Kemp and Bush

A Times article seriously distorts my relations with President Bush by suggesting that there is a “deepening rift” between me and the rest of the Bush Administration (“Bush Inaction on Economy Deepens Rift With Kemp,” Dec. 3).

Let me say as unambiguously as I can that my rift is not with President Bush, it’s with the congressional Democrats who are blocking the President’s economic growth agenda. President Bush has asked Congress again and again for a pro-growth, pro-jobs capital gains tax cut. He has asked Congress again and again to pass IRAs for middle-class families and allow penalty-free withdrawal for first-time home purchases, college tuition and medical expenses. He has asked Congress again and again for enterprise zones to encourage entrepreneurship, investment and job creation in America’s inner-city pockets of poverty.

If Congress had acted on these and other pro-growth initiatives, America would have a growing economy and a lower budget deficit today. The sad fact is congressional Democrats are holding the Bush Administration’s growth agenda hostage with their class-warfare rhetoric and politics of envy. Even their so-called “middle-class” tax proposals are designed to redistribute existing wealth, instead of creating new wealth, new jobs and strong economic growth.

I am in complete agreement with President Bush’s desire to push a strong, pro-growth tax cut through the Democratic Congress. Far from being a critic of President Bush, I am and will continue to be one of his most ardent supporters and soldiers.

JACK KEMP

Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Washington, D.C.