More tax cuts vowed by GOP

LA Daily News carries this NY Times story -- The $350 billion tax cut package approved by Congress on Friday was still being printed when Republican leaders in Congress vowed to bring up more tax cut proposals later this year and extend Friday's measure for years to come.

"This ain't the end of it -- we're going to have some more," said Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Texas, the House majority leader, shortly before the 1:45 a.m. vote in which the House approved the tax plan. "Our budget says we're going to have $1.3 trillion in tax cuts, and you bet we're coming back for more."

"This tax bill is one of the most dangerous and destructive and dishonorable acts of government that I've ever seen," said Sen. Mark Dayton, D-Minn. "It is a shameful looting of the federal treasury by the rich and powerful of America, compliments of their friends in Congress. It uses every trick in the budget book to line the pockets of the upper class."

Democrats said they were particularly incensed that Friday's vote came on the same day that the Senate voted to raise the ceiling on the national debt by nearly $1 trillion, the largest increase ever, to cover the escalating federal deficit. The 53-44 vote to raise the ceiling came as the Treasury Department said it had only a few more days before it would have to default on its obligations without a higher debt limit.

Sen. Max Baucus of Montana, the senior Democrat on the Finance Committee, compared the Republican fiscal policy to a family that keeps asking for an increase in its credit limit.

"The fiscally responsible approach is that of the typical Montana family, who rather than just ask for an increase in their credit limit, sits down at the kitchen table and reassesses their budget," Baucus said. "And so should we."