President Bush Meets With Detroit Automakers After Iraq Speech

DEARBORN, Mich., April 28, 2003; Reuters reported that U.S. President George W. Bush met auto makers on Monday to discuss his tax cut plan and to "get their sense of how the economy is doing," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer (News) said.

The chiefs of General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and the Chrysler arm of DaimlerChrysler AG held talks with Bush after he delivered a speech on Iraqi reconstruction to Arab-Americans in the Ford Community and Performing Arts Center in Dearborn.

With the war in Iraq winding down, Bush has launched an all-out effort to round up votes for his beleaguered tax cut package, the centerpiece of which would eliminate taxes paid by shareholders on corporate dividends. Bush plans to meet on Tuesday with congressional leaders, and travel to California later this week to drum up public support.

The president has little choice but to compromise after the Republican-led Congress scaled back the $726 billion package he proposed in January. The House of Representatives set a $550 billion cap on new tax cuts; the Senate drew the line at $350 billion over White House objections.

Bush has seized on the $550 billion House bill as the minimum needed to revive the shaky U.S. economy, and is stepping up pressure on the few moderate Republicans who have joined with Democrats in blocking its passage in the narrowly divided Senate.

In a bid to win them over, the White House is considering implementing half of Bush's proposed dividend tax cut up front, with the rest phased in over a decade. The White House may also propose a seven-year tax cut -- rather than a 10-year tax bill -- to reduce the price tag.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles Grassley, an Iowa Republican, said on Sunday that a tax-cut package of up to $450 billion could be obtained by offsetting another $100 billion in tax cuts with unspecified reductions in spending and by plugging what he described as corporate tax loopholes.

But Fleischer said Bush would continue to fight for a 100 percent dividend exclusion, "not scaled back."

"We're pleased to see a willingness from the various parties on the Hill to come together so that the economy can grow and jobs get created," Fleischer said. "We will continue to work with Congress on the exact details of it."