Bush Puts Off Some Top Agenda Items

[Judi Lynn]

Bush Puts Off Some Top Agenda Items

Bush Bows to Midterm Political Pressures, Puts Off Some Top Agenda Items

By TOM RAUM

WASHINGTON Feb 14, 2006 (AP)— Rolling into a campaign year, President Bush is trying to avoid bumps in the road. And this year there are plenty.

As he stumps for his 2006 agenda, Bush seems to be putting off as many problems as possible. Balance the budget? Not on the horizon. Fix Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid? Refer them to another commission. Cut oil dependence? Long in the future. Same for the moon-to-Mars program.

Subdued by budget constraints and failure to sell his Social Security plan last year, Bush has proposed a modest series of short-term initiatives, a lot of unspecified spending cuts for the midterm, and some bold long-range schemes that future presidents will have to decide how or whether to pay for.
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Bush faces major obstacles. "You have a president with low approval ratings, and a Congress that's more worried about their re-election than his legacy," said Collender, a former congressional budget aide and now general manager of Financial Dynamics Business Communications.
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http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=1615827&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312

[maddezmom]

1. duplicate

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