Bush 43

Presentations: Ella, Olivia, Violet

Topics to discuss on Wed?

Black-Koopman reading for Wed

Prelude:  The Election of 2000

 In his memoirs, Karl Rove recalled: “What really matters is the first 180 days, because voters look for real achievements by the August recess. Most pieces of legislation need to be well along by then if they are to pass in the president’s first year.”  

The cut (Johnson 362-363)

Why kick off with a tax cut? 

• Informal adviser to Bush 41
• 1994 race for Governor of TX: “Read my ears.  There will not be a tax increase when I'm the governor.” The boom helped him keep the promise.
• In his campaign book, he wrote:  “Reducing marginal tax rates will increase economic growth and create higher-paying jobs. By returning money to the taxpayers, we can also limit government. Money returned to Americans will not be spent on new or expanded government programs.” 
• In a Republican primary debate, he said, “This is not only no new taxes. This is tax cuts so help me God.” 
• OMB Director Mitch Daniels: “ So even by the time of the tax cut the rationale was beginning to shift to fighting recession. I always thought it was maybe the luckiest fiscal move that we’ve seen. Again, it was crafted for a different reason. It came into effect at about the right time and it turned out to be a very mild recession. That probably helped.”   
• Bipartisan majorities passed a $1.35 trillion tax cut spread over 10 years. 
• But...

NCLB (Johnson 365-367)

Recall previous efforts

• NDEA 1958
• ESEA 1965
• Education Dept 1979
• Goals 2000 199$

Bush legislative staffer Jack Howard: "There was a real conscious effort, up until 9/11, to try to find, who is that Democratic dealmaker out there that I can work with?”

Rep. George Miller (D-CA), ranking D on Education & Workforce: on how he and Ted Kennedy worked with Bush: "There was no question that we flew cover for this with the center-left crowd—and John Boehner flew a great deal of cover, obviously George Bush, with conservatives who saw this as a massive intrusion, with all of the testing, the reporting."

Passes in 2002:

• Annual testing and standards: NCLB mandated that states establish "challenging" academic standards and test all students annually in reading and math in grades 3-8 and once in high school to measure progress.
• Accountability and reporting: Schools had to report test results publicly, disaggregated by race, income, disability, and other subgroups. This was to hold them accountable for the performance of all students, especially those who were underperforming.
• Teacher qualifications: States were required to ensure all students had access to "highly qualified" teachers, with each state defining what that meant for their teachers.
• Parental options: Parents of students in schools that failed to meet state standards for two consecutive years were given the option to transfer their children to a better-performing public or charter school.
• Support for struggling students: Children from low-income families in schools that failed to meet standards for three years or more qualified for supplemental educational services, such as free tutoring

Did it work?  Juking the stats and a 2014 story

Then came 9/11

• A firsthand account of the White House by a CMCer
• "Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism (USA PATRIOT) Act of 2001." (Johnson 364-365)
• Expanded Surveillance and Search Authority: The act expanded law enforcement's ability to surveil communications, including domestic and international wiretaps, and allowed for secret "sneak and peek" searches .
• Increased Information Sharing: It broke down legal barriers that had kept law enforcement, intelligence, and national defense agencies from sharing information, allowing them to "connect the dots" to prevent attacks.
• Strengthened Anti-Money Laundering and Financial Controls: The act implemented stricter anti-money laundering measures, such as customer identification requirements for U.S. banks and expanded scrutiny of high-risk accounts, to hinder the financing of terrorism.
• Homeland Security Act of 2002