| With his approval rating
hovering around 30 percent and just 11 months left in office, Mr. Bush is confronting
the "lame duck" phase, when it is difficult for a president on his way
out to achieve new goals. But his speech addressed some new objectives,
and pushed to continue funding programs such as No Child Left Behind and AIDS-relief
funding in Africa. It's the economy
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Fear of a recession has driven Congress and Mr. Bush to work together on a stimulus
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The president began by calling for
Congress to pass his proposed $150 billion economic stimulus package to help boost
the economy, which is "undergoing a period of uncertainty." The plan
includes tax rebates of about $600 per person in the hope that citizens would
immediately plow that money back into the U.S. economy. "We must trust
people with their own money and empower them to grow our economy," the president
said. Mr. Bush also called for making tax breaks he instituted earlier
in his presidency permanent, and issued a warning to the Democratic-controlled
Congress that any bill that seeks to introduce new taxes would be vetoed. "With
all the other pressures on their finances, American families should not have to
worry about the Federal Government taking a bigger bite out of their paychecks,"
he said. Targeting earmarks
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President Bush criticized Congressional earmarks, which are tacked onto bills
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The president also had tough words
for Congress over its use of "earmarking." Earmarks are funds that go
to benefit a specific project or location in a lawmaker's congressional districts
and are added on to final bills without ever being voted on, or even debated.
Earmarks in the 2008 budget included one million dollars for "potato research"
and $284,000 for "blackbird management in North Dakota." "If
these items are truly worth funding, the Congress should debate them in the open
and hold a public vote," Mr. Bush said. He issued a veto warning far
any appropriations bill that does not cut the number of earmarks by half.
Foreign policy
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Mr. Bush said his troop surge in Iraq has reduced violence and weakened terrorist
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On foreign policy, there were no
dramatic declarations like the speech of five years ago when Mr. Bush named Iraq,
Iran and North Korea the "axis of evil." The president repeated his
recent goal of achieving a new peace accord in the Middle East before the end
of his presidency. He also said last year's 30,000-soldier strong troop surge
in Iraq achieved a drop of violence in some of the country's most dangerous areas. "Some
may deny the surge is working," Mr. Bush said. "But among the terrorists,
there is no doubt. Al Qaeda is on the run in Iraq, and this enemy will be defeated." The
president said 20,000 troops will be returning home in the next few months, but
did not discuss any plan or timetable for withdrawal from Iraq. Democratic
response
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Senate Democrats such as Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada might push for more
benefits to poor and unemployed people in the stimulus package. |
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The Democratic response was delivered
by the governor of Kansas, Kathleen Sebelius, who called President Bush's stimulus
package a "temporary fix" and "only the first step toward meeting
our challenges and solving our problems." Democrats in the Senate are
expected to push for more rebates for poor people and an increase in unemployment
benefits.
Sebelius also called for an end to partisan bickering, saying,
"If more Republicans in Congress stand with us this year, we won't have to
wait for a new president to restore America's role in the world and fight a more
effective war on terror." | 
After H1N1-related school closures in the last flu season, local schools have lowered the severity of their response and are focusing on preventative action that does not interrupt education.
