ABRE LOS OJOS:

Republicans Planning for Full Control Of Congress: Accelerated Tax Cuts, Tort Reform on the Agenda (Mike Allen, October 20, 2002, The Washington Post)

White House officials and Republicans on Capitol Hill are so optimistic about winning control of both chambers of Congress in next month's elections that they have begun mapping how they would use their new power, including the possibility of speeding up tax cuts that were to take effect gradually. [...]

White House officials said Republican control of Congress would help Bush win passage of an administration plan to subsidize prescription drugs for Medicare patients, which they said would rob Democrats of a potent issue and help the president in Florida in 2004. [...]

Conspicuously absent from the administration's plans for next year is legislation to allow people to invest part of their Social Security taxes in private retirement accounts. That was one of Bush's core campaign promises, and he had indicated he was prepared to introduce it next year. But the stock market's nosedive has made it much harder to sell. Administration officials said Bush plans to promote a national conversation about the issue next year but is unlikely to push Congress to pass a plan until 2005, if he wins reelection. [...]

Even with GOP control, Bush would have trouble winning passage of a top priority of his corporate backers: restrictions on jury awards, beginning with medical malpractice cases. Bush has proposed limiting noneconomic damages, which compensate a victim for pain and suffering, to $250,000. [...]

Whether Republicans extend their power in Congress, Treasury Secretary Paul H. O'Neill plans to send the president late this year proposals for rewriting the tax code. "Fundamental tax reform, in our minds, means scrap it all," a senior administration official said.

Sources said the possibilities are likely to include a flat income tax -- which would have a single rate for most taxpayers and would eliminate most deductions -- and a value-added tax, a levy on goods at each stage of production and distribution. Bush is not expected to propose those.

With Tim Hutchinson (R, AR) and Wayne Allard (R, CO) poised to lose, this is pie in the sky, but it's fun to dream while we can. Posted by Orrin Judd at October 20, 2002 6:07 PM