes, a $1.6 trillion cut; Social Security, its surplus will be inviolate; Medicare, reforms including prescription drug coverage; and the national debt, substantially reduced.
But wait, there's more.
Bush promised more money for education, for the military and for demands yet unforeseen.
"My point to you is that we set priorities and fund them. We spend money on the military to keep the peace. We set aside contingencies, money for contingencies, and there's still money. And what I want to do is remind Americans -- this is why I've come to Western Pennsylvania -- to remind Americans that the surplus is your money; it's not the government's money."
Analysis: Bush budget short on details of proposed spending cuts
Repeating a bit of stagecraft that had been a staple of his presidential campaign, Bush used Berger and his wife, Janet, as living arguments for the virtues of his tax cut. Bush said that Berger and his wife pay $4,400 in federal taxes under current law and would save $1,900 under his plan.
"These good folks will save $1,980," Bush said. "Now a lot of folks will yawn and say $1,980 is nothing. We disagree."
Amid the sunny recitation, Bush acknowledged that there would be opposition to his plan, including its call to limit much of the government's discretionary spending to an increase of 4 percent, substantially less than the rate of increase in recent budgets.
"I remind you, it's better than the rate of inflation," Bush said of the spending increase he seeks. "We've got to be careful of overspending in Washington, D.C. We shouldn't have bidding wars in Washington."
He defended his $1.6 trillion across-the-board tax cut against persistent charges that its benefits are skewed toward the wealthy.
"One of the things that will happen when you talk about tax relief is people immediately go to the class warfare argument, that only the rich people will benefit. ... The reality is $1,980 is a lot of money," Bush said, citing the projected tax cut for the Bergers, who shared a makeshift stage with him and Geoffrey Taylor and his mother, Carolyn Taylor Renninger, who are, respectively, the president and the chief operating officer of the family-owned Control Concepts.
Bush urged the crowd of about 100, in a message he planned to repeat across the country, to lobby their elected officials in favor of his fiscal plan.
He was accompanied on the flight from Washington by a group of Pennsylvania Republicans for whom that would be an easy sell.
Gov. Tom Ridge and Sens. Arlen Specter and Rick Santorum sat in the first row during the presentation. But, except for the president himself, the small but enthusiastic crowd saved its loudest applause for its new congresswoman, Rep. Melissa Hart, R-Bradford Woods.
Also on hand during the visit was Bishop Donald Wuerl, the leader of the Pittsburgh Catholic Diocese. Bush and Wuerl met privately for about 30 minutes after the president's public appearance.
The Rev. Ronald Lengwin, a spokesman for the diocese, said Bush had requested the meeting. Bush and Wuerl had previously met at the bishop's Oakland residence during the final weeks of the presidential campaign.
"In general, they discussed the issue of faith-based programs that the president is proposing and the issue of education," Lengwin said. "We agree with his view that faith-based institutions are part of the social fabric of the community. That view is encouraging and pleasing to us."
After the panel discussion, Bush spent about 10 minutes touring the facility, which manufactures controls and electrical switches for a variety of machinery and industrial settings.
In response to reporters' questions, Bush said he continued to be concerned about the direction of the economy. He reiterated his contention that the case for large tax cuts is even more compelling in the face of a potential downturn.
"I recognize the economy is slowing down, all the more reason for Congress to work to pass money back to the people and do it as quickly as possible," Bush said. He also said he was pleased with the reception for his speech before Congress.
"Well, I passed the initial review -- my wife thought I did all right," Bush said.
Bush lost Pennsylvania and Beaver County in last year's election, but you wouldn't suspect that from the positive reviews his sales effort won in Vanport.
"Tax cuts and small business -- what's not to like?" was the succinct review from Beaver County Commissioner Charles Camp.
President Bush, accompanied by Gov. Tom Ridge, at left, tours Control Concepts in Vanport. (John Beale, Post-Gazette) 
More on the Bush visit: