WASHINGTON -- President George W. Bush cheered millions of American fathers last week by enabling them to contemplate how to spend a tax bonus of $400 per child that will be arriving just in time for their late summer vacation this year. They should be happy with that.
Although their children will be paying for this largess in their working years, they will have a great time this summer with the family at the beach or in the mountains, thanks to the president's tax-cutting handiwork.
The tax-cut legislation, enacted just before the Memorial Day (May 26) congressional break, may have set a precedent for the White House. Bush used the timing to push Congress to cut out the normal bickering and accept compromises in an unusually quick conference. Now, the president's men are using the same "get it done before Independence Day" rhetoric to push the Medicare Drug Benefit legislation through Congress.