McClatchy: Bush to urge economic stimulus, wiretapping powers in State of the Union address

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Bush to urge economic stimulus, wiretapping powers in State of the Union address
By Warren P. Strobel | McClatchy Newspapers

* Posted on Sunday, January 27, 2008



WASHINGTON — President Bush gets what may be his final chance to steer the public debate Monday night in his last State of the Union address.

With his aides privately acknowledging that the moments when Bush can be relevant are dwindling fast, the president is expected to press for a shortened list of proposals. With his legacy in mind, he'll urge Congress to extend some key initiatives of his tenure: tax cuts, the No Child Left Behind law, the presence of U.S. troops in Iraq.

Bush will be speaking under circumstances very different than before, however, with economic fears roiling the country and the war in Iraq and terrorism concerns in the background, at least temporarily.

The president is expected to urge swift passage of a $150 billion economic stimulus package of tax rebates and other measures, which House of Representatives leaders and the White House — but not yet the Senate — have agreed to, according to White House officials and others.

He'll also press for the extension of a law that allows expanded electronic eavesdropping, including on communications that transit U.S. territory. The law expires Feb. 1.

On the foreign policy front, the president is expected to argue that the "surge" of nearly 30,000 additional U.S. troops to Iraq has improved that country's security. He'll tout his administration's commitment to Israeli-Palestinian peace and its efforts against AIDS and hunger in the developing world, particularly in Africa.

But absent will be the sweeping proclamations of the past, when Bush designated U.S. adversaries an "axis of evil" and called for changes in Social Security and immigration law.

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