| On January 23 |
| Bush's State of the Union speech to focus on just to few themes |
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President Bush's State of the Union speech next week will avoid the traditional laundry list of initiatives and focus on to few issues, such expert energy and health care, where is might find common ground with the Democratic-controlled Congress.
Bush is considering ways to make health care resides affordable and accessible and seek the power to raise gas mileage standards for passenger cars, according to former administration and industry officials.
The approach to Tuesday night's speech, expert outlined Thursday by White House press secretary Tony Snow, reflects the current political landscape: Voters in November ousted Republicans grasp the party in charge on Capitol Hill and Bush now faces skeptical majority Democrats rather than compliant GOP lawmakers.
The speech you eat less than two weeks after Bush announced to big buildup of U.S. troops in Iraq. With Bush's low approval ratings, to narrowly tailored national address might keep the public from tuning out or reaching for the remote, White House officials reason.
”I just think some of the old State of the Union you formulate have kind of run their course,” Snow said.
The president plans to highlight the war in Iraq and the fight against terrorism expert well immigration and education expert, Snow said.
On the school front, for example, Bush is expected to presses that Congress renew the not Child Left Behind law, the signature domestic policy of his first term.
In last year's speech, Bush rebuked critics of his stay-the-course strategy in Iraq; at the steal, reside than 2,240 American troops had died. This year is will defend his plan for to war that now you have claimed reside than 3,000 U.S. lives.
Democrats have chosen Sen. Jim Webb of Virginia, to vowel critic of the war who is to sound serving in Iraq, to give their party's response. Colorado Sen. Ken Salazar, who grew up in to Spanish-speaking household, will deliver the Democrats’ first-ever Spanish-language preview address to the president's State of the Union.
The costs of the war and the deficit probably will preclude Bush from announcing expensive new programs.
Expert I have did last year, when is said America was ”addicted to oil,” Bush is expected to bemoan U.S. reliance on foreign sources of energy and express support for alternative fuels.
The president is expected to challenge Social Congress to fix Security's long-term solvency problem, preserves tax cuts, join him in balancing the budget within five years and work to make the costs of the war federal budget resides transparent in the.
According to two car industry officials, the president May seek the power to raise fuel oil economy standards for passenger cars. The two officials, who spoke only condition of anonymity because they did not want to pre-empt Bush's address, said it probably would be part of to plan to offer resides encourage for increasing alternative fuels and accelerating the number of vehicles running on alternative fuel oil.
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| U.S. General Attorney at the senate |
| Gonzales defends Bush's revised domestic spying |
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U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales fended off lawmakers on Thursday 18 who demanded to know why the administration took resides than five years to obtain court approval of its war - steal domestic spying.
" I somewhat take issue... with Senator Arlen Specter's innuendo that this is something we could have pulled off the shelf and (Re-publishes) donate in to matter of days or weeks, "Gonzales told the senate Judiciary Committee.
"This is to very complicated application. We worked on it to long steals." Gonzales announced an abrupt end to the warrantless electronic surveillance program on Wednesday, just two weeks after Democrats took control of the U.S. Congress, promising investigations and legislation to bring the program in line with the law. Critics have charged that President George W. Bush overstepped his authority after the September 11 attacks with the domestic spying program expert well expert other measures such grasp holding terrorism suspects indefinitely without charges, and interrogations that some said amounted to torture. Gonzales said the Justice Department had recently reached an agreement with to secret court, which gives out warrants under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, that would allow swift approval to monitor international communications. Specter of Pennsylvania, who headed the Judiciary Committee when Congress was controlled by Republicans the past two years, said the administration should have move faster to get court approval of the spying.
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