In 2nd Week, Bush Will Focus on Energy, Taxes

The Bush administration, encouraged by favorable reviews of its first seven days, on Sunday laid out an ambitious agenda for week two by focusing on energy development and tax cuts.

Vice President Dick Cheney and White House chief economic advisor Lawrence B. Lindsey suggested that the administration will move swiftly, beginning with a Cabinet-level meeting today, to address national energy concerns brought to light by California’s acute electricity shortage.

Cheney cautioned that the administration would not alter its policy of limited federal intervention in California’s crisis. Cheney and Lindsey, however, indicated that the administration was likely to cite California as a reason to increase energy supplies and improve distribution systems nationwide.

Last week, the Bush administration extended emergency orders that require certain Western suppliers to sell surplus electricity and natural gas to the state. But that aid will run out by Feb. 7.

“We’re prepared to do those things that we can to help,” Cheney said on ABC’s “This Week.” “But the basic problem in California was caused by California.”

Said Lindsey: “It’s not a problem you can solve with decrees from Washington. It’s something that’s got to be done with tough decisions, more power plants, more transmission lines, more natural gas pipelines.”

In appearances on several Sunday news shows, the two key administration players also said Bush might work with Congress to quickly reduce the amount of income tax withheld from workers’ paychecks as a way to stimulate a flat economy.

In other developments, Cheney predicted Congress would by year’s end approve legislation changing the campaign finance system. But he said it was too early to tell whether Bush would sign or veto such a measure.

Bush is also expected to focus this week on GOP proposals to channel federal social services aid through religious institutions, and to help elderly people pay for prescription drugs.

Cheney said he was confident that the Senate would confirm John Ashcroft as attorney general. A Senate panel is scheduled to vote Wednesday on the controversial nomination.

On taxes, Lindsey said: “What has changed, I think, is whether or not we can put more money in people’s pockets sooner by accelerating portions of the tax cut. I think that’s the big issue.”

Lindsey, appearing on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” added: “The way people would see it is in their paychecks and withholding. Uncle Sam would take a smaller cut, and the bottom line would be bigger.” A reduction in withholding, he said, could happen by July 1 if Congress agrees.

Leading Democrats, in a signal of the growing consensus that Congress will act on the issue, do not dismiss talk of tax cuts. Rep. Richard A. Gephardt (D-Mo.), the House minority leader, endorsed a cut of $700 billion to $750 billion over 10 years. That is about half the Bush proposal.

But Rep. Charles B. Rangel of New York, top Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee, cautioned: “It’s easy for those people [in the Bush administration] to talk about tax cuts, because we all want to do it. But the truth of the matter [is] that we in the House have a moral and fiscal responsibility to protect the Social Security system.”

Rangel said the size and speed of the cut also would depend on other budget priorities, such as improving public schools, helping the elderly with prescription drug costs and raising compensation for people serving in the military.

While the Bush administration’s debut dominates Washington, former President Clinton’s exit remains controversial, particularly his last-minute pardon of fugitive businessman Marc Rich.

Rich fled to Switzerland about the time of his 1983 indictment on more than 50 counts of wire fraud, racketeering, evading more than $48 million in income taxes and trading with Iran in violation of a U.S. embargo. His pardon was one of Clinton’s last acts before leaving the White House on Jan. 20.

On Sunday, Rich’s attorney, Jack Quinn, pledged to respond to congressional questions about the pardon. Quinn, on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” denied that the Rich pardon had circumvented the Justice Department. He said a high-level Justice official was made aware of his client’s application.

Rich, Quinn said, “was granted a pardon on the merits.”

Cheney declined to criticize Clinton’s pardons directly. But he told “Fox News Sunday:” “I would not expect to see the kind of thing that happened with Mr. Rich happen in the Bush administration.”