A late August USA Today , CNN , Gallup poll described the public as generally favoring tax cuts but without much enthusiasm. Many Americans say the federal budget surpluses projected for the next 10 years should first go toward reducing the national debt and shoring up the Social Security and Medicare programs. That's why Republican members of Congress fanned out during their August recess to herald the tax cut they passed in July. Second-term Nevada Republican Jim Gibbons rejects the charge the Republican plan fails to address the national debt and saving Social Security. Even the Social Security Administration has said that what we have done with the Social Security lock box saves Social Security for all time, not just a decade, not just a century, but all time, which is very important for seniors, very important for the future of those people depending on it.
Gibbons represents the suburbs surrounding Las Vegas.
At an open house a few miles outside Las Vegas two weeks ago, Gibbons focused on the cut in capital gains taxes to show the Republicans' plan is aimed at helping average folks. In most people their eyes glaze over when you start talking about the facts of capital gains. The facts are most Americans have an asset, as I talked about earlier, that deals with capital gains. We're reducing capital gains by 2 percent this year. But there were few questions this night about the tax cut bill.