Winning and Losing
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By taking an uncompromising stand against additional domestic spending and tax increases, President Bush has scored a number of wins over Democrats in Congress -- but at a cost.
The Win
Bush beat back a plan to raise $21 billion in a comprehensive energy bill, including a $13 billion plan to revoke tax breaks for oil companies.
The Cost
Without that revenue, the Senate abandoned extensions of tax credits for wind energy, biomass and cellulosic ethanol fuel, as well as New York City bonds for redevelopment around Ground Zero -- all of which Bush supported.
The Win
Bush rebuffed an attempt to increase domestic spending by $22 billion, as well as a later offer to halve that increase.
The Cost
Democrats will meet Bush's number but will shift funds from his priorities to theirs. The president's Millennium Challenge program, which awards foreign aid to some poor countries, will be cut in half, from Bush's $3 billion request. A requested expansion of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve has been eliminated, and Bush's Global Nuclear Energy Partnership, a bid to encourage the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel, will take a big hit.
The Win
Bush rejected a proposed measure to tax the compensation of private-equity and hedge fund managers as income, rather than as capital gains, which are taxed at a lower rate. The measure was designed to offset the cost of "patching" the alternative minimum tax and saving as many as 23 million households from large tax increases this year.
The Cost
The decision, if left unchanged, would add $50 billion to the federal debt.
