Congressional Democrats and some members of his own party have objected to the size of the proposal and have vowed not to vote for it. The debate over tax cuts has become a referendum on the priorities of the newly born Bush administration. On Monday, the focus will shift to Mr Bush's full-budget proposal, which heretofore has existed only in outline form. While the Bush tax-cut plan has been the focus of much of media's and Congress' attention, his scheme for debt reduction has come under a great deal of scrutiny as well. But that plan isn't without its critics, who feel the earnings of current and future retirees should not rest on the whims of Wall Street.
IRAs invest much of their funds in stocks.
Mr Bush's budget also calls for holding down spending in many areas of the government with the exception of the military and education spending. Mr Bush's support of the proposal would help in his effort to overhaul education. Vermont Senator James Jeffords, a fellow Republican, heads the committee that would oversee such an overhaul and is pushing the disabled-student initiative. It is in the evenly divided Senate where Mr Bush will have to continue to press his case. But the Senate doesn't buy the plan even as Mr Bush presses his case, reminding Senators that the money contained in the budget is taxpayers' money - not theirs.