Washington — Responding to appeals from senior administration officials, leading business groups have decided to put off seeking to attach a long list of tax breaks to President Bush's $1.6 trillion tax cut proposal and instead plan to press Congress to pass it without amendments.
The change of strategy among dozens of trade associations and corporations which a few weeks ago were eyeing the tax legislation as a golden opportunity is due in large part to aggressive arm-twisting by President Bush and senior administration officials, including Vice President Dick Cheney, Chief of Staff Andrew Card and presidential adviser Karl Rove.
"The message has been 'Get with the program,'" said one business lobbyist. "They're saying if you don't fit into what the president wants, we won't help you and we may even fight you."
The turnaround by business represents a significant victory for the administration, which has warned that a rash of business add-ons would undermine congressional support for the president's bill. With business supporting the legislation as proposed, the White House lobbying effort will be much easier.
The change also reflects hard-boiled realism on the part of veteran business representatives, who say the message from the White House has been clear: If they give Bush a political boost by helping to pass his tax cut plan now, they will have the chance to add their proposals to other legislation later.
According to one trade association representative, the White House told business groups that "anyone who wants to talk to this administration ... must first (help) establish (Bush's) presidency and do it in a way that keeps this bill slick and clean."
The House Ways and Means Committee on Thursday approved the main component of the president's proposal a cut in personal income taxes. It plans to take up other elements, such as elimination of the estate tax, marriage penalty relief, and expansion of the child tax credit, later.
Bush has vowed repeatedly most recently in his address to Congress last week to fight attempts by business and other groups to add to his tax cut plan, which the White House estimates will cost $1.6 trillion over the next decade. Representatives of business groups, which contributed tens of millions of dollars to Bush's election, say the message has gotten through. Scores of them have signed on to a newly formed Tax Relief Coalition to lobby for passage of Bush's bill after taking a pledge of support.
"Lots of folks have come on board where there's no dollar incentive to them of a direct nature," said Dirk Van Dongen, president of the National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors. "Why are they there? In my judgment they recognize this president is either going to make his bones on this or we find out we have an administration that cannot easily advance its agenda in this city."
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