Bush heralds tax cuts as boon for small businesses
Week includes focus on fund raising
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President Bush watches three workers stuff shells while touring Andrea Foods in Orange, New Jersey on Monday.
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ELIZABETH, New Jersey (CNN) -- Kicking off a week that mixes politics and policy, President Bush on Monday heralded new tax cuts as a boon to small businesses, saying they are spurring investment and growth.
On his way back to Washington after spending the Father's Day weekend with his family in Maine, Bush toured a pasta-making factory, Andrea Foods. He cited it as an example of a business that will benefit from the tax cuts he signed into law last month.
The $350 billion tax-cut law -- spread over 10 years -- includes one provision that raises the deduction to $100,000 for small-business investment in capital equipment. Because of that, Bush said, Andrea Foods is considering buying new equipment, a move that he said would help other companies.
"I want to remind our fellow citizens that in order for the economy to recover, we must remember the strength and the importance of the small-business owner in America," Bush said.
Applauded heartily by the audience of business leaders, the president ran through a list of domestic priorities, urging Congress to act on each one. Providing senior citizens with a prescription drug benefit under Medicare, placing limits on malpractice lawsuits, crafting a national energy policy and moving most class-action lawsuits from state courts into federal courts were among the goals cited by Bush.
The renewed focus on domestic issues comes as Democrats gear up for the 2004 presidential race, increasingly criticizing the administration's handling of the economy. And the president is gearing up for the 2004 race as well. He is headlining several fund-raising events over the next two weeks -- starting with a $2,000-a-head dinner in Washington Tuesday night -- that Republicans hope will add almost $25 million to the re-election effort.
War on terrorism
The president also touched briefly on the war on terrorism, saying that fight continues. In an apparent reference to critics who have questioned whether his administration manipulated data on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, Bush derided the "revisionist historians."
The president never directly mentioned the WMD question, but he said deposed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein -- whose whereabouts remain a mystery -- was a "threat to the world."
"And this is for certain: Saddam Hussein is no longer a threat to the United States and our friends and allies," Bush said.
Written by CNN.Com Producer Sean Loughlin in Washington with reporting from CNN Political Editor John Mercurio.
