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Budget battles lie ahead, Bush warns faithful Tuesday, Oct 16, 2007 By Doug Thompson and Don Dailey Stephens Media ROGERS - President Bush warned Monday he would use his veto power during his final 15 months in office to shield tax cuts and other pro-business gains of his administration. "You're fixing to see what they call a fiscal showdown in Washington," the president told an invitation-only crowd of about 300 in the John Q. Hammons Convention Center. Speaking under a banner that read: "Fiscal Responsibility," Bush said his recent veto of a $35 billion expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program was the first in what he expects to be a series of bills from Congress to expand government. House Democrats have scheduled a Thursday vote to try to override Bush's veto of SCHIP, though they appeared short of the votes needed. The president said in Rogers that he would support legislation that extends the program, but only if it kept its focus on the needy. The plan he vetoed would compete with private insurance, he said. Bush's stop in Northwest Arkansas was part of an effort to stoke public support for preserving the administration's economic policies, the White House said. The state Democratic Party chief said Bush's comments rang hollow. "It is interesting to hear a plan for fiscal responsibility coming from the president who took the largest surplus in the nation's history and turned it into record deficits," state Democratic Party Chairman Bill Gwatney said. During his visit to this booming corner of the state, Bush complained that Congress has not sent him an appropriations bill though the new federal fiscal year began Oct. 1. He accused congressional Democrats of holding up spending bills while lining up for a political fight. Before his speech, Bush visited with local leaders at the Whole Hog Cafe in Bentonville after touting local businesses during a tour of Stribling Packaging and Display of Rogers, led by company President Bill Stribling. The company manufacturers retail display cases and packaging. "I want to remind people that small business is the backbone of the economy," the president said after visiting workers at the Stribling plant. September marked the 49th consecutive month of job growth in the United States, which Bush said showed his economic policies were working. Critics of the administration say that job growth has been sustained but weak compared to previous years. The president lunched with Rogers Mayor Steve Womack and about 20 other local leaders, including developer Bill Schwyhart of Rogers and University of Arkansas Chancellor John White at the Bentonville barbecue restaurant. At least two dozen well-wishers gathered outside after spotting the presidential limousine parked in front and cheered the president as he left the building. Air Force One touched down at 10 a.m. at Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport. Upon arrival, Bush presented Caroline Worley, 32, of Springdale, with a President's Volunteer Service Award. Worley is a volunteer with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northwest Arkansas. The president has awarded about 600 such honors on official visits. Worley is Arkansas Big Sister of the Year for 2007. A spattering of onlookers stood in yards and parking lots along most of the route from the airport to Rogers, trying to get a glimpse of the president along with motorists sidelined by the president's 22-vehicle motorcade. The crowd that greeted Bush at the convention center included a group of protesters waving signs calling for the president's impeachment over the Iraq war and other policies. After his speech, when Bush took questions from the audience, the immigration issue quickly came up in a region with one of the fastest-growing Hispanic populations in the nation. Ryan Anglin, a Centerton dairy farmer, asked about the president's policies. Bush said termed a legal workers program "absolutely vital," saying that illegal immigration would never be solved "as long as someone has to come to America and work to feed his family and is willing to do the jobs American's won't do." "There's not a lot of Americans who are willing to pluck chickens," the president added. Northwest Arkansas is home to Tyson Foods Inc., the world's largest meat processor, and a burgeoning poultry industry. Anglin later said he employs Hispanic immigrants on his farm and considers them vital, adding, "Agriculture will not survive without some sort of guest-worker program." During his speech, Bush said it would be impossible to force all the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants in the country to return home, but that they don't deserve to immediately become citizens, either. An immediate amnesty and citizenship "would only encourage another 11 million to come," the president said. Raymond Burns, president and CEO of the Rogers-Lowell Area Chamber of Commerce, sponsor of the event at Hammons, asked Bush what Northwest Arkansas could expect in support for upgrading and expanding the region's transportation network. The president said Congress should distribute transportation funding equitably, without a lot of special projects approved for the district's of certain committee members. During his visit, Bush was accompanied by U.S. Rep. John Boozman, R-Rogers, the only Republican member of Arkansas' congressional delegation. Bush is counting on Boozman to help sustain his veto of SCHIP. Boozman has been pressured in labor union-sponsored television advertisements to vote against the president. The congressman has said he would not vote to override. |
