Word: lott
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...First to get there were George W. Bush's Republican loyalists, led by Vice President Dick Cheney and Majority Leader Trent Lott. We won the vote, they proclaimed, because the Senate passed by a 65-35 margin $1.3 trillion of the $1.6 trillion tax cut Bush had wanted. "I'm delighted," Cheney enthused...
...which Cheney replied, "That is my intention." And suddenly the Bush budget, which Trent Lott wants passed before senators head home for Easter recess at week's end, looked as if it was headed into a dramatic string of party-line, 51-50 votes that would at the very least make for a big tax cut and a heck of a story...
...vote isn't on the books yet - Lott, after learning of Republican defections, voted in favor in order to allow a revote once he'd had a chance to twist some arms - but it was enough for head Democrat Tom Daschle to seize on it as "a repudiation of the President's policies and priorities." And after Jim Jeffords (R-Vt.) announced earlier in the day that he was ready to defect on the overall budget - "unless a miracle occurs, I fear I'm bending in that direction" - it was pretty clear Cheney's presence was only going...
...Republicans would prefer not to. Bush and Lott have been hoping to use economic urgency to get retroactive tax cuts, Bush's $1.6 trillion in long-term tax cuts, and the overall budget resolution passed by Friday, and with Lott and Mitch McConnell at the controls it still may happen. But with Bush's $1.6 trillion trophy already down to $1.15 trillion, however theoretically, speed may no longer be working to the White House's advantage...
...Bush's fiscal-policy habits in Texas - propose the bill, sign whatever comes back from the legislature, take credit no matter what it looks like - are any indicator, he'll happily take what Lott can get him and call...