Dean Unveils Jobs Plan, Jeers Bush’s ‘Enron Economics’

Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean on Thursday took aim at what he termed the “Enron economics” of President Bush and proposed a $100-billion program to help states create jobs in areas such as homeland security.

The Democratic presidential contender also repeated his calls for tax reform and balancing the federal budget, but he offered few details about how he would accomplish these goals.

As the highlight of what his campaign billed as a major economic address, Dean told a mostly student audience at Georgetown University that he would allot $100 billion to create a “Fund to Restore America.”

Dean said the fund, designed to add at least 1 million new jobs to the economy, would be distributed to states and cities to create jobs in education, health care and homeland security.

The fund also would help build or restore schools, roads and other infrastructure, Dean said.

He said assistance from the fund would be targeted at those areas hit hardest by economic problems, “particularly poor and minority communities.” To qualify for the aid, states would have to guarantee that all projects supported by it would create new jobs, the former governor said.

Dean attacked as “reckless” the sweeping tax cuts that Bush has pushed through Congress during his administration. Among the leading Democratic presidential candidates, Dean and Rep. Richard A. Gephardt of Missouri have called for rolling back all of the tax cuts.

The other top-tier candidates have advocated repealing tax cuts benefiting the wealthiest Americans but retaining those applying to the middle class. And this week, Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut proposed additional tax cuts for the middle class.

Dean, arguing that Bush’s tax cuts were skewed toward the wealthy, invoked the financial collapse of Enron Corp. in making his case.

“These tax cuts weren’t written for the majority of Americans,” he said. “These tax cuts, like Enron’s finances, are a scheme to make the rich richer, to starve Social Security and Medicare and to put our nation’s financial security at risk by creating the largest debt in history.”

Republicans fired back, criticizing Dean’s call for repealing the tax cuts as, in effect, a tax increase.

Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie noted that, in 1984, Democratic presidential nominee Walter Mondale ran on a platform that included a call for tax increases.

“It was bad policy for America then, and it is bad policy for job creation now,” Gillespie said.

Dean’s promise to balance the federal budget is a regular feature of his campaign speeches. But beyond declaring that “repealing the Bush tax cuts is a good first step in restoring fiscal responsibility,” he was unclear about how he would move the federal budget toward being balanced.

He warned, however, that “it’s going to take years and some sacrifice to dig out,” indicating he would propose cuts in some federal programs.

Dean pledged to simplify tax codes “so that a majority of Americans can pay their income taxes without wasting hours filling out forms.”

He also proposed creation of a fund to aid small businesses that would be “modeled after the housing finance system that has helped make housing affordable for millions of middle-class Americans.”

And he reiterated that, as president, he would renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement. All future trade agreements, he said, “should include strong and enforceable labor and environmental standards.”

He suggested sending U.S. labor unions to organize workers in foreign plants and help maintain U.S. standards in areas such as human rights.

He said he would oppose legislation that encourages U.S. companies to move overseas.

Though Dean said he would “undo” the Bush administration’s No Child Left Behind program, Jay Carson, one of his aides, said later that the candidate was not calling for the elimination of the education initiative.

“He believes in the principle of school accountability but wants significant reform to make this program work,” Carson said.