Bush Takes Jab At Outgoing Indy Mayor

NEW ALBANY, Ind. -- In a speech criticizing congressional Democrats for what he called a tax-and-spend philosophy, President George W. Bush localized his argument for his Indiana audience Tuesday, saying Indianapolis' mayor lost his re-election bid because he backed tax raises.

"Voters in your capital voted for Greg Ballard and ousted an incumbent mayor in large part because the incumbent mayor supported raising taxes. ... (We) need to make sure that message is heard in the nation's capital," Bush told hundreds during a speech in New Albany in far southern Indiana.

Ballard, a Republican and political newcomer who defeated Bart Peterson in last week's election, was one of the speech's attendees. Bush devoted just three sentences to the Indianapolis issue during what otherwise was a speech against congressional Democrats' budget priorities.

A spokeswoman for Peterson, a Democrat, told 6News the mayor had no comment on Bush's remarks.

Bush, a Republican, appeared to be referring at least partly to this year's decision by Indianapolis' City-County Council to raise Marion County's income tax from 1 percent to 1.65 percent. The increase came as many residents already were bemoaning rising property taxes.

After the address, Ballard told reporters that Bush had told him he planned to mention his name.

"Before the speech, we were back there -- my wife and I -- and got to talk to him a little bit. He was very gracious, very nice, and he actually knew the situation (in Indianapolis), so that was good," Ballard said.

Bush Hammers Congressional Democrats

Bush came to New Albany, which is across the Ohio River from Louisville, Ky., to deliver a speech against what he called congressional Democrats' tax-and-spend philosophy.

Before his speech at a converted movie house, Bush escalated his budget battle with Congress when he vetoed a spending measure for health and education programs that congressional Democrats prize.

He also signed a big increase in the Pentagon's non-war budget although the White House complained it contained "some unnecessary spending."

The president's action was announced on Air Force One as Bush flew to New Albany.

The White House said the $606 billion education and health bill was loaded with 2,000 earmarks -- lawmaker-sponsored projects that critics call pork-barrel spending -- which Bush wants stripped.

"Some of its wasteful projects include a prison museum, a sailing school taught aboard a catamaran and a Portuguese-as-a-second-language program," the president said. "Congress owes the taxpayers much better than this effort."

It was sixth bill vetoed by Bush. Congress has overridden his veto only once, on a politically popular water projects measure.

Bush criticized Democrats for what he called a tax-and-spend philosophy:

"The Congress now sitting in Washington holds this philosophy," Bush told an audience of business and community leaders. "The majority was elected on a pledge of fiscal responsibility, but so far it's acting like a teenager with a new credit card.

"This year alone, the leadership in Congress has proposed to spend $22 billion more than my budget provides," the president said. "Now, some of them claim that's not really much of a difference. The scary part is, they seem to mean it."

More than any other spending bill, the education and health measure defines the differences between Bush and majority Democrats. The House fell three votes short of winning a veto-proof margin as it sent the measure to Bush.

Rep. David Obey, the Democratic chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, pounced immediately on Bush's veto.

"This is a bipartisan bill supported by over 50 Republicans," Obey said. "There has been virtually no criticism of its contents. It is clear the only reason the president vetoed this bill is pure politics."

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Bush "again vetoed a bipartisan and fiscally responsible bill that addresses the priorities of the American people: education for our children, assistance in paying skyrocketing energy costs, veterans' health care, and other urgent health research on cancer and other serious medical problems. At the same time, President Bush and his congressional allies demand hundreds of billions of dollars for the war in Iraq -- none of it paid for."

Since winning re-election, Bush has sought to cut the labor, health and education measure below the prior year level. But lawmakers have rejected the cuts. The budget that Bush presented in February sought almost $4 billion in cuts to this year's bill.

Democrats responded by adding $10 billion to Bush's request for the 2008 bill. Democrats say spending increases for domestic programs are small compared with Bush's pending war request totaling almost $200 billion.

The measure provides:

a 20 percent increase over Bush's request for job training programs.

$1.4 billion more than Bush's request for health research at the National Institutes of Health, a 5 percent increase.

$2.4 billion for heating subsidies for the poor, $480 million more than Bush requested.

$665 million for grants to community action agencies; Bush sought to kill the program outright.

$63.6 billion for the Education Department, a 5 percent increase over 2007 spending and 8 percent more than Bush sought.

a $225 million increase for community health centers.

The $471 billion defense budget gives the Pentagon a 9 percent, $40 billion budget increase. The measure only funds core department operations, omitting Bush's $196 billion request for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, except for an almost $12 billion infusion for new troop vehicles that are resistant to roadside bombs.

Much of the increase in the defense bill is devoted to procuring new and expensive weapons systems, including $6.3 billion for the next-generation F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, $2.8 billion for the Navy's DD(X) destroyer and $3.1 billion for the new Virginia-class attack submarine.

Huge procurement costs are driving the Pentagon budget ever upward. Once war costs are added in, the total defense budget will be significantly higher than during the typical Cold War year, even after adjusting for inflation.

Locals Express Support, Opposition Of Bush

A diner across the street from The Grand, a converted movie house in the heart of the Ohio River city's downtown, was closed before the president's arrival, but customers had written signs as messages to Bush, both supporting and opposing him.

There were about eight signs, split evenly for and against Bush. One said, in part, "George you are easily the worst president in history." Another said "Support our troops and president."

Denise Hadley, 39, of Georgetown, Ind., is a small business owner who brought her 9-year-old daughter Regan to see the president.

"It's a chance of a lifetime, I think," Hadley said of attending the speech. She identified her politics as independent, but said she appreciated Bush's Christian values and "I support him because he's our leader."

Some 50 people stood on a corner near the reception hall, about evenly split between Bush supporters and detractors.

James McMillin, a 62-year-old retired teacher from Louisville, Ky., held up a 4 foot-by-4 foot sign that said "W -- The Problem; Impeachment -- The Solution."

"This president, in my opinion is the worst. He has taken advantage of our system of representative government by saying one thing and doing another," McMillin said. "He changes the law to fit his agenda and tells his agencies to ignore parts of the law."

Bush was invited to the city by One Southern Indiana, a combined economic development council and chamber of commerce for Floyd and Clark counties.

Bush traveled in March to New Albany, which is across the Ohio River from Louisville, to visit an elementary school and deliver a speech urging Congress to renew the federal No Child Left Behind Law. In October 2006, he attended a campaign rally in nearby Sellersburg for former Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Sodrel.