p>
NEW DOUBT ABOUT IT
br>
The White House economic team was miffed that House Ways and Means
Committee chairman
Bill Thomas
bad-mouthed the
Bush economic stimulus package the day before the president was
expected to make a strong pitch for it in his State of the Union
Address.
/p>
Thomas, who is known on the Hill for being particularly prickly,
went out of his way on Monday to say that the Bush plan needed much
going over with a fine tooth comb, particularly in the areas that
gave investors breaks on taxation of dividends. The White House had
been assured by Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert and Republican
leader Tom DeLay that the economic package would
be put on a fast track. “We need the House to move, so that we can
focus on winning in the Senate,” says a White House legislative
staffer, adding humorously: “Maybe Thomas didn’t get the memo.”
Thomas has angered the White House in the past, complaining
about not being let into the loop on economic and tax policy
planning, even though the White House claims that Thomas is more
plugged in on some issues than his own House leadership.
“In the end, there’s little doubt that we’re going to move the
stimulus package through,” says a Ways and Means staffer. “The
chairman just likes being the chairman, and raising questions about
legislation is one way he can remind others that he’s in charge, at
least of this committee.”
p>
NO MORE BURTON COMMITTEE
br>
One thing you could always say about Indiana congressman
Dan Burton
, erstwhile chairman of the House
Government Reform Committee, was that he was loyal to his people
almost to a fault. But that’s not what those people are now saying
about the committee’s new chairman, Virginia Rep.
Tom
Davis