His 2003 tax proposal offers a sweeping package of tax cuts and incentives that would eliminate all federal taxes on stock dividends, quick tax relief for married couples and a $400-per-child increase in the tax credit for families with children.
The administration's proposal would also lower taxes for small business owners by expanding the amount of equipment purchases they can write off as deductions from the current $25,000 to $75,000. Opponents argue that this tax proposal would primarily benefit the rich.
Education policy named ‘’, includes mandatory national testing and some support for school vouchers. It also makes high school academic records available to military recruiters.
Drilling in the (ANWR) and other domestic fields is claimed to decrease dependence on oil imports, particularly from the Middle East. However, many environmentalists hold that it will produce such small amounts of petroleum as to be effectively useless and will certainly do far greater harm to irreplaceable and finite resources of the planet than good.
Redesign of the military with emphasis on supermodern hardware, flexible tactics, speed, less international deployment, fewer troops. Many commentators were critical of Bush when, in his very first policy statement after the , Bush reiterated his intent to place missile attack intervention highest on his list of priorities (despite the fact that no such system could have prevented the type of sneak attack the country had really, not theoretically, experienced). However, other commentators have endorsed Bush's position, noting, for example, the continuing development of long-range missile technology by , along with that country's threats to resume its nuclear weapons program.
Bush's most significant foreign policy platform before coming to office involved support of a stronger economic and political relationship with Latin America, in particular Mexico, and a reduction in involvement in "nation-building" and other small-scale military engagements.
Bush's decision to impose a on imported steel, and to withdraw from global initiatives such as the , (), an international land mine treaty and other multinational efforts, have convinced many that he (and his administration) has a policy of acting unilaterally, thus evading international responsibilities. Bush has justified these policies by arguing that these actions are in America's best interest.
A change of focus immediately followed the . His foreign (and domestic, to a lesser degree) policy was subsequently defined, above all, by the "". This was first described in a special "Address to a Joint Session of Congress and the American People" on , in which Bush announced that America was fighting a war on terrorism.
In July, 2002, Bush cut off $34 million in funding for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). This funding had been allocated by Congress the previous December. Bush claimed that the UNFPA supported forced abortions and sterilizations in mainland China.
The Bush presidency has also been marked by diplomatic tensions with the and , the latter of which admitted in to possessing and threatened to use them if provoked by the US.
Bush has also maintained a desire to resume the peace process in , and openly proclaimed his desire for a state to be created before . He outlined a "roadmap for peace" that featuring compromises that had to be made by both sides before Palestinian statehood could become a reality. One particular proposal was his instance for new Palestinian leadership; a stance that saw the appointment of the first ever Palestinian on , .
Once the source of the September 11 terrorist attacks was traced to and his network operating out of -ruled , Bush launched a military campaign against the country.
The Bush Administration has been criticized for holding several hundred individuals accused of connections to Al-Qaeda or the Taliban at without trial. Under the , cannot be held after the war has ended. The Bush Administration and its supporters, however, have countered that the war against America by Al-Qaeda is ongoing, that it is unconventional, and that the "battlefield" extends into America itself. George W. Bush is unapologetic about the detentions, labeling the detainees as "enemy combatants" and insisting that their detention is necessary.
The experiences encountered in dealing with the Taliban government inspired a new attitude in Bush Administration's attitude towards foreign policy. Bush believed that in America's continuing war against terror, the United States should not differentiate between terrorist groups, and the governments that support them. This view was highlighted in Bush's second , in which he specifically singled out the nations of , , and as particularly distressing examples of states that sponsor terrorism, dubbing them an .
By early Bush began actively pressing for in the nation of Iraq, indicating that his government had reason to that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein had ties to terrorist groups and was developing . This proposal was controversial with much of the world, and significant portions of the American public. Upon the advice of Secretary of State , Bush agreed to pursue the " route" to disarming Iraq. On , a US-proposed was unanimously passed, condemning the Iraqi regime and re-instating a team of UN weapons inspectors. The inspectors failed to make any significant finds, but the Bush administration claimed they were being manipulated and deceived by the Iraqi regime. Powell made an appeal to the Security Council, showing photographs and conversations which the administration believed presented proof that Iraq's government was engaging in widespread deception.
On , Bush gave the go ahead for a full-scale military to overthrow the Iraqi regime. He did so using powers that had been granted to him by congress on of the previous year. After a few weeks of fighting, the Iraqi government was successfully overthrown on , and US forces occupied the Iraqi capital. The military effort has now switched to maintaining Iraqi security, strengthening the nation's infrastructure, and preparing to hand over power to a democratically elected government.
Throughout the course of the Iraqi war Bush was often the target of harsh criticism. Both in America and in the rest of the world there were numerous protests. On there were over 10 million people in the streets all over the world. Many of the protesters were vehemently critical of Bush, calling him a "," an oil-hungry "," a "." Bush dismissed the protesters as being merely "a focus group". European leaders were also critical of the President, especially President who soon became the leading international voice of opposition to the Bush plan of Iraqi regime change. Justice Minister, , of compared the methods of Bush with those of .
These remarks drew strong condemnation from both the United States and Europe, The minister resigned.
There were also in the United States rallies that supported the President's actions in Iraq and also supporting the US and coalition forces. The people who participated in these rallies praised Bush's leadership and courage in confronting Iraq. In stark contrast, however, these rallies were much less attended, in some cases amounting to only a few dozen.
Before the war, of Americans themselves tended to indicate a 50/50 split on invading Iraq, with the lowest rankings tending to come from polls that broke the question down into three options -- opposition to the war with or without weapons inspections, support only if the agrees and has had adequate time to search for , and unconditional support of the war. After the war began, however, a solid majority of the American people and their representatives in Congress, in striking contrast to international opinion, backed Bush's decision to invade Iraq, with poll numbers ranging from 62% to as high as 70% in favor of the war. The inability of the U.S. to find in Iraq, however, has led to greater domestic criticism of the administration's Iraq policy.
Domestic Security
Following the September 11 terrorist attacks the Bush administration asked Congress to approve a series of laws that it stated were necessary to prosecute the . These included a wide variety of surveillance programs, some of which came under heavy fire from civil libertarians who criticized the Bush administration of scaling back civil liberties.
As mentioned, many of these actions were very controversial. Some accused the Bush administration of using the threat of terrorism as an excuse to clamp down on political dissent; indeed, many of Bush's critics were quick to allege that they were being unfairly targeted by the new security measures. Others accused the administration of over-reacting to the threat of terrorism, and participating in style tactics with little justification.
Currently, a major controversy in the is the debate over whether or not to expand the Patriot Act into a new Act known as Patriot Act II. This proposal would increase government surveillance on people in the United States suspected of terrorist activities and reduce judicial oversight over surveillance; authorize secret trials; and give the Justice
Department the authority to revoke the American citizenship of anyone who belonged to an organization that the government deemed subversive.
These laws are undoubtedly controversial. But many argue that in a world where well-funded, international conspiracies exist with the goal of, for instance, setting off a in a major American city, the balance between security and liberty must shift somewhat. Supporters of the new law enforcement powers, such as have pointed out that against earlier predictions, nearly two years have passed without a single terrorist atrocity in the United States.
In any event, the debate over the proper role of government in people's lives will continue. Ultimately, the U.S. Supreme Court and lower Federal courts will rule on the constitutionality of the new laws.