Congress unlikely to buy Bush proposals

[unhappycamper]

Congress unlikely to buy Bush proposals
By LARRY MARGASAK
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A Democratic Congress is poised to heed President Bush's call to help save the economy, but may not give him much else after a State of the Union speech that recycled many of the administration's past initiatives.

A lame duck president called again for immigration reform, an end to lawmakers' pet projects, control of Social Security spending and making tax cuts permanent. Democrats have rejected those Bush initiatives before.

And, in a sign that the dominant political battles will not be in Congress, many in the House chamber kept an eye during the speech on Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton - bitter rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination. They sat close to each other, but managed not to shake hands.

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, who hours earlier had endorsed Obama over Clinton, reached out to shake Sen. Clinton's hand when she came near.

Bush is plunging into politics himself this week, raising money for Republicans from Wednesday through Friday at events in California, Nevada, Colorado and Missouri. Other appearances will promote the themes from his speech.


Rest of article at: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/S/STATE_OF_UNION