Bush asked Congress this year for a $92.2 billion "emergency" supplemental spending bill to help pay for the Iraq War and Hurricane Katrina relief. Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, a leader of the conservative House Republican Study Committee, tried to offer an amendment to offset every penny of that new spending with spending cuts. The House leadership thwarted him and secured passage of a $91.9 billion bill with no offsetting cuts. The Senate upped that to $109 billion.
Bush has threatened to veto the final bill if it includes more than his $92.2 billion request plus $2.3 billion for bird-flu preparedness. He should go further, proposing to Congress a $94.5 billion "emergency supplemental spending cuts bill" to offset his "emergency" spending. It should list specific items Bush wants to cut from appropriations proposed in his own $2.7 trillion fiscal 2007 budget. He should then veto any appropriation that fails to include these cuts. If Democrats want to vote to override the president's vetoes in the weeks before the election, Republicans should let them try.
3) Lift the moratoria on offshore drilling and enforce it with a veto.
Many Americans now pay more than $3.00 per gallon for gasoline even though the United States sits atop massive pools of untapped oil. According to the Energy Information Administration, the United States imported 3.67 billion barrels of oil in 2005. But a report delivered to Congress in February by the Interior Department's Minerals Management Service estimates there are 85.88 billion barrels of undiscovered oil off U.S. shores on the Outer Continental Shelf.
At 2005 consumption levels, that oil could replace all our imported crude for about 23 years. Two things block broad development of these oil resources: a moratorium originally ordered by President George H.W. Bush (later extended by President Clinton) and language enforcing a moratorium placed in each year's Interior appropriation.
President Bush should reverse his father's order and veto any Interior bill that enforces a moratorium. Then he should order Interior to start selling offshore oil drilling leases. Democrats can explain to voters why they want to turn off this supply and keep gas prices high.
As long as the situation remains uncertain in Iraq, the war there will be drag on Bush's approval ratings. But if Bush takes bold actions like these to secure our border, cut runaway spending and open our domestic oil supplies, he could start rebuilding his conservative base and reclaim support where he has lost it.